{"question_id": "20230310_0", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/03/08/prince-harry-meghan-princess-lilibet-christening-royal-titles/11427567002/", "title": "Meghan Markle, Harry call daughter Princess Lilibet for christening", "text": "Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's youngest child has been christened.\n\nThe ceremony for their daughter, Princess Lilibet, took place at the couple's home. The 21-month-old was baptized on Friday by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Rev. John Taylor, Harry and Meghan said in a statement.\n\nThe christening announcement marked the first time Prince Harry and Meghan publicly called their daughter a princess, revealing for the first time that they will use royal titles for their children.\n\nTitles are conferred in line with a decree issued by King George V in 1917 that limits the titles of prince and princess to the male-line grandchildren of the sovereign.\n\nThat's prince and princess to you:Harry and Meghan's kids get new titles, palace website says\n\nAs long as the late Queen Elizabeth II was alive, Harry and his older brother, Prince William, were the sovereign’s grandchildren. Harry and William’s children, as great grandchildren, didn’t receive the titles automatically.\n\nBut Elizabeth had the power to amend the rules, and in 2012 she decreed that the children of Prince William and his wife, Princess Kate, would be princes and princesses. This decree didn’t apply to Harry and Meghan.\n\nHowever, the situation changed when King Charles III ascended to the throne after Queen Elizabeth II's death in September. William and Harry are the king’s sons, meaning their offspring are now royal grandchildren and so entitled to be known as prince and princess.\n\nOn Wednesday, the children were still listed on the palace's official website as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. By Thursday morning, the site was updated to Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.\n\nKing Charles III's coronation:Prince Harry, Duchess Meghan contacted about attending\n\nArchie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor:Could Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's children gain royal titles now?\n\nPrince Harry's older brother, Prince William, and Duchess Kate's children have always been listed on the site under their titles Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales.\n\nThe question of the children’s titles took center stage two years ago during Harry and Meghan’s television interview with Oprah Winfrey. Meghan, who is biracial, said that when she was pregnant with Archie \"they\" — presumably the palace — \"were saying they didn’t want him to be a prince … which would be different from protocol.\"\n\nMeghan suggested that this was because Archie was the royal family’s \"first member of color\" and would have marked the first time a royal grandchild wasn’t given the same title as the other grandchildren.\n\nAt the time, royal experts said Meghan’s comments appeared to be based on a misunderstanding of the way royal titles are conferred.\n\nThe christening announcement marked the first time that the children’s titles had been used in public.\n\nLilibet's christening was unusual, according to rules established by the Church of England. The Church only permits christening outside of a parish church in \"very exceptional circumstances\" and they typically take place during \"the Sunday service of a church, so that the whole congregation can offer a warm welcome to you and your family.\"\n\nTaylor Swift's 'Anti-Hero,' Prince Harry's 'Spare' and the art of celebrity authenticity\n\nStephen Colbert 'Late Show' Q&A:Prince Harry says 'freedom' describes his future\n\nTraditionally, godparents are also invited to christenings.\n\nTyler Perry is Lilibet's godfather, he revealed in their Netflix docuseries \"Harry & Meghan.\" It's unclear who her godmother is. Perry recalled being asked to take the position, sharing he was hesitant at first to accept. \"I had to take a minute to take that in,\" he said.\n\nThe movie executive eventually agreed. \"I thought, 'I'd be honored. I'd absolutely be honored,'\" he said in the docuseries.\n\nPrince Harry, Duchess Meghan's royal home in the UK:Couple have been asked 'to vacate' Frogmore Cottage\n\nContributing: Danica Kirka", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/europe/prince-archie-princess-lilibet-royal-title-intl/index.html", "title": "Harry and Meghan's children become Prince Archie and Princess ...", "text": "London CNN —\n\nFollowing the death of the Queen, Harry and Meghan’s children have become His Royal Highness Prince Archie of Sussex and Her Royal Highness Princess Lilibet of Sussex.\n\nThe change is a result of conventions created over a century ago. Under rules set out by George V in 1917, the grandchildren of the monarch automatically receive royal titles.\n\nAs grandchildren of King Charles III, Archie and Lilibet now have the right to be prince and princess, whereas they did not immediately qualify as the great-grandchildren of the Queen.\n\nMeghan last year made a damning suggestion that this title might be denied to Archie because of his mixed-race ancestry. In an interview with broadcaster Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex said a member of the royal family had expressed “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born.”\n\n“That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that the family had with him,” Meghan added, but declined to reveal who was involved in those conversations. “That would be very damaging to them,” she said.\n\nThe duchess said these comments were made at the same time as the couple were told Archie wouldn’t have security or an official title. She said there had also been “conversations” while she was pregnant about the convention being changed once Charles became King, meaning Archie would lose his right to a title.\n\nShe insisted to Winfrey that her concern over her son’s right to the title of prince was linked to her desire for him to be given police protection. Lilibet was born after the interview was conducted.\n\nThe coffin of Queen Elizabeth II lies in state at Westminster Hall in London on Monday, September 19. Yui Mok/Pool/AP US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, right, view the Queen's coffin on Sunday. They were accompanied by Jane Hartley, the US ambassador to the United Kingdom. Joe Giddens/Pool/AP To get a spot ahead of the Queen's funeral procession on Monday, people camp out Sunday along Whitehall, a street that cuts through London's government district. Alberto Pezzali/AP President Biden signs a book of condolences at London's Lancaster House on Sunday. Susan Walsh/AP People wait in line near London's Tower Bridge for a chance to pay their respects to the Queen. Marko Djurica/Reuters Prince William and Prince Harry lead the Queen's grandchildren into Westminster Hall to stand vigil at her coffin on Saturday. Star Max/AP King Charles III reacts as a member of the public hands him a drawing of his mother on Saturday. The King and Prince William were shaking hands with people waiting in line to view the Queen's coffin. Aaron Chown/Pool/AFP/Getty Images The Queen's grandchildren stand vigil inside Westminster Hall on Saturday. Yui Mok/Pool/AP Prince William greets people waiting in line to see the Queen lying in state on Saturday. Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images The King leaves Westminster Hall after standing vigil on Friday. Daniel Leal/Pool/AP England football legend David Beckham was among those waiting in line Friday for the chance to pay his respects to the Queen. Beckham told reporters he had been waiting for more than 12 hours. \"We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our queen,\" Beckham said. Graham Stone/Avalon/ZUMA Press In this photograph taken with a long exposure, the Queen's children stand vigil as members of the public walk around her coffin on Friday. Daniel Leal/Associated Press Ellie, 2, throws fallen leaves in the air as people wait in line to pay tribute to the Queen on Friday. Andreea Alexandru/AP The Lutine Bell is rung once to mark the Queen's death Thursday in the underwriting room at Lloyd's of London. The bell was also rung twice to mark the accession of the King. The bell is traditionally rung once for bad news and twice for good news. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images People line up outside Westminster Hall on Thursday. Emilio Morenatti/AP Sachiko Suckling and her 3 year-old twins, Naomi and Louis, lay flowers outside Windsor Castle on Thursday. Gregorio Borgia/AP Members of the public view the Queen's coffin on Thursday. Ben Stansall/Pool/AP Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, walk behind Prince William and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, as they leave Westminster Hall on Wednesday. Emilio Morenatti/AP The King, Prince William and Princess Anne salute the Queen's coffin beside Prince Harry and Prince Andrew on Wednesday. Ben Stansall/Pool/AP The King watches his mother's coffin arrive at Westminster Hall. Alkis Konstantinidis/Pool/Reuters People gather in London's Hyde Park, where video screens broadcast Wednesday's events. Andreea Alexandru/AP Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, watch the Queen's coffin arrive at Westminster Hall on Wednesday. The coffin was adorned with the Imperial State Crown. Gregorio Borgia/Pool/Reuters The Queen's coffin is carried into Westminster Hall. Phil Noble/Pool/Reuters Members of the royal family follow the bearer party carrying the Queen's coffin into Westminster Hall. Jacob King/Pool/AP People watch as the Queen's coffin passes them on Wednesday. Kevin Coombs/Reuters Prince William and Prince Harry walk during the procession on Wednesday. Henry Nicholls/Pool/Reuters The Queen's coffin is covered with the Royal Standard as it is carried to Westminster Hall on Wednesday. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Catherine, the Princess of Wales, is driven behind the Queen's coffin during the procession on Wednesday. She wore a diamond and pearl leaf brooch that belonged to the Queen, according to the UK's Press Association. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images The King and his sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, walk behind the coffin during Wednesday's procession. Daniel Leal/Pool/AP The Queen's coffin was carried along The Mall, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard before entering Westminster Hall on Wednesday. Owen Cooban/Ministry of Defense/AP A hearse carrying the Queen's coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. The coffin was flown in Tuesday from Edinburgh, Scotland. Markus Schreiber/AP Pallbearers place the Queen's coffin into the hearse after it arrived in England on Tuesday. Ben Stansall/Pool/AP The coffin is carried into a Royal Air Force plane in Scotland on Tuesday. Andrew Milligan/Pool/AP People watch as the Queen's coffin is transported to Edinburgh Airport on Tuesday. Bernat Armangue/AP The King and other members of the royal family hold a vigil at the Queen's coffin while it was inside St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh on September 12. Jane Barlow/Pool/AP People line up to see the Queen's coffin as she lies at rest at the St. Giles' Cathedral. Bernat Armangue/AP The hearse carrying the Queen's coffin travels through Edinburgh on September 12. Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters From left, the King, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew follow the hearse through the streets of Edinburgh on September 12. Andrew Milligan/Pool/AP The King gives his first address to Parliament at London's Westminster Hall. He began by thanking the Speakers of the Houses of Commons and Lords for their opening speeches, \"which so touchingly encompass what our late Sovereign, my beloved mother The Queen, meant to us all.\" Dan Kitwood/Pool/AP People in London walk past a portrait of the Queen on September 12. Emilio Morenatti/AP The Queen's coffin arrives at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh on September 11. Alkis Konstantinidis/Poo/AP People wait for the Queen's coffin to arrive at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters Crowds watch the hearse carrying the Queen's coffin as it makes its way down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Toby Hancock/CNN Princess Anne curtseys as her mother's coffin enters the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images A bouquet of roses rests on a Union Jack flag in London. Will Lanzoni/CNN People look at the Palace of Westminster as a flag flies at half-staff on September 11. Will Lanzoni/CNN People take photos as a hearse carries the Queen's coffin through Edinburgh on September 11. Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images An honor guard stands in position before the arrival of the Queen's coffin at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters People watch the procession after the hearse traveled over the Queensferry Bridge. Scott Heppell/AP A woman looks emotional as people gather in Ballater, Scotland, to watch the procession on September 11. Thousands lined the route of the royal cortege that passed through the Scottish countryside and the cities of Aberdeen and Dundee. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images A ceremony in Edinburgh publicly proclaimed King Charles III as the new monarch on September 11. He was also proclaimed King in a ceremony in England on September 10. Jane Barlow/PA/Getty Images The Queen's coffin is draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland and a wreath of flowers. Andrew Milligan/AP People stand in line to lay flowers and pay their respects to the Queen in front of Buckingham Palace. Nariman El-Mofty/AP A woman in London sports buttons with pictures of the Queen. Peter Cziborra/Reuters The Queen's coffin passes through Ballater on September 11. Scott Heppell/AP A chalk artist draws a portrait of the Queen at Trafalgar Square in London. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images The King arrives at Buckingham Palace on September 11. Henry Nicholls/Reuters Robert Noel, the Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, reads the King's proclamation of accession during a ceremony at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland. Jason Cairnduff/Reuters From left, Prince William; Catherine, the Princess of Wales; Prince Harry; and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, wave to a crowd outside Windsor Castle on September 10. It was the first time the public had seen the two brothers together since the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. Chris Jackson/Getty Images The King speaks in the Throne Room at St. James's Palace during the Accession Council in London on September 10. Joining him were his son Prince William and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort. At the ceremony, the King pledged to follow his mother's \"inspiring example.\" Jonathan Brady/Pool/AP Prince Andrew, right, gestures to the public as members of the royal family look at floral tributes outside the gates of Balmoral Castle on September 10. The royal family attended a private church service at nearby Crathie Kirk. Scott Heppell/AP Camilla signs an oath during the meeting of the Accession Council on September 10. Jonathan Brady/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Members of the Coldstream Guards participate in a ceremony following Charles' proclamation at St. James's Palace. Joe Giddens/AP From left, Catherine, Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan look at floral tributes outside Windsor Castle on September 10. Andrew Couldridge/Reuters Newspapers covering the Queen's death are seen in Manchester, England, on September 9. Jon Super/AP The King delivers his first address as the new British monarch on September 9. He vowed to continue in his mother's footsteps and serve \"with loyalty, respect and love.\" Yui Mok/Pool/AP A service honoring the Queen is held at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on September 9. Ian Vogler/Pool/AFP/Getty Images People watch Charles' televised speech inside a pub in London on September 9. \"As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the Constitutional principles at the heart of our nation,\" he said. Bernat Armangue/AP Condolence messages are written on a wall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Members of the public arrive for the remembrance ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral. Paul Childs/Pool/Reuters A woman wipes her eyes outside Buckingham Palace. Dominic Lipinski/PA/AP Members of Parliament observe a minute of silence in memory of the Queen. Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/AP Members of the Honourable Artillery Company fire a gun salute outside the Tower of London on September 9. James Manning/PA/AP Flowers are left on the gate at Buckingham Palace. Kirsty O'Connor/AP Charles greets well-wishers as he walks by the gates of Buckingham Palace on September 9. Yui Mok/Pool/AP Wardens stand outside the gates to Windsor Castle on September 9. Richard Heathcote/Getty Images Students gather to pay their respects for the Queen at the Royal Russell School in London. Kin Cheung/AP People take photos with their phones as an image of the Queen is displayed in London's Piccadilly Circus on September 8. Andrew Boyers/Reuters A notice is placed on a fence outside Buckingham Palace, announcing the Queen's death on September 8. \"The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,\" the statement read. \"The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.\" Henry Nicholls/Reuters A rainbow is seen near Windsor Castle as the Union Flag is lowered after the Queen's death. Chris Jackson/Getty Images People react outside Buckingham Palace after news of the Queen's death. Henry Nicholls/Reuters Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a statement about the Queen outside No. 10 Downing Street on September 8. \"She has been a personal inspiration to me and to many Britons,\" Truss said. \"Her devotion to duty is an example to us all.\" Hollie Adams/Bloomberg/Getty Images A child places flowers outside the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Lee Smith/Reuters Prince William drives Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, to Balmoral Castle on September 8. The Queen's death was announced a short time later. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Television crews and media work outside Buckingham Palace on September 8. Leon Neal/Getty Images Crowds gather on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace on September 8. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images In pictures: The UK mourns Queen Elizabeth II Prev Next\n\nBuckingham Palace told CNN at the time of Archie’s birth in 2019 that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had chosen not to use any title at all for their son.\n\nMeghan rejected that suggestion in her interview with Winfrey, saying: “It’s not our decision to make, right.”\n\nThere has been no indication that the King intends to make any changes to the convention.\n\nHarry and Meghan announced in 2020 that they would step back from royal duties and “work to become financially independent.” It was agreed that they would remain part of the family, but the couple renounced their HRH titles.\n\nIt is unlikely that Harry, Charles’ son, will be offered a royal office unless he and Meghan resume their duties.\n\nWhile several members of the royal family, including Harry, traveled to Balmoral Castle on Thursday after Buckingham Palace announced “concern” surrounding the Queen’s condition, Meghan did not accompany her husband.\n\nTo get updates on the British Royal Family sent to your inbox, sign up for CNN’s Royal News newsletter.", "authors": ["Christian Edwards"], "publish_date": "2022/09/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2018/05/19/meghan-markle-going-duchess-and-not-princess/564420002/", "title": "Here are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new royal titles, and ...", "text": "On Saturday morning, she woke up as Meghan Markle, American citizen. By midday Saturday, she was Her Royal Highness Meghan, Duchess of Sussex — still an American but on her way to becoming a new royal citizen of the United Kingdom.\n\nOn the morning of Prince Harry and Markle's wedding, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, as expected granted him a new title: HRH Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. That makes his bride a royal duchess, known formally as HRH Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.\n\n(The queen also bestowed secondary titles, for when they're in Scotland, for instance, of Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel.)\n\nHarry, 33, will not be the first Duke of Sussex, although it's been two centuries since the last one. But Meghan, 36, will be the first woman ever to carry the title HRH Duchess of Sussex.\n\nNo, she will not be officially known as Princess Meghan, although many people, will call her that. After all, many call the former Kate Middleton \"Princess Kate,\" even though her formal title is HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.\n\nWhy is that? Because the sorting of royal titles is complicated, little understood by titleless Americans and only dimly understood by Brits outside royal and aristocratic circles.\n\nThrow in the exigencies of headline writers — always in search of short, catchy, click-attractive names — and you can see how confusion can reign, no pun intended.\n\nThe bottom line is the monarch decides royal titles, based on tradition, personal preference and whether or not a particular title is currently vacant, as it were. It's a tradition that the monarch grants a new title to male members of the royal family on their wedding day. This \"gift\" is within the monarch's power to grant; the government of the day has nothing to do with it.\n\nBut the traditions are different for women. Generally, royal women are called \"Princess\" before their name if they were born a princess — meaning their parent is royal.\n\nSo, for example: HRH Princess Beatrice and HRH Princess Eugenie, Harry's cousins, who are the daughters of HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the queen's second eldest son.\n\nAnother example: Princess Anne, the queen's only daughter. Her two children, Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips Tindall, are full members of the royal family but they don't have any titles because Anne opted at their birth not to ask for titles. The same applies to Anne's three grandchildren (with one more on the way).\n\nSally Bedell Smith, the American royal biographer who understands the protocol about royal titles, says that technically Kate is a princess and soon Meghan will be too because they're married to princes.\n\n\"After all, when they signed the birth registration for (newly born) Prince Louis of Cambridge, her occupation was listed as 'Princess of the United Kingdom,' \" Smith says. \"But the correct form is 'Princess William of Wales' and 'Princess Henry of Wales,' \" since their princess status derives from their husbands.\n\nBut that's never going to fly, so royal duchess is the agreed-upon title.\n\nBut what about Princess Diana, Harry's late mother? Technically, the former Lady Diana Spencer became HRH Diana, Princess of Wales, when she married Harry's father, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, in 1981, and that is what the palace always called her.\n\nHeadline writers had other ideas. She was Princess Diana (or Princess Di) from the start and stayed that way after her divorce (although she lost the HRH) and until her death in a car wreck in Paris in 1997. Britain, like America, has a free press and palace protocol be damned.\n\nSo what's the history of the title Duke of Sussex and who was the last to hold it?\n\nSussex is one of several vacant royal dukedoms (Clarence, Connaught, Windsor, Albany, Cumberland are others), and derives its name from the southeastern county of Sussex (formerly the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Sussex) on the English Channel coast.\n\nThe last royal to hold the title was Prince Augustus Frederick, the sixth son of George III (the king who lost the American colonies), who got it in 1801. Although he was the favorite uncle of Queen Victoria (daughter of one of his elder brothers), Sussex had a scandalous marital history, at least for his era.\n\nHe married twice, in secret and illegally: He did not have the required consent of the monarch (his father and later his brother, William IV) as called for by the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 (since altered in 2013 requiring the consent of the monarch for just the first six in line to the throne).\n\nHis first marriage, to Lady Augusta Murray in 1793, was annulled a year later although the two continued to live together and had two children. They separated in 1801 just before he got the title. He married a second time, to Lady Cecilia Buggin, in May 1831, again illegally, because he didn't get permission from his elder brother the king.\n\nBecause his wives were not legitimately his wives, neither got the title Duchess of Sussex. When the duke died in 1843, he had no legitimate children so the title became extinct.\n\nUntil now.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/05/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/09/10/king-charles-iii-names-and-kate-new-prince-and-princess-wales/8028093001/", "title": "King Charles III names Will and Kate new Prince and Princess of ...", "text": "Meet the new Prince and Princess of Wales: Prince William and Princess Catherine.\n\nAside from the new King Charles III, perhaps no one will be more affected by the start of a new reign in the United Kingdom than his elder son and his daughter-in-law, Prince William and Kate as she is widely known.\n\nIn a national address to the nation on Friday, the king paid tribute to his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, and her lifetime of devotion to service, and he vowed the same for himself.\n\nAnd as expected, he named his son the Prince of Wales.\n\nWith that, the former Kate Middleton became the Princess of Wales, the first to hold that title since the death of William's mother, the late Princess Diana, in 1997. In fact, she is one of only three princesses to be known as Princess of Wales since 1901.\n\n\"Today, I am proud to create him Prince of Wales, Tywysog Cymru, the country whose title I have been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty,\" the king said in the pre-recorded speech. \"With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground where vital help can be given.\"\n\nSubscribe:All things royals sent to your inbox with our new Keep Calm and Carry on newsletter\n\nThe move, coming the day after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, is just one of multiple changes for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the late queen. As the king said, \"This is also a time of change for my family.\"\n\nHere are some of those changes for the young royals:\n\nDid Prince William automatically become Prince of Wales?\n\nNo. The title of Prince of Wales, which dates to the start of the 14th century, is bestowed by the reigning monarch on the heir apparent, the first in line to the throne. So it was up to William's father.\n\nKing Charles, 73, was created Prince of Wales by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, when he was 10 and his mother had been on the throne for six years.\n\nBut his formal \"investiture\" as Prince of Wales took place in an elaborate (and largely modern-invention ceremony) in July 1969 at CaernarfonCastle in Wales, when he was 20. It is not clear if a similar ceremony will be organized for William.\n\nWhat other new titles do Prince William and Duchess Kate gain?\n\nPreviously known as the HRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge since their 2011 wedding, the couple, both 40, will now also have the titles Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge, plus a host of other lesser titles to use when they are in Scotland or other parts of the kingdom.\n\nTheir three children also move up in the succession and get add-on titles: Prince George, 9, now moves up to second in line to the throne; Princess Charlotte, 7, now moves up to third; and Prince Louis, 4, now moves to fourth.\n\nNow that their father is Prince of Wales, it is likely the children will be known by the last name of \"Wales\" in their school, as William and Harry were known during their school days.\n\nWhy Duke of Cornwall?\n\nDuke of Cornwall is a lesser title of the Prince of Wales. It's why Charles' second wife Camilla was known, until now, as the Duchess of Cornwall after her marriage to Charles in 2005.\n\nLegally, Camilla was the Princess of Wales as the wife of Charles. But it was decided she would be called Duchess of Cornwall to soothe the feelings of Brits still resentful of the former Camilla Parker Bowles. (Diana blamed her for breaking up her marriage to Charles.)\n\nIn his speech, the king confirmed that Camilla will now be known as Queen Consort, as requested by his mother in February,\n\n\"I count on the loving help of my darling wife, Camilla,\" Charles said. \"In recognition of her own loyal public service since our marriage 17 years ago, she becomes my Queen Consort. I know she will bring to the demands of her new role the steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much.\"\n\nWhat is the Duchy of Cornwall?\n\nAnother important change for William and Kate will be inheriting the Duchy of Cornwall, the private estate (established by Edward III in 1337) that funds the public, charitable and private activities of the Prince of Wales and his family.\n\nTo put it bluntly, Will and Kate are going to be even richer than they already are.\n\nCharles, as Prince of Wales, made the duchy one of the most lucrative in the kingdom with a variety of projects and initiatives: It's now worth about $1.3 billion. It is huge, including multiple properties, entire towns, farms, an historic mansion-turned-museum, and even a nursery for organic produce. In addition, the duchy promotes Charles' long-time interests in efforts to achieve sustainable markets and fight climate change.\n\nRunning the duchy is a herculean job in itself; Charles has been doing it for decades, along with everything else he did, and now it will be his son's turn.\n\nWilliam has alreadyfor the job. In 2014, he went back to school as a post grad at Cambridge University to take a 10-week course in modern agricultural management.\n\nPrince Charles was an especially busy Prince of Wales, with multiple charitable endeavors, such as the Prince's Trust, and wide-ranging interests in the arts, the environment and organic farming, and various business- and community-boosting projects.\n\nWhat will happen to these causes under Prince William? He has established his own philanthropic profile focused on such issues as mental health awareness and fighting climate change. Will he take over his father's many efforts as well?\n\nIn his speech, the king noted with some regret how much his life and responsibilities will change as the new monarch, but he is confident his heir will carry on.\n\n\"It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply,\" he said. \"But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.\"\n\nWhat other changes have affected William and Kate's family?\n\nEven though the 96-year-old queen's health had been fragile in recent months, and all the members of her family and the nation had been preparing for a change of reign, her death has nevertheless come as a shock for all.\n\nAnd it comes at an especially volatile time for William, Kate and their children. The family just moved from their 20-room apartment in Kensington Palace in London to Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom historic house on the Windsor Castle estate that dates to 1831 but has been renovated multiple times since.\n\nThe move was made in part to be nearer to the late queen while she was living at the castle in the last two years of her life, but also to be nearer to the children's new school . And their first day at Lambrook School in Berkshire was the same day their great-grandmother died.\n\nWill Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's titles change?\n\nNo, but their children might gain titles for the first time.\n\nNow that Charles is king, his two younger grandchildren, Archie, 3, who was born in London, and Lilibet, 1, who was born in California, would theoretically be able to claim the titles prince and princess.\n\nBut it won't be clear whether their parents will do so. And it's not clear whether Charles would be OK with this.\n\nUnder complicated rules dating from the early 20th century, generally only the descendants of a reigning monarch who are closest to the throne, children and grandchildren, are entitled to titles, so to speak, at birth. A monarch can also extend titles to great-grandchildren: Thus, William's three children all got prince or princess titles from their great-grandmother.\n\nWhen Harry's children were born, they were too far back in line as the children of Harry, then-sixth in line and unlikely to inherit the throne.\n\nBut now the Sussex children's grandfather is king and Harry has moved up to fifth in line to the throne. His children are sixth and seventh respectively. Will Harry and his father, who have not been on warm terms recently, come to agreement on this title issue?\n\nIn his speech, the king said this: \"I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas.\"\n\nWill the new reign spur Harry and Meghan to return to the UK?\n\nAside from the royal family's grief at the queen's passing, there is the another kind of sadness overhanging: The current estrangement between self-exiled Harry and Meghan and the family, especially his father and his brother, to whom he was once very close.\n\nAs it happened, Harry and Meghan were in the U.K. when the queen died, on a five-day visit to promote some of their charities. The WellChild Awards gala, which supports sick children and for which Harry has long been patron, went on without them in London Thursday night after the queen died.\n\nInstead, Harry rushed, alone, to Balmoral, to join his father, brother, and his aunt and uncles, the queen's children, who were already at there. Kate also didn't attend.\n\nSince their stunning departure, the Sussexes have been at odds with many members of the royal family (but not the late queen). The recriminations have only increased lately, as the couple have aired their complaints about royal life, including alleged racism in the family and indifference to Meghan's mental-health struggles.\n\nNow Harry is poised to publish an \"intimate\" memoir of his life by the end of the year, raising the prospect of more \"truth bombs,\" as the British tabloids call them, aimed at the royal family and at top palace officials.\n\nBut can the Sussexes and the royals reconcile in grief? Will the change in reign spur the Sussexes to return and resume their royal roles? Will they be willing to give up their freedom and lucrative Netflix and Spotify deals to resume secondary roles behind Will and Kate, the soon-to-be new Prince and Princess of Wales?\n\nNo one in the Sussex camp (or any camp) is saying.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/uk/royal-family-king-charles-iii-intl-gbr/index.html", "title": "Royal family: As King Charles III takes the throne, big changes lie ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nGod save the Queen, long live the King. The second Elizabethan age has come to an end and the royal family will now regroup around a new monarch for the next era in British history.\n\nWhat will change for each of the royals?\n\nCharles\n\nBritain's King Charles III poses for a portrait in Buckingham Palace's Throne Room after his official coronation in May 2023. Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/AP Charles was born at Buckingham Palace on November 14, 1948. His mother was Princess Elizabeth at the time. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, sit on a lawn with their children Prince Charles and Princess Anne in August 1951. Eddie Worth/AP Charles attends his mother's coronation in 1953 with his grandmother, left, and his aunt Margaret. Hulton Deutsch/Corbis Historical/Getty Images Charles, right, shakes hands with Sir Gerald Creasy, the governor of Malta, as he and the rest of the royal family visit Malta in May 1954. Paul Popper/Getty Images Charles rides with his mother and grandmother as they travel to Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Princess Margaret in May 1960. Keystone-France//Getty Images Charles prepares for takeoff during a flying lesson in 1968. In 1971, he earned his wings as a jet pilot and joined the Royal Navy. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II presents Charles to the people of Wales after his investiture as the Prince of Wales in July 1969. Popperfoto/Getty Images Charles walks at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. He was the first royal heir to earn a university degree. Hulton Deutsch/Getty Images Charles, left, rides go-carts with his brother Prince Edward and his sister, Princess Anne, circa 1969. Keystone-France\\Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images Charles meets US President Richard Nixon during a private visit to Washington in July 1970. Popperfoto/Getty Images Charles attends a conference with his father in November 1970. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Charles goes on a safari in Kenya in February 1971. William Lovelace/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles prepares to fire a bazooka while visiting military barracks in West Berlin in October 1972. Popperfoto/Getty Images Charles fishes with a wooden spear circa 1975. Serge Lemoine/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Charles poses for sculptor David McFall in December 1975. Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images Charles smokes a peace pipe during a visit to Canada in July 1977. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images Charles rides a horse during an equestrian event in Cirencester, England, in April 1978. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles, as colonel-in-chief, visits the Cheshire Regiment in Canterbury, England, in November 1978. He served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976, and in 2012 his mother appointed him honorary five-star ranks in the navy, army and air force. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are seen together circa 1979. They dated in the 70s and would eventually marry in 2005. It was the second marriage for both. Their first marriages ended in divorce. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles poses outside the Taj Mahal in India in 1980. Anwar Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images Charles kisses his first wife, Lady Diana Spencer, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in July 1981. Their wedding ceremony was televised. Bettmann Archive/Getty images Charles and Princess Diana leave a London hospital with their first child, William, in July 1982. Anwar Hussein/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles and Diana dance together at a formal event. Tim Graham/Corbis Historical/Getty Images Charles shares a playful pie in the face while visiting a community center in Manchester, England, in December 1983. David Levenson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles walks with natives on a visit to Papua New Guinea in 1984. Anwar Hussein/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles and Diana sit together in Toronto during a royal tour in October 1991. A year later, they were separated. Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles became public in 1993. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles, Diana and their two sons, William and Harry, gather for V-J Day commemorations in London in August 1995. The couple divorced one year later. Johnny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images Charles visits a mosque in London in March 1996. Tim Graham/Getty Images South African President Nelson Mandela talks with Prince Charles in London in July 1996. David Thomson/AFP/Getty Images Charles poses with the Spice Girls in 1997. Tim Graham/Corbis Historical/Corbis/Getty Images Charles and his sons spend time together at the Balmoral Castle estate in Balmoral, Scotland, in August 1997. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles, second from right, and Princess Diana's two sisters meet in Paris after Diana was killed in a car crash there in August 1997. She was 36 years old. Jayne Fincher/Getty Images Charles and his sons follow Diana's hearse in London in September 1997. Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images Charles stands beside his grandmother's coffin while it lies in state at Westminster Hall in London in April 2002. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images Charles carries a specially painted football through the streets of Ashbourne, England, in March 2003. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles watches a parachute regiment during a D-Day re-enactment in Ranville, France, in June 2004. Chris Ison/AFP/Getty Images Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in April 2005. Hugo Burnand/Pool/Getty Images Charles, the Prince of Wales, poses for an official portrait in November 2008. He became King after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Hugo Burnand/Anwar Hussein Collection/WireImage/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II presents Charles with the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honor during a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London in May 2009. WPA Pool/Getty Images Charles and Camilla were on their way to a performance at the London Palladium when their car was attacked by angry student protesters in December 2010. The students were protesting a hike in tuition fees. Matt Dunham/AP Charles and Queen Elizabeth II were among those on the Buckingham Palace balcony after Prince William wed Kate Middleton in April 2011. James Devaney/FilmMagic/Getty Images Charles reads the weather while touring BBC Scotland's headquarters in May 2012. Andrew Milligan/AP Charles meets with US President Barack Obama in the White House Oval Office in March 2015. Chris Radburn-Pool/Getty Images Charles and Camilla react as Zephyr, the bald-eagle mascot of the Army Air Corps, flaps his wings at the Sandringham Flower Show in July 2015. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Members of the royal family pose for a photo at Buckingham Palace in December 2016. From left are Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Charles; Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip; Prince William; and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Getty Images Charles visits the Italian town of Amatrice in April 2017, after an earthquake had hit. Alessandro Bianchi/AFP/Getty Images Charles and Camilla ride on a raft while visiting the island of Borneo in November 2017. Mohd Rasfana/AFP/Getty Images Charles leads three cheers for his mother as the Queen celebrated her 92nd birthday at a London concert in April 2018. Andrew Parsons/AFP/Getty Images From left, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Duchess Camilla and Queen Elizabeth II watch a Royal Air Force flyover in July 2018. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Charles accompanies his future daughter-in-law, Meghan Markle, as she is married to Prince Harry in May 2018. Jonathan Brady/AP Charles lays a wreath at the Cenotaph in London to commemorate Remembrance Day in November 2018. It was also the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Charles poses with family members for an official portrait to mark his 70th birthday. He's holding his grandson Prince George as Camilla sits next to his granddaughter, Princess Charlotte. In the back row, from left, are his grandson Prince Louis; his daughter-in-law Catherine; his son Prince William; his son Prince Harry; and his daughter-in-law Meghan. Chris Jackson/PoolAP Charles speaks at an event in London in March 2020. Later that month, it was announced that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images Charles and Camilla attend the funeral of Charles' father, Prince Philip, in April 2021. Dominic Lipinski/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Camilla looks on as Charles reacts to a bad pour of beer he made at a brewery in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, in May 2022. They were on a three-day Canadian tour. Paul Chiasson/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Charles sits by the Imperial State Crown at the opening of Parliament in May 2022. His mother, the Queen, missed the occasion for the first time since 1963. The 96-year-old monarch had to withdraw due to a recurrence of mobility issues. Ben Stansall/Pool/AP Charles is shown skulls of victims during a visit to the Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial in Nyamata, Rwanda, in June 2022. In 1994, Hutu extremists targeted minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in a three-month killing spree that left an estimated 800,000 people dead, though local estimates are higher. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince Louis, the Queen's great-grandson, holds his hands over his ears as jets roar over Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour parade in London on in June 2022. From left are Prince Charles; the Queen; Prince Louis; Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge; and Princess Charlotte. Hannah McKay/Reuters Charles has his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss after becoming King in September 2022. Yui Mok/Pool/AP The King speaks in the Throne Room at St James's Palace during the Accession Council in London in September 2022. He was formally proclaimed as King. Joining him were his son Prince William and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort. Jonathan Brady/Pool/AP Charles delivers his first address as King from Buckingham Palace. \"As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the Constitutional principles at the heart of our nation,\" he said. Yui Mok/Pool/AP Charles records his first Christmas speech in December 2022. The speech would be broadcast on Christmas Day throughout the United Kingdom. Victoria Jones/Pool/AP The King meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was visiting Buckingham Palace in February 2023. Zelensky made a surprise visit to the UK and gave a speech to the joint houses of Parliament. Aaron Chown/Pool/Reuters The King greets the band Lords of The Lost during a reception in Hamburg, Germany, in March 2023. The King spent three days in Germany for what was his first overseas state visit as monarch Chris Jackson/Getty Images The King sits in Buckingham Palace's Blue Drawing Room in March 2023. Handout/Hugo Burnand/Buckingham Palace/Getty Images The King attends the 200th Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in April 2023. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Charles receives the St. Edward's Crown during his coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in May 2023. Andrew Matthews/Pool/AP Charles and Camilla travel to Buckingham Palace after the coronation ceremony. Sarah Tilotta/CNN The King and Queen stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation. They are joined here by pages of honor who attended them throughout the day. One of the pages was the King's eldest grandson, Prince George, who can be seen second from left. Toby Hancock/CNN Charles and Camilla are pictured with members of the working royal family in May 2023. Hugo Burnand/Royal Household 2023/AP In pictures: Britain's King Charles III Prev Next\n\nThe moment Elizabeth II died, her eldest child, Charles, automatically became monarch. As sovereign, he has chosen to take the name King Charles III.\n\nAll rights and responsibilities of the Crown now rest with King Charles III.\n\nHe becomes head of state not just in the UK but in 14 other Commonwealth realms including Australia and Canada. He will become head of the 56-member Commonwealth, although that is not a hereditary position, after his succession to the role was agreed by Commonwealth leaders at a meeting in London in 2018.\n\nHe has become head of the British Armed Forces, the judiciary and the civil service, and he is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. He is the Fount of Honour, which means all honors, such as knighthoods, will now be given in his name.\n\nThe United Kingdom does not have a codified constitution, so the role of monarchy is defined by convention rather than law. He has a duty to remain politically impartial, which means he will come under greater scrutiny if he continues to express the views he is known for.\n\nHe has championed alternative medicines and organic farming techniques. In 1984, he hit out at the “glass stumps and concrete towers” of modern architecture. He has spent decades warning of the dangers of climate change. In the so-called “black spider” memos, he raised the issues he was concerned about directly with ministers.\n\nIn a BBC documentary to mark his 70th birthday, Charles acknowledged having ruffled feathers with his past interventions. But he promised not to meddle in controversial affairs once sovereign, saying he would operate within “the constitutional parameters.”\n\nElizabeth stayed “above politics” and never expressed herself in any way on any issue and as a result she rarely divided opinion. She managed to retain popular support and cross-party support in parliament, which was the one body with the power to dethrone her.\n\nWe will never know what she discussed in her regular audiences with her prime ministers, beginning with Churchill, but Charles is a more outspoken character. Will he go quiet on policy matters in public but continue to lobby in private? Will the prime minister act on it?\n\nThe prime ministerial audiences are one of several constitutional duties to which King Charles III will be expected to step up and they will bring him in regular contact with policymakers. He appoints the prime minister, opens parliamentary sessions, approves legislation and official appointments, receives the credentials of foreign ambassadors and hosts world leaders on state visits.\n\nCharles has also adopted the symbolic position as Head of Nation, meaning he becomes the symbol of national identity, unity, and pride. He represents continuity and celebrates excellence on behalf of the country. That’s why we see the monarch opening national events and leading commemorations.\n\nPeople would look to Elizabeth in times of crisis, but will they rally around King Charles III in the same way? He is more divisive not just because of his honest views but also because of the bad taste still left from his acrimonious divorce from his immensely popular first wife, Diana.\n\nAll the official royal residences including Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle will now be under his control. There are also other residences such as Balmoral in Scotland and Sandringham in Norfolk which the Queen owned privately – and the nation will have to see to whom she leaves them in her will.\n\nEither way, Charles’ wealth has ballooned. By far the biggest slice of the family’s fortune, the £16.5 billion ($19 billion) Crown Estate, now belongs to him as reigning monarch. But under an arrangement dating back to 1760, the monarch hands over all profits from the estate to the government in return for a slice, called the Sovereign Grant.\n\nThe estate includes vast swathes of central London property and the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has the status of a corporation and is managed by a chief executive and commissioners — or non-executive directors — appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister.\n\nThe grant, which covers the cost of his official duties and amounted to £86.3 million ($99.2 million) for the 2021/2022 financial year. He will take charge of the Royal Collection, which includes one of the most valuable art collections in the world. He also picks up the Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate dating back to 1265, which was valued at about £653 million ($764 million) according to its most recent accounts. Income from its investments cover official costs not met by the Sovereign Grant, and helps support other Royal family members.\n\nKing Charles III has become one of the richest men in England overnight.\n\nCamilla\n\nCharles and Camilla attend the Order of the Garter Service at St George's Chapel on June 13, 2022 in Windsor, England. Toby Melville/Getty Images\n\nFor years, the big question around Charles’ wife surrounded her title. At the time their wedding was announced in February 2005, the official statement said: “It is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title HRH The Princess Consort when The Prince of Wales accedes to The Throne.” That was a very clear signal that Camilla would not use the title of Queen. Her office at Clarence House distanced itself from that statement in the intervening years, however, saying it was a matter for the reigning monarch.\n\nThen, in February 2022, the Queen expressed her desire for her daughter-in-law to be known as Queen Consort when Charles became King in a message marking the start of her platinum jubilee year – a statement that appeared to resolve the issue for good.\n\nThe Queen’s wishes were welcomed by the couple themselves. That same weekend, a statement released by a spokesperson said they had been “touched and honoured by Her Majesty’s words.”\n\nWhere will the couple live? Well, traditionally the new monarch would move into Buckingham Palace but in 2011, the BBC reported that Charles was considering moving his entire court to Windsor and turning Buckingham Palace into an events center. That would be a dramatic and controversial shift but might also assert King Charles III as the new boss.\n\nWilliam and Catherine\n\nWilliam and Catherine are pictured with their children, George, Charlotte and Louis, and the Queen, Charles and Camilla at Buckingham Palace during platinum jubilee celebrations on June 5, 2022. Toby Hancock/CNN\n\nUp until now, Charles has been responsible for covering the costs of his heir, Prince William.\n\nWilliam has now inherited his father’s titles of The Duke of Cornwall, which comes with an estate which last year delivered an income of £23 million ($26 million). That money now goes straight to William and he becomes independently wealthy.\n\nHis new title is HRH The Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge and tradition dictates that, as first in line to the throne, he also becomes Prince of Wales. And Catherine becomes Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge.\n\nWilliam and Catherine will be able to solidify their own independent court, which is currently based at Kensington Palace in west London, in an apartment that was refurbished shortly after their marriage. It seems unlikely that William would want to move, so the King’s former residences, including Clarence House and Birkhall in the Scottish Highlands, will likely remain vacant until Charles offers them to other members of the family, or finds an alternative use. The family resides at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor during school term time.\n\nPrince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will follow their parents’ titling. They are now Their Royal Highnesses Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis of Cornwall and Cambridge. Colloquially they are likely to be known as George, Charlotte and Louis Wales.\n\nHarry and Meghan\n\nMeghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry react as they attend the annual One Young World Summit in Manchester, north-west England on September 5, 2022. Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images\n\nIt’s unlikely that Charles’ second son, Harry, will be offered a royal office unless he and wife Meghan return to their royal duties, and the King would also need to confirm that they can continue to use Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate, which is part of the royal estate. They currently live with son Archie and daughter Lilibet in California but were allowed to continue using Frogmore as their official residence during the Queen’s reign.\n\nWhen Harry and Meghan announced in early 2020 that they were stepping back from royal duties, they said they would “work to become financially independent.” The terms of the split stipulated that while the pair would always remain part of the family, they would no longer use their HRH titles.\n\nAs grandchildren of the monarch, Archie now automatically becomes Prince Archie of Sussex while Lilibet will be Princess Lilibet of Sussex. Whether they use those titles will only become known the first time their parents refer to them publicly.\n\nPrince Andrew and other family members\n\nKing Charles III also becomes responsible for distributing roles, responsibilities and resources to other members of the royal family.\n\nCharles has never been close to his brother Andrew, who stepped back from royal duties over his links to the late disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2022 he was stripped of his HRH title, as well as others associated with the military and charity roles. That raises the question of whether the new King continues to allow Andrew to use his Buckingham Palace apartment and offers financial support.\n\nThen there are his other siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, and more distant relatives such as the Gloucesters and Kents who retain royal residences at Kensington.\n\nPrincess Anne attends a service at St Giles' Cathedral on June 30, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images\n\nCharles will need to decide how much family support he needs to carry out his duties and who he wants to offer it. Then he can reveal what support he offers in return. Many of these decisions would already have been taken and the first telling signs of where his loyalties lie will be seen in who gets to keep which residences and especially who gets an upgrade.\n\nAnne and Edward, and his wife Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, are expected to continue with their public duties following decades of dedicated service but the new King needs to balance that against pressure for a slimmed down monarchy in austere times.\n\nTo get updates on the British Royal Family sent to your inbox, sign up for CNN’s Royal News newsletter.", "authors": ["Max Foster"], "publish_date": "2022/09/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/03/10/prince-edward-duke-edinburgh-title-king-charles/11442529002/", "title": "King Charles gives Prince Edward their dad's title: Duke of Edinburgh", "text": "King Charles III is giving his youngest brother a birthday gift that can't be wrapped with a bow: a new royal title.\n\nBuckingham Palace announced Friday that the king gave Prince Edward, formerly known as the Earl of Wessex, the title of Duke of Edinburgh to honor the prince's birthday. The title was created in 1947 for their father, Prince Philip, who died in April 2021.\n\nOne of Philip’s legacies is the Duke of Edinburgh awards, a popular youth activities program set up in 1956.\n\n\"The new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh are proud to continue Prince Philip’s legacy of promoting opportunities for young people of all backgrounds to reach their full potential,\" Buckingham Palace said.\n\nHere's what to know about Prince Edward, Queen Elizabeth's youngest son, and his new title.\n\nThe king's coronation:King Charles III's coronation oil has special connection to late mother Queen Elizabeth II\n\nWho is Prince Edward?\n\nPrince Edward is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September, and Prince Philip. He was born March 10,1964.\n\nBefore becoming a full-time working royal, Prince Edward spent a brief time in the Marines before resigning and also spent time in the 90s working in television production.\n\nHe married his wife, Countess Sophie in 1999 and together they have two children: Lady Louise Windsor, 19, and son James, 15, who now holds the title Earl of Wessex.\n\nWhy is Prince Edward the Duke of Edinburgh?\n\nKing Charles III donned his brother with the Duke of Edinburgh title on Edward's 59th birthday.\n\nIt's not the first time he was given titles on special days. On his wedding day in June 1999, he was given the Earl of Wessex title. In 2019, Queen Elizabeth gave him a second title, Earl of Forfar, for his 55th birthday.\n\nBefore becoming queen, Elizabeth II, held the title of Duchess of Edinburgh giving Prince Philip the title upon marriage. Prince Philip held the title until his death in 2021 at the age of 99. It had been Philip’s wish that Edward should get the dukedom after he and the queen had both died.\n\nUpon Prince Edward's new Dukedom, his wife Sophia will now be the Duchess of Edinburgh.\n\nMore title changes, including Prince Harry and Meghan's children\n\nPrince Edward's new title comes a day after Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's children officially got royal titles on the palace's website.\n\nThe royal line of succession updated the names of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's children to Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex on Thursday. Previously, the website had the 4-year-old and 21-month-old's names, respectively, as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Miss Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.\n\nThe news arrived when Princess Lilibet's christening was announced in a statement from Harry and Meghan, marking the first time the couple has publicly called their daughter a princess.\n\nThat's prince and princess to you:Harry and Meghan's kids get new titles, palace website says\n\nContributing: Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/08/world/royal-family-line-of-succession/index.html", "title": "The British royal family line of succession explained | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nCharles has become Britain’s new King following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at the age of 96.\n\nThe Queen became the sixth female to ascend to the British throne in February 1952, after the death of her father, King George VI. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, serving for more than 70 years.\n\nCharles, the Queen’s eldest son, immediately ascended to the throne as King, putting his elder son, William, first in line for the throne.\n\nHere’s what we know about the British royal family’s line of succession.\n\nKing Charles III\n\nCharles, the Prince of Wales, poses for an official portrait in November 2008. He became King after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Hugo Burnand/Anwar Hussein Collection/WireImage/Getty Images Charles was born at Buckingham Palace in London on November 14, 1948. His mother was Princess Elizabeth at the time. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, sit on a lawn with their children Prince Charles and Princess Anne in August 1951. Eddie Worth/AP Charles attends his mother's coronation in 1953 with his grandmother, left, and his aunt Margaret. Hulton Deutsch/Corbis Historical/Getty Images Charles, right, shakes hands with Sir Gerald Creasy, the governor of Malta, as he and the rest of the royal family visit Malta in May 1954. Paul Popper/Getty Images Charles rides with his mother and grandmother as they travel to Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Princess Margaret in May 1960. Keystone-France//Getty Images Charles prepares for takeoff during a flying lesson in 1968. In 1971, he earned his wings as a jet pilot and joined the Royal Navy. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II presents Charles to the people of Wales after his investiture as the Prince of Wales in July 1969. Popperfoto/Getty Images Charles walks at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. He was the first royal heir to earn a university degree. Hulton Deutsch/Getty Images Charles, left, rides go-carts with his brother Prince Edward and his sister, Princess Anne, circa 1969. Keystone-France\\Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images Charles meets US President Richard Nixon during a private visit to Washington in July 1970. Popperfoto/Getty Images Charles attends a conference with his father in November 1970. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Charles goes on a safari in Kenya in February 1971. William Lovelace/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles prepares to fire a bazooka while visiting military barracks in West Berlin in October 1972. Popperfoto/Getty Images Charles fishes with a wooden spear circa 1975. Serge Lemoine/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Charles poses for sculptor David McFall in December 1975. Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images Charles smokes a peace pipe during a visit to Canada in July 1977. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images Charles rides a horse during an equestrian event in Cirencester, England, in April 1978. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles, as colonel-in-chief, visits the Cheshire Regiment in Canterbury, England, in November 1978. He served in the Royal Navy from 1971 to 1976, and in 2012 his mother appointed him honorary five-star ranks in the navy, army and air force. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are seen together circa 1979. They dated in the 70s and would eventually marry in 2005. It was the second marriage for both. Their first marriages ended in divorce. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles poses outside the Taj Mahal in India in 1980. Anwar Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images Charles kisses his first wife, Lady Diana Spencer, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in July 1981. Their wedding ceremony was televised. Bettmann Archive/Getty images Charles and Princess Diana leave a London hospital with their first child, William, in July 1982. Anwar Hussein/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles and Diana dance together at a formal event. Tim Graham/Corbis Historical/Getty Images Charles shares a playful pie in the face while visiting a community center in Manchester, England, in December 1983. David Levenson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles walks with natives on a visit to Papua New Guinea in 1984. Anwar Hussein/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles and Diana sit together in Toronto during a royal tour in October 1991. A year later, they were separated. Charles' affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles became public in 1993. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles, Diana and their two sons, William and Harry, gather for V-J Day commemorations in London in August 1995. The couple divorced one year later. Johnny Eggitt/AFP/Getty Images Charles visits a mosque in London in March 1996. Tim Graham/Getty Images South African President Nelson Mandela talks with Prince Charles in London in July 1996. David Thomson/AFP/Getty Images Charles poses with the Spice Girls in 1997. Tim Graham/Corbis Historical/Corbis/Getty Images Charles and his sons spend time together at the Balmoral Castle estate in Balmoral, Scotland, in August 1997. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles, second from right, and Princess Diana's two sisters meet in Paris after Diana was killed in a car crash there in August 1997. She was 36 years old. Jayne Fincher/Getty Images Charles and his sons follow Diana's hearse in London in September 1997. Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images Charles stands beside his grandmother's coffin while it lies in state at Westminster Hall in London in April 2002. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images Charles carries a specially painted football through the streets of Ashbourne, England, in March 2003. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles watches a parachute regiment during a D-Day re-enactment in Ranville, France, in June 2004. Chris Ison/AFP/Getty Images Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles in April 2005. Hugo Burnand/Pool/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II presents Charles with the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honor during a visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London in May 2009. WPA Pool/Getty Images Charles and Camilla were on their way to a performance at the London Palladium when their car was attacked by angry student protesters in December 2010. The students were protesting a hike in tuition fees. Matt Dunham/AP Charles and Queen Elizabeth II were among those on the Buckingham Palace balcony after Prince William wed Kate Middleton in April 2011. James Devaney/FilmMagic/Getty Images Charles reads the weather while touring BBC Scotland's headquarters in May 2012. Andrew Milligan/AP Charles meets with US President Barack Obama in the White House Oval Office in March 2015. Chris Radburn-Pool/Getty Images Charles and Camilla react as Zephyr, the bald-eagle mascot of the Army Air Corps, flaps his wings at the Sandringham Flower Show in July 2015. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Members of the royal family pose for a photo at Buckingham Palace in December 2016. From left are Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Charles; Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip; Prince William; and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Getty Images Charles visits the Italian town of Amatrice in April 2017, after an earthquake had hit. Alessandro Bianchi/AFP/Getty Images Charles and Camilla ride on a raft while visiting the island of Borneo in November 2017. Mohd Rasfana/AFP/Getty Images Charles leads three cheers for his mother as the Queen celebrated her 92nd birthday at a London concert in April 2018. Andrew Parsons/AFP/Getty Images From left, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Duchess Camilla and Queen Elizabeth II watch a Royal Air Force flyover in July 2018. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Charles accompanies his future daughter-in-law, Meghan Markle, as she is married to Prince Harry in May 2018. Jonathan Brady/AP Charles lays a wreath at the Cenotaph in London to commemorate Remembrance Day in November 2018. It was also the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Charles poses with family members for an official portrait to mark his 70th birthday. He's holding his grandson Prince George as Camilla sits next to his granddaughter, Princess Charlotte. In the back row, from left, are his grandson Prince Louis; his daughter-in-law Catherine; his son Prince William; his son Prince Harry; and his daughter-in-law Meghan. Chris Jackson/PoolAP Charles speaks at an event in London in March 2020. Later that month, it was announced that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images In pictures: Britain's King Charles III Prev Next\n\nBorn: November 14, 1948\n\nWhat to know: Charles was the longest serving British monarch-in-waiting; he was the heir apparent since the age of three.\n\nPresident of The Prince’s Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and president or patron of more than 400 charitable organizations, Charles was the first royal heir to earn a university degree.\n\nMore key relatives: Diana, Princess of Wales, to whom he was married from 1981 to 1996. They had two children together: Princes William and Harry.\n\nPrincess Diana remains a beloved figure more than 20 years after her untimely death. See more photos of the British icon and the legacy she left behind. Terence Donovan/Camera Press/Redux Diana, seen here on her first birthday, was born Diana Frances Spencer on July 1, 1961. She was born into a noble family in Sandringham, England. Her father, John, was Viscount Althorp before becoming the 8th Earl Spencer in 1975. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Diana circa 1965. Growing up, she attended private schools in England and Switzerland. Central Press/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Diana poses with her brother, Charles, in 1968. She also had two sisters, Sarah and Jane. Anonymous/AP Diana, far right, is photographed with her father, John, and her three siblings circa 1970. Sarah is on the far left and Jane is next to Diana. When Diana was 7 years old, her parents divorced and her father was given custody of the children. Keystone/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images A teenage Diana receives a \"kiss\" from her pony, Scuffle, in 1974. A year later, she became Lady Diana after her grandfather died and her father became the 8th Earl Spencer. Hulton Archive/Getty Images After finishing school, Diana worked various jobs, including cook, nanny and kindergarten teacher. Here she is in 1980 with two children she looked after as a nanny. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Diana and Camilla Parker-Bowles visit the Ludlow racecourse in October 1980, where Prince Charles was competing as a jockey. Diana and Charles would be engaged just a few months later. Prince Charles admitted in 1994 to a relationship with Parker-Bowles while still married to Diana; Charles and Camilla wed in 2005. Express Newspapers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Diana looks startled after stalling her new car outside her London apartment in November 1980. Tom Stoddart Archive/Premium Archive/Getty Images Diana is surrounded by photographers shortly before it was announced that she was engaged to Prince Charles. Ian Tyas/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Diana and Charles pose at Buckingham Palace after the announcement of their engagement on February 24, 1981. Hulton Deutsch/Corbis Historical/Getty Images Diana and Charles arrive at Goldsmith Hall in London for a charity recital in March 1981. PA/AP The couple poses with Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in March 1981. Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images The royal wedding was held July 29, 1981, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It was estimated that more than 700 million people watched the ceremony on television. Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Charles and Diana kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony after being married. Tim Graham/Getty Images During their honeymoon, Charles and Diana leave Gibraltar on the royal yacht Britannia. Tim Graham/Getty Images The couple spends part of their honeymoon in Scotland. Serge Lemoine/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Charles and Diana attend the Grand National horse race in April 1982. Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images In June 1982, Diana gave birth to her first child, William. Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana greets a child while visiting Wrexham, Wales, in November 1982. David Levenson/Corbis Historical/Getty Images Charles, William and Diana pose for a photo at Kensington Palace in February 1983. Tim Graham/Tim Graham Photo Library/Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana gave birth to a second son, Harry, in September 1984. David Levenson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Charles kisses his wife after a polo match in Cirencester, England, in June 1985. Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana watches her boys play at the piano in Kensington Palace in October 1985. Tim Graham/Tim Graham Photo Library/Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana helps William with a puzzle in October 1985. Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana attends a polo match that her husband played in Palm Beach, Florida, in November 1985. Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Diana dances with actor John Travolta at the White House in November 1985. Dancing behind Travolta are US President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan. A few years ago, Diana's blue velvet dress -- nicknamed the \"Travolta dress\" -- was auctioned for 240,000 British pounds ($362,424 US). Anwar Hussein/WireImage/WireImage Diana holds up Harry in the garden of Highgrove House, a royal residence in Gloucestershire, England, in July 1986. Tim Graham/Getty Images William rides a miniature pony at Highgrove House. Tim Graham/Getty Images Prince Harry shows a bit of his personality on the Buckingham Palace balcony in June 1988. Steve Holland/AP Diana and her two boys walk outside the Wetherby School in London in April 1990. Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Diana and her sons go skiing in Lech, Austria, in April 1991. Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana and Charles sit together during a royal tour of Toronto in October 1991. Tim Graham/Getty Images Diana visits Egypt in May 1992. Tim Graham/Getty Images Charles and Diana attend a memorial service during a tour of South Korea in November 1992. A month later, it was announced that they had formally separated. PA/AP Diana and her sons visit Thorpe Park, a theme park in Surrey, England, in April 1993. Julian Parker/UK Press/Getty Images Diana arrives at the Serpentine Gallery in London in June 1994. Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images A police officer holds back a photographer as Diana walks by in July 1996. It had just been announced that Diana and Charles had divorced. Martin Godwin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Diana talks to amputees in Angola, where she traveled in January 1997 to bring attention to the anti-land mine campaign of the International Red Cross. Sitting on her lap is Sandra Thijica, a 13-year-old who lost her left leg to a land mine. JOAO SILVA/ASSOCIATED PRESS Diana wears protective gear as she visits minefields in Angola in January 1997. Antonio Cotrim/EPA/Redux Diana visits Cape Town, South Africa, and meets with South African President Nelson Mandela in March 1997. Premium Archive/Gallo Images/Getty Images Diana holds hands with Mother Teresa after they met in New York in June 1997. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images This photo, taken from surveillance video, shows Diana arriving at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on August 30, 1997. It is one of the last photos of her alive. Handout/PA Wire/PA Photos/AP Diana is seen in a Ritz Hotel elevator with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. After leaving the hotel, the couple was killed in a high-speed car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris. PA Wire/PA Photos/AP Wreckage is lifted away after the car Diana was in crashed into a pillar on August 31, 1997. Fayed and driver Henri Paul died at the scene. Diana died at a Paris hospital a few hours later. A French investigation concluded that Paul was legally drunk at the time and responsible for the accident. In 2008, a British coroner's jury found that Diana and Fayed were unlawfully killed because of the actions of Paul and pursuing paparazzi. PIERRE BOUSSEL/AFP/Getty Images On the eve of Diana's funeral, the Queen and Prince Philip look at floral tributes left outside Buckingham Palace. More than 1 million bouquets of flowers were left at Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace and St. James's Palace in the wake of Diana's death. Rex Features/Shutterstock Diana's coffin is carried into London's Westminster Cathedral in September 1997. Watching at the bottom, from left, is Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Charles Spencer, Prince William and Prince Philip. JOHN GAPS III/AP POOL/ASSOCIATED PRESS Princess Diana: Her life and legacy Prev Next\n\nDiana died in 1997 following a car accident in Paris, along with boyfriend Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul.\n\nIn 2005, Charles married Camilla, the Queen Consort.\n\nPrince William, Prince of Wales\n\nAs the first-born child to Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, Prince William has never been far from the public eye. Richard Stonehouse/Getty Images Prince Charles and Princess Diana leave the hospital with newborn William on June 22, 1982. Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images Prince William is watched by his parents as he takes his first steps in public at Kensington Palace in 1983. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images William is accompanied by nanny Barbara Barnes as he leaves St. Mary's Hospital in London in 1984. He was visiting his mother and his newborn brother, Prince Harry. PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo From the balcony of Buckingham Palace, a young Prince William watches the Trooping of the Colour in 1985. He is joined by Lady Gabriella Windsor, left, and Lady Zara Phillips. PA Photos/Landov Prince William waves from a carriage en route to the wedding of his uncle Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson in 1986. Sahm Doherty/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images William attends his first day at Wetherby School in 1987. Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images Charles and his family visit Spain in 1988. Anwar Hussein/Getty Images William and Harry ride bicycles with their parents while on vacation in the Isles of Scilly in 1989. PA Images/Getty Images William shovels sand onto his mother while playing on a beach in 1990. Rob Taggart/Reuters/Alamy William and Harry wave from the deck of the Royal Yacht Britannia in 1991. Anwar Hussein/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Princess Diana and Prince William wait for Prince Harry after attending an Easter Sunday church service at Windsor Castle in 1992. Dylan Martinez/Reuters Prince William grimaces after riding Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World in Florida in 1993. He was with friends of the royal family on a three-day vacation. Bob Pearson/AFP/Getty Images Prince William accompanies his mother to a tennis match at Wimbledon in 1994. Adam Butler/PA Images/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William and Prince Charles attend a service commemorating V-J Day outside Buckingham Palace in 1995. Andrew Winning/AFP/Getty Images Prince Charles and Prince Harry, at left, stand for anthems as Prince William, right, looks around during the Five Nations rugby championship in 1996. Ben Radford/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Prince William and his brother bow their heads after their mother's funeral at Westminster Abbey in 1997. Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. William was 15 at the time, and Harry was 12. Adam Butler/AFP/Getty Images Prince William receives flowers from an adoring crowd in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1998. He was on a weeklong vacation with his father and brother, though they also made time for official engagements. Kim Stalknecht/AFP/Getty Images Britain's Queen Mother joins Prince Charles and his sons during an occasion marking her 99th birthday in 1999. Ken Goff/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images Prince William hammers a log while helping construct walkways in a remote village in Chile in 2000. Toby Melville/AFP/Getty Images William, left, and Harry take part in an exhibition polo match in Gloucestershire, England, in 2001. Anthony Harvey/Getty Images Members of the royal family stand vigil besides the Queen Mother's coffin in 2002. Prince William, right, stands alongside Prince Harry, Princess Anne and Sophie of Wessex. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images A London office worker licks a first-class stamp that was issued to mark Prince William's 21st birthday in 2003. Commemorative coins were also minted for the occasion. Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images Prince William makes his water polo debut for the Scottish national universities squad during the annual Celtic Nations tournament in April 2004. William was attending the University of St. Andrews. Barry Batchel/AFP/Getty Images Prince William celebrates his 30th birthday in June 2004. AFP/Getty Images William graduates from St. Andrews University in 2005. He earned a degree in geography. Bruno Vincent/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II glances up at William, right, as she inspects the parade at the Royal Military Academy in 2006. William graduated as an Army officer and later went on to receive his Royal Air Force pilot's wings. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images Prince William and Prince Harry speak on stage with Elton John, far left, during a concert they put on to celebrate Princess Diana in 2007. The event fell on what would have been their mother's 46th birthday. Getty Images Prince William sports a beard for the first time in public at a Christmas Day church service in 2008. He was clean-shaven by early January. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William walks with a group of homeless people during a 2009 hike with Centrepoint, the United Kingdom's largest youth charity for the homeless. William became the patron of the organization in 2005. ohn Giles/WPA Pool/Getty Images During an official overseas visit in 2010, Prince William is welcomed to Sydney with a traditional smoke ceremony. Eddie Mulholland/Pool/Getty Images Prince William kisses his wife, Catherine, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their wedding on April 29, 2011. The two met while attending the University of St. Andrews. Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images William and Catherine meet with US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama while the Obamas visited Buckingham Palace in May 2011. Charles Dharapak/Pool/AP William throws a foam javelin during a visit to Nottingham, England, in 2012. He and his wife were in the city as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee tour, marking the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Phil Noble/AFP/Getty Images William and Catherine depart St. Mary's Hospital in London with their newborn son, George, in July 2013. Scott Heavey/Getty Images William and Catherine sit in front of the Taj Mahal while on a royal tour of India in April 2016. Ian Vogler/Pool/Getty Images Prince William and Prince Harry try out \"Star Wars\" lightsabers during a tour of the movie sets in Iver Heath, England, in April 2016. Adrian Dennis/WPA Pool/Getty Images William and Catherine join from left, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Charles; Queen Elizabeth II; and Prince Philip at a Buckingham Palace reception in December 2016. Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Getty Images William and Harry are joined by Peter Phillips, left, during a ceremonial procession at the funeral of Prince Philip in April 2021. Alastair Grant/Pool/AP William and Harry unveil a statue they commissioned of their mother on what would have been her 60th birthday in July 2021. Dominic Lipinski/WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince William sits by the Imperial State Crown during the opening of Parliament in May 2022. Ben Stansall/Pool/AFP/Getty Images William and Catherine stand with their children -- from left, Louis, Charlotte and George -- on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Trooping the Colour parade in June 2022. Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images This photo of Prince William and his children in Jordan was released by Kensington Palace in June 2022. Kensington Palace/Getty Images William is seen driving Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, as they arrive at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on the day Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images The heir apparent: Britain's Prince William Prev Next\n\nBorn: June 21, 1982\n\nWhat to know: William, Prince of Wales is first in line to the throne. He has achieved the highest educational degree – Master of Arts – of any member of the royal family. He served in the military from 2006 to 2013, participating in more than 150 helicopter search and rescue operations.\n\nMore key relatives: Catherine, Princess of Wales, whom he married in 2011. The couple have three children together: Prince George, 9; Princess Charlotte, 7; and Prince Louis, 4.\n\nBritain's Prince William and his wife, Catherine, walk with their three children -- from left, George, Charlotte and Louis -- in Norfolk, England. The photo was featured on the family Christmas card in December 2022. Matt Porteous/WPA Pool/Shutterstock Prince Louis is pushed in a wheelbarrow by his mother in Windsor, England, in April 2023. The photo was released by Kensington Palace to mark Louis' fifth birthday. Millie Pilkington/The Prince and Princess of Wales/AP William and Catherine meet a boy dressed as a royal guard while visiting Boston in December 2022. The royal couple was in Boston to attend the Earthshot Prize Awards that William founded two years prior. Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images William and Catherine walk with Prince George and Princess Charlotte at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images William and Catherine arrive with George, Louis and Charlotte at a school in Bracknell, England, in September 2022. Jonathan Brady/Pool/Getty Images Prince Louis holds his hands over his ears as jets roar over Buckingham Palace during the Trooping the Colour parade in London in June 2022. From left are Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Charles; Queen Elizabeth II; Louis; Catherine; Charlotte; George; and William. Chris Jackson/Getty Images This photo of Prince William and his children in Jordan was released by Kensington Palace to celebrate Father's Day in June 2022. Handout/Kensington Palace/Getty Images William and Catherine play drums while visiting the Trench Town Culture Yard Museum in Kingston, Jamaica, in March 2022. They were on a royal tour of the Caribbean. Chris Jackson/Getty Images This image provided by Kensington Palace made the family's Christmas card in 2020. Matt Porteous/The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge/Kensington Palace/Getty Images William and Catherine visit an air squadron in London in April 2021. During the visit, the squadron paid tribute to William's late grandfather, Prince Philip , who served as Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Air Training Corps for 63 years. Ian Vogler/WPA Pool/Getty Images William and Catherine attend the funeral service of Prince Philip in April 2021. Yui Mok/WPA Pool/Getty Images William and Catherine visit Westminster Abbey, where a Covid-19 vaccination center had been set up in London in March 2021. Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty Images William, Catherine and their children arrive for a pantomime performance at the London Palladium Theatre in December 2020. They were there to thank key workers and their families for their efforts throughout the pandemic. Aaron Chown/Pool/AFP/Getty Images William watches Catherine pour a tray of bagel dough into a container during a visit to a London bakery in September 2020. Justin Tallis/Pool/AFP/Getty Images The royal family meets with naturalist David Attenborough at Kensington Palace in September 2020. This was after a private screening of Attenborough's latest environmental documentary, \"A Life On Our Planet,\" which focuses on the harm that has been done to the natural world in recent decades. Twitter/KensingtonRoyal Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, follow William and Catherine after attending the annual Commonwealth Service in London in March 2020. Phil Harris/Pool/AFP/Getty Images William and Catherine visit a settlement of the Kalash people in Chitral, Pakistan, in October 2019. Samir Hussein/Pool/Getty Images William and Catherine escort Princess Charlotte -- accompanied by her brother, Prince George -- as Charlotte arrives for her first day of school in September 2019. Aaron Chown/Pool/AFP/Getty Images The family is photographed during Trooping the Colour, the Queen's annual birthday parade, in June 2019. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Catherine shows William and Queen Elizabeth II around the \"Back to Nature Garden\" that she helped designed as they visit the Chelsea Flower Show in London in May 2019. Geoff Pugh/AFP/Getty Images Prince William kisses his son Louis as they pose for a photo in Norfolk that was taken by Catherine in 2019. The Duchess of Cambridge/Kensington Palace/Getty Images From left, William, Catherine, Meghan and Harry arrive for a Christmas Day church service in 2018. Stephen Pond/Getty Images Catherine holds Prince Louis after arriving for his christening service in London in July 2018. Dominic Lipinski/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Catherine holds their newborn baby son Louis outside a London hospital on April 23, 2018. Tim Ireland/AP Prince William holds the hands of George and Charlotte as they visit the hospital to meet their new brother. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images Harry, Meghan, Catherine and William attend the Royal Foundation Forum in London in February 2018. Chris Jackson/Getty Images William and Catherine attend the BAFTA Awards in London in February 2018. Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Getty Images Catherine is escorted to dinner by Norwegian King Harald V during a visit to Norway in February 2018. William is escorted by Norway's Queen Sonja. Chris Jackson/Getty Images This image of William, Catherine, George and Charlotte was used for the family's 2017 Christmas card. Chris Jackson/Kensington Palace/Getty Images Paddington Bear dances with Catherine during a charity event in London in October 2017. Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images The royal family arrives at the airport in Berlin for a three-day visit in Germany in July 2017. Steffi Loos/AFP/Getty Images This photo of Charlotte was taken in April 2017 by her mother. HRH The Duchess of Cambridge via Getty Images Charlotte is held by her mother as her family ends an eight-day tour of Canada in October 2016. At left is her brother George and her father. Mark Large/Getty Images William and Catherine released new photos of Prince George to mark his third birthday in July 2016. Here he plays with the family's pet dog, Lupo. Matt Porteous/Kensington Palace Members of the royal family gather on a balcony in June 2016 during celebrations marking the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. Catherine is holding Charlotte. Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images Kensington Palace released four photos of Princess Charlotte ahead of her first birthday in May 2016. Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge/AP US President Barack Obama talks with Prince William as Catherine plays with Prince George in April 2016. The President and first lady Michelle Obama were visiting Kensington Palace. Pete Souza/Kensington Palace/Ap Prince George gets a boost from some foam blocks for a special family photo in April 2016. The portrait, featuring the four generations of the House of Windsor, was commissioned by the Royal Mail and would be featured on a series of stamps to commemorate the Queen's 90th birthday. Ranald Mackechnie/Royal Mail via AP William and Catherine pose with their children during a trip to the French Alps in March 2016. John Stillwell/Pool via AP The family poses for a Christmas photo in December 2015. Chris Jelf/PA/PA Princess Charlotte plays with a stuffed dog in this photo taken by her mother in November 2015. HRH DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE/Getty Images William and Catherine pose with their children at Charlotte's christening in July 2015. Mario Testino/Art Partner/Getty Images Princess Charlotte is seen with her big brother for the first time in this photo released by Kensington Palace in June 2015. HRH The Duchess of Cambridge William and Catherine present their newborn daughter as they leave a London hospital in May 2015. LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images The royal family celebrates Prince George's first birthday with a trip to the Natural History Museum in July 2014. John Stillwell/AFP/Getty Images The royal family waves to a crowd before boarding a plane in Wellington, New Zealand, in April 2014. They went on a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images The royal couple attends the Tusk Conservation Awards at the Royal Society in London in September 2013. Danny E. Martindale/Getty Images William and Catherine start an ultra-marathon in Holyhead, Wales, in August 2013. It was Catherine's first public appearance since the birth of Prince George. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images The couple are pictured with their newborn boy, Prince George, in 2013. The new parents released two family photographs taken by Michael Middleton, Catherine's father. MICHAEL MIDDLETON via AFP/Getty Images William, Catherine and their newborn son depart St. Mary's Hospital in London in July 2013. John Stillwell/WPA-Pool/Getty Images In April 2013, Harry, Catherine and William visit the set used to depict Diagon Alley in the \"Harry Potter\" films. Paul Rogers - WPA Pool/Getty Imagesa William and Catherine attend a St. Patrick's Day parade as they visit Aldershot, England, in March 2013. Toby Melville - WPA Pool/Getty Images In September 2012, the couple drank coconut milk from a tree that Queen Elizabeth II planted decades ago in the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu. Arthur Edwards - Pool/Getty Images Catherine and William celebrate during cycling events at the Olympic Games in London in August 2012. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II, William and Catherine stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 2012. Stefan Wermuth - WPA Pool/Getty Images As part of their charity work, the couple attended a \"healthy living cookery session\" in London in December 2011. Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images The newly married royal couple watches a rodeo demonstration at a government reception in Calgary, Alberta, in July 2011. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Catherine shovels soil during a tree-planting ceremony in Ottawa in July 2011. Lionel Hahn - Pool/Getty Images William and Catherine attend a Snowbirds air show during Canada Day celebrations in July 2011. Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Obamas meet with the royal couple at Buckingham Palace in May 2011. Charles Dharapak - WPA Pool/Getty Images The newlyweds walk hand in hand from Buckingham Palace the day after their wedding in April 2011. John Stillwell - WPA Pool/Getty Images After their wedding on April 29, 2011, the couple drove from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House in a vintage Aston Martin. Chris Radburn - WPA Pool/Getty Images William and Catherine kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their wedding ceremony in London. John Stillwell-WPA Pool/Getty Images The pair returned to their alma mater in St. Andrews, Scotland, in February 2011. They launched a fundraising campaign for a new scholarship. Andrew Milligan -WPA Pool/Getty Image The couple poses for photographers to mark their engagement in November 2010. Catherine received the engagement ring that belonged to William's late mother, Diana. BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images The couple cheers on the English rugby team during the Six Nations Championship match in London in February 2007. Richard Heathcote/Getty Images The couple takes a photo after graduating from the University of St. Andrews in June 2005. They met at school and even shared a house with others while students. Middleton Family/Clarence House/Getty Will and Kate's royal family Prev Next\n\nThe family live in Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom property on the grounds of Windsor Castle, Berkshire, about 25 miles from London. Their London residence, Kensington Palace, will remain the family’s principal residence, however, a royal source told CNN in August.\n\nPrince George\n\nPrince George attends the memorial service for the Duke Of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey on March 29, 2022. Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images\n\nBorn: July 22, 2013\n\nWhat to know: If all goes as planned and he becomes King after the reigns of his grandfather Prince Charles and his father Prince William, George – now second in line – will be the 43rd monarch since William the Conqueror.\n\nBut for now, he’s still brushing up on his education: George currently attends Lambrook School near Windsor along with his younger sister, Princess Charlotte and his younger brother, Prince Louis.\n\nPrincess Charlotte\n\nPrincess Charlotte, in a photo taken by her mother, appears before her seventh birthday on May 2, 2022. The Duchess of Cambridge/Handout/Getty Images\n\nBorn: May 2, 2015\n\nWhat to know: Third in line to the throne, Princess Charlotte was born into a more equitable era: In 2011, the British monarchy abolished a rule that gave preference to male heirs over their sisters in the line of succession.\n\nPrince Louis\n\nPrince Louis ahead of his fourth birthday on April 23, 2022. The photograph was taken earlier in April in Norfolk by his mother. The Duchess of Cambridge/Getty Images\n\nBorn: April 23, 2018\n\nWhat to know: Prince Louis, fourth in line to the throne, arrived during a busy season for the royal family; he was born just weeks before the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.\n\nAs is tradition, a golden easel bearing a framed notice announcing the birth was placed on display in front of Buckingham Palace that afternoon. The practice of posting a bulletin on the occasion of a royal birth goes back to at least 1837, when Buckingham Palace became the British monarch’s official residence.\n\nPrince Harry, Duke of Sussex\n\n\"Every picture has a back story,\" says Jackson. This one was shot in Nepal in 2016. \"We were spending a night in a village up in the foothills and watching the sunrise. That was an amazing moment for me, and I'm sure it was for Prince Harry as well... A lot of the pictures are quite energetic and that's great, but this is more of a rarity and quite pensive.\" Leorani, Nepal, March 2016. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Meghan first appeared alongside Harry at the Invictus Games in Canada in September last year. \"No one knew that was going to happen,\" Jackson says. \"It was a nice surprise for everyone.\" Toronto, Canada, September 2017. Chris Jackson/Getty Images \"Things happen quite quickly with Harry,\" says Jackson. After presenting a Norwegian wheelchair rugby player with a gold medal at last year's Invictus Games, Harry spontaneously kissed him on the head. \"That was a great moment -- and it makes a great picture,\" says Jackson. Toronto, Canada, September 2017. Chris Jackson/Getty Images \"I always love going on a Prince Harry tour,\" says Jackson. \"There are elements of formality as well as more relaxed moments.\" Surama, Guyana, December 2016. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry meets medical alert dog Jasmine as he visits venues ahead of the opening of the 2016 Invictus Games. Orlando, US, May 2016. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry posed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a trip to Toronto in 2016. \"Formality and ceremony are very much part of your job as a royal. It's not always relaxed,\" says Jackson. \"(Harry) seems to have a strong bond with Trudeau. It was nice to photograph these two together.\" Toronto, Canada, May 2016. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry (back right) watches the annual \"Trooping the Colour\" parade with other members of the royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. \"That's one of few times we see the whole royal family out on the balcony,\" says Jackson. \"It's great to capture these relaxed moments.\" London, UK, June 2015. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry performs a \"hongi\" (traditional Maori greeting) while on a trip to New Zealand. Wanganui, New Zealand, May 2015. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry plays touch rugby with schoolchildren during a trip to New Zealand. Palmerston North, New Zealand, May 2015. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry \"connects with (kids) in a very unique way,\" says Jackson. \"He gets stuck in with whatever they're doing.\" On this occasion, the prince was visiting the Thuso Centre in Lesotho for children living with multiple disabilities. Butha-Buthe, Lesotho, December 2014. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry was visiting Oman in 2014 when Jackson took this picture. \"The chap was showing him a sword dance and offered him a sword and shield,\" he says. \"He's got a real sense of humor and he's not just going to stand there. It makes a great picture and makes my job a lot easier.\" Muscat, Oman, November 2014. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry and his older brother William share a joke with their father Charles during the Invictus Games in 2014. London, UK, September 2014. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry watches for the riders at the finish of the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France. The three young royals \"seem to get on very well,\" says Jackson. Harrogate, UK, July 2014. Chris Jackson/Getty Images There's a \"huge amount of respect\" between Harry and his older brother William, says Jackson. \"From what I've seen, they work very closely.\" Cirencester, UK, July 2013. Chris Jackson/Getty Images During a visit to Jamaica, Prince Harry challenged world-class sprinter Usain Bolt to a race. \"I remember it so clearly,\" says Jackson. \"Prince Harry sprinted off leaving Bolt trailing in his wake. That caught me by surprise... That's the kind of thing that happens with Harry. You've got to learn to always be ready.\" Kingston, Jamaica, March 2012. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Harry has been a keen polo player for many years. This shot, one of Jackson's earliest as royal photographer for Getty Images, was taken during a match against Virginia State polo in 2005. Cirencester, UK, July 2005. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince Harry through the lens of Getty royal photographer Chris Jackson Prev Next\n\nBorn: September 15, 1984\n\nWhat to know: Fifth in line to the throne, Prince Harry also trained in the military. In 2008, the British Ministry of Defense announced that Harry had secretly been serving in Afghanistan with his Army unit on a four-month mission since December 2007.\n\nHe was quickly withdrawn for security reasons, but later returned as an Apache helicopter pilot in 2012. In 2015, after nearly a decade of service, he announced he was leaving the armed forces.\n\nThe Duke of Sussex is also the founder of the Invictus Games, an international sporting competition for injured servicemen and women. The first games were held in London in 2014.\n\nMore key relatives: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, whom he married in 2018. The couple welcomed their first child, son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in May 2019. Their daughter, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born in June 2021.\n\nArchie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor\n\nIn early 2020, the pair announced that they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the British royal family. They now live in the US.\n\nPrince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex tend to Archie Mountbatten-Windsoron September 25, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Toby Melville - Pool/Getty Images) Toby Melville/Pool/Getty Images\n\nBorn: May 6, 2019\n\nWhat to know: In a significant milestone across the Commonwealth and within British society, baby Archie made history by becoming the first biracial British child in the royal family.\n\nWhen he was born – at which point he became seventh in line – he didn’t immediately qualify for the title of prince, and Buckingham Palace told CNN at the time that his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had chosen not to use any title at all for their son.\n\nNow that Charles has become King, Prince Harry’s son – who is now sixth in line – will be eligible to become His Royal Highness Prince Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.\n\nLilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor\n\nBorn: June 4, 2021\n\nWhat to know: Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born in Santa Barbara, California, in June 2021 following the decision of her parents, Harry and Meghan, to step back from royal life in the UK and move to the US.\n\nHer unusual name is a tribute to her great-grandmother, the Queen – Lilibet was her childhood nickname. Baby Lili’s middle name, Diana, “was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced in a statement.\n\nSeventh in line to the throne, the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild is the most senior royal in the line of succession to have been born overseas.\n\nPrince Andrew, Duke of York\n\nPrince Andrew is seen in August 2017. Julian Finney/British Athletics/Getty Images Prince Andrew was born February 19, 1960, as the second son to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. -/AFP via Getty Images Prince Andrew sits on his father's lap during a holiday in Scotland in September 1960. At left is his sister, Princess Anne. At right, next to the Queen, is his brother Prince Charles. Associated Press The royal family poses for photos in 1968. Prince Andrew is at bottom right. He is joined by his parents and his three siblings, including his younger brother, Prince Edward. Associated Press The Queen looks at a photo album with Andrew, left, and Edward in 1971. Hulton Archive/Getty Images From left, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Andrew attend an equestrian event in 1972. Dieter Klar/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images Prince Andrew is photographed on his 18th birthday in 1978. Associated Press Prince Andrew receives a Green Beret award at an event in 1980. He served in the British Royal Navy for 22 years and was a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War. Associated Press Prince Andrew is second from right in this photo taken at the 1981 wedding of his brother Prince Charles. BIPNA/Associated Press Prince Andrew poses next to a helicopter in 1982. Keystone/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images Girls line up to give flowers to Prince Andrew as he arrives in Portsmouth, England, for an event in 1983. Press Association/AP The prince is face to face with a cow during a royal tour of Canada in 1985. James Gray/Daily Mail/Shutterstock In July 1986, Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson. They were the ultimate \"It\" couple of the late 1980s. Their wedding drew a TV audience of hundreds of millions. Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, visit Canada in 1987. Ferguson, a commoner, was said to bring a breath of fresh air to the royal family. John Shelley Collection/Avalon/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of York pose during their Canadian holiday in 1987. Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images The couple holds their first child, Beatrice, in 1988. They had two children together before their high-profile divorce in 1996. Associated Press Prince Andrew holds hands with his two daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, after arriving for a dinner in London in 1997. Dave Caulkin/Associated Press The prince lines up a putt during a celebrity golf tournament in 1998. Tim Ockenden/PA Images/Getty Images Prince Andrew attends a party with girlfriend Aurelia Cecil in 1999. Richard Young/Shutterstock Prince Andrew poses with Donald Trump and Trump's future wife, Melania, at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2000. Davidoff Studios Photography/Archive Photos/Getty Images The prince attends a Formula 1 party in London in 2000. Richard Young/Shutterstock Prince Andrew visits the Royal Hospital School in Holbrook, England, in 2006. Mark Cuthbert/UK Press/Getty Images Prince Andrew, back left, poses with his parents and his siblings for a family photo in 2007. Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/Getty Images Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein walk through New York's Central Park in 2011. The Sun/MEGA The prince was installed as chancellor of the University of Huddersfield in 2015. Lynne Cameron/PA Wire/Press Association Images/AP Prince Andrew and his parents watch horse racing in Epsom, England, in 2016. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Princess Eugenie is accompanied by her father during her wedding in 2018. Yui Mok/AFP/Getty Images Prince Andrew talks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the annual Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance, which took place in London in November 2019. Chris Jackson/AP In pictures: Britain's Prince Andrew Prev Next\n\nBorn: February 19, 1960\n\nWhat to know: Prince Andrew is the third of the Queen’s four children, and eighth in line to the British throne. He served in the British Royal Navy for 22 years and was a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War.\n\nIn 2019, the prince announced that he was going to step back from public duties after a controversial interview in which he denied allegations that he had sex with an underaged woman who said she had been trafficked by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nAndrew, who has been under intense scrutiny for his decades-long friendship with Epstein, said in a statement announcing his decision that the association became “a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organizations and charities that I am proud to support.”\n\nWhile he’s still a prince, Andrew no longer has an official role.\n\nMore key relatives: Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, whom Andrew married in 1986.\n\nSarah and Andrew had two children together – Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie – before a high-profile divorce in 1996.\n\nPrincess Beatrice\n\nPrincess Beatrice arrives for the wedding of Princess Eugenie on October 12, 2018. (Steve Parsons/Pool via Reuters) Steve Parsons/Pool via Reuters\n\nBorn: August 8, 1988\n\nWhat to know: Princess Beatrice, ninth in the line of succession to the British throne, married real estate specialist Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a private ceremony in July 2020. The wedding was a significantly pared-back event attended by the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and close family to ensure compliance with Covid-19 guidelines at the time.\n\nIn September 2021, she gave birth to daughter Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, who became the 10th in line to the throne.\n\nBeatrice, 34, has a royal title but works a regular, full-time day job as vice president of partnerships and strategy at tech company Afiniti.\n\nPrincess Eugenie\n\nBritain's Princess Eugenie of York and her husband Jack Brooksbank emerge from St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle on Friday, October 12 after their wedding ceremony. STEVE PARSONS/AFP/Getty Images Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank travel in the Scottish State Coach at the start of their carriage procession following their wedding at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank wave at the start of their carriage procession. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank leave St. George's Chapel after their wedding. TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice and the bridesmaids and page boys, including Prince George and Princess Charlotte, wave as the bride and groom depart from the chapel. TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank kiss on the steps of St. George's Chapel. TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip wait for the arrival by open carriage of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank following their wedding. Alastair Grant/Pool via REUTERS British model Cara Delevingne leaves after the ceremony. MATT CROSSICK/AFP/Getty Images Sophie, Countess of Wessex, left, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William leave after the wedding. Gareth Fuller/AP The newlyweds walk down the aisle. JONATHAN BRADY/AFP/Getty Images Dean of Windsor David Conner presides over the wedding ceremony. JONATHAN BRADY/AFP/Getty Images Britain's royal family is seen attending the ceremony. OWEN HUMPHREYS/AFP/Getty Images Nicola and George Brooksbank are seen before the start of the wedding ceremony. Jonathan Brady/AP Princess Eugenie walks down the aisle with her father, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. POOL/X80003/REUTERS Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attend the wedding. OWEN HUMPHREYS/AFP/Getty Images Prince Andrew walks his daughter Princess Eugenie of York down the aisle. Danny Lawson/WPA Pool/Getty Images The bridesmaids and page boys, including Prince George and Princess Charlotte, arrive for the wedding. Yui Mok/Pool via REUTERS Princess Eugenie and her father Prince Andrew make their way up the steps at St. George's Chapel. Toby Melville/Reuters Princess Eugenie pauses on her way into the chapel. NEIL HALL/EPA/EPA-EFE Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, wait for the ceremony to begin. Danny Lawson/AP Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is serving as a bridesmaid. Toby Melville/Reuters Princess Eugenie arrives by car. DARREN STAPLES/X90183/REUTERS The bride's mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, and Princess Beatrice of York wave from outside St. George's Chapel. STEVE PARSONS/AFP/Getty Images Ricky Martin arrives. Will Oliver/EPA/Rex/Shutterstock Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, head into the chapel. Adrian Dennis/Pool via Reuters Naomi Campbell arrives. Gareth Fuller/WPA Rota/REUTERS Singer Robbie Williams and film and television star Ayda Field, his wife, arrive ahead of the wedding. Gareth Fuller/Pool via AP Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, arrives for the royal wedding. TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS Eric Buterbaugh and Demi Moore make their way to the ceremony. Gareth Fuller/WPA Pool/Getty Images Stephen Fry and his husband Elliott Spencer walk toward the chapel.. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images Guests assemble at Windsor Castle. Adrian Dennis/AP Chelsy Davy, left, arrives. Matt Crossick/AP Musician George Barnett and model Pixie Geldof outside Windsor Castle. Gareth Fuller/AP A fan of the royal family takes up a position outside Windsor Castle. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Royal supporters get into position holding the Union Jack outside the castle. Leon Neal/Getty Images In photos: Princess Eugenie's royal wedding Prev Next\n\nBorn: March 23, 1990\n\nWhat to know: The younger York sister is 11th in the line of succession, and, after her cousin Prince Harry, was the second royal to throw a massive wedding in 2018.\n\nShe wed Jack Brooksbank, a brand ambassador for Casamigos tequila, which was founded by George Clooney and Rande Gerber, husband of supermodel Cindy Crawford. Like her sister, Princess Eugenie has a fairly everyday job: she works as the director of the Hauser & Wirth art gallery in London.\n\nIn February 2021, she gave birth to her son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, who is the 12th in line to the throne.\n\nPrince Edward, Earl of Wessex\n\nPrince Edward, Earl of Wessex, meets young recipients of the award during the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award presentations at Buckingham Palace on May 22, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images) WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images\n\nBorn: March 10, 1964\n\nWhat to know: The youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Prince Edward is 13th in line to the British throne. He’s currently a full-time working member of the royal family. Prince Edward previously trained as a cadet in the Royal Marines and worked as a theater and TV producer.\n\nMore key relatives: Sophie, Countess of Wessex, whom Prince Edward married in 1999. The couple have two children together, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.\n\nJames, Viscount Severn\n\nJames, Viscount Severn and Lady Louise Windsor during Trooping The Colour, the Queen's annual birthday parade, on June 8, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson Collection/Getty Images\n\nBorn: December 17, 2007\n\nWhat to know: Despite being younger than his sister Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, the Viscount Severn is ahead of her in the line of succession because of the previous rule that saw the British monarchy favor male heirs over their sisters. He is 14th in line to the throne.\n\nLady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor\n\nLady Louise Windsor during Trooping The Colour on the Mall on June 9, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson Collection/Getty Images\n\nBorn: November 8, 2003\n\nWhat to know: The oldest child of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor is now 15th in line to the throne. Her parents chose more subdued royal titles and, with the permission of the Queen, gave their children titles in the style of an earl rather than prince and princess.\n\nAnne, the Princess Royal\n\nHer Royal Highness The Princess Royal attends the Commissioning Ceremony of HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base on December 7, 2017 in Portsmouth, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Chris Jackson/Getty Images\n\nBorn: August 15, 1950\n\nWhat to know: The second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Anne was third in the line of succession at birth – but today she’s No. 16, behind her brothers and their children and grandchildren.\n\nPicture taken on February 26, 1970 showing Prince Charles and Princess Anne of the royal family. (Photo by CENTRAL PRESS PHOTO LTD /AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images\n\nWidely known as an expert horsewoman, the Princess Royal competed as an equestrian in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal – just two years after surviving a kidnapping attempt. Today she’s part of the International Olympic Committee in addition to serving various charitable organizations.\n\nMore key relatives: Capt. Mark Phillips, the Princess Royal’s first husband, with whom she has two children: Peter and Zara. Phillips, an army officer, was a commoner who declined to receive a royal title; Anne also declined her mother’s offer to give titles to Peter and Zara.\n\nOlympic mission — Having given birth to her first child in January, Zara Phillips has since returned to competition and helped Great Britain qualify for the 2016 Olympics with her performance at August's FEI World Equestrian Games. Alex Livesey/Getty Images Mother and daughter — Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter gave birth to Mia Grace Tindall on January 17, 2014. Mia is 16th in line for the British throne. Matthew Horwood/Getty Images Sporting couple — Mia's father is rugby star Mike Tindall, who married Phillips on July 30, 2011. Dylan Martinez/AFP/Getty Images Family ties — In September 2014, Phillips and her husband took part in a wheelchair rugby exhibition match during the Invictus Games for war veterans organized by her cousin Prince Harry (pictured behind). Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images for Invictus Games/file London success — After missing out in 2004 and 2008 due to her horse Toytown sustaining injuries, Phillips had to wait until 2012 before she participated in her first Olympics, in which she won a silver medal in the team equestrian event. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images In the family — She was presented her medal by her mother, Princess Anne, who participated in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal as a member of Britain's equestrian team. Alex Livesey/Getty Images Golden heritage — Her father Mark Phillips, left, was part of Britain's gold-medal-winning eventing team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and he also won silver at Seoul '88. McCabe/Express/Getty Images/file Champion of the world — The 33-year-old Zara is a former world champion, taking gold in 2006, and won European titles in 2005 and 2007. JOCHEN LUEBKE/AFP/Getty Images Zara Phillips eyes Olympic gold Prev Next\n\nAnne and Phillips divorced in 1992, and the Princess Royal went on to marry Royal Navy officer and equerry to the Queen, Timothy Laurence, that same year.\n\nTo get updates on the British Royal Family sent to your inbox, sign up for CNN’s Royal News newsletter.", "authors": ["Cnn Staff"], "publish_date": "2022/09/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/09/15/king-charles-iii-age-wife-who-is-he/10375776002/", "title": "Prince Charles is now King Charles III. Here's what to know about ...", "text": "After more than 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II's steady reign over the United Kingdom, Prince Charles ascended the throne upon her death and is now King Charles III.\n\nThe first-born son of the queen and her late husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Charles was next in line for the throne from the time he was 3 years old, making him the longest serving, and the most prepared, heir to the throne in British history.\n\nElizabeth was the reigning monarch from February 1952, when she was 25, up until her death at 96 last week.\n\nNow that Charles has become king, people (especially Americans) are asking questions about who he is, his role in the royal family and what he is expected to do during his reign.\n\nHere's everything to know about King Charles III.\n\nNow begins the reign of King Charles III:What kind of sovereign will he be? Not like his mother\n\nWho is King Charles III of the United Kingdom?\n\nBorn, Nov. 14, 1948, Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband, Prince Philip. Upon the death of the queen on Sept. 8, 2022, Charles, formerly known as Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, became king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.\n\nKing Charles is known for his previous marriage to the late Princess Diana. The couple had two children, Prince William and Prince Harry.\n\nMore Q&As:King Charles III succeeds Queen Elizabeth. What to know about British royal line.\n\nWhen will Charles be crowned?\n\nLegally, Charles became king from the moment of the queen's death, meaning he is head of state for the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a dozen other countries. He's also the titular head of the Church of England, head of the military and the judiciary, and carries a host of other royal titles and duties.\n\nThe name he chose as his regnal, or reign, name is his own first name, Charles, and it is followed by the Roman numeral III because he is the third king Charles in British history.\n\nIn the days following the queen's death, Charles was formally proclaimed as monarch in an accession ceremony and gave his first formal address as king.\n\nCharles will likely be crowned within the year; the ancient ritual of the coronation requires advance planning, although a lot of that has already been done. But there hasn't been a coronation since June 1953 when the late queen was crowned.\n\nKing Charles speech:Read the full transcript from his first national address following queen's death\n\nHow old is King Charles III?\n\nHe is 73, the oldest monarch to ever take the British throne.\n\nSurvival of the monarchy:Why Queen Elizabeth II's funeral is more than just ceremony\n\nWho is first in line to become king after Charles?\n\nPrince William, King Charles' elder son and formerly the Duke of Cambridge, is next in line for the throne under the British line of succession.\n\nCharles named William, 40, the new Prince of Wales in an announcement on his first full day as king. As a result, William's wife Catherine, or Kate as she is widely known, also 40, became Princess of Wales. She is the first to hold that title since the death of Princess Diana in 1997.\n\nAfter Prince William, the line of succession turns to Prince William and Princess Kate's children. The succession is as follows:\n\nPrince William, the Prince of Wales (Charles and Diana's first-born son) Prince George of Wales (Will and Kate's first-born son) Princess Charlotte of Wales (Will and Kate's second-born daughter) Prince Louis of Wales (Will and Kate's third-born son) Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex (Charles and Diana's second-born son)\n\nMore:What happens to the other royals under King Charles III and his new slimmed-down monarchy?\n\nIs King Charles married?\n\nCharles is married to the former Camilla Parker Bowles, who was known as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. She is now the Queen Consort.\n\nLegally, Camilla was the Princess of Wales when she married Charles in 2005 but it was decided at the time she would assume one of the Charles' lesser titles instead. Diana long blamed Camilla for the breakup of her marriage to Charles and public fury remained when Camilla and Charles married eight years after Diana's death in a car crash in Paris.\n\nWhen did Charles marry Camilla?\n\nCharles married Camilla in 2005 in two ceremonies in Windsor. Right after the reception for 800 guests at Windsor Castle, the couple left for a honeymoon in Scotland.\n\nFew Brits thought the wedding would actually happen. A future king had never married a divorced woman. Plus, Camilla was once the most despised woman in Britain, the alleged home-wrecker who broke up the marriage of Charles and Diana.\n\nBut by the couple's 10th wedding anniversary, public perception of Camilla began to change as the royal family, including the queen, embraced her. Charles once said she would never be called Queen Camilla when he assumed the throne. His wishes on that later changed, and the late queen made if official in February 2022 when she announced she wanted her heir's second wife to be known as Queen Consort.\n\nWhen were Prince Charles and Princess Diana married?\n\nCharles was first married to Lady Diana Spencer, later known as the beloved Princess Diana. They were married for 15 years from 1981 to 1996. Diana was 20 and Charles was 32 at the time of their nuptials. The wedding was billed as a fairy tale, but their married life was not.\n\nAs the public would learn later, Charles had always been in love with Camilla, a woman he’d met over a decade prior in 1970. During the marriage of Charles and Diana, there were affairs on both sides.\n\nThe royal couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.\n\nDiana, Charles and Camilla:The love triangle of the century\n\nWhat will Camilla be called now?\n\nPeople could call her just Queen Camilla, but her official title is Queen Consort Camilla, or Camilla, the Queen Consort.\n\nThe vexing question of what to call her once Charles assumed the throne was resolved when the late queen announced during festivities marking her seven decades on the throne that the then-Duchess of Cornwall should be known as Queen Consort, as opposed to Princess Consort, when Charles became king.\n\n\"Queen Consort\" is the fancy name for the wife of a reigning king. In general, a queen consort's job is to support the king in any way she can. As with the first lady of the United States, there's no job description, no official duties and no salary. But there's high visibility, high pressure and high expectations from the public whose taxes pay for the monarchy.\n\nCamilla's new title, explained:What's the difference between queen and 'Queen Consort'?\n\nIf King Charles dies, will Camilla be queen?\n\nWhile we call her Queen Camilla, she will never be the reigning queen. Only members of the royal family who are born in the direct line of succession can become the monarch.\n\nWith Prince William and his son Prince George, 9, the next two in line for the throne after King Charles, a reigning queen is unlikely to come anytime soon. (There have only been six reigning queens in British history since 1066.)\n\nWho are King Charles’ siblings?\n\nKing Charles has three siblings: From oldest to youngest, Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, 72, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, 62, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, 58. They are all children of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.\n\nCharles' only sister, Princess Anne, is a full-time working royal, currently 16th in line for the throne. She appears in line after her younger brothers because she was born before the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013, which ended the system of male primogeniture.\n\nBefore the rules changed, younger sons would displace an elder daughter in the line of succession. Now the succession is based on birth order, not gender: Thus, Princess Charlotte, 7, is now third in line and ahead of her younger brother Prince Louis, 4, who is fourth.\n\nPrince Andrew is eighth in line for the throne despite his scandal-ridden history. He's been under fire in Britain since at least 2011 for his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted American sex offender who died in jail in 2019. After a disastrous 2019 TV interview about his relationship with Epstein, Andrew officially stepped back from public duties and as a senior working royal.\n\nEarlier this year, Andrew settled a lawsuit with an American sexual assault accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who had been airing allegations against him publicly since 2015.\n\nCharles' youngest brother, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, is a full-time working royal and is 13th in line for the throne.\n\nWhat is King Charles III known for?\n\nBeyond his role in the royal family as William and Harry's father, the queen's son and the new king, Charles is known for his long and steady service as the Prince of Wales, as he carried out his official and ceremonial duties and established more than 20 charities, including The Prince's Trust, The Prince's Foundation and The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.\n\nAs Queen Elizabeth's mobility waned in the months before her death, Charles stepped in for the monarch, including standing in for her for the first time at the state opening of Parliament this year, when he delivered what has long been called \"the Queen's Speech.\" Now it will be called \"the King's Speech.\"\n\nWhat are King Charles' interests? Did he serve in the military?\n\nKing Charles has shown keen interest in environmental causes including organic farming, architecture and urban planning, and fighting climate change. He served in the military, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy in the 1970s, and will no doubt be on hand for many military parades and events during his reign.\n\nAs king, Charles is expected to \"slim down\" the monarchy – reduce the number of working senior royals supported by taxpayers – and reduce the overall multimillion-pound annual cost of the royal show.\n\nMore:How much power did Queen Elizabeth II actually have? And will King Charles III have more or less?\n\nContributing: Maria Puente, Marco della Cava, Andrea Mandell", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/09/09/prince-harry-meghan-children-royal-title-questions-king-charles/8032555001/", "title": "Will Prince Harry, Meghan's kids get royal titles from King Charles?", "text": "Queen Elizabeth II's death Thursday brought – among many things – a new title for her son, formerly Prince Charles. Will the reign of now-King Charles III bring new titles for Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's children, too?\n\nIt could, if tradition continues. But ultimately, it's Charles' decision now – and if he were to sign off, Harry and Meghan would still need to agree, too.\n\nAnd lately, they have not been on good terms.\n\nWhen Harry and Meghan welcomed their first-born, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, in 2019, the current royal rules stated that he would not automatically receive a title, with the understanding that that could change once Charles ascended the throne.\n\nBut as the couple laid out in their tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview last year, the lack of title presented greater issues, because it meant their children – the first Black descendants of the royal family – could not, as a consequence, get royal security coverage despite intense media attention.\n\nRead the obituary:Queen Elizabeth II dies at 96; King Charles III takes the throne\n\nNow begins the reign of King Charles III:What kind of sovereign will he be? Not like his mother\n\n\"If he’s not going to be a prince, it’s like, 'OK, well, he needs to be safe, so we’re not saying don’t make him a prince.' … But if you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect their protection, we haven’t created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder,\" Meghan told Winfrey of her frustrations with the palace. \"You’ve allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe.\"\n\nUnder the King George V Convention, a legal document from 1917 that expresses the royal will, the children and grandchildren of a monarch should be dubbed prince or princess. As the closest descendants most likely to ever assume the throne, they are usually given those titles at birth.\n\nThe monarch could also decide to extend those titles to great-grandchildren. Thus, Prince William's children – Prince George, now second in line; Princess Charlotte, third in line; and Prince Louis, fourth in line – were granted their titles at birth by their great-grandmother, the late queen.\n\nWhen his children were born, Harry was sixth in line to the throne. Now he is fifth, Archie is sixth and Lilibet is seventh. The queen's other great-grandchildren (there are 12 in total) behind the Sussex children in the line of succession were not given prince or princess titles, either.\n\nBut even with tradition, Charles and Harry's relationship could complicate things: Harry told Winfrey last year that his father \"stopped taking my calls\" amid their decision to step back as senior members of the royal family. And given that decision and their subsequent move to California, Harry and Meghan could also choose to turn down the titles they once sought for their children.\n\nQueen Elizabeth updates:King Charles makes William, Kate Prince and Princess of Wales\n\nThe palace has not released any new information about title changes for the royals. The official website of the royal family has been updated to note that Prince William is now first in the line of succession, though no names down the line have been changed. USA TODAY has reached out to Buckingham Palace and Harry and Meghan's representatives for comment.\n\nMore:What happens to the other royals under King Charles III and his new slimmed-down monarchy?\n\nAnd:A look at the British royal family tree, spanning four generations", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/09/19/queen-elizabeth-funeral-princess-kate-charlotte-clothing-jewelry/10424099002/", "title": "Princess Kate, Charlotte, Duchess Meghan honor queen in funeral ...", "text": "Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday, a ceremony full of all the pomp and splendor the monarchy can offer, was steeped in tradition and purpose – including the attire worn by the royal family members.\n\nSeas of men in military uniform and women in black dresses lined the pews and streets of London. And if you looked closely at accoutrements worn by some members of the royal family, you will find meaningful nods to a beloved matriarch.\n\nSee how funeral guests dressed for the solemn affair that was also celebratory of the queen's 96 years of life and more than 70 years of service to the U.K.\n\nQueen Elizabeth II funeral:Live updates as royal family lays longest-serving monarch to rest\n\nPrincess Charlotte dons sweet horseshoe brooch\n\nPrincess Charlotte, who attended the state funeral for Britain's longest-reigning monarch at Westminster Abbey, matched her mother, Catherine, Princess of Wales in a simple black dress topped with black overcoat, paired with black tights and black shoes.\n\nOn Princess Charlotte's coat, she wore a dainty brooch in the shape of a horseshoe, a tribute to the queen, her great-grandmother, who had a lifelong passion for horses. The queen often attended races and was also a successful owner and breeder.\n\nMore:Prince George, Princess Charlotte to attend Queen Elizabeth's state funeral\n\nPrincess Kate wears jewelry from the queen\n\nPrincess Kate, the wife of Prince William, wore two pieces of jewelry that once belonged to her husband's grandmother, the queen. She wore Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings and a four-strand pearl choker necklace, both from the queen's collection, People reported.\n\nArchive photos show Queen Elizabeth wearing the necklace for a state banquet in Bangladesh in 1983. The earrings were a gift to the queen for her wedding in 1947, according to the magazine.\n\nKate wore the same necklace to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, who died last year.\n\nPrincess Kate is often spotted wearing sparkling pieces previously donned by the queen.\n\nWhat's next for Will and Kate? King Charles names them the Prince and Princess of Wales\n\nBoth Kate and Charlotte, 7, also wore sophisticated, short-brimmed black hats wrapped in a black ribbon. Kate's had a traditional mourning veil.\n\nBlack hats were difficult to find ahead of the queen's funeral, according to local outlets. The Daily Mail reported that Princess Beatrice left a hat store empty-handed amid a shortage of black hats in London.\n\nPrince William, Prince George coordinate in navy blue\n\nKate and Charlotte sat beside husband and father Prince William, who is next in line for the throne. William's father, now King Charles III, the first-born son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, immediately became king upon the queen's death Sept. 8.\n\nWilliam and Kate's eldest son, Prince George, 9, who is now second in line to the throne, also attended. Prince William wore a military uniform and hat and the young George coordinated with dad in a navy blue suit and black tie.\n\nPrince Harry wears military medals, Duchess Meghan also honors queen\n\nPrince Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, sat in the second row behind his father, while William, Kate, George and Charlotte sat across the aisle in the first row.\n\nHarry wore a black suit and his military medals, but not his military uniform. Royal experts have explained that only working members of the royal family will wear the military uniform for the five events during the late monarch's period of mourning and state funeral. Harry and Meghan stepped back from their royal roles and moved to California two years ago. They share two young children, Archie, 3 and Lilibet, 1, who were not seen at the funeral.\n\nHarry did wear the uniform during a vigil on Saturday.\n\nHarry and Meghan:Could their children gain royal titles now?\n\nMore:Prince Harry gives touching tribute to his 'Granny' and her 'infectious smile'\n\nMeghan, like Kate, also wore delicate pearl earrings from the queen. She wore a black dress, hat and her signature cape and hat.\n\nWhile the Prince William and Prince Harry sat separately during the ceremony, they walked side-by-side during the procession.\n\nQueen Consort Camilla pays tribute to queen alongside King Charles III\n\nThe new king of the U.K., King Charles, wore his military uniform, while his wife, Queen Consort Camilla wore a black coat dress with elegant fascinator hat with a netted veil.\n\nCamilla's dazzling brooch was also presumably from the queen. The piece is Queen Victoria's Hesse Diamond Jubilee brooch, Harper's Bazaar reported. The queen consort has worn the brooch to previous engagements.\n\nPrince Charles is now King Charles III:Here's what to know about UK's new monarch\n\nCamilla's new title, explained:What's the difference between queen and 'Queen Consort'?\n\nIt features the number 60 in Slavonic characters, the number of years in a Diamond Jubilee reign, and is surrounded by diamonds. It was gift to Queen Victoria from her grandchildren, given to her in 1897, according to the magazine.\n\nCamilla may have worn the brooch to symbolize the queen's long reign.\n\nPresident Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden dress in classic black\n\nPresident Joe Biden was among many world leaders who traveled to the U.K. to attend the queen's funeral.\n\nThey arrived at Westminster Abbey in the president's armored limousine, called The Beast. When Biden arrived to the funeral, he did not say anything or address the press. He wore a classic black suit and the first lady wore black skirt with matching black blazer and a fascinator.\n\nThe queen's funeral, expected to be the biggest gathering of world leaders in years, drew in millions of people to the streets of London Monday and likely billions more to their TVs and computer screens.\n\nContributing: Maria Puente, Hannah Yasharoff, Naledi Ushe", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/19"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_1", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/09/30/iowa-2nd-congressional-district-ashley-hinson-liz-mathis-election-2022-voting-guide/10389728002/", "title": "What Ashley Hinson and Liz Mathis say about abortion, inflation in ...", "text": "Des Moines Register staff\n\nNortheast Iowa voters will choose between Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Liz Mathis for Congress this year in the newly redrawn district.\n\nHinson, the incumbent U.S. representative, won the seat in 2020 by defeating a Democratic incumbent. Mathis, a state senator, is seeking to unseat her this year.\n\nBoth candidates are running competitive campaigns and have support from the national Democratic and Republican parties as control of Congress hangs in the balance.\n\nIowa's 2nd Congressional District includes 22 counties in Iowa's northeast corner.\n\nTo help voters, the Des Moines Register sent questions to all federal, statewide and Des Moines area legislative candidates running for political office this year. Their answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.\n\nEarly voting begins Oct. 19 for the Nov. 8 election.\n\nMore:A guide to voter rights in Iowa. What you need to know before you cast a ballot\n\nWho is Ashley Hinson?\n\nAge: 39\n\nParty: Republican\n\nWhere did you grow up? West Des Moines\n\nCurrent town of residence: Marion\n\nEducation: Valley High School in West Des Moines; studied broadcast journalism from the University of Southern California.\n\nOccupation: Former journalist/news anchor\n\nPolitical experience and civic activities: Former member of the Iowa House of Representatives\n\nWho is Liz Mathis?\n\nAge: 64\n\nParty: Democrat\n\nWhere did you grow up? DeWitt\n\nCurrent town of residence: Hiawatha\n\nEducation: University of Iowa\n\nOccupation: Iowa state senator\n\nPolitical experience and civic activities:\n\nIowa State Senate 2011-present\n\nPresent civic boards: Wartburg Board of Regents\n\nPresent legislative boards: Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, Iowa Economic Development Authority Advisory Board, Children’s Behavioral Health System State Board\n\nPast board member: Onward Bank Board, University of Iowa Journalism Advisory Board, Marion Cares Advisory Board, State Judicial Qualifications Board\n\nMore:Will Iowa's 2nd District flip again? What separates Ashley Hinson, Liz Mathis in tight race\n\nWhat is the most important domestic policy you would champion in Congress?\n\nHinson: I am laser-focused on fighting inflation and reducing costs for Iowa families, farmers and small businesses. High energy costs — caused by the Biden administration’s disastrous sidelining of domestic resources — are one of the biggest budget burdens on Iowans. I am championing an all-of-the-above energy strategy that prioritizes Iowa biofuels to bring down the cost of gas and restore our energy independence while boosting Iowa’s agriculture economy. This strategy will lower transportation and energy costs by allowing the sale of E15 year-round, ramping up domestic production, finishing the Keystone XL pipeline, and prohibiting President Biden from sending U.S. oil to China.\n\nMathis: We must lower costs for Iowans, and that starts with making sure gas prices continue to go down — E15 needs to remain year-round throughout the country and domestic oil reserves should be available. It also means we need to hold drug companies accountable and lower prescription drug prices so families can afford the lifesaving medication they need. I’ll work to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for everyone, not just seniors, and protect Medicare’s ability to negotiate for lower drug prices. My opponent, Rep. Ashley Hinson, voted against both of these common sense policies.\n\nMore:Gov. Kim Reynolds has controlled $2.7 billion in federal COVID-19 aid. Here's how she's spending it.\n\nWhat is one specific piece of bipartisan legislation you would advocate for in Congress?\n\nHinson: I am a strong advocate for career and technical education programs that help students graduate with the skills they need to get a good-paying job in their desired field without massive loans. I’ve visited every single community college in my district and seen firsthand how these programs help students find fulfilling job opportunities right here in Iowa. That’s why I helped introduce the bipartisan Jumpstart Our Businesses By Supporting Students (JOBS) Act that expands Pell Grant eligibility for students — I’ll continue to advocate for this bill and work across the aisle to empower students and workers to succeed in Iowa.\n\nMathis: In the Iowa Legislature, I was proud to work with both Republicans and Democrats to balance our budget and cut taxes for Iowa families. I voted for the commercial property tax cut, to eliminate the inheritance tax and for an increase in the earned income tax credit. I’ll take that same bipartisan approach when in Congress. In particular, I’ll work across the aisle to make certain rural areas have access to health care and small businesses and small communities thrive. I grew up on a family farm and will ensure beginning farmers have the tools they need to be successful.\n\nMore:Gov. Kim Reynolds agrees to 1 debate against Deidre DeJear. She's not the only one to avoid more\n\nIowans are struggling with rising costs and inflation. What can Congress do to help them make ends meet?\n\nHinson: As inflation bears down on Iowans, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden are making matters worse with new tax hikes, more inflationary spending and sidelining domestic energy sources. Meanwhile, Democrats have resisted bipartisan efforts to get our economy back on track, and families won’t see relief while Democrats are in control. The first step to bringing costs down is to fire Nancy Pelosi as speaker so that Republicans can advance solutions to fix our supply chain, bring people back into the workforce in critical industries like child care, and restore American energy independence to lower the cost of gas.\n\nMathis: This needs to be a top priority for every member of Congress. We must lower prices. That starts with taking action to hold companies accountable for price gouging, adopting an all-of-the-above approach to energy production that will lower gas prices while supporting our ethanol and renewable industries, and getting more truck drivers onto the road and investing in our locks and dams and river ports to get our supply chain back on track. We also must invest in affordable housing, so Iowans can afford to remain in the communities they call home.\n\nMore:Iowa House Democrats unveil campaign agenda: Legalize marijuana, protect abortion rights\n\nCongress passed a bipartisan gun safety law this summer. What further action, if any, should Congress take to address gun violence?\n\nHinson: Congress should address the root causes of gun violence without infringing on Iowans’ rights. Law-abiding gun owners should not be targeted or have to prove to the government they have the right to own a firearm — that right is enshrined in the Constitution. I’m a cosponsor of the STOP II (Secure Every School and Protect our Nation’s Children) Act to fund school resource officers and mental health counselors as well as bolster security at schools. As the left tries to chip away at our constitutional rights, I will always fight to ensure Iowans’ Second Amendment rights are upheld.\n\nMathis: I grew up on a farm, which means I grew up around guns. I support the Second Amendment rights of Iowans to hunt, target shoot and own guns. This is an area where we can make significant progress towards safer communities by bringing together members of both parties to work together on areas we agree on. By strengthening universal background checks, which more than 90% of Americans support, we can reduce gun violence by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and those legally barred from owning them, while protecting the rights of Iowans.\n\nMore:Presidential candidates tend to flock to Iowa. Here are 5 takeaways from the history of their visits\n\nShould Congress pass federal legislation addressing abortion, either to restrict the procedure or to preserve access?\n\nHinson: Overturning Roe v. Wade will save countless lives. Now that this issue is with the states, I’m glad Iowa has a pro-life governor in Kim Reynolds and a pro-life majority in the state legislature. In Congress, I will continue championing pro-life policies: ensuring taxpayer dollars don’t fund abortion, expanding maternal health care services, and supporting expecting mothers during pregnancy and once their babies are born. I have introduced bipartisan legislation to help expand maternal health care access for those in rural communities, as well as legislation to ensure adult women can access safe, FDA-approved birth-control pills over the counter at their local pharmacy.\n\nMathis: Politicians should not be interfering with the rights of Iowa women to make their own personal health care decisions. My opponent, Rep. Ashley Hinson, currently backs legislation that would ban all abortions nationwide, leaving no exceptions for cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. This extreme position, which includes criminalizing doctors, will impose a radical government mandate over our health care. I will work to pass legislation that restores women’s right to an abortion that had been held for nearly 50 years.\n\nWhat policies would you advocate for including in the next farm bill?\n\nHinson: The farm bill must reduce input costs, support innovation and provide regulatory certainty. Farmers should be empowered with broadband access and precision agriculture technology. We must provide stability for producers by protecting risk management tools like crop insurance and investing in animal health research and biotechnologies. Farmers don’t have time for political games, they need solutions, and I’ll work across the aisle to ensure the farm bill reflects the needs of Iowa agriculture while pushing back against poison pills and government overreaches. Bureaucrats shouldn’t be overregulating puddles on Iowa farms, and California shouldn’t be dictating how Iowa pork is raised.\n\nMathis: My parents used to lay awake at night worrying about the weather. There’ve been many advancements in farming techniques since, but that worry hasn’t changed. The next farm bill must meet the challenges of weather disasters, higher operation prices and animal disease. Crop insurance protects more than 100 types of crops throughout the U.S. and we must make certain that Iowa’s corn and soybean farmers are protected when drought, rain or high winds hit; livelihoods are at stake. As a state legislator, I served on the Agriculture Committee and Agriculture Appropriations and advocated for protections from animal diseases such as African Swine Fever.\n\nMore:Iowa's largest school district filled nearly all open teaching positions. How did Des Moines do it?\n\nWhat is your appraisal of the work of the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the US Capitol?\n\nHinson: January 6th was a dark day for our country, and I strongly condemn anyone who was violent or broke the law that day. Those who broke the law on January 6th should be held accountable. Speaker Pelosi would not allow Republicans to appoint members to the Committee, and it is unbalanced. My focus in Congress has been, and will continue to be, on the issues Iowans are talking about around their kitchen tables every single night — rising costs, finding affordable child care, and being able to pay their bills.\n\nMathis: We must ensure that the United States Capitol is never attacked again. The brave Capitol Police officers who defended our democracy that day deserve nothing less. The American people need a full and open accounting of everything that occurred on January 6th so we can protect our freedom and the values and ideals on which this country was founded. No one should be pardoned for the damage and violence that occurred.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/08/2022-midterm-election-live-updates/8257821001/", "title": "Election 2022 recap: Fetterman flips Pennsylvania Senate seat for ...", "text": "Editor's note: This page recaps the news from Election Day 2022. For updated information about voting results in key races, check out of live updates file for Wednesday, Nov. 9.\n\nDemocrat John Fetterman won the hard-fought U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania against Republican Mehmet Oz, flipping a seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.\n\nFetterman's victory reinforced other signs that a “red wave” of Republican strength had not materialized, as Democrats held on to several competitive Senate and governor seats.\n\nWhich party control the House and Senate is still undecided. Republican J.D. Vance bettered Republicans' chances of taking the Senate with his win over Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan. But Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan defeated a GOP challenger in the competitive New Hampshire race.\n\nA handful of the closely watched Senate races have yet to be called, including the contest in Georgia between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and GOP challenger Herschel Walker and the Nevada Senate match-up pitting Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto against Republican Adam Laxalt.\n\nVulnerable House Democrat survives: Rep. Abigail Spanberger won a competitive race against Republican challenger Yesli Vega in Virginia\n\nRep. Abigail Spanberger won a competitive race against Republican challenger Yesli Vega in Virginia Republican Abbott defeats O'Rourke in Texas: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held his seat against Democrat Beto O'Rourke\n\nTexas Gov. Greg Abbott held his seat against Democrat Beto O'Rourke Trump’s favored Pennsylvania governor candidate loses: Democrat Josh Shapiro will be Pennsylvania’s next governor, defeating Trump-backed Doug Mastriano.\n\nDemocrat Josh Shapiro will be Pennsylvania’s next governor, defeating Trump-backed Doug Mastriano. History made: Maryland voters elected only the third black governor – Democrat Wes Moore – in U.S. history. And Democrat Maura Healey becomes the first woman and first openly gay candidate elected as governor of Massachusetts. And progressive activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost is the first Gen Z member to win a seat in Congress.\n\nMaryland voters elected only the third black governor – Democrat Wes Moore – in U.S. history. And Democrat Maura Healey becomes the first woman and first openly gay candidate elected as governor of Massachusetts. And progressive activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost is the first Gen Z member to win a seat in Congress. DeSantis, Rubio wins reinforce rightward shift in Florida: Incumbent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rubio comfortably won reelection as voter concerns about the economy appeared to prevail over a message emphasized by Democrats focusing on abortion rights.\n\nIncumbent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rubio comfortably won reelection as voter concerns about the economy appeared to prevail over a message emphasized by Democrats focusing on abortion rights. Republicans flexed their muscle in gubernatorial races with Chris Sununu (New Hampshire), Ron DeSantis (Florida), Henry McMaster (South Carolina), Mike DeWine (Ohio) and Kay Ivey (Alabama) all winning reelection. In addition, former Trump White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the governor’s race in Arkansas.\n\nThe latest updates:\n\nGeorgia secretary of state: Raffensperger wins\n\nRepublican incumbent Brad Raffensperger emerged victorious in the race for Georgia secretary of state, beating out Democratic nominee and former state senator Bee Nguyen.\n\nRaffensperger held a solid lead over Nguyen in the polls throughout the race. The contest to be the state’s chief election officer, a down-ballot race that has previously garnered little attention, has gained increased importance in the wake of the 2020 election and unfounded voter fraud claims.\n\n-- Anna Kaufman\n\n3 takeaways from Georgia governor's race:Brian Kemp defeats Stacey Abrams for second term\n\nDemocratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin wins in Michigan\n\nRep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich, won reelection over Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett and Libertarian candidate Leah Dailey in Michigan’s new 7th Congressional District, ending one of the nation’s most expensive and closely watched House races.\n\nSlotkin was first elected from the 8th District in 2018, when she flipped a Republican seat that President Donald Trump won in 2016, and she was one of the few Democrats to win reelection in a district that voted for Trump in 2020. A former National Security Council and CIA staffer, she opted to run this year in the newly redrawn 7th District, which is centered on Lansing and would have voted narrowly for President Joe Biden had it existed in 2020.\n\nWhile Slotkin was endorsed by Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., a harsh Trump critic, Barrett was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence. Barrett, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, has focused his campaign on less spending, more energy production and criticism of Slotkin's voting record. Slotkin has struck back at Barrett's refusal to say if he would have accepted the results of the 2020 election, which he has called an \"unknowable thing.\"\n\n– Yoori Han, Cronkite News\n\nDemocrat Greg Landsman unseats Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot\n\nDemocrat Greg Landsman defeated Republican incumbent Steve Chabot in the House race for Ohio’s 1st Congressional District, the AP reported.\n\nLandsman, a former Cincinnati City councilman, won by a little more than 10,000 votes when the race was called.\n\nChabot represented Hamilton County for 26 years in Congress. This was his first defeat since he lost to Democrat Steve Driehaus in 2008. He regained his seat two years later.\n\n-- Rachel Looker\n\nSenate flip:Democrat John Fetterman flips U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, beating Republican Mehmet Oz\n\nWisconsin governor: Evers wins reelection\n\nWisconsin Gov. Tony Evers won a heated re-election battle against Trump-backed Republican Tim Michels.\n\nA Marquette University Law School poll last week had them tied at 48%.\n\nEvers won the governor’s office by a thin margin in 2018 when he defeated Republican Scott Walker, a 2016 presidential candidate. Evers had been a school district superintendent and served as the statewide superintendent of public instruction in Wisconsin for nearly a decade.\n\nAs governor, Evers’s job approval has been slightly underwater in recent Marquette polls, with 46% approving of the job he’s been doing as governor and 48% disapproving.\n\nMichels is backed by former President Donald Trump, who has traveled to Wisconsin to campaign for him. The once low-key owner of Wisconsin’s largest construction company, the eponymous Michels Corp, Michels launched his bid for governor in April -- about 15 months after Biden revoked a key permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project for which Michels’ company had a contract to build pump stations. It’s Michels’ third run for office.\n\n– Donovan Slack\n\nLive updates:Wisconsin Election Results 2022\n\nMichigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wins reelection\n\nDemocratic incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer claimed victory in her bid for reelection as Michigan governor, successfully fending off a challenge by Republican nominee Tudor Dixon.\n\nThe contest, once seen as an easy win for Democrats in a major battleground state, tightened in the final weeks with a last minute push by the Dixon campaign helping her to inch closer in the polls.\n\nWhitmer is a veteran of Michigan politics, serving six years in the state House and eight in the senate before being elected governor in 2018.\n\nDixon spent years as a conservative TV commentator and producer of conservative news for students.\n\nDixon, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, denies the results of the 2020 election and has criticized Whitmer for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitmer, like many other Democrats, emphasized abortion rights throughout the campaign and criticized Dixon for her no-exceptions stance on the procedure.\n\n– Anna Kaufman\n\nPreviously:Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Tudor Dixon facing off in second gubernatorial debate: recap\n\nRepublican Sen. Mike Lee wins reelection for Utah seat\n\nSen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, fended off Independent challenger Evan McMullin for a third term.\n\nWith just over half of Utah ballots counted, Lee had more than 55% of the vote compared to McMullin’s 41% when the race was called early Wednesday morning.\n\n-- Ella Lee\n\nVoted into history:Wes Moore to be Maryland's first Black governor; first Gen-Z House member in Fla., more\n\nIn victory speech, Fetterman says he’s ‘proud’ of campaign\n\nDonning his signature hoodie, Democrat John Fetterman addressed a raucous crowd of supporters early Wednesday morning after his narrow win against Republican challenger Mehmet Oz in the closely watched Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race.\n\n“We jammed them up, we held the line,” Fetterman said. “I never expected that we were going to turn these red counties blue, but we did what we needed to do.”\n\nIn his victory speech, Fetterman said he was “proud” of the issues he ran on, like abortion rights, increased minimum wage and health care.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nJohn Fetterman wins Pennsylvania Senate seat\n\nJohn Fetterman is the projected winner of the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania, beating out Donald Trump-backed celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and overcoming concerns that his stroke recovery had foreclosed his chances at victory.\n\nOpinion polls showed Oz gaining on Fetterman after the Democratic candidate's rocky debate performance.\n\nThe lieutenant governor suffered a stroke just days before the primary in May and has relied on closed captioning in recent interviews and the debate.\n\nIndependent analysts had predicted the Pennsylvania race would be the best chance for Democrats to pick up a Republican-held Senate seat. Fetterman and Oz have been vying for the open seat created by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey's retirement.\n\n\"It's official. I will be the next U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania,\" Fetterman tweeted early Wednesday morning.\n\n– Donovan Slack\n\nTexas Democrat Vicente Gonzalez reelected to House\n\nRep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, won his reelection campaign against GOP challenger Mayra Flores to represent Texas' 34th Congressional District, a setback for Republicans hoping to mobilize Hispanic voters.\n\nWith more than 88% of ballots counted, Gonzales led Flores by more than 8 points when the race was called.\n\nRepublicans have made inroads with Latino voters in states like Texas and Nevada, where Democrats are locked in tight congressional and statewide elections. But Gonzalez’ win is a blow to those efforts.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nNo victory or concession speeches tonight from Nevada Democrats\n\nJust as the crowd doubled in size at the Democratic ticket's election party on the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada's top candidates took the stage to thank their supporters – and encourage them to \"go home.\"\n\nSen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Gov. Steve Sisolak said they didn't expect final election results to be available before the end of the night, but assured the crowd that they \"believe strongly when this is done, we're going to win this thing!\"\n\n\"It's going to be a couple of days,\" Sisolak said, \"so I encourage you to go home, get some sleep, and let the county continue (counting) tomorrow and Thursday. And we'll be celebrating then.\"\n\nAbsent of any victory or concession speeches tonight, Cortez Masto and Sisolak walked off the stage together as their supporters cheered. And soon after the two Democrats disappeared, the crowd quickly thinned out.\n\n– Rio Lacanlale\n\nNew Hampshire Democrat Chris Pappas reelected to House\n\nRep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., won a second term serving New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District.\n\nPappas led Republican challenger Karoline Leavitt by more than 8 points; just under 80% of the vote had been counted when the race was called.\n\nIf Leavitt had won the race, she would have been the second member of Gen Z elected to the U.S. House of Representatives this election cycle.\n\n-Ella Lee\n\nRep. Henry Cuellar reelected in Texas\n\nDemocratic Rep. Henry Cuellar won reelection Tuesday, fending off an aggressive play by Republicans to remake the U.S.-Mexico border into a midterm battleground.\n\nCuellar’s victory over Republican Cassy Garcia holds the line for Democrats in an important stronghold for the party. Garcia was one of three Republican Latina candidates who ran competitive House races along the border after the GOP made inroads with Hispanic voters in 2020.\n\nCuellar is one of the most conservative Democrats in the House and narrowly survived a primary challenge this spring from a progressive challenger.\n\n– Paul J. Weber and Acacia Coronado, Associated Press\n\nRazor-thin margin in Georgia Senate race\n\nATLANTA – Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock told supporters late Tuesday he remains confident as Republican opponent Herschel Walker holds a razor-thin lead.\n\nWalker was ahead by less than 7,000 votes as votes continue to be counted as the clock hit midnight.\n\n“We always knew that this race would be close,” Warnock told supporters. “And so that's where we are. So y'all just hang in there. I'm feeling good.”\n\nWith about 88% of the total vote counted thus far, less than half a percentage point separates the two candidates.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey\n\nNorth Carolina Sen.-elect Ted Budd: It's been a long night\n\nWINSTON-SALEM N.C. – It was later than he had hoped, but Ted Budd went before supporters shortly before midnight to claim victory in a U.S. Senate race in North Carolina.\n\n\"What an incredible and long night this has been,\" Budd said after a closer-than-expected win over Democrat Cheri Beasley.\n\nBudd's list of thank-yous included Donald Trump, whose endorsement propelled him to the Republican Senate nomination earlier this year.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nDemocratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wins reelection in New Mexico\n\nNew Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, won reelection Tuesday over Republican Mark Ronchetti, a local TV weatherman turned politician who built his campaign on criticism of the first-term governor's performance, according NBC and ABC News\n\nGrisham, who served three terms in the U.S. House, was the first Democratic Latina to hold a governor’s seat at the time of her election in 2018. She ran then on a campaign focused on crime, education and immigration policy, but her reelection was centered on economic issues.\n\nAfter a failed bid for U.S. Senate in 2020, Ronchetti framed his gubernatorial campaign around Grisham's track record, blaming Democrats for a faltering economy and specifically blaming the incumbent's policies for New Mexico’s rank as second in the nation for violent crime. Ronchetti also got a last-minute endorsement this month from former President Donald Trump.\n\nA third candidate, Libertarian Karen Bedonie, a mother of eight and citizen of the Navajo Nation, polled in the single digits throughout the race. She initially hoped to run on the Republican ticket, and is among those that have questioned the validity of the 2020 presidential election.\n\n– Laura Bargfeld, Cronkite News\n\nDemocrats win in Hawaii Senate, governor’s races\n\nDemocrats easily won their races for the U.S. Senate and governorship in Hawaii.\n\nJosh Green overcame Republican challenger Duke Aiona for governor, while Sen. Brian Schatz winning reelection for his seat against Republican Bob McDermott.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nBiden makes another round of congratulatory calls\n\nPresident Joe Biden called made congratulatory calls to the following candidates Tuesday: Sen. Maggie Hassan, Sen. Alex Padilla ,Rep.-elect Seth Magaziner, Maine Gov. Janet Mills and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.\n\nBiden also phoned Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, along with Wes Moore, Maryland's newly elected governor, and Emilia Sykes, who rain in Ohio's newly redrawn 13th Congressional District – a closely watched tossup election.\n\n– Kathleen Wong and Christal Hayes\n\nDemocrat Janet Mills reelected as Maine governor\n\nMaine Gov. Janet Mills was reelected to the state’s governorship, beating her Republican opponent, Paul LePage. This will be Mill’s second term as Maine governor, according to NBC and CBS news.\n\nMills became the first woman elected as the state’s governor in 2018 when she was first elected. She also was the first woman to serve as the state’s attorney general, an office she served twice.\n\n– Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nIn victory speech, Hassan offers credit for Bolduc\n\nDemocratic Sen. Maggie Hassan took the stage to an enthusiastic, and teary-eyed, crowd after NBC and CNN called the race in her favor.\n\n“Thank you to all the wonderful friends that are here tonight,” Hassan said, after continued chants of “Maggie” and “Six more years” from the crowd. “I love you too!\" Hassan said.\n\nHassan paused to credit Republican Don Bolduc for a hard-fought race, but not before shushing boos upon mention of his name.\n\n“No guys. No,” said Hassan, stopping the crowd. “I want to thank Don Bolduc for his service to our country. We share a love of country.\"\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nKiggans declares victory in Virginia\n\nRepublican Jen Kiggans declared victory in the hotly contested House race in Virginia, unseating Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria.\n\nSpeaking at her campaign’s election watch party at the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center, Kiggans gave a message of unity in her victory speech.\n\n“I believe it’s important to focus on the things that unite us, and not what divides us,” she said.\n\nKiggans wished her opponent well. “Although we may differ in our political ideologies, we certainly share a love for our navy and a love for our country,” she said.\n\n– Christina van Waasbergen\n\nDemocrat Ron Wyden reelected to Oregon U.S. Senate seat\n\nSen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., won his reelection bid against Republican challenger Jo Rae Perkins, according to multiple reports.\n\nWyden, who led Perkins by more than 13 percentage points when the race was called, has been in Congress for more than 40 years overall, assuming his Senate seat in 1996.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nDemocrat Gov. Kathy Hochul wins New York governor race\n\nDemocratic Gov. Kathy Hochul won the New York governor’s race against Republican challenger Lee Zeldin, NBC and ABC reported.\n\nHochul unexpectedly became the state's first female governor in 2021, after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nSen. Lindsey Graham: ‘Definitely not a Republican wave’\n\nSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said a \"red wave\" election didn’t appear to be materializing after Republicans were projected to lose Senate races in New Hampshire and Colorado, but he still predicted Republicans would take control of the upper chamber.\n\n“Definitely not a Republican wave,” Graham told NBC. “I think we’re going to be at 51, 52 when it’s all said and done.”\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nElection analysis: Even with Kemp, Vance wins, are midterm results more red ripple than wave?\n\nRepublican JD Vance wins Ohio Senate seat over Democrat Tim Ryan\n\nTrump-backed Republican author JD Vance won the Senate race in Ohio, beating Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose campaign had a fundraising edge but lacked national party support, according to NBC and ABC News.\n\nThe race has been one of the tightest in the country in recent polling and is a key test of the influence former President Donald Trump still wields. Trump endorsed Vance and went to Ohio to support him, telling rally goers in September that \"The entire MAGA movement is for J.D. Vance.\"\n\nIt’s also a bellwether for which way national tides are turning on Election Day. The Senate seat has been occupied since 2011 by Republican Sen. Rob Portman, who’s retiring.\n\n– Donovan Slack\n\nDemocrat Patty Murray wins reelection to Senate\n\nDemocratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray won reelection to the Senate against Republican opponent Tiffany Smiley after leading Smiley by nearly 15% with 56% of the precincts reporting, according to multiple reports.\n\nMurray will be serving her sixth term in the Senate. While in the Senate, Murray was the first female chair for the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Budget Committee.\n\nRecent polls showing the race neck-and-neck suggested the veterans lawmaker was in the fight of her political life but an upset never materialized on election day.\n\n- Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nPresident Biden congratulates Democratic winners\n\nPresident Joe Biden has completed congratulatory calls to Senator Chris Van Hollen, Senator Michael Bennet, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Representative Jennifer Wexton.\n\nVan Hollen of Maryland was reelected to his second Senate term, beating out Republican Chris Chaffee.\n\nBennet defended his Colorado Senate seat over Republican opponent Joe O’Dea for his third term in office. The race was competitive, according to multiple reports.\n\nBillionaire J.B. Pritzker swiftly beat Republican challenger Darren Bailey for reelection as Illinois Governor.\n\nIn a tight race, Virginia Democrat Jennifer Wexton won reelection to the U.S. House over Republican Hung Cao. This will be Wexton's third term.\n\n- Kathleen Wong\n\nRepublican Ted Budd wins North Carolina Senate seat\n\nTrump-endorsed Ted Budd won the race for a North Carolina Senate seat, defeating Democrat and former state Supreme Court chief justice Cheri Beasley.\n\nComing into tonight, the three-term GOP congressman had a five-point lead over Beasley in a poll by Emerson College Polling and The Hill, according NBC and ABC News.\n\nTheirs was among the most competitive Senate races this election cycle, seen as a potential factor in Republican efforts to gain the majority. The North Carolina seat was up for grabs for either party, with Republican Richard Burr retiring after his fourth term as Senator.\n\n– Savannah Kuchar\n\nShapiro win brings relief for Pennsylvania Democrats\n\nSWARTHMORE, Pa.- Bonnee B. Bentum feels safer tonight, knowing Democrat Josh Shapiro won the governor’s seat and blocked a Republican supermajority in Pennsylvania that could have threatened abortion rights and voting rights.\n\nShe said this as someone who works for a state Democratic senator, serves as an executive board member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and mostly as a Black woman.\n\nBentum pointedly describes what was at stake: “My life, my daughter’s life…to live freely.”\n\n- Candy Woodall\n\nNew Maryland voter choses digital over paper vote\n\nTUXEDO, Md. - Bill Aylin is a lifelong voter, but he was still surprised when he voted for the first time in Maryland after moving from Georgia.\n\n“All of Georgia is digital and this one is mostly paper,” said Aylin, who found things at the Judith P. Hoyer Early Childhood Center \"radically\" different from what he was used to. But the Prince George's County polling place also offered two digital machines, so he chose to vote on one of those.\n\nHe said he feel it’s his duty to vote, and that he found the House and Senate races to be the most important. Outside of that there were some questions about bonds and borrowing money that drew his attention.\n\n“I’m fine with schools borrowing money,\" Aylin said. “I’m not fine with it for the government.”\n\n- Haley Smilow, Cronkite News\n\nRepublican Brian Kemp reelected as Georgia governor\n\nRepublican incumbent Brian Kemp won the race for Georgia governor, defeating Democratic candidate and now two-time opponent Stacey Abrams, according to NBC and ABC News.\n\nThe two faced off once before back in 2018, with Kemp narrowly claiming victory after a runoff election. This gubernatorial contest has been one of the most closely watched this midterm cycle as both candidates are major players in their parties.\n\nThe tightly fought race, along with Sen. Raphael Warnock’s bid to keep his seat in Congress, was expected to serve as a litmus test of just how strong the Democratic coalition in Georgia is and whether it can withstand an election largely viewed as a referendum on President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings have suffered throughout his second year.\n\n– Anna Kaufman\n\nBrian Kemp's win: 3 takeaways from the Georgia governor's race\n\nVirginia Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria unseated by Jennifer Kiggans\n\nRepublican state Sen. Jennifer Kiggans unseated incumbent Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., Tuesday in Virginia's 2nd District, which gained a more Republican tilt in redistricting but was still considered a toss-up.\n\nBoth Luria and Kiggans are Navy veterans who campaigned on promises to fight for defense and veterans issues.\n\nKiggans, who currently represents Legislative District 7 in the Tidewater region of the state, positioned herself as the candidate to restore American strength that she said has been injured by the policies of the Biden administration - policies she said Luria continually backed.\n\nLuria, a two-term House member, is also a member of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. A main thrust of her campaign was what she called Kiggans' failure to discuss her stance on results of the 2020 election.\n\n– Emilee Miranda, Cronkite News\n\nDoes early good news for Dems mean a red tsunami isn't materializing?\n\nTwo vulnerable House Democrats in Virginia swing districts appeared to be on their way to victories, perhaps signaling that a red tsunami many predicted isn’t materializing.\n\nCNN and NBC projected that U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., defeated Republican challenger Yesli Vega in the state’s 7th congressional district, a fiercely fought battleground, while Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., was the projected winner over Republican Hung Cha in the 10th congressional district.\n\n“I’m still waiting for the Red Wave to arrive,” veteran political handicapper Stuart Rothenberger said on Twitter. “It may still come, but I have not seen it yet. That does not mean the Rs won’t win the House and Senate.”\n\nRepublicans picked up a third battleground seat in Virginia, however, with CNN projecting Jen Kiggans defeated Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.\n\nIn a fourth battleground House race in Rhode Island, Democrat Seth Magaziner is the projected winner over Republican Allan Fung, mayor of Cranston, R.I.\n\n- Joey Garrison\n\nRepublican Mike Crapo wins reelection to Idaho Senate seat\n\nRepublican Sen. Mike Crapo defended his Senate seat in the race against Democratic challenger David Roth.\n\nCrapo, a former attorney who previously served in the U.S. House and the Idaho Legislature, will now serve his fifth term in the Senate. The last time Democrats won a U.S. Senate election in Idaho was 1974.\n\nCrapo is currently the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.\n\n- Rachel Looker\n\nDemocrat Gov. Gavin Newsom wins reelection\n\nDemocrat Gov. Gavin Newsom has been reelected in the California gubernatorial race defeating Republican challenger Brian Dahle.\n\nNewsom had a large lead over Dahle during the campaign. Newsom, the former Lieutenant Governor of California and former Mayor of San Francisco, will now serve his second term in the governor’s mansion.\n\n- Rachel Looker\n\nDemocrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger, top GOP target, wins reelection\n\nRep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., won re-election Tuesday over Republican challenger Yesli Vega in a redrawn Virginia 7th District, a potential bellwether for Democrats odds in the U.S. House.\n\nBoth Spanberger and Vega have law enforcement backgrounds. But Spanberger, a two-term congresswoman and the first Democrat elected to represent the 7th district since 1971, highlighted her bipartisan record throughout the campaign.\n\nVega, a first-generation Salvadoran-American and a one-term Prince William County supervisor, positioned herself as a check on the Biden administration. She got a last-minute endorsement from former President Donald Trump last week, but did not actively embrace it.\n\n– Emilee Miranda, Cronkite News\n\nRepublican Chuck Grassley reelected to Senate seat\n\nRepublican Chuck Grassley has defended his Iowa Senate seat against Democratic challenger Michael Franken, according to ABC and NBC.\n\nGrassley has served in office since 1959. The 89-year-old congressman will now serve his sixth term, which upon completion would make him the second-oldest member of Congress at 95 years old.\n\n- Rachel Looker\n\nDemocrat Josh Shapiro wins Pennsylvania governor\n\nPennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro bested Trump-backed Republican Doug Mastriano to win the governor’s race in Pennsylvania, according to NBC and Fox news.\n\nShapiro had been leading Mastriano by significant margins in recent polling.\n\nShapiro, the state’s attorney general since 2017, led Mastriano 52%-40% in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll last week. He is a former state representative who cast himself as someone willing to take the fight to the status quo. Shapiro defended the state’s presidential election results in 2020 against an onslaught of legal challenges.\n\nMastriano, a state senator and retired Army colonel, marched on the U.S. Capitol in the Jan. 6 attack and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who visited the state to rally for him.\n\nMastriano supported unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and held a hearing featuring Rudy Giuliani and Trump, via call-in, hyping voting irregularities.\n\n- Donovan Slack\n\nDemocrat Maggie Hassan wins reelection to U.S. Senate\n\nSen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., beat back Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Don Bolduc in a race that narrowed sharply in the final days despite the state being carried by President Joe Biden in 2020, according to ABC and NBC News\n\nHassan, who served as governor from 2013 until she entered the Senate in 2017, tried to distance herself from the president throughout her campaign. She criticized the administration for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last year and for its handling of rising inflation.\n\nBolduc, a retired Army general, repeated false claims during the primary that the 2020 election was stolen, but he walked those back after securing the GOP nomination in September. In October, the National Republican Senatorial Committee stopped funding Bolduc’s campaign to prioritize other battleground states.\n\n– Ryan Knappenberger\n\nProgressive activist becomes first Gen Z-er to be elected to Congress\n\nA former March for Our Lives and ACLU activist, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, won his election bid against Republican Army veteran Calvin Wimbish to represent Florida's 10th Congressional District, which includes the Orlando area. He received more than 58% of vote with more than 98% of all ballots counted.\n\nThe seat became open when Democrat Val Demings decided to run for Senate against Republican Marco Rubio.\n\n- Ella Lee\n\nA win for Gen-Z: Florida's Max Frost becomes first Gen-Z member of Congress\n\nDemocrat Sen. Michael Bennet wins reelection\n\nDemocratic Sen. Michael Bennet defended his Colorado Senate seat in a competitive race against Republican challenger Joe O’Dea, according to multiple reports.\n\nThis will be Bennet’s third term in office, but was one of his most challenging reelection campaigns. He sought out the Democratic party nomination for the 2020 presidential election.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nAbbott wins reelection as Texas governor\n\nTexas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott won reelection, besting former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who had sought to ride what he and other Democrats hoped would be a wave of registered Democratic voters to victory in the long deep-red state, according to multiple reports.\n\nThe race drew national attention for O'Rourke, who lost a bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018 and made a brief presidential run in 2020. O'Rourke's name recognition and charisma fueled Democratic hopes that he could win the governor's race.\n\nBut as of last week, Abbott was favored to win by nearly 10 points, according to FiveThirtyEight polling averages. And voter registration numbers from the Texas secretary of state’s office showed an increase in voter registrations - but not the massive wave state Democrats had hoped would follow the state’s abortion ban and the Uvalde school massacre.\n\n– Donovan Slack\n\nRepublican Kristi Noem reelected as South Dakota governor\n\nSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, will serve a second term as the state’s leader, according to projections by NBC and ABC.\n\nNoem had received about 61% if the vote with 16% of ballots counted.\n\nThe South Dakota Republican faced a pair of complaints in August, one of which was referred to the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office for investigation.\n\nThe first complaint alleged personal use of the state airplane. The second, which accused Noem of misusing her position as governor to help her daughter through the state real estate appraiser program, was partially dismissed by the Government Accountability Board, because \"appropriate action\" had been determined.\n\n- Ella Lee\n\nMother shares the experience of voting with her daughter\n\nPHOENIX - Vanessa Figueroa brought her 9-year-old daughter, Victoria Medina, with her to the Maryvale Bridge United Methodist Church in Phoenix to drop off her ballot.\n\nFigueroa, 39, said she thought it would be a good chance to teach her daughter the importance of voting.\n\n“(I want her to know that) you get to vote and give your opinion and decide for your own education, too,” she said.\n\nFigueroa said voting is one way she can express support for public education. Victoria hasn’t been able to see a school counselor, she said, because of short staffing – one indication to her that schools need more resources.\n\n- Alex Appel/Special for Cronkite News\n\nRepublican John Kennedy defends his Louisiana Senate seat\n\nRepublican Sen. John Kennedy defended his Senate seat in Louisiana defeating Democratic challenger Luke Mixon, according to NBC and ABC.\n\nKennedy joined a group of 11 senators in 2021 who objected to the certification of President Donald Trump's 2020 presidential loss. He will now serve his second term.\n\n- Rachel Looker\n\nRepublican Gov. Phil Scott wins re-election in Vermont\n\nRepublican Gov. Phil Scott secured a fourth term in Vermont after defeating Democratic challenger Brenda Siegel. Scott was elected in 2016 and ran for re-election in 2022 on a platform of reducing taxes and boosting the economy.\n\nThough a Republican, Scott has openly criticized former President Donald Trump and voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.\n\n-BrieAnna Frank\n\nDemocratic Gov. Jared Polis wins reelection in Colorado\n\nDemocratic Gov. Jared Polis secured a second term after defeating Republican challenger Heidi Ganahal in Colorado’s gubernatorial race, according to projections from NBC and ABC. In his first term, Polis pushed for health care and education affordability and unveiled a plan for the state to be 100% renewable energy by 2040.\n\n– BrieAnna Frank\n\nDeSantis '24? Supporters chant to reelected Florida governor: 'Two more years!'\n\nSounds like some of Ron DeSantis' backers want him to run for president in 2024, though others may be equivocal.\n\nDuring the party to celebrate DeSantis' easy reelection as governor of Florida – a four-year job – some backers began chanting \"two more years! Two more years!\" Others overrode that suggestion with counter-chants of \"U-S-A! U-S-A!\"\n\nThe governor just smiled, and did not comment on any plans he may have for 2024.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nNative Vote volunteer excited by high voter engagement\n\nGUADALUPE, Ariz. - “This is my Super Bowl,” said Jessica Aguilar, a volunteer for Native Vote, at El Tianguis Mercado in Guadalupe Tuesday.\n\nAguilar volunteered with Native Vote during the last election at the same polling place. The nonpartisan organization aims to help and educate voters.\n\nAguilar, who has a degree in political science, said she saw more voter engagement this year than in the last election, though most voters she talked to Tuesday were dropping off ballots that were already filled out.\n\nAguilar, who is not Native American, said she volunteers to support a friend who is. Stationed Tuesday near a group of conservative women handing out pamphlets near the 75-foot canvassing line, Aguilar said she is “happy to provide voter education.”\n\n- Deanna Pistono/Special for Cronkite News\n\nAOC wins reelection\n\nDemocrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won reelection to her New York House seat, defeating Republican challenger Tina Forte.\n\nThe congresswoman, who represents Queens and the Bronx, was the youngest woman and Latina to serve in Congress when she was elected in 2018. She is known for her progressive views on health care, income inequality, immigration, combating climate change and her work on the Green New Deal.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nRepublican Gov. Mark Gordon wins reelection in Wyoming\n\nRepublican Gov. Mark Gordon won reelection in Wyoming against Democratic challenger Theresa Livingston. After taking office in 2019, Gordon’s first term was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and a crash in oil prices that had dire consequences for the state’s economy. Earlier in 2022, Gordon signed a “trigger law” banning most abortions in state, which went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.\n\n– BrieAnna Frank\n\nMaryland singer's vote motivated by abortion policy\n\nSUITLAND, Md. - Kanysha Williams said that she felt it was important to come out to vote and make sure her voice was heard in what she called this year’s “spicy” midterm elections.\n\nShe said she was particularly motivated by the issue of abortion. Williams, a 30-year-old singer, said that as someone thinking about starting a family, “I’m focused on making sure a woman’s right over her own body is protected.”\n\nWilliams said she is glad to live in Maryland, where abortions are legal up to fetal viability – around 24 weeks – or later if the mother’s life is as at risk. And she hopes to keep it that way.\n\n“I want to make sure the people who represent me represent the issues I care about,” Williams said.\n\n– Ryan Knappenberger, Cronkite News\n\nMarjorie Taylor Green wins reelection\n\nRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., won reelection over Democrat Marcus Flowers, an Army veteran who also worked for the Defense Department, ending the most expensive and one of the highest-profile House races of the 2022 midterms.\n\nGreene quickly gained notoriety during her first campaign for office in 2020 for a track record of promoting racist rhetoric and far-right conspiracy theories. She vowed to spend her time in office promoting Trump-era policies.\n\n– Laura Bargfeld, Cronkite News\n\nRepublican Sen. Jerry Moran reelected to Senate\n\nKansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran won reelection against Mark Holland, the Democratic candidate for a Kansas Senate seat. Moran will be serving this third term in the Senate.\n\nMoran previously served as the chairman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2013 to 2015 and in the U.S. House from 1997 to 2011.\n\n– Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nHeavy evening turnout in Las Vegas\n\nWith two hours before the polls closed in Nevada, Las Vegas resident and stay-at-home mom Lorena Cardenas, 43, led a small group in a chant outside the Desert Breeze Community Center. Like many Nevada residents, Cardenas expected a Republican “red wave” to seize control of Congress.\n\nCardenas hopes Republicans will check Biden’s “radical” government, which she feels is being used to target his political enemies. She said she hoped Republicans could tighten border controls, fight inflation and de-sexualize public education.\n\n“No more Democrats, the damage has been done, woo!” shouted the small group from outside the 100-foot polling place boundary.\n\n– Trevor Hughes\n\nSen. Chuck Schumer wins reelection\n\nDemocrat Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, won reelection in the New York Senate race defeating Republican challenger Joe Pinion.\n\nSchumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, will now serve a fifth term.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nSouth Dakota Republican John Thune wins historic fourth Senate term\n\nSen. John Thune, R-S.D., won his reelection bid against Democrat Brian Bengs for a historic fourth term in Congress’ upper chamber.\n\nOnly Karl Mundt, who served in the Senate from 1948 to 1973, won four terms as a senator in South Dakota. Since Mundt’s retirement, three senators have lost running for a fourth term: George McGovern in 1980, Larry Pressler in 1996 and Tom Daschle in 2004.\n\nThune is currently the No. 2 ranking senator behind Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.\n\n– Ella Lee; Jonathan Ellis and Joe Sneve, Sioux Falls Argus Leader\n\nNorth Dakota Republican Sen. John Hoeven wins reelection\n\nSen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., won his reelection bid against Democrat Katrina Christiansen. Hoeven, who will serve a third Senate term, was previously North Dakota’s governor for a decade.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nRepublican Gov. Kim Reynolds wins reelection in Iowa\n\nIncumbent Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds secured a victory in Iowa in her reelection bid against Democratic nominee and businessperson Deidre DeJear.\n\nThe candidates clashed on hot-button issues including abortion policy and school funding in their only debate ahead of the election. Reynolds was appointed governor in 2017 and was elected to her first full term the following year.\n\n– BrieAnna Frank\n\nRepublican Rep. Jim Jordan wins Ohio House seat\n\nRepublican Rep. Jim Jordan defended his Ohio House seat against Democratic challenger Tamie Wilson.\n\nJordan is an eight-term congressman who has held his seat since 2007. He is a close ally of former President Donald Trump.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nArizona judge declines to extend voting hours in Maricopa County\n\nAn Arizona judge has declined to extend polling hours in Maricopa County after the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit over earlier problems with ballot tabulation machines.\n\nA Maricopa County superior court judge declined a request to extend voting in the state’s most populous county until 10 p.m. MST, or midnight on the east coast.\n\nOfficials said the problem with the machines affected about 20% of voting sites. Officials have stressed that ballots in affected precincts will be counted. The county identified a fix for the problem by midday.\n\nThe judge, who ruled from the bench after a last-minute hearing, found no evidence that any voter was denied the chance to vote at one of the county's polling places, despite the tabulation glitch forcing some to the option of casting a provisional ballot.\n\n– John Fritze and Bart Jansen\n\nStay in the conversation:Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter\n\nWhat you need to know on Election Day:\n\nDemocratic Gov. Dan McKee wins re-election in Rhode Island\n\nDemocratic Gov. Dan McKee won reelection in Rhode Island against Republican challenger Ashley Kalus.\n\nThrough the contentious campaign, McKee emphasized his administration’s investments in infrastructure and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. McKee took office as governor in 2021 and previously served as mayor of Cumberland, Rhode Island.\n\n– BrieAnna Frank\n\nRep. Matt Gaetz reelected to House seat\n\nRepublican Rep. Matt Gaetz defended his Florida House seat against Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones.\n\nGaetz, who has represented the district since 2017, has been one of former President Donald Trump’s strongest supporters. He has faced legal troubles and has been under federal investigation over allegations he violated federal sex trafficking laws.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nVoting is over in Ohio, but the fundraising continues\n\nThe polls may have closed in Ohio, but GOP Senate candidate J.D. Vance is still asking supporters to vote with their wallets.\n\n“If you want to make an impact on this race personally, then I have a link for you!” Vance said in fundraising email Tuesday night that urged backers to “rush” a donation.\n\n“Thanks for everything as we reach the finish line,” the appeal says.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nKari Lake casts ballot, pledges election reform if elected Arizona governor\n\nPHOENIX - After casting her ballot in downtown Phoenix, a confident Kari Lake attacked the election process and pledged election reform if she wins the race for Arizona governor.\n\n“We’re going to win,” said the Republican nominee, though she noted she had little confidence in the election process. “I’m just not confident in the people we’ve elected to run these elections… We will bring about good, honest reform to our elections.”\n\nLake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is one of the most prominent Republicans who have built their campaigns on denying the results of the 2020 presidential election.\n\n– Kaden Kleinschmidt/Cronkite News\n\nGOP hammered economic message in Florida. It worked.\n\nRepublicans up and down the ticket in Florida ran against President Joe Biden and fed on voter frustration with inflation and a turbulent economy.\n\nIt seemed to work. And the GOP overwhelmingly outspent Democrats to hammer this message across.\n\nDemocrat Charlie Crist centered his campaign on a pledge to protect abortion rights in his fight with Gov. Ron DeSantis. But polls showed concerns about the future of abortion across the nation had slipped down the priority list for voters but Crist never re-pivoted, likely further dimming his longshot bid to unseat DeSantis.\n\nDemocrat Val Demings also kept abortion rights front-and-center in the homestretch of her campaign against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who, like virtually every Republican candidate this season, sought to avoid engaging on the issue.\n\nDemocratic voter turnout also was down. A harbinger of Tuesday’s doom for Democrats was that Republicans held a more than 300,000-voter edge in combined early voting and mail-in ballots going into Election Day.\n\nDeSantis was intent on proving his victory in 2018 by less than 33,000 votes was no fluke. And he pushed GOP get-out-the-vote efforts and campaigned before large, supportive crowds in a final week dash around the state knowing that a blowout win would give him the bounce he needs to maybe launch a presidential campaign. He got it.\n\n– John Kennedy, Capital Bureau, USA TODAY Network - Florida\n\nRepublican Sarah Huckabee Sanders wins governorship in Arkansas\n\nRepublican candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders won election in Arkansas’ gubernatorial race against Democratic challenger Chris Jones. Sanders previously served as the White House press secretary under former President Donald Trump before seeking the office once held by her father, Mike Huckabee. Huckabee Sanders is the first woman elected to the position.\n\n–BrieAnna Frank\n\nRepublican Sen. John Boozman wins reelection bid\n\nSen. John Boozman, R-Ark., will serve a third term in the U.S. Senate, winning his reelection bid against Democrat Natalie James.\n\nBoozman currently serves on five Senate committees, including the appropriations committee, and supported the acquittal of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.\n\n– Ella Lee, Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nRepublican Gov. Henry McMaster reelected governor\n\nRepublican Gov. Henry McMaster won reelection in the South Carolina governor’s race defeating Democrat Joe Cunningham, according to NBC and ABC News.\n\nMcMaster outraised Cunningham by a nearly 2-1 margin, according to S.C. Ethics Commission reports. He raised over $2 million during the campaign.\n\n– Rachel Looker; Adam Friedman, Nashville Tennessean\n\nKatie Hobbs urges ASU students in Tempe to vote\n\nPHOENIX - Katie Hobbs, Arizona Democratic candidate for governor and current secretary of state, told students on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus that her race against Republican Kari Lake is going to be tight and that voters can’t be taken for granted.\n\nArizona attorney general candidate Kris Mayes and incumbent Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, both Democrats on the ballot, also spoke briefly to a small crowd of students Tuesday midday and encouraged them to vote.\n\n“American democracy runs through Arizona,” Mayes told students.\n\nThe candidates appeared at an Election Day event held by student political organizations Mission for Arizona and Young Democrats at ASU at ASU’s Memorial Union. Hobbs spent a short time on campus and then moved on to an event in south Phoenix.\n\n– Shane Brennan/Cronkite News\n\nAt Mar-a-Lago, Rubio victory cheered. DeSantis win … not so much\n\nWEST PALM BEACH, Florida – When Fox News called the gubernatorial race for Ron DeSantis against Democratic rival Charlie Crist just after 8 p.m., the crowd in the ballroom of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate clapped quietly.\n\nBut the crowd cheered and clapped boisterously when it was announced that U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio had defeated Democratic challenger Val Demings.\n\nTrump said Tuesday he would \"bring up the past\" should DeSantis seek the 2024 presidential nomination.\n\n\"It'd be like anybody else that runs, if somebody runs you have to bring up the past,\" Trump told reporters in a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate around 6:30 p.m., a half hour before most polls in Florida closed. \"I'm not sure he would want to run. We'll see.\"\n\nTrump then noted that he voted for DeSantis on Tuesday.\n\n– Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post\n\nWes Moore wins Maryland governorship, makes history\n\nDemocrat Wes Moore won Maryland’s governor race against Republican opponent Maryland Del. Dan Cox, making history as Maryland’s first Black governor.\n\nMoore gives the governorship back to the Democrats after two terms of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.\n\n– Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nVoted into history: Wes Moore to be Maryland's first Black governor; first Gen-Z House member in Fla., more\n\nRepublican Gov. Bill Lee wins reelection in Tennessee\n\nRepublican Gov. Bill Lee was reelected governor of Tennessee. He defeated Democratic challenger Jason Martin.\n\nLee sought a second and final term as governor after he was first elected in 2018. He formerly served as a businessman and chairman of the Lee Company. He ran unopposed in the primary this year.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nMaryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen wins reelection\n\nSen. Chris Van Hollen was reelected Tuesday evening, defeating his Republican opponent Chris Chaffee and keeping his Maryland Senate seat.\n\nVan Hollen, who previously served as the representative for Maryland's 8th Congressional District, won his second Senate term.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nRepublican Gov. Kay Ivey wins re-election in Alabama\n\nIncumbent Republican Gov. Kay Ivey won reelection in Alabama against Democratic challenger Yolanda Flowers. Ivey’s win puts her on pace to become the longest-serving governor in Alabama history, according to The Montgomery Adviser.\n\n– BrieAnna Frank\n\nChris Sununu reelected New Hampshire governor\n\nRepublican Gov. Chris Sununu defeated Democrat Tom Sherman in the New Hampshire gubernatorial race.\n\nSununu will now serve a fourth two-year term. He was heavily favored against Sherman, who ran unopposed in his party's governor's nomination.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nIllinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth wins reelection\n\nSen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., beat Republican challenger Kathy Salvi for a second term.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nVoter recounts poll watcher intimidation\n\nGLENDALE, Arizona – Daniel Ruiz, 28, has voted since 2016, but Tuesday was the first time he had a poll watcher shove a camera in his face.\n\n“I’m going to have some problems with that. I don’t know who you are,” he said after trying to confront the poll watcher. The other man did not identify himself and left quickly after taking photos of Ruiz and nonpartisan Election Protection volunteers at Glendale Community College.\n\nA federal judge last week set limits on groups watching ballot drop boxes in Arizona, ordering them to stop filming and confronting voters, carrying weapons and to remain at least 75 feet away from ballot boxes.\n\nExcept for the encounter, Ruiz said everything went smoothly and he was able to drop off his ballot. “I feel like, weirdly, if people don’t get their way, things can escalate, and that’s kind of scary for a regular citizen,” he said.\n\n– Khanh Nguyen/ Special for Cronkite News\n\nRepublican Katie Britt wins Alabama Senate seat\n\nRepublican Katie Britt won the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. She defeated Democrat Will Boyd.\n\nBritt was previously the former president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama. During the campaign, she received the endorsement of Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who is retiring.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nRepublican Senate candidates sweep in Oklahoma\n\nOklahoma’s two Republican Senate candidates won their elections early Tuesday night.\n\nMarkwayne Mullin was elected to the U.S. Senate in Oklahoma and Sen. James Lankford won his reelection bid.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nIllinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wins reelection\n\nIllinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker easily beat Republican challenger Darren Bailey in his reelection bid.\n\nBillionaires like Ken Griffin and Richard Uihlein threw millions of dollars into the race heading into its primary, igniting a second round in the state's battle of the billionaires.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis wins reelection\n\nRepublican incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis won the race for Florida governor, defeating Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist.\n\nDeSantis held onto a double-digit lead in the polls for much of the race.\n\nThe contest has been closely watched nonetheless, as DeSantis has built a national profile in what some see as preparation for a bid to secure the GOP nomination for president in 2024.\n\nCrist, a former Republican himself, served as Florida’s governor from 2007 to 2011, re-registering as a Democrat after leaving office.\n\n– Anna Kaufman, Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nSen. Richard Blumenthal defends Connecticut Senate seat\n\nSen. Richard Blumenthal won reelection in the Connecticut Senate race.\n\nBlumenthal has been in office since 2011. This is his third six-year term. The senator’s last tight contest was in 2010, which was his first run for U.S. Senate.\n\n- Rachel Looker\n\nTop US cybersecurity officials confirm some election website outages but say no disruption of election infrastructure\n\nThe Department of Homeland Security has seen no specific or credible threat that is disrupting election infrastructure, or any activity that should cause voters to question the security, the integrity or resilience of the midterm elections, two senior U.S. cybersecurity officials said Tuesday evening.\n\nThe officials, both with DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA, noted that there have been a few isolated issues arising from within the 8,800 or so individual election jurisdictions in the United States, including Maricopa County, Arizona – but chalked them up to mostly routine Election Day glitches.\n\nThe two officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing cybersecurity operations, confirmed that they were aware of so-called distributed denial-of-service attacks affecting a number of websites for state election offices, campaigns, and partisan organizations – including a sustained effort to take down election-related websites in Mississippi. But they sought to reassure voters by stressing that such DDoS attacks, which flood websites with computer messages, can only slow down voting or counting processes as opposed to actually meddling with the actual vote count.\n\nThey also said that while it is inherently difficult to find out who is behind such attacks, CISA has seen no evidence suggesting that the DDoS attacks were part of any widespread or coordinated campaign.CISA hasn't seen any DDoS attacks on election night results reporting websites, the senior official says.\n\n– Josh Meyer\n\nDemocrat Maura Healey wins Massachusetts’ governor’s race\n\nDemocrat Maura Healey won Massachusetts’ gubernatorial race against Donald Trump-backed Republican nominee Geoff Diehl. The Associated Press called the race at 8 p.m. ET.\n\nHealey makes history as the first woman and the first openly gay candidate elected to the office.\n\n– BrieAnna Frank\n\nFlorida Sen. Marco Rubio defeats Democratic challenger\n\nRepublican incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio successfully fended off Democratic Rep. Val Demings in Florida’s U.S. Senate race to keep his seat, according to Fox and CNN’s projections.\n\nRubio, a two-term senator, had been the favorite to win in polls conducted throughout the race, while Demings, a congresswoman representing the Orlando area since 2017, trailed.\n\nThe contest has shaped up to be one of the most expensive in the country, with Democrats spending big, hoping to flip the seat.\n\nIdeologically the candidates are split mostly along party lines, sparring in their sole debate over hot-button issues like abortion, border policy, and gun control.\n\n– Anna Kaufman, Ella Lee\n\nRepublican Sen. Tim Scott wins South Carolina Senate seat\n\nIncumbent Republican Sen. Tim Scott won the South Carolina Senate seat in the race against Democrat Krystle Matthews. Scott will now serve his second full term.\n\nScott has made repeated trips to Iowa, creating speculation he may be laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid.\n\nMatthews serves as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nTodd Young wins Indiana Senate race\n\nRepublican Sen. Todd Young defended his seat against Democratic challenger Thomas McDermott in the Indiana Senate race.\n\nYoung is finishing his first term as senator. He was set to be the frontrunner of the race and had over $3.5 million cash on hand in the run up to Election Day.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nMaryland voter motivated by abortion access issue\n\nSUITLAND, Md. - Kanysha Williams said that she felt it was important to come out to vote and make sure her voice was heard in what she called this year’s “spicy” midterm elections.\n\nShe said she was particularly motivated by the issue of abortion. Williams, a 30-year-old singer, said that as someone thinking about starting a family, “I’m focused on making sure a woman’s right over her own body is protected.”\n\nWilliams said she is glad to live in Maryland, where abortions are legal up to fetal viability - around 24 weeks - or later if the mother’s life is as at risk. And she hopes to keep it that way.\n\n“I want to make sure the people who represent me represent the issues I care about,” Williams said.\n\n- Ryan Knappenberger, Cronkite News\n\nGov. Mike DeWine wins reelection in Ohio\n\nRepublican incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine claimed victory in his bid for reelection in Ohio’s gubernatorial race against Democratic challenger Nan Whaley, according to projections from CBS and CNN. Whaley was the first woman ever nominated by a major party for governor in the state's history.\n\n-BrieAnna Frank\n\nPeter Welch wins Vermont Senate seat\n\nDemocrat Peter Welch will succeed Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the longest-serving member of the chamber.\n\nWelch beat Republican Gerald Malloy with just 1% of the vote counted.\n\nLeahy, first elected to the Senate in 1974, announced his retirement in November 2021.\n\n-Ella Lee\n\nAnalyst: Democrats must outrun Biden\n\nDemocrats in competitive Senate races must outrun President Joe Biden’s approval rating by six to nine percentage points to win Tuesday, according to Jessica Taylor, an analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.\n\n“The biggest hurdle for Senate Dems tonight – Biden's approval,” tweeted Taylor,\n\nThat helps explain why Biden did not campaign with most of the candidates in nine of the top races. The exception was John Fetterman, who appeared with Biden and former President Barack Obama at a rally in Philadelphia Saturday.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nFirst wave of polls closed, including Florida, Georgia and Ohio\n\nPolling locations will close in East Coast states over the next few hours. Polls will close at the following local times:\n\nPolls in parts of Kentucky and Indiana closed at 6 p.m.\n\nVirginia, Vermont, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Georgia and Florida closed at 7 p.m.\n\nOhio and North Carolina closed at 7:30 p.m.\n\nPennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine and Connecticut close at 8 p.m.\n\nPolls in New York close at 9 p.m.\n\nVoters on the west coast still have a few hours to cast their ballots. Key states on the West Coast are set to close at the following local times:\n\nNevada, New Mexico and Arizona close at 7 p.m.\n\nCalifornia, Oregon and Washington close at 8 p.m.\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nTexas county sued over voting problems, urged to extend voting hours\n\nHarris County – the most populous county in Texas, according to the 2020 Census – was sued Tuesday by lawyers from the Texas Civil Rights Project and the ACLU of Texas on behalf of the Texas Organizing Project after delays in opening several polling locations.\n\nThe Judge granted the request, extending polling time an hour to 8 p.m. local time. Voters arriving between 7-8 p.m. will cast provisional ballots.\n\nThe county also has been plagued with voting machine malfunctions, resulting in long lines and closures at certain voting stations, according to NBC News.\n\n– Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nGOP files lawsuit seeking extended hours in Maricopa County\n\nThe Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit in an Arizona court Tuesday seeking to extend the hours of polling locations in Maricopa County because of earlier problems with ballot tabulation machines.\n\nThe suit asks a superior court judge to extend polling hours in the county until 10 p.m. MST.\n\nOfficials said the issue with the tabulators affected about 20% of voting centers in the state's largest county. Officials have stressed that ballots in affected precincts will be counted, but the glitch has drawn criticism from conservatives, including former President Donald Trump.\n\nSome voters who confronted the problem were encouraged to place ballots in secure drop boxes, the Arizona Republic reported.\n\n- John Fritze and Bart Jansen\n\nKentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul easily wins reelection\n\nU.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., sailed to reelection Tuesday night, crushing Democrat Charles Booker's hopes that he'd pull off a massive upset and become not only the first Democratic senator elected in Kentucky since 1992 but also the commonwealth's first Black senator.\n\nPaul won a third six-year term in Congress, scoring a victory that the Associated Press called relatively early Tuesday evening as election results rolled in.\n\nThe libertarian-leaning senator ran on a staunchly conservative platform.\n\n- Morgan Watkins, Louisville Courier Journal\n\nRoe on some Georgia voters' minds\n\nOf all the issues at play in the 2022 cycle, Peach State voter Morgan Jones said protecting women’s reproductive rights was at the forefront.\n\nThe 38-year-old mortician said while many in her community might likely skip this year's midterm elections, she said abortion was the chief reason she went to the polls Tuesday.\n\n“With me being a woman, especially a Black woman who has a child… I feel that it should still be a choice of ours that we should be able to make on our own,” she said.\n\nVoter Ash Dawson said the possibility of lawmakers banning abortion outright was the main engine for showing up to vote.\n\n“I wanted to make sure I got some votes in the right direction that those rights are preserved for women,” Dawson, an urban farmer, told USA TODAY.\n\n- Phillip M. Bailey\n\nDonald Trump threatens Ron DeSantis (if he runs against him)\n\nDonald Trump is all but threatening Ron DeSantis with personal attacks if the Florida governor decides to run against him for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.\n\n“If he runs, he runs,” Trump recently told a group of reporters, according to The Wall Street Journal. \"If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering. I know more about him than anybody other than perhaps his wife, who is really running his campaign.”\n\nDeSantis, who is expected to win re-election as governor on Tuesday, has not commented on Trump's jibes; he also hasn't said whether he is willing to run against Trump in 2024.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nNancy Pelosi says she believes Democrats can hold majority\n\nHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she believes Democrats have a path to hold the majority in the House of Representatives.\n\nDuring an interview with PBS NewsHour, Pelosi said Democratic candidates are connecting with voters in their districts and focusing on what is important to their constituents, whether it be lowering costs, abortion or climate change.\n\n“We own the ground out there today,” Pelosi said. “Just because a pundit in Washington says ‘history says you can't win,’ is no deterrent for the enthusiasm we have out there. I think you'll be surprised this evening.”\n\n– Rebecca Morin\n\nVoting times extended at some polling sites after delays\n\nPolls in several states will allow voters to cast their ballots later than planned following unexpected delays.\n\nIn Georgia, where polls are scheduled to close at 7 p.m., at least two precincts are giving voters more time after opening late. A location in Cobb County will extend its voting time by 45 minutes and a location in DeKalb County will remain open an extra 39 minutes, according to state Democratic officials.\n\nA paper shortage in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, caused a judge to order voting sites there to remain open until 10 p.m. Polling places in the county were supposed to close at 8 p.m., according to the county’s website.\n\nAnd in North Carolina, voting will be delayed by an hour at three polling sites after one precinct opened late, leaving staff “locked out,” and two others experienced printing problems, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey; David Jackson; Bethany Rodgers, GoErie; Ella Lee\n\nKey House races to watch as results roll in\n\nAs polls start to close, here are some of the key House races we have our eyes on:\n\nCalifornia: David Valadao (R) vs. Rudy Salas (D)\n\nOhio: Steve Chabot (R) vs. Greg Landsman (D)\n\nVirginia: Abigail Spanberger (D) vs. Yesli Vega (R)\n\nNevada: Dina Titus (D) vs. Mark Robertson (R)\n\nTexas: Mayra Flores (R) vs. Vicente Gonzalez (D)\n\nMichigan: Elissa Slotkin (D) vs. Tom Barrett (R)\n\nColorado: Yadira Caraveo (D) vs. Barbara Kirkmeyer (R)\n\nNew Jersey: Tom Malinowski (D) vs. Tom Kean Jr. (R)\n\nNorth Carolina: Wiley Nickel (D) vs. Bo Hines (R)\n\n– Rachel Looker\n\nElection denial group calls for protests\n\nA group is calling for dual rallies on Tuesday in Maricopa and Pima counties to protest voting machines.\n\nThe group, 2020 Is Nullified, issued a call on social media for supporters to gather at 8 p.m. outside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix and at the Pima County Recorder’s Office in Tucson.\n\n“Stand in solidarity with fellow Americans to demand a hand count” of ballots, the group said.\n\nThe group maintains voting machines are not legal and have not been certified. Election officials say the tabulation machines are certified by state and federal inspectors, which is required under the law.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump's claims there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election have been roundly debunked.\n\n— Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic\n\nOhio sets record for early voting\n\nOhio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Ohio voters set a record this year for early voting in a nonpresidential election year.\n\nMore than 1.55 million Ohioans either voted early in-person or requested a mail-in absentee ballot for this election.\n\n“This is an increase of 3.9% over the previous record set in 2018,” according to the Secretary of State's office. The data includes all ballots received through 2 p.m. Monday, when early in-person voting ended across the state.\n\n- The Columbus Dispatch; Rachel Looker\n\nGuam elects first Republican representative since 1993\n\nRepublican James Moylan defeated Democrat Judith Won Pat to become Guam’s newest non-voting House of Representatives delegate.\n\nMoylan received 17,075 votes compared to Won Pat’s 15,427, according to partial, unofficial election results from the Guam Election Commission. He is the second Republican to be elected to the position since its creation in 1972.\n\n– Eleanor McCrary\n\nNew Mexico same-day registration brings 14,000 new voters by noon\n\nMario Jimenez, executive director of Common Cause of New Mexico, said voters were eager to cast their ballots.\n\nThe election was the first with same-day registration and 14,000 new voters registered by noon Tuesday to vote, Jimenez said. Another 100,000 voters cast absentee ballots and 350,000 people voted by noon Tuesday, he said.\n\n“We’re seeing really good turnout for a mid-term election here in New Mexico,” Jimenez said.\n\n– Bart Jansen\n\n2-minute wait times in Georgia, Raffensperger says\n\n\n\nSpeaking to reporters, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said even with a projected high turnout on Tuesday most polling places saw a two-minute wait time.\n\n“It’s just been tremendously smooth,\" he said.\n\nGeorgia election officials were told to brace for roughly 2 million voters to show up to the polls this afternoon. That's on top of the 2.5 million who've already voted early.\n\nGeorgia's polls close at 7 p.m. EST\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey\n\nIn Rep. Abigail Spanberger's Virginia district, inflation and health care drive voters\n\nFor voters in Prince William County, where Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger is on the ballot against Republican Yesli Vega for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, the main issues include inflation and abortion.\n\nReba Gravelle, a 40-year resident of the Woodbridge area, said her candidate would have to support her views on abortion. “I’m a very pro-life person and so my candidate needed to support that,” she said.\n\nJoshua King, a veteran and current deputy sheriff, said health care brought him to the polls for Democrats. King also took into consideration his daughter, who has autism. “I support any candidate who decides that they want to help out our special needs community because they’re marginalized,” he said.\n\n– Kaila Nichols and Dante Nieto, Medill News Service\n\nIn Texas, Beto O'Rourke supporters argue with protesters over LGBTQ issues\n\nDemocrat Beto O’Rourke, who is challenging Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, held an Election Day meet-and-greet outside a public library in North Dallas this morning. While O’Rourke talked with a ring of supporters, far-right agitators jostled with onlookers and tried to disrupt the candidate’s speech, with little success.\n\nThe handful of anti-O’Rourke onlookers shouted statements about pedophilia and transgender rights that have become a refrain of the extremist right in Texas in recent months. Despite some high-spirited discussions with the candidate’s supporters, the hecklers were unable to push past them and get close to O’Rourke, who spoke to the crowd for about an hour.\n\nTransgender rights have become a political lightning rod in Texas, which has also seen a surge in protests and attacks on LGBTQ-friendly events such as family friendly drag shows. O’Rourke has been endorsed by several LGBTQ organizations, and has criticized Abbott for his support of policies that he says discriminate against LGBTQ people.\n\n– Will Carless\n\nBiden: 'MAGA Republicans' don’t care about Black communities\n\nWASHINGTON – President Joe Biden warned in an Election Day radio interview targeted at Black Americans that far-right “MAGA Republicans” don’t care about African-American communities.\n\n“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said on the “D.L. Hughley Show” when asked about his message to Black Americans who are still on the fence about voting.\n\nMAGA Republicans are “a different breed of cat,” Biden said in the interview, which was taped Tuesday morning. “They care about your community about as much as … well, anyway,” he said, without finishing the sentence. “You’ve seen what you’ve got from that community,” he added.\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nNorth Carolina Senate race: Ted Budd supporters optimistic at polls\n\nWINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – North Carolina has never elected a woman of color to the U.S. Senate, and many voters don't expect that to change Tuesday.\n\nSupporters of Democrat Cheri Beasley say they are not exactly confident, but some remain hopeful: \"Some of the underdogs come out on top!\" said Jannet Blue, 58, a Department of Motor Vehicles supervisor who voted in Winston-Salem.\n\nBackers of Republican Ted Budd are more confident; his poll lead has grown in recent weeks, and voters said it just feels like a Republican year in the Tar Heel State. \"We need to keep working people working,\" said James Wilcox, 61, a Winston-Salem businessman.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nArizona voting machines: Maricopa County resolves ballot tabulation issues at some locations\n\nThe Maricopa County Elections Department found a solution for tabulation issues that affected about 60 of the county’s 223 voting centers, the county government said Tuesday.\n\nPrinters at the locations were not producing dark enough timing marks on ballots, according to Maricopa County’s official Twitter. To resolve the issue, county technicians changed the printer settings. The solution has so far worked at 17 locations and technicians have been deployed to the remaining locations to resolve the issue, according to the county.\n\nStephen Richer, Maricopa County recorder, issued an apology to voters on his personal Twitter, promising that “every legal vote will be tabulated.\"\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nPhiladelphia voting ‘going great’ so far\n\nPHILADELPHIA – Tuesday has been a “wonderful” day for voting in the city, according to Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner Nick Custodio.\n\n“It’s going great,” he told USA TODAY. “Nothing has risen to a level of concern.”\n\nThe overwhelming majority of voters have been able to cast ballots without incident and the processing has been “going smoothly,” Custodio said.\n\nPolls are open until 8 p.m. and voters can turn in mailed ballots until that time in Pennsylvania.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nFor some in New Hampshire, Biden’s stake in democracy gets through\n\nBEDFORD, N.H. – For some in New Hampshire, where presidential candidates flock every four years, President Joe Biden’s message that democracy is at stake resonated with some voters.\n\nJonathan French says it’s why he’s voting for Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan over Republican Don Bolduc.\n\n“I believe in democracy. Don Bolduc denies the election results from 2020,” French simply put. But at the same time, French isn’t sure if he wants to see Biden run again in 2024. “We’ll wait and see,” said French.\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nMailed ballots drive higher turnout in Philadelphia\n\nPHILADELPHIA – There is a higher turnout today and the bulk of the counting will be done tonight, according to Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner Nick Custodio.\n\nAbout 101,000 mailed ballots will be processed tonight, he told USA TODAY, with the first tally showing five minutes after the polls close at 8 p.m. in Pennsylvania. The counting will take “the normal amount of time,” meaning most of the results will be in tomorrow or Thursday, he said.\n\nCustodio is expecting a higher turnout in this election compared to 2018 because of mail-in voting, he said.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nWhy one voter in Philadelphia is staying home\n\nPHILADELPHIA – Standing outside a Save A Lot grocery store, Lori Dornan explains why she’s shopping after work instead of voting.\n\n“My vote will just give a politician more money and power. It won’t help me afford groceries,” she said.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nMan in custody after disturbance at West Bend, Wisconsin, polling place\n\nA 38-year-old Wisconsin man was arrested Tuesday after “demanding for staff to ‘stop the voting'\" not far from a polling location in the West Bend Community Memorial Library in West Bend, Wisconsin, according to police.\n\nA poll worker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he heard a man with a knife approach the library’s front desk. Voters and children playing in the area were escorted into the voting room, he said, and the doors were shut.\n\nLibrary staff declined to comment on the incident. Police would not confirm whether a knife was involved, saying only that someone was taken into custody following a disturbance in which no one was injured. Voting at the library was disrupted for about 30 minutes, the poll worker said, but has since returned to normal operations.\n\n– Lawrence Andrea\n\nGet your 2022 live midterm election results here\n\nThe 2022 midterm elections are underway and American voters are hitting the polls to elect members of the Senate and House of Representatives, as well as governors in certain states.\n\nFollow our live coverage for Senate results, House results and gubernatorial results begin to roll in. You can also learn how to vote and who's on the ballot in your state.\n\nCybersecurity officials: Still no specific or credible threat to disrupt election operations\n\nTwo senior U.S. cybersecurity officials said Tuesday afternoon that the Department of Homeland Security continues to see no specific or credible threat to disrupt election infrastructure or election day operations, and that it remains vigilant to protect against foreign nation disinformation and malign influence operations.\n\nThe officials, both with DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA, noted that there have been a few isolated issues arising from within the 8,800 or so individual election jurisdictions in the United States, including Maricopa County, Arizona.\n\nBut they described them as nothing out of the ordinary and said CISA was in close touch with elected officials there and elsewhere across the country in order to understand and respond to any election day problems if needed.The officials, both speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing cybersecurity operations, referred questions about Maricopa County to local officials there, who have released statements and a video explaining how the voting machinery works.\n\n– Josh Meyer\n\nVoting rights group: Overvoting in NH causes some concerns\n\nDERRY, N.H. – In New Hampshire, some voters are filling out more names than they should on their ballot, forcing their ballot to be hand recounted rather than being read by a machine. Voting rights groups worry the tactic called “overvoting” could lower voter confidence and slow down counting.\n\n“We have seen a few loosely organized groups pushing for folks to purposely overvote their ballot to make sure their ballot is hand counted this cycle,” said Liz Wester, director of the New Hampshire Voter Empowerment Task Force, a voting rights group.\n\nNew Hampshire Secretary of State, David Scanlan, told USA TODAY that the state is already prepared for hand counting; his office has sent more election workers to polling places to assist in counting ballots.\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nCommon Cause: Election glitches routine, with some 'weird' anecdotes in Ohio\n\nCatherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause of Ohio, said most questions about voting have been routine, with a couple of “weird” examples.\n\nA priest in Toledo was checking the identification of voters, Turcer said. In Summit County, around Akron, a man was visiting polling places and just watching before being asked to move along, she said.\n\nBut most voting problems reported nationwide were routine, such as problems with voting machines forcing longer lines, not systemic, said Sylvia Albert, Common Cause director of voting and elections.\n\n“What we’re seeing is really what we see in every election, isolated incidents of some problems,” Albert said. “No election is perfect. Election officials are doing their job.”\n\n– Bart Jansen\n\nFor some, Walker’s candidacy is about ‘grace and forgiveness’\n\nKENNESAW, Ga. – Former football player Herschel Walker’s personal controversies have made his Senate campaign a target for Democrats, but many Georgia voters think differently.\n\n“Herschel is real, he’s one of us,” voter Tricia Choi, 55, told USA TODAY. Choi said for many Walker's story is about the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, which she said appeals to faith-based voters.\n\nWalker, who is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, has been accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife. Most recently, allegations surfaced that he pressured former girlfriends to have abortions, which he has denied.\n\n– Phillip M. Bailey\n\nMark Kelly, Blake Masters set for final pitch in Arizona Senate race\n\nOn one side is Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat and former astronaut whose wife was shot in the head by an angry constituent. On the other is Blake Masters, a tech investor and first-time candidate backed by a billionaire patron and endorsed by Trump.\n\nThe two are locked in what’s become an increasingly tight race, with Kelly’s initial advantage in the polls narrowing to a dead heat.\n\nWith hours to go until polling places close, Kelly planned to hit get-out-the-vote events in west Phoenix and Tucson. Masters planned to spend election night at the Arizona Republican Party’s watch event in Scottsdale.\n\nMaricopa County, where problems have been reported at one out of five polling sites, is home to Phoenix and is Arizona’s most populous county. It's also one of the largest in the nation – and while it has tended to vote for Republican candidates in recent years, Biden carried it in 2020.\n\nThe vote there will likely be critical to deciding the tossup Senate race.\n\n— Alison Steinbach, The Arizona Republic, Donovan Slack, and John Fritze\n\nSnowstorm greets voters in crucial swing county\n\nIt was a snowy Election Day in Washoe County, Nevada.\n\nThe county is crucial territory for Nevada – and the nation – as Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is fending off a challenge from Trump-backed Republican Adam Laxalt. The contest is among a handful that could determine who controls the Senate – and the fate of Biden's agenda for the next two years.\n\nMarc Picker, poll manager at Damonte Ranch High School, said turnout so far is among the highest he has seen despite the weather. One Democratic voter, Reno resident Margaret Smith, said few flakes wouldn't have kept her away.\n\n“I’m like the U.S. Postal Service – neither rain, sleet or snow will stop me from going out like Santa,” Smith said. “(Voting) is that important.”\n\nAnother Reno voter, Jim Lewis, agreed, despite being on the opposite end of the political spectrum. “If they like their freedom and liberty, they should go out there and not be afraid,” he said.\n\n— Jason Hidalgo, Reno Gazette Journal, and Donovan Slack\n\nStocks rally on expectations of GOP inroads\n\nStocks rallied Tuesday on expectations that Republicans will retake at least one chamber of Congress, likely the House of Representatives. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 1.5% as of 1 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also up by more than 1%.\n\nStocks tend to perform better when in a divided Congress gridlock since it can restrict government spending and hold up new legislation that can negatively impact stocks, analysts said.\n\n— Elisabeth Buchwald and Medora Lee\n\nMore debates is what some voters wanted\n\nAVONDALE ESTATES, Ga. — Coming out of his polling place in DeKalb County, voter Gregory Ewing said what was most aggravating during the 2022 midterms was the lack of debates.\n\nAs USA TODAY reported in September many candidates sought to avoid each other in some of the most high-profile races.\n\nEwing said Georgians deserved more chances to see a direct contrast between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker on stage in the final weeks of the race.\n\n“It’s hard to know what the truth is with these ads. The closest place we can get to the truth and how candidates really think is through a debate,\" he said.\n\n— Phillip M. Bailey\n\nIllinois county reports election-related cyberattack, but voting not compromised, officials say\n\nChampaign County, Ill., is fighting off an election-related cyberattack that is unrelated to actual voting operations, according to officials there, who say connectivity issues and computer server performance are making it harder – but not impossible – for people to vote.\n\n“The Clerk’s Office believes these are due to cyber-attacks on the network and servers,” Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons said in a news release.\n\nChief Deputy Clerk Angie Patton told USA TODAY that the clerk’s office has been the target of repeated DDOS, or Distributed Denial of Service, attacks and that she believes other counties may have been targeted as well.\n\nBut she said IT specialists have secured the Clerk's website – and election operations – and that no data or information has been compromised and the election is secure. She urged voters waiting in long lines to either wait or go to another polling place within the county since voters can cast their ballots there as well.\n\n— Josh Meyer\n\nAt the top of the Texas ticket: Gov. Greg Abbott faces Beto O’Rourke\n\nTexans have their eye on the marquee race for governor: incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott runs against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. O’Rourke caught the attention of the state and nation after running against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. Abbott is fighting for a third term.\n\nAbbott has led ahead of O’Rourke in Texas polls; margins sometimes reach single digits. On Oct. 30, a poll by the University of Texas at Tyler showed Abbott leading by 6 percentage points among likely voters. Another October poll by the University of Texas Politics Project showed Abbott leading by 11 points.\n\nO’Rourke seeks to galvanize voters around abortion access and gun legislation. O’Rourke’s final ad ahead of Election Day centered around his support for abortion access.\n\n— Nusaiba Mizan\n\nBiden spending Election Day at the White House\n\nWASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is spending Election Day at the White House with no public events on his schedule.\n\nThe White House said he dropped in on a virtual phone bank by the Democratic National Committee to thank staff and volunteers and taped a radio interview targeted at Black Americans.\n\nThe president has already cast his midterm ballot. Accompanied by one of his granddaughters, a first-time voter, Biden voted in Wilmington, Delaware, on Oct. 29.\n\nBiden is expected to address the nation about the election results on Wednesday, though they are likely to be incomplete at that point.\n\n— Michael Collins\n\nTrump says he voted for DeSantis, hints again at presidential run\n\nFormer President Donald Trump said he voted Tuesday morning for Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, while also dropping more hints that he’ll soon declare a third run for the White House, according to media reports.\n\nTrump spoke to the media after he cast his vote at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center on Tuesday morning, according to video posted by the local CBS news station CBS12. Former first lady Melania Trump joined him. \"No matter who you vote for, you have to vote,\" Trump told a sparse crowd outside the polling station.\n\nTrump also repeated that he’ll be making an announcement a week from today at his Mar-a-Lago home and resort in Palm Beach, though he didn't say about what. \"I think Tuesday will be a very exciting day for a lot of people,” Trump said, adding that, “The country has gotten very bad. Its lost its way, its lost its confidence.\"\n\n— Josh Meyer\n\nLA voters elect mayor amid political turmoil\n\nLos Angeles voters headed to the polls Tuesday to elect a new mayor amid political tumult in the nation’s second-largest city.\n\nU.S. Rep. Karen Bass, a former state Assembly leader and Democrat who is backed by President Joe Biden, could become the first Black woman to hold the job. She faces developer Rick Caruso, a billionaire Republican turned Democrat, who has campaigned on a platform of change.\n\nThe winner fills the seat of embattled Democrat Eric Garcetti, whose nomination to become U.S. ambassador to India is stalled in the Senate.\n\nThe election comes just weeks after City Hall was embroiled in a racism scandal that led to the ouster of the City Council president and urgent calls for the resignation of two more members. President Nury Martinez resigned after audio leaked of her racist remarks about a colleague’s child and Oaxacan immigrants in the city.\n\n— Susan Miller\n\nCatch up on our election-related fact checks\n\nAccusations, misinterpretations and flat-out lies circulated widely as part of the pre-election debate on social media.\n\nThe USA TODAY Fact-Check Team debunked an array of the most common claims in recent weeks, which you’ll find here in our fact check roundup.\n\nOur reporters assembled evidence and expert interviews to address false claims about ballot boxes, mail-in voting and vote counting. And we corrected claims that missed the mark attempting to attack ballot initiatives in Michigan, California and Connecticut.\n\nWe’ll update this roundup throughout the week as we research additional claims.\n\n— Eric Litke\n\nArizona's Maricopa County reports issues at 20% of voting locations\n\nMaricopa County elections official now say 20% of the county's voting locations are reporting problems. That's double the estimate the county provided earlier in the day.\n\n\"We’re doing what we can to get these back online. It’s not like both of the tabulators are having these issues. It may only be one (at a location),\" Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates said on Tuesday morning during an impromptu news conference.\n\nMaricopa County has 223 voting centers.\n\nVoters at impacted sites have two options: to cast their ballot via a secure box to be counted later or to go vote at a different location. Elections Department spokesperson Megan Gilbertson said poll workers are best equipped to help voters ensure their ballot is successfully cast.\n\n“It’s important for voters to talk to the poll workers on site,” Gilbertson said.\n\n— Anne Ryman and Sasha Hupka\n\nVirginia voters can register today, then vote\n\nVirginia’s same-day voter registration law went into effect last month. In theory, that could make it easier for some folks to vote on Election Day.\n\nSame-day registration ballots are provisional and will be evaluated by local registrars later this week to confirm voter eligibility.\n\nDonald Sutton, the chief election official at the Virginia Beach 5th Precinct, said the new law isn’t a big departure from business as usual.\n\n– Grant Schwab, Medill News Service\n\nVoting problems? There’s a hotline for that!\n\nThe Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is administering an election-protection hotline for voters experiencing problems at the polls.\n\nVolunteers are manning the phones at 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). There are also hotlines in other languages:\n\nSpanish/English: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)\n\nAsian languages/English: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)\n\nArabic/English: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)\n\n— Donovan Slack\n\nMeanwhile, in Pennsylvania...\n\nPHILADELPHIA – There’s a guy dancing in a cardboard, drop-box costume outside City Hall.\n\n— Candy Woodall\n\nFlorida rejects federal election monitors; feds say no biggie since monitors are outside anyway\n\nFlorida’s top election official said Tuesday that the state won’t allow federal monitors at polling locations in South Florida because it’s against state law and federal authorities failed to present any evidence for such an action.\n\nSecretary of State Cord Byrd told reporters in Tallahassee that state officials “wanted to make it clear that (polling locations) are places for election workers and for voters, not for anyone else.”\n\nThe Justice Department said Monday that it was deploying election monitors to 64 jurisdictions across the country, including three counties in South Florida: Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.\n\nBrad McVay, an attorney with Florida’s Department of State, sent the Justice Department a letter Monday. “None of the counties are currently subject to any election-related federal consent decrees,” he wrote. “None of the counties have been accused of violating the rights of language or racial minorities or of the elderly or disabled.”\n\nThe Justice Department confirmed receipt of the Florida letter but declined to comment except to indicate that federal monitors would be outside the polling places.\n\n— Doug Soule, USA Today Network-Florida, and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY\n\nIs Miami-Dade turning red? Voting numbers tell the story\n\nMiami-Dade County is one of the biggest and most coveted prizes for any statewide candidate in Florida, and Democrats have owned it for years.\n\nConsider the fact that Miami-Dade hasn’t voted for a Republican since 1988 and hasn’t backed a Republican governor since 2002. That may be changing this year. Early voting numbers as of Tuesday morning show Republicans holding a slight edge of almost 4,000 votes over Democrats.\n\nIf the numbers hold up, it would represent one of the most dramatic electoral turnarounds in Florida history and may solidify the Sunshine State as a red, Republican state moving forward.\n\n— Sergio Bustos, USA Today Network-Florida Enterprise/Politics Editor\n\nYOUR GUIDE TO MIDTERMS:Voting rights, ballot access and key issues: A guide to midterm elections in your state\n\nDon Bolduc says he will accept Election 2022 results if he loses to Maggie Hassan\n\nRepublican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc said Tuesday that his opponent, Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan, is out of touch in accusing him of being “extreme” and an “election-denier,” saying he will concede the election Tuesday if he loses.\n\nBolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, made those remarks after voting at the Stratham Memorial School in the town where he lives.\n\n— Max Sullivan\n\nVoting begins smoothly in contested Nevada Senate race\n\nAt the Desert Breeze Community Center outside Las Vegas, approximately 100 people waited in line as the polls opened at 7 a.m. Robert Streat, 73, was among the first to cast a ballot, a personal in-person voting tradition he said dates back decades.\n\nStreat said he opposes Biden's agenda and worries the country is changing too fast from the values he helped defend in Vietnam. He said he supported Republican candidates in the election.\n\n“This country is going to hell if we don’t change it. We’ve got too many people who hate it,\" he said. “We should control the government but we’ve lost it.”\n\nBut Jonathan Copeland, 55, said he worries that Republican control of the House and Senate would mean further erosion of abortion rights, which he supports. Copeland said he voted to help defend the seat of U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat in danger of losing to Republican challenger Adam Laxalt. A Laxalt victory would help flip the Senate to Republican control.\n\n\"What politician has the right to tell a woman what to do?\" Copeland said.\n\n— Trevor Hughes\n\nElection watchdog Common Cause reports routine polling problems in battleground states\n\nCommon Cause officials reported during a 10 a.m. news conference routine problems with voting in battleground states, but urged voters who cast ballots by mail to track them and make sure they were counted.\n\nAmy Keith, program director for Common Cause in Florida, said more than 15,000 absentee ballots were flagged by Thursday for problems such as a missing signature. Voters have until Thursday at 5 p.m. to fix the problems, but with a tropical storm hurtling toward the state, Keith urged voters to vote move briskly.\n\nShe said 2.2 million voters voted early in person and another 2.5 million voted early by mail.\n\n“Floridians are coming out to have their voices heard,” Keith said.\n\n— Bart Jansen\n\nU.S. cybersecurity officials see no attacks on election infrastructure yet\n\nU.S. cybersecurity officials so far have seen no indications of direct attacks on election infrastructure across the United States in the early hours of mid-term voting Tuesday. But they remain on high alert to disinformation operations and efforts to sway voters’ opinions by nation-states such as Russia, China and Iran, a senior official with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told reporters.\n\nThe senior CISA official said those three nations continue to use the election disinformation playbook they have in past elections, and that CISA will continue to support election officials nationwide to any risks that may arise because of them.\n\nIn the first of three election security media briefings scheduled for Tuesday, the official would not say whether such foreign disinformation efforts are worse than in past election cycles, but confirmed that CISA is especially on guard against Russian malign influence campaigns following yesterday’s claim by sanctioned Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin that the Kremlin has meddled in U.S. elections and will continue to do so.\n\n— Josh Meyer\n\nNew Hampshire governor: Trump announcing 2024 run soon comes at 'worst time'\n\nNew Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican running for reelection, was one of the first in line to cast his ballot, and when asked about reports former President Donald Trump is expected to announce a 2024 presidential run, he said it seemed like poor timing.\n\n“Anyone who thinks it’s a smart idea to announce an election, a potential presidential bid, after (Tuesday’s) election but before Christmas, is just the worst time you could possibly do it,” Sununu said. “My sense is the former president needs better advisers if that’s really what his strategy’s going to be.”\n\nAs he has crisscrossed the country to campaign for Republican midterm candidates, Trump has increasingly hinted that he may launch a 2024 White House bid soon after the midterms. At a Monday night rally in Dayton, Ohio, he told supporters he was planning a \"very big announcement\" on Nov. 15 from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.\n\n— Max Sullivan\n\nThere's a reason for all those negative campaign ads...\n\nOn Election Day 2022, Americans are unhappy with the present, pessimistic about the future and not fully enamored with either political party. Their anxious, angry mood helps explain why campaign appeals have mostly turned not on aspirational promises – on exploring space or ending poverty, say – but on ominous warnings about the dangers of supporting the other side.\n\n\"Probably not since even the Civil War (has there been) such a dire situation for our democracy as we are in the current day,\" said John Mark Hansen, a political scientist at the University of Chicago.\n\nLessons learned in the midterms include those on the importance of the economy and the emergence of the extremes, among others. Also, the next campaign has already begun, so if you wanted to take a breath before 2024, you’re out of luck.\n\n— Susan Page\n\nIn Ohio, voters to weigh rules for future elections along with Ryan vs. Vance contest\n\nAfter months of campaigns, debates, primaries, absentee and early voting, polls in Ohio opened at 6:30 a.m. EST and will remain open until 7:30 EST.\n\nOne key issue is a ballot measure on rules for future elections. Issue 2 would prohibit noncitizens from voting, proposing that only adult U.S. citizens who legally reside and are registered to vote in Ohio for at least 30 days can cast a ballot in future state and local elections.\n\nThe most high-profile race in the state is the contest between Republican J.D. Vance and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan that will help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. Voters will also choose between incumbent Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and his Democratic challenger Nan Whaley. While polls show a tight race for the Senate seat, DeWine has had a wide lead over Whaley in many polls.\n\n— Micah Walker and Caren Bohan\n\nElection officials: Disrupt ‘at your peril’\n\nTop election officials in key states with tight contests are ready for potential disruptions as voters head to the polls – and the ballots are counted afterward.\n\nIn Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said her office is coordinating closely with law enforcement, deploying dozens of monitors to polling paces, and is prepared to eject poll workers who violate rules.\n\nIn Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his office set up a texting system for poll workers in 85 counties to report problems and has state patrol officers and the National Guard ready to provide security.\n\nIn Arizona, Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates said officials throughout the county are ready to respond and are closely coordinating with law enforcement to ensure balloting goes smoothly.\n\n“Our message has been very clear to those who would try and disrupt this election: They do it at their peril,” Gates told reporters at a recent briefing hosted by The Center for Election Innovation & Research. “We're going to respond very strongly to that.”\n\nOne of his biggest worries ar", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2022/10/24/till-statue-lin-manuel-miranda-buried-convertible-news-around-states/50868009/", "title": "Till statue, Lin-Manuel Miranda: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nRussellville: A northern Alabama community with large numbers of Hispanic immigrants is using federal COVID-19 relief money to fund an experiment to better serve students who are still learning English. They are hiring and certifying more local, Spanish-speaking staff. More than half of 2,500 students in the small Russellville city school district identify as Hispanic or Latino, and about a quarter are learning English. But the district at times has struggled to find the people and money necessary to help those students achieve. As part of a recent exercise to help the class learn English, a third grader pulled a block from a Jenga tower and read aloud a question written on one side. “Where,” the boy read, then slowly sounded out the other words: “Where would you like to visit?” “Disneyland,” one student said. “Space,” another chimed in. “Guatemala,” one girl said. Kathy Alfaro, a new English language teacher at Russellville Elementary, exchanged a few words with the girl in Spanish, then turned to the other students. “Do y’all know what she said?” Alfaro asked the class. “She said she has a lot of family in Guatemala because she was born there. And I told her that I was born here, but I also have a lot of family in Guatemala.” Districtwide, the percentage of students who met their language proficiency goals increased from 46% in 2019 to 61% in 2022. At the two elementary schools, proficiency jumped by nearly 30 percentage points.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, received a hero’s welcome Thursday when the Democrat gave the keynote address at the Alaska Federation of Natives conference in Anchorage. Those attending the largest annual gathering of Natives in Alaska showered her with standing ovations, spontaneous songs and gifts, including a bolo tie worn by her Republican predecessor, the late Don Young. Young’s daughter Joni Nelson presented the tie to Peltola, saying it was a passing of the mantle to her. The surprise presentation came after Young’s adult children joined Peltola on stage as she paid tribute to Young, who held Alaska’s sole seat in the House for 49 years until his death in March. Peltola defeated Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich in an August special election to finish out Young’s term. Those three, along with Libertarian Chris Bye, are competing for a full two-year term in the November election. Another of Young’s daughters, Dawn Vallely, later said on stage that her father would have been happy with the results of the special election, won by Peltola. Nelson wore the white beaded tie – which features the state of Alaska in blue beads – onstage but removed it to place it around Peltola’s neck when she greeted the family.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: The state has sued the federal government to be able to keep more than 100 double-stacked shipping containers that Republican Gov. Doug Ducey had placed to fill in gaps along the U.S.-Mexico border near the southwestern desert community of Yuma. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Arizona on Friday asks that the state be allowed to take the unilateral action it believes necessary to defend its residents from migrants illegally crossing the border. Ducey complains the U.S. government is not doing enough to stop migrants from coming to Arizona, forcing the state to take action. The shipping containers went up in August. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last week sent a letter telling Arizona to take down the containers, saying they are unauthorized and violate U.S. law. Arizona refused. The Cocopah Indian Tribe in southwestern Arizona also complained that some of the containers were placed on its reservation without permission. The Bureau of Reclamation also demanded that no new containers be placed, saying it hoped to prevent conflicts with federal construction contracts to fill the gaps in the wall near the Morelos Dam in the Yuma area.\n\nArkansas\n\nConway: Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended her avoidance of local media in her bid for governor Friday as she appeared in her only debate ahead of next month’s election. Sanders, the Republican nominee who is heavily favored in the November election, has conducted few local interviews during her bid for the state’s top office. Sanders had agreed to only one debate with Democratic nominee Chris Jones and Libertarian Ricky Dale Harrington. Sanders said she’s been speaking directly to voters by campaigning around the state. “Freedom of the press is incredibly important, but with freedom of the press comes a great deal of responsibility,” Sanders said. “When they don’t live up to their end of the bargain, it forces some of us to go outside the box, which I have done every single day for the past two years.” Public polling has shown Sanders leading by double digits, and she’s shattered fundraising records in the predominantly Republican state. Early voting begins Monday in Arkansas. During her two year term as ex-President Donald Trump’s chief spokeswoman, Sanders scaled back televised news briefings after repeatedly sparring with reporters who aggressively questioned her. Sanders often sought to justify the lack of formal briefings by saying they were unnecessary when journalists could hear from Trump directly.\n\nCalifornia\n\nAtherton: Three decades after a car was reported stolen in Northern California, police are digging the missing convertible out of the yard of a $15 million mansion built by a man with a history of arrests for murder, attempted murder and insurance fraud. The convertible Mercedes Benz, filled with bags of unused concrete, was discovered Thursday by landscapers in the affluent town of Atherton in Silicon Valley, Mayor Rick DeGolia said, reading a statement from police. Although cadaver dogs alerted to possible human remains Thursday, none had been found more than 24 hours after technicians with the San Mateo County Crime Lab began excavating the car, DeGolia said. Police believe the car was buried 4 to 5 feet deep in the backyard of the home sometime in the 1990s – before the current owners bought the home. The car was reported stolen in September 1992 in nearby Palo Alto, he said. By Friday, the technicians had been able to excavate the passenger side of the convertible, which was buried with its top down. They also opened the trunk, where they found more bags of unused cement. Cadaver dogs were again brought back to the house and again “made a slight notification of possible human remains,” DeGolia said.\n\nColorado\n\nCastle Rock: Brewing beer, cooking food, and refilling water bottles with recycled wastewater could soon become standard practice in a state that’s synonymous with its pristine-tasting snowmelt and mountain springs. Last week, Colorado’s water quality agency gave unanimous preliminary approval to regulate direct potable reuse – the process of treating sewage and sending it directly to taps without first being dispersed in a larger water body. Pending a final vote in November, the state would become the first to adopt direct potable reuse regulations, according to state and federal officials. “Having well-developed regulations … helps ensure projects are safe and that project proponents know what will be required of them,” said Laura Belanger, water resources engineer with the non-profit Western Resource Advocates. As the state’s population explodes, and regional water supplies dwindle, recycling water for drinking is a significant opportunity for stretching a limited supply, said Kevin Reidy, conservation specialist for the Colorado Water Conservation Board. And he said it’s a game changer in a place like Castle Rock, a city of 75,000 just south of Denver nestled under its prominent namesake butte, that relies primarily on pumping finite groundwater for drinking.\n\nConnecticut\n\nEast Hartford: The grieving widows of two slain police officers gave tearful tributes to their husbands Friday during a funeral attended by thousands of law enforcement officers from around the country. Others who spoke at the service for Bristol Officers Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy pleaded for an end to hatred and suspicion against the police. “To Alex and Dustin, you were both true heroes, amazing people, and you will be missed beyond words by everyone,” said DeMonte’s wife, Laura, who is pregnant with their third child. “I am so sorry this happened to you. Two of the very best humans. So kind, positive and fun-loving.” DeMonte, Hamzy and Officer Alec Iurato were shot Oct. 12 in what police believe was an ambush set up by a 911 call made by the shooter, Nicholas Brutcher. Iurato, who survived a gunshot wound to his leg, struggled to get behind a police cruiser and fired a single shot that killed Brutcher. Brutcher’s brother, Nathan, also was shot – possibly by his brother – and survived. DeMonte was a sergeant with 10 years’ experience on the force, and Hamzy was an officer for eight years. The funeral included formal, posthumous promotions of DeMonte to lieutenant and Hamzy to sergeant.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: The state auditor was sentenced Wednesday to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and complete 500 hours of community service for official misconduct and conflict of interest convictions. Auditor Kathy McGuiness avoided jail time for the misdemeanors, each of which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison, news outlets report. McGuiness maintains her innocence, and prosecutors sought a sentence of 30 days in prison for the Rehoboth Beach Democrat based on her lack of remorse. Her attorney argued that a $1,000 fine was sufficient. In July, a Kent County jury convicted McGuiness on three misdemeanor counts but acquitted her on felony charges of theft and witness intimidation. A judge later threw out a misdemeanor conviction for improperly structuring contract payments to a consulting firm, rejecting her request for a new trial. The conflict of interest charge involved the May 2020 hiring of her daughter Elizabeth “Saylar” McGuiness. Prosecutors alleged that Saylar McGuiness, 20, and a friend were hired even as other part-time workers in the auditor’s office left because of a lack of work during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities said McGuiness then allowed her daughter special privileges that were not available to other “casual-seasonal” workers.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: First lady Jill Biden will host a roundtable Monday on breast and cervical cancer, part of the administration’s “moonshot” effort to reduce deaths from cancer, the White House said. The event is one of many being launched by the American Cancer Society. Singer Mary J. Blige, an advocate for cancer screening, will participate in the roundtable with Biden. President Joe Biden announced in February his goal of halving cancer deaths in the next 25 years. The issue is personal for the president, whose son Beau Biden died in 2015 of brain cancer. Biden launched the cancer moonshot the following year when serving as then-President Barack Obama’s vice president.\n\nFlorida\n\nMiami: More than 230 pythons were removed from the Everglades as part of an annual competition to eliminate the invasive species from the South Florida wetlands preserve. Florida wildlife officials said Thursday that 1,000 hunters from 32 states and as far away as Canada and Latvia removed 231 Burmese pythons during the 10-day competition known as the Florida Python Challenge. Matthew Concepcion won the $10,000 top prize for removing 28 Burmese pythons. Another hunter, Dustin Crum, won a $1,500 prize for removing the longest python, a snake that measured over 11 feet long. Pythons became invasive in Florida after they were brought into the state as pets and then abandoned in the wild by their owners, wildlife officials say. Since 2000, more than 17,000 wild Burmese pythons have been removed from Florida, where they are a destructive presence for native species, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Every one of the pythons removed as part of the Challenge is one less preying on our native birds, mammals and reptiles,” said Rodney Barreto, the commission’s chairman.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: A beer garden near downtown Atlanta filled for a recent event hosted by Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock aimed at Latino voters. Some said they came to seek Warnock, who is seeking reelection in the midterm elections Nov. 8 against Republican challenger Herschel Walker. But others came to see a particularly high-profile Latino who would be speaking on Warnock’s behalf: composer, actor and filmmaker Lin-Manuel Miranda. “Who I’m really here to see is Lin-Manuel Miranda because I’m a really big fan of his,” said Camilla Estrada, of Atlanta, who described herself as liberal and said she plans to vote for Warnock. Georgia Democrats spent the first week of the state’s 19-day early voting period in frantic activity, as they implore supporters to vote in advance. Warnock and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams each held multiple events a day. Miranda also appeared with Abrams at a restaurant in suburban Lawrenceville on Wednesday, while the Abrams campaign later rolled out a recorded chat with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday night. Almost 575,000 people had voted in Georgia by the end of Thursday, roughly on pace with the 2020 presidential election, when 5 million votes were cast in the state, buoying Democratic hopes that a big turnout might help them.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Hawaiian Airlines will operate 10 cargo planes for Amazon.com starting next fall under a deal that could eventually involve more planes and give Amazon a 15% stake in the airline. The airline’s parent company, Hawaiian Holdings Inc., said Friday that it will fly and maintain an “initial fleet” of 10 leased Airbus A330-300 jets for the retail giant. The fleet could grow “depending on Amazon’s future business needs,” the company said. Hawaiian said it issued warrants that Amazon can exercise over the next nine years and acquire up to 15% of Hawaiian stock. Shares of Hawaiian Holdings jumped 13% in afternoon trading Friday. When travel plunged and consumer spending spiked early in the pandemic, airlines began carrying more cargo and demand for freighter planes grew. More recently, the cargo business has cooled off as consumer spending shifted away from goods toward services including travel, and airlines have been stuck with excess cargo capacity. Global demand for cargo fell 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier, the International Air Transport Association reported this month. Hawaiian said it won’t use any of its current planes to serve Amazon. Instead, Amazon’s air division will lease the first 10 planes -- which will be converted from passenger jets to freighters -- from leasing company Altavair.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: It’s not uncommon for Idaho wildlife officials to be called for help when a moose, mountain lion, black bear or other wild animals wander into one of the state’s rural communities. But Idaho Fish and Game officials are asking the public for help with a particularly unusual find – a 3.5-foot alligator that was discovered hiding in the brush of a rural neighborhood about 40 miles northwest of Boise. Southwest Region spokesperson Brian Pearson told the Idaho Statesman that a New Plymouth resident was walking their dog Thursday evening when they noticed something moving in the brush. Further investigation revealed the alligator – a creature commonly found in the coastal wetlands of the southeastern U.S., but certainly not native to Idaho. Pearson said the resident put the alligator in a nearby horse trailer until Idaho Fish and Game conservation officer could pick it up Friday morning. The department has the animal in captivity for now, but Pearson said it will be euthanized or given to a licensed facility unless the owner is located. Idaho Fish and Game officials are hoping members of the public will call the department if they have any information about the alligator’s origins.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: Three young men were fatally shot and two more seriously wounded early Sunday during what police called a caravan of street racers involving about 100 vehicles that took over an intersection on the city’s Southwest Side. The shooting happened about 4 a.m. in Brighton Park after the caravan blocked streets leading to the intersection for illegal street racing, Chicago police Cmdr. Don Jerome said during a news conference. Those killed were between the ages of 15 and 20, Jerome said, adding that the two wounded are expected to survive. Police made no immediate arrests. Caravans blocking streets for drag racing, cars turning doughnuts and “drifting” are a “semi-recent phenomenon where they gather throughout different points of the city, and there were several others last night of no consequence … until this one,” Jerome said. The City Council member for the neighborhood where Sunday’s shooting happened said police and other city officials needed to act more aggressively to shut down such caravans. “This is not just fun and games on the street,” Alderman Raymond Lopez told reporters at the scene. “We are seeing gangs and criminality join into the drifting and drag racing.”\n\nIndiana\n\nCrown Point: A northwestern Indiana man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting his 9-year-old daughter as he was talking to her two brothers about gun safety won’t serve any prison time for her 2017 death. A Lake County judge sentenced Eric S. Hummel, 38, on Thursday to one year to be served in the county’s community corrections program while living at home, followed by 31/ 2 years of probation. Judge Natalie Bokota accepted the Hobart man’s guilty plea to reckless homicide and neglect of a dependent charges in Olivia Hummel’s death, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports. Prosecutors had sought an 81/ 2 -year prison sentence for Hummel, but Bokota said she agreed with Hummel’s attorneys that incarcerating him would result in further trauma to his boys. According to court records, Hummel said he was showing a handgun to his sons and telling them to never play with it “because it can kill someone” when he accidentally shot and killed his daughter. Hummel told a 911 dispatcher he didn’t realize the gun was loaded when he pulled the trigger. He admitted in his plea agreement that he was talking to his sons about gun safety in a bedroom of his Hobart home in June 2017 when he pointed a handgun at the boys and pulled the trigger.\n\nIowa\n\nGrinnell: In a rare move, leaders of Grinnell College and the city appealed this month for the public’s help to put an end to racial harassment, slurs and graffiti that have shaken the campus community this fall. In an open letter to the public Oct. 16, Grinnell Mayor Dan F. Agnew and Grinnell College President Anne F. Harris asked residents to mobilize against the harassment against black citizens, students and community members and not be complacent to any racism they may witness. They urged residents to report any harassment or vandalism to police, tip police if they know any individuals who have been involved, and to enroll in bystander intervention training to help prevent future incidents. Grinnell police said Friday that they had only one formal incident report, and no arrests had been made. But in a statement to the campus community Oct. 12, the private college said there had been several incidents, including defacement of campus signs and vehicles with racist and white supremacist graffiti and harassment of community members by “unknown individuals screaming slurs from moving vehicles.” “We also know that additional incidents may not have been reported,” the statement said. Grinnell, routinely ranked as one of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges, has a diverse student body.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: Two years after her mate’s death, a female lion at the Topeka Zoo has grown a mane. The confident, sassy African lion named Zuri was always pretty much in charge of her three-member pride at the zoo, said her animal curator, Shanna Simpson. But staff members were still taken aback when, in the wake of her mate’s death two years ago, the aging lioness began growing what appeared to be a “mohawk” atop her head. That was followed by a rare and significant growth of the fur around Zuri’s head and neck, Simpson said. Zuri is intelligent, feisty and easy to train, Simpson said. The Topeka Zoo acquired Zuri and sister Asante in 2005 from the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas, then in 2006 it acquired Avus from the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin, to mate with Zuri and Asante. Avus had a large mane. Female African lions are attracted to males with large manes, Simpson said. Those manes help protect the males as they fight with other lions and with predators such as leopards and hyenas, she said. Zoo staff suspect Zuri’s increase in fur was triggered by the death of Avus, which left she and her sister as the only remaining members of their pride, Simpson said. “She feels like she needs to protect her pride, so her testosterone increases,” Simpson said. “And boom, she’s got more fur around her neck.”\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: Local public transit workers have authorized a strike, but they aren’t walking out just yet. Union members with the Transit Authority of River City voted 95% in favor of the strike authorization Thursday, amid contentious contract negotiations. For now, buses will continue to run as scheduled, with no immediate plans to initiate a strike, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1447 President Lillian Brents said after the vote. The two sides are set to return to the bargaining table Nov. 2. Union leadership said workers want “a safe workplace and a fair contract.” The union is asking for a 6% raise for all workers after one year and 4% raises after years two and three, along with a cost-of-living adjustment of 1.25% every six months. TARC has offered a 3% raise for technical maintenance workers and radio room employees, a 2.5% raise for coach operators and a 1% raise for nontechnical maintenance workers, according to the union. The raises would take place in each year of the three-year contract. They do not include a cost-of-living adjustment. TARC claims the union’s salary demands are unrealistic and would exceed TARC’s annual budget, which is set by Louisville’s mayor and Metro Council.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: Prohibitions against nonunanimous jury convictions – outlawed by Louisiana voters in 2018 and, later, by the U.S. Supreme Court – do not have to apply retroactively to earlier convictions, Louisiana’s highest court ruled Friday. The ruling came in the case of Reginald Reddick, convicted of murder by a 10-2 jury vote in 1997, but the court acknowledged it had implications for hundreds of others convicted with 10-2 or 11-1 jury votes. In 2018, Louisiana voters approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting nonunanimous verdicts in trials for crimes committed after Jan. 1, 2019. At the time, Louisiana was one of only two states allowing such verdicts. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that nonunanimous verdicts were unconstitutional, broadening the effect of the state constitutional amendment. But in 2021, the Supreme Court made clear in a case known as Ramos v. Louisiana that its decision against nonunanimous verdicts applied only to future cases and cases in which the defendants’ appeals had not been exhausted. Friday’s state high court majority ruling by Justice Scott Crichton cited the Ramos case and other jurisprudence in determining that neither federal nor state law required a retroactive application of the prohibition.\n\nMaine\n\nLewiston: A Republican congressional hopeful in a highly competitive race is spreading misinformation about the state’s housing policies, public housing directors said. Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, who narrowly defeated the Republican in 2018. During his campaign, Poliquin has relayed a story about a woman living in her car who allegedly told him she was taken off a housing list because of immigrants who are living in the country illegally. Poliquin, who has focused his campaign on issues such as curtailing immigration and protecting gun rights, used the anecdote as part of his argument for increased border security. The Maine Association of Public Housing Authority Directors rebuked the story on Thursday with a statement to the Bangor Daily News that did not name the candidate but came in response to his statements. The statement said: “Such misinformation erodes trust in the public housing system on which so many individuals and families depend for safe, quality affordable housing, and it cannot be left uncorrected.” Eligibility for federal housing assistance is limited to U.S. citizens and noncitizens who have eligible immigration status, federal rules state.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: A video shows Republican Dan Cox, who is running for governor, accepting a gift from a young man wearing a shirt with a Proud Boys insignia during the candidate’s primary victory party this summer. The video, obtained by The Washington Post, shows Cox accepting a comb from him. “Here, this is a present from Maryland Proud Boys to you,” the young man said in video footage publicly posted on Cox’s Vimeo account. Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, were involved in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. After accepting the gift, Cox asked the man’s name and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you,” Cox said, before greeting other supporters. The Washington Post reports the clip was removed after the newspaper contacted Cox’s campaign, which responded with a statement denying an association with the young man. “In the noise of the victory celebration, it was hard to hear what was being said,” Cox said, adding that he was surprised by the man handing him something and that “frankly, I did not even keep the comb.” Cox has reiterated false claims that the 2020 presidential election “was stolen” from Donald Trump, and he volunteered to help decertify results in Pennsylvania. He has also issued denials and apologies about his conduct surrounding Jan. 6. Although he said he attended the “Stop the Steal” rally, he has said he left before the march to the Capitol.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nPlympton: A nearly three-week strike by truckers at New England’s largest wholesale food distributor has come to an end with a new labor agreement, the Teamsters union said. The five-year agreement includes an immediate $5 per hour pay raise, an $11 per hour raise over the course of the agreement, improved retirement benefits, and keeps drivers on the union health insurance plan, the Teamsters Local 653 said in a Facebook post Thursday. About 300 workers at the Sysco facility in Plympton south of Boston went on strike Oct. 1. “I’ve never been prouder to be a Teamster. This fight proves that we truly are the biggest, fastest, strongest union in the world,” Local 653 shop steward Kevin Whitten said. “This strike brought members together like never before and built solidarity that will continue for years to come.” An email seeking comment was left Friday with a spokesperson for Houston-based Sysco. More than a dozen picketers at the facility were arrested early Monday after blocking the exits with tractor-trailers and preventing some employees from leaving. Sysco, which has distribution facilities across the country, supplies food to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and other businesses. The Plympton facility remained operational during the strike with third-party drivers.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: A teenager accused of killing four fellow students and injuring more at his high school is expected to plead guilty to murder this week, authorities said Friday. Ethan Crumbley had created images of violence during a classroom assignment last November but was not sent home from Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan. He pulled out a gun a few hours later and committed a mass shooting. Authorities have pinned some responsibility on Crumbley’s parents, portraying them as a dysfunctional pair who ignored their son’s mental health needs and happily provided a gun as a gift just days before the attack. They also face charges. Crumbley, 16, is due in court Monday. “We can confirm that the shooter is expected to plead guilty to all 24 charges, including terrorism, and the prosecutor has notified the victims,” said David Williams, chief assistant prosecutor in Oakland County. A message seeking comment was left for the boy’s lawyers. Crumbley was 15 when the shooting occurred at Oxford High, roughly 30 miles north of Detroit.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMinneapolis: Two former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s death are heading to trial on state aiding and abetting counts, the third and likely final criminal proceeding in a killing that mobilized protesters worldwide against racial injustice in policing. J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao have already been convicted of federal counts for violating Floyd’s civil rights and begun serving those sentences. Many witnesses expected to testify at their state trial have already done so at both their federal trial and at the state trial against their former colleague, Derek Chauvin. While much of the evidence in this proceeding will look similar, there will be some key differences. Jury selection gets underway Monday.\n\nMississippi\n\nGreenwood: Hundreds of people applauded – and some wiped away tears – as the community unveiled a larger-than-life statue of Emmett Till on Friday, not far from where white men kidnapped and killed the Black teenager over accusations he had flirted with a white woman in a country store. “Change has come, and it will continue to happen,” Madison Harper, a senior at Leflore County High School, told a racially diverse audience at the statue’s dedication. “Decades ago, our parents and grandparents could not envision that a moment like today would transpire.” The 1955 lynching became a catalyst for the civil rights movement. Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago so the world could see the horrors inflicted on her 14-year-old son. Jet magazine published photos of his mutilated body, which was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi. The 9-foot-tall bronze statue in Greenwood’s Rail Spike Park is a jaunty depiction of the living Till in slacks, dress shirt and tie with one hand on the brim of a hat. The rhythm and blues song “Wake Up, Everybody” played as workers pulled a tarp off the figure. Dozens of people surged forward, shooting photos and video on cellphones.\n\nMissouri\n\nColumbia: Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a top Republican prospect for governor, wants to block public funding for library books that might appeal to the “prurient” – meaning sexual – interests of minors. Ashcroft proposed the new rule on libraries last week. It does not include a more-detailed definition or include examples of which specific books would be restricted as appealing sexually to children or teenagers. In a statement, the Missouri Library Association called Ashcroft’s rule “an infringement on the professional judgment of librarians, and an effort to further stoke division in the communities that libraries serve.” The group warned that small and urban libraries, which rely most on state funding, would face the greatest impact from the policy. Ashcroft on Friday said he didn’t propose the rule in response to any particular book but hoped it would prevent potential issues. “I know that a lot of Missouri libraries are doing a good job on this and reflecting the values of the taxpayers that paid for the materials,” Ashcroft said. “But I just think it’s good to have some guidelines to make sure that we’re reinforcing that parents are in control.” The proposal would require state-funded libraries to adopt policies on the age-appropriateness of literature, which is already common at both school and public libraries in the state. And under the rule, anyone could challenge access to books. The proposal is what’s known as an administrative rule, which would have the same effect as a law if enacted.\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: Two physician groups have asked state election officials to issue a correction to statements printed in a voter information pamphlet that they argue are false and and could confuse voters as they consider an abortion-related ballot measure. The complaint comes from two groups that oppose a referendum that would raise the prospect of criminal charges for health care providers unless they take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life” of an infant born alive, including after an attempted abortion. At issue is language in the pamphlet written by supporters that explains the proposed measure. Supporters say the referendum requires medical care to be provided if an infant is born alive after induced labor, cesarean section, attempted abortion or other method. The physicians say that supporters dropped a word from the language of the proposal and that the law, if passed, would also apply to an infant born as a result of natural labor, even if a fetus was born extremely preterm, and regardless of the infant’s prognosis or the family’s wishes. The complaint was made Friday by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology on Friday. They asked the Montana Secretary of State’s Office to issue a correction to statements.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Union Pacific delivered 13% more profit in the third quarter, but the railroad predicted Thursday that its customers will ship fewer items than it expected, confirming the economy is slowing down in the face of soaring inflation. The Omaha-based railroad said it now expects the number of shipments it handles to be up about 3% this year and match the third-quarter number. Previously, Union Pacific had predicted that volume would be up 4% to 5% this year. “I have no idea if we’re in a recession or one is looming,” UP CEO Lance Fritz said. “I do know that the economy is slowing down.” Union Pacific reported $1.9 billion profit, or $3.05 per share, in the quarter. That’s up from $1.67 billion, or $2.57 per share, a year ago, but this year’s results were weighed down because the new contracts the railroads agreed to with their 12 unions cost $114 million more than Union Pacific had been planning on. Without that one-time charge for the new contracts, which only half of the unions have approved, Union Pacific would have reported earnings per share of $3.19. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $3.06 per share.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: A rural county can start hand-counting mail-in ballots two weeks before Election Day, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, but it won’t be allowed to livestream the tallying and must make other changes to its plans. The ruling came in response to an emergency petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which challenged several aspects of Nye County’s plan to start hand-counting votes this week. The ACLU said in its lawsuit that the plan risked leaking early voting results. It also said that rules on touch screens to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act were too vague and restrictive and that the county violated state law with its “stringent signature verification” for voter ID. Located between Las Vegas and Reno, rural Nye County was one of the first jurisdictions nationwide to act on election conspiracies related to mistrust in voting machines. Alongside the primary machine tabulation process, Interim County Clerk Mark Kampf’s plans to publicly hand-count all paper ballots. The hand count was first proposed to county commissioners by Republican secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant in response to false claims about Dominion voting machines. Sadmira Ramic, the ACLU of Nevada’s voting rights attorney, praised the ruling.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nKeene: A small plane crashed into a building, killing the two people on board and sparking a large fire on the ground, authorities said. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Saturday that a single-engine Beechcraft Sierra aircraft crashed into a building north of Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene on Friday evening. City officials said on their Facebook page that no one was injured in the building hit by the plane but that “those on the plane have perished.” “The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates,” the FAA said. Keene Mayor George Hansel told the Associated Press that two people on the plane died but that they have not been identified. He said the the plane hit a two-story barn connected to a multi-family apartment building. All eight people were evacuated from the apartment building due to the subsequent fire. At a morning press conference, Hansel said the plane was owned by Monadnock Aviation, which is based at the airport. He said it was unclear where the plane was headed, and no one answered the phone at Monadnock. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and the operations at the airport were not affected, he said.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: The state’s new K-12 public school mental health plan is facing lots of opposition from state lawmakers who say they won’t back its proposal to eliminate the decades-old School Based Youth Services program, which provides critical counseling and support for teens in low-performing districts. The School Based Youth Services program, set up in 90 of the state’s public schools, is scheduled to be eliminated by June 2023 to make way for NJ4S, New Jersey Statewide Student Support Service Network, an expanded and revamped system that would be available to all or most of the state’s 2,400 schools. Unveiled in October as a “first-in-the-nation” effort to centralize services and spread them beyond schools and into libraries, group homes and social service agencies, NJ4S was in the works for more than a year and created as a response to the pandemic’s teen mental health crisis under the guidance of Department of Children and Families’ Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer. But it was immediately met with intense criticism from educators and advocates who support expanding services but said the time-tested school-based programs must also stay.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: The U.S. Department of Agriculture will waive cost-sharing requirements for farmers and ranchers affected by the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history. U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján on Thursday announced that the agency will cover cost sharing for emergency forest restoration, conservation and other environmental improvement programs. The move follows the approval of a massive federal spending bill that included $2.5 billion in relief for those affected by the fire and post-fire flooding. That bill included a provision to waive cost sharing for all programs administered by the USDA. The wildfire was sparked by two government planned burns earlier this year. It ripped through hundreds of square miles of forest and grazing lands, destroying homes and the livelihoods of many of the rural residents. Through no fault of their own, Luján said, residents lost large swaths of cherished lands and will have to grapple with the effects for years. “Our farmers and ranchers, business owners and families deserve relief to recover,” he said in a statement.\n\nNew York\n\nBuffalo: The victims of a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket will be honored with a permanent memorial in the neighborhood, elected and community leaders announced Friday. The shooting “is part of the Buffalo story forever going forward,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “We want to do something that people remember. A place to come and reflect. A place to honor. And a place to say never again.” Former Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell Whitfield, whose 86-year-old mother Ruth Whitfield was among the 10 Black people killed May 14, is among those appointed to a planning commission tasked with acquiring land, seeking input on the design, securing funds and maintaining the monument. Buffalo NAACP President Mark Blue will lead the effort. “It’s not going to take the place of my mother or the lives of the other loved ones that were lost here,” Whitfield said. “So we will forever miss them and honor their legacy by what we do going forward.” The officials did not specify a budget or timeline for the project’s completion. Brown said numerous businesses and people have offered to contribute. Payton Gendron, 19, has been charged with killing 10 and wounding three others at the Tops Friendly Market. Investigators said he drove 200 miles from his Conklin home intending to kill as many Black people as possible at the store, which he targeted because of its location in the predominantly Black East Buffalo neighborhood. He has pleaded not guilty.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nSalisbury: A man who was shot during a weekend concert at Livingstone College has been identified as a suspected shooter and is now facing charges, officials said Tuesday. The shooting took place Saturday during a performance featuring rapper Asian Doll at the historically Black college in Salisbury. Police are also asking for help identifying another person of interest. Salisbury police obtained a warrant charging Talib Latrell Kelly, 21, of Salisbury, with attempted first-degree murder, discharging a firearm on educational property and possession of a firearm by a felon, the department said. Kelly is not a Livingstone student, Salisbury police Capt. P.J. Smith said at a news conference. Officers were called to the campus about 11 p.m. and found gunshot victims and others who had been hurt as concertgoers fled the gunfire, city officials said in a statement. Video footage from the event shows that a fight broke out while Asian Doll was on stage. Two male victims were taken to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte with gunshot wounds, and officials also identified a woman who had a superficial wound to her neck, Smith said. None of the victims’ injuries were considered life-threatening, he said.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: A North Dakota farmer who had been detained in Ukraine since November 2021 on accusations he planned to kill his business partner is back home, the state’s two U.S. senators announced Friday. Kurt Groszhans, from Ashley, North Dakota, has ancestors from Ukraine and went there to farm in 2017. The relationship with his partner, law professor Roman Leshchenko, crumbled after Groszhans alleged that Leshchenko embezzled money from him. Groszhans and his assistant were arrested on charges of plotting to assassinate Leshchenko, who was then Ukraine’s agriculture minister. Groszhans said in a statement Friday that the Ukrainian officials made up the charges in an “effort to shut me up” after he discovered corruption “at the highest levels” of the government. “I am grateful to be home after this horrible ordeal,” Groszhans said in a statement. “My family and supporters worked tirelessly over a long period of time to make this happen and it was nice to be able to celebrate my birthday on North Dakota soil. The fact they refused to classify me as a wrongful detainee was an unfortunate and politically cowardly act that cost me almost a year of my life,” he said.\n\nOhio\n\nCincinnati: The state of Ohio will not require the COVID-19 vaccine for school students despite a recommendation from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel. A panel with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the federal government’s list of routinely recommended vaccinations. The panel’s decision, likely to be adopted by the CDC director, formally adds the shot to a list often used by schools and health officials in making vaccination requirements. Ohio leaders made it clear Friday that the vaccine would not be required for Ohio students. “The State of Ohio does not mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for school attendance. The ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) vote does not change Ohio law. The state’s list of required vaccines can only be changed through legislation,” Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said in a statement. Indeed, not every vaccine on the list has been adopted by Ohio as a requirement for schoolchildren, such as flu shots. A list of required vaccines for schools and child care in Ohio can be viewed on the Ohio Department of Health website.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: A private foundation has raised more than $6 million to build a residence for future Oklahoma governors and their families, under a plan that calls for the current mansion near the state Capitol to be used for official meetings and special events, according to Gov. Kevin Stitt and people involved in the project. Talks about building a new home on the mansion grounds predate Stitt’s inauguration in 2019 and grew out of concerns about the cost of renovating the century-old structure. Stitt told reporters on Wednesday that he and his family – who lived only temporarily in the mansion – would not live in the new residence if he wins a second term next month. “It will not benefit Gov. Stitt,” he said. The foundation, Friends of the Mansion, is expected to announce plans for the residence after the Nov. 8 election. The foundation was created in 1995 by former Gov. Frank Keating and former first lady Cathy Keating to pay for renovations and additions. The new residence is envisioned for land behind the current mansion. Plans would have to be approved by two zoning commissions that oversee the area near the Capitol.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: The mayor plans to ban camping on city streets and move unhoused people to designated campsites, as the growing homeless population has become the top concern for the vast majority of residents. “The magnitude and the depth of the homeless crisis in our city is nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said Friday. “We need to move our scattered, vulnerable homeless population closer to the services that they need.” The resolution would establish at least three large, designated outdoor camping sites, with the first opening within 18 months of securing funding. Wheeler didn’t specify when the funding would be confirmed or how much the measure would cost. The designated camping sites would initially be able to serve up to 125 people and would provide access to services such as food, hygiene, litter collection and treatment for mental health and substance abuse, Wheeler said. The sites could eventually serve 500 people. Oregon’s homelessness crisis has been fueled by a housing shortage, the coronavirus pandemic and drug addiction. More than 3,000 people are living without shelter in Portland, a 50% jump from 2019, and there are more than 700 encampments across the city, Wheeler said.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: The state’s elections chief wants legal penalties against two Republican county officials and their lawyer for what she calls in a new court filing their “unprecedented, reckless decision” to give an outside group access to voting machines during pending litigation on that subject. Lawyers for acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman last week asked the state Supreme Court to hold in contempt the two Fulton County commissioners and to dismiss the litigation that had been scheduled for oral argument before the justices this week. Chapman was appointed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. On Friday afternoon, the justices appointed Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer as a special master to gather evidence on the contempt request and make a report with recommendations by Nov. 18. During their long-running dispute with the state, Fulton County GOP Commissioners Stuart Ulsh and Randy Bunch had allowed one group, Wake TSI, access to voting machines as part of the failed effort to locate fraud that might overturn ex-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat. That prompted the Department of State to tell counties they “shall not” allow such access to voting machines. Ulsh and Bunch were moments away from permitting a second group, Envoy Sage, to inspect the machines in January when the state Supreme Court put that on hold. The inspection planned in January was to involve computers, electronic poll books, ballot scanners and possibly more.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: A lawsuit claiming that Brown University failed to protect female students from sexual harassment and assault can move forward in part, a federal judge ruled last week. Four former students filed a federal class action suit in August 2021 alleging that the university systemically and repeatedly failed to protect women from harm, including rape, despite knowing that sexual assault on campus is “endemic.” Two current students later joined the suit. The university moved to dismiss the suit in March. On Oct. 18, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. allowed the plaintiffs’ claim for injunctive relief to go forward but denied their efforts to seek monetary relief. The plaintiffs were enrolled between 2018 and 2021. The plaintiffs can sue to force Brown to “ensure that the Title IX office receives, investigates and resolves complaints.” The plaintiffs must still prove that their suit meets the criteria for class-action certification. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or in activities that receive federal financial assistance.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: Months after accusing disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh of killing his wife and son, investigators and prosecutors have released few details about the evidence that they believe connect him to the shootings. That’s led Murdaugh’s lawyers to file a flurry of court documents requesting information from the prosecution, seeking to publicly weaken the case before the January trial has begun. The defense attorneys argue that there was unknown DNA found under Murdaugh’s wife’s fingernails. They also have a different suspect, Murdaugh’s friend Curtis Eddie Smith, arguing that he failed a lie detector test regarding the killings. Murdaugh has already admitted to asking Smith to arrange Murdaugh’s own death to defraud his life insurance company. Those defense documents even boosted a story from Smith that prosecutors later said had no evidence to back it up – that Paul Murdaugh killed his mother, Maggie, when he caught her with a groundskeeper at the family’s Colleton County hunting lodge, and the groundskeeper then shot the son. Alex Murdaugh, 54, has proclaimed his innocence ever since June 2021, when he found the bodies, each shot several times. He has said through his lawyer he “loved them more than anything in the world.”\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nVermillion: The University of South Dakota may welcome a new sorority chapter in the coming years. Alpha Pi Omega, the country’s oldest Indigenous Greek letter organization, could open doors on campus if enough students express interest, according to a flier circulated on social media promoting an informational session held Oct. 13. APO is a sisterhood of Indigenous women who are committed to each other, communities, tribes, families, academic excellence and self-empowerment, according to the flier. Its philanthropic cause is the National Indian Education Association. Hanna Delange, a spokesperson for USD, said nothing has been solidified yet with the sorority’s plans but confirmed the informational session took place as a chance for students to learn about the potential organization. Brooke Poppe, director of sorority and fraternity life on USD’s campus, said while there is no current timeline to open the sorority, the plan moving forward is on hold until there is enough student interest. It takes five or more students to start any student organization on campus. When or if Poppe receives a list of interested students, USD can move forward with the APO national organization in the expansion process. Poppe said her office hopes to have that potential list together by the end of the semester.\n\nTennessee\n\nChattanooga: Employees of Bess T. Shepherd Elementary School blasted a recent nighttime prayer meeting over the school’s exterior loudspeaker, although district officials said it was an accident. An unidentified neighbor who could hear the praying from inside his or her home Monday night posted a video on the Reddit website that recorded about two minutes of a speaker praying over the intercom, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. “This went on for 45 minutes,” the video caption said. The video included a woman’s voice repeatedly saying, “We need you in this school, God. We need you in every school, God.” She spoke of casting the things of hell “back to the abyss” and said: “You cannot rule in this school. You cannot rule in the hearts and minds of the children.” The speaker also prayed over staff members. District officials said the prayer meeting occurred about 6 p.m. Monday, although they were not aware of it until Thursday morning. “There were staff members inside the building praying who were unaware the external intercom system was enabled,” district spokesperson Steve Doremus said in an email. “As soon as they were made aware, the intercoms were turned off.”\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: The Texas Department of Public Safety fired an officer Friday who was at the scene of the Uvalde school massacre and becomes the first member of the state police force to lose their job in the fallout over the hesitant response to the May attack. The department served Sgt. Juan Maldonado with termination papers, spokeswoman Ericka Miller said. No details were offered about his role at the scene of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School or the specific reason Maldonado was fired. The firing comes five months after the mass shooting that has put state police under scrutiny over their actions on the school campus as a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle killed 19 children and two teachers. Maldonado could not be reached for comment Friday night. Body camera footage and media reports have shown the Department of Public Safety had a larger role at the scene than the department appeared to suggest after the shooting. State troopers were among the first wave of officers to arrive but did not immediately confront the gunman, which experts say goes against standard police procedure during mass shootings.\n\nUtah\n\nSalt Lake City: Gov. Spencer Cox hosted the first of what governors across the U.S. are planning to be a series of new discussions on how states could address mental health issues. Neither Cox nor other governors involved are proposing specific policy solutions so far, but that isn’t the point – the idea is to listen to physicians, pediatric psychologists, educators, parents and others to try to find areas of consensus. Cox, the vice chair of the National Governors Association, is among a bipartisan group of governors who have joined NGA chair Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, in forwarding the “Strengthening Your Mental Health” initiative, with the ultimate goal of finding nonpartisan policies that states everywhere might adopt. Over two days at a roundtable event in Salt Lake City, Cox, a Republican, and Murphy, a Democrat, hosted a series of conversations on the topic, hoping to hear experts’ opinions on potential solutions connected to prevention, early intervention and resilience building. “Youth mental health is an urgent issue in Utah and nationwide,” Cox said. “The (COVID-19) pandemic has heightened the problem, and it’s important that we be proactive in bolstering support resources and letting young people know that help is available.”\n\nVermont\n\nSt. Albans: A fired deputy who is the only candidate on the November ballot to become sheriff of the county where he served was charged Friday with simple assault for kicking a shackled prisoner, authorities said. John Grismore, 49, of Fairfax, was cited on the charge Friday through his attorney. He is due in court Monday in St. Albans to answer the charge, Vermont State Police said in a news release. Surveillance cameras recorded the prisoner being kicked Aug. 7. In the Aug. 9 primary, Grismore won the nominations of both Franklin County’s Republican and Democratic parties to have his name on the November ballot for sheriff. But after the video became public, he was suspended and then fired by outgoing Franklin County Sheriff Roger Langevin. The county Republican and Democratic parties gave their support to a write-in campaign by Sheriff’s department Lt. Mark Lauer, a 27-year Vermont State Police veteran who has been at the department for nearly a decade. Gale Messier is also running a write-in campaign. He spent decades in law enforcement including 20 years at the sheriff’s department in Chittenden County, Vermont’s most populous county. On Friday, Grismore said in an email that “the story is still the same” and that he had nothing new to add.\n\nVirginia\n\nFort Belvoir: A “barricade situation” drew the FBI and other law enforcement officials to a U.S. Army base outside the nation’s capital Sunday, according to the official Twitter account of Fort Belvoir in northern Virginia. The base tweeted shortly before 1 p.m. that its law enforcement officials, local police and the FBI had responded “to a barricade situation” Sunday morning. “The situation is ongoing, & we cannot comment further at this time,” the base tweeted. It provided no other details except to say some of the gates to the installation remained open. The situation was inside a home, WUSA-TV reports. Fort Belvoir sits on about 8,800 acres of land along the Potomac River in Fairfax County and is located about 20 miles south of Washington. The base is home to several Army command headquarters, elements of the Army Reserve and Army National Guard and nine Department of Defense agencies, according to a Department of Defense website that serves the military community. The installation has 2,154 family housing quarters and seven child youth service facilities, according to Fort Belvoir’s 2022 strategic plan.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: Authorities said Friday that they arrested three suspects in the slayings of two people and shooting of a police officer after a daylong search on a tribal reservation in northeastern Washington. The Colville Tribes Emergency Services said on Facebook on Friday evening that the third suspect was arrested in Elmer City, one of several small communities on the rural reservation. Two others were arrested earlier in the day. The search for the suspects began after the Colville Tribal Police Department responded to a report of a shooting Thursday in Keller, a small community about 275 miles east of Seattle. Officers found two people dead, and an officer who came across a vehicle described as having left the scene was shot in the arm, according to the department. He was doing well after being transported for medical care, the department said in a news release. Police identified two of the suspects as Curry Pinkham and Zachary Holt. Robin Redstar, a Colville Tribal member and Nespelem resident, said she and other residents waited in their home for hours, and at one point one of the suspects was believed to be in a gully behind her house. Authorities eventually arrested a man in front of her home around 10 a.m. after he tried to enter her neighbor’s back door, Redstar said. Her neighbor, a hunter with guns, was able to detain the man and get him to the street, where a tribal police car was waiting, Redstar said. “It was pretty quick. Corbie (the neighbor) was giving him a good speech about morals,” she said.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: Voters will get the final say on a ballot question that would amend the state constitution to give the Republican-dominated Legislature control over virtually every aspect of public schooling. The vote comes amid a fight raging nationally over the politicization of schools. West Virginia’s Republican leaders have joined politicians elsewhere in pushing to regulate how subjects such as race are taught in classrooms and funnel public money into alternative education options, including charter schools and voucher programs. Just this year, the state Board of Education joined a lawsuit against top Republicans over a school choice program – one of the nation’s most expansive – alleging it unconstitutionally drains money from public schools. The case went to the state Supreme Court, which sided with lawmakers. And in a state that once was a stronghold of organized labor, some see the proposed amendment as part of an effort to defang the most formidable center of union power left standing: public school employees. Four years after more than 30,000 school workers went on strike in one of the nation’s poorest states, igniting teacher walkouts nationwide, many say they’re overworked and exhausted.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMilwaukee: A Milwaukee County judge on Friday denied a Republican Party of Wisconsin request to stop the city of Milwaukee from continuing a get-out-the-vote effort that the city argues it neither runs nor funds. Judge Gwen Connolly wrote that the arguments made by the party and Milwaukee voter Elizabeth Burke were “deficient” and that issuing such an order would chill constitutionally protected free speech. The lawsuit was one of two filed by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and other plaintiffs in the weeks after Mayor Cavalier Johnson made comments Sept. 12 about an initiative dubbed “Milwaukee Votes 2022” and referenced door-to-door canvassing funded by the “private sector.” Johnson’s spokesman then said the campaign conducting the canvassing is privately funded, and the city’s association was “limited to the mayor voicing support for the work.” The first lawsuit, which centered on an open records request, was dismissed earlier this month after the party said it had received the requested records from the Milwaukee Election Commission and Mayor’s Office related to the get-out-the-vote effort. In the second lawsuit, filed Sept. 28, Burke and Republicans argued that though Milwaukee Votes 2022 is a purportedly nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort, the city would partner with an organization, GPS Impact, that openly works to elect Democratic candidates and advance progressive causes.\n\nWyoming\n\nPinedale: A hunter accidentally shot himself in the leg while trying to fight off a grizzly bear attack in west-central Wyoming – the second such attack in a week’s time, officials said. Lee Francis, 65, of Evanston, was taken to the University of Utah Health hospital for treatment after the encounter Friday, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office said. Francis was hunting with his son in an area south of Grand Teton National Park on Friday evening when the bear attacked him. He was able to fire several rounds from his handgun, causing the bear to run away, but one of the rounds hit Francis in the lower leg, the sheriff’s office said. His son used a satellite phone to call for help just before 6 p.m., then began providing first aid. His son was able to help his father onto a horse, and they headed toward a nearby lake to meet search and rescue crews. Francis was eventually taken to the hospital via helicopter, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Wildlife officials had not located the grizzly bear, Sgt. Travis Bingham with the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday. Because it was snowing, Game and Fish planned to try to search for the bear again Monday, weather permitting, he said.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/24"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_2", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/weather/christmas-artic-winter-storm-tuesday/index.html", "title": "Polar air and a powerful winter storm put millions under winter alerts ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFor millions of Americans across a large swath of the country, the holiday week is beginning with unrelenting below-freezing temperatures made even more miserable by heavy snow expected Tuesday and Wednesday in several central and northwestern states.\n\nA developing ‘bomb cyclone’ has prompted alerts from Washington state to Maryland that cover over 50 million people, according to the National Weather Service, and that number is expected to grow over the coming days.\n\nA ‘bomb cyclone’ is a term used by meteorologists to describe a rapidly strengthening storm. Specifically, it means a drop of 24 millibars (a term used to measure atmospheric pressure), in 24 hours. These storms frequently occur with winter nor’easters, but in this case, the bomb cyclone is expected to occur in the Plains. That’s because of the extreme temperature difference between the warm and moist air in advance of the storm and the extreme Arctic air mass moving in from Canada.\n\nThis weather phenomenon is expected to be the pressure equivalent of a category 2 hurricane as it reaches the Great Lakes, with the weather service now calling the strength of the low a “once-in-a-generation” event.\n\nMore than 40 million people are under wind chill alerts across much of the central and northwestern US, including in places slammed with blizzard conditions by a separate storm system last week. Parts of Alabama and Tennessee are also under a wind chill watch as the “feel like” temperatures are expected to plummet below zero.\n\nOn Tuesday, the sprawling weather system is delivering dangerously cold temperatures and snow to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and most of Minnesota, where high temperatures will remain below zero, according to forecasters at the NWS.\n\nThe air feels so cold, frostbite on exposed skin can occur in under 10 minutes in most of the impacted areas, and some isolated locations in under five minutes, forecasters warn.\n\n“In addition to the brutally cold temperatures, dangerous wind chill values of 35 to 55 degrees below zero are possible into the end of the week across these areas,” the Weather Prediction Center said Monday.\n\nWind chill advisories are in place for Sioux, South Dakota, and Fargo, North Dakota, Tuesday, when the dangers of frostbite are settling in. Wind chill, which indicates what the wind feels like, will be as low as 40 degrees below zero, and in Wyoming on Wednesday night could hit a staggering 70 degrees below zero.\n\n“Starting tonight, the worst of the arctic air mass will reach our area, bringing dangerous temperatures and wind chills. Slippery roads will continue with additional accumulating snow expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning,” the weather service office in Glasgow, Montana, said Monday evening.\n\nDrastic temperature drops are coming. In Denver, for example, the temperature will be 50 degrees at noon on Wednesday but is expected to drop to 12 below by daybreak on Thursday. Similarly, New Yorkers will enjoy 60-degree weather on Friday in Manhattan and then see a temperature of 24 degrees as a high on Christmas Eve.\n\nSnowfall has already begun in Seattle, which is under a winter storm warning Tuesday. The storm will move east into portions of Idaho Tuesday morning and then spread out across northern and central Montana later in the afternoon.\n\nAs the storm moves east this week, it stands to make holiday travel difficult, if not dangerous, in many places, with forecasters urging people to be prepared to make changes.\n\nIn Minnesota, the weather service in the Twin Cities implored residents to be cautious of the “potentially dangerous week of weather,” with the worst of the effects in the Midwest beginning Wednesday.\n\n“The bottom line is travel will be very dangerous and could be LIFE-THREATENING later this week so be prepared to alter travel plans now!” the local weather service office said.\n\nMany local governments in the affected areas have opened warming centers in an attempt to provide relief to those who need it.\n\nSioux Falls, South Dakota, was hit last week by a massive winter storm. The city is again under winter weather alerts Tuesday. Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader/USA Today\n\nWhat’s ahead Christmas week\n\nOverall, most of the US is expected to see abnormally cold temperatures this week. In fact, more than 80% of the country, excluding Hawaii and Alaska, are forecast to see below-freezing temperatures.\n\nIn Montana, Helena and Missoula are under winter storm warnings beginning Tuesday, and Billings is under a wind chill advisory through noon Friday.\n\nThe storm is also expected to intensify as it approaches the Midwest, where the greatest impacts are forecast. Snow will begin in the region Wednesday and last through much of the Christmas weekend.\n\nIn parts of central Minnesota, several inches of fluffy snow are expected Wednesday, followed by high winds, creating the potential for blizzard conditions. A blizzard is defined as having winds of at least 35 mph along with falling or blowing snow which reduces visibility to a quarter-mile or less, for at least three hours.\n\n“By Thursday, wind gusts of 40-50 mph appear likely. With the fluffy snow in place, blizzard conditions are highly likely area wide, even in areas that typically aren’t favored for whiteout conditions,” the weather service said.\n\nKristin Jagodzinske sweeps the snow off the sidewalk in front of her shop in snowy downtown Poulsbo on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun/USA Today Network\n\nChicago is forecast to be one of the hardest hit cities, where a winter storm watch is in effect starting Thursday night through Friday evening. With blizzard conditions likely, holiday travel could grind to a halt for many seeking to celebrate with family and loved ones.\n\nThe city could pick up 6 to 8 inches of snow from Thursday morning through late Friday night and when combined with 55 mph winds, the weather will bring travel to a stand still. The blizzard conditions could close O’Hare airport during the peak of the storm and will likely cause the cancellations of hundreds of flights in Chicago alone.\n\n“Rapidly deteriorating conditions by late Thursday afternoon, with dangerous blizzard conditions appearing increasingly likely Thursday night into Friday,” said the weather service office in Chicago, home not only to one of the nation’s busiest airports but also long-distance train depots.\n\nSouth bracing for unseasonably cold temps\n\nMeanwhile, even southern cities unaccustomed to wintry conditions will get a brittle taste of it this holiday season, with Austin, Houston, Atlanta, and even Orlando at risk of seeing temperatures below freezing beginning midweek.\n\nIn Texas, the weather service made it a point to reassure residents this week’s unusually cold temperatures are not expected to affect the state as severely as last year’s brutal winter storms, when millions of people lost power during a weeklong extreme weather event in February 2021.\n\nHowever, water pipes will be at risk of bursting, the weather service said. A wind chill watch for Amarillo, Texas, is in effect from Wednesday night through Friday afternoon.\n\n“Outdoor pipes will be at risk due to well below freezing temps and windy conditions late this week,” the weather service in Fort Worth said. “Make sure to cover pipes and let faucets drip!”\n\nMississippi is urging residents to start bracing for what could be an extremely cold couple of days, the state’s emergency management agency said in a Facebook post Tuesday morning.\n\n“Dangerous, cold temperatures are expected this week for most of the state. Start prepping NOW,” the post said. “Wrap pipes and keep a preparedness kit in your car with extra blankets. Remember the Four P’s of Winter Weather Preparedness. People, Pets, Pipes, and Plants!”\n\nMuch of the state is under a hard freeze watch, according to the weather service. Subfreezing temperatures are expected.\n\n“A prolonged period of subfreezing temperatures may cause pipes to burst. Bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills will result in hypothermia and become life-threatening to those with prolonged exposure or without access to adequate warmth,” the weather service said.\n\nIn a post Monday, state emergency management officials reminded residents to seal windows and doors, insulate pipes and test smoke alarms.", "authors": ["Aya Elamroussi"], "publish_date": "2022/12/20"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/sport/argentina-football-team-arrival-intl-hnk-spt/index.html", "title": "Qatar 2022 World Cup winner Argentina returns home to a jubilant ...", "text": "Buenos Aires, Argentina CNN —\n\nArgentina’s World Cup-winning squad arrived home to a jubilant Buenos Aires on Tuesday as millions of people lined the streets and celebrated their champions’ return.\n\nOn arriving in the country on Tuesday morning, team Captain Lionel Messi stepped off the plane first, holding the gold trophy aloft, followed by his triumphant team onto a red carpet at the airport.\n\nAs the team bus departed the airport, it was immediately swarmed by cheering supporters dressed in the national colors of blue and white. Videos show the bus inching forward slowly behind a police escort, surrounded by tens of thousands of people waving the Argentine flag and setting off firecrackers in the night.\n\nThe air was filled with cheers as the crowd sang and danced; the players, standing on the open top deck, waved to their adoring supporters.\n\nThe Argentina football team on a bus in Buenos Aires on December 20, surrounded by cheering fans. Mariana Nedelcu/Reuters\n\nHundreds of thousands of fans are expected to take to the streets and celebrate. Agustin Marcarian/Reuters\n\nSome 4 million people came out to see the victory parade in the capital, state media agency Télam reported, citing police. Tuesday had been declared a national holiday following the team’s thrilling penalty shootout victory over France in Qatar on Sunday.\n\nThe bus carrying the entire team was meant to make its way to the Obelisk, a historic monument in the center of Buenos Aires, but was not able to progress due to the swarming crowds, Claudio ‘Chiqui’ Tapia, the president of the Argentine Football Association said Tuesday.\n\nAerial view of fans of Argentina gathering at the Obelisk as they wait for the team's victory parade. Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images\n\nArgentina players celebrate on the bus with the World Cup trophy during Tuesday's parade. Martin Villar/Reuters\n\n“They won’t let us go to greet all the people who were at the Obelisk, the same security agencies that escorted us, won’t allow us to move forward,” Tapia said, “A thousand apologies on behalf of all the champion players.”\n\nA helicopter including Messi, teammate Rodrigo De Paul and Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni flew over the crowds, police said Tuesday, soaring over the parade before being flown back to the the football association’s training site in Ezeiza, on the city’s outskirts.\n\nThe team will spend the night at the Argentine Football Association’s training facility, according to Télam.\n\nArgentina fans celebrate the national team's arrival in Buenos Aires. Cristina Sille/Reuters\n\nCrowds of supporters had camped out at the training site on Monday ahead of the team’s arrival, with photos showing fans spilling out of cars parked on its grounds. Some laid on blankets on the grass while others lounged on picnic chairs around coolers.\n\nThe team’s highly-anticipated return continues several days of nonstop celebration across the country and among fans overseas, following Argentina’s explosive win against France.\n\nLionel Messi leads the Argentina team as they step off the plane in Buenos Aires on December 20. Agustin Marcarian/Reuters\n\nArgentina players wave from the top of a bus after their arrival in Buenos Aires. Agustin Marcarian/Reuters\n\nSuperstars Messi and Kylian Mbappé faced off on the pitch, in what has widely been called the greatest World Cup final of all time.\n\nMbappé was defending France’s 2018 win at the tournament in Russia, while 35-year-old Messi was playing in what may be his final World Cup match, looking to claim the trophy which had eluded him for so long.\n\nArgentina took an early lead in the first half – but France roared back in the second half, reaching a 2-2 tie that forced the match into extra time.\n\nFans gather outside the Argentine Football Association's training ground ahead of the team's arrival. Mariana Nedelcu/Reuters\n\nArgentina fans wave flags outside the national men's team training ground ahead of their arrival in Buenos Aires. Rodrigo Valle/Getty Images\n\nMessi scored his second goal of the match to restore his team’s lead – but Mbappé scored a second penalty to grab his hat-trick and take the final to a penalty shootout, which ended with triumph for Argentina after France missed two shots.\n\nHundreds of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Buenos Aires after the World Cup triumph, flooding the central 9 de Julio Avenue. Social media videos showed jubilant fans climbing on top of street poles to wave the Argentine flag; others on the ground danced, sang and chanted in celebration.\n\nFans climbed up high to try and get a view of the Argentina bus. Cristina Sille/Reuters\n\nThe triumph in Doha was Argentina’s third World Cup win and its first since 1986, when the legendary Diego Maradona led the team to victory in Mexico.\n\nSunday’s win also marked a change in fortunes for Argentina after three recent defeats in major finals – the 2014 World Cup, and the Copa America in 2015 and 2016.\n\nFans gather in Buenos Aires on December 19. Mariana Nedelcu/Reuters\n\nThose losses prompted Messi at one point to announce his retirement from international football – though the almost-unanimous national outcry convinced him to reverse track, before wining the Copa América in 2021.\n\nNow, with the World Cup also under his belt, Messi has cemented his status as one of the all-time soccer greats alongside Maradona and Brazil’s Pelé.\n\nPeople of all ages were able to celebrate as Tuesday was made a national holiday. Mariana Nedelcu/Reuters\n\n“I cannot believe that we have suffered so much in a perfect game. Unbelievable, but this team responds to everything,” said Scaloni after the match Sunday, according to Reuters.\n\n“I am proud of the work they did,” he added, fighting back tears as he was embraced by his players. “I want to tell people to enjoy, it’s a historic moment for our country.”", "authors": ["Abel Alvarado Jessie Yeung Stefano Pozzebon", "Abel Alvarado", "Jessie Yeung", "Stefano Pozzebon"], "publish_date": "2022/12/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/07/14/bastille-day-2018/785281002/", "title": "Bastille Day 2018: What you need to know about the French holiday", "text": "Millions of French people all over the world are celebrating Bastille Day, a holiday that honors democracy and equality in France.\n\nWhat is Bastille Day?\n\nBastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution.\n\nOn July 14, 1789, just two days after the revolution began, a mob broke into the Bastille Fortress in Paris, which held stockpiles of weapons as well as political prisoners. After taking gunpowder and arms, the mob killed the prison's governor and infamously held his head on a stick, according to the British Library.\n\nThe storming sent a signal to the French monarchy that the French people were embracing the revolution's motto, liberté, égalité, fraternité, or liberty, equality and brotherhood. The riot was a call for the establishment of a republic in France in the face of an oppressive regime and food shortages that spurred on the revolution.\n\nHow is Bastille Day celebrated?\n\nIn Paris, Bastille Day is celebrated with a military parade down the Champs-Élysées, one of the city's major avenues. The parade starts at the Arc de Triomphe and ends at the Place de la Concorde.\n\nThousands dance and cheer alongside the parade, and parties take place throughout the city.\n\nLast year, President Donald Trump joined French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris for the festivities. This year, Macron invited the leaders of Japan and Singapore. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is joining Macron for the parade, but Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is being represented by Foreign Minister Taro Kono in order to handle deadly flooding in Japan, according to Reuters.\n\nThe parade lasts more than two hours and involves over 4,200 soldiers, 220 vehicles and 100 aircraft. Japanese and Singaporean soldiers are also taking part in the parade to represent their respective relationships with France.\n\nBastille Day celebrations are not limited to Paris. Across France, other parades and parties will commemorate the move towards democracy over 200 years ago. Festivities will also take place in countries around the world, including South Africa and India.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/07/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/10/health/thanksgiving-updated-covid-booster/index.html", "title": "Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Get your updated Covid-19 shot ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nWith Thanksgiving just two weeks away, people who are eligible for an updated Covid-19 vaccine booster but still haven’t received the shot will need to roll up their sleeves Thursday to get as much protection as possible before the holiday.\n\nHealth officials are worried about a possible surge in respiratory illnesses this winter – including Covid-19, flu, RSV and rhinoviruses – and they are urging people who are not up-to-date on their Covid-19 shots to get vaccinated as soon as possible.\n\n“The way it makes protection is to create these proteins, which we call antibodies, that then circulate in the bloodstream. Well, that can’t be done with a snap of the finger. There’s a biological process that takes place,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.\n\nAfter getting the updated Covid-19 vaccine, that biological process can take about 10 to 14 days.\n\n“So it starts right away, and gradually you get more and more of these antibodies into your bloodstream until, by about two weeks, you’re close to having a maximum,” Schaffner said. “The booster actually functions as a booster: You get an increase in antibody that’s faster than if you started from scratch.”\n\nThe rollout of the updated boosters has been sluggish, and there’s some urgency to building protection before gathering with family and friends for the holidays – the first festive season of the pandemic since most prevention measures, including masks and social distancing, largely became things of the past.\n\nIn October, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said that getting the updated Covid-19 vaccine is “the most important thing” Americans can do for their health right now.\n\n“The most important thing every American can do to reduce their likelihood of having significant, preventable health issues in the next three to six months is to go get an updated Covid vaccine,” Jha said. “Beyond that, we need to make sure that everyone over the age of 50 or otherwise with high-risk conditions gets treatments if they do get infected. We have treatments widely available.”\n\nUptake of updated Covid-19 booster remains slow\n\nAs colder weather arrives, people spend more time indoors and more holiday celebrations are planned, concern mounts among local health officials that there will be some uptick in the spread of Covid-19, flu and RSV in the weeks ahead, said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.\n\nThat concern is heightened even more because relatively few people across the United States have gotten the updated Covid-19 vaccine booster that is now available for those 5 and older.\n\n“The message from the local health departments on this is that you should by now – if you are eligible and able – be getting your booster to protect you through the holidays,” Freeman said.\n\n“The longer that time goes on since you’ve received your last booster, the more that your immunity wanes and the more susceptible you become again to getting sick with the virus,” she said. “So all those things together spell out that we have prevention to do right now as we get ready for the end of the year and the holiday season upon us.”\n\nLess than 10% of the US population – about 26 million people 5 and older – has gotten an updated Covid-19 booster dose, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Coverage is highest among older adults: More than 1 in 5 seniors who got their primary series have also gotten an updated booster, compared with about 1 in 15 adults under the age of 30.\n\nBut the pace of uptake is relatively slow.\n\nAbout 1 in 5 adults who have their primary series say they will probably or definitely not get the updated booster – a share that has been consistent since at least September, CDC data shows.\n\n“What clearly will happen if we still don’t have widespread acceptance of this Covid booster is that the anticipated increase that we expect with Covid this winter will increase even more,” Schaffner said. “So we could make the season worse from the point of view of more serious disease.”\n\nHe added that with rising flu activity, an ongoing surge in RSV and the growing concerns around a possible increase in Covid-19 this winter, that is why it will be important to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and flu ahead of the holidays – and to make sure those around you will be vaccinated, washing their hands and staying home when sick.\n\n“You could have a rule: You’re all welcome at the Thanksgiving table, for example, if you’re vaccinated and not only against Covid, against influenza, too,” Schaffner said.\n\nHealth officials say it’s fine to get the updated Covid-19 booster and flu vaccine at the same time.\n\nFlu activity continues to ramp up\n\nFlu is already spreading at high levels in some areas.\n\nLast week, government health officials warned of an early and severe start to cold and flu season in the United States, saying they were closely monitoring hospital capacity and medical supplies and were ready to send help if needed.\n\n“We suspect that many children are being exposed to some respiratory viruses now for the first time, having avoided these viruses during the height of the pandemic,” said Dr. Jose Romero, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.\n\nAcross the United States, cases of RSV and influenza are increasing. At the same time, Covid-19 cases, which had been dropping, appear to have plateaued over the past three weeks, Romero said. A raft of new variants has been gaining ground against BA.5, the Omicron subvariant that caused a wave of illness over the summer.\n\nLooking ahead, some vaccine makers, including Novavax and Pfizer and BioNTech, are developing two-in-one combination vaccines that will offer protection against both flu and Covid-19 in a single shot.\n\nLast week, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that the first study participant has received a dose of their investigational flu-Covid combination vaccine in a Phase 1 trial. The vaccine candidate contains components of the companies’ updated Covid-19 booster and their investigational flu vaccine.\n\nIn October, Novavax announced that its Covid-19 and flu combination vaccine generated immune responses against coronavirus and influenza strains, showing “positive results” in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial. That trial is “the first of its kind” to evaluate a Covid-flu combination vaccine, the company said, and insights from the trial will inform a Phase 2 study that’s expected to start by the end of this year. The investigational vaccine is a two-in-one combination of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine and its quadrivalent flu vaccine candidate.\n\nModerna is also developing a combined flu and Covid-19 mRNA vaccine and another combination vaccine targeting flu, Covid-19 and RSV.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\nHealth officials have long suspected that Covid-19 vaccinations will be needed annually in the future, similar to how seasonal flu vaccines are given each year.\n\nA combination vaccine could be available as soon as for the next flu season, Freeman said, making it easier for people to roll up their sleeves on an annual basis.\n\n“We may see as early as next year,” she said. “And that will help make it easier for people to make that choice to get both their flu and Covid either together in one vaccine or together at once wherever they’re able to get their vaccine.”", "authors": ["Jacqueline Howard"], "publish_date": "2022/11/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/football/qatar-2022-world-cup-migrant-workers-human-rights-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Migrant workers helped build Qatar's World Cup tournament, now ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nKamal was standing outside a shop with other migrant workers, having finished yet another grueling working day, when he and – he says – a few others were arrested this August. Without explanation, the 24-year-old says he was put into a vehicle and, for the next week, kept in a Qatari jail, the location and name of which he does not know.\n\n“When they arrested me, I couldn’t say anything, not a single word, as I was so scared,” he told CNN Sport, speaking at home in southern Nepal where he has been working on a farm since being deported three months ago.\n\nKamal – CNN has changed the names of the Nepali workers to protect them from retaliation – is one of many migrant workers wanting to tell the world of their experiences in Qatar, a country that will this month host one of sport’s greatest, most lucrative, spectacles – the World Cup, a tournament which usually unites the world as millions watch the spectacular goals and carefully-choreographed celebrations.\n\nIt will be a historic event, the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East, but one also mired in controversy. Much of the build-up to this tournament has been on more sober matters, that of human rights, from the deaths of migrant workers and the conditions many have endured in Qatar, to LGBTQ and women’s rights.\n\nKamal says he has yet to be paid the 7,000 Qatari Riyal bonus (around $1,922) he says he is entitled to from his previous employers, nor 7,000 Riyal in insurance for injuring two fingers at work.\n\n“I wasn’t told why I was being arrested. People are just standing there … some are walking with their grocery [sic], some are just sitting there consuming tobacco products … they just arrest you,” he adds, before explaining he could not ask questions as he does not speak Arabic.\n\nA worker is seen inside the Lusail Stadium during a stadium tour on December 20, 2019, in Doha, Qatar. Francois Nel/Getty Images\n\nDescribing the conditions in the cell he shared with 24 other Nepali migrant workers, he says he was provided with a blanket and a pillow, but the mattress on the floor he had to sleep on was riddled with bed bugs.\n\n“Inside the jail, there were people from Sri Lanka, Kerala (India), Pakistan, Sudan, Nepal, African, Philippines. There were around 14-15 units. In one jail, there were around 250-300 people. Around 24-25 people per room,” he says.\n\n“When they take you to the jail, they don’t give you a room right away. They keep you in a veranda. After a day or two, once a room is empty, they keep people from one country in one room.”\n\nUsing a smuggled phone, he spoke to friends, one of whom, he says, brought his belongings – including his passport – to the jail, though he says he was sent home after the Nepali embassy had sent a paper copy of his passport to the jail. CNN has reached out to the embassy but has yet to receive a response.\n\n“When they put me on the flight, I started thinking: ‘Why are they sending workers back all of a sudden? It’s not one, two, 10 people … they are sending 150, 200, 300 workers on one flight,’” he says.\n\n“Some workers who were just roaming outside wearing (work) dress were sent back. They don’t even allow you to collect your clothes. They just send you back in the cloth you are wearing.”\n\nKamal believes he was arrested because he had a second job, which is illegal under Qatar’s 2004 Labour Law and allows authorities to cancel a worker’s work permit. He says he worked an extra two to four hours a day to supplement his income as he was not making enough money working six eight-hour days a week.\n\nQatar has a 90-day grace period in which a worker can remain in the country legally without another sponsor, but if they have not had their permit renewed or reactivated in that time they risk being arrested or deported for being undocumented.\n\nHe says he received paperwork upon his arrest, which Amnesty International says would likely have explained why he was being detained, but as it was in Arabic he did not know what it said and no translator was provided.\n\nLaborers rest in green space along the corniche in Doha, Qatar, on June 23. Christopher Pike/Bloomberg/Getty Images/FILE\n\nA Qatari government official told CNN in a statement: “Any claims that workers are being jailed or deported without explanation are untrue. Action is only taken in very specific cases, such as if an individual participates in violence.”\n\nThe official added that 97% of all eligible workers were covered by Qatar’s Wage Protection System, established in 2018, “which ensures wages are paid in full and on time.” Further work was being done to strengthen the system, the official said.\n\nSome workers never returned home\n\nWith the opening match just days away, on-the-pitch matters are a mere footnote because this tournament has come at a cost to workers who left their families in the belief that they would reap financial rewards in one of the world’s richest countries per capita. Some would never return home. None of the three Nepali workers CNN spoke to were richer for their experience. Indeed, they are in debt and full of melancholy.\n\nThe Guardian reported last year that 6,500 South Asian migrant workers have died in Qatar since the country was awarded the World Cup in 2010, most of whom were involved in low-wage, dangerous labor, often undertaken in extreme heat.\n\nThe report did not connect all 6,500 deaths with World Cup infrastructure projects and has not been independently verified by CNN.\n\nHassan Al Thawadi – the man in charge of leading Qatar’s preparations – told CNN’s Becky Anderson that the Guardian’s 6,500 figure was a “sensational headline” that was misleading and that the report lacked context.\n\nA government official told CNN there had been three work-related deaths on stadiums and 37 non-work-related deaths. In a statement, the official said the Guardian’s figures were “inaccurate” and “wildly misleading.”\n\n“The 6,500 figure takes the number of all foreign worker deaths in the country over a 10-year period and attributes it to the World Cup,” the official said. “This is not true and neglects all other causes of death including illness, old age and traffic accidents. It also fails to recognize that only 20% of foreign workers in Qatar are employed on construction sites.”\n\nIt has been widely reported that Qatar has spent $220 billion leading up to the tournament, which would make it the most expensive World Cup in history, though this likely includes infrastructure not directly associated with stadium construction. A spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) which, since its formation in 2011, has been responsible for overseeing the infrastructure projects and planning for the World Cup, told CNN that the tournament budget was $6.5 billion, without expanding on what that cost covered.\n\nEight new stadiums rose from the desert, and the Gulf state expanded its airport, constructed new hotels, rail and highways. All would have been constructed by migrant workers, who – according to Amnesty International – account for 90% of the workforce in a near-three million population.\n\nAn aerial view of Al Janoub stadium at sunrise on June 21 in Al Wakrah, Qatar. David Ramos/Getty Images\n\nSince 2010, migrant workers have faced delayed or unpaid wages, forced labor, long hours in hot weather, employer intimidation and an inability to leave their jobs because of the country’s sponsorship system, human rights organizations have found.\n\nHowever, the health, safety and dignity of “all workers employed on our projects has remained steadfast,” a statement from the SC read.\n\n“Our efforts have resulted in significant improvements in accommodation standards, health and safety regulations, grievance mechanisms, healthcare provision and reimbursements of illegal recruitment fees to workers.\n\n“While the journey is on-going, we are committed to delivering the legacy we promised. A legacy that improves lives and lays the foundation for fair, sustainable and lasting labour reforms.”\n\nLast year, in an interview with CNN Sport anchor Amanda Davies, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that while “more needs to be done,” progress had been made.\n\n“I’ve seen the great evolution that has happened in Qatar, which was recognized – I mean not by FIFA – but by labor unions around the world, by international organizations,” said Infantino.\n\n‘It was difficult to breathe’\n\nWe are, unusually, writing about a World Cup in November because the competition had to be moved from its usual June-July slot to Qatar’s winter as the heat is so extreme in the country’s summer months – temperatures can reach around 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in June – that playing in such conditions could have posed a health risk to players.\n\nHari is 27 years old and, like many of his compatriots, left Nepal for Qatar as his family – he was one of five siblings with just his father at home – desperately needed money, primarily to eat. Since 2013, Nepal’s government-mandated minimum wage has been set at $74 a month, according to minimum-wage.org. He says that his monthly wage in Qatar was 700 Rial a month ($192).\n\nAfter moving to Qatar in 2014, he worked in four places during his four-year stay: at a supermarket, a hotel and airport, but the most difficult job, he says, was in construction when he had to carry tiles up buildings “six to seven stories above” in overbearing heat, plus lay pipelines in deep pits.\n\n“It was too hot,” he tells CNN. “The foreman was very demanding and used to complain a lot. The foreman used to threaten to reduce our salaries and overtime pay.\n\n“I had to carry tiles on my shoulder to the top. It was very difficult going up through the scaffolding. In the pipeline work, there were 5-7 meters deep pits, we had to lay the stones and concrete, it was difficult due to the heat. It was difficult to breathe. We had to come upstairs using a ladder to drink water.\n\n“It never happened to me, but I saw some workers fainting at work. I saw one Bengali, one Nepali … two to three people faint while working. They took the Bengali to medical services. I’m not sure what happened to him.”\n\nDuring his time in Qatar, government regulations generally prohibited workers from working outdoors between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. from June 15 to August 31. He said one company he worked for followed these rules.\n\nHe added: “At some places, they didn’t have water. Some places, they didn’t provide us water on time. At some places, we used to go to houses nearby asking for water.”\n\nIn this photo taken in May 2015 during a government organized media tour, workers use heavy machinery at the Al-Wakra Stadium being built for the 2022 World Cup. Maya Alleruzzo/AP/FILE\n\nWorking long hours in extreme heat has, some non-governmental organizations believe, caused a number of deaths and put lives at risk in Qatar.\n\nIn 2019, research published in the Cardiology Journal, exploring the relationship between the deaths of more than 1,300 Nepali workers between 2009 and 2017 and heat exposure, found a “strong correlation” between heat stress and young workers dying of cardiovascular problems in the summer months.\n\nThe government official told CNN that there had been a “consistent decline” in the mortality rate of migrant workers, including a decline in heat stress disorders, “thanks in large part to our comprehensive heat stress legislation.”\n\n“Qatar has always acknowledged that work remains to be done, notably to hold unscrupulous employers to account,” the government official added. “Systemic reform does not happen overnight and shifting the behavior of every company takes time as is the case with any country around the world.”\n\n‘Heat does not typically injure on its own’\n\nNatasha Iskander, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at New York University, tells CNN that heat can kill “in ways that are confusing and unclear.”\n\n“Fatal heat stroke can look like a heart attack or a seizure. Sometimes, heat kills through the body, amplifying manageable and often silent conditions, like diabetes and hypertension, and turning them into sudden killers,” she explains.\n\n“As a result, Qatar, in the death certificates that it has issued after migrant construction workers have collapsed, has been able to push back against the correlation between heat stress and deaths and claim instead that the deaths are due to natural causes, even though the more proximate cause is work in the heat.”\n\nDetermining the number of workers injured by heat is even harder, she says, because many injuries may not become apparent until years later, when migrants have returned home and young men “find that their kidneys no longer function, that they suffer from chronic kidney disease, or that their hearts have begun to fail, displaying levels of cardiac weakness that are debilitating.”\n\n“Heat does not typically injure on its own,” she adds. “Workers are exposed to heat and heat dangers through the labor relations on Qatari worksites. The long hours, physically intense work, the forced overtime, the abusive conditions, the bullying on site all shape how exposed workers are to heat. Additionally, conditions beyond the worksite also augmented heat’s power to harm – things like poor sleep, insufficient nutrition or a room that was not cool enough to allow the body to reset after a day in the heat. In Qatar, the employer housed workers in labor camps, and workers as a matter of policy were segregated to industrial areas, where living accommodations were terrible.”\n\nForeign laborers working on the construction site of the Al-Wakrah football stadium, one of Qatar's 2022 World Cup stadiums, walk back to their accomodation at the Ezdan 40 compound after finishing work on May 4, 2015, in Doha's Al-Wakrah southern suburbs. Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images/FILE\n\nAccording to Amnesty International, Qatari authorities have not investigated “thousands” of deaths of migrant workers over the past decade “despite evidence of links between premature deaths and unsafe working conditions.” That these deaths are not being recorded as work-related prevents families from receiving compensation, the advocacy group states.\n\nIn its statement, the SC said that its commitment to publicly disclose non-work-related deaths went beyond the requirements of the UK’s Health and Safety Executive Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences regulations (RIDDOR), which defines and provides classification for how to document work-related and non-work-related incidents.\n\nThe statement added: “The SC investigates all non-work-related deaths and work-related fatalities in line with our Incident Investigation Procedure to identify contributory factors and establish how they could have been prevented. This process involves evidence collection and analysis and witness interviews to establish the facts of the incident.”\n\nAmnesty International’s Ella Knight told CNN Sport that her organization would continue to push Qatar to “thoroughly investigate” deaths of migrant workers, including past deaths, to “ensure the families of the deceased have the opportunity to rebuild their lives.”\n\nBarun Ghimire is a human rights lawyer based in Kathmandu whose work focuses on the exploitation of Nepali migrants working abroad. He tells CNN that the families he advocates for have not received satisfactory information on their loved ones’ deaths. “Families send out healthy, young family member to work and they receive news that the family member died when they were sleeping,” he says. In a separate interview, he told CNN last year: “The Qatar World Cup is really the bloody cup – the blood of migrant workers.”\n\nLast year, Qatari legislation was strengthened regarding outdoor working conditions, expanding summertime working hours during which outdoor work is prohibited – replacing legislation introduced in 2007 – and additionally putting into law that “all work must stop if the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) raises beyond 32.1C (89.8F) in a particular workplace.” The regulations also mandate annual health checks for workers, as well as mandatory risk assessments.\n\n“We recognize that heat stress is a particular issue in the summer months in Qatar,” a Qatari government official said. “In May 2021, Qatar introduced a requirement for companies to conduct annual health checks for workers, as well as mandatory risk assessments to mitigate the dangers of heat stress. Companies are expected to adopt flexible, self-monitored working hours where possible, adjust shift rotations, enforce regular breaks, provide free cold drinking water and shaded workspaces, and adhere to all other guidelines with respect to heat stress outlined by the Ministry of Labour.\n\n“Every summer, Qatar’s labor inspectors carry out thousands of unannounced visits to work sites across the country to ensure that heat stress rules are being followed,” the official added. “Between June and September 2022, 382 work sites were ordered to close for violating the rules.”\n\nWorkers walk to the Lusail Stadium -- one of the 2022 Qatar World Cup stadiums -- in Lusail on December 20, 2019. Hassan Ammar/AP\n\nIskander said a heat point of 32.1C WBGT was “already dangerous.”\n\n“Working at the physical intensity that construction workers do in Qatar for any amount of time at that temperature is damaging to the body,” she explained.\n\n“The regulation relied on the assumption that workers would be able to self-pace and rest as needed whenever they experienced heat stress. Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time on a Qatari construction site knows that workers have no ability to self-pace.”\n\nKnight adds: “The fact investigations into migrant workers deaths are often not happening precludes the possibility of greater protections being implemented because if you don’t know what is really happening to these people how can you then implement and enforce effective measures to increase their protection?”\n\nFor the majority of his time in Qatar, Hari said he felt sad. He would watch planes take off during his six months tending the airport gardens and question why he was in the country. But he had paid 90,000 Nepali rupees ($685) to a Nepali recruitment company that facilitated his move. He was also told, he says, by the company he had joined that he would have had to pay 2,000 to 3,000 Riyal ($549-$823) to buy himself out of his contract.\n\nHis friends, he said, counseled him as he continued to work long, lonely days for, Hari says, not enough money to live and save for his family. Amnesty International says many migrants pay high fees to “unscrupulous recruitment agents in their home country” which make the workers scared to leave their jobs when they get to Qatar.\n\nNow, he is a father-of-two, and work is plowing fields in Nepal as a tractor driver, but Hari hopes one day to work abroad again, his heart set on Malaysia. “I don’t want my children to go through what I did. I want to build a house, buy some land. That’s what I am thinking. But let’s see what God has planned,” he says.\n\n‘Our dreams never came true’\n\nSunit has been back in Nepal since August after working just eight months in Qatar. He had expected to be there for two years, but the collapse of the construction company he worked for meant he and many others returned with money still owed to them, he says. He struggles to find work in Nepal, meaning feeding his two children and paying school fees is difficult.\n\nHe had dreamed of watching World Cup matches from the rooftop of the hotel he had helped build. One of the stadiums – the name of which he does not know – was a 10-minute walk from the hotel. “We used to talk about it,” he says of the World Cup. “But we had to return, and our dreams never came true. The stadium activities were visible from the hotel. We could see the stadium from the hotel rooftop.”\n\nIn helping construct the city center hotel, the name of which he doesn’t remember, he would carry bags of plaster mix and cement, weighing from 30 to 50 kilos, on his shoulders up to 10 to 12 floors, he says.\n\n“The lift was rarely functional. Some people couldn’t carry it and dropped it halfway. If you don’t finish your job, you were threatened saying the salary would be deducted for that day,” he says. “The foreman used to complain that we were taking water breaks as soon as we got to work. They used to threaten us saying: ‘We will not pay you for the day.’ We said: ‘Go ahead. We are humans, we need to drink water.’\n\n“It was very hot. It used to take 1.5 to two hours to get to the top. I used to get tired. I used to stop on the way. Then proceed again slowly. Yes, the supervisors used to yell at us. But what could we do?”\n\nHe says he had paid an agent in Nepal 240,000 Nepali rupees (around $1,840) before leaving for Qatar. He says he has filed a case with the police about the agent as he had been unable to fulfill his two-year contract, but there have been no developments. He says the owners of the company he worked for in Qatar were arrested because they did not pay laborers. The company did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment, neither did it respond to questions from the Business & Human Rights Centre, an advocacy group, about protests over unpaid wages.\n\nQatar has expanded its airport, constructed new hotels, and rail and highways over the last decade. Britta Pedersen/picture alliance/Getty Images\n\nFor a month, he says, he was in his accommodation with no work or money to buy food – he borrowed to eat – so he and his fellow workers called the police, who brought food with them.\n\n“The police came again after 10-15 days and said we have arrested the company people. (The police) distributed food again,” he says. “They told us the company has collapsed and the government will send all the workers back home.”\n\n“I’m extremely sad,” he adds. “I mean, it is what it is. Nothing would change by regretting it. I get mad (at the company) but what can I do? Even if I had tried to fight back, it would have been my loss.”\n\nThe SC said it has established what it claims is a “first-of-its-kind” Workers’ Welfare Forum, which it said allowed workers to elect a representative on their behalf and, when companies failed to comply with the WWF, it steps in, demands better and alerts the authorities.\n\nSince 2016, the SC said 69 contractors had been demobilized, 235 contractors placed on a watch list and a further seven blacklisted. “We understand there is always room for improvement,” the statement added.\n\n‘Expertise and heroism’\n\nQatar, a peninsula smaller than Connecticut and the smallest World Cup host in history, is set to host an estimated 1.5 million fans over the month-long tournament, which begins on November 20. There are already reports of accommodation concerns for such a vast number of visitors.\n\nThe spotlight is no doubt on this Gulf state, as has progressively been the case since it was controversially awarded the tournament over a decade ago – though Qatari officials have previously “strongly denied” to CNN the allegations of bribery which has surrounded its bid.\n\nSuch attention has brought about reforms, significantly dismantling the Kafala system which gives companies and private citizens control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.\n\nIn Qatar, migrant workers can now change jobs freely without permission from their employer. But Knight adds: “Another aspect of the Kafala system, the criminal charge of absconding still exists, and this, along with other tools that are still available to employers, means that, fundamentally, the power balance between workers and employers, the imbalance remains great.”\n\nKnight says unpaid wages is still an issue as the wage protection system “lacks enforcement mechanisms,” while she also says employers can cancel a worker’s ID at a “push of a button,” meaning they risk arrest and deportation. Additionally, labor committees intended to help workers are under-resourced and “lack the capacity to deal with the number of cases that are coming to them.”\n\nMigrant laborers work at a construction site at the Aspire Zone in Doha on March 26, 2016. Naseem Zeitoon/Reuters/FILE\n\nGhimire agrees that there have been a few positive changes to employment laws but adds that it is “more show and tell.”\n\n“Many workers who work in construction are untouched, so there’s still exploitation going on,” he tells CNN.\n\nQatar’s government official told CNN work remained to be done but that “systemic reform does not happen overnight, and shifting the behavior of every company takes time as is the case with any country around the world.\n\n“Over the last decade, Qatar has done more than any other country in the region to strengthen the rights of foreign workers, and we will continue to work in close consultation with international partners to strengthen reforms and enforcement.”\n\nHuman Rights Watch’s #PayUpFIFA campaign wants Qatar and FIFA to pay at least $440 million – an amount equal to the prize money being awarded at the World Cup – to the families of migrant workers who have been harmed or killed in preparation for the tournament.\n\nFamilies of workers who have died face uncertain futures, HRW says, especially children. Those who survived and returned home, cheated of wages or injured, remain trapped in debt, it says, “with dire consequences for their families.”\n\nGhimire says compensation is key, but so too is making the world aware of what has taken place to make this tournament happen.\n\n“People are concerned about clothing brands, and the meat they eat, but what about mega events? Isn’t it time we ask how this was possible?” he asks.\n\n“Everyone who will watch should know at what cost this was even possible and how workers were treated. Players should know, sponsors should know.\n\n“Would it be the same situation if it was European workers dying in Qatar? If it was Argentinean workers, would Argentina be concerned about playing?\n\n“Because it’s migrant workers from poor south Asian countries, they’re invisible people. Forced labor, death of workers, while making a World Cup is unacceptable. As a football fan, it makes me sad; as a lawyer, it makes me really disappointed.”\n\nEarlier this month, Qatar’s Labor Minister Ali bin Samikh Al Marri rejected the prospect of a remedy fund.\n\nA Qatar government official said the country’s Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund was “effective in providing compensation for workers and their families” with the fund reimbursing workers with more than $350 million so far this year.\n\nIn terms of the SC’s efforts to ensure repayment of recruitment fees, as of December 2021, workers have received $22.6 million, with an additional $5.7 million committed by contractors, according to FIFA.\n\nLast month, FIFA’s Deputy Secretary General Alasdair Bell said “compensation is certainly something that we’re interested in progressing.”\n\nA general view shows the exterior of the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha -- one of eight stadiums that will host World Cup matches KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/AFP via Getty Images\n\nIt has been widely reported that FIFA has urged nations participating in the World Cup to focus on football when the tournament kicks off.\n\nFIFA confirmed to CNN that a letter signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the governing body’s secretary general Fatma Samoura was sent out on November 3 to the 32 nations participating in the global showpiece but would not divulge the contents. However, a number of European federations have issued a joint statement saying they would campaign at the tournament on human rights and for a migrant workers center and a compensation fund for migrant workers.\n\nThe motto for Qatar’s bid team in 2010 was ‘Expect Amazing.’ In many ways, this year’s World Cup has replicated that maxim.\n\nAs NYU’s Iskander says: “One of the things that is not really covered in the coverage of the World Cup and the coverage of this enormous construction boom is the expertise and heroism of the workers who built it.\n\n“They built buildings that were unimaginable to everyone, including the engineers and designers, until they were built. They performed acts of bravery that are unsung. They operated at levels of technical complexity and sophistication that are unparalleled. And yet their contribution to building the World Cup is really rarely featured, downplayed.\n\n“They are represented, generally speaking, as exploited and oppressed. And it’s true that they have been exploited and oppressed, but they are also the master craftsmen that built this Cup, and they are enormously proud of what they have built.”\n\nHosting this tournament has undoubtedly put Qatar under the global spotlight. The question is whether the world can enjoy watching what the migrant workers built, knowing the true cost of this billion-dollar extravaganza.", "authors": ["Aimee Lewis Pramod Acharya Sugam Pokharel", "Aimee Lewis", "Pramod Acharya", "Sugam Pokharel"], "publish_date": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/food/2022/10/11/indian-groceries-spices-brings-diwali-food-traditions-around-world-wauwatosa-milwaukee-vegetarian/8076748001/", "title": "Indian Groceries & Spices brings Diwali food traditions around world", "text": "Joan Elovitz Kazan\n\nSpecial to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel\n\n\"Delicious Diwali Lights, Clothing, Food!\"\n\n\"May Lakshmi\" — the Hindu goddess of prosperity — \"bless you with good fortune.\"\n\n\"May Diwali’s light brighten your day.\"\n\nMembers of the Indian community will exchange these greetings, most likely in one of the 14 languages of India, when Diwali (aka Deepavali or Dipavali), the festival of lights, begins Oct. 24. Diwali lasts five days and is arguably the most wonderful time of the year for the millions of people across the globe who practice the Hindu, Sikh and Jain religions.\n\n“Diwali is like Christmas, people put up lamps in their houses but they also do fireworks like we do on the Fourth of July,” Dinesh Sanghavi said.\n\nTo prepare for the holiday, Indian families clean and decorate their homes and dress up in traditional garb: saris for women and kurtas for men. Every Diwali celebration includes an elaborate spread of Indian sweet and savory treats.\n\nAnd that's where the Milwaukee area plays a role.\n\nThe city has become a national force in the Indian food world, thanks to Dinesh Sanghavi and his wife, Bharti. Their business, Indian Groceries & Spices in Wauwatosa, has grown from small beginnings to rank among the biggest suppliers of Indian goods nationwide.\n\nBharti Sanghavi shares traditional holiday recipes along with everyday favorites in her book “Beyond the Curry with Bharti.” She also offers hands-on guidance through monthly cooking classes May through October at the store, at 10701 W. North Ave,\n\nStarting as the family sous chef\n\nGrowing up in a big Indian family, Bharti Sanghavi was the family sous chef.\n\n“Being the second youngest of eight children, I was assigned the job of chopping, shredding and slicing in the kitchen. Feeding such a large family was a great feat, and we took cooking very seriously. Every meal was homemade every single day; we hardly went out to eat,” she said.\n\nWhen she was 16, circumstances forced her early promotion to head chef.\n\n“My mother broke her toe, and my grandmother came over to help. I thought she was there to do the cooking, but to my surprise, she made me the head chef while gently giving me instructions. Within two weeks I not only became a good cook, but I developed the confidence to cook pretty much anything,” Bharti Sanghavi said. “My older brothers who had dedicated their lives to teasing me were now impressed with what I could do in the kitchen. ... \"\n\n\"As I got older, I kept returning to my true love of cooking by taking regional cooking classes until I could cook all types of Indian cuisine,” she said.\n\nFamily filled a need for Indian food\n\nWhen Bharti Sanghavi arrived in Milwaukee in the 1970s, she faced a challenge: finding ingredients for Indian cooking.\n\n“I came to the U.S. in 1976 newly married and on my own for the first time. The availability of Indian groceries and products was slim to nonexistent,” she said.\n\nBut her groom was working to face that challenge. Motivated by need, Dinesh and his older brother had opened a tiny store, near the Mitchell Park Domes on National Avenue, in 1972.\n\nThe Sanghavi brothers practice the Jain religion, one of the three major religions of India (Hindu and Sikh are the other two). Jain and Sikh adhere to strict vegetarian diets.\n\n“As Jains, we believe in vegetarianism. We also don’t eat root vegetables or eggs,” Dinesh Sanghavi said. “We couldn’t find good vegetarian food in Milwaukee, so we drove a Chevy Vega to New York to get it.\n\n“I was a chemical engineer, and my brother, Shirish (who died five years ago), was a mechanical engineer.\"\n\nThe Sanghavi brothers kept their day jobs while Shirish Sanghavi’s wife, Premila, ran the store. “We got the idea to import, then we got our first container on the lake in Milwaukee’s port,” Dinesh Sanghavi said. “And we started getting merchandise directly from India.”\n\nFast forward 50 years, and the store now occupies a sprawling 25,000-square-foot space in Wauwatosa. In 2000, the Sanghavis launched an ecommerce business, which grew out of their then teen son’s school assignment.\n\n“My son Neil set up a website for the store as a project at Nicolet High School,” Dinesh Sanghavi said.\n\nThat project has grown to become ishopindian.com, now a global destination that bills itself as the largest online store for all things Indian. Members of the Indian community, vegetarians and foodies appreciate the availability of items such as the bestselling basmati rice, several types of ghee, a huge selection of chai teas and prepared foods, made in an Oak Creek facility.\n\nMore:Sweet holiday: Hindu festival Diwali marked by bright lights and treats\n\nSweets for the feast\n\nDiwali, like most holiday celebrations, calls for advance preparation. On the big day, the focus is a special afternoon meal.\n\n“Diwali starts the few days before when people clean their houses and decorate and make their homes beautiful,” Bharti Sanghavi said.\n\nA yogurt-based dish, shrikhand, features prominently.\n\n“We use yogurt because we don't want to boil milk … it's not auspicious. I’m from the west part of India; not boiling milk is a tradition in our community, and it’s pretty common throughout India,” she said.\n\nThe rich yogurt also gets extra sweetness and flavor, with nuts, sugar and cardamom, she said.\n\nFor the Sanghavi family, it wouldn’t be Diwali without ghughara, a pastry filled with almonds and pistachios. The recipe gets rave reviews.\n\n“Anyone who tastes our recipe says, ‘This is the best ghughara I’ve ever eaten,' ” Bharti Sanghavi said.\n\nA variety of special dishes are often part of the feast, including date and nut bars and lentil crispies.\n\n******\n\nWhen Dinesh Met Bharti\n\nDinesh and Bharti Sanghavi aren’t on the TV show \"Indian Matchmaking,\" but they probably should be. In the mid-1970s, he requested a leave of absence from his engineering job.\n\n“I told my boss at Johnson Controls that I was going to India to find a bride, and I would be back in four to six weeks,” Dinesh Sanghavi recalled.\n\nBut the process took a bit longer.\n\n“My family started putting matrimonial ads in the papers. They set up interviews, and I went to 50 of them” he said. “I kept extending my (work) leave.”\n\nTwo and a half months later, Dinesh ended his search. “I was number 51,” Bharti Sanghavi recalled.\n\nHow many potential grooms had she met during her matchmaking process? “Dinesh was Number 3,” she admitted, with a chuckle.\n\nOn Feb. 7, 1976, the couple were married and came to Milwaukee to live happily ever after … and very well fed.\n\n*****\n\nRecipes\n\nThese bars are made from dates, cashews, almonds and pistachios without added sugar. . They make great power bars. This recipe is from \"Beyond the Curry with Bharti,\" by Bharti Sanghavi.\n\nDate and nut bar (khajoor tukda)\n\nMakes 15 pieces\n\nRecipe tested by Pete Sullivan\n\n¼ cup raw almonds, cut in half widthwise\n\n¼ cup raw cashew pieces\n\n¼ cup raw pistachios\n\n½ pound Medjool dates, fresh, pitted (about 13 dates)\n\n½ teaspoon ghee, plus more for brushing (see note)\n\nMix all nuts, and dry roast in a medium pan over medium heat on the stovetop for four or five minutes, stirring occasionally so they toast evenly. Set aside\n\nIn a small pan, saute dates for 2 minutes over medium heat. They will melt into a thick pulp.\n\nRemove dates from heat, and add nuts. Mix well.\n\nBrush a cutting board and rolling pan with ½ teaspoon ghee. Make a smooth ball from date and nut mixture and roll into a ½ inch thick square sheet on the cutting board.\n\nBrush ghee on top of mixture. Let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes.\n\nCut into 1½ by 1½ inch squares.\n\nStore in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.\n\nNote: Ghee is clarified butter that is sold at Indian markets and at many other grocers. It can be made at home by melting butter until the milk solids separate and come to rest on the bottom of the pan; pour off the clarified liquid butter, leaving the solids behind. Allow to cool and solidify.\n\n*****\n\nChorafali is a traditional Diwali festival snack. Originating from the Indian state of Gujarat, chorafali is highly anticipated on the Diwali table, since it’s usually made once a year. Chorafali are light and fluffy snacks that melt in your mouth. This recipe is a personal recipe from Bharti Sanghavi.\n\nLentil crispies (chorafali)\n\nMakes 10 cups\n\nRecipe tested by Pete Sullivan\n\n½ cup water, plus 2 tablespoons\n\n½ teaspoon salt\n\n½ teaspoon baking soda or papad khar (alkaline salt)\n\n3 teaspoons of any neutral oil, plus more for deep frying and oiling surface\n\n2 cups gram flour (besan or chickpea flour)\n\n1 cup urad (lentil) flour (see note)\n\n1 teaspoon red chile powder\n\n1 teaspoon black salt\n\nIn a small pot, bring ½ cup water, salt, baking soda and oil to a boil. Turn off heat.\n\nIn a large mixing bowl, combine flours. Little by little, add hot water mixture, mixing with a spoon. Add another 2 tablespoons of room-temperature water to make a firm dough.\n\nKnead dough with a little oil on a flat surface. Let rest for 15 minutes.\n\nMeanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the chile powder and black salt to garnish the finished chips later.\n\nHalve the rested dough so kneading is easier. Knead one portion for a few minutes until the dough's color lightens.\n\nRoll dough into a rope about 7 inches long and cut into even 7 equal pieces. Roll each piece with a rolling pin until it's 5 inches wide. Cut into ½-inch-wide strips.\n\nHeat 1 to 2 inches of oil in a wok or heavy medium pot to 375 degrees. Place 2 or 3 strips into the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. It will take a few seconds for them to puff up after adding them to the oil. Remove, using a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towel. Sprinkle a bit of red chile powder and black salt on top.\n\nRepeat with remaining dough.\n\nServe at room temperature. Store in airtight jars for 3 to 4 weeks.\n\nNote: The flours and other ingredients are available at south Asian markets, including Indian Groceries & Spices.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/food-dining/2022/10/24/diwali-food-khajoor-tukda-and-chorafali-recipes/10588023002/", "title": "Celebrating Diwali? Try these recipes for khajoor tukda and chorafali", "text": "Joan Elovitz Kazan\n\nSpecial to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel\n\n\"Delicious Diwali Lights, Clothing, Food!\"\n\n\"May Lakshmi\" — the Hindu goddess of prosperity — \"bless you with good fortune.\"\n\n\"May Diwali’s light brighten your day.\"\n\nMembers of the Indian community will exchange these greetings, most likely in one of the 14 languages of India, when Diwali (aka Deepavali or Dipavali), the festival of lights, begins on Oct. 24. Diwali lasts five days and is arguably the most wonderful time of the year for the millions of people across the globe who practice the Hindu, Sikh and Jain religions.\n\n“Diwali is like Christmas, people put up lamps in their houses but they also do fireworks like we do on the Fourth of July,” Dinesh Sanghavi, who runs Indian Groceries & Spices in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin with his wife, Bharti, said.\n\nFrozen food, deals and memberships:How to save money on groceries by shopping strategically\n\n'Sober October':Seven non-alcoholic cocktail recipes to try at home\n\nWhat is Diwali?\n\nDiwali is a festival that symbolizes the victory of light over darkness.\n\nTo prepare for the holiday, Indian families clean and decorate their homes and dress up in traditional garb: saris for women and kurtas for men. Every Diwali celebration includes an elaborate spread of Indian sweet and savory treats.\n\nIndian Groceries & Spices by the Sanghavis has reached global base\n\nThe Sanghavis' store has grown from small beginnings to rank among the biggest suppliers of Indian goods nationwide.\n\nThe store now occupies a sprawling 25,000-square-foot space in Wauwatosa. In 2000, the Sanghavis launched an ecommerce business, which grew out of their then teen son’s school assignment.\n\n“My son Neil set up a website for the store as a project at Nicolet High School,” Dinesh Sanghavi said.\n\nThat project has grown to become ishopindian.com, now a global destination that bills itself as the largest online store for all things Indian including basmati rice, several types of ghee, a huge selection of chai teas and prepared foods.\n\nAnd, in addition to their online and physical business, Bharti Sanghavi shares traditional holiday recipes along with everyday favorites in her book “Beyond the Curry with Bharti.”\n\nMore:Sweet holiday: Hindu festival Diwali marked by bright lights and treats\n\nSweets for the feast\n\nDiwali, like most holiday celebrations, calls for advance preparation.\n\n“Diwali starts the few days before when people clean their houses and decorate and make their homes beautiful,” Bharti Sanghavi said.\n\nA yogurt-based dish, shrikhand, is often featured as part of the celebration.\n\n“We use yogurt because we don't want to boil milk … it's not auspicious. I’m from the west part of India; not boiling milk is a tradition in our community, and it’s pretty common throughout India,” she said.\n\nThe rich yogurt also gets extra sweetness and flavor, with nuts, sugar and cardamom, she said.\n\nFor the Sanghavi family, it wouldn’t be Diwali without ghughara, a pastry filled with almonds and pistachios. The recipe gets rave reviews.\n\n“Anyone who tastes our recipe says, ‘This is the best ghughara I’ve ever eaten,' ” Bharti Sanghavi said.\n\nA variety of special dishes are often part of the feast, including date and nut bars and lentil crispies.\n\nDate and nut bar (khajoor tukda)\n\nThese bars are made from dates, cashews, almonds and pistachios without added sugar. They make great power bars. This recipe is from \"Beyond the Curry with Bharti,\" by Bharti Sanghavi.\n\nMakes: 15 pieces\n\nIngredients:\n\n¼ cup raw almonds, cut in half widthwise\n\n¼ cup raw cashew pieces\n\n¼ cup raw pistachios\n\n½ pound Medjool dates, fresh, pitted (about 13 dates)\n\n½ teaspoon ghee, plus more for brushing (see note)\n\nInstructions:\n\nMix all nuts, and dry roast in a medium pan over medium heat on the stovetop for four or five minutes, stirring occasionally so they toast evenly. Set aside. In a small pan, saute dates for 2 minutes over medium heat. They will melt into a thick pulp. Remove dates from heat, and add nuts. Mix well. Brush a cutting board and rolling pan with ½ teaspoon ghee. Make a smooth ball from date and nut mixture and roll into a ½ inch thick square sheet on the cutting board. Brush ghee on top of mixture. Let it cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into 1½ by 1½ inch squares.\n\nStore in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.\n\nNote: Ghee is clarified butter that is sold at Indian markets and at many other grocers. It can be made at home by melting butter until the milk solids separate and come to rest on the bottom of the pan; pour off the clarified liquid butter, leaving the solids behind. Allow to cool and solidify.\n\nLentil crispies (chorafali)\n\nChorafali is a traditional Diwali festival snack. Originating from the Indian state of Gujarat, chorafali is highly anticipated on the Diwali table, since it’s usually made once a year. Chorafali are light and fluffy snacks that melt in your mouth. This recipe is a personal recipe from Bharti Sanghavi.\n\nMakes: 10 cups\n\nIngredients:\n\n½ cup water, plus 2 tablespoons\n\n½ teaspoon salt\n\n½ teaspoon baking soda or papad khar (alkaline salt)\n\n3 teaspoons of any neutral oil, plus more for deep frying and oiling surface\n\n2 cups gram flour (besan or chickpea flour)\n\n1 cup urad (lentil) flour (see note)\n\n1 teaspoon red chile powder\n\n1 teaspoon black salt\n\nInstructions:\n\nIn a small pot, bring ½ cup water, salt, baking soda and oil to a boil. Turn off heat. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours. Little by little, add hot water mixture, mixing with a spoon. Add another 2 tablespoons of room-temperature water to make a firm dough. Knead dough with a little oil on a flat surface. Let rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the chile powder and black salt to garnish the finished chips later. Halve the rested dough so kneading is easier. Knead one portion for a few minutes until the dough's color lightens. Roll dough into a rope about 7 inches long and cut into even 7 equal pieces. Roll each piece with a rolling pin until it's 5 inches wide. Cut into ½-inch-wide strips. Heat 1 to 2 inches of oil in a wok or heavy medium pot to 375 degrees. Place 2 or 3 strips into the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides. It will take a few seconds for them to puff up after adding them to the oil. Remove, using a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towel. Sprinkle a bit of red chile powder and black salt on top. Repeat with remaining dough. Serve at room temperature. Store in airtight jars for 3 to 4 weeks.\n\nNote: The flours and other ingredients are available at south Asian markets, including Indian Groceries & Spices.\n\nCheck out these recipes to up your kitchen game:", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/19/when-eid-al-adha-2021-how-muslim-festival-celebrated/8011766002/", "title": "When is Eid al Adha 2021? How is the Muslim festival celebrated?", "text": "This week, millions of Muslims worldwide will celebrate Eid al-Adha, an Islamic religious festival commemorating Prophet Abraham's faithfulness to God after being tested with the unfulfilled command to sacrifice his son.\n\nThe holiday also marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. It is different from another major Muslim holiday, Eid al-Fitr, which was recently celebrated in May to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan.\n\nDepending on the country, celebrations will take place at different times. In the United States, most Muslims will be celebrating Eid al-Adha on the evening of July 19.\n\nEid is a three-day celebration in Muslim-majority countries. In the United States, most people observe just one day.\n\nUnder usual circumstances, Muslims would visit mosques and have large community gatherings. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, celebrations are looking a bit different this year.\n\nHere is what to know about the holiday:\n\nWhat is Eid al-Adha?\n\nAccording to Mohammad Hassan Khalil, a professor of religious studies and director of the Muslim studies program at Michigan State University, Eid al-Adha falls on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar.\n\nIt is also celebrated during the annual Holy Pilgrimage of Hajj, in which thousands of Muslims travel to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to worship in the Ka'bah, the most sacred site in Islam.\n\nKhalil says that the day of celebration is determined by the sighting of a new crescent moon at night. If people spot it, this indicates a new month.\n\n\"Since this holiday overlaps with the pilgrimage or the Hajj to Mecca, which takes place in Saudi Arabia, many people will look to Saudi Arabia to determine the timing of this holiday,\" Khalil told USA TODAY. \"In Saudi Arabia, there will usually be a select group of people looking for the new moon.\"\n\nThe day of celebration varies for different countries and even communities. In the United States, most celebrations will begin the evening of July 19.\n\nThe meaning of 'al-Adha'\n\n“Al-Adha” refers to sacrifice, specifically the “one in which Abraham was asked – as a test – by God to sacrifice his son, only to have God intervene and substitute a ram (or lamb) instead,” Omid Safi, professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, said.\n\nThe sacrifice as depicted in the Quran (the Islamic holy text) has similarities to what’s in the Bible, though according to most Muslims, Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son Ishmael, not Isaac.\n\nMuslims to Biden: Fighting Islamophobia requires more than lifting Trump's travel ban\n\nMore: Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan\n\nIn present-day, animals, typically goats, lambs or cows, are still sacrificed to mark the occasion. Khalil says that while there are Muslims who engage in this practice in the U.S., some Muslims will work with a company to pay for meat to be distributed in other countries where there is a great need.\n\nThe meat from the animals sacrificed is shared with the community and food banks in areas where there are impoverished or food-insecure Muslims, said Anna Bigelow, associate professor of religious studies at Stanford University.\n\nSafi said for many poor Muslims, Eid al-Adha marks an occasion where they receive meat.\n\nHe added, “Since the notion of sacrifice initially referred to sacrificing that which is precious (thus the test of offering one’s child to God), there is a longstanding Muslim tradition of taking the sacrifice at the symbolic level, implying that the real sacrifice is not the killing of an animal, but rather sacrificing one’s own egoistical desires.”\n\nHow will Eid al-Adha be celebrated this year?\n\nCelebrations normally include spending time with friends and family, wearing new attire and giving gifts. Khalil says there is usually a big communal religious ceremony or service, which includes a prayer and a sermon. In the age of COVID-19, there are exceptions.\n\n\"Each community is different. Some communities may cancel the prayer, some may hold it outdoors with social distancing, while others may hold it indoors, and so on,\" Khalil said.\n\nIn commemorating the story of Abraham, Muslims will practice the act of Udhiya (or Qurbani), which involves a sacrifice and distributing the meat to the needy and to family members.\n\nIn certain countries or regions, there are dishes that are made to celebrate the holiday.\n\n\"During this time, there are special desserts that are made in Egypt, which is where my family is from. But this is going to vary from country to country and from region to region,\" Khalil said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/07/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/24/china/china-wuhan-lockdown-two-years-mic-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Lunar New Year is China's biggest holiday. For the third straight ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.\n\nHong Kong CNN —\n\nMore than two years have passed since China sealed off an entire city of more than 11 million people to curb the world’s first Covid-19 outbreak.\n\nBut in many parts of the country, tough coronavirus restrictions are still making it difficult for people to travel just days before the biggest festival of the year.\n\nSunday marked the second anniversary of the start of the Wuhan lockdown – a drastic move that stunned the nation just two days before Lunar New Year.\n\nChina has long since recovered from the initial devastation wrought by the pandemic, while Beijing’s uncompromising zero-Covid policy – which relies on mass testing, extensive quarantines and snap lockdowns – has enjoyed widespread public support.\n\nBut with the prospect of another Lunar New Year homecoming canceled, some people are growing frustrated.\n\nKnown as Spring Festival in China, Lunar New Year – which falls on February 1 this year – is the most important time for families to get together, likened by some to Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years combined.\n\nEvery year, hundreds of millions of people who have left their hometowns to build a life in China’s fast growing cities pour into trains, buses and planes to see their family – a weeks-long travel rush known as the largest annual human migration on Earth.\n\nThis year, China’s Ministry of Transportation expects 1.18 billion trips to be made during the Lunar New Year travel season, a 35% increase from last year – but still much lower than the 3 billion trips taken in 2019 before the pandemic.\n\nAnd across China, a growing list of local authorities are discouraging residents from traveling to curb the spread of the coronavirus – especially the highly transmissible Omicron variant.\n\nBacklash over local restrictions\n\nLast week, an official in the central province of Henan sparked an outcry after threatening to detain returning travelers.\n\nIn a viral video, Dong Hong, head of Dancheng county, was heard saying at a meeting that “anyone returning home from medium- or high-risk areas will be quarantined and then detained.”\n\nAmid a firestorm of criticism, Dong later said he was only referring to people who don’t obey local prevention policies and “maliciously return home.” But many questioned how the desire to reunite with one’s family could be seen as malevolent.\n\n“Is it wrong for a migrant worker who toils day and night, who lives far away from home, to return to his hometown and reunite with his family during his only few days of annual holiday?” asked a widely shared post on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. “We can all understand the severity of the (Covid) situation, and we can abide the prevention and control rules, but we should also be able to fulfill our wishes to go home for the Lunar New Year.”\n\nAs the backlash mounted, even state media weighed in. “It is only human nature to want to return home for reunions during the Spring Festival, so why is it malicious?” the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, People’s Daily, said in a social media post Saturday.\n\nIn a commentary Friday, state broadcaster CCTV accused local authorities of “deliberately creating obstacles and difficulties for people to return home,” adding that many were “ignoring the requirements of scientific epidemic prevention and control and adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.”\n\nTo be able to board trains, flights, buses and pass highway checkpoints, travelers in China must hold a green health code on their phone – indicating they have not recently been in any areas with Covid infections. But local authorities often impose their own requirements, preventing people from returning or subjecting them to lengthy quarantine even if their health code is green.\n\nLast week, a worker in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen was traveling on a homebound train to Guangxi province when local authorities in her hometown told her that upon arrival she must spend a week in hotel quarantine followed by a week of home isolation, according to Chinese state media.\n\nUnwilling to spend the festival in isolation at a cost of 2,100 yuan (about $330) for hotel quarantine, the woman got off the train and bought a ticket for the next one back to Shenzhen.\n\nTravelers wearing masks wait in the main hall of Shanghai's Hongqiao Railway Station ahead of Lunar New Year, on January 23, 2022. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nChina’s Covid outbreaks\n\nThe stringent local restrictions partly stem from the tremendous political pressure for local authorities to prevent Covid flare-ups – often under the threat of harsh punishment should they fail. With the Lunar New Year and the Beijing Winter Olympics just around the corner, such pressure has only intensified.\n\nIn recent weeks, China has been grappling with a flurry of Covid outbreaks, from a Delta outbreak in the northwestern city of Xi’an to an Omicron outbreak in the northeastern port city of Tianjin. At one point, more than 20 million residents in three Chinese cities were under full lockdown, prevented from leaving their homes.\n\nOn Monday, Xi’an authorities announced the city is beginning to lift its lockdown, which had confined its 13 million residents to their homes for a month. The stringent measures had caused food shortages and denied medical care to critical patients, causing widespread anger among residents.\n\nBeijing, scheduled to host the 2022 Winter Olympics from February 4, has reported 43 Covid cases since January 15. They include six Omicron infections – which authorities have blamed on mail from Canada – and a cluster of Delta cases in the southwestern district of Fengtai, which have spread to two nearby provinces. On Sunday, Fengtai launched a mass testing campaign, aiming to collect samples from its 2 million residents in one day.\n\nThe Chinese capital has advised residents against traveling home for the holiday, as have Shanghai and other big cities where a large part of the population come from the countryside or smaller cities.\n\nIn Dongguan, a southern manufacturing hub that’s home to nearly 7 million migrant workers, the government said it would give 500 million yuan (about $80 million) to non-local employees who stay in the city for Lunar New Year, with each person receiving digital vouchers worth 500 yuan, state media reported.", "authors": ["Nectar Gan Steve George", "Nectar Gan", "Steve George"], "publish_date": "2022/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/11/what-is-veterans-day/8288067001/", "title": "Is it OK to say 'Happy Veterans Day'? What to know about holiday", "text": "Veterans Day, a federal holiday, will be celebrated across the country and globe on Friday.\n\nIf \"thank you for your service\" doesn't feel appropriate, experts recommend using other phrases.\n\nAbout 7% of U.S. adults were veterans, according to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data.\n\nNearly 18 million people will be honored at Veterans Day celebrations held Friday across the country and globe for a holiday that ties back to the end of World War I.\n\nThe date marks when Germany and the Allies signed a 1918 agreement to end war hostilities. Fighting ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. At the time, Nov. 11, 1918 was known as the end of “the war to end all wars,” according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.\n\nIn 1919, President Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day to celebrate and observe the end of hostilities with parades, public meetings and a “brief suspension of business beginning.\"\n\n\"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory,\" Wilson declared.\n\nOn Nov. 11, banks, post offices, and many businesses will close their doors to honor veterans and active-duty military personnel's “patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good,” the Veterans Affairs' website says.\n\nVeterans Day:Are banks, post offices, schools, national parks open Friday? What to know\n\nVeterans Day free food:Vets can get deals at Starbucks, Applebee's, Outback, IHOP and more\n\nWhy was it Armistice Day before Veterans Day?\n\nArmistice Day was declared to honor those who had served in World War I and later evolved to observe veterans of all U.S. wars.\n\nAfter Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in 1954, the holiday was celebrated in October for several years in the 1970s, but was eventually changed back to its original date of Nov. 11.\n\nThe day continues to be known as Armistice Day throughout some European countries, including France.\n\nMake daylight saving permanent? It could save more than 30,000 deer every year, study suggests\n\nIs it OK to say 'Happy Veterans Day' or 'thank you for your service'?\n\nAvoid saying \"Happy Veterans Day,\" – there are better words to use, John Raughter, deputy director of media relations for American Legion, told USA TODAY last year. (You should also never say \"Happy Memorial Day.\")\n\nSaying \"thank you for your service\" is a better option.\n\nMichael Brennan, a U.S. Army veteran and associate clinical director for a veterans program at Rush University, shared in a Psychology Today essay that often when he was in uniform, people would thank him for his service and it felt great to receive the acknowledgment and it would make me feel proud of what I do.\"\n\nBut, there are some who could find that phrase offensive, too, Raughter said. Some veterans were drafted and did not volunteer for service, and others may have different feelings about their time serving.\n\n\"Just be normal and ask them about their greatest accomplishments, both personal and professional, if they choose to share,\" Shawn Brown, a U.S. Army veteran, previously told USA TODAY.\n\nBlack veterans face different realities\n\nDespite serving in every American war, Black veterans have long faced added burdens in returning from military service.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found in a 2021 report that while 12% of U.S. veterans are Black or African American, Black veterans were overrepresented in the homeless veteran population, accounting for over one third of nearly 20,000 people.\n\nIn 2016, Equal Justice Initiative Director Bryan Stevenson wrote in a report – Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans – that \"no one was more at risk of experiencing violence and targeted racial terror than African-American veterans who had proven their valor and courage as soldiers\" during the Civil War, WWI and WWII.\n\n\"Because of their military service, African-American veterans were seen as a particular threat to Jim Crow and racial subordination. Thousands of African-American veterans were accosted, assaulted, attacked, threatened, abused or lynched following military service.”\n\nAfter WWII, Black veterans were more at risk of experiencing targeted racial violence at home and were denied access to programs like the 1944 G.I. Bill, which benefitted millions of veterans transitioning to civilian life, according to a 2017 Equal Justice Initiative report.\n\nMore: The Black veteran community’s road to recovery\n\nWhat do health experts recommend saying?\n\nSome medical and mental health providers say that it's good to vary the intended compliment based on the individual, Brennan wrote.\n\nSome examples are “thank you for your willingness to serve,” “welcome home,” or “thank you for your sacrifice.”\n\nUltimately, Brennen believes it's best to acknowledge someone’s service regardless of a veteran’s \"era of service, branch of service, active or non-active status or deployment area of operation, etc.,\" he said.\n\nVeterans Day differs from Memorial Day\n\nUnlike Veterans Day, Memorial Day honors military members who died while serving in U.S. forces.\n\nMemorial Day was declared a national holiday through an act of Congress in 1971, and its roots date back to the Civil War era, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs.\n\nReviewed:From honoring veterans to enjoying your day off, here are ways to celebrate Veterans Day\n\nWhy do we observe Memorial Day? Here's the true history of the holiday\n\nHow to support veterans\n\nBrennan recommends getting involved in your local veterans' organizations by either volunteering, donating resources or just acknowledge a veteran for their service when you meet one. You can also patron a veteran-owned business or visit veterans hospital patients.\n\nVeterans usually like being asked about their time in and out of the service if they seem comfortable opening up.\n\nCamille Fine is a trending visual producer on USA TODAY's NOW team.\n\nWhat's everyone talking about?Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/11"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_3", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/09/weed-legal-us-states-maryland-missouri-midterms/8309311001/", "title": "Recreational weed legal in 21 US states after Maryland, Missouri votes", "text": "Five states decided whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana in Tuesday's midterm elections.\n\nVoters in Maryland and Missouri approved legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and over.\n\nArkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota rejected legalization proposals.\n\nLegalizing recreational marijuana was on ballots in a handful of states for Tuesday's midterm elections.\n\nBefore Tuesday, 19 states, the District of Columbia and two other U.S. territories had legalized recreational marijuana in some form. Now, Maryland and Missouri can join that list – as amendments to approve recreational use, as well as bring some changes in criminal law, were passed Tuesday.\n\nMeanwhile, Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota voters rejected their states' legalization proposals, according to Associated Press counts.\n\n\"A growing number of voters recognize that cannabis policy reform is in the best interest of public health and safety, criminal justice reform, social equity, and personal freedom,\" Toi Hutchinson, president and CEO of the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. \"State-level legalization victories are what’s necessary to move the needle forward at the federal level.\"\n\nThough not all recreational legalization efforts were successful Tuesday, medical marijuana use is already legal in all five of those states.\n\nHere's what you need to know.\n\nKey midterm ballot measures:Missouri legalizes weed, Kentucky rejects anti-abortion amendment\n\nIn what states is weed legal? Here is the full list\n\nArkansas marijuana legalization election results: Rejected\n\nVoters in Arkansas rejected marijuana legalization in the state Tuesday. The proposed amendment would have allowed state-licensed dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana – in addition to legalizing possession of up to an ounce of cannabis for people 21 and older.\n\nMedical marijuana is legal Arkansas, which in 2016 became the first Bible Belt state to approve medical use. Opponents of this year's measure to legalize recreational marijuana applauded Tuesday's results, while advocates said they would continue to push for change.\n\nMidterm election results:See results in Arkansas\n\nMaryland marijuana legalization election results: Approved\n\nOn Tuesday, Maryland voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing people over 21 to possess and consume marijuana recreationally starting in July 2023.\n\nIn additional to making recreational marijuana legal, the measure also brings changes in criminal law – including future opportunities for people jailed for or convicted of cannabis possession to apply for resentencing or expungements. Automatic expungements for select cases will arrive in 2024.\n\nMidterm election results:See results in Maryland\n\nMissouri marijuana legalization election results: Approved\n\nMissouri also legalized recreational marijuana with Tuesday's midterms. The now-passed constitutional amendment will approve recreational cannabis use for people 21 and older. Sales are expected to start in the state as soon as next year.\n\nSimilar to Maryland's law, Missouri's measure will expunge past arrest and conviction records for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses – with the exception of those who sold to minors or drove under the influence.\n\nMidterm election results:See results in Missouri\n\nNorth Dakota recreational marijuana election results: Rejected\n\nVoters in North Dakota on Tuesday rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution to legalize recreational marijuana.\n\nThe measure would have allowed people over 21 to use marijuana at home – in addition to legalizing the possession and cultivation for restricted amounts of cannabis. Policies to regulate cultivators and retail and other marijuana businesses would have also been established.\n\nMidterm election results:See results in North Dakota\n\nSouth Dakota recreational marijuana election results: Rejected\n\nSouth Dakota voters also rejected legalizing recreational marijuana on their Tuesday ballots. The amendment would have legalized recreational use for people 21 and older – two years after similar legislation failed.\n\nIn 2020, South Dakotans across party lines voted to legalize recreational marijuana – but the law was struck down by the state Supreme Court, partially because hemp and medical marijuana were included a single amendment (violating a \"single-subject\" rule passed by voters in 2018). Medical marijuana still became legal under Initiated Measure 26, but recreational use remained illegal in the state.\n\nMidterm election results:See results in South Dakota\n\nContributing: The Associated Press; Trent Abrego, Sioux Falls Argus Leader", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/09/arizona-voters-reject-proposition-205-night-sweeping-change-marijuana/93538346/", "title": "Arizona voters reject Proposition 205 on night of sweeping change ...", "text": "Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, and Alden Woods\n\nThe Republic | azcentral.com\n\nAs 50 million people woke up Wednesday in states where voters had just legalized marijuana, supporters of Arizona's Proposition 205 were hit with a post-election buzzkill: It appeared the state's recreational marijuana initiative had failed.\n\nFor the second time in state history, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana. An initiative to make small amounts of pot legal failed in 2002, but now, with a softening of public attitudes towards the drug, many saw this as marijuana's year.\n\nFifty-seven percent of Americans supported legalizing the drug, according to a Pew survey. In California, Massachusetts and Nevada, similar ballot measures passed easily. Maine’s vote was close, but appeared headed for approval late Wednesday. Four other states – Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana – passed medical-marijuana measures.\n\nBut Arizona's measure lagged far behind: Prop. 205 was the only marijuana-related ballot measure in the nation poised to fail.\n\nIf the voting trends hold, the state's legal marijuana program will remain medicinal only. Arizona voters approved medical marijuana in 2010, and that measure won by about 4,000 votes. About 100,000 people have recommendations from physicians to use cannabis.\n\nLegal marijuana is one thing many Americans agreed on Tuesday night\n\nJust over 52 percent of Arizona voters opposed Prop. 205, although an official count of votes likely will not be known for several days. But with 99.86 percent of ballots counted by Wednesday evening, \"No\" led by more than 82,000 votes.\n\nRepublican strategist Bert Coleman said opponents of marijuana sowed enough doubt in voters' minds to deliver a fatal blow. He said the campaign's ads that highlighted anecdotes from Colorado officials about how, in their minds, legalization was built on empty promises, were effective.\n\n\"I think that ad did it,\" said Coleman. \"When people start seeing, 'Hey, we were promised this and didn't get that,' there's a tendency to just vote no. In Arizona, if you don't start out with a 60 percent 'Yes' on an initiative, chances are, you're going to lose -- you automatically go in with a suspecting electorate.\"\n\nAZCENTRALSURVEY: Take our survey about the 2016 election\n\nThe Associated Press called the race late Tuesday. On Wednesday, the No on 205 campaign chair, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, said in a statement the defeat represented a victory for \"the children and grandchildren in our state. This initiative was bankrolled by marijuana special interests who sought to profit from its passage.\"\n\nThe Yes on 205 campaign did not concede the race. In a statement spokesman Barrett Marson acknowledged it would be difficult to win: \"It's a tough hill to climb but with 600,000 votes statewide left to count we will wait for further results,\" he wrote in an email.\n\nThe measure was backed by the Washington, D.C.-based Maricopa Policy Project, which has been at the forefront of pot legalization efforts across the nation.\n\nProp. 205 would have allowed adults 21 or older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and use it in private spaces, as well as establishing a system of licensed dispensaries where marijuana could be sold and taxed. The act would not have allowed marijuana use in public or by minors.\n\nTax revenue from marijuana sales would have been used to fund licensing and regulation operations, with excess revenue going to education and substance-abuse programs.\n\nThe campaigns supporting and opposing Prop. 205 each spent more than $5 million in advertising, messaging and get-out-the-vote efforts.\n\nThe Yes on 205 campaign asked voters to picture a state where money and power had been taken from drug cartels. It promised more money for Arizona schools, an end to the country’s war on drugs and a less-strained criminal justice system. Supporters hoped the pitch for more money for schools would resonate with enough voters — particularly parents — who may have struggled with legalizing cannabis but saw the need for more money.\n\n\"Smoke pot to make schools better isn't exactly a believable message,\" GOP consultant Max Fose said. He pointed out early results show that not enough Democrats turned out to cast votes for the measure.\n\nNo on 205, backed by Gov. Doug Ducey and business executives, warned of lethargic employees, impaired drivers and a spike in drug use among children. Commercials on TV repeated the possibility of children accidentally finding pot-infused edibles.\n\nAdam Deguire, the No on 205 campaign consultant, and J.P. Twist, a Republican consultant for Ducey who advised the campaign on messaging and fundraising, said the early results reflected the doubts voters had about the promise of more money for schools. They said voters also listened to the parade of Colorado officials who shared their stories in Arizona about the impact pot legalization had on roadways, in schools and neighborhoods.\n\nThe consultants said the No on 205 campaign, aided by Colorado school officials, city officials and law enforcement officials, also delivered a compelling message to Arizona voters: It would be difficult to alter the measure if voters approved it because it would be voter-protected and could not be changed unless the alterations furthered the intent of the law.\n\nBoth credited Ducey's fundraising from the business community spreading the No on 205 message. The No on 205 campaign raised more than $6 million.\n\n\"There's a large number of people who may be sympathetic to legalization but looked at 205 and said, 'If you're going to do this, this isn't the way to do it' — the state and state officials need to have flexibility to adapt in a post-marijuana world,\" Twist said. \"The most compelling story was the Colorado story, and we needed these third-party validators ... to share that message.\"\n\nDeguire said early Wednesday morning, “ultimately, people did not believe money would go into the classrooms.\"\n\nBoth campaigns blitzed voters with back-to-back campaign ads that created a confusing vortex of claims and figures.\n\nMarijuana Policy Project Communications Director Mason Tvert said the opposition campaign \"spent more money than almost all of the other opposition campaigns combined\" in other states.\n\n\"They spent a massive amount of money on the most deceptive ad campaigns that we've ever seen,\" he said. \"But that's how it goes. They were unabashed in their willingness to convey misinformation, even when being corrected by media outlets, government officials and hard documents.\"\n\nTvert was referring in part to claims by the No on 205 side about the amount of money that was generated for schools in Colorado. The campaign suggested schools didn't get the money they were promised. Colorado officials sent a letter to the campaign asking them to stop airing the \"misleading\" ads and pointing to Colorado records that document the amount of tax revenue that has been generated to benefit schools.\n\n\"In Arizona, they literally claimed that tax dollars that were raised were not raised — they denied the existence of matter,\" he said. Even if the measure goes down, he said the Yes on 205 had a strong showing.\n\n\"Nearly half of Arizonans were not fooled by their misinformation,\" he said.\n\nIn the weeks leading up to the election, conflicting polls suggested pot proponents had a healthy advantage, or that the race would be close. As Election Day neared, officials from both sides of the campaign told the newspaper the outcome of the election could hinge on a few thousand votes.\n\nThe measure failed in 13 of the state’s 15 counties. Only voters in Coconino and Pima counties were supporting the measure as of Friday night.\n\nThe measure failed by 31,000 votes in Maricopa County and by 50,000 votes everywhere else. Among early ballots cast outside Maricopa County, the measure garnered 46 percent support, which was lower than its nearly 48 percent support overall.\n\nAs voters reject Prop. 205, marijuana in Arizona to remain prescription-only\n\nProp. 205's early results were disappointing for campaign funders like Dustin Johnson of Monarch, a medical-marijuana dispensary operator in Scottsdale.\n\n\"We had a great opportunity to create a lot of social change,\" he said of the measure. \"We're disappointed that Arizona didn't feel the same way. I was expecting a little bit more of a horse-race.\"\n\nMore than 67 million Americans now live in states where marijuana is legal for recreational use, and 21 other states have decriminalized possession of marijuana.\n\nWith legalization pressing across the country, opponents of Prop. 205 were cautious in their celebrations. They defeated recreational marijuana in 2002 and again in 2016, but would almost certainly have to face the possibility again.\n\nSupporters were certain of that: a legalization initiative for the next election has already been drafted. Worried Prop. 205 would fail, supporters started writing a more comprehensive plan two months ago.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/11/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/04/politics/marijuana-initiatives-arkansas-maryland-missouri-north-dakota-south-dakota/index.html", "title": "Recreational marijuana legalization is on the ballot in these states ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nMarijuana legalization is on the ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota on Tuesday, a reflection of the growing momentum nationwide to lift penalties once associated with the drug.\n\nIf approved, the states would join the 19 (along with Washington, DC) where recreational use is currently legal. Thirty-seven states, three territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of marijuana products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.\n\nMedical marijuana is currently legal in each of the five states that are voting on recreational use in this midterm election.\n\nArkansas\n\nA constitutional amendment known as Issue 4 would allow cannabis possession and consumption by adults as well as the sale by licensed facilities. It would allow cannabis possession of up to an ounce and some tax revenue would contribute to funding law enforcement.\n\nMelissa Fults, a board member of the Arkansas chapter for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, known as NORML, has expressed dismay about the proposed amendment because she says it would create a “huge monopoly” for Arkansas’ cultivators and retailers. The initiative would create 12 additional cultivation facility licenses and a lottery for 40 additional adult-use dispensary licenses to join the 80 that will be given to existing medical dispensaries.\n\nShe also criticized the lack of an avenue for people who have been convicted of marijuana offenses to expunge their criminal record.\n\n“It was written by the cultivators, paid for by the cultivators and only benefits the cultivators. It will hurt patients, consumers and Arkansans,” Fults told CNN. “If passed, it will be the WORST and most expensive marijuana program in the nation.”\n\nThe Family Council Action Committee, which is typically on the opposite side of NORML when it comes to relaxing marijuana laws, also voiced concerns over proposed regulation.\n\n“If Issue 4 passes, Arkansas will have one of the least regulated cannabis industries in America,” Jerry Cox, the executive director of The Family Council Action Committee, told CNN. “State and local officials will be powerless to restrict marijuana or raise taxes on it. A handful of businesses and bureaucrats will control marijuana in Arkansas. That is a recipe for disaster.”\n\nIf passed, the legalization would go into effect on March 8, 2023.\n\nMaryland\n\nA proposed constitutional amendment in Maryland, Question 4, will give voters the chance to legalize recreational marijuana for people age 21 and up. If passed, it would go into effect on July 1, 2023, and allow possession of 1.5 ounces or two plants.\n\nIt would also allow those previously convicted of cannabis possession and intent to distribute to apply for record expungement.\n\n“For decades, overly restrictive cannabis laws have been a pipeline to prison that have disproportionately impacted people of color. Legalizing recreational cannabis in Maryland puts us on a path to reform our outdated drug laws and create more equity in our justice system,” Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Democrat, told CNN. “Our views and research on cannabis have changed; federal laws have changed. It’s time for our policies to do the same.”\n\nPossession of small amounts of marijuana is already decriminalized in Maryland.\n\nMissouri\n\nA proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri will give voters the option to end prohibitions on marijuana in the state and allow personal use for those over the age of 21.\n\nIt would allow for personal possession up to three ounces.\n\nThe amendment would also allow individuals with marijuana-related non-violent offenses to petition for release from prison or parole and probation and have their records expunged. The amendment prohibits marijuana facilities from selling cannabis-infused products shaped or packaged as candy that may be attractive to children.\n\nAmendment 3 would also impose a 6% tax on the retail price of recreational marijuana. The amendment language says it will not permit marijuana use while operating a motor vehicle or “undertake any task under the influence of marijuana when doing so would constitute negligence or professional malpractice.”\n\nIf passed, it would be enacted 30 days after the election.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nA citizen-initiated ballot measure in North Dakota would allow the use of marijuana in “various forms” for those who are at least 21 years old if passed.\n\nThe petition also states that all cannabis will be tested in a facility “for the potency of products and the presence of pesticides” and that cannabis businesses will be subject to random inspection.\n\nIt would allow cannabis possession of up to one ounce.\n\nNorth Dakota voters previously rejected a ballot measure in 2018 that aimed to fully legalize marijuana.\n\nIf passed, it would become law 30 days after the election.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nMarijuana legalization is back on ballots in South Dakota after state courts nullified the results of the 2020 legalization ballot measure.\n\nMeasure 27 would legalize marijuana possession, use and distribution, according to the ballot measure. If passed, marijuana possession of up to an ounce would be legal. It also would legalize possession of marijuana paraphernalia.\n\nSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican whose office championed the nullification process previously on the basis of constitutionality, has indicated to CNN that if Measure 27 is passed again she would implement it.\n\nIf passed, it would be enacted on July 1, 2023.\n\nA federal push for decriminalization\n\nMarijuana is illegal under federal law, even as individual states have moved toward legal use for recreational and medical purposes.\n\nBut in October, the Biden administration announced that President Joe Biden pardoned all people convicted of federal marijuana possession through executive action.\n\n“No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana,” Biden said at the time while encouraging governors to take similar steps to pardon state simple marijuana possession charges.\n\nBiden also tasked the Department of Health and Human Services and Attorney General Merrick Garland to “expeditiously” review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law, the first step toward potentially easing its federal classification.\n\nUnder the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is listed on Schedule 1, with drugs like heroin and LSD, meaning it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” But in recent years, its medicinal benefits have become more acknowledged.", "authors": ["Shawna Mizelle"], "publish_date": "2022/11/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/09/politics/marijuana-arkansas-maryland-north-south-dakota-missouri/index.html", "title": "Marijuana legalization on the ballot in these states: Here's what ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nBallot measures to legalize recreational marijuana use will fail in three states and pass in two, CNN projects, as momentum has grown nationwide to push for lifting penalties once associated with cannabis.\n\nHere’s what voters decided in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota on Tuesday:\n\nArkansas\n\nArkansas voters on Tuesday will reject a constitutional amendment that would have allowed cannabis possession and recreational consumption by adults as well as the sale by licensed facilities, CNN projects. Had it passed, cannabis possession of up to an ounce would have been legal and some tax revenue from marijuana sales would have contributed to funding law enforcement.\n\nMaryland\n\nMaryland voters on Tuesday will approve a constitutional amendment that legalizes recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. It will go into effect on July 1, 2023, and allow possession of 1.5 ounces or two plants. Possession of small amounts of marijuana was already decriminalized in Maryland. Under the amendment, those previously convicted of cannabis possession and intent to distribute will be able to apply for record expungement.\n\nMissouri\n\nMissouri voters will approve a proposed measure to end prohibitions on marijuana in the state and allow personal use for those over the age of 21, CNN projects.\n\nIt will allow for personal possession up to three ounces and allow individuals with marijuana-related non-violent offenses to petition for release from prison or parole and probation and have their records expunged.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nA citizen-initiated ballot measure that aimed at allowing the use of marijuana in “various forms” for those who are at least 21 years-old will be rejected by North Dakota voters, CNN projects. It would have allowed marijuana possession of up to an ounce and all marijuana to be tested in a facility “for the potency of products and the presence of pesticides” and subject to random inspection.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSouth Dakotans will vote down a measure to legalize cannabis in the state, CNN projects. Legalization for recreational marijuana use had passed in South Dakota in 2020, but the results were nullified by state courts.\n\nAccording to the proposed 2022 ballot measure, marijuana possession of up to an ounce would have been legal. It also would have legalized possession of marijuana paraphernalia, use and distribution.", "authors": ["Shawna Mizelle"], "publish_date": "2022/11/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/11/08/arizona-recreational-marijuana-proposition-205-election-results/92893564/", "title": "As voters reject Prop. 205, marijuana in Arizona to remain ...", "text": "Yvonne Wingett Sanchez\n\nThe Republic | azcentral.com\n\nProp. 205 would regulate marijuana for recreational use\n\nArizona voters narrowly approved marijuana for medical use in 2010\n\nArizona's ballot measure to legalize marijuana trailed in early election results, and final unofficial tallies showed voters saying \"no\" to Proposition 205.\n\nThe race — which pitted business interests against the legal medical-marijuana industry backed by a pro-legalization group, the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project — echoed the 2010 effort to legalize medical marijuana, which narrowly prevailed. The tally of complete results was likely to take several days.\n\nRepublicans gathered at a downtown Phoenix hotel cheered the early results that showed Proposition 205 down.\n\nSome said they voted against it because they don’t want stoned drivers on Arizona roadways. Others said they thought the measure was poorly written, saying it provided contradictory language on impaired driving. Prop. 205 says driving a car, boat or other vehicle while impaired by marijuana would remain illegal. But foes of the measure point to other language in the measure that says the state could not punish someone “for an action taken while under the influence of marijuana … solely because of the presence of metabolites or components of marijuana in the person’s body or in the urine, blood, saliva, hair or other tissue or fluid of the person’s body.”\n\nOthers said they didn’t like how marijuana legalization has played out in Colorado, which legalized the drug in 2012.\n\nELECTION RESULTS: Vote tallies from top Arizona races, including Maricopa County\n\nWynona Meurer, 74, learned of Prop. 205’s early results shortly after 8 p.m. She was among those who voted against the measure.\n\n“Marijuana rots your brain,” the Tempe Republican said. “I love it. It’s a miracle of God. The Christians voted the right way on this.”\n\nMany of the No on 205 campaign staffers spent much of the night holed up in a war room crunching numbers, although top-level campaign staffers made appearances at the state GOP election night watch party.\n\nAfter the Associated Press called the race, Adam Deguire of the anti-legalization campaign, told The Arizona Republic around 1:15 a.m. that voters “saw through an initiative drafted by marijuana special-interests.”\n\nDeguire added: “The defeat of Prop. 205 helps to secure a safe and prosperous future for Arizona for many years to come. Tonight’s defeat shows Arizonans will not risk letting out-of-state interests buy the ballot box to drastically change our state.”\n\nHe said the campaign’s most effective messaging was sharing how Colorado was impacted by marijuana legalization on several fronts: public safety, youth use and public funding of education from tax revenues.\n\nBarrett Marson, a spokesman for the pro-legalization campaign, did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request to comment. Earlier in the night, he said the campaign had a shot at closing the gap.\n\nArizona appeared to be the only state to reject recreational marijuana of the five states that were considering it at the ballot box on Tuesday.\n\nAZCENTRAL SURVEY: Take our survey about the 2016 election\n\nThe party at Crescent Ballroom for the Yes on 205 campaign waned from its estimated 250 to 300 attendees after 11 p.m. Supporters cleared out around midnight as the polls showed both campaigns within 4 percentage points of each other.\n\nOf the three large projection screens onstage, one showed running poll numbers of marijuana-related measures in other states.\n\nJason Chacon, 41, said that as polling remained close, he would be counting on younger voters to come through with their votes in support of the measure.\n\n“There’s still a chance it’s going to be decided by a few thousand votes,” he said. “Keep hope alive.”\n\nWhat is Prop. 205?\n\nProp. 205 asked Arizona voters to legalize cannabis for recreational use and establish licensed outlets where sales of the drug would be taxed, similar to the system in Colorado. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, but the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act would allow people 21 and older in Arizona to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, carry it, grow it in their homes and give it away.\n\nThe measure would not allow marijuana use in public, and some violations of the act would be a petty offense.\n\nWhat would happen\n\nIf Prop. 205 were to have passed, adults could have started legally possessing marijuana as soon as election results become official, according to the campaigns for and against the measure. Retail sales could have started in March 2018 and the program would have been regulated by a new Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control. Current medical-marijuana dispensaries would have gotten the first shot at a recreational pot license, which will at first be limited to 147.\n\nTax revenue from sales would first have funded regulation of the program, and excess funds would then have gone toward education and substance-abuse programs.\n\nUsing information from a federal survey on drug use, one analysis estimated 588,000 Arizonans 21 and older used marijuana in 2013. About 100,000 Arizonans are allowed to use cannabis for medical reasons.\n\nPublic attitudes have been softening nationally toward legalizing marijuana, driven in large part by young voters. Arizona was one of five U.S. states weighing ballot measures this election that would legalize recreational marijuana. Other states voted on medical marijuana, including Florida, considered a crucial state in the presidential race. Florida's marijuana measure appeared headed toward easy passage Tuesday night.\n\nTo legalize or not to legalize?\n\nArizona voters appeared to be cautious about how to move forward.\n\nThat could be due, in part, to the dueling messages and millions of dollars spent to blitz the airwaves with TV and digital ads, political experts said.\n\nThe measure started out ahead, earlier polls showed.\n\n\"Public attitudes on the subject of marijuana are moving in a pro-legalization direction ... and some of that has the character of gay marriage,\" pollster Mike O'Neil said. \"A few states do it, and then it's not so unthinkable and that's sort of what the public chorus is here.\"\n\nO'Neil said the No on Prop. 205's \"really big negative campaign\" that introduced information about how pot legalization played out in Colorado — even if the messages were false or misleading — appeared to resonate with voters.\n\nThe Yes on 205 pitch throughout the campaign was that legal marijuana would take money from the \"hands of cartels,\" benefiting the state and schools. One aspect of the nation's failed war on drugs would end, campaign officials argued, and marijuana users would no longer be run through the criminal-justice system.\n\nThe Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol spent more than $5 million to push for legalization in Arizona, largely from the marijuana and marijuana-related industry. The Marijuana Policy Project and its related foundation are the campaign's primary funder, as well as owners of various medical-marijuana dispensaries and marijuana-related businesses. On Tuesday, one medical pot dispensary was offering a free joint with a purchase for cardholders who presented \"I voted today\" stickers.\n\nThe other side, Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, warned voters of a pot-scented apocalypse that would leave employers short-handed, emergency rooms stacked with overdosed patients, and motorists injured by drugged drivers. In their TV ads, they warned that children could accidentally eat pot-infused candies, and that legalization could set kids on a path to harder drugs.\n\nIn the final days of the campaign, Colorado lawmakers asked the No on Prop 205 campaign to yank one of its ads, which they criticized for \"inaccurate and misleading statements\" about how that state's tax revenue was distributed to schools.\n\nMuch of the more than $5 million funding the No on 205 campaign was raised by Gov. Doug Ducey, who sees legal marijuana as a threat to public safety and a thriving economy.\n\nThe anti-marijuana campaign was largely funded by companies and business groups who think legal marijuana could lead to less-productive employees, more impaired workers and drivers, and increased youth drug use. Major backers included Discount Tire founder Bruce Halle, of Paradise Valley, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a Chandler pharmaceutical company that touts its “capability to develop pharmaceutical cannabinoids.”\n\nTom Hamilton, 66, an independent voter from north-central Phoenix, struggled with how to vote on Prop. 205. In the end, he voted for it because he thinks it’s safer than alcohol.\n\n“Nobody dies because of marijuana,” he said, adding that thousands of people do die of alcohol.\n\nHamilton, who spends part of the year living in Durango, Colorado, said he did not like the way the No on Prop. 205 campaign portrayed the way marijuana in that state was being marketed to children, through pot-infused candies.\n\nDemocrat Riann Holsonback, 43, of Phoenix, said marijuana is so prevalent, Arizona might as well reduce the penalties for those who use it and reap the benefits of tax revenue.\n\nRepublican voter Jane Evans, 59, of Mesa, cast her early ballot for Prop. 205 partly because she thinks public schools are desperate for money.\n\n\"All the propaganda about ... Colorado was fraud,\" she said.\n\nReach the reporter at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4712. Republic reporter Sarah Jarvis contributed to this article.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/11/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/08/marijuana-legalization-abortion-access-slavery-ballot-measures/8305540001/", "title": "Marijuana legalization, abortion access: Key midterm ballot measures", "text": "Voters across the country cast votes for national, state and local candidates in the 2022 midterms Tuesday, and they also voted on a slate of ballot measures.\n\nMichigan, California and Vermont enshrined abortion rights in their state constitutions on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an anti-abortion measure in Kentucky was rejected by voters.\n\nMaryland and Missouri voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana for people over 21. But voters in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota rejected legalization proposals.\n\nMillions of voters across the country cast their ballots for the 2022 midterm elections on Tuesday.\n\nIn addition to picking local and state officials, including key governorships, their votes should determine whether Democrats will be able keep control of the U.S. House and Senate, or if Republicans will flip one or both houses of Congress.\n\nBut as of Thursday afternoon, some of the nation's most consequential races have not yet been decided. The future of Congressional control is still up for grabs. And while both parties raked in key wins so far, Democrats have held off the Republican \"red wave\" that many strategists predicted leading up to Tuesday.\n\nAmid millions of votes for lawmakers, voters also weighed in on ballot initiatives ranging from legalizing marijuana to accessing abortion and outlawing slavery.\n\nSome Americans voted on raising the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid and on policies designed to address climate change.\n\nHere’s what you need to know about key ballot measures from Election Day 2022:\n\nUpdates:Two days out, elections remain undecided. Here's what we know about outstanding races\n\nFull election results:See results of elections in the Senate, House and every state\n\nAbortion access votes in California, Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont\n\nAfter the Supreme Court overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade decision earlier this year, abortion access became a key issue across the country. For the midterms, advocates hoped that states would protect reproductive rights.\n\nVoters in Michigan, California and Vermont enshrined abortion rights in their state constitutions Tuesday. In Kentucky, an anti-abortion measure on the ballot was rejected by voters.\n\nThe rejection of the proposed Kentucky amendment, which attempted to deny any constitutional protections for abortion in the state, marks a significant victory for abortion rights. Kentucky's GOP-dominated legislature has imposed a near-total ban on abortions – which could still be upheld by the state Supreme Court. But the amendment rejection also means there's a possibility for the court to declare abortion as a state right.\n\nMore on Kentucky abortion vote:Kentucky voters reject amendment that would have ended right to an abortion. What it means for the deep-red state.\n\n'Not a repudiation':Joe Biden holds off red wave, gets unexpected boost from midterm election\n\nIn Montana, voters rejected a referendum could've meant criminal charges for health care workers if they don't take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life” of an infant who is born living, including after an attempted abortion.\n\nMore:Abortion rights were on the ballot in these 5 states. Here's what voters decided.\n\nOpinion:We just got through the midterms, but the DeSantis-Trump rivalry has already begun\n\nVoting measures in Arizona, Connecticut, Michigan, Nebraska\n\nVoting rights were on the ballot in several states for the midterms – including measures on voter identification, early voting, and rules on passing ballot initiatives.\n\nIn Connecticut, a proposed constitutional amendment to allow in-person early voting passed.\n\nMeanwhile, Ohio voters passed an amendment that will prohibit people who are not U.S. citizens from voting in local elections. And in Nebraska, voters passed a measure that will require a valid photo ID to vote in any election.\n\nIn Michigan, voters approved creating a nine-day window for early voting, among other changes.\n\nIn Arizona, voters were asked whether they should be required to provide a date of birth and voter identification number for early ballot affidavits, instead of only a signature. It was too early to call as of Friday morning. Arizonans rejected a measure about whether the state’s legislature can change measures that voters passed if the measures are deemed unconstitutional.\n\nBallots in Nevada asked voters about establishing ranked-choice voting for congressional and some state elections. The votes were too close to call as of Friday morning.\n\nWhich party will control the Senate? Here's every seat up for grabs in the 2022 midterms\n\nProhibiting slavery, particularly among prisoners\n\nFive states voted on whether to abolish slavery. Voters in four states – Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont – passed measures to change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, according to Associated Press counts.\n\nMeanwhile, voters in Louisiana rejected an amendment to remove language from the state's constitution allowing for involuntary servitude in the criminal justice system.\n\nYes, more than 150 years ago, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended slavery on a national level when it was ratified in 1865. But loopholes still allow it as a punishment for people convicted of a crime.\n\nPassing these referendums could be more than just a symbolic gesture. Criminal justice reform advocates have said they could mean higher wages for prison work, among other changes.\n\nMaryland and Missouri legalize recreational weed; other states vote on drug policies\n\nMarijuana appeared on ballots in multiple states this year. In Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota, voters were faced with an option to legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.\n\nMaryland and Missouri voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana for people 21 and older through constitutional amendments on Tuesday. Both states' measures will also bring changes to criminal law and expunge many past marijuana possession convictions. In Missouri, for example, nonviolent offenses – with the exception of selling to minors or driving under the influence – will be expunged.\n\nArkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota voters rejected proposals for legalizing recreational use on Tuesday.\n\nColorado voters passed a ballot initiative to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for people 21 and older. The proposal will also create \"healing centers\" regulated by the state where people can use the drug while being supervised.\n\nDC raises minimum wage for tipped workers; Nevada, Nebraska vote on wage increases\n\nNevadans voted on whether to increase the minimum wage in the state to $12 per hour. Results were too close to call as of Friday morning/. The state’s current minimum wage is between $9.50 and $10.50, depending on whether a person has health insurance.\n\nNebraska voters approved a ballot measure that will significantly increase the state's minimum wage, from $9 an hour to $15 by 2026.\n\nIn Washington, D.C., voters chose to raise the minimum wage for tipped employees to match the pay of non-tipped employees.\n\nNew Mexico voters make pre-K a universal right\n\nNew Mexican voters on Tuesday strongly approved a constitutional amendment set to increase permanent funding allocated for early childhood education, as well as K-12 education, by hundreds of millions of dollars.\n\nWith the measure's success, Vox News reports that New Mexico will become the first state to guarantee a constitutional right to early childhood education like preschool and child care. Activists and legislators in support said they spent over 10 years working toward the ballot measure.\n\nThe amendment proposed allocating an additional 1.25% annually from the state's Land Grant Permanent Fund, which already distributes 5% annually to the New Mexico Public Education Department and 20 additional public institutions, to early childhood education and public school instruction for at-risk students.\n\nWhile the amendment has received voters' approval, it has to be approved by Congress in order to take effect. New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee economists estimated in 2021 that, if approved, using the state's Land Grant Permanent Fund, also known as the Permanent School Fund, in this way \"tapping the LGPF would potentially generate an estimated $236 million\" for education in fiscal year 2023. \"Of this, an estimated $140 million would be allocated specifically for early childhood education.\"\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/06/ballot-initiatives-watch-2022-midterms/7962542001/", "title": "Ballot initiatives to watch in 2022 midterms, from abortion to slavery", "text": "Four states have ballot questions related to abortion and contraceptives\n\nLegalizing marijuana will be up for voters to decided in at least five states this year\n\nOutlawing slavery and indentured servitude is a referendum in five states as well\n\nForget waiting for Congress or state legislatures to act. This year’s midterm elections are offering voters an opportunity to shape public policy directly in the form of state ballot initiatives on major national issues.\n\nThe country witnessed the power of those referendums when voters in Kansas, typically considered a safe red state, rejected an anti-abortion measure by a decisive 61%-39% margin in the nation’s first test vote onthe volatile issue last August.\n\nWith the midterms at hand, voters are being asked to weigh in on reproductive rights, legalizing marijuana and even slavery.\n\nStay in the know:Get updates on these top ballot measures in your inbox\n\nEarly voting 2022 schedule: When early and in-person absentee voting starts in each state\n\nVoters will determine in at least five states whether to officially abolish involuntary servitude as a form of punishment, a question that could lead to a national rethinking on U.S. prison policy. Other ballot initiatives focus on the right to abortion and increasing minimum wage.\n\nMany of those topics have stalled in Washington, where gridlock has devoured reform efforts.\n\nBut whether through direct ballot initiative grown by grassroots organizations via petition or indirect referendums first raised by a state legislature, these measures could have major ramifications going forward.\n\nHere are the issues on the ballot to watch:\n\nAbortion access\n\nKansas voters overwhelmingly chose to uphold the right to an abortion in August, which has emboldened progressives hoping the momentum can mobilize their base through similar ballot initiatives elsewhere.\n\nNow at least four other states – California, Michigan, Kentucky and Vermont – will have similar questions for voters to consider.\n\nThe Michigan Supreme Court ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights must appear on the November ballot. Under the measure, Michigan voters will be able to explicitly enshrine a woman's reproductive rights in the state constitution.\n\nMontana is asking voters to decide rules around infants \"born-alive.\" The referendum deals with whether infants born alive at any stage of development will be considered \"legal persons.\"\n\nIf so, the proposal says, they must be provided medical care. Violators face a $50,000 fine and up to 20 years in prison.\n\nPoll: Most Americans want chance to support abortion rights on state ballot\n\nRoe v. Wade: Abortion to remain divisive issue in states, courts\n\nThe proposed amendments in California and Vermont, which already have liberal state laws ensuring abortion rights, encompass reproductive freedom as a whole including other protections such as guaranteeing access to contraceptives.\n\nVoters in Kentucky, a more conservative-leaning state, are being asked this November to restrict abortion rights by declaring that the state Constitution doesn’t recognize such access or require taxpayer funding of abortion.\n\nOutlawing slavery\n\nVoters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont will decide whether to abolish slavery as a part of a larger criminal justice reform movement aimed at prison labor.\n\nThe 13th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery and involuntary servitude when it was ratified in 1865. But a loophole allows it as punishment for someone convicted of a crime. Roughly 20 states have a similar exception.\n\nMost of the referendums ask voters to declare no form of slavery or involuntary servitude be permitted as a punishment for a crime.\n\nOthers go further, such as Alabama's question which seeks to remove \"all racist language\" from the state constitution. In Oregon, the amendment would add provisions allowing the state courts or parole agency to order alternatives to incarceration for a convicted individual.\n\nMore: As George Floyd Act's chances dim, Biden stays mum on police reform\n\nCriminal justice reform advocates say the referendums are more than symbolic and could spark larger changes for people who are incarcerated, such as paying them higher wages for prison work or ending forced labor altogether.\n\nIn 2018, voters in Colorado, Nebraska and Utah overwhelmingly struck down slavery and involuntary servitude through ballot initiatives.\n\nLegislation has been introduced in California, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Texas to put similar ballot questions before voters in future elections.\n\nDecriminalizing weed, psychedelics\n\nMultiple states will give voters a direct say over drug policies with ballot questions on decriminalizing marijuana and certain psychedelics.\n\nArkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Maryland are looking to legalize marijuana for residents age 21 or older.\n\nBut the provisions in some places go further.\n\nIn Missouri, the proposed amendment would decriminalize marijuana use and allow people convicted of non-violent cannabis offenses a chance to seek an early release from prison and have their criminal records expunged. It also seeks to impose a six percent tax on the sale of marijuana.\n\nNews: Marijuana is being legalized in parts of the U.S. That's not helping everyone with convictions\n\nPoll: Marijuana use is outpacing cigarette use for first time ever in U.S.\n\nThe Supreme Court in Oklahoma rejected a request that a measure on legalizing recreational cannabis gets voted on this November. But Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt set a statewide special election next March for voters to have a say.\n\nColorado has a ballot initiative asking voters whether the state should define certain psychedelic plants and fungi as natural medicine, including dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and mescaline.\n\nUnder the amendment, personal use, possession, transportation and growth would be legal for those age 21 or older. The changes would also create a regulatory agency that would oversee licensed healing centers to administer natural medicine services.\n\nMinimum wage, right to work rules\n\nNevada voters will be given a chance to give workers a pay raise this fall when they're asked to increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour for all employees. The state's floor for how much a person is paid currently sits between $9.50 to $10.50 per hour, depending on whether they have health insurance.\n\nIn 2019, the Nevada legislature passed a measure raising the minimum wage by increments without addressing the health insurance discrepancy. The ballot question will establish a flat rate for all regardless of their insurance status.\n\nMore: Nevada's minimum wage increases but is less of a living wage than a year ago\n\nNebraska secretary of state certified a ballot measure in September that would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 if approved.\n\nIn the District of Columbia, voters will decide whether to increase the minimum wage for tipped employees, such as restaurant servers, to match that of non-tipped employees.\n\nBeyond minimum wage, Illinois voters are being asked to establish a constitutional right to collective bargaining which would guarantee workers the right to organize a union.\n\nOn the opposite end of the political spectrum, Tennessee voters will weigh approving a right-to-work amendment to the state constitution which would prohibit workplaces from requiring labor union membership as a condition for employment.\n\nExpanded Medicaid, health care\n\nOne of the major debates about the Affordable Care Act from a decade ago was whether states would accept or reject federal incentives to expand Medicaid eligibility.\n\nAs of this year, 38 states and the District of Columbia have done just that with many doing so through ballot initiatives. Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah, for example, did so in 2018.\n\nReport: 5 million to 14 million Americans could lose Medicaid coverage when COVID-19 pandemic ends\n\nMore: Uninsured rate hit record low of 8%, HHS analysis shows\n\nSouth Dakota, one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid, will have an opportunity thanks to a coalition of health care groups who joined forces this year to push the idea to the ballot box.\n\nUnder the amendment, adults 18 to 65 earning incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level would receive Medicaid. That is roughly $18,000 per person or $37,000 for a family of four.\n\nOther health care related questions are sprinkled around the country.\n\nIn Oregon, a ballot initiative would ensure every resident \"has access to cost-effective, clinically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right.\"\n\nCalifornia voters will consider banning the sale of flavored tobacco products as well as legalizing mobile sports betting to use a portion of revenue generated for a homelessness prevention fund.\n\nStay in the know:Get updates on these top ballot measures in your inbox\n\nClimate change and emission tax\n\nIn 2020, multiple cities and states had ballot questions dealing with establishing policies around the environment.\n\nHeading into the fall elections this year, New York and California both have proposals that voters will be asked to consider.\n\nNew Yorkers are being asked to support the issuance of $4.2 billion in bonds for multiple projects related to the environment, such as flood-risk reduction, coastal shoreline restoration and land conservation.\n\nFor California, which has been beset by drought, wildfires and other climate change woes, the question is whether to levy a new tax for zero-emission vehicles and wildfire prevention programs.\n\nWhat's on your ballot? A complete guide to California propositions for the 2022 election\n\nUnder the proposed question, a 1.75% hike would be put on those making more than $2 million annually. That's projected to rake in $3.5-$5 billion, according to state analysts.\n\nAbout 45% of that money would go toward rebates for zero-emission vehicle buyers, especially for those in low-income areas. Another 35% of the new revenue is earmarked for building more charging stations.\n\nThe remaining 20% would be for the wildfire prevention and response actions.\n\nVoter IDs, early voting and election laws\n\nVoters will consider proposals in multiple states on voter identification, early voting and rules surrounding passing ballot initiatives.\n\nIn Connecticut, voters will decide if there is a constitutional amendment that permits in-person early voting.\n\nUnder a proposed question in Michigan, voters will decide on creating a nine-day window for early voting as well as making other changes to voting policies – such as requiring a photo ID or a signed affidavit to vote and requiring the state to provide secure drop boxes for all municipalities.\n\nA ballot proposal in Nebraska will determine whether a valid photo ID is required to vote for any election.\n\nArizonans will determine whether voters are required to provide a date of birth and a voter identification number for early ballot affidavits rather than just a signature. Voters will also weigh in on proposals related to passing ballot initiatives including whether the legislature can amend or repeal ballot measures approved by voters if deemed unconstitutional by the state or U.S. Supreme Court.\n\nVoting rights: New election laws could create barriers for voters with disabilities\n\nOne measure in Arizona would require a supermajority (three-fifths) vote to pass ballot initiatives that create a tax. A similar proposal in Arkansas would require a supermajority vote instead of a simple majority to adopt ballot initiatives.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/drugs/marijuana/2022/09/22/recreational-marijuana-question-wont-make-oklahoma-november-ballot-elections-politics/69509822007/", "title": "Oklahoma recreational marijuana question won't make November ...", "text": "A state question to legalize recreational cannabis in Oklahoma won't land on the general election ballot after the state Supreme Court rejected a request to ensure the measure gets voted on this year.\n\nThe Oklahoma Supreme Court declined to compel the State Election Board to add State Question 820 to the statewide ballot for the November election.\n\nAlthough the question that would legalize recreational cannabis for those age 21 and older won't make the ballot this year, Oklahoma voters will still get a chance to vote on the issue at some later date.\n\nSQ 820 will go before voters during a statewide election in 2024 or the governor, who gets to set the election date for the question, could call a special election to put the measure on the ballot sooner. If the governor fails to act, SQ 820 will appear on the general election ballot in 2024, according to proponents of the state question.\n\nYes on 820 Campaign Director Michelle Tilley called the court ruling disheartening.\n\n\"It is disappointing that a few people with their own political interests were able to use the process to prevent voters from voting on this in November,\" she said in a statement. \"However, we cannot lose sight of how far we have come. This is a big deal.\n\n\"Now the petition phase is finished, and Oklahomans WILL be voting to legalize recreational cannabis here and we can soon realize all the benefits it will bring to our State.\"\n\nThe Yes on 820 campaign blamed a new process within the secretary of state's office to verify state question signatures for slowing down their efforts to qualify for the ballot this year. Secretary of State Brian Bingman was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.\n\nA representative for the secretary of state's office previously said the new process adds more scrutiny to ensure only signatures from registered Oklahoma voters are counted when determining whether a state question should go before voters. State question campaigns are required to collect a certain number of signatures in order to qualify for the ballot.\n\nSupreme Court justices said SQ 820 got \"bogged down\" in the secretary of state's office, but noted the office enlisted temporary workers and some full-time staff to help with signature counting and verification when private contractors appeared to need additional manpower.\n\nBut the justices said it was too late to include SQ 820 in time for ballots to be mailed to overseas voters.\n\nThey also said state law doesn't guarantee a state question any specific election date. The Yes on 820 campaign argued their proposal must appear on the ballot for the next statewide election.\n\n\"There is no way to mandate the inclusion of SQ 820 on the November 2022 general election ballot,\" Justice Douglas Combs wrote in the majority opinion.\n\nThe opinion cited Aug. 29 as the statutory deadline to call a state question election for November, which gives the state time to prepare ballots that will be sent to absentee military voters. Friday's deadline to mail those ballots comes before next Monday's cutoff for those that challenged SQ 820 in court to request a new hearing.\n\nThe court recently dismissed four legal challenges to SQ 820. All nine justices agreed with the decision to reject the Yes on 820 campaign's lawsuit, although Justice Dustin Rowe said he would have ruled the request was \"dead on arrival,\" as opposed to delaying action in the case until any legal challenges were resolved.\n\nThe Yes on 820 campaign raised more than $2.2 million this election cycle. All of its funding comes from out-of-state donors, including the American Civil Liberties Union and national nonprofits that advocate for cannabis legalization or criminal justice reform.\n\nSQ 820 would implement criminal justice reforms that would allow some drug offenders to petition to have their cannabis convictions reversed and criminal records expunged.\n\nProponents of the state question have been trying since 2019 to get the recreational cannabis proposal before Oklahoma voters.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/11/04/states-referendum-initiatives-marijuana-abortion/18350783/", "title": "Voters pass wage hikes, legal pot; divide on abortion", "text": "Greg Toppo and Laura Mandaro\n\nVoters on ballot initiatives in 41 states gave a resounding thumbs-up to recreational marijuana and higher minimum wages, while dividing on abortion-related measures and GMO labeling.\n\nScores of measures that thickened ballot booklets from Alaska to Florida included a ban on bear baiting (overturned), immigrants IDs (rejected) and gun background checks (approved).\n\nABORTION\n\nIn Colorado, voters rejected a proposal to add \"unborn human beings\" to the state's criminal code, a measure that some feared could ban abortion.\n\nAnd in North Dakota, voters rejected a \"right-to-life\" state constitutional amendment that abortion rights advocates feared would have ended legal abortions there.\n\nThe North Dakota measure would have declared \"the inalienable right to life of every human being at every stage of development must be recognized and protected.\"\n\nBut Tennessee approved an amendment that will give more power to state lawmakers to regulate and restrict abortion, adding language to the Tennessee constitution that reads, in part: \"Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion,\" even in the case of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.\n\nMARIJUANA\n\nVoters in Florida rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana for the relief of chronic pain, nausea, and other symptoms associated with eight major diseases.\n\nOregon voters did approve a measure, modeled on Washington state's, that allow adults to buy marijuana for recreational use. A household can have up to 8 ounces of marijuana and cultivate up to four plants; consumption is banned in public.\n\nAlaska also looked likely to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Advocates for the measure were holding a slim lead with nearly two-thirds of the state's precincts reporting.\n\nAnd in Washington, D.C., city residents overwhelmingly approved a measure that will allow people to possess up to 2 oz. of marijuana and cultivate up to six plants at home without legal penalties. But the D.C. law faces a strange restriction, as pot still remains illegal in the one-fourth of the city that sits on federal land — federal law still bans marijuana possession. And Congress could step in and overrule any new measure.\n\nMINIMUM WAGE, GMOS, BEARS\n\nOther issues on the ballot Tuesday night:\n\n• In Oregon, voters rejected a measure permitting four-year driver's cards to those who cannot prove their legal status in the United States. Supporters said the bill would keep the streets safer by forcing people to learn the rules of the road and get insurance. The measure was aimed mainly at Oregon's tens of thousands of immigrants who are in the country illegally. The Pew Hispanic Center says about 160,000 immigrants living in Oregon entered the country illegally.\n\n• In Arkansas, Alaska, South Dakota and Nebraska, voters approved hiking the minimum wage. Voters in Illinois approved a non-binding ballot question on raising the minimum wage.\n\n• Voters in Colorado rejected mandated labels for genetically modified foods; a similar measure in Oregon was too close to call.\n\n• In Maine, voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have banned sportsmen from hunting bears with the use of bait, dogs and traps. A fierce debate on hunting methods has raged there for months, frequently pitting hunters against animal rights advocates. The bait used is typically sugary human food such as doughnuts. Maine's bear population of 30,000 is up about 30% from 10 years ago, and state wildlife officials have said the hunting methods are needed to control the population.\n\n• In Washington state, voters passed a measure expanding background checks on gun sales and transfers.\n\n• Voters also cast votes on casino gambling in California, South Dakota, Kansas, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.\n\nContributing: AP\n\nMORE ELECTION COVERAGE", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/11/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/11/06/initiatives-on-ballot/1687885/", "title": "Voters in 38 states decide sweeping ballot initiatives", "text": "Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY\n\nVoters in 38 states cast ballots on various initiatives\n\nFour involved same-sex marriage\n\nCalifornia voters were deciding whether to abolish the death penalty\n\nMaine, Maryland and Washington have made history, becoming the first states in which voters legalized same-sex marriage.\n\nA bill allowing same-sex marriages in Maine passed in 2009, but opponents petitioned for a referendum on the issue and that year 53% of voters opposed it.\n\nIn Maryland, a referendum had sought to overturn a law approving same-sex marriage passed earlier this year by the Legislature. In Washington state, a similar initiative was approved by popular vote.\n\nIn Minnesota, voters were being asked whether the state's constitution should ban same-sex marriage, a step beyond the state's existing law against gay marriage.\n\nAcross the nation, voters in 38 states were deciding sweeping ballot initiatives on everything from same-sex marriage and recreational marijuana use to whether genetically engineered foods should be labeled.\n\nNationally, 32 states have voted to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples while while six others — New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont — and the District of Columbia have legalized it either by legislation or a judicial ruling\n\nWashington and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana.\n\nThe recreational use of marijuana was also up for a vote in Oregon, but voters rejected a ballot measure seeking to regulate marijuana like alcohol. Two other states were considering allowing pot use for medical reasons.\n\nThe Washington measure that was adopted would allow adults to possess small amounts of marijuana and also allow its sale to be regulated and taxed. Estimates have showed pot taxes could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but the sales won't start until state officials make rules to govern the legal weed industry.\n\nTogether, the marijuana votes in the three states represented a pushback against the federal government, which backs the drug's prohibition.\n\nMassachusetts residents approved a new law legalizing medical marijuana for people with cancer, hepatitis C, Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and other conditions. The state becomes the 18th to do so. Arkansas voters narrowly rejected a similar law.\n\nIn California, voters were deciding whether to repeal the state's death penalty and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. If passed, the 726 inmates on death row in the state would have their sentences commuted to life in prison. If so, California would become one of only two states in which voters have repealed the death penalty. The other is Oregon. In the 17 states where capital punishment is outlawed, the change came through legislative action.\n\nBig spending on food issue\n\nCalifornia voters rejected a measure that would required foods made from genetically modified ingredients be labeled. The closely watched race sparked a backlash from agribusiness and chemical conglomerates, which spent at least $44 million in a bid to defeat Proposition 37.\n\nSchool funding also was a major issue in California, with dueling propositions on the ballot. One, sponsored by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, could bring in up to $9 billion a year. California voters approved Brown's initiative to raise sales and\n\nincome taxes to help balance the state budget but rejected a broad-based income tax to raise money for public schools.\n\nIn San Francisco, voters overwhelmingly rejected draining an 89-year-old reservoir in Yosemite National Park that provides water to 2.6 million people in order to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley to its former natural state.\n\nIn a tight race, Maryland voters approved expanding gambling to include table games such as blackjack and roulette at the state's three existing casinos and the addition of a new casino near the nation's capital, in Prince George's County. More than $90 million had been spent on the gambling initiative by opponents and supporters, an unprecedented amount in Maryland for a single campaign.\n\nTax limits at stake\n\nIn Florida, voters rejected a constitutional amendment limiting tax revenue growth to increases in population and inflation. The proposal was based on a similar provision in Colorado.\n\nIdaho voted on whether to approve a major school overhaul that would include phasing out teacher tenure, implementing merit pay and limiting collective-bargaining rights for teachers' unions.\n\nA vote in Massachusetts on whether terminally ill patients can legally get drugs from a physician to end their lives was too close to call early today. The issue had been hotly debated in the heavily Catholic state. Similar laws have passed in Oregon and Washington.\n\nThirty-four states prohibit assisted suicide outright, while Massachusetts and six others ban it through common law. Montana's Supreme Court ruled that state law doesn't prohibit doctors from helping patients die.\n\nFight over a bridge\n\nWhether a new bridge between Detroit and Canada can be built was on the ballot in Michigan. Manuel Moroun, the billionaire owner of Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, spent more than $30 million on a constitutional amendment designed to thwart construction of a rival bridge. The state also was considering a law requiring two-thirds legislative support for tax hikes. All proposals on Michigan's ballot failed to pass muster with voters.\n\nIn New Hampshire, voters decided whether to add a ban on a state income tax — a tax the state doesn't have — to their constitution.\n\nA proposal to phase out the estate tax was rejected on the ballot in Oregon. The tax starts at 10% for married couples with $2 million in non-farm assets.\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2012/11/06"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_4", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/10/09/trump-didnt-have-withdraw-syria-troops-fulfill-campaign-promises/3908450002/", "title": "Trump didn't have to withdraw troops from Syria to keep his promise", "text": "Michael O'Hanlon and Omer Taspinar\n\nOpinion contributors\n\nPresident Donald Trump is pulling U.S. forces out of at least two of the 15 or so positions they now maintain in northeastern Syria, where Kurdish-dominated forces of the Syrian Democratic Front control most territory and hold more than 10,000 ISIS-affiliated prisoners in detention. His purpose is apparently to free up the border area for the Turkish incursion that has just been reported.\n\nIronically, Trump also simultaneously threatens to retaliate against economically against Turkey, should Turkey's President Erdogan decide that going after Kurdish terrorists on his soil requires such a cross-border invasion against other Kurds in the region. Trump also claims, in his various tweets and comments of the last couple of days, that pulling the 1,000 U.S. forces who now remain in Syria out of that country would honor a campaign promise to wind down America's overseas military commitments. Perhaps the United States will soon leave all of its positions inside Syria; it is hard to know what the president intends.\n\nShould President Trump keep his 'campaign promises?'\n\nThis logic is badly flawed. There are several reasons why no political promise or electoral mandate requires any such withdrawal — whether from the two positions near the Turkish border, or the other parts of Syria where GIs help keep an eye on ISIS, Iran, and other threats:\n\n► Politicians claim mandates all the time but rarely is the verdict of an election so clear as to provide them. We do not vote issue-by-issue for candidates, with multiple-part voter referenda on many issues. We ultimately choose one candidate, who has inevitably made dozens of promises in the course of a campaign, over another who has made her own multiple pledges. As such, we cannot know which promises mattered most to voters. Polls can inquire, but they are rarely clear or conclusive. This point is obvious at one level, yet elected leaders (not just Trump) repeatedly invoke supposed mandates to justify their own gut instincts or policy preferences when in fact they can lay claim to no such thing. Arguably, Trump's promises about economic nationalism, views on law and order, opposition to several of President Obama's policies on matters like health care and energy, Supreme Court preferences, and several other matters all gained more attention and traction in his campaign than the promise to reduce military commitments abroad. Does he really have a mandate about all these things?\n\nUtter confusion:Biggest danger of Syria withdrawal is Trump's lack of a plan\n\n► The current U.S. military presence in Syria of 1,000 troops represents 0.05 percent of all American military forces in uniform today. That's right, to be crystal clear, that figure is one-twentieth of one percent of American military strength, since the United States has more than two million total troops, active and reserve. Put differently, it is roughly 0.5 percent of all U.S. forces deployed or based abroad today. In terms of costs, a rough estimate would also suggest that those 1,000 troops backed up by American airpower in places like Qatar consume less than 0.5 percent of the total defense budget. These costs and strains are entirely sustainable.\n\n► That total of 1,000 troops is also less than the figure of roughly 2,000 in Syria that Trump inherited from Obama nearly three years ago. Why not view that as vindication of his campaign promise to reduce U.S. forces abroad, rather than feel any need to aim for zero? Did voters really expect or demand that latter outcome? In fact, polls suggest that issues like Syria and Afghanistan were nowhere near the top of most voters' priorities back in 2016, or today.\n\nWhy does total withdrawal have to be the answer?\n\n► President Trump can take some justifiable pride that, building on the mission inherited from President Obama, his strategy has defeated the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq. That counterterrorism objective was arguably his larger campaign promise, rather than the one about pulling forces home, and he has achieved it. But it is a fragile accomplishment, since the ISIS fighters were not all killed, and many of those who were captured, as noted above, are now being guarded by Kurdish forces in the very part of Syria that Erdogan now threatens to attack. The Kurds will necessarily defend themselves and their communities if that eventuality comes to pass, meaning that they will have fewer personnel to guard ISIS fighters (some of whom already occasionally slip out of the camps/prisons where they now live). More unreformed extremists will inevitably escape, repudiating Trump's pledge to squelch terrorism throughout the region.\n\nAt this point, the Syrian Kurds have considerable leverage on the ground because they are holding 12,000 ISIS prisoners in several detention facilities. Moreover, there are some 58,000 ISIS family members at the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria. President Erdogan has apparently promised his army can take care of this problem. Yet, it is clear that the Turkish military will have its hand full fighting its main target. ISIS has never been the top priority of the Turkish national security establishment. It should surprise no one if the Kurds release the ISIS prisoners and prove that Turkey has in fact no power to control the real terrorist threat in Syria.\n\nWe've done our job by defeating ISIS:Trump is right to withdraw US troops from Syria.\n\n► Thus, Trump has conflicting campaign promises, it would appear — defeat ISIS and al Qaeda on the one hand, bring back U.S. troops from frustrating and long deployments abroad on the other. How to resolve such a contradiction? How about appealing, not only to common sense given the small size and considerable effectiveness of the American presence in Syria today, but to the Constitution that Trump was elected to uphold? That Constitution makes him commander in chief and charges the federal government with national defense as its first and paramount priority. In a situation where American GIs are successfully defending the nation's security interests abroad, in an economical and efficient manner, the onus should be on advocates any option that would weaken or end such a capability.\n\nPresident Trump's frustration with the forever wars is understandable. But in Syria, we have after years of policy failure, heartbreak, and danger to western Europe and North America, found an effective policy that involves very modest costs to the United States in blood and treasure. President Trump should celebrate and preserve this success rather than feel some need to end it.\n\nMichael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and author of \"The Science of War: Defense Budgeting, Military Technology, Logistics, and Combat Outcomes\" is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelEOHanlon. Omer Taspinar is a scholar at the Brookings Institution and a professor at the National War College.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/10/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/10/08/syria-pullout-donald-trump-wrecking-policy-editorials-debates/3906324002/", "title": "Syria pullout: Donald Trump is wrecking a policy that wasn't broke", "text": "The Editorial Board\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe abrupt move places America's security interests at risk by threatening to undo the U.S.-led campaign that destroyed the Islamic State caliphate in March.\n\nThis is the second time Trump has ordered a Syrian withdrawal after a phone call with Turkey's leader.\n\n'A precipitous withdrawal ... would only benefit Russia, Iran and the Assad regime.'\n\nAfter expending tragic sums of blood and treasure for decades in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S military finally found a formula for success in Syria at minimal American casualties and cost. Now President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the experiment.\n\nIn the name of ending America's \"ridiculous Endless Wars,\" Trump on Sunday ordered a pullback of U.S. forces from the Turkish/Syrian border. The abrupt move places America's security interests at risk by threatening to undo the U.S.-led campaign that destroyed the Islamic State caliphate in March.\n\nWithdrawing the U.S. troops also exposes America's Syrian-Kurdish allies, the same people who did most of the fighting and dying to defeat ISIS, to Turkish aggression.\n\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who regards the Syrian Kurds as terrorists, vowed in a phone call with Trump on Sunday to send troops across the border to seize a zone 300 miles long and 20 miles deep into Syria — an area where 300,000 people could be dislocated. Trump gave the autocrat a green light, ordering the withdrawal of a small U.S. military contingent whose presence on the border, backed up by U.S. air power, had been a check against Turkish attacks on Kurdish allies.\n\nThe Kurds, who lost thousands of fighters battling ISIS, now feel betrayed, and who can blame them?\n\nThis is the second time Trump has ordered a Syrian withdrawal after a phone call with Erdogan. Earlier this year, Trump reduced to about 1,000 an already small force of U.S. troops in Syria that was working to finish off ISIS and tamp down any resurgence.\n\nBy now pulling troops away from the border, Trump demonstrates that American promises to allies are not be trusted. His actions might also lead Syrian Democratic Forces — already stretched thin securing the former caliphate and managing detention centers crammed with 10,000 captured ISIS fighters — to shift resources and defend against invading Turkish troops.\n\nEven some of Trump's strongest Republican supporters recognize this as a strategic blunder. \"A precipitous withdrawal ... would only benefit Russia, Iran and the (Syrian dictator Bashar) Assad regime,\" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday, urging Trump to show leadership and reverse course.\n\nFaced with withering bipartisan opposition, Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday in a schizophrenic blast praising Turkey as a NATO ally and lucrative trading partner, while threatening Turkey with economic sanctions for \"unforced or unnecessary fighting.\"\n\nTrump also dangled a White House visit for Erdogan. The Turks, so far, appear committed to crossing the border and attacking Syrian Kurds.\n\nThe United States has for decades positioned American troops around the world, from Europe to South Korea, to help allies maintain peace. If the light American footprint in Syria can do the same, there should be no reason to rush for the exits.\n\nIf you can't see this reader poll, please refresh your page.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/10/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/11/putins-troop-withdrawal-syria-may-n-says-mission-accomplished-syria-but-military-drawdown-may-ways-o/940573001/", "title": "Putin's troop withdrawal from Syria may not be all he says it is", "text": "Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement Monday of a \"significant\" withdrawal of forces from Syria reflects both Syrian President Bashar Assad's success on the battlefield and Putin's political campaign at home\n\nAnalysts remain skeptical that Putin, who used a surprise visit to Syria to announce the partial withdrawal and praise Russian forces for defeating “terrorists,” will lessen his military commitment to Assad.\n\nThe Syrian leader has relied heavily on support from Iran and Russia to stay in power. Russia’s decision to back Assad’s forces with airstrikes beginning in 2015 has helped the Syrian regime turn the tide on rebel forces seeking to overthrow Assad.\n\nPutin said Russia would maintain its naval and air bases in Syria. “It doesn’t actually change the relationship between Putin and Assad,” said Katherine Zimmerman, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.\n\nMore:Russia’s Putin orders 'significant' withdrawal of troops from Syria\n\nMore:Syria's civil war: A look at how we got to this point\n\nLast year Putin made a similar pledge to reduce Russia's military presence. At the time Putin changed the mix of military forces but did not cut back the deployment of armed forces.\n\nOn Monday, the Russian military said it would withdraw 23 combat planes and two helicopter gunships, which would represent about two-thirds of its aircraft in Syria, said Chris Kozak, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.\n\nKozak said Russia would likely replace those aircraft with other military hardware or forces. “In the past he has used (a similar) announcement as an opportunity to reshuffle the deck of what he has in Syria,” Kozak said.\n\nSyria's civil war has been dragging on since 2011. The United Nations estimates at least 400,000 people have died and more than 5 million Syrians have fled the country. Another 6 million remain displaced internally.\n\nWith Russia's help, Assad has cleared rebels from most parts of the country and strengthened his grip on power, which only several years ago looked tenuous.\n\nThe United States is also involved in the conflict, launching an air campaign against Islamic State militants in Syria in 2014. U.S.-backed ground forces recently pushed the terror group from its self-described capital of Raqqa in eastern Syria.\n\nPutin has claimed in the past that his forces are in Syria to battle the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. But the Pentagon has said Russia’s main goal is to back Assad, and its targets included moderate rebel forces seeking to overthrow the Syrian leader.\n\nU.S. and Russian forces have attempted to keep their distance from each other as both sides operate in eastern Syria. The United States has made it clear it is not in Syria to oppose Assad with force.\n\nThe timing of Monday's announcement could reflect Russian politics. Putin announced last week that he will run for re-election in March, and he might want to highlight what he considers a Syrian success.\n\n\"Here in Syria, far away from our borders, you helped the Syrian people to preserve their state and fend off attacks by terrorists,\" Putin said Monday while addressing Russian forces at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.\n\n“It’s a little bit of a ‘mission accomplished,’ vibe,” Kozak said, referring to President George W. Bush’s declaration after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.\n\nAssad's forces may have strengthened their position, but they will continue to face insurgents in contested areas of the country. \"They're still looking to maintain security in areas they have cleared,\" Kozak said.\n\nContributing: Kim Hjelmgaard\n\n\n\n", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/12/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/10/07/russia-syria-airstrikes/73500872/", "title": "Russia fires missiles from warships into Syria amid new escalation", "text": "Jim Michaels, and Oren Dorell\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nRussian warships fired a volley of cruise missiles into Syria from the Caspian Sea on Wednesday as Russian-backed Syrian government troops launched a ground offensive to crush rebel forces opposing the regime of President Bashar Assad.\n\nThe missile strikes mark a major escalation of Russia's recent involvement in Syria's long civil war and a growing threat to a faltering U.S. policy in Syria.\n\nRussia said four warships carried out 26 missile strikes from the Caspian Sea, destroying 11 targets more than 900 miles away. The missiles crossed Iranian and Iraqi airspace to reach their targets.\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin is backing longtime ally Assad in his 4-year-old civil war against rebels that now include the Islamic State extremists and more moderate opposition groups backed by the United States. That goal runs counter to the Obama administration's objectives. It is leading a coalition campaign of airstrikes in Iraq and Syria to defeat the Islamic State and is calling for Assad's removal.\n\n\"We're really on our back foot and have been since the Russians started their buildup in Syria,\" said Jeff White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. \"We’ve lost the initiative.\"\n\nThe Pentagon has accused Russia of bolstering Assad by attacking moderate opposition groups the U.S. supports. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Wednesday called the Russian strategy \"tragically flawed.\"\n\nRussian officials countered Wednesday that their goal is to go after all terrorist groups. Russia seeks “a terror-free Syria and a terror-free region,” Aydar Aganin, a Middle East analyst at the Russian embassy in Washington, said in an interview.\n\nRejecting U.S. claims that the airstrikes are not aimed at Islamic State militants, Aganin said, \"We strike terrorists.”\n\nIn defending Assad, however, Moscow does not appear to be distinguishing between the extremist and more moderate rebel groups, which is heightening tensions with Washington at a time when it is struggling to find a winning strategy for ending Syria's civil war and halting a flood of refugees swarming into the Middle East and Europe.\n\nEven before the Russian buildup, the Pentagon acknowledged its plan to field a force of moderate rebels to fight the Islamic State had run into problems, and it had suspended most of the program after training just a few fighters.\n\nOne U.S. military-trained group was attacked by al-Qaeda-linked forces shortly after arriving in Syria, and another turned over equipment and ammunition to the same terrorist organization. Only a handful of Pentagon-trained opposition forces remain in Syria.\n\n\"I’m the first one to acknowledge it has not worked the way it was supposed to,\" President Obama said recently.\n\nThe White House and military officials are examining other ways to support moderate opposition forces to counter the Islamic State. But now those groups may be vulnerable to Russian attacks.\n\nThe U.S.-led coalition has dropped thousands of bombs on Islamic State targets but has kept ground forces out of the country. Russia has deployed helicopter gunships, tanks and rocket launchers to Syria, along with troops to guard Russian bases. Putin said he would not send ground combat troops to Syria.\n\nThe Russian support appears to have energized Assad's forces, who had suffered a number of defeats. Now they are engaged in an offensive centered around Hama, a city in north-central Syria. Russian airstrikes appeared to be supporting the offensive.\n\nObama has accused Putin of intervening in Syria \"because his client, Mr. Assad, was crumbling.\" Obama wants Assad out, citing atrocities against his own people.\n\n\"Now we have to contemplate going to war with Russia if we want to get rid of Assad,\" said Christopher Chivvis, an analyst at RAND Corp.\n\nRussian analyst Aganin said Moscow's goal is not to protect Assad but to fight the spread of terrorism. He noted that the Syrian battlefields are 300 miles from Russia’s Caucasus region. He said Russia estimates that 2,000 fighters from former Soviet republics have joined the radical group.\n\nThe militants “see parts of Russia as a target for this caliphate they are building,” said Yury Melnik, the Russian embassy press secretary. “If they succeed in standing their ground in Syria and Iraq, they may bring their activities closer and closer to Russia, which is a direct threat.”\n\nAganin said Russia wants whoever is fighting the Islamic State to join forces because eliminating the radical group would improve prospects for a political solution in Syria.\n\n“It’s in the mutual interest of the Syrian army and the moderate opposition” to fight the Islamic State, “and we are ready to support both if we have a point of contact,” Melnik said.\n\nThe United States has said it is willing to hold \"technical\" talks with Russia to avoid a mishap between coalition and Russian pilots. However, the White House has said it would not coordinate more broadly with the Russians unless they agreed to a political transition that would remove Assad from power.\n\nThe Pentagon said it has already had to reroute a U.S. aircraft to maintain a safe distance from a Russian plane.\n\nDorell reported from Washington.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/10/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/19/opinions/isis-al-qaeda-un-report-bergen/index.html", "title": "Opinion: Global jihadist movement is down but not out | CNN", "text": "Editor’s Note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Bergen’s new paperback is “The Cost of Chaos: The Trump Administration and the World.” The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.\n\nCNN —\n\nISIS and al Qaeda have largely receded from the headlines. It’s been three years since ISIS lost the last vestiges of the vast geographical “caliphate” that it had once lorded over in Iraq and Syria, while al Qaeda has found it hard to regroup after the death of its founder Osama bin Laden more than a decade ago.\n\nPeter Bergen CNN\n\nYet ISIS is far from defeated in its heartland. The United Nations points to the continued presence of ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria, estimating their total strength to be between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters, according to a report published on Tuesday.\n\nThat strength was underlined by a dramatic prison break in January at a prison in Hasakah in northeastern Syria, where more than 3,000 ISIS fighters reportedly were held. ISIS fighters and US-allied Kurdish forces fought a 10-day battle at the prison, during which 100 to 300 ISIS fighters escaped, according to the UN report.\n\nAs a result of this resilience, the US continues a campaign of special operations forces ground raids and airstrikes against ISIS leaders. In February, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the group’s leader, died in a US ground operation, while earlier this month, a US airstrike killed another militant who was part of the group’s leadership, according to US Central Command.\n\nBut these military operations will not achieve much in the long term if the thousands of ISIS fighters and tens of thousands of displaced women and children from multiple countries remain unrepatriated in lightly secured and unsafe prisons and camps in northeastern Syria, creating what could be a whole new generation of ISIS recruits.\n\nThe solution is for the many countries that have their nationals in prisons and camps in northeastern Syria to take back their ISIS fighters for prosecution in cases where it’s merited. As for women and children living in the camps, they should be reintegrated back into their home societies and entered into deradicalization programs if that should prove necessary.\n\nSenior US government officials, speaking Wednesday at a conference at the Middle East Institute in Washington, stressed that ISIS is far from defeated. Joshua Geltzer, US deputy homeland security adviser, told me in a discussion at the institute that ISIS remains “a threat to countries where it continues to have a presence, which is about 30 countries worldwide. It is still a threat to the region, Iraq, Syria and neighbors. And it is still a threat to the United States and our allies and partners.”\n\nOf particular concern are more than 10,000 ISIS fighters and around 60,000 mostly women and children who are being held by America’s Kurdish allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, in prisons and camps in northeastern Syria. The United Nations estimates that 30,000 of those held in the camps are under the age of 12 and are “at risk of radicalization” by ISIS ideologues.\n\nFew countries will take back their nationals who are living in the squalid camps, fearing that they may be importing an ISIS problem. In the past three years, Iraq has taken back more than 600 fighters and nearly 2,500 “displaced Iraqi nationals,” according to Timothy Betts, the acting US special envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. This month, France took back 51 women and children, while 39 Americans have been returned to the United States, according to Betts.\n\nYet that number is less than 5% of the mostly 60,000 women and children – the majority from Iraq and Syria – and the more than 10,000 ISIS fighters who are being held in northeastern Syria.\n\nAt the current slow rate of repatriation, the ISIS fighters and tens of thousands of women and children might take decades to return to their home countries. By that time, even the youngest children in the camps could be adults in their 30s and will have spent almost their entire lives living in the filthy, disease-infested camps, which are ripe for ISIS indoctrination.\n\nA wild card causing considerable consternation among US national security officials is the saber rattling by Turkey in recent weeks that it plans to send its military into neighboring northeastern Syria to annex territory controlled by the US-allied Kurdish groups fighting ISIS and running the facilities where the ISIS fighters and the women and children are being held. Turkey considers those Kurdish groups to be terrorists.\n\nDana Stroul, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, warned last week, “The United States opposes any Turkish operation in northern Syria. Such an operation puts at risk US forces, the coalition’s campaign against ISIS, and will introduce more violence into Syria. It would effectively end a ceasefire that has been in place for years at a time when violence is at its lowest levels since the onset of the conflict.”\n\nAlso concerning is that the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan almost a year ago because of President Joe Biden’s foolhardy decision to pull out all US troops from the country has given both al Qaeda and ISIS greater room to maneuver there, according to Tuesday’s UN report. Biden’s move was bad policy, and the US pullout was terribly executed, allowing the Taliban to maintain their alliance with al Qaeda and to bar women from jobs and teenage girls from education.\n\nThe UN report noted that Ayman al-Zawahiri, who replaced bin Laden as al Qaeda’s leader, is issuing “regular video messages that provided almost current proof of life” and “Zawahiri’s apparent increased comfort and ability to communicate has coincided with the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. …”\n\nIn Afghanistan, both ISIS and al Qaeda have acquired “night vision equipment, thermal imagers, and steel-penetrating bullets,” according to the UN report.\n\nThe United Nations assessed, however, that – for the moment – al Qaeda does not pose an “immediate international threat from its safe haven in Afghanistan … and does not currently wish to cause the Taliban international difficulty or embarrassment.”\n\nGet our free weekly newsletter Sign up for CNN Opinion’s newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook\n\nThat’s the good news. But the bad news, according to the UN, is that al Qaeda now has key allies within the Taliban’s de facto government in Afghanistan, which will doubtless give al Qaeda more resources to regroup. Meanwhile, the local branch of ISIS in Afghanistan is now one of the “most vigorous” of ISIS’ regional networks globally, according to the UN.\n\nThe global jihadist movement, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria, and whether part of ISIS or al Qaeda, is down but not out. And these groups will continue to take advantage of ungoverned or lightly governed spaces in the Muslim world, where they will remain a threat to the governments and populations of Muslim-majority countries – and to the West – for the foreseeable future.", "authors": ["Peter Bergen"], "publish_date": "2022/07/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/10/27/forces-iraq-syria-need-u-s-help-long-after-isis-gone-top-commander-says/807410001/", "title": "Forces in Iraq, Syria will need U.S. help long after ISIS is gone, top ...", "text": "The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State should prepare to maintain a presence in the region to train and support ground forces even after the imminent collapse of the militant group's so-called caliphate, the top coalition commander said.\n\n“I think we need to structure ourselves to be prepared for a long-term commitment to building partner capacity in this area,” Army Lt. Gen. Paul Funk told USA TODAY.\n\nAny decision about a long-term commitment of U.S. troops in Iraq would come from the White House, which has not yet publicly discussed its future plans. \"I think that is exactly the way we’re leaning but that will be a decision for the policymakers,\" Funk said Thursday.\n\nCommanders want to avoid a repeat of 2011 when the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq led to the Islamic State's invasion of Iraq three years later.\n\nA long-term coalition presence will help Iraqi troops prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, help professionalize Iraq's military and provide a balance against Iranian influence, said James Jeffrey, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq.\n\nThe Islamic State, once a formidable force that governed large swaths of Iraq and Syria, has been reduced to several thousand fighters in a string of isolated towns and villages along the Euphrates River. The militant group, also known as ISIS, controls about 5% of the territory it did at its peak.\n\nCommanders expect ISIS to transform from a terror group controlling territory to a more disbursed organization of localized cells. The organization will still be capable of acts of terror, but will pose less of a regional threat than when it controlled territory and mobilized organized military forces.\n\nFighting that type of terrorist group requires a different set of skills. Much of the coalition training to date has been designed to build a force capable of fighting a conventional battle in cities like Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital in Syria.\n\n“We’ve got to be able to retool and get after those kinds of operations as well,” Funk said in a telephone interview from Baghdad. “We need to do that to build partner capacity to be a bulwark against this terrorist organization.”\n\nFighting a more conventional terrorist group organized in small, semi-independent cells requires a focus on intelligence and policing. It would not require the extensive air support the U.S.-led coalition has provided to Iraq’s army and the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Arabs and Kurds fighting ISIS.\n\n\"The vast portion of the military piece will morph to a training mission, but it is still required,\" Funk said.\n\nAny long-term presence in the region will likely focus on Iraq, where the United States has an established government it is working with. In Syria, the U.S. is backing an alliance of militias and the country is in the midst of a civil war.\n\nThe U.S.-led coalition has trained more than 100,000 Iraqi troops during the past several years.\n\nThree years after U.S. troops left Iraq in 2011, the country’s armed forces collapsed as the Islamic State swept across the border from neighboring Syria, capturing Mosul and threatening Baghdad.\n\nThe Obama administration said it had no choice but to withdraw because Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government would not agree to provide legal protections for a long-term U.S. military presence.\n\nAnalysts say the United States could have overcome Baghdad's objections if the administration was committed to a presence in Iraq. \"The Obama administration was very lukewarm about staying in Iraq,\" said Stephen Biddle, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University.\n\nThe Trump administration is more inclined to have a long-term presence in Iraq. \"The U.S. government has a strong interest in remaining,\" Jeffrey said.\n\nSenior members of Trump's administration, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, have extensive experience in Iraq and relationships with officials in Baghdad.\n\nThe United States can avoid the pitfall of pressuring Baghdad to sign a so-called status of forces agreement. That requirement triggered a political debate in Iraq in 2011 that ultimately derailed continued U.S. presence there.\n\n\"We don't really need and should not insist upon such a formal agreement,\" said Michael O'Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institution.\n\nU.S. forces are currently operating under a less formal agreement between the two countries and could continue under the same arrangement, Jeffrey said.\n\nThe political environment in Baghdad has also changed since 2011. Iran still holds considerable sway in Baghdad, but the threat from ISIS has highlighted the need for international help.\n\nIran remains opposed to any continued U.S. presence, but Washington should be able to convince Baghdad to override Tehran's objections, Jeffrey said.\n\nJeffrey said the presence of U.S. forces would likely be less than 5,000. Currently the United States has about 5,500 U.S. troops in Iraq, serving primarily as advisers and trainers.\n\nFunk said the U.S.-led coalition is still pursuing what is left of the Islamic State. The militants will try to put up an organized resistance in their remaining stronghold along the Euphrates River, he said.\n\nEstimates of their strength range between 3,000 and 7,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, down from a peak of more than 25,000 in 2015.\n\nMost of their leaders have been killed or fled. “They’re kind of rudderless right now,” Funk said.\n\nMore:Defeat of ISIS in northern Iraq town marks milestone in campaign to eliminate group\n\nMore:ISIS 'capital' Raqqa falls to U.S.-backed forces. What it means for terror group's future", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/10/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/03/23/islamic-state-syria-american-forces-baghouz/3254079002/", "title": "American-backed Syrian force declares victory over Islamic State", "text": "The Islamic State group has lost its final sliver of territory in Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said Saturday in declaring victory over the extremists.\n\nHowever, the announcement came with warnings that the group remains a threat.\n\nMustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, tweeted that the militant group, also known as ISIS, suffered \"100 percent territorial defeat.\" He said that the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, where jihadists had been mounting a last stand, \"is free and the military victory against Daesh has been achieved.\" Daesh is ISIS' Arabic acronym.\n\nBali said that the self-declared caliphate that ISIS established in 2014, and which once sprawled across much of Syria and neighboring Iraq while imposing a brutal rule on as many as 8 million people, had been eradicated. He said the SDF pledged to continue the fight against remnants of the extremist group until they are completely gone.\n\nSaturday's announcement is significant. It marks the end of a 4½-year military campaign by an array of forces against the extremist group, which at its height in 2014 ruled an area the size of the United Kingdom, including several major cities and towns.\n\nIt follows remarks by President Donald Trump after landing in Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday.\n\n\"That’s what we have right now,\" he said while showing reporters a map comparing ISIS-held territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014 with today. The map indicated ISIS' diminished territory.\n\nIt \"will be gone by tonight,\" he said.\n\nOn Saturday, the White House issued a statement from Trump announcing that the ISIS-controlled area had been liberated.\n\n\"ISIS’s loss of territory is further evidence of its false narrative, which tries to legitimize a record of savagery that includes brutal executions, the exploitation of children as soldiers, and the sexual abuse and murder of women and children,\" Trump said in the statement. \"To all of the young people on the internet believing in ISIS’s Propaganda, you will be dead if you join. Think instead about having a great life.\"\n\nBut the jihadist group remains a serious threat despite repeated announcements from Trump that it had been completely defeated and that its demise meant there was no longer any reason to keep U.S. troops deployed in Syria.\n\nWhile ISIS has yielded all of its physical territory in Syria or Iraq, it is still a potent fighting force and continues to carry out insurgent attacks in both countries. It also maintains affiliates in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and elsewhere.\n\nISIS is still \"a great threat to our region and our world,\" said Gen. Mazloum Kobani, the commander of SDF forces. His comments were echoed by William Roebuck, the U.S.'s special envoy for Syria, who said ISIS remains a threat to the U.S. and its allies.\n\n\"We cannot be complacent. Even without territory, Daesh and its poisonous ideology will continue to pose a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, as well as to the wider world. The international community must remain firm in its determination to counter and defeat it,\" said Britain's foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in a statement.\n\nMore:Hoda Muthana, who married into ISIS, won't get fast-tracked case, judge rules\n\nAccording to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, ISIS' military capabilities are far from obliterated. The Washington-based think tank estimates the militant group may still have 20,000 to 30,000 active fighters in Syria and Iraq.\n\nArmy Gen. Joseph Votel, commander for U.S. operations in South Asia and the Middle East, said in February that coalition forces needed to maintain \"a vigilant offensive against the now largely dispersed and disaggregated (ISIS) that retains leaders, fighters, facilitators, resources and the profane ideology that fuels their efforts.\"\n\nIn January, U.S. military planners and officials issued a report for the Defense Department that said ISIS \"could likely resurge in Syria within six to 12 months and regain limited territory\" if adequate pressure by coalition forces was not maintained.\n\nAfter Trump ordered a complete withdrawal of the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, Defense Secretary James Mattis announced his intention to resign. In February, under pressure from Congress and the Pentagon, Trump agreed to leave a residual force of about 20 to 400 U.S. troops in Syria for \"peacekeeping\" purposes.\n\nGen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, denied in a statement this week a report in The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. military is now developing plans to keep nearly 1,000 troops in Syria. Dunford called the report \"factually incorrect.\"\n\nMore:Told to leave, ISIS ‘caliphate’ holdouts in Syria stay devoted", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/03/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/09/26/syria-iraq-airstrikes/16272727/", "title": "Pentagon: Airstrikes killing terrorists, not civilians", "text": "Tom Vanden Brook\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nWASHINGTON – There are no credible reports of civilian casualties after more than 240 airstrikes in the U.S.-led air war against Islamic State and other terrorists in Iraq and Syria, a top Pentagon official said Friday.\n\nSpy plane missions over the region have not shown that civilians have been wounded or killed, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told reporters. He cautioned that there is often a lag time in reports and assessments are ongoing.\n\nMeantime, Dempsey said it was \"too soon to tell\" whether the missile and bomb strikes that began Monday had killed leaders of the Khorasan group, an offshoot of al-Qaeda that officials have said was in the final stages of planning for an attack on U.S. or European targets.\n\nThe Navy began the attack on Monday with 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from ships and aimed at the Khorasan group. Waves of fighters, bombers and drones followed. As of Friday, U.S. and Arab nations had struck 43 targets in Syria, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said. There have been about 200 attacks in Iraq.\n\nThe Pentagon is still assessing damage done to the Khorasan group, Hagel said. He called the attack on them \"a critical operation.\"\n\nThe air war against the Islamic State — also known as ISIL or ISIS — began last month in Iraq and has spread into Syria. Hagel maintained there was no coordination of the attacks in Syria with President Bashar Assad, whom he said had lost all legitimacy. Pentagon officials have said the war to defeat the militants will take years; Hagel reaffirmed that notion.\n\n\"This will not be an easy, or brief effort,\" Hagel said.\n\nUltimately, the defeat of ISIL fighters will come at the hands of local military forces, not U.S. troops, according to Hagel and Dempsey. A key part of the strategy rests on U.S. training and equipping moderate Syrian opposition fighters.\n\nFrench pilots have flown combat missions in Iraq with U.S. forces. Now, warplanes from Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands will take part. Hagel also noted that the British government voted Friday to join the air war in Iraq.\n\nStill, Hagel said, \"nobody is under any illusion\" that U.S.-led airstrikes will defeat ISIL.\n\nDempsey said he would advise President Obama to send U.S. ground forces back to combat in Iraq or Syria to defeat ISIL if necessary, a stance he first made public last week in Senate testimony.\n\nBut he added that U.S. commandos are not needed to call in airstrikes now because ISIL targets are identifiable by spy planes and are far enough from allied forces to prevent friendly-fire accidents.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/09/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/23/pentagon-propaganda-isil-propaganda/30579107/", "title": "Grisly propaganda bomb targets ISIL", "text": "Tom Vanden Brook\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nWASHINGTON – The Pentagon on Thursday released a copy of its latest propaganda leaflet, appearing to urge young Syrians to reject the Islamic State with an illustration that echoes comic book super heroes.\n\nThe leaflets, titled Freedom Is Rising, shows four armed fighters, striding through a hellish scene at dawn, bodies of militants from the group also known as ISIL or ISIS, strewn at their feet. Warplanes for the U.S.-led coalition dropped about 50,000 of the leaflets on July 18 north of Raqqa, the capital of the group's self-proclaimed state, said Army Maj. Curtis Kellogg, a military spokesman.\n\nThe leaflet's graphic nature, including what looks like an eviscerated, dead militant, borrows imagery from graphic novels or comic books aimed at a younger audience, said Nicholas Heras, a researcher with the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.\n\n\"The message that this leaflet sends is not at all ambiguous: ISIS is demonic, an army straight out of hell, and that the soldiers sent to vanquish it will succeed and will do so marching with the dawn of righteousness at their backs,\" Heras said. \"The light of the dawn, which vanquishes the darkness of ISIS' rule, also has an overtone that the soldiers defeating ISIS are the ones who are holy, not ISIS, and that they are doing heavenly work.\"\n\nSince last summer, ISIL has captured large pieces of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq, brutalizing local populations. The allied bombing campaign strikes targets on a daily basis in both countries. The Pentagon and White House strategy has been to train and equip local forces to fight ISIL on the ground, saying they are the only ones capable of maintaining an enduring defeat of militant rule. There are about 3,300 U.S. troops in Iraq, none of them in a front line, combat role.\n\nThe July 18 leaflet drop is the fourth such propaganda mission since March. A special bomb dispersed leaflets in the first drop, but the military declines to say how they delivered the others. The military has also declined to release estimates on the effectiveness of the leaflets except to say they believe the drops have had a positive effect.\n\n\"The leaflet's message, like others released by the coalition, is intended to demoralize and dissuade potential and current ISIL fighters, followers and supporters from continuing their barbaric actions against the people of this region,\" Kellogg said.\n\nAnti-ISIL forces in Syria, including Kurdish fighters, have retaken ground north of Raqqa in recent weeks in the vicinity of the leaflet drops, according to Pentagon officials. There is concern, however, that the campaign there labeled Euphrates Volcano, lacks sufficient support from Sunni Arabs who dominate the region, Heras said.\n\n\"These leaflet drops may be an attempt to convince the local Sunni Arab tribes in these ISIS-controlled villages north of Raqqa that the U.S. is very serious about the Euphrates Volcano campaign succeeding, and that they can expect support in their rebellions, if they have the courage to seize the moment,\" Heras said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/07/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2015/10/30/16-times-obama-said-there-would-no-boots-ground-syria/74869884/", "title": "16 times Obama said there would be no boots on the ground in Syria", "text": "Gregory Korte\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nWASHINGTON — Since 2013, President Obama has repeatedly vowed that there would be no \"boots on the ground\" in Syria.\n\nBut White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president's decision Friday to send up to 50 special forces troops to Syria doesn't change the fundamental strategy: \"This is an important thing for the American people to understand. These forces do not have a combat mission.\"\n\nEarnest said the promises of \"no boots on the ground\" first came in the context of removing Syrian President Bashar Assad because of his use of chemical weapons. Since then, Syria has become a haven for Islamic State fighters.\n\nHere's a recap of Obama's no-boots pledge:\n\nRemarks before meeting with Baltic State leaders, Aug. 30, 2013\n\n\"In no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground, that would involve a long-term campaign. But we are looking at the possibility of a limited, narrow act that would help make sure that not only Syria, but others around the world, understand that the international community cares about maintaining this chemical weapons ban and norm. So again, I repeat, we're not considering any open-ended commitment. We're not considering any boots-on-the-ground approach.\"\n\nRemarks in the Rose Garden, Aug. 31, 2013\n\n\"After careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground. Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope.\"\n\nStatement before meeting with congressional leaders, Sept. 3, 2013\n\n\"So the key point that I want to emphasize to the American people: The military plan that has been developed by our Joint Chiefs — and that I believe is appropriate — is proportional. It is limited. It does not involve boots on the ground. This is not Iraq, and this is not Afghanistan.\"\n\nNews conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 4, 2013\n\n\"I think America recognizes that, as difficult as it is to take any military action — even one as limited as we're talking about, even one without boots on the ground — that's a sober decision.\"\n\nNews conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sept. 6, 2013\n\n\"The question for the American people is, is that responsibility that we'll be willing to bear? And I believe that when you have a limited, proportional strike like this — not Iraq, not putting boots on the ground; not some long, drawn-out affair; not without any risks, but with manageable risks — that we should be willing to bear that responsibility.\"\n\nWeekly radio address, Sept. 7, 2013\n\n\"What we're not talking about is an open-ended intervention. This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no American boots on the ground. Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope, designed to deter the Syrian Government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so.\"\n\nInterview with the PBS Newshour, Sept. 9, 2013\n\n\"Tomorrow I'll speak to the American people. I'll explain this is not Iraq; this is not Afghanistan; this is not even Libya. We're not talking about — not boots on the ground. We're not talking about sustained airstrikes. We're talking about a very specific set of strikes to degrade his chemical weapons capabilities in terms of delivery.\"\n\nInterview with CBS Evening News, Sept. 9, 2013\n\n\"What I'm going to try to propose is that we have a very specific objective, a very narrow military option, and one that will not lead into some large-scale invasion of Syria or involvement or boots on the ground; nothing like that. This isn't like Iraq. It's not like Afghanistan. It's not even like Libya. Then hopefully people will recognize why I think this is so important.\"\n\nAddress to the Nation, Sept. 10, 2013\n\n\"Many of you have asked, won't this put us on a slippery slope to another war? One man wrote to me that we are 'still recovering from our involvement in Iraq.' A veteran put it more bluntly: 'This nation is sick and tired of war.' My answer is simple: I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan. I will not pursue a prolonged air campaign like Libya or Kosovo. This would be a targeted strike to achieve a clear objective: deterring the use of chemical weapons and degrading Assad's capabilities.\"\n\nInterview on Bloomberg View, Feb, 27, 2014\n\n\"We are doing everything we can to see how we can do that and how we can resource it. But I've looked at a whole lot of game plans, a whole lot of war plans, a whole bunch of scenarios, and nobody has been able to persuade me that us taking large-scale military action even absent boots on the ground, would actually solve the problem.\"\n\nNews conference in Newport, Wales, Sept. 5, 2014\n\n\"With respect to the situation on the ground in Syria, we will not be placing U.S. ground troops to try to control the areas that are part of the conflict inside of Syria. I don't think that's necessary for us to accomplish our goal. We are going to have to find effective partners on the ground to push back against ISIL.\"\n\nInterview with Meet the Press, Sept. 7, 2014\n\n\"(You) cannot, over the long term or even the medium term, deal with this problem by having the United States serially occupy various countries all around the Middle East. We don't have the resources. It puts enormous strains on our military. And at some point, we leave. And then things blow up again. So we've got to have a more sustainable strategy, which means the boots on the ground have to be Iraqi. And and in Syria, the boots on the ground have to be Syrian. ... I will reserve the right to always protect the American people and go after folks who are trying to hurt us wherever they are. But in terms of controlling territory, we're going to have to develop a moderate Sunni opposition that can control territory and that we can work with. The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground, I think would be a profound mistake. And I want to be very clear and very explicit about that.\"\n\nAddress to the Nation on Syria, Sept. 10, 2014\n\n\"I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.\"\n\nNews conference in Brisbane, Australia, Nov. 16, 2014\n\n\"Yes, there are always circumstances in which the United States might need to deploy U.S. ground troops. If we discovered that ISIL had gotten possession of a nuclear weapon, and we had to run an operation to get it out of their hands, then, yes, you can anticipate that not only would Chairman Dempsey recommend me sending U.S. ground troops to get that weapon out of their hands, but I would order it. So the question just ends up being, what are those circumstances? I'm not going speculate on those. Right now we're moving forward in conjunction with outstanding allies like Australia in training Iraqi security forces to do their job on the ground.\"\n\nRemarks at the White House, Feb. 11, 2015\n\n\"The resolution we've submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war, like Afghanistan or Iraq. ... As I've said before, I'm convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East. That's not in our national security interest, and it's not necessary for us to defeat ISIL. Local forces on the ground who know their countries best are best positioned to take the ground fight to ISIL, and that's what they're doing.\"\n\nRemarks at the Pentagon, July 6, 2015\n\n\"There are no current plans to do so. That's not something that we currently discussed. I've always said that I'm going to do what's necessary to protect the homeland. One of the principles that we all agree on, though, and I pressed folks pretty hard because in these conversations with my military advisers I want to make sure I'm getting blunt and unadulterated, uncensored advice. But in every one of the conversations that we've had, the strong consensus is that in order for us to succeed long-term in this fight against ISIL, we have to develop local security forces that can sustain progress. It is not enough for us to simply send in American troops to temporarily set back organizations like ISIL, but to then, as soon as we leave, see that void filled once again with extremists.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/10/30"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_5", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/11/07/oscars-2023-host-jimmy-kimmel/8291105001/", "title": "Jimmy Kimmel to host 2023 Oscars: 'Either a great honor or a trap'", "text": "All eyes are on the 2023 Oscars after the slap became the biggest controversy of the 2022 show – and beyond. Now we know who will emcee the big event.\n\nThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday that this year's host will be a familiar face: Jimmy Kimmel, who previously hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018. The 95th Oscars will air live on ABC Sunday, March 12.\n\n\"Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap,\" the late-night talk show host joked in a press release. \"Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.\"\n\nWill Smith and Chris Rock:Everything to know about the infamous Oscars 2022 slap\n\nCate Blanchett says 'Tár' is her 'hardest' film to talk about. It could also win her a third Oscar.\n\nCraig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment, Hulu and Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals, called Kimmel's hosting return \"a dream come true\" in a statement.\n\n\"As we see every night on his own show, Jimmy can handle anything with both heart and humor, and we know that he will deliver the laughs and celebratory moments that define the Oscars,\" Erwich added.\n\nNews of Kimmel hosting comes a few months after Chris Rock claimed during his show Arizona Financial Theatre in August that he was asked to host the 2023 Oscars, but refused the invitation.\n\nThe Oscars broadcast was shaken up in March after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock while he was presenting an award for best documentary to Questlove for \"Summer of Soul.\"\n\nDuring the 2022 ceremony, Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her shaved head. Rock suggested she went bald for a movie role, quipping \"G.I. Jane 2? Can't wait to see it.\" He was apparently unaware that Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which causes sudden hair loss.\n\nSmith, who was seated by the stage, walked up to Rock and slapped him across the face, then returned to his seat and shouted at Rock to not say his wife's name.\n\n'I was out of line':Will Smith apologizes to Chris Rock after slapping him at Oscars over joke\n\nOscars 2022:Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes host\n\nA month later, the Academy announced a 10-year ban on Smith from the Oscars.\n\nIn late July, Smith posted a video apology to Rock. \"My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk,\" Smith said in the video.\n\nKimmel is no stranger to a turbulent Oscars ceremony. In 2017, chaos unfolded as the producers of \"La La Land\" informed the audience that they had not won the best picture award they were on stage to accept after realizing a mix-up: The real winner was \"Moonlight.\"\n\nWhile stunned, Kimmel immediately riffed. \"Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this,\" he said, referencing the time Harvey infamously crowned the wrong Miss Universe. \"Why can't we just give out a whole bunch of them?\"\n\nKimmel will also have extra eyes on him at the Oscars after his highly criticized stage stunt at the Emmys in September interrupted \"Abbott Elementary\" creator Quinta Brunson's acceptance speech.\n\nWill Arnett dragged Kimmel across the stage to present the outstanding comedy writing Emmy. Arnett joked that Kimmel was drunk after losing the variety/talk category again to John Oliver's HBO series \"Last Week Tonight.\"\n\nBrunson took the stage-blocking in stride, joking, \"Jimmy, wake up. I won.\" But Twitter erupted, criticizing Kimmel for drawing attention from the \"Abbott Elementary\" creator and star's first Emmy win.\n\nOpinion:Jimmy Kimmel's stupid antics are just latest insult for Black women (and men) in Hollywood\n\nDays later Brunson appeared on \"Jimmy Kimmel Live!\" and the host apologized to the \"Abbott Elementary\" star. \"That was a dumb comedy bit that we thought would be funny – I lost, I drank too much, and I had to be dragged out on the stage. And then people got upset. They said that I stole your moment, and maybe I did. I'm very sorry if I did do that,\" he said. \"I'm sorry I did do that, actually. Also, the last thing I would ever want to do is upset you because I think so much of you, and I think you know that. I hope you know that.\"\n\nBrunson thanked Kimmel for the \"kind\" apology.\n\n\"I was honestly in such a moment of having a good time, like I won my first Emmy! I was up there happy, and I was wrapped up in the moment,\" she said.\n\nOscar do's and don'ts:Our unsolicited advice for hosts Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes\n\nJimmy Kimmel apologizes to 'Abbott Elementary' star Quinta Brunson for 'dumb' Emmy stage stunt\n\nAhead of his second time hosting the Oscars in 2018, the \"Jimmy Kimmel Live!\" host told USA TODAY the hardest part is whittling down \"thousands\" of jokes from his writers without being able to test them in front of an audience.\n\n\"Some of the hosts who are stand-up comics will go to comedy clubs, but I’m too paranoid someone is going to have a video camera and is going to tape them and ruin the whole deal. I prefer to just roll the dice,\" he said.\n\nContributing: Bryan Alexander, Gary Levin, Marco della Cava, USA TODAY; Richard Ruelas, Arizona Republic", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/03/06/oscars-2023-date-time-whos-hosting/11358795002/", "title": "Oscars 2023: When and where to watch the Academy Awards, plus ...", "text": "Finally, it's here. After the usual parade of awards shows big and small, international and domestic, the megalodon of trophy-fueled Hollywood gatherings is upon us.\n\nThe Oscars this year promise to be both a typical celeb glam-fest and another prime-time opportunity to make a cultural mark. And we’re not talking another Will Smith-Chris Rock slap heard 'round the world.\n\nThe 10 best picture nominees include genuine popcorn epics like “Top Gun: Maverick” as well as atypical gems such as the tale of a broken friendship (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) and a searing indictment of war (“All Quiet on the Western Front”).\n\nBut by far the most exciting possibility of the evening is rewarding Malaysian film star Michelle Yeoh, fresh off her Screen Actors Guild win, with a best actress Oscar for her dynamic role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” A victory in the lead actress category would be a first for an Asian actress.\n\nHere’s what you need to know to tune in.\n\nWhen are the Oscars?\n\nThe 95th Academy Awards will unfold March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in the heart of Hollywood.\n\nWhere can I watch Oscars 2023?\n\nABC will broadcast the Academy Awards live at 8 p.m. EDT/5 PDT.\n\nThe ceremony also will stream live on a variety of platforms, including ABC.com and the ABC app, both of which require cable subscriptions to access. Other ways to watch include Hulu, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.\n\nE! will broadcast live from the red carpet starting at 5 p.m. EDT/2 PDT.\n\nWho is the Oscars 2023 host?\n\nComedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel is returning as host. Kimmel also hosted in 2017 and 2018.\n\nHe now joins other Oscars host three-peaters Jerry Lewis, Steve Martin, Conrad Nagel and David Niven. Those who have hosted even more times include Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon (4), Johnny Carson (5), Billy Crystal (9) and Bob Hope (19).\n\nIs Will Smith going to be at the Oscars?\n\nNo. Will Smith has been banned from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events for 10 years after he slapped Oscar presenter Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.\n\nTypically, actors who appear at the Oscars either are currently nominated for their performance or have been asked to present an award. As last year’s best actor winner for his role in “King Richard,” Smith would traditionally present the award for best actress this year.\n\nThe academy has yet to announce who will present the award in Smith's place. Conceivably, his replacement could be a previous best actor winner or one of the other 2022 best actor nominees: Andrew Garfield, Benedict Cumberbatch, Denzel Washington and Javier Bardem.\n\nWhich movies are nominated for Oscars?\n\n\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" leads the field with 11 nominations, followed by \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" and \"All Quiet on the Western Front\" with nine, \"Elvis\" with eight, \"The Fabelmans\" with seven and \"Tár\" with six.\n\nA full list of Oscar nominees this year is here. And you can find out how to watch these movies here.\n\nWho will win the best actor Oscar?\n\nFor a while there, it looked like the ghost of Elvis, as embodied by Austin Butler in Baz Luhrmann's biopic \"Elvis,\" would be collecting the Oscar for best actor, after winning that laurel at both the Golden Globes and the British Academy Film Awards.\n\nBut Brendan Fraser stunned oddsmakers by winning best actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, casting doubt on the certainty of Butler's Oscar night bid. Likely out of the race at this point after failing to build on his Globes momentum is fellow nominee Colin Farrell, whose performance in \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" helped propel that movie to success. The other nominees in the category are Bill Nighy (\"Living\") and Paul Mescal (\"Aftersun\").\n\nWho else could win at the Oscars?\n\nLook for the cast of “Everything Everywhere All at Once\" to clean up, according to the pundits at awards site GoldDerby. SAG best actress winner Michelle Yeoh and her “Everything” supporting actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan should win statues if the trend holds from 2022, when SAG winner Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) and supporting players Troy Kotsur (“CODA”) and Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) all went on to win Oscars.\n\nIn the best picture category, the odds-on favorite is “Everything,” while the German-made “All Quiet” is more likely to grab the Oscar for best international feature.\n\nThe movie is nominated for both best picture and best international feature. “All Quiet” was named best movie at the BAFTAs while Edward Berger took the prize for his direction.\n\nWho are the Oscar presenters?\n\nThe Oscars telecast never fails to draw A-list talent for its high-profile presenting duties, and the first slate of stars who committed include Ariana DeBose, Questlove, Riz Ahmed, Emily Blunt, Deepika Padukone, Troy Kotsur, Jennifer Connelly, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Zoe Saldaña and Donnie Yen.\n\nMore recently, Oscars producers also announced the addition of Halle Bailey, Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Chastain, John Cho, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Grant, Danai Gurira, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman, Florence Pugh, Sigourney Weaver, Halle Berry, Paul Dano, Cara Delevingne, Harrison Ford, Kate Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Olsen, Pedro Pascal and John Travolta.\n\nGlenn Close was expected to be a presenter, but has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the show, The Associated Press reports.\n\nWho will perform at the Oscars?\n\nTalking Heads founder David Byrne will appear alongside \"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" supporting actress nominee Stephanie Hsu and music trio Son Lux to perform the film's Oscar-nominated song, \"This Is A Life.\"\n\nRihanna will sing \"Lift Me Up\" from \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,\" Sofia Carson and Diane Warren will perform \"Applause\" from \"Tell It Like A Woman,\" and Indian singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava will perform the song-and-dance number \"Naatu Naatu\" from the action epic \"RRR.\"\n\nLady Gaga will sing “Hold My Hand” from \"Top Gun: Maverick,\" a person familiar with the production but not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY on Sunday. Oscar producers previously said the star wouldn't perform because she's shooting \"Joker: Folie à Deux\" with Joaquin Phoenix.\n\nLenny Kravitz will anchor the show's \"In Memoriam\" segment, which typically overlays photos of industry icons who died in the previous year with a musical performance.\n\nWho is being honored by the academy this year?\n\nBeyond the winners, a number of other Hollywood icons are being feted this year for their work.\n\nHonorary Oscars have been awarded to songwriter Diane Warren, whose 14 Oscar nominations have included a collaboration with Lady Gaga; Australian filmmaker Peter Weir, whose films range from “Master and Commander” to “The Way Back”; and Euzhan Palcy, the first Black woman to direct a major studio release (1989's \"A Dry White Season,\" starring Marlon Brando).\n\nIn addition, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award will go to film and TV actor Michael J. Fox, who in more recent years has served as a tireless fundraiser for Parkinson’s research.\n\nContributing: Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, and The Associated Press\n\nMore awards season news:", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/people/2022/08/29/chris-rock-invited-host-oscars-will-smith-slap/7927694001/", "title": "Chris Rock says he was invited to host the Oscars, scene of his slap", "text": "Chris Rock, the comedian who was famously slapped by actor Will Smith during the 2022 Academy Awards, said during his Sunday night show in Phoenix that he was asked to host next year’s award ceremony, an invitation he said he refused.\n\nRock also said during his show at Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix that he had been offered the chance to do a Super Bowl commercial, but profanely said he refused that as well.\n\nRock compared returning to the Oscars like returning to the scene of a crime, referencing the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, whose ex-wife’s killing began with her leaving a pair of eyeglasses at an Italian restaurant.\n\nRock said returning to the award ceremony would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant.”\n\nThe slap during the March ceremony was referenced briefly and early during the comedian’s approximately 90-minute show on Sunday, though the sold-out crowd seemed primed to hear him address it.\n\nAs Rock mentioned how a person could get famous for being a victim, someone in the crowd shouted, “Talk about it.”\n\nRock said that the hit from Smith hurt, referencing how Smith had played the boxer Muhammad Ali in a movie.\n\n“He’s bigger than me,” Rock said. “The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith.”\n\nThe Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences did not return an email asking to confirm whether Rock was asked to host the 2023 ceremony.\n\nRock did not say what company had asked him to be in a Super Bowl commercial.\n\nThe Academy banned Smith from the Oscars for a decade for his slap of Rock.\n\nDuring the 2022 ceremony, before presenting an award, Rock made a joke about the shaved head of Smith's wife, the actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Rock suggested she went bald for a movie role, quipping \"G.I. Jane 2? Can't wait to see it.\" He was apparently unaware that Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which caused sudden hair loss.\n\nWill Smith, who was seated by the stage, walked up to Rock and slapped him across the face, then returned to his seat and shouted at Rock to not say his wife's name.\n\nIn late July, Smith posted a video apology to Rock. \"Chris, I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk,\" Smith said in the video.\n\nRock has referenced the incident during his Ego Death tour that started in April. But has not done a full routine about it.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/02/23/sag-awards-nominees-how-to-watch/11305416002/", "title": "SAG Awards 2023: How to watch tonight's show live on Netflix's ...", "text": "One of Hollywood’s biggest nights will look a bit smaller this year.\n\nAfter more than two decades on television, the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will stream exclusively online this weekend. The genre-smashing “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Irish dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” lead the nominations with five apiece, including outstanding cast (SAG’s equivalent of a best picture Oscar). The ensemble nominees are rounded out by Steven Spielberg’s personal family drama “The Fabelmans,” as well as the star-studded “Babylon” and “Women Talking.”\n\nHere’s everything else you need to know about the actor-voted awards and how you can watch the show:\n\nWhere can I watch SAG Awards 2023?\n\nThe SAG Awards will be broadcast live Sunday (8 p.m. EST/5 PST) on Netflix's official YouTube channel. Future shows will stream live on Netflix beginning in 2024, after airing on TBS and TNT for the past 25 years. The ceremony will be held at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. No host has been announced for the awards, which were host-free in 2021 and 2022.\n\nWho are the presenters?\n\n\"Aftersun\" Oscar nominee Paul Mescal is confirmed to present during Sunday's ceremony, along with Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Aubrey Plaza, Jeff Bridges, Zendaya, Amy Poehler, Don Cheadle, Ashley Park, Haley Lu Richardson, Jason Bateman, Jenna Ortega, Adam Scott, Matt Bomer, Ariana DeBose, Eugene Levy, Quinta Brunson, Janelle James, Jenny Slate, Orlando Bloom, James Marsden and Mark Wahlberg.\n\nAdditionally, the stars of all five films nominated for best cast will introduce clips from their respective movies, including Rooney Mara (\"Women Talking\"), Michelle Williams (\"The Fabelmans\"), Diego Calva (\"Babylon\"), Brendan Gleeson (\"The Banshees of Inisherin\") and Stephanie Hsu (\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\").\n\nWho is expected to win SAG Awards?\n\n\"Everything Everywhere\" is near-unanimously predicted to take home best cast, according to pundits on awards site GoldDerby, putting it in pole position heading into Oscar night. After all but sweeping the season, Cate Blanchett is expected to pick up best actress for her career-defining performance in \"Tár,\" although look out for the beloved Michelle Yeoh (\"Everything Everywhere\") as a strong potential spoiler.\n\nDespite recent setbacks at the British Academy Film Awards, where they lost to stars of \"Banshees,\" Angela Bassett (\"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\") and Ke Huy Quan (\"Everything Everywhere\") are still favored to win SAG's best supporting actress and best supporting actor prizes, respectively. Best actor is a three-way race between Colin Farrell (\"Banshees\"), Brendan Fraser (\"The Whale\") and Austin Butler (\"Elvis\"), although the latter has the edge after his BAFTA and Golden Globes victories.\n\nWho else will be honored?\n\nAndrew Garfield will present the SAG life achievement award to his \"Amazing Spider-Man\" co-star Sally Field, a two-time Oscar-winning actress best known for roles in \"Lincoln,\" \"Norma Rae,\" \"Places in the Heart\" and \"Forrest Gump.\" SAG's previous life achievement honorees include Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Carol Burnett. The award recognizes career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.\n\nHow are SAG Awards decided?\n\nThe SAG Awards celebrate movies and TV and are voted on by 122,600 eligible voters within the actors' union SAG-AFTRA. Because the trophies are entirely voted on by actors – who also make up the largest branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – the SAG Awards are often a reliable bellwether for future Oscars glory. Films such as \"CODA,\" \"Parasite\" and \"Spotlight\" all won the best cast prize at SAG before taking home Academy Awards for best picture. The best actor and best actress Oscar winners have also both lined up with SAG for eight of the past 10 years.\n\nOn top of all that, the SAG Awards are one of the last major opportunities for this year's nominees to give a speech before Oscar voting opens March 2. With so many tight races, they'll be eager as ever to clinch some final votes from their peers.\n\nGet ready for the Oscars:", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2023/01/06/golden-globes-2023-how-to-watch-nominees-controversy/10996499002/", "title": "When are the Golden Globes 2023? How to watch and the list of ...", "text": "The Golden Globes are back on TV. Will anyone care? That may prove the biggest reveal from this year’s broadcast.\n\nThe scandal-ridden awards show, organized since 1944 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, returns Tuesday to NBC and Peacock a year after the network dropped the broadcast amid reports about the organization’s lack of diversity.\n\nRatings will soon tell if fans are interested. Tom Cruise returned his Globes to protest the HFPA, as others vowed to boycott the organization until it diversified its ranks. The result is a question as to whether the Globes are any kind of bellwether for the industry accolade that really matters: the Oscars.\n\nHere’s what you need to know about the 80th Golden Globe Awards on NBC and Peacock\n\nAlthough the Golden Globes traditionally air on a Sunday night, this year's awards are on a Tuesday because of a conflict with Sunday Night Football:\n\nWhen and where to watch: 8 p.m. EST/ 5 PST Tuesday on NBC and Peacock. The pre-show streams at 6:30 p.m. EST at goldenglobes.com.\n\n8 p.m. EST/ 5 PST Tuesday on NBC and Peacock. The pre-show streams at 6:30 p.m. EST at goldenglobes.com. What was the controversy surrounding the awards? In February 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that none of the HFPA’s 87 voting journalists were Black. This was on top of the HFPA largely ignoring critically acclaimed projects by artists of color at the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, prompting NBC to bail.\n\nIn February 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that none of the HFPA’s 87 voting journalists were Black. This was on top of the HFPA largely ignoring critically acclaimed projects by artists of color at the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, prompting NBC to bail. What happened at the 2022 Globes? After three-time winner Cruise returned his trophies in protest, and studios and publicists threatened a boycott of the group, the 2022 pandemic-era Globes unfolded without an audience or nominees in attendance.\n\nWho is hosting the Golden Globes?\n\nWhile the Oscars typically unfold in an atmosphere of glamorous decorum, the Globes often are more like your cousin’s alcohol-fueled roast. In the show's casual setting at the Beverly Hilton, stars get up and mingle between bites, sips and awards.\n\nHosts have included flame-throwing comedian Ricky Gervais, as well as the snarky duo of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. This year, in one of a few nods to the HFPA’s diversity woes, the host is Black stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael, who came out as gay last year.\n\nWho is nominated for Golden Globes? And who is favored to win?\n\nLeading the Globes nominations this year is the tragicomedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” with eight nods and action thriller “Everything Everywhere All At Once” with six, followed by the Hollywood saga “Babylon” and Steven Spielberg’s genesis story “The Fabelmans” with five each.\n\nAmong the awards to watch, will Viola Davis win best actress (over “Tar” star Cate Blanchett) for her African female warrior epic “The Woman King\"? Will Austin Butler score for his portrayal of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll in \"Elvis\"? Will crowd-pleasing \"Top Gun: Maverick\" win despite a snub for Cruise, its star?\n\nOr how about Brendan Fraser? He's nominated for his emotional and transformational performance as an overweight teacher in \"The Whale,\" though he'll be a no-show. Fraser announced he won't attend the awards after accusing the group's former president Philip Berk of groping him at an HFPA luncheon in 2003. Berk was ousted in 2021 for a tweet calling Black Lives Matter a \"hate movement.\"\n\nComedy legend Eddie Murphy will receive this year’s honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. The night's other special honor goes to producer and showrunner Ryan Murphy, who is getting the Carol Burnett Award for work ranging from \"Nip/Tuck\" to \"American Crime Story.\"\n\nWho's presenting at this year's Golden Globes?\n\nThis year, the HFPA promises more equity, at least in terms of presenters. They include Ana de Armas (the Latina star of “Blonde”), Tracy Morgan, Billy Porter, Colman Domingo and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, the first transgender actor to win a Globe (in 2022 for “Pose\").\n\nAmong other previously announced presenters: Jamie Lee Curtis, Ana Gasteyer, \"Orange Is the New Black\" star Natasha Lyonne, Netflix reality show \"Nailed It!\" bake-off host Nicole Byer, Niecy Nash-Betts of \"Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story\" and director Quentin Tarantino.\n\nOn Monday, the Globes added a flock of stars to that list of presenters, suggesting that perhaps Hollywood luminaries are willing to give the Globes another shot at legitimacy.\n\nThe additions include Claire Danes, Cole Hauser, Glen Powell, Harvey Guillen, Henry Golding, Hilary Swank, Jay Ellis, Jenna Ortega, Jennifer Coolidge, Jennifer Hudson, Letitia Wright, Mo Brings Plenty, Regina Hall and Salma Hayek.\n\nWhy are the Golden Globes controversial?\n\nThe Oscars event is no stranger to accusations of being racist in its distribution of awards, with #OscarsSoWhite surfacing as a hashtag in 2015 after all 20 acting nominations went to white actors. But the Globes faced an even larger backlash for being exclusionary, with actors such as Scarlett Johansson and studios such as Netflix calling on the industry to refuse to work with the HFPA until it becomes more diverse.\n\nIn October 2021, the HFPA, which had vowed to improve its representation, announced it was adding 21 new members. Of them, six were Black, six Latino, five Asian and four Middle Eastern/North African.\n\nThe lingering question: Which A-list stars will decide to show up, and will any address the controversy and the HFPA's handling of it? That alone should make for particularly juicy red carpet viewing.\n\nGet ready for the Golden Globes\n\nGolden Globes predictions:From 'Elvis' to Brendan Fraser, who will win – and who should?\n\n2023 Golden Globe nominees:'Banshees of Inisherin' leads with 8, including best comedy\n\nSnub alert:Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Jennifer Lawrence snubbed in the 2023 Golden Globes nominations\n\nBack on TV:After diversity controversy, Golden Globes will return to NBC in January\n\nGolden Globes 2022:Who won awards at the untelevised, controversy-plagued show?", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/03/12/jimmy-kimmel-jokes-the-slap-2023-oscars/11427386002/", "title": "Oscars slap: Jimmy Kimmel's jokes about Will Smith, Chris Rock slap", "text": "Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel didn't hesitate Sunday to tackle one of the most talked about moments in recent Academy Awards history: Will Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock.\n\nHe took multiple shots at that shocking incident, starting off with a joke that with five Irish actors all in the running for Oscars, \"the odds of another fight on stage just went way up.\"\n\nHe added, \"We want you to feel safe, most importantly we want me to feel safe ... so we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence during this show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute long speech.\"\n\n\"Seriously,\" he continued. \"The academy has a crisis team in place. If anything unpredictable happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug.\"\n\nOscars 2023:'Everything Everywhere All at Once' wins 7, including best picture\n\nWas Will Smith at the 2023 Oscars?\n\nNo. Smith was banned for 10 years for Academy events for hitting Rock, who had made a joke about the hair style of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia. As a result, Smith was not invited to announce 2023's best actress award, which he traditionally would have done as last year's best actor winner for \"King Richard.\"\n\nLast November, Smith told \"Daily Show\" host Trevor Noah, \"I just, I lost it, you know. I guess what I would say, you just never know what somebody’s going through.\" And a few weeks ago, Rock addressed the slap at the end of his live Netflix special, \"Selective Outrage.\" He said, \"I'm not a victim, baby,\" but remains furious and watched Smith's new movie \"Emancipation,\" where he plays a slave, \"just to see him get whooped.”\n\nHost Jimmy Kimmel joked pre-telecast he was studying martial arts\n\nWhen USA TODAY asked Oscars Host Jimmy Kimmel a few days before the telecast if he was prepared to handle a \"Slap, Part Two,\" the late-night anchor joked, \"Well, I have been studying the martial arts since they asked me to host the show, so I think that's what they're referring to.\"\n\nOscars 2023 winners:Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh. See who took home gold at Academy Awards\n\nBut he quickly added while he didn't really anticipate a repeat of last year's confrontation, if something did happen he wasn't sure how he'd respond. \"I'm ready for some things, but anything that involves violence or me having to run, I'm very not ready,\" he said.\n\nKimmel jokes that anyone wanting to hit him has to go through a big crew\n\nKimmel kept the Smith references going Sunday night, saying \"If any of you get mad at a joke and decide you want to come up here and get jiggy with it, it's not going to be easy,\" in a nod to Smith's 1997 hit \"Gettin' Jiggy Wit It.\"\n\nHe followed with a list of people in the audience that a potential assailant would have to face on the way, saying \"You'll have to get through Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) before you get to me, battle with Michelle Yeoh (action star and best actress nominee for \"Everything Everywhere All at Once\") before you get to me, you'll have to beat The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) before you get to me, you'll have to tangle with Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield), you'll have to tangle with Fabelman (Steven Spielberg), and then you'll have to go through my right hand man Guillermo (del Toro) if you're going to get up to this stage. I mean the other Guillermo (Rodriguez, from \"Jimmy Kimmel Live!\"), the other one.\"\n\nKimmel hit the topic again as best documentary film was announced\n\nA bit later, when he was set to introduce the presenters for best documentary film, Kimmel made another reference to The Slap, as that was the moment last year when the Smith-Rock confrontation took place.\n\n\"So, documentary feature is next, which is where we had that little skirmish last year,\" he said of the moment that then sparked The Slap. \"Hopefully it'll go off without a hitch, or at least without Hitch,\" a reference to the title character in the Will Smith movie, \"Hitch.\"\n\nSaid Kimmel: \"Please put your hands together and keep them to yourself for Riz Ahmed and Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson.\"\n\nAbout two hours into the telecast, Kimmel couldn't resist another crack.\n\n\"How are you all holding up?\" Kimmel asked, a quip that references the typically long duration of the program. \"At this point in the show, it kinda makes you miss the slapping.\"\n\nThere was one final dig related to the slap at the last moment of Kimmel's hosting duties. As music played, Kimmel was seen walking up to a board on which was written: \"Number of Oscars telecast without incident.\"\n\nKimmel promptly added the number 1.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/01/10/golden-globes-2023-live-updates/11004341002/", "title": "Golden Globes 2023 live: 'Banshees of Inisherin,' 'Fabelmans' win big", "text": "Tuesday night featured the prime-time return of the Golden Globes and more wins for a Hollywood legend.\n\nSteven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age film \"The Fabelmans\" won best drama and best director at the 80th Golden Globe Awards, hosted by comedian Jerrod Carmichael. It was the first show back following a period of controversy fueled by representation struggles within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.\n\nThe dark comedy \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" took home best comedy/musical, screenplay and best comedy actor for Colin Farrell. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan garnered lead comedy actress and supporting actor wins respectively for \"Everything Everywhere All at Once,\" while Austin Butler (\"Elvis\") and Cate Blanchett (\"Tár\") won major acting prizes in the drama categories.\n\n'The Fabelmans,' Austin Butler:The complete 2023 Golden Globes winners list\n\nGolden Globes:The 6 biggest moments, from Jennifer Coolidge to Jerrod Carmichael's Tom Cruise jab\n\n'The Fabelmans,' 'Banshees of Inisherin' gained Oscar momentum at Golden Globes\n\nHere are the highlights from Globes night:\n\n\"The Fabelmans\" wins best drama and \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" is named best comedy/musical.\n\nAustin Butler snags best actor in a drama for \"Elvis,\" Cate Blanchett wins best actress for \"Tár.\"\n\nMichelle Yeoh (\"Everything Everywhere\") and Colin Farrell (\"Banshees of Inisherin\") take lead comedy actor awards.\n\n'The Banshees of Inisherin' wins for best comedy, 'Fabelmans' is top drama\n\nThe Martin McDonagh dark comedy defeats the acclaimed \"Everything Everywhere All at Once.\" More expected, Steven Spielberg's \"The Fabelmans\" is named best drama. The director shouts out composer John Williams and recalls being John Cassavetes' personal assistant. But he wants to wrap up the NBC show, which is running behind schedule, \"because my office is on the Universal lot and I want to stay on the Universal lot.\"\n\nWhat's the point of the Golden Globes anymore? The awards show should never have returned\n\nWhat TV didn't show at the Globes:Jennifer Coolidge swarmed, Austin Butler can't quit Elvis\n\n'House of Dragon' takes a sword to its best drama competition\n\nThe \"Game of Thrones\" prequel takes the Globe for top TV drama. \"I've got to say, 'Severance' is an awesome show,\" says executive producer Ryan Condal. \"If I could've made 'House of Dragon' like 'Severance,' I would have.\" More unsurprisingly, he also shouts out \"GOT\" as a \"really good show.\"\n\nKevin Costner wins for TV's 'Yellowstone,' 'Abbott Elementary' is best comedy\n\nCostner didn't make it to the show so Regina Hall accepts his award for best actor in a drama series. Quinta Brunson's definitely in the building, though, and the \"Abbott Elementary\" creator/star comes back to the stage to grab the Globe for best comedy. \"Are we all here?\" she says, making sure the whole cast is around her. \"I created this show because I love comedy,\" and she shouts out Henry Winkler, Seth Rogen and Bob Odenkirk. \"Comedy is so important to me.\"\n\nEddie Murphy is honored with Cecil B. DeMille Award\n\nTracy Morgan acknowledges that Murphy “was the reason why I’m in comedy” and he presents the achievement award to the comedian alongside Jamie Lee Curtis. \"I’ve watched you grow as a man and a husband and a friend, and we’ve all seen you grow as an artist,\" she says. Murphy remarks he's \"been in show business for 46 years and I’ve been in the movie business for 41 years, so this is a long time in the making.\" He also wants to make a point to the \"new up-and-coming dreamers in the room,\" he says. \"There is a definitive blueprint to follow for success, prosperity, longevity and peace of mind. And I followed it my whole career. These three things: Pay your taxes, mind your business and keep Will Smith’s wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth!\"\n\nHBO's 'The White Lotus' rules the limited series category\n\n\"I'm still so choked up after Jennifer's speech,\" creator Mike White says after his star Jennifer Coolidge won a supporting actress honor. Looking at TV executives in audience, he jokes, \"You all passed on this show, so it's gratifying to have this moment.\"\n\nAmanda Seyfried wins for 'The Dropout,' Evan Peters for 'Dahmer'\n\nSeyfried isn't there, so \"Yellowstone\" actors accept her award for lead actress in a limited series. Peters is, though, so he grabs his trophy personally after winning actor in a limited series for Netflix's \"Dahmer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.\" \"It was a colossal team effort,\" Peter says of a show that was \"a difficult one to make, a difficult one to watch, but I sincerely hope some good came out of it.\"\n\nPaul Walter Hauser, Jennifer Coolidge snag supporting TV honors\n\nHauser gets his first Globe win, for supporting actor in a limited series, for the Apple TV+ series \"Black Bird.\" \"It's like a wax museum with a pulse, right?\" he cracks, not getting many laughs from the unamused crowd. Coolidge also goes home with her first Globe, a supporting actress victory for HBO's \"The White Lotus.\" \"I don't work out, I can't hold it that long,\" she says, needing to put the trophy down. She tearfully thanks Ryan Murphy and others who gave her \"little jobs\" to keep her career going and also the \"American Pie\" movies: \"I'm down for (Nos.) 6 and 7.\" But \"White Lotus\" creator Mike White \"has given me hope (and) changed my life in a million different ways.\"\n\nSteven Spielberg wins best director for 'The Fabelmans'\n\nHis third win in the directing category, Spielberg takes home the trophy for his semi-autobiographical film. \"I always say if I prepare something, I jinx it,\" he says. \"And I'm really happy about this.\" But the director says his family, his sisters and late parents, \"are happier about this.\" Spielberg adds he never had the courage to \"hit this story head on\" until writer Tony Kushner started \"a conversation\" with him. \"Nobody knows who we are until we have the courage to tell who we are,\" and at age 74, Spielberg, now 76, told himself, \"I better do it now.\"\n\nBest screenplay goes to 'The Banshees of Inisherin'\n\nMartin McDonagh gets his second Globes win for the dark comedy. \"I wrote this film for Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson and their beautiful nuanced performances blew me out of the water,\" he says. \"I'll make sure I don't wait another 14 years to do another one,\" pointing out the time between 2008's \"In Bruges\" (which also starred Farrell and Gleeson), and \"Banshees.\"\n\nCate Blanchett wins best actress in a drama for 'Tár,' 'Argentina, 1985' gets best international film\n\nBlanchett's not there to accept the award as she's working on a movie \"so we all accept this for her,\" Henry Golding announces. But director Santiago Mitre is here to take home the international film honor for \"Argentina, 1985.\"\n\nRyan Murphy is honored with the Carol Burnett Award\n\nBilly Porter presents Murphy with the Carol Burnett Award, given for achievement in television, and honors his \"Pose\" show creator as a \"trailblazer\" and an \"ally.\" Murphy takes the stage and shouts out his \"Pose\" star MJ Rodriguez as the first trans woman to win a Globe and gives her a moment (since last year's event wasn't televised). \"It’s hard being an LGBTQ kid in America,\" Murphy says, and he spends most of his most of his speech honoring queer actors he's worked with to \"make a point of hope and progress\": Niecy Nash \"chose love not fear,” Matt Bomer \"is an action hero in life\" and Jeremy Pope \"refused to hide. Jeremy Pope is the future.\" All of them, Murphy concludes, show \"there is a way forward. Use them as your north stars.\"\n\nZendaya wins for 'Euphoria,' Julia Garner for 'Ozark'\n\n\"Euphoria\" star Zendaya isn't here to accept her Globe win for lead actress in a drama series, but Julia Garner is to get her trophy for supporting actress in a drama. \"I'm overwhelmed and so grateful to be here with all of you,\" says the \"Ozark\" star. \"Playing Ruth is the greatest gift of my life.\"\n\nAustin Butler takes lead drama actor for playing 'Elvis'\n\n\"My boy, my boy, woo. All my words are leaving me,\" says Butler, snagging the award for lead actor in a drama for \"Elvis.\" He shouts out some famous folks – \"Brad, I love you. Quentin, I printed out the 'Pulp Fiction' script when I was 12,\" he says to Pitt and Tarantino respectively – and also gives thanks to Elvis Presley himself: \"You were an icon and a rebel and I love you so much.\"\n\nGuillermo del Toro's 'Pinocchio' wins best animated film\n\n\"I'm very grateful for this and I'm happy to here in person. We're back! Some of us are drunk, what could be better,\" the director says. Del Toro adds he loves the big swings that movies are taking, like his stop-motion \"Pinocchio,\" a movie about \"life, loss and belonging.\" \"Animation is cinema – it's not a genre for kids. It's a medium.\"\n\nMichelle Yeoh takes major honor for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'\n\n\"I'm just going to stand here and take this all in. Forty years, not letting go of this,\" says Yeoh, holding the trophy for lead actress in a comedy/musical. \"It's been an amazing journey and an incredible fight to be here today, but I think it's worth it.\" Coming to Hollywood was \"a dream come true until I got here,\" she says, finding racial prejudice when she arrived. She turned 60 last year \"and all of you women understand this: As the days and years become bigger, it seems opportunities become smaller as well.\" But she says \"Everything Everywhere\" was \"the gift\" and threatens the musicians who try to play her off: \"I can beat you up.\"\n\nColin Farrell wins best actor honor for 'Banshees of Inisherin'\n\nGlobe presenter (and nominee) Ana de Armas is out to present the award for best actor in a comedy/musical, which goes to Farrell for \"The Banshees of Inisherin.\" \"Ana, I thought you were extraordinary. I cried myself to sleep,\" Farrell tells de Armas of watching \"Blonde.\" He never expects films to work \"so I'm horrified about what's happened around 'Banshees,' which is thrilling.\" He shouts out his co-stars Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Jenny the donkey: \"She's having an early retirement.\"\n\nJeremy Allen White of 'The Bear,' 'Abbott Elementary' creator Quinta Brunson take TV comedy honors\n\n\"I'm in awe of you. You all are legends,\" White says of his fellow nominees when accepting his Globe win for best comedy actor for \"The Bear.\" He admits that he \"loves 'The Bear' and loves (my character) Carmy\" and, yes, \"I love acting.\" And Brunson wins best actress in a comedy for \"Abbott Elementary.\" She thanks studios and producers for \"believing\" in the show, plus shouts out her group text and castmates.\n\n'Babylon' wins best score, 'RRR' gets best song for 'Naatu Naatu'\n\nJenna Ortega arrives to hand out some music honors. Original score goes to Justin Hurwitz for \"Babylon,\" his fourth Globes win. \"I'm grateful that I had the opportunity at a young age that music was the thing for me,\" Hurwitz says. \"We need to spread the opportunity.\" And the original song honor goes to \"Naatu Naatu\" for \"RRR,\" scoring a victory over Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. Composer M.M. Keeravani thanks the HFPA for \"this prestigious award\" and also honors his director S.S. Rajamouli \"for his vision and his constant trust in my work.\"\n\nTyler James Williams snags supporting actor honor for 'Abbott Elementary'\n\nJennifer Coolidge hands out the award for supporting actor in a TV show to Williams. \"The magnitude of the moment is not lost on me,\" says the \"Abbott Elementary\" star. He thanks co-star/show creator Quinta Brunson with a \"Yeah!\" and adds that he \"hopes this is a win for (his character) Gregory Eddie and for stories like his that need to be told out here.\"\n\nAngela Bassett takes supporting actress for 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'\n\n\"I'm so nervous. My heart is beating,\" says Bassett, remember winning a Globe for the Tina Turner biopic \"What Love's Got to Do With It.\" She recalls a quote from Toni Morrison and thanks her fellow Marvel movie crew: \"By the grace of God, I stand here grateful.\" She also honored the late Chadwick Boseman and said this award \"is a part of his legacy.\"\n\n'Everything Everywhere' star Ke Huy Quan wins best supporting actor\n\nJennifer Hudson comes out to give the first award of the night: Ke Huy Quan wins supporting actor for \"Everything Everywhere All at Once.\" \"I was raised to never forget where I came from and who gave me my first opportunity,\" he says, waving and thanking Steven Spielberg, who cast him as a kid in \"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.\" For years, he says he thought he'd never achieved past what he did as a child. \"Two guys remembered that kid and gave me a chance to do it again,\" he tearfully says, honoring \"Everything\" directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.\n\nHost Jerrod Carmichael takes aim at the Globes' diversity problems in his monologue\n\nJerrod Carmichael takes the stage as host and tells everyone to settle and be quiet. \"I tell you why I'm here: I'm here because I'm Black,\" the host jokes about the HFPA's diversity issues. Carmichael cracks about being asking to host: \"One minute you're making mint tea at home. The next minute you're invited to be the Black face of an embattled white organization. Life comes at you fast.\" He asked his friend if he should do it and she asked how much it pays. When he said it was $500,000, her response was \"Boy, if you don't put on a good suit and take the white people money ...\" Did he think the HPFA has changed: \"I took this job assuming that hadn't changed at all. I hear they got six new Black members, congrats to them, sure. I'm here because of you, people I admire, people who are actual incredible artists.\"\n\nJerrod Carmichael:Comedian jokes hosting 'SNL' is 'the gayest thing you can possibly do'\n\n'We want to be heard':Why comedians make intimate comedy specials\n\nAustin Butler, Brendan Fraser make the best actor race interesting\n\nFarrell probably has the lead comedy actor Globe sealed up, given his strong performance in \"Banshees of Inisherin.\" The drama actor race is a little more interesting: \"Elvis\" star Austin Butler could have the edge with his acclaimed portrayal of the King of Rock 'n' Roll over Fraser's heartfelt portrayal in the more polarizing \"Whale.\"\n\nWho's going to win? We've got predictions\n\nBefore the main event starts, we put together a list of who will and who should win Globes tonight. For example, Angela Bassett looks to rule the supporting actress category for \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,\" though Kerry Condon is pretty great as a concerned sibling in \"Banshees of Inisherin.\" Check out our picks and see how we do!\n\nOscar hopefuls Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh compete in separate categories\n\nThose dreaming of a potential Oscar best actress faceoff between Blanchett and Yeoh will have to wait, but both could prevail in different Globe categories. Blanchett is in the best drama actress field with Michelle Williams (\"The Fabelmans\"), Viola Davis (\"The Woman King\"), Ana de Armas (\"Blonde\") and Olivia Colman (\"Empire of Light\"). Meanwhile Yeoh guns for lead actress in a comedy/musical, a category featuring Margot Robbie (\"Babylon\"), Emma Thompson (\"Good Luck to You, Leo Grande\"), Lesley Manville (\"Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris\") and Anya Taylor-Joy (\"The Menu\")\n\nStars plot a Golden Globes return (but not Brendan Fraser)\n\nFraser, who's nominated for best actor in a drama for \"The Whale,\" has stated he won't attend the Globes after accusing former HFPA president Philip Berk of groping him at a 2003 luncheon. \"Top Gun: Maverick\" star Tom Cruise might also be a no-show: He returned his Globe awards to the HFPA in 2021 following a Los Angeles Times investigation reporting the 87-member group had no Black members.\n\nSo who is showing up? The slate of confirmed presenters include Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tracy Morgan, Natasha Lyonne, Billy Porter, Quentin Tarantino and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, the first transgender actor to win a Globe (in 2022 for “Pose\").\n\nFashionistas will want to check out the Globes red carpet\n\nBefore the main event, E! will kick off \"Live From E!: Golden Globe Awards,\" hosted by Laverne Cox and Loni Love, at 6 EST/3 PST with celebrity interviews and more from the red carpet at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills. In addition, an official Globes pre-show streams at 6:30 p.m. EST at goldenglobes.com.\n\nRead more about the winners\n\n'The Fabelmans' review:Steven Spielberg puts his life on screen, in rousing fashion\n\n'Banshees of Inisherin':Why broken friendships hit home for stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson\n\nKe Huy Quan:'Indiana Jones' star waited 'more than 30 years' for 'Everything Everywhere' role\n\n'Tár' review:Cate Blanchett conducts herself magnificently in a modern classical music drama", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/entertainment/jimy-kimmel-oscars/index.html", "title": "Jimmy Kimmel to host the 2023 Oscars | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nJimmy Kimmel will return to host the Academy Awards for a third time, the Academy announced Monday.\n\nKimmel previously helmed the ceremony in 2017 and 2018.\n\n“Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap,” Kimmel said in a statement. “Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said no.”\n\nHis last foray into hosting the awards show was memorable for “La La Land” and “Moonlight” best picture mix up.\n\nThe next Oscars ceremony will follow another famous controversy - Will Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards.\n\nAmy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall hosted that show.\n\nIt was announced in September that Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment had been named executive producers for the upcoming Oscars telecast.\n\nThe 95th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 12.", "authors": ["Lisa Respers France"], "publish_date": "2022/11/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/03/12/oscars-2023-live-updates-winners/11430002002/", "title": "Oscars 2023: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' wins best picture", "text": "Everything was all right Sunday at the 95th Academy Awards, where no one got slapped and \"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" ruled the night.\n\nThe acclaimed sci-fi comedy came in as a frontrunner at the Oscars and cleaned up like a powerhouse, winning seven honors including best picture, best actress (Michelle Yeoh), supporting actress (Jamie Lee Curtis), supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan), directing and original screenplay. And the good vibes continued in the best actor category, where Brendan Fraser completed a great awards-season comeback story and won for \"The Whale.\"\n\nHere are all the winners and highlights from the main Oscar ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel:\n\nOscars winners:See who took home gold at Academy Awards\n\nWho made Oscars history in 2023? See the many 'firsts' from Michelle Yeoh, 'Naatu Naatu,' more\n\n'Everything Everywhere All at Once' wins the Oscars' top prize, best picture\n\n\"We've said enough tonight. You inspire me,\" says director Daniel Kwan, accepting best picture for \"Everything Everywhere All at Once.\"\n\nMichelle Yeoh takes best actress for 'Everything Everywhere'\n\nThe longtime action-movie icon finally gets her Oscar and becomes the first Asian woman to win the category. \"For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, let this be a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof dreams come true. And ladies, don't let anyone ever tell you you are past your prime,\" Michelle Yeoh says, winning best actress for \"Everything Everywhere All at Once.\" She dedicates the win to her 84-year-old mom and promised to bring Oscar \"home to you and my extended family in Hong Kong where I started in my career. Thank you to the Academy, this is history in the making.\"\n\n'A beacon of hope and possibilities':Michelle Yeoh wins best actress, making Oscars history\n\n'The Whale' comeback kid Brendan Fraser wins best actor\n\nBrendan Fraser shakes fellow nominee Colin Farrell's hand before accepting the best actor honor for \"The Whale.\" \"So this is what the multiverse looks like!\" Fraser says, out of breath with excitement. \"I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement. It's like I've been on a diving expedition,\" he adds, shouting out his kids and director Darren Aronofsky for \"throwing me a creative lifeline.\"\n\nBrendan Fraser:'The Whale' star wins best actor Academy Award and proves nice guys can finish first\n\n'Everything Everywhere' snags Oscars for film editing, directing\n\n\"This is too much. This is my second film, y'all. This is crazy,\" Paul Rogers says, accepting the Oscar for best film editing for \"Everything Everywhere All at Once.\" Then the best picture frontrunner runs its tally to five awards when Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert take best directing. \"Our fellow nominees, you guys are our heroes, This is weird,\" Scheinert says. He thanks all the \"mommies\" in the house and his parents \"for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films, or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody\" – a shot seemingly at anti-drag legislation popping up around the country.:\n\nAdds Kwan: \"There is greatness in every single person. You have a genius in you that is waiting to be unlocked.\"\n\n'Top Gun' takes best sound, 'RRR' gets original song Oscar for 'Naatu Naatu'\n\nSomewhere, Tom Cruise is smiling. \"Top Gun: Maverick\" finally wins an Oscar, for best sound. And the Academy Award for best original song goes to \"RRR\" dance number \"Naatu Naatu.\" \"I grew up listening to The Carpenters and here I am with the Oscars,\" says composer M.M. Keeravani, doing his own spin on The Carpenters' \"Top of the World.\" John Travolta comes out and chokes up when introducing Lenny Kravitz, who sings \"Calling All Angels\" during the \"In Memoriam\" segment (which includes Travolta's \"Grease\" co-star Olivia Newton-John).\n\nBrutally honest rankings:All the Oscars song performances, from ‘Naatu Naatu’ to Lady Gaga\n\n'Everything Everywhere,' 'Women Talking' win screenplay Oscars\n\n\"Everything Everywhere\" filmmaker Daniel Scheinert thanks his teachers for helping him be \"less of a butthead\" when accepting the original screenplay Oscar alongside partner Daniel Kwan, who admits \"my imposter syndrome is at an all-time high.\" And when accepting the adapted screenplay honor, \"Women Talking\" director Sarah Polley slyly shouts out the Academy for \"not being offended by the words 'Women' and 'Talking' so close together.\"\n\n'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' presents Chadwick Boseman tribute, Rihanna number\n\n\"Wakanda Forever\" star Danai Gurira arrives on stage to pay tribute to late \"Black Panther\" actor Chadwick Boseman, saying in Wakandan: \"Thank you, king.\" Gurira then introduces Rihanna, who sings her nominated tune \"Lift Me Up\" and receives a standing ovation.\n\n'Lift Me Up':Rihanna soars at 2023 Oscars with powerful first performance of song\n\n'Avatar: The Way of Water' gets the gold for visual effects\n\nElizabeth Banks and the Cocaine Bear come out to present the award for visual effects. The Oscar goes to \"Avatar: The Way of Water,\" which makes sense because the Na'vi main characters are all digital. Afterward, Jimmy Kimmel is ready with an A-plus dad joke: \"The afterparty is at CGI Friday's.\"\n\n'All Quiet on the Western Front' wins two more technical honors\n\nThe Netflix war movie is starting to gain some momentum, as \"All Quiet on the Western Front\" runs over the likes of \"Babylon,\" \"The Fabelmans\" and other Oscar favorites for best production design and score.\n\nLady Gaga sings a raw, rousing version of 'Top Gun' song 'Hold My Hand'\n\n\"It's deeply personal for me and we all need a lot of love to walk through this life. And we all need a hero sometimes. You might find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside,\" Lady Gaga says before performing her nominated song \"Hold My Hand\" (from \"Top Gun: Maverick\") with stripped-down piano, guitar, bass and drums.\n\nOscars best-dressed:Jaw-dropping looks from Lady Gaga, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett\n\n'Elephant Whisperers' and 'The Boy, the Mole' conquer shorts categories\n\n\"The Elephant Whisperers,\" about an Indian couple that cares for an orphaned baby elephant, wins for best documentary short. And animated short goes to \"The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,\" based on Charlie Mackesy's book.\n\n'All Quiet on the Western Front' wins best international film\n\nThis isn't a surprise: After ruling the BAFTAs (and with Indian action epic \"RRR\" not in its category), \"All Quiet on the Western Front\" takes the international film Oscar, its second honor of the night. \"This means so much to us,\" says director Edward Berger. He also thanks star Felix Kammerer: \"Without you, none of us would be here.\"\n\n'Wakanda Forever' nabs costume design honor\n\n\"Nice to see you again,\" Ruth Carter says, winning costume design for \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\" – the same honor she took home for 2018's original \"Panther.\" The first Black woman to win two Oscars, Carter dedicates the award to her mom, who recently died at age 101, and thanks director Ryan Coogler and producer Nate Moore: \"We are reshaping how culture is represented.\" if that wasn't exciting enough, the original song performance of \"RRR\" tune \"Naatu Naatu\" delivers a ton of rousing dance moves that get the Oscar crowd going.\n\nBrendan Fraser's 'The Whale' wins for best makeup and hairstyling\n\nDigital and physical prosthetics were used to transform Brendan Fraser into the 600-pound main character of \"The Whale,\" and it pays off with an Oscar for makeup. Fraser is one of the first to get on his feet and excitedly cheer the win.\n\nBest cinematography Oscar goes to 'All Quiet on the Western Front'\n\nNetflix's acclaimed German war drama earns its first technical honor of the night. \"My fellow nominees, your work is just outstanding and inspiring,\" says James Friend, who wins best cinematography for \"All Quiet on the Western Front.\" Donnie Yen arrives on stage afterward to introduce the next original song nominee: \"Everything Everywhere\" star Stephanie Hsu, Son Lux and David Byrne doing a weird, ethereal performance of \"This Is a Life.\"\n\n'Navalny' is named best documentary\n\nDirector Daniel Roher's film about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny wins the Oscar for best documentary. \"We must not be afraid to oppose dictators,\" says Roher, while Navalny's wife Yulia addresses her husband, currently being held in solitary confinement in Russia: \"I'm dreaming of the day you will be free and our country will be free.\" And the award for live-action short goes to \"The Irish Goodbye.\"\n\nJamie Lee Curtis wins her first Oscar, for supporting actress in 'Everything Everywhere'\n\n\"Woo-hoo,\" Jamie Lee Curtis exclaims, hugging Ariana DeBose and taking her supporting actress trophy for \"Everything Everywhere.\" \"I know it looks like I'm standing up here by myself but I am hundreds of people,\" Curtis says, shouting out her directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, \"my bae\" Michelle Yeoh, all her horror folks and her late Hollywood parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. \"We all just won an Oscar together.\" She leaves the stage and then Sofia Carson and Diane Warren arrive with a choir to perform their original song nominee, \"Applause\" from \"Tell It Like a Woman.\"\n\nJamie Lee Curtis:First-time winner thanks castmates, late parents in touching Oscars speech\n\nKe Huy Quan takes best supporting actor for 'Everything Everywhere'\n\nAfter hugging co-star Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan goes to the stage to take his supporting actor trophy for \"Everything Everywhere\" and immediately starts crying. \"My mom is 84 years old and she's at home watching. Mom, I just won an Oscar!\" he says through tears. He tells how his journey started on a boat, involved spending a year in a refugee camp and \"somehow ended up on the Oscar stage. This is the American dream.\" He concludes by saying that \"dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. Everyone out there, keep your dreams alive.\"\n\n'This is the American dream':Read Ke Huy Quan's emotional Oscars acceptance speech\n\nGuillermo del Toro's 'Pinocchio' wins best animated feature\n\nEmily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson arrive on stage to give out the first award of the night: best animated feature. And the winner is ... director Guillermo del Toro's Netflix stop-motion feature \"Pinocchio\"! \"Animation is cinema, animation is not a genre. Animation is ready to be taken to the next step. Please help us keep animation in the conversation,\" del Toro says, tearing up when thanking his parents. According to Netflix, del Toro becomes the first person to win best picture, best director and best animated feature Oscars.\n\n2023 Oscars:Why Cate Blanchett, Guillermo del Toro and more celebs wore blue ribbons\n\nJimmy Kimmel gets the 'Top Gun' treatment to begin the show\n\nJimmy Kimmel starts the show by being \"ejected\" out of a fighter jet by Tom Cruise and parachutes onto the Dolby Theatre stage. \"Give me a second to adjust my Danger Zone here. My Banshees are caught in my Inisherin,\" he jokes. Kimmel shouts out audiences returning to the theater to see movies and is also glad to see Nicole Kidman out of that \"abandoned AMC, where she has been held captive for two whole years now.\"\n\nThe host points out first-time nominees Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, as well as Brendan Fraser: \"Two guys from 'Encino Man' are nominated for Oscar.\" Kimmel calls Steven Spielberg and Seth Rogen \"the Joe and Hunter Biden of Hollywood\" and can't believe Spielberg was sober doing \"E.T.\" \"You were high as a bike when you made that movie,\" Kimmel cracks. He also gives props to John Williams being a nominee at 91 – \"He's still scoring – if you know what I mean\" – and mentions the absence of Cruise and James Cameron: \"Two guys who insisted we go to the theater didn't come to the theater.\"\n\nJimmy Kimmel:Angry actors would have to 'battle' Michelle Yeoh to slap him at Oscars\n\nFor Angela Bassett, the Oscars are all about 'the spirit of never giving up'\n\nSupporting actress contender Angela Bassett, the first actor from a Marvel superhero movie to garner a nod, told USA TODAY that her husband Courtney B. Vance has been an essential support system this Oscar season, accompanying her to awards shows and filming her acceptance speeches on his smartphone. \"He was supportive before the whirlwind,\" says the \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\" star. \"He always trusted and believed that a nomination like this might one day happen for me.\"\n\nIn addition to being the subject of Ariana DeBose's viral rap, Bassett has loved going through the awards process with her fellow thespians: \"When I think of my girl Michelle Yeoh and it being her first nomination, it really is about the spirit of never giving up.\"\n\nA Brendan Fraser win would complete an epic Oscar comeback story\n\nThe best actor race seems to be down to Austin Butler, Colin Farrell and Brendan Fraser, though a win by the latter would finish one of this year's most noteworthy comebacks. After becoming a major Hollywood star in the 1990s, Fraser has been honest about his career hardships, including being sexually assaulted, and won accolades for his role in \"The Whale.\"\n\nIn an emotional Screen Actor Guild speech, Fraser shouted out to other actors who've weathered struggles: \"I know how you feel. But believe me, if you just stay in there and you put one foot in front of the other, you'll get to where you need to go.\"\n\nThe new Oscar best picture winner will join Hollywood's most hallowed hall\n\n\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" is in the pole position to win best picture over \"The Banshees of Inisherin,\" \"Top Gun: Maverick,\" \"All Quiet on the Western Front,\" \"The Fabelmans\" and \"Elvis,\" among others.\n\nThe victor will join a long list filled with some of the greatest movies ever (and a few that don't quite fit that bill). We watched all 94 so far and ranked them, from the first winner – the 1927 silent war drama \"Wings,\" which holds up well! – to the feel-good 2022 Oscar champ \"CODA.\"\n\nGet a video tour of the ultra-exclusive green room at the Oscars\n\nUSA TODAY's Ralphie Aversa has been in LA all week for events leading up to the Academy Awards, and one of them was getting a look at the ultra-exclusive, swanky green room backstage at the Oscars. He was able to do a fun video tour for our readers but come Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre, no cameras will be allowed in – only performers, presenters and winners will be able to enjoy the comfy furniture, floral arrangements and food by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.\n\nMichelle Yeoh, Colin Farrell could be first-time Academy Award winners\n\nSixteen of the 20 acting contenders at Sunday's Oscars are first-time , including \"Everything Everywhere\" favorites Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as best actor candidates Brendan Fraser, Colin Farrell and Austin Butler. The four returnees: Two-time winner Cate Blanchett (\"Tár\"), Angela Bassett (\"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\"), Michelle Williams (\"The Fabelmans\") and Judd Hirsch (\"The Fabelmans\"), who last received an Oscar nod for 1980's \"Ordinary People.\"\n\nBut the list of thespians who've never won an Academy Award is a pretty star-studded affair overall, including Scarlett Johansson, Antonio Banderas, Glenn Close, Willem Dafoe, Amy Adams, Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr.\n\nSupporting actor is Ke Huy Quan's to lose\n\n\"Everything Everywhere\" star Ke Huy Quan has dominated the competition and rolled through awards season. But his quest for a supporting actor victory has also been a Cinderella story for the actor, who was a child star in the 1980s with roles in \"The Goonies\" and \"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\" and then stepped away from Hollywood because of a lack of meaty roles for Asian actors.\n\n\"I'm grateful the landscape has changed, there’s a lot more progress now,\" Quan said backstage after winning at the Golden Globes. He's also made sure to have a bunch of fun heading to Oscar night, posting tons of selfies with peers on his Instagram account.\n\nBest supporting actress is a toss-up\n\nAs far as Oscar predictions go, most of the acting categories are fairly straightforward with a favorite moving out in front. Not so much with supporting actress, which can go a few different ways. \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\" star Angela Bassett – the first actor to be nominated for a Marvel movie – had the early momentum with wins out of the Golden Globes and Critics Choice, but Jamie Lee Curtis of \"Everything Everywhere\" took an important Screen Actors Guild honor while \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" actress Kerry Condon picked up the supporting trophy at the British Academy Film Awards.\n\nGiven SAG and the \"Everything\" goodwill, Curtis probably has the best chance over Bassett, though it's possible the two beloved Hollywood types cancel each other out and Condon sneaks by for a victory.\n\nGood news: Lady Gaga will be performing 'Hold My Hand' after all!\n\nA bevy of original song contenders are slated for prime-time performances. Rihanna will sing \"Lift Me Up\" from \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,\" Sofia Carson and songwriter Diane Warren are slated to perform \"Applause\" from \"Tell It Like A Woman,\" Talking Heads frontman David Byrne teams with \"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" supporting actress nominee Stephanie Hsu and music trio Son Lux for “This Is A Life,\" and Indian singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava will perform the \"RRR\" song-and-dance number – and the frontrunner in the category – \"Naatu Naatu.\"\n\nAnd while Oscar producers previously said she wouldn't perform, Lady Gaga is now slated to sing “Hold My Hand” from \"Top Gun: Maverick,\" a person familiar with the production but not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY. (Fun fact: Gaga is shooting \"Joker: Folie à Deux\" with Joaquin Phoenix, who won best actor for the first \"Joker\" movie.)\n\nGlenn Close tests positive for COVID-19, won't be among Oscar presenters\n\nGlenn Close was expected to be among the dozens of A-list stars on tap to hand out trophies and appear on the telecast Sunday but has tested positive for COVID-19. A representative for the actress told The Associated Press she is isolating and resting.\n\nAriana DeBose, Troy Kotsur, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Jessica Chastain are among the previous Oscar winners scheduled to be presenters. Also on the list is a raft of other high-profile names like Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Zoe Saldaña and Harrison Ford.\n\nJust don't expect an appearance from Will Smith. Smith, who won best actor last year for \"King Richard\" and would traditionally present the award for best actress this year, was banned from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events for 10 years after he slapped Oscar presenter Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.\n\nRed carpet coverage is coming for the fashionistas\n\nAll the big stars will be hitting the \"champagne carpet\" and wearing their Sunday best. E!'s \"Live From the Red Carpet\" kicks off at 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT while ABC starts its pre-show coverage at 6:30 EDT/3:30 PDT. (And check out entertainment.usatoday.com for fashion galleries and analysis.)\n\nRead more about the Academy Awards:\n\nContributing: Bryan Alexander, Patrick", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/08/30/chris-rock-oscars-host-after-will-smith-slap/7942294001/", "title": "Chris Rock claims Oscars invited him to host after Will Smith slap", "text": "PHOENIX – Chris Rock, who was famously slapped by Oscar winner Will Smith during the 2022 Academy Awards, said during his comedy show that he was asked to host next year’s awards ceremony, but refused the invitation.\n\nRock also said during his show Sunday at Arizona Financial Theatre that he had been offered the chance to do a Super Bowl commercial, but profanely said he declined that as well.\n\nThe actor/comedian compared returning to the Oscars to returning to the scene of a crime, referencing the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, whose ex-wife’s killing began with her leaving a pair of eyeglasses at an Italian restaurant.\n\nRock said returning to the award ceremony would be like asking Nicole Brown Simpson “to go back to the restaurant.”\n\nWill Smith and Chris Rock:Everything to know about the infamous Oscars 2022 slap\n\nTanya Brown, sister of Nicole Brown Simpson, was not pleased with Rock's joke.\n\nOn Instagram Wednesday, Brown slammed the comedian and called his joke \"beyond distasteful.\"\n\n\"Nothing funny about equating an Oscar host invitation to a double homicide,\" Brown wrote. \"Stop using my sister, OJ and Ron part of your cricking comedy act. There are families behind this tragedy!\"\n\nRegarding the slap, Rock referenced the incident briefly and early on in his approximately 90-minute show, though the sold-out crowd seemed primed to hear him address it. Audience members' phones were ordered turned off and held in locked pouches by security.\n\nAs Rock mentioned how a person could get famous for being a victim, someone in the crowd shouted, “Talk about it.”\n\nRock said that the hit from Smith hurt, referencing how Smith had played the boxer Muhammad Ali in the 2001 movie \"Ali.\"\n\n“He’s bigger than me,” Rock said. “The state of Nevada would not sanction a fight between me and Will Smith.”\n\nUSA TODAY has reached out to both Rock and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for comment.\n\nLast week during a conversation with Hollywood journalists, new Academy CEO Bill Kramer said plans are already underway for the 2023 Oscars ceremony (March 12) and remarked that \"we definitely want a host,” after three of the last four Academy Awards shows were held without an emcee. “A host is very important to us, we are committed to having a host on the show this year and we are already looking at some key partners on that,” Kramer said.\n\nWhere is comedy going? USA TODAY explores the future of making people laugh in new series\n\nIn April, the Academy banned Smith from the Oscars for 10 years for slapping Rock.\n\nDuring the 2022 ceremony, Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her shaved head. Rock suggested she went bald for a movie role, quipping \"G.I. Jane 2? Can't wait to see it.\" He was apparently unaware that Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which causes sudden hair loss.\n\nWill Smith, who was seated by the stage, walked up to Rock and slapped him across the face, then returned to his seat and shouted at Rock to not say his wife's name.\n\nIn late July, Smith posted a video apology to Rock. \"My behavior was unacceptable and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk,\" Smith said in the video.\n\nRock has referenced the incident during his Ego Death tour that started in April but as of yet has not done a full routine about it.\n\nContributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY\n\n'This is probably irreparable':Will Smith makes emotional apology to Chris Rock in new video", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/30"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_6", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/europe/russia-protests-partial-mobilization-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Russia drafts anti-war protesters into military amid nationwide ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAs the first phase of Russia’s new “partial mobilization” got underway on Thursday, videos appeared on social media purporting to show newly mobilized men preparing to be deployed.\n\nIn the city of Neryungi – six time zones east of Ukraine – a community video channel posted clips of families saying goodbye to a large group of men, as they boarded buses. The video shows a woman crying and hugging her husband goodbye, while he reaches for his daughter’s hand from the bus window.\n\nMore men were shown in other videos apparently awaiting transport in the region of Yakutiya, a vast Siberian territory, and at Magadan Airport in the Russian far east. CNN has not been able independently to geolocate or date all the videos posted.\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week called for “partial mobilization” of Russia’s population to support the war in Ukraine, at a time when a sudden counteroffensive from Kyiv has recaptured thousands of square miles of territory and put Moscow on the backfoot. Experts say Russia’s forces have been significantly depleted.\n\nThe announcement would see 300,000 reservists called up, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.\n\nIn an early sign of how seriously Moscow is ramping up its efforts, the Human Rights Council of Russia has proposed that immigrants from central Asian countries who have had Russian citizenship for less than 10 years will undergo compulsory military service in Russia for a year.\n\n“We are preparing proposals for new citizens of the Russian Federation who have Russian citizenship for less than 10 years to do compulsory military service for a year for people from Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,” council member Kirill Kabanov wrote on Telegram Thursday.\n\n“Refusal to perform military duty should entail the deprivation of Russian citizenship not only for a person liable for military service, but also for members of his family,” he added.\n\nControversy in Russia\n\nIn his speech, Putin said those with military experience would be subject to conscription, and stressed that the accompanying decree – which was already signed – was necessary to “protect our homeland, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.”\n\nBut the decree appears to allow for wider mobilization than he suggested in his speech. Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian political scientist and associate fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said on Telegram that while the decree “describes the mobilization as partial,” it “sets no parameters of this partiality, either territorial or categoric.”\n\n“According to this text, anyone can be called up except for those working in the military-industrial complex who are exempt for the period of their employment. The fact that the mobilization applies only to reservists or those with some particularly necessary skills is mentioned in the address, but not in the decree.”\n\nRussian human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said that the decree sets out mobilization “in the broadest terms.”\n\n“The president is leaving it at the Defense Minister’s discretion. So in fact it is the Russian Defense Ministry that will decide who will be sent to war, from where and in what numbers,” Chikov said on Telegram.\n\nFollowing the speech, at least 1,300 people were detained across Russia on Wednesday for participating in nationwide anti-war protests – with some directly conscripted into the military, according to a monitoring group, after leader Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of citizens for his faltering invasion of Ukraine.\n\nImages and videos show police cracking down on demonstrators in multiple cities, with footage showing several protesters at a demonstration in central Moscow being carried away by the police and authorities in St. Petersburg attempting to contain a crowd chanting “no mobilization” outside Isakiivskiy Cathedral.\n\nPolice detained the protesters across 38 cities in Russia on Wednesday, according to figures released shortly after midnight by independent monitoring group OVD-Info. The group’s spokeswoman Maria Kuznetsova told CNN by phone that at at least four police stations in Moscow, some of the protesters arrested by riot police were being drafted directly into Russia’s military.\n\nOne of the detainees has been threatened with prosecution for refusing to be drafted, she said. The government has said that punishment for refusing the draft is now 15 years in jail. Of the more than 1,300 people detained nationwide, more than 500 were in Moscow and more than 520 in St. Petersburg, according to OVD-Info.\n\nJust over half the detained protesters whose names were made public are women, OVD-Info also said, making it the biggest anti-government protest by share of women in recent history. The watchdog specified the full scale of the arrests remains unknown, however.\n\nNine journalists and 33 minors are also among the detained, it said, adding that one of the minors was “brutally beaten” by law enforcement.\n\nThe specter of nuclear weapons\n\nPutin also raised the specter of nuclear weapons in his address, saying he would use “all the means at our disposal,” if he deemed the “territorial integrity” of Russia to be jeopardized. He also endorsed referenda on joining Russia that Russian-appointed leaders in four occupied regions of Ukraine announced they would hold this week.\n\nConcern among Russian citizens was palpable on Wednesday, with travel agency websites showing a dramatic increase in the demand for flights to places where Russians do not need a visa. Flight sale websites indicate direct flights to such countries sold out through Friday at least.\n\nOn Thursday, a spokesperson for the European Commission acknowledged that there had been numerous requests by Russian citizens hoping to enter European Union countries. They said that the EU is planning to establish a joint position on the matter.\n\nThe European Commission also noted that, for now, each member state will need to assess entry requests on a case-by-case basis, adding that external border management of the EU must be carried out in line with EU law and comply with “fundamental rights and all of the legislation in place for asylum procedures.”\n\nRiot police detain a demonstrator during an anti-war protest in Moscow, Russia on September 21. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP\n\nThe protests in Russia, most of which appeared to have attracted a few dozen people, were another strong signal of the desperation felt by some. Dissent is typically swiftly crushed in Russia and authorities have placed further constraints on free speech following the invasion of Ukraine.\n\nFootage from social media showed several protesters in Ulan Ude in eastern Siberia carrying signs reading “No to war! No to mobilization!” and “Our husbands, fathers, and brothers do not want to kill other husbands and fathers!”\n\n“We want our fathers, husbands, and brothers to remain alive … and not to leave their children as orphans. Stop the war and don’t take our people!” one protester said.\n\nVideo from Yekaterinburg in western Russia showed police scuffling with several protesters. CNN could not independently verify the footage from either city.\n\nAnother video posted by a journalist from the Moscow internet publication The Village shows dozens of people in Arbatskaya street chanting “Let him go” as one man is carried away.\n\nThe Moscow prosecutor’s office on Wednesday also warned citizens against joining protests or distributing information calling for participation – reminding people that they could face up to 15 years in jail.\n\nWhen asked on Thursday about reports of people detained at anti-war rallies being handed subpoenas for military conscription, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the practice “is not against the law. There is no violation of the law here.”\n\n‘Russia wants war’\n\nPutin’s announcement was condemned Wednesday by Western leaders, many of whom were meeting at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.\n\nIn a rare joint statement, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said that both agree Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilization of Russian citizens is a sign of “weakness.”\n\nEuropean Union foreign ministers agreed in New York to push forward with a new round of sanctions against Russia, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters.\n\nUkraine remained defiant in the face of Putin’s announcement, with President Volodymyr Zelensky telling the UNGA in a pre-recorded address Wednesday that Russia was “afraid of real (peace) negotiations,” and pointing to what he characterized as Russian “lies.”\n\nRussia “talks about the talks but announces a military mobilization,” Zelensky said. “Russia wants war.”\n\nOn Thursday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said that Putin’s “partial mobilization” only strengthens the country’s support for Ukraine. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said his country would continue its support for Ukraine in terms of arms and training, but added that France needed cooperation within NATO to do so.\n\nMeanwhile, analysis by researchers from the Institute for the Study of War said that the move won’t have a marked impact on the war’s immediate outcome.\n\nThe analysis said that it would take weeks or months to bring reservists up to combat readiness, that Russian reservists are “poorly trained to begin with,” and that the “deliberate phases” of deployment outlined by Russia’s defense minister are likely to preclude “any sudden influx of Russian forces that could dramatically shift the tide of the war.”", "authors": ["Simone Mccarthy Matthew Chance Tim Lister Anna Chernova Mick Krever", "Simone Mccarthy", "Matthew Chance", "Tim Lister", "Anna Chernova", "Mick Krever"], "publish_date": "2022/09/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/26/china/china-protests-xinjiang-fire-shanghai-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "China Covid: Protests erupt in unprecedented challenge to Xi ...", "text": "Beijing CNN —\n\nChinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday faced unprecedented dissent after thousands of demonstrators protested in cities across China over the weekend against his zero-Covid strategy – with some daring to openly call for his removal in the streets.\n\n“Step down, Xi Jinping! Step down, Communist Party!” some protesters yelled among hundreds who gathered in the financial hub Shanghai – one of multiple major cities where protests broke out following a deadly fire Thursday at an apartment block in the far western region of Xinjiang.\n\nThe fire appeared to act as a catalyst for searing public anger over China’s strict zero-Covid measures after videos emerged that seemed to suggest lockdown measures delayed firefighters from reaching the victims.\n\nHear protesters in China call for Xi Jinping's resignation 02:05 - Source: CNN\n\nFrom Shanghai to the capital Beijing, residents gathered to grieve the 10 people killed in the blaze in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, speak out against zero-Covid and call for freedom and democracy. On dozens of university campuses, students demonstrated or put up protest posters. In many parts of the country, residents in locked-down neighborhoods tore down barriers and took to the streets, following mass anti-lockdown protests that swept Urumqi on Friday night.\n\nSuch widespread scenes of anger and defiance – some of which stretched into the early hours of Monday morning – are exceptionally rare in China, where the ruling Communist Party ruthlessly cracks down on all expressions of dissent. But three years into the pandemic, many people have been pushed to the brink by the government’s incessant use of lockdowns, Covid tests and quarantines – as well as ever-tightening censorship and continued onslaught on personal freedoms.\n\nThe ratcheting-up of restrictions in recent months, coupled with a series of heartbreaking deaths blamed on an over-zealous policing of the controls, has brought matters to a head.\n\nHe fully supported China's zero-Covid policy. Hear why he changed his mind 03:30 - Source: CNN\n\nChinese stock markets and the yuan tumbled in early trade Monday amid concern about the government’s potential response to the protests, which varied from city to city and in some areas became more heavy-handed as the weekend progressed.\n\nAt a news conference Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian deflected questions about the protests and claimed that social media posts linking the Xinjiang fire with Covid policies had “ulterior motives.”\n\nAuthorities had been “making adjustments based on realities on the ground,” he said. When asked about protesters calling on Xi to step down, he replied: “I’m not aware of the situation you mentioned.”\n\nThough the protests made headlines in international media, Chinese state media carried stories and opinion pieces stressing the severity of the Covid outbreak and the need to persevere with methods to stamp it out.\n\n“Practices have proven that our Covid measures can stand the test of history, they are scientific and effective,” said an opinion piece published by the Xinhua news agency on Monday. “Perseverance prevails.”\n\nBut the challenge to zero-Covid posed by the spread of more contagious variants was underlined Monday when China reported 40,052 new local cases – the sixth consecutive day of record figures, according to the National Health Commission.\n\nNearly 4,000 of those infections were identified in Beijing, where – without referring to the protests – city authorities on Sunday banned blocking entrances to residential compounds under lockdown, adding that access must be granted to emergency services.\n\nProtests in Shanghai\n\nDemonstrators stand by protest signs in Shanghai, China, on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. AP\n\nBrewing anger over the fire deaths led to remarkable acts of defiance in Shanghai, where many of its 25 million residents hold deep resentment toward the government’s zero-Covid policy after being subjected to a two-month lockdown in the spring.\n\nLate on Saturday night, hundreds of residents gathered for a candlelight vigil on Urumqi Road, which was named after the city, to mourn the victims of the Xinjiang fire, according to videos widely circulated – and promptly censored – on Chinese social media and a witness account.\n\nSurrounding a makeshift memorial of candles, flowers and placards, the crowd held up blank sheets of white paper – in what is traditionally a symbolic protest against censorship – and chanted, “Need human rights, need freedom.”\n\nWhy protesters in China are holding up white paper 01:32 - Source: CNN\n\nIn multiple videos seen by CNN, people could be heard shouting demands for Xi and the Communist Party to “step down.” The crowd also chanted, “Don’t want Covid test, want freedom!” and “Don’t want dictatorship, want democracy!”\n\nSome videos show people singing China’s national anthem and The Internationale, a standard of the socialist movement, while holding banners protesting the country’s exceptionally stringent pandemic measures.\n\nRows of police officers, who initially looked on from the outside, started to move in to push back and divide the crowd around 3 a.m., sparking tense face-offs with the protesters, according to a witness.\n\nThe witness told CNN they saw several people arrested and taken into a police vehicle next to the makeshift memorial after 4.30 a.m. They also saw several protesters being grabbed by the officers from the crowd and taken behind the police line. The protest gradually dispersed before dawn, the witness said.\n\nOn Sunday afternoon, hundreds of Shanghai residents returned to the site to continue protesting despite a heavy police presence and road blocks.\n\nVideos showed hundreds of people at an intersection shouting “Release the people!” in a demand for the police to free detained demonstrators.\n\nCrowds shouting \"Release the people!\" in Shanghai. @whyyoutouzhele/Twitter\n\nThis time around, police adopted a more hardline approach, moving faster and more aggressively to make arrests and disperse the crowds.\n\nIn one video, a man holding a bundle of chrysanthemum gave a speech while walking on a pedestrian crossing, as a police officer tried to stop him.\n\n“We need to be braver! Am I breaking the law by holding flowers?” he asked the crowd, who shouted “No!” in reply.\n\n“We Chinese need to be braver!” he said to the applause of the crowd. “So many of us were arrested yesterday. Are they without job or without family? We should not be afraid!”\n\nThe man put up a struggle as more than a dozen officers forced him into a police car, as the angry crowd shouted “Release him!” and rushed toward the vehicle.\n\nOther videos show chaotic scenes of police pushing, dragging and beating protesters.\n\nIn the evening, after one protester was violently dragged away, hundreds of people shouted “triads” at the police, in reference to local crime gangs, according to a livestream.\n\nBBC journalist Edward Lawrence was arrested at the scene of the Shanghai protests on Sunday night and later released, according to a statement from the BBC. A BBC spokesperson expressed concern about Lawrence’s treatment, claiming he was “beaten and kicked by the police.”\n\nOn Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao acknowledged Lawrence’s arrest, claiming he had not identified himself as a journalist before being detained.\n\nPolice officers block Shanghai's Urumqi Road on Sunday. Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images\n\nDemonstration spreads\n\nBy Sunday evening, mass demonstrations had spread to Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Wuhan, where thousands of residents called for not only an end to Covid restrictions, but more remarkably, political freedoms.\n\nIn Beijing, hundreds of mostly young people demonstrated in the commercial heart of the city well into the small hours of Monday. A small crowd first gathered along the Liangma River for a vigil for the victims of the Xinjiang fire, before it grew in size and eventually marched down the city’s Third Ring Road.\n\nPeople chanted slogans against zero-Covid, voiced support for the detained protesters in Shanghai, and called for greater civil liberties. “We want freedom! We want freedom!” the crowd chanted under an overpass.\n\nA Beijing protester holds a candal in demonstrations on Sunday night. Ng Han Guan/AP\n\nSpeaking to CNN’s Selina Wang at the protest, a demonstrator said he was shocked by the turnout.\n\n“Every conscientious Chinese should be here. They don’t have to voice their opinions, but I hope they can stand with us,” he said.\n\nIn the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, large crowds demonstrated along the bustling river banks in a popular food and shopping district, according to a protester interviewed by CNN and videos circulating online.\n\nThe gathering started with a minute of silence to mourn the Xinjiang fire victims, later turning political as the crowd grew in size, numbering into the hundreds.\n\n“Opposition to dictatorship!” the crowd chanted. “We don’t want lifelong rulers. We don’t want emperors!” they shouted in a thinly veiled reference to Xi, who last month began a norm-shattering third term in office.\n\nProtesters hold up blank papers and chant slogans as they march in protest in Beijing on Sunday night. Ng Han Guan/AP\n\nIn the southern city of Guangzhou, hundreds gathered on a public square in Haizhu district – the epicenter of the city’s ongoing Covid outbreak that has been locked down for weeks.\n\n“We don’t want lockdowns, we want freedom! Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of arts, freedom of movement, personal freedoms. Give me back my freedom!” The crowd shouted.\n\nUniversity campuses\n\nAcross China, protests have also broken out on university campuses – which are particularly politically sensitive to the Communist Party, given the history of the student-led Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989.\n\nIn the early hours of Sunday morning, about 100 students gathered around a protest slogan painted on a wall at the prestigious Peking University in Beijing. A student told CNN that when he arrived at the scene at around 1 a.m., security guards were using jackets to cover the protest sign.\n\nA security guard tries to cover a protest slogan against zero-Covid on the campus of Peking University in Beijing. Obtained by CNN\n\n“Say no to lockdown, yes to freedom. No to Covid test, yes to food,” read the message written in red paint, echoing the slogan of a protest that took place on a Beijing overpass in October, just days before a key Communist Party meeting at which Xi secured a third term in power.\n\n“Open your eyes and look at the world, dynamic zero-Covid is a lie,” the protest slogan at Peking University read.\n\nThe student said security guards later covered the slogan with black paint.\n\nStudents at the Communication University of China, Nanjing gather in a vigil on Saturday evening to mourn the victims of the Xinjiang fire. @whyyoutouzhele/Twitter\n\nStudents later gathered to sing the The Internationale before being dispersed by teachers and security guards.\n\nIn the eastern province of Jiangsu, at least dozens of students from Communication University of China, Nanjing gathered on Saturday evening to mourn those who died in the Xinjiang fire. Videos show the students holding up sheets of white paper and mobile phone flashlights.\n\nIn one video, a university official could be heard warning the students: “You will pay for what you did today.”\n\nHundreds of students at Tsinghua University in Beijing gathered on Sunday to protest against zero-Covid and censorship. Obtained by CNN\n\n“You too, and so will the country,” a student shouted in reply.\n\nThe campus protests continued on Sunday. At Tsinghua University, another elite university in Beijing, hundreds of students gathered on a square to protest against zero-Covid and censorship.\n\nVideos and images circulating on social media show students holding up sheets of white paper and shouting: “Democracy and rule of law! Freedom of expression!”", "authors": ["Nectar Gan", "Cnn'S Beijing Bureau"], "publish_date": "2022/11/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/23/europe/paris-shooting-kurdish-center-intl/index.html", "title": "Paris shooting: Police fire teargas to quell protesters after three ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFrench police on Friday fired teargas amid clashes with agitated protesters outside a Kurdish community center in the heart of Paris, where a gunman earlier killed three people and injured four others in an attack with possible racist underpinnings.\n\nAll three people killed inside and near the Kurdish Cultural Center Ahmet-Kaya on Rue d’Enghien were Kurds, the center’s lawyer confirmed to CNN.\n\nThe suspected attacker, a 69-year-old French man with a long criminal record, has been arrested.\n\nHe was not part of any far-right groups monitored by the police, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told journalists at the scene. “He (the suspect) clearly wanted to take it out on foreigners,” Darmanin said.\n\nClashes with dozens of protesters, mostly from the Kurdish diaspora, broke out during Darmanin’s visit to the site of the attack on Friday.\n\nPolice fired tear gas to disperse an increasingly agitated crowd in central Paris, soon after a gunman killed three Kurdish people during a shooting at a community center. Lewis Joly/AP\n\nWhile the shooting has not been designated a terrorist attack, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said earlier on Friday that investigators are not ruling out possible “racist motivations” behind the shooting.\n\n“When it comes to racist motivations, of course these elements are part of the investigation that was just launched,” Beccuau said.\n\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron deplored the “heinous attack” where “the Kurds of France have been the target,” in a Twitter post on Thursday.\n\nFollowing the incident, crowds gathered near the community center. Kiran Ridley/Getty Images\n\n“My thoughts to the victims, to the people who are fighting to live, to their families and loved ones. My gratitude to our law enforcement forces for their courage and calmness,” Macron said.\n\nPolice in Paris and across France have been ordered to protect Kurdish sites and Turkish diplomatic institutions following the attack, according to Darmanin.\n\nHe has also asked the French president and prime minister to allow Kurdish people, who want to hold demonstrations, to do so.\n\nPrevious record\n\nThe shooting suspect was released from detention less than two weeks ago as a court is still investigating his previous involvement in violence with a “racist nature,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement.\n\nHe was convicted twice, in 2017 and 2022, for committing gun violence. An investigation was also launched by a Paris court in 2021 for violence “with a racist nature,” according to the statement.\n\nEmergency services attended the scene of the shooting, where a gunman opened fire at the Kurdish Cultural Center Ahmet-Kaya in Paris. Lewis Joly/AP\n\nThe last incident led to his getting put under pre-trial detention while the court conducts an investigation.\n\n“At this stage, there is no evidence that this man is affiliated with any extremist ideological movement,” the statement said.\n\nFollowing the incident, crowds gathered near the center, where people of Kurdish descent were heard chanting the Kurdish phrase “Şehid Namirin,” which means: Those who are lost are never really lost but with us, according to CNN’s team on the ground.\n\nDarmanin called on the French president and prime minister to allow Kurdish people who wanted to protest, following the fatal shooting. Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images\n\nSome people were also heard chanting “Murderer Erdogan,” in a reference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s robust stance against Kurdish nationalism, and his policies towards Kurdish far-left militant and political groups based in Turkey and Iraq.\n\nIn the aftermath of the attack, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his “deepest sympathies” to Kurdish people in France in a post on Twitter. “My thoughts are with the members of the Kurdish community and people of France on this sad day,” Blinken added.\n\nIn 2013, three Kurdish political activists were killed in central Paris, including the founding member of the Kurdish Workers’ Party. All three women were shot in the head in the apparent assassination.", "authors": ["Xiaofei Xu Niamh Kennedy Joseph Ataman Mohammed Tawfeeq", "Xiaofei Xu", "Niamh Kennedy", "Joseph Ataman", "Mohammed Tawfeeq"], "publish_date": "2022/12/23"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/08/asia/kazakhstan-protests-putin-meeting-intl/index.html", "title": "Kazakhstan detains former head of national security as Putin and ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRussia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Saturday discussed restoring “order” in Kazakhstan following days of violence and unrest, as several high-profile officials were detained on suspicion of treason.\n\nTokayev told Putin the situation in his country was “progressing on the way to stabilization” and expressed his “appreciation” for the deployment of a Russia-led military bloc to Kazakhstan to try and control violence on the streets, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday.\n\nMeanwhile, former head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee Karim Massimov and some other unnamed officials have been detained on suspicion of treason, the country’s National Security Committee announced, according to state media Khabar 24 on Saturday.\n\nLocal residents stand shoulder to shoulder with police officers at Sultan City Hall in Nur-Sultan on January 8. Chine Nouvelle/Sipa/Shutterstock\n\nIn this image taken from footage provided by Russian television, a Kazakh soldier stands atop of a military vehicle at a check point on Friday, January 7. RU-RTR Russian Television via AP\n\nViolent protests in Kazakhstan in recent days have seen the government resign and the declaration of a state of emergency as troops from a Russia-led military alliance head to the Central Asian country to help quell the unrest. Dozens have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands of protesters detained.\n\nIt’s the biggest challenge yet to autocratic Tokayev’s rule, with initial public anger over a spike in fuel prices expanding to wider discontent with the government over corruption, living standards, poverty and unemployment in the oil-rich, former Soviet nation, human rights organizations report.\n\nOn January 5, protesters reportedly stormed the airport in the country’s biggest city, Almaty, forcibly entered government buildings, and set fire to the city’s main administration office, local media reported. There were also reports of deadly clashes with police and military, a nationwide internet blackout and buildings damaged in three major cities.\n\nRussia's President Vladimir Putin speaks with Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during their meeting in Moscow on August 21, 2021. Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images\n\nKarim Massimov, former chairman of the National Security Council of Kazakhstan pictured in Beijing, China, 2019. Kenzaburo Fukuhara/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock\n\nThe violence continued into the following day, with dozens of protesters killed and hundreds injured, according to an Almaty police official. Security forces reportedly fired on protesters and explosions were heard close to Republic Square in Almaty, Russian state news agency TASS reported.\n\nIn a read-out of Tokayev’s call with Putin on Saturday, Tokayev reportedly told Putin that the situation in the country is stabilizing but “hotbeds of terrorist attacks persist. Therefore, the fight against terrorism will continue with all decisiveness.”\n\n‘Kill without warning’\n\nTokayev declared January 10 a day of national mourning for the victims of violent protests, his press office announced Saturday.\n\nAs of January 7, a total of 18 law enforcement personnel had been killed in the violence and 748 injured, state television Khabar 24 reported, quoting the Interior Ministry. According to the state broadcaster, 26 “armed criminals” have been killed and 18 injured, and more than 3,000 protesters have been detained during unrest across the country.\n\nThe Kazakh president “signed an order declaring January 10, a day of national mourning in Kazakhstan in connection with the human victims as a result of the terrorist acts in the country,” the press office said on Twitter.\n\nIt comes after the leader said Friday he had ordered security forces to “kill without warning” to crush the violent protests that have paralyzed the former Soviet republic.\n\nIn a defiant public address, Tokayev claimed the unrest, which began earlier this week as protests against rising fuel prices, had been masterminded by well-trained “terrorist bandits” from both inside and outside the country. CNN has not corroborated any claims made by the government or president defending their use of violence and excessive force against the protesters.\n\nFlurry of rumors\n\nKazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev remains in the country, his press secretary said on Twitter Saturday following rumors that he had left amid the violence.\n\nHis press secretary Aidos Ukibai said the longtime leader remains in the capital city, Nursultan, without offering evidence.\n\n“The leader of the nation remains in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan city. We ask you not to disseminate false information. Leader of the nation is holding consultations and is direct line with the President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,” Ukibai said.\n\nPeople walk past cars that were burned after clashes, on a street in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Friday, January 7. Vasily Krestyaninov/AP\n\nUkibai said Nazarbayev had held several phone calls with the leaders of countries friendly to Kazakhstan.\n\n“The leader of the nation calls to unite around President of Kazakhstan to overcome current challenges and to ensure safety in the country,” he added.\n\nIt comes after Tokayev said in a televised address on Wednesday that he had taken over from Nazarbayev as head of the country’s Security Council.\n\nEarlier this week a statue of Nazarbayev was torn down by protesters in the town of Taldykorgan, in the country’s southeast Almaty region.\n\nPrime Minister Askar Mamin resigned amid the protests. Alikhan Smailov was appointed acting prime minister, and members of the government will continue to serve until the formation of the new cabinet, according to a statement published on the presidential website Wednesday.\n\nNazarbayev announced his resignation as president in March 2019, after nearly three decades in office. The former Communist Party official was the last of the leaders who were running the 15 Soviet republics when the USSR collapsed in 1991.\n\nThe country’s capital was named after him following his resignation.\n\nNazarbayev ran Kazakhstan as a typical autocrat: The State Department’s 2018 human rights report noted Kazakhstan’s 2015 presidential election, in which Nazarbayev received 98% of votes cast, “was marked by irregularities and lacked genuine political competition.”", "authors": ["Olga Pavlova Duarte Mendonca", "Olga Pavlova", "Duarte Mendonca"], "publish_date": "2022/01/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/25/china/china-zero-covid-discontent-reopening-mic-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "China zero-Covid: As anger rises and tragedies mount, Beijing ...", "text": "A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.\n\nBeijing CNN —\n\nZhou, an auto dealer in northeastern China, last saw his father alive in a video chat on the afternoon of November 1, hours after their home on the far outskirts of Beijing was locked down.\n\nAt the time, they didn’t even realize the snap Covid restrictions had been imposed – there was no warning beforehand, and the apartment building where Zhou’s parents and his 10-year-old son lived did not have any cases, he said.\n\nThe family found out the hard way, when Zhou’s father was denied immediate emergency medical help after he suddenly began struggling to breathe during the video call. Zhou and his son made a dozen calls for an ambulance, he said, claiming security guards blocked relatives from entering the building to take the 58-year-old grandfather to a hospital.\n\nAn hour later, an ambulance finally arrived to drive Zhou’s father to a hospital just five minutes away. But it was too late to save him.\n\n“The local government killed my dad,” Zhou told CNN in his Beijing home, breaking down in tears. He said he’s received no explanation about why the ambulance took so long to arrive, just a death certificate stating the wrong date of death.\n\nZhou’s anger is part of a growing torrent of dissent toward China’s unrelenting zero-Covid lockdowns, which officials insist are necessary to protect people’s lives against a virus that, according to the official count, has killed just six people from tens of thousands of symptomatic cases reported in the last six months.\n\nBut increasingly, the restrictions – not the virus – are being blamed for heartbreaking deaths that have sparked nationwide outrage on social media.\n\nHe fully supported China's zero-Covid policy. Hear why he changed his mind 03:30 - Source: CNN\n\nOn the same day Zhou lost his father, a 3-year-old boy died of gas poisoning in a locked-down compound in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, after he was blocked from being taken promptly to a hospital. Two weeks later, a 4-month-old girl died in hotel quarantine in the central city of Zhengzhou after a 12-hour delay in medical care.\n\nMany more families, like Zhou’s, have likely suffered similar tragedies outside the social media spotlight.\n\nZhou said he contacted several state media outlets in Beijing to report on his story, but no reporters came. Amid growing desperation and anger, he turned to foreign media – despite knowing the risk of repercussions from the government. CNN is only using his surname to mitigate that risk.\n\n“I just want to get justice for my dad. Why did you lock us down? Why did you take my dad’s life away?” he said.\n\nWorkers erect metal barriers outside a community under lockdown in Beijing on November 24. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images\n\nGrowing discontent\n\nAcross China, anger and frustration with zero-Covid has reached new heights and led to rare scenes of protest, as local authorities rushed to reintroduce restrictions amid record infections – despite a recent government announcement of a limited easing of some rules.\n\nLast week, in the southern city of Guangzhou, some residents revolted against an extended lockdown by tearing down barriers and marching down streets.\n\nIn the central city of Zhengzhou this week, workers at the world’s biggest iPhone assembly factory clashed with hazmat-suited security officers over a delay in bonus payment and chaotic Covid rules.\n\nAnd on Thursday, in the sprawling metropolis of Chongqing in the southwest, a resident delivered a searing speech criticizing the Covid lockdown on his residential compound. “Without freedom, I would rather die!” he shouted to a cheering crowd, who hailed him a “hero” and wrestled him from the grip of several police officers who had attempted to take him away.\n\nThese acts of defiance echoed an outpouring of discontent online, notably from Chinese football fans – many under some form of lockdown or restrictions – who have only been able to watch from home as tens of thousands of raucous fans pack stadiums at the World Cup in Qatar.\n\n“None of the fans are seen wearing face masks, or told to submit proof of Covid test results. Are they not living on the same planet as us?” asked a Wechat article questioning China’s insistence on zero-Covid, which went viral before it was censored.\n\nThere are signs that Chinese officials are feeling the heat of the growing public discontent, which came on top of the heavy social and economic tolls inflicted by the widening lockdowns.\n\nEarlier this month, the Chinese government released a 20-point guideline to limit the disruption of zero-Covid rules on daily life and the economy. It shortened quarantine from 10 to eight days for close contacts of infected people and for inbound travelers. It also scrapped quarantine requirements for secondary contacts, discouraged unnecessary mass testing drives and removed a major restriction on international flights.\n\nThe announcement had raised hopes of a pivot toward reopening, triggering a rally of Chinese stocks. But a surge in infections as China heads into its fourth winter of the pandemic is quickly dampening such hopes. On Friday, the country reported a record 32,695 local cases, as infections for a second straight day surpassed the previous peak recorded in April during Shanghai’s months-long lockdown.\n\nHazmat-suited Covid workers help delivery drivers drop goods for residents under lockdown in Beijing on November 24. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images\n\nWhat reopening?\n\nInstead of relaxing controls, many local officials are reverting to the zero-tolerance playbook, attempting to stamp out infections as soon as they flare up.\n\nSome of the cities that dropped mass testing requirements following the announcement are already tightening other Covid restrictions.\n\nThe northern city of Shijiazhuang was among the first to cancel mass testing. It also allowed students to return to schools after a long period of online classes. But as cases rose over the weekend, authorities reimposed a lockdown on Monday, telling residents to stay home.\n\nVideo captures the harsh reality of China's zero-Covid strategy 03:28 - Source: CNN\n\nOn Tuesday, financial hub Shanghai banned anyone arriving in the city from entering venues including shopping malls, restaurants, supermarkets and gyms for five days. Authorities also shut down cultural and entertainment venues in half of the city.\n\nIn Guangzhou, officials this week extended the lockdown on Haizhu district – where the protest took place – for the fifth time, and locked down its most populous Baiyun district.\n\nZhengzhou, home to the Foxconn factory where workers clashed with police, imposed a five-day lockdown on its main urban districts.\n\nPeople ride bikes on an empty street near Beijing's central business district on November 24. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images\n\nIn Beijing, streets in its largest district of Chaoyang are largely empty as authorities urged residents to stay home and ordered businesses to shut. Schools across several districts also moved to online classes this week.\n\nLow vaccination rates among China’s elderly have led to fears that a loosening of restrictions could overwhelm the country’s health system. As of November 11, about two-thirds of people age 80 and older had received two doses, and only 40% had received a booster shot.\n\nYanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the re-tightening of Covid controls reflected a typical public policy dilemma in China: “If you relax the policy, there will be chaos; but if you tighten up, it will be stifling.”\n\nHuang said he does not expect any fundamental changes to the zero-Covid policy in the short term. “Because the local governments’ incentive structure has not been changed. They are still held accountable for the Covid situation in their jurisdiction,” he said.\n\nFor their part, Chinese officials have repeatedly denied that the 20 measures listed in the government guidelines were meant for a pivot to living with the virus.\n\nThe measures are about “optimizing” existing Covid prevention and control policy, Shen Hongbing, a disease control official, told a news conference last week. “They are not an easing (of control), let alone reopening or ‘lying flat’,” he said.\n\nBack on the outskirts of Beijing, Zhou said while the zero-Covid policy “is beneficial to the majority,” its implementation at a local level had been too draconian.\n\n“I don’t want things like this to happen again in China and anywhere in the world,” he said. “I lost my father. My son lost his beloved grandfather. I’m furious now.”", "authors": ["Selina Wang Nectar Gan", "Selina Wang", "Nectar Gan"], "publish_date": "2022/11/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/08/10/belarus-election-protestor-dies-second-night-clash-authorities/3340316001/", "title": "Belarus election: Protestor dies in second night of clash with ...", "text": "YURAS KARMANAU\n\nAssociated Press\n\nMINSK, Belarus (AP) — A protester died amid clashes between police and thousands of people gathered for a second straight night Monday in Belarus after official results from weekend elections — dismissed by the opposition as a sham — gave an overwhelming victory to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.\n\nInterior Ministry spokesman Alexander Lastovsky said the victim was part of a crowd of people protesting results of Sunday’s presidential vote. The protester intended to throw an explosive device, but it blew up in his hand and killed him, Lastovsky said.\n\nThe death came amid demonstrations in at least four areas of Minsk that met with a harsh response from police who tried to disperse protesters with flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets. Near the Pushkinskaya subway station, some 3,000 protesters tried to build barricades.\n\nLukashenko's hardline rule began in 1994 and his victory would extend it until 2025. He derided the opposition as “sheep” manipulated by foreign masters.\n\nDozens were injured and thousands detained hours after Sunday's vote, when police brutally broke up mostly young protesters with tear gas, water cannons and beat them with truncheons. Rights activists said one person died after being run over by a police truck — which authorities denied.\n\nElection officials said Lukashenko won a sixth term in office with 80% of the vote, while opposition challenger Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya got 10%. Tsikhanouskaya submitted a formal request for a recount to the Central Election Commission.\n\nAfter submitting the request, both Tsikhanouskaya and her spokeswoman remained unreachable. Upon leaving the commission’s headquarters she said, “I have made a decision, I must be with my children.”\n\nIt was unclear if her statement meant that she was heading abroad to reunite with her children, whom she had earlier sent to an unspecified European country after receiving threats.\n\nOn Monday evening, scattered groups of opposition supporters began gathering in downtown Minsk, chanting “Freedom!” and “Long live Belarus!” A heavy police contingent blocked central squares and avenues, moving quickly to disperse protesters and detained dozens.\n\nLater, about 1,000 protesters gathered near a big shopping mall in downtown Minsk before being dispersed by police. The Viasna rights group said protesters also gathered in several other Belarusian cities, including Brest, Mogilev and Vitebsk, where detentions also took place.\n\nThe police crackdown drew harsh criticism from European capitals and will likely complicate Lukashenko’s efforts to mend ties with the West amid tensions with his main ally and sponsor, Russia.\n\nUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the election was not “free and fair” and added: “We strongly condemn ongoing violence against protesters and the detention of opposition supporters.”\n\nLukashenko, whose iron-fisted rule since 1994 has fueled growing discontent in the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million, warned that he wouldn’t hesitate to use force again. He argued that the protesters met a due response overnight after injuring dozens of police officers and attempting to take control of official buildings in several Belarusian cities.\n\n“We will not allow them to tear the country apart,\" he said.\n\nThe 65-year-old former state farm director asserted that the opposition was being directed from Poland and the Czech Republic, adding that some groups in Ukraine and Russia could also have been behind the protests.\n\n“They are directing the (opposition) headquarters where those sheep don't understand what they want from them,” he said in a dismissive reference to Tsikhanouskaya and her campaign.\n\nCzech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek dismissed Lukashenko's claim, saying his country has not organized any protests.\n\nThe Interior Ministry said 89 people were injured during the protests late Sunday and early Monday, including 39 law enforcement officers, and about 3,000 people were detained, some 1,000 of them in Minsk.\n\nTsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former English teacher without any prior political experience, entered the race after her husband, an opposition blogger who had hoped to run for president, was arrested in May. She has managed to unite fractured opposition groups and draw tens of thousands to her campaign rallies — the largest opposition demonstrations since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.\n\n“We don’t agree with (election results), we have absolutely opposite information,” Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press on Monday. “We have official protocols from many poll stations, where the number of votes in my favor are many more times than for another candidate.\"\n\nThe coronavirus-induced economic damage and Lukashenko's swaggering response to the pandemic, which he airily dismissed as “psychosis,” has fueled broad anger, helping swell the opposition ranks. The post-election protest, in which young demonstrators — many of them teenagers — confronted police, marked a previously unseen level of violence.\n\nInternet and mobile networks went down after the polls closed as authorities tried to make it more difficult for protesters to coordinate.\n\n“The more they beat us, the less we believe in the official results,” said Denis Golubev, a 28-year-old IT specialist who joined the protests.\n\nThe European Union condemned the police crackdown and called for an immediate release of all those detained.\n\nIn a joint statement, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and the EU commissioner responsible for relations with Europe’s close neighbors, Oliver Varhelyi, lamented that “the election night was marred with disproportionate and unacceptable state violence against peaceful protesters.”\n\nBelarus' EU and NATO neighbors, Poland and Lithuania, also issued strong rebukes. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on European Union’s leaders to convene an extraordinary summit to support the Belarusian people's democratic aspirations.\n\nThe U.K. Foreign Office also urged Belarusian authorities to “refrain from further acts of violence following the seriously flawed presidential elections.”\n\nIn the early 2000s, the United States and the European Union slapped sanctions against Lukashenko's government, but they lifted most of the penalties in recent years after Lukashenko freed political prisoners and allowed some opposition protests.\n\nThe Trump Adminsitration has recently sought to improve long-strained ties with Lukashenko, who some officials believe could be a valuable partner in countering Russian influence in eastern and central Europe. In early February, Pompeo became the first U.S. chief diplomat in more than 25 years to travel to Belarus, and offered to sell U.S. oil and gas to the country to reduce its dependence on Russian energy.\n\nThe administration has also nominated an ambassador to Belarus who, if confirmed, would be the first to the country since 2008.\n\nThroughout his tenure, Lukashenko has tried to exert pressure on the Kremlin with the prospect of normalizing ties with the West in a bid to win more Russian subsidies. But the violent crackdown now appears likely to derail Lukashenko's hopes for those ties as Russia exerts pressure on its small neighbor.\n\nMoscow this year cut supplies of cheap oil to Belarusian refineries, depriving the country of an estimated $700 million in revenues from oil product exports. Russia-Belarus ties were further strained last week, when Belarusian law enforcement agencies arrested 33 Russian private military contractors and accused them of planning to stage “mass riots.\"\n\nMoscow has rejected the charges. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Lukashenko Friday to mend the rift, and quickly congratulated him Monday on winning the vote. The Belarusian leader also received congratulations from Chinese President Xi Jinping and heads of several ex-Soviet nations.\n\nAssociated Press journalists Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Daria Litvinova in Moscow, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Matthew Lee in Washington, Danica Kirka in London, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Frank Jordans in Berlin and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this story.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/08/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2016/06/14/the-latest-german-police-appeal-for-video-of-lille-violence/85857596/", "title": "The Latest: Celebrations in Iceland after famous draw", "text": "AP\n\nPARIS (AP) — The Latest from soccer's European Championship (all times local):\n\n___\n\n11:25 p.m.\n\nThere was unrestrained joy in Iceland's capital Reykjavik on Tuesday evening at Iceland's draw with Portugal. Thorir Gudmundsson told The Associated Press from Iceland that 3,000 people - one percent of the country's population - watched the game on a giant screen in downtown Reykjavik.\n\n\"The area is packed with people whose faces are painted red, white and blue,\" he said. \"Strangers embracing and singing and dancing.\"\n\nIceland is the smallest country by population to qualify for the European Championship.\n\n____\n\n10:51 p.m.\n\nBirkir Bjarnason volleyed in the equalizing goal to help Iceland hold Portugal to a 1-1 draw Tuesday at the European Championship.\n\nPortugal was the better team and had long spells of domination but wasted many good chances.\n\nNani put Portugal in front in the first half on a day Cristiano Ronaldo equaled Luis Figo's national team record of 127 appearances.\n\n___\n\n10:10 p.m.\n\nBirkir Bjarnason curled in a shot at the far post to give Iceland an equalizer against Portugal at the European Championship. The teams are tied 1-1.\n\nThe goal was Iceland's first at a major tournament.\n\n___\n\n10:06 p.m.\n\nGOAL: Birkir Bjarnason scores for Iceland in the 50th minute. Iceland and Portugal are tied 1-1.\n\n___\n\n10:00 p.m.\n\nTwo police trucks carrying Russian supporters have arrived at a Marseille police station where the fans are expected to be held overnight.\n\nThe Russians were detained earlier Tuesday near the southern city of Nice as they were heading by bus to Lille, where their team is playing Slovakia on Wednesday. England faces Wales the following day in nearby Lens.\n\nA local official said earlier that a bus carrying 29 Russian fans was stopped by police after leaving a hotel near the Cote d'Azur town of Mandelieu-La Napoule. It was not immediately clear how many were taken to the Marseille police station.\n\nAriane Parachini, head of communications for the local authorities, said police stopped the fans to see whether any hooligans were among them. An unspecified number were taken to detention centers, a possible prelude to deportation.\n\nThe police action follows violent clashes between Russia and England fans in Marseille ahead of their teams' European Championship opener, a 1-1 draw on Saturday night.\n\n___\n\n9:46 p.m.\n\nNani gave Portugal a 1-0 halftime lead over Iceland at the European Championship with a clinical finish from close range in the 31st minute.\n\nStarting in place of the injured Ricardo Quaresma, Nani collected a cross from Andre Gomes on the right side of the area and slotted in at the near post.\n\n___\n\n9:37 p.m.\n\nNani scored with a clinical finish from close range to give Portugal a 1-0 lead over Iceland at the European Championship.\n\nStarting in place of the injured Ricardo Quaresma, Nani collected a cross from Andre Gomes on the right side of the area and slotted in at the near post.\n\n___\n\n9:31 p.m.\n\nGOAL: Nani scores for Portugal in the 31st minute. Portugal leads Iceland 1-0.\n\n___\n\n8:25 p.m.\n\nCristiano Ronaldo will equal Luis Figo's Portugal record of 127 caps against Iceland when their European Championship campaign opens in Group F in Saint-Etienne.\n\nWith Ricardo Quaresma still recovering from a hamstring injury and left on the bench, the Real Madrid star will be partnered up front by Nani. Joao Moutinho will start at the tip of Portugal's diamond midfield.\n\nThere is no surprise in the Iceland's team either, with midfielders Gylfi Sigurdsson and Aron Gunnarsson being given starting roles in Lars Lagerback's team. Nantes striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson leads the attack with Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.\n\n___\n\n8:15 p.m.\n\nHere are the lineups for the match between Portugal and Iceland at Saint-Etienne in Group F:\n\nPortugal: Rui Patricio, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, Ricardo Carvalho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Moutinho, Joao Mario, Vieirinha, Danilo, Andre Gomes, Nani.\n\nIceland: Hannes Halldorsson, Birkir Saevarsson, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Johann Gudmundsson, Birkir Bjarnason, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Kari Arnason, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Aron Gunnarsson, Ari Skulason.\n\n___\n\n7:57 p.m.\n\nRomania coach Anghel Iordanescu was upset by a reporter's question when asked about a player who was said to have been smoking a cigarette during the loss to France.\n\nIordanescu called the reported a \"liar\" and said he was \"misinforming people.\"\n\nA Romanian newspaper reported that substitute Denis Alibec could not be found to warm up early in the second half because he was smoking in the locker room. Alibec eventually came on in the 61st minute.\n\nIordanescu, speaking through a translator at Parc des Princes, says \"I don't defend Alibec. I think it is difficult to say what he really did, I was on the pitch.\"\n\nRomania, which lost to France 2-1 on Friday, plays its second match at the Euroean Championship against Switzerland on Wednesday.\n\n___\n\n7:55 p.m.\n\nSome scuffles have started in Lille, where English, Russian and Welsh fans are gathering ahead of European Championship matches in the northeastern French city and in nearby Lens.\n\nAt least one person was detained by police in Lille, which is on a direct rail line from London and Marseille. Russian and English fans clashed over the weekend in southern France.\n\nRussia is scheduled to play Slovakia on Wednesday in Lille, while England is to play Wales on Thursday in Lens.\n\nRussia has been threatened with disqualification by UEFA if its fans create any more violence at the team's next games.\n\n___\n\n7:52 p.m.\n\nAdam Szalai scored his first goal in 12 appearances and Zoltan Stieber added another to help Hungary beat Austria 2-0 at the European Championship.\n\nSzalai scored in the 62nd minute after playing a one-two with Laszlo Kleinheisler. He ran into the box to latch onto the return pass and shot under Austria goalkeeper Robert Almer.\n\nStieber added another in the 87th minute, about 20 minutes after Austria was reduced to 10 men. He ran from his own half onto a long ball and lifted it over the onrushing Almer.\n\nAleksandar Dragovic was shown a second yellow card and sent off in the 66th.\n\n___\n\nGOAL: Zoltan Stieber scores for Hungary in the 87th minute. Hungary leads Austria 2-0.\n\n___\n\n7:23 p.m.\n\nRED CARD: Aleksandar Dragovic of Austria gets a second yellow card and is sent off in the 66th minute.\n\n___\n\n7:22 p.m.\n\nAdam Szalai played a one-two with Hungary teammate Laszlo Kleinheisler, running into the box to latch onto the return pass and scoring under Austria goalkeeper Robert Almer.\n\nSzalai raced over to celebrate with the Hungary fans.\n\n___\n\n7:19 p.m.\n\nGOAL: Adam Szalai scores for Hungary in the 62nd minute. Hungary leads Austria 1-0.\n\n___\n\n6:48 p.m.\n\nAustria and Hungary are even at 0-0 at halftime at the European Championship.\n\nDavid Alaba has been at the heart of most of Austria's attacking moves. The Bayern Munich defender nearly put his team in the lead in the opening minute but his 25-yard shot hit the bottom of the right post.\n\nAlaba went close again nine minutes later following a through ball from Marko Arnautovic but his first-time effort was smothered by Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.\n\n___\n\n5:08 p.m.\n\nGabor Kiraly will set a tournament record when he starts in goal in Hungary's European Championship match against Austria.\n\nAt 40 years and 75 days, Kiraly is about to become the oldest player to take part in the tournament, beating Lothar Matthaus, who was 39 years and 91 days when Germany played Portugal at Euro 2000.\n\nKiraly made his international debut against Austria 18 years ago and saved a penalty after four minutes.\n\nVersatile Bayern Munich defender David Alaba will be in the midfield for Austria and will push forward in support of Marc Janko, who scored five goals in his team's unbeaten qualifying campaign.\n\n___\n\n5:03 p.m.\n\nHere are the lineups for the match between Austria and Hungary in Bordeaux in Group F:\n\nAustria: Robert Almer, Christian Fuchs, Martin Hinteregger, Aleksandar Dragovic, Florian Klein, David Alaba, Julian Baumgartlinger, Marko Arnautovic, Zlatko Junuzovic, Martin Harnik, Marc Janko.\n\nHungary: Gabor Kiraly, Attila Fiola, Richard Guzmics, Adam Lang, Tamas Kadar, Zoltan Gera, Adam Nagy, Laszlo Kleinheisler, Krisztian Nemeth, Balazs Dzsudzsak, Adam Szalai\n\n___\n\n4:40 p.m.\n\nBritish police are searching for 48 England fans involved in fighting at the European Championship in Marseille to ban them from attending soccer matches at home.\n\nMark Roberts, the head of soccer policing in Britain, told The Associated Press that his team has been working with French investigators to find the suspects following disorder around Saturday's game in Marseille.\n\nRoberts said in an interview in Lille that \"there were some English supporters who behaved badly. We have footage of those. There are currently 48 people we have images of ... and we will be seeking banning orders on them once we have identified them and they return to the U.K.\"\n\nEngland fans are starting to flood into Lille, which has direct train links from Marseille and London, ahead of Thursday's game against Wales in nearby Wales.\n\nRoberts says \"we are obviously concerned (about Lille). What we saw in Marseille was appalling violence. It was concerted and largely came from people who came with the sole intent of injuring others. So we have to be concerned.\"\n\n___\n\n4:25 p.m.\n\nAhead of his team's match against Russia, Slovakia coach Jan Kozak says \"the emotions tomorrow will calm down at the stadium and the atmosphere will be as it should be at such a great tournament.\"\n\nSlovakia plays Russia on Wednesday in Lille.\n\nUEFA ruled earlier Tuesday that Russia will be disqualified from Euro 2016 if there is more violence by the team's fans inside stadiums in France.\n\nKozak says \"football is for people\" and the Russian players, coaches and also fans \"would not deserve anything bad because \"it's above all about football.\"\n\n___\n\n4 p.m.\n\nRussian soccer officials have urged their fans to behave to avoid being kicked out of the European Championship by UEFA.\n\nThe governing body of European soccer has threatened to kick Russia out of the tournament if the team's fans cause more violence in stadiums.\n\nThe Russian soccer federation has asked fans to \"behave correctly and obey rules of behavior in stadiums and public places\" because \"the Russian national team and millions of fans in our country should not suffer because of thoughtless acts by individuals.\"\n\nThe federation also says the UEFA punishment is \"excessively severe.\"\n\n___\n\n2:55 p.m.\n\nThe Slovakian soccer federation has urged its fans to avoid Russian and England supporters in the northern French cities of Lille and lens.\n\nSlovakia faces Russia on Wednesday in Lille in its second Group B game. England plays Wales on Thursday in nearby Lens.\n\nUEFA on Tuesday said Russia will be disqualified from the European Championship if there is more violence from the team's fans inside stadiums in France.\n\nThe federation says Slovak fans should avoid places where groups of English or Russian supporters gather, not to react to any provocation and to immediately leave a scene of a conflict.\n\n___\n\n2:50 p.m.\n\nRussian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says there will be no appeal against a UEFA ruling threatening disqualification from the European Championship for more acts of violence by the team's fans.\n\nMutko, who is also the president of the Russian Football Union, says \"the punishment is excessive\" and calls the 150,000 euro ($169,000) fine \"huge,\" but says \"there is no sense in appealing.\"\n\nMutko comments were reported by Russian news agency R-Sport.\n\nUEFA said more fan violence from Russians inside the stadium at any of the team's remaining games would trigger expulsion from the tournament.\n\nMutko, however, says it would be wrong to expel Russia's team for the misdeeds of its fans.\n\nRussia was charged after its fans attacked English supporters following a 1-1 draw in Marseille on Saturday.\n\n___\n\n2:30 p.m.\n\nRussia coach Leonid Slutsky says \"we are sure we are not going to be kicked out (of Euro 2016).\"\n\nSlutsky's was speaking Tuesday shortly after UEFA's disciplinary body said Russia will be disqualified from the European Championship if there is more fan violence inside stadiums in France after its fans attacked English rivals in Marseille after Saturday's 1-1 draw.\n\nRussia's next match is against Slovakia on Wednesday in Lille.\n\nSlutsky says \"there is not going to be any injustice. We are sure (our fans) will not do the same, they will not give any reasons to disqualify our team.\"\n\nRussia, which was also charged over fan racism and fireworks being set off during the game, has been fined 150,000 euros ($169,000) by UEFA.\n\nSlutsky says \"we have addressed our supporters and asked them to behave within the framework of rules. We need their support. They supported us very well during the England game.\"\n\nRussia forward Artem Dzyuba says the players \"don't want to be disqualified from Euro 2016 because of this kind of situation. ... Our supporters have to focus on just supporting us and we will try to show our best qualities in order to play in this competition.\"\n\n___\n\n1:50 p.m.\n\nThe English Football Association says it has contacted players' families and given them advice ahead of Thursday's match between England and Wales at the European Championship, which is being played amid tightened security after fan trouble last week.\n\nThere was fighting inside and outside the Stade Velodrome in Marseille when England played Russia on Saturday. The wife of England striker Jamie Vardy says she got caught up in the violence.\n\nFA spokesman Mark Whittle said Tuesday there is a private website for family members and friends that players can access to receive up-to-date information and that the FA has staff in place to give safety advice to concerned family members.\n\nEngland midfielder Adam Lallana has friends and family coming to the match against Wales and says \"we've just got to hope the security is there and we trust everyone to do their job.\"\n\n___\n\n11:55 a.m.\n\nUEFA's disciplinary body says Russia will be disqualified from the European Championship if there is more fan violence inside stadiums in France.\n\nRussia was charged after its fans attacked English rivals in Marseille after Saturday's 1-1 draw.\n\nRussia, which was also charged over fan racism and fireworks being set off during the game, has been fined 150,000 euros ($169,000) by UEFA.\n\nUEFA says Russia's \"disqualification is suspended until the end of the tournament. Such suspension will be lifted if incidents of a similar nature (crowd disturbances) happen inside the stadium at any of the remaining matches of the Russian team during the tournament.\"\n\nRussia has two more games in Group B.\n\n___\n\n11:40 a.m.\n\nPresident Vladimir Putin's spokesman says Russian soccer fans in France should observe the law and he has urged them not to respond to any \"provocations.\"\n\n\"Violations of the law have been committed by fans from various nations, who have gone on rampages in Marseille and some other places. It's absolutely unacceptable, and we certainly expect our citizens to respect the country's laws,\" Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call. \"Regrettably, fans from various nations have taken part in those rampages, regrettably including Russia.\"\n\nAsked about statements from some Russian officials who praised Russian fans for their action, Peskov said he disagrees.\n\n\"I can't agree with those statements, and in any case they can't represent the official viewpoint,\" he said.\n\nResponding to questions about a bus full of Russian soccer fans who face deportation from France, he said that Russian consular officials are doing what is necessary to ensure their rights.\n\n___\n\n11:25 a.m.\n\nA bus carrying Russian fans has been detained near the French city of Nice amid concerns over hooligan violence after Russian fans attacked English supporters last week.\n\nA local official says a bus carrying 29 Russian fans was stopped by police after leaving a hotel near the Cote d'Azur town of Mandelieu-La Napoule on Tuesday.\n\nPrefecture communications chief Ariane Parachini says police stopped the fans to see whether any hooligans were among them. An unspecified number have been taken to detention centers, a possible prelude to deportation.\n\nRussian Embassy spokesman Sergei Parinov confirmed the episode.\n\nRussia will play Slovakia in Lille on Wednesday, and England faces Wales the next day in Lens, raising the prospect of more clashes.\n\n___\n\n11:10 a.m.\n\nGerman police are appealing for people to come forward with video recordings of violence involving suspected German hooligans before their country's opening European Championship match in Lille.\n\nThe Federal Criminal Police Office on Tuesday called for witnesses to submit material via its website at http://www.bka-hinweisportal.de/index.pl?lang=en and said the portal will remain in place for other games at the tournament.\n\nAuthorities have said that two people were slightly injured in Lille on Sunday during violence involving supporters from Germany and Ukraine. The incidents took place hours before Germany beat Ukraine 2-0 in the northern city.\n\n___\n\n11 a.m.\n\nFrench authorities say a 2,400-strong security force is being deployed in Lens as the town prepares for an influx of 40,000 to 50,000 England and Wales fans for Thursday's European Championship game.\n\nThe policing operation in Euro 2016's smallest host city and its 35,000-capacity stadium has been intensified after clashes involving England and Russia fans around their opening Group B game in Marseille.\n\nRegional administration head Fabienne Buccio says 1,200 police officers and the same number of private security guards will be in Lens, whose population can fit in the Stade Bollaert-Delelis.\n\nPolice will be at the stadium to help separate fans. UEFA acknowledged there were segregation problems at Marseille's Stade Velodrome.\n\nBuccio says supermarkets around Lens will be banned from selling alcohol on Wednesday and Thursday.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/06/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/middleeast/iran-mahsa-amini-death-widespread-protests-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Iranian women burn their hijabs as hundreds protest death of Mahsa ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIn the video, a massive crowd cheers as a woman lifts a pair of scissors to her hair – exposed, without a hijab in sight. The sea of people, many of them men, roar as she chops off her ponytail and raises her fist in the air.\n\nIt was a powerful act of defiance Tuesday night in the Iranian city of Kerman, where women are required to wear hijabs (or headscarves) in public, as outrage over the death of a woman in police custody fuels protests across the country.\n\nA woman in Tehran cuts off her ponytail before a cheering crowd of protesters on Tuesday. Twitter/cheshm_abi\n\nIranian authorities said Wednesday that three people, including a member of the security forces, have been killed in the unrest, which has stretched into a fifth day.\n\nHuman rights groups have reported that at least seven people have been killed.\n\nThe death last week of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran by morality police – a dedicated unit that enforces strict dress codes for women, such as wearing the compulsory headscarf – has sparked an outpouring anger over issues ranging from freedoms in the Islamic Republic to the crippling economic impacts of sanctions.\n\nThe protests are striking for their scale, ferocity and rare feminist nature; the last demonstrations of this size were three years ago, after the government hiked gas prices in 2019.\n\nAfter starting Saturday at Amini’s funeral in Iran’s Kurdistan province, the demonstrations have swept much of the country, leading to clashes with security forces trying to quell them.\n\nIran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made no mention of the protests during a speech on Wednesday to veterans and military commanders commemorating the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.\n\nThe prosecutor in the western city of Kermanshah said two people were killed during “riots” on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The official IRNA state news agency said a police “assistant” was killed and four others injured during protests in Shiraz, the capital city of Fars province in southwestern Iran.\n\nA 23-year-old in Urmia and a 16-year-old in Piranshahar were shot dead during protests on Tuesday, bringing the total number of demonstrators killed to seven, according to two Kurdish human rights groups monitoring violations in Iran – Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Hengaw, a Norwegian-registered organization.\n\nIranian authorities did not confirm the deaths.\n\nA woman sets her headscarf alight during protests in central Tehran. SalamPix/Abaca/Sipa USA\n\nThousands took to the streets Tuesday night, with videos of protests emerging from dozens of towns and cities – ranging from the capital Tehran to more traditionally conservative strongholds like Mashad.\n\nFootage shows some protesters chanting, “Women, life, freedom.” Others can be seen setting up bonfires, scuffling with police, or removing and burning their headscarves – as well as destroying posters of the country’s Supreme Leader and shouting, “Death to the dictator.”\n\nIn one video in Tehran, young protesters march around a bonfire on the street at night, chanting: “We are the children of war. Come on and fight, and we’ll fight back.”\n\nAlmost all the provincial towns in Iran’s Kurdish region, including Kermanshah and Hamedan, have seen demonstrations as well.\n\nWitnesses tell CNN that the Tuesday night demonstrations appeared to be “flash protests” – meaning groups form and disperse quickly, to avoid run-ins with Iran’s security forces after the escalating violence of the last week.\n\nA source said there was at least one instance of a heavy-handed police response on Tuesday, near Iran’s Enghelab (“Revolution”) Square on the western side of Tehran University – historically a rallying point for protests.\n\n“Two young men were hit and beaten up by plainclothes police and anti-riot police, then dragged to the van in front of (the) subway entrance gate,” an eyewitness told CNN. “A wounded girl lying on the sidewalk was taken by ambulance to the hospital, and five others arrested on the north side of Enghelab Square.”\n\nHengaw said 450 people have been injured in the protests.\n\nPromises of a ‘thorough investigation’\n\nAmini was stopped and detained by Iran’s morality police last Tuesday. Iranian officials said that she died last Friday after suffering a “heart attack” and falling into a coma following her arrest.\n\nHowever, her family said she had no pre-existing heart condition, according to Emtedad news, an Iranian pro-reform media outlet which claimed to have spoken to Amini’s father.\n\nPublic anger has grown in Iran since authorities announced Mahsa Amini's death. AFP/Getty Images\n\nEdited security camera footage released by Iran’s state media appeared to show Amini collapsing at a “re-education” center where she was taken to receive “guidance” on her attire.\n\nIran’s morality police are part of the country’s law enforcement and are tasked with enforcing the strict social rules of the Islamic Republic, including its dress code that mandates women wear a headscarf, or hijab, in public.\n\nAn aide to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei promised a “thorough investigation” into Amini’s death during a meeting with her family in their home on Monday, according to Iran’s semi-official Nour News agency.\n\nAbdolreza Pourzahabi, Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s Kurdish province, said the Supreme Leader “is sad” and that the family’s sorrow “is his sorrow too,” according to Nour.\n\nHe added that he hopes the family shows “good will to help bring back calm in society.”\n\nDuring a news conference, also on Monday, Greater Tehran Police Commander Hossein Rahimi denied “false accusations” against the Iranian police, saying they had “done everything” to keep Amini alive.\n\nHe added that Amini had not been harmed physically during or after she was taken into custody, and called her death “unfortunate.”\n\nIn the wake of Amini’s death, internet monitoring website Netblocks has documented internet outages since Friday – a tactic Iran has previously used to prevent the spread of protests.\n\nOn Monday, the watchdog said that “real-time network data show a near-total disruption to internet connectivity in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province.”\n\nIran’s minister of communications, Issa Zarepour, said that internet services could be disrupted for “security purposes and discussions related to recent events,” by security forces, the country’s semi-official ISNA news agency reported.", "authors": ["Jessie Yeung Ramin Mostaghim Jomana Karadsheh Mostafa Salem Jennifer Deaton", "Jessie Yeung", "Ramin Mostaghim", "Jomana Karadsheh", "Mostafa Salem", "Jennifer Deaton"], "publish_date": "2022/09/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/21/football/iran-football-world-cup-protests-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "England vs. Iran: For Iranians, this World Cup is about more than ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFor the last few months, soccer in Iran has witnessed small acts of defiance against the country’s regime amid widespread protests in the country; Sardar Azmoun’s refusal to celebrate scoring an equalizer against Senegal and several players changing their social media profile pictures to black.\n\nSoccer, like everything else in Iran, has been affected by the protests, chaos and violence convulsing the country and threatening the very nature of the regime that has been in power for more than 40 years.\n\nIt is amid this turmoil the Iranian national team has traveled across the Persian Gulf to Qatar where it will face two of the country’s fiercest geopolitical rivals, England and the US, in its group – the ‘Old Fox’ and the ‘Great Satan’ as they are referred to colloquially by some in Iran.\n\n“How can this team go and perform when you’re supposed to be a national team, a representative of the people?” Peyvand Mossavat, an Iranian-born Canadian former soccer player and now coach, told CNN Sport.\n\nIn the buildup to the World Cup in Qatar, there were calls for Iran to be thrown out of the tournament. As the team prepares to play England for its opening World Cup match on 21 November, all eyes will be on its players for more than soccer.\n\nThe protests, referred to by experts as the most significant since the establishment of clerical rule following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained by Iran’s morality police allegedly for not abiding by the country’s conservative dress code.\n\nIranian demonstrators take to the streets of Tehran during a protest for Mahsa Amini in September, days after she died in police custody. AFP/Getty Images\n\nWhat began as a clamor for women’s rights has morphed into a movement, still driven by women, demanding the end of a regime that “people no longer believe…is reformable,” Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour earlier this month. “They want a different social contract without the clergy claiming divine right.”\n\nIranian security forces have unleashed a violent response, killing at least 378 people, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO (IHRNGO) group has claimed, while a UN official says as many as 14,000 people have been arrested across the country, including journalists, activists, lawyers and educators.\n\nCNN cannot independently verify these figures as non-state media, the internet, and protest movements in Iran have all been suppressed. Death tolls vary by opposition groups, international rights organizations and journalists tracking the ongoing protests.\n\n‘The number one sport’\n\nFootball is the “number one sport” in Iran, Iranian-born Canadian coach Mossavat says, giving the team a potentially powerful platform from which to voice its support for the protestors.\n\nIn the past, the national team had been seen as more representative of the Iranian people than the regime, Omid Namazi – Iranian national team’s assistant coach from 2011 to 2014 – told CNN Sport.\n\nWhen the FIFA World Cup Twitter account posted images of the Iranian players smiling and goofing around in a pre-tournament photoshoot, it prompted criticism by some on social media.\n\n“I am so disappointed, so heartbroken by these,” Iranian-born football journalist Sina Saemian tweeted. “The lack of common sense, lack of empathy and insensitivity shown in these pictures is genuinely disheartening. The photo op is absolutely FIFA’s requirement, but the poses are not. There is a clear absence of any sense of awareness.”\n\nAlthough its star forward, Azmoun, has shown his support for the protestors, Namazi says that many of the other national team players have remained relatively quiet, “leaving a bad taste.”\n\n“The perception has really changed about the players, the national team itself,” he adds. “People call it the national team of the Islamic Republic and not the national team of the people of Iran.”\n\nIran's Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz attends a training session at the Al-Rayyan training facility in Doha on November 20, 2022, on the eve of his side's first match. Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAzmoun, who plays for the German team Bayer Leverkusen, posted multiple times to social media, and changed his profile picture to black in support of the protesters, and indicated that it could have cost him a place in the World Cup squad.\n\n“That is worth sacrificing for one strand of Iranian women’s hair,” he wrote in an Instagram story. “Shame on you who kill people so easily. Long live Iranian women.”\n\nAzmoun was ultimately selected to play in Qatar, but Iranwire, an opposition news outlet, reported that Iranian men’s football team manager Carlos Queiroz had come under pressure from Iran’s Sports Ministry to leave him out the squad.\n\nProtesting at the World Cup, on the biggest stage of all for football, carries potentially huge risks for the current players in the national team.\n\n“The players are under a lot of pressure by the government. It affects their livelihood, their future, their earnings,” Namazi says.\n\nNonetheless, players will be free to protest at the World Cup so long as they do not break FIFA rules, their manager Queiroz has said.\n\n“I don’t know if they’ll do anything,” Iranian football fan Payam, who didn’t give his surname for safety reasons, tells CNN Sport.\n\n“We are all hoping they do something…If they don’t, it’s going to be a big egg on their face, to be honest.”\n\nDefender Ehsan Hajsafi became the first member of the national team to speak out at the World Cup in apparent support of anti-government protests at home. “They should know that we are with them. And we support them. And we sympathize with them regarding the conditions,” he told reporters, per Reuters, on Sunday.\n\nSaeed Piramoon imitates cutting his hair during a match. Telegram/Kanali\n\nCNN has reached out for comment to FIFA regarding its stance on potential player protests but, at the time of publication, had not yet received a response.\n\nFormer player Ali Daei, a soccer great in Iran, has publicly supported the protestors, with Daei refusing to attend the World Cup in solidarity with protestors.\n\nMeanwhile, beach soccer player Saeed Piramoon imitated cutting his hair, signaling his support for the protesters, after he scored the winning goal in the final of the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup while his team was seen not singing the Iranian national anthem before the match.\n\nIran’s football authorities vowed that “people who have not followed professional and sports ethics … will be dealt with according to the regulations,” a statement published by Iran’s Football Federation after the beach soccer game said.\n\n“I’ve got goosebumps just telling you the courage that it takes,” Mossavat says. “Their entire team was reported to have been taken away from the airport because they didn’t celebrate.”\n\nA video published on BBC Persian allegedly showed journalists blocked from speaking to the national team when they arrived back at the Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran. CNN could not verify the video.\n\nThe build-up to the World Cup has been dominated by discussions surrounding human rights, from the death of migrant workers and the conditions many have endured in Qatar, to LGBTQ and women’s rights.\n\nIran faces England in its opening World Cup match. In October the Athletic reported that England didn’t have any plans to “publicly demonstrate its solidarity” with the Iranian protestors. Speaking to CNN, an English Football Association spokesperson said: “We are aware of the protests in Iran, and following the situation. It is obviously worrying, but the best people to comment on it are the Iranian people.”\n\nCNN has also reached out to the Welsh FA and US Soccer, teams also in Iran’s group, but, at the time of publication, had yet to receive a response.\n\n‘Maybe we can show people what’s going on’\n\nIn the wake of the protests and the human rights violations happening in Iran, several groups inside and outside the country have called upon FIFA to ban it from the World Cup.\n\nIn October, a group of prominent Iranian athletes lobbied FIFA via a law firm, urging it to suspend the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) and ban it from participating at the World Cup.\n\n“Iran’s brutality and belligerence towards its own people has reached a tipping point, demanding an unequivocal and firm disassociation from the footballing and sports world,” a press release issued alongside the letter reads.\n\nThey were joined in this stance by a human rights group, ‘Open Stadiums,’ which describes itself as “a movement of Iranian women seeking to end discrimination” and allow women to attend football stadiums. “The Iranian FA is not only an accomplice of the crimes of the regime, it is a direct threat to the security of female fans in Iran and wherever our national team plays in the world,” the group wrote in an open letter to FIFA in September.\n\nIranian women were allowed to attend a national football championship match for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution on August 25, 2022. Hossein Zohrevand/Tasnim News/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe Ukrainian Football Association also called on FIFA to “consider excluding” Iran’s national team, citing the “systematic human rights violations” there, and “the possible involvement of Iran in the military aggression of Russia against Ukraine.”\n\nCNN has reached out to FIFA and the FFIRI for comment about calls for Iran to be banned from the Cup but, at the time of publication, had not received a response.\n\nFIFA President Gianni Infantino defended Iran’s participation in the 2022 Qatar World Cup in his pre-tournament press conference, saying it is “two football teams” going head-to-head in matches rather than “two regimes” or “two ideologies.”\n\nInfantino reminded journalists of FIFA’s role as an organization, saying “we’re not the United Nations. We’re not the world police. We’re not… I don’t know the blue helmets.”\n\nSaman Ghoddos, Iran’s only player to play in the English Premier League, and who has publicly supported the protests, also believes that Iran should compete at the World Cup.\n\n“I’ve heard about it and from my point of view, I don’t know if it’s the right direction,” he told CNN’s Don Riddell in October. “Because I always think that football should be outside politics and should not be involved in that.\n\n“But I don’t think it’s the right move to kick out Iran from the World Cup, but maybe we can put a light and show people what’s going on.”\n\nFor Mossavat, the World Cup seems to be operating in an alternate reality to the protests unfolding in his home country.\n\n“While this is happening, I cannot see people being overly excited [about the World Cup] when they’re out on the street fighting for freedom,” Mossavat says. “I think it’s going to be difficult to galvanize people.”\n\nSaman Ghoddos plays for Brentford. John Patrick Fletcher/Shutterstock\n\nThe national team, Queiroz said on Twitter, are seeking to bring “joy, happiness and pride” to the fans in Iran.\n\n“For him to have the audacity to come and say: ‘Oh, our job is to entertain people and make people happy.’ What people are you making happy?” Mossavat says.\n\n“Can Mahsa Amini’s parents, or [the parents] of Navid Afkari…be happy, be joyful to watch you play football? That’s impossible.”\n\nAfkari was a famous Iranian wrestler who was executed by the government in Iran in 2020 for a crime human rights activists, his family and friends say he did not commit.\n\nFootball seems of diminished importance in the wake of such grief that Iranians have experienced in the last few months.\n\n“When you know what’s going on, it’s very difficult to prioritize football,” Ghoddos added. “It’s very difficult and football comes in the second hand because it’s lives that are being lost by fighting for freedom.”\n\nWhen Iran’s football team takes to the field at the World Cup, complete with national anthems, flags and as a tangible manifestation of the country itself, more than progress to the knockout stages is at stake, for it will find itself inadvertently entangled in the fight for Iran’s future.", "authors": ["Issy Ronald"], "publish_date": "2022/11/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/middleeast/iran-protests-mahsa-amini-father-internet-blackout-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Mahsa Amini's father says Iran authorities lied about her death, as ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe father of an Iranian woman who died in police custody last week has accused authorities of lying about her death, as protests rage nationwide despite the government’s attempt to curb dissent with an internet blackout.\n\nAmjad Amini, whose daughter Mahsa died after being arrested in Tehran by morality police, said doctors had refused to let him see his daughter after her death.\n\nIranian officials have claimed she died after suffering a “heart attack” and falling into a coma, but her family have said she had no pre-existing heart condition, according to Emtedad news, an Iranian pro-reform media outlet. Public skepticism over the officials’ account of her death has sparked an outpouring of anger that has spilled into deadly protests.\n\n“They’re lying. They’re telling lies. Everything is a lie … no matter how much I begged, they wouldn’t let me see my daughter,” Amjad Amini told BBC Persia on Wednesday.\n\nWhen he viewed his daughter’s body leading up to her funeral it was entirely wrapped except for her feet and face – though he noticed bruising on her feet. “I have no idea what they did to her,” he said.\n\nCNN could not independently verify his account with hospital officials.\n\nA protest in Tehran, Iran, over the death of Mahsa Amini, on September 21. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images\n\nCCTV footage released by Iran’s state media showed Mahsa Amini collapsing at a “re-education” center where she was taken by the morality police to receive “guidance” on her attire.\n\nHer death has sparked an outpouring of anger that has snowballed to include issues ranging from freedoms in the Islamic Republic to the crippling economic impacts of sanctions.\n\nProtests and deadly clashes with police have broken out in towns and cities across Iran, despite authorities’ attempts to curb the spread of demonstrations through internet blackouts.\n\nInternet blackouts\n\nMobile networks have been largely shut down and access to Instagram and Whatsapp have been restricted, internet watchdog Netblocks said on Wednesday evening. A second “nation-scale” loss of connectivity in Iran was reported by Netblocks on Thursday.\n\nThere was a near-total disruption to internet access in parts of Iran’s western Kurdistan province from Monday evening, and regional blackouts in other parts of the country including Sanandaj and Tehran.\n\nThis comes after Iran’s Minister of Communications warned that there could be internet disruptions “for security purposes and discussions related to recent events,” according to the country’s semi-official ISNA news agency.\n\nThe last time Iran saw such a severe blackout was when authorities tried to contain mass protests in late 2019, after fuel prices increased by as much as 300%.\n\nAt the time, Iran was taken almost entirely offline – which Oracle’s Internet Intelligence called the “largest internet shutdown ever observed in Iran.”\n\nThis week, several Iranian state government websites – including the official sites of the President and of Iran’s Central Bank – were also offline, with the hacker collective Anonymous claiming responsibility.\n\nDozens of people stage a demonstration to protest the death of Mahsa Amini in Tehran, Iran, on September 21. Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images\n\n“(Greetings) Citizens of Iran. This is a message from Anonymous to all Iran. We are here and we are with you,” a social media account affiliated with the group tweeted on Tuesday.\n\n“We support your determination for peace against brutality and massacres. We know that your determination stems not from vengeance, but from your longing for justice. All tyrants will fall before your courage. Long live free Iranian women.”\n\nThe hacker collective also took responsibility for temporarily taking down the website of Iran’s government-aligned Fars news agency early Wednesday morning, according to a tweet from Anonymous. The website has since come back online.\n\nViolent crackdown doesn't slow protest against Iran's morality police 02:35 - Source: CNN\n\nGrowing fury over deadly clashes\n\nAt least eight people, including a teenager, have been killed in recent days due to clashes at the protests, according to the human rights group Amnesty International.\n\nAt least four of those eight “died from injuries sustained from security forces firing metal pellets at close range,” said Amnesty in a report published Wednesday.\n\nFour others were shot by security forces, Amnesty said, citing sources in Iran. It added that eyewitness accounts and video analysis show a pattern of “Iranian security forces unlawfully and repeatedly firing metal pellets directly at protesters.”\n\nRiot police were mobilized to disperse protesters Wednesday night in the capital Tehran, and were seen arresting several people, according to eyewitnesses who did not want to be named for safety reasons.\n\nA bin burning in the middle of an intersection during a protest in Tehran, Iran, on September 20. AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe riot police deployed tear gas, with a “heavy-handed crackdown” near Tehran University, said an eyewitness.\n\nAnother eyewitness in the city’s eastern district said protesters were heard shouting “Death to the dictator,” a reference to Iran’s Supreme Leader, and “I kill anyone who killed my sister,” referring to Amini.\n\nVideos from protests nationwide show people destroying posters of the Supreme Leader, and women burning their hijabs and cutting off their hair in a symbolic show of defiance.\n\nCNN has reached out to the police and Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), which joined riot police on Wednesday night in Tehran, for comment.\n\nThe IRGC issued a warning to protesters in a statement Thursday, and called on the judiciary to identify people responsible for spreading “rumors” on social media.\n\nThe IRGC accused protesters of “rioting” and “vandalism,” and called on the police to “protect the security of the nation.”\n\nMeanwhile, Fars news agency reported Thursday that two members of Iran’s Basij paramilitary organization – a volunteer paramilitary group connected to the IRGC – were killed separately during protests in Iranian provinces.\n\n“Rioters” stabbed one Basij member in Tabriz, the capital city of northwestern Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, Fars reported. State-run Al Alam said that another Basij member was killed in Qazvin province.\n\nA propaganda-style video titled “When the Basij Enters,” published by Fars on Thursday, allegedly showed Basij members on motorcycles clearing barricades and detaining men on the street. The video does not specify a location or a date.\n\nInternational activists and leaders have also expressed concern about the protests and alleged police violence.\n\nSweden’s Foreign Minister said on Wednesday that Sweden stands with Iranians mourning Amini, and demanded that authorities respect their right to peaceful protest. Germany also called on Iranian authorities to “allow peaceful demonstrations and, above all, not to use any further violence” during a news conference on Wednesday.\n\nBritish Foreign Office Minister Tariq Ahmad said the United Kingdom was “extremely concerned at reports of serious mistreatment of Ms Amini, and many others, by the security forces.”\n\n“The use of violence in response to the expression of fundamental rights, by women or any other members of Iranian society, is wholly unjustifiable,” his statement said.", "authors": ["Jessie Yeung Jomana Karadsheh Ramin Mostaghim Sahar Akbarzai", "Jessie Yeung", "Jomana Karadsheh", "Ramin Mostaghim", "Sahar Akbarzai"], "publish_date": "2022/09/22"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_7", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/24/us/white-christian-nationalism-blake-cec/index.html", "title": "An 'imposter Christianity' is threatening American democracy | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThree men, eyes closed and heads bowed, pray before a rough-hewn wooden cross. Another man wraps his arms around a massive Bible pressed against his chest like a shield. All throughout the crowd, people wave “Jesus Saves” banners and pump their fists toward the sky.\n\nAt first glance, these snapshots look like scenes from an outdoor church rally. But this event wasn’t a revival; it was what some call a Christian revolt. These were photos of people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, during an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.\n\nThe insurrection marked the first time many Americans realized the US is facing a burgeoning White Christian nationalist movement. This movement uses Christian language to cloak sexism and hostility to Black people and non-White immigrants in its quest to create a White Christian America.\n\nA report from a team of clergy, scholars and advocates — sponsored by two groups that advocate for the separation of church and state — concluded that this ideology was used to “bolster, justify and intensify” the attack on the US Capitol.\n\nDemonstrators pray outside the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nMuch of the House January 6 committee’s focus so far has been on right-wing extremist groups. But there are plenty of other Americans who have adopted teachings of the White Christian nationalists who stormed the Capitol — often without knowing it, scholars, historians, sociologists and clergy say.\n\nWhite Christian nationalist beliefs have infiltrated the religious mainstream so thoroughly that virtually any conservative Christian pastor who tries to challenge its ideology risks their career, says Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the New York Times bestseller, “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.”\n\n“These ideas are so widespread that any individual pastor or Christian leader who tries to turn the tide and say, ‘Let’s look again at Jesus and scripture,’ are going to be tossed aside,” she says.\n\nThe ideas are also insidious because many sound like expressions of Christian piety or harmless references to US history. But White Christian nationalists interpret these ideas in ways that are potentially violent and heretical. Their movement is not only anti-democratic, it contradicts the life and teachings of Jesus, some clergy, scholars and historians say.\n\nSamuel Perry, a professor of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma who is authority on the ideology, calls it an “imposter Christianity.”\n\nHere are three key beliefs often tied to White Christian nationalism.\n\nA belief that the US was founded as a Christian nation\n\nOne of the banners spotted at the January 6 insurrection was a replica of the American flag with the caption, “Jesus is My Savior, Trump is My President.”\n\nErasing the line separating piety from politics is a key characteristic of White Christian nationalism. Many want to reduce or erase the separation of church and state, say those who study the movement.\n\nOne of the most popular beliefs among White Christian nationalists is that the US was founded as a Christian nation; the Founding Fathers were all orthodox, evangelical Christians; and God has chosen the US for a special role in history.\n\nThis painting chronicles lawmakers' signing of the Constitution of the United States in 1787. MPI/Getty Images\n\nThese beliefs are growing among Christians, according to a survey last year by the Barna Group, a company that conducts surveys about faith and culture for communities of faith and nonprofits. The group found that an “increasing number of American Christians believe strongly” that the US is a Christian nation, has not oppressed minorities, and has been chosen by God to lead the world.\n\nBut the notion that the US was founded as a Christian nation is bad history and bad theology, says Philip Gorski, a sociologist at Yale University and co-author of “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy.”\n\n“It’s a half truth, a mythological version of American history,” Gorski says.\n\nSome Founding Fathers did view the founding of the nation through a Biblical lens, Gorski says. (Every state constitution contains a reference to God or the divine.)\n\nBut many did not. And virtually none of them could be classified as evangelical Christians. They were a collection of atheists, Unitarians, Deists, and liberal Protestants and other denominations.\n\nA Trump supporter holds a Bible as he gathers with others outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. John Minchillo/AP\n\nThe Constitution also says nothing about God, the Bible or the Ten Commandments, Gorski says. And saying the US was founded as a Christian nation ignores the fact that much of its initial wealth was derived from slave labor and land stolen from Native Americans, he says.\n\nFor evidence that the United States was founded as a secular nation, look no further than the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, an agreement the US negotiated with a country in present-day Libya to end the practice of pirates attacking American ships. It was ratified unanimously by a Senate still half-filled with signers of the Constitution and declared, “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on Christian religion.”\n\nDoes this mean that any White Christian who salutes the flag and says they love their country is a Christian nationalist? No, not at all, historians say. A White Christian who says they love America and its values and institutions is not the same thing as a White Christian nationalist, scholars say.\n\nGorski also notes that many devout Black Americans have exhibited a form of patriotism that does not degenerate into Christian nationalism.\n\nAmerican social reformer and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, circa 1880. Graphic House/Getty Images\n\nGorski points to examples of the 19th century abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Both were devout Christians who expressed admiration for America and its founding documents. But their patriotism also meant that “they challenged the nation to live up to its highest principles, to become a place of freedom, equality, justice and inclusion,” he says.\n\nThe patriotism of White Christian nationalists, on the other hand, is a form of racial tribalism, Gorski says.\n\n“It’s a ‘My tribe. ‘We [White people] were here first. This is our country, and we don’t like people who are trying to change it or people who are different’ form of nationalism,” Gorski says.\n\nA belief in a ‘Warrior Christ’\n\nVideos from the January 6 attack show a chaotic, tear-gas-soaked scene at the Capitol that looked more like a medieval battle. Insurrectionists punched police officers, used flagpoles as spears and smashed officers’ faces against doors while a mob chanted, “Fight for Trump!” The attack left five people dead and nearly 140 law enforcement officers injured.\n\nThe incongruity of people carrying “Jesus Saves” signs while joining a mob whose members are pummeling police officers leads to an obvious question: How can White Christian nationalists who claim to follow Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” who renounced violence in the Gospels, support a violent insurrection?\n\nA protester holds up a Bible amid the crowd storming the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington on January 6, 2021. Ashley Gilbertson/VII/ Redux/\n\nThat’s because they follow a different Jesus than the one depicted in the Gospels, says Du Mez, who is also a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University — a Christian school — in Michigan. They follow the Jesus depicted in the Book of Revelation, the warrior with eyes like “flames of fire” and “a robe dipped in blood” who led the armies of heaven on white horses in a final, triumphant battle against the forces of the antichrist.\n\nWhite Christian nationalists have refashioned Jesus into a kick-butt savior who is willing to smite enemies to restore America to a Christian nation by force, if necessary, Du Mez and others say.\n\nWhile warlike language like putting on “the full armor of God” has long been common in Christian sermons and hymns, it has largely been interpreted as metaphorical. But many White Christian nationalists take that language literally.\n\nThat was clear on January 6. Some insurrectionists wore caps emblazoned with “God, Guns, Trump” and chanted that the blood of Jesus was washing Congress clean. One wrote “In God We Trust” on a set of gallows erected at the Capitol.\n\n“They want the warrior Christ who wields a bloody sword and defeats his enemies,” says Du Mez. “They want to battle with that Jesus. That Jesus brings peace, but only after he slays his enemies.”\n\nAnd that Jesus sanctions the use of righteous violence if a government opposes God, she says.\n\n“If you deem somebody in power to be working against the goals of a Christian America, then you should not submit to that authority and you should displace that authority,” she says. “Because the stakes are so high, the ends justify the means.”\n\nSupporters of then-President Donald Trump gather on the Ellipse near the White House to hear him speak on January 6, 2021. Mark Peterson/Redux\n\nThat ends-justify-the means approach is a key part of White Christian nationalism, says Du Mez. It’s why so many rallied behind former President Trump on January 6. She says he embodies a “militant White masculinity” that condones callous displays of power and appeals to Christian nationalists.\n\nBut with few exceptions, White Christian nationalists do not accept this “militant masculinity” when exhibited by Black, Middle Eastern and Latino men, Du Mez writes in “Jesus and John Wayne.” Aggression by people of color “is seen as a threat to the stability of home and nation,” she writes.\n\nWisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson echoed this double standard last year when he said on a radio talk show that he never really felt threatened by the mostly White mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6.\n\n“Now, had … President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned,” Johnson said.\n\nJohnson later elaborated, saying “there was nothing racial about my comments– nothing whatsoever.”\n\nThis embrace of a warrior Christ has shaped some White evangelicals’ attitudes on issues ranging from political violence to gun safety laws.\n\nA survey last year by the Public Religion Research Institute revealed that of all respondents, White evangelicals were the religious group most likely to agree with the statement, “true American patriots might have to resort to violence in order to save the country.”\n\nThere are also some White Christian nationalists who believe the Second Amendment was handed down by God.\n\nGun rights activists carrying semi-automatic firearms pose for a photograph in the state Capitol Building on January 31, 2020, in Frankfort, Kentucky. Bryan Woolston/Getty Images\n\nSamuel Perry, co-author of “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States,” wrote in a recent essay that among Americans surveyed who believe “The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation,” over two-thirds rejected the idea that the federal government should enact stricter gun laws.”\n\n“The more you line up with Christian nationalism, the less likely you are to support gun control,” wrote Perry. “Guns are practically an element of worship in the church of white Christian nationalism.”\n\nA belief there’s such a person as a ‘real American’\n\nIn the 2008 presidential election, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin introduced a new term to the political discourse. She talked about “the real America” and the “pro-America areas of this great nation.” Since then, many conservative political candidates have used the term “real Americans” to draw contrasts between their supporters and their opposition.\n\nSuch language has been co-opted into a worldview held by many White Christian nationalists: The nation is divided between “real Americans” and other citizens who don’t deserve the same rights, experts on White Christian nationalism say.\n\nRepublican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images\n\nGorski, author of “The Flag and the Cross,” says he found in his research a strong correlation between White Christian nationalism and support for gerrymandering—an electoral process where politicians manipulate district lines to favor one party or, some critics say, race over another. He found similar support among White Christian nationalists for the Electoral College, which gives disproportionate political power to many rural, largely White areas of the country.\n\nWhen White Christian nationalists claim an election was stolen, they are reflecting the belief that some votes don’t count, he says.\n\n“It’s the idea that we are the people, and our vote should count, and you’re not the people, and… you don’t really deserve to have a voice,” Gorski says. “It doesn’t matter what the voting machines say, because we know that all real Americans voted for Donald Trump.”\n\nWhy White Christian nationalism is a threat to democracy\n\nThose who want the US to become a Christian nation face a huge obstacle: Most Americans don’t subscribe to their vision of America.\n\nThe mainstreaming of White Christian nationalism comes as a growing number of Americans are rejecting organized religion. For the first time in the US last year, membership in communities of worship fell below 50%. Belief in God is at an all-time low, according to a recent Gallup poll.\n\nA parishioner bows his head to pray while celebrating midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on December 24, 2021, in New York City. Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images\n\nAdd to that the country’s growing racial and religious diversity. People who identify as White alone declined for the first time since the census began in 1790, and the majority of Americans under 18 are now people of color.\n\nOn the surface, White Christian nationalism should not be on the ascent in America.\n\nSo White Christian nationalists look for salvation from two sources.\n\nOne is the emboldened conservative majority on the US Supreme Court, where recent decisions overturning Roe vs. Wade and protecting school prayer offer them hope.\n\nCritics, on the other hand, say the high court is eroding the separation of church and state.\n\nNot all Christians who support the high court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and its school prayer decision are White nationalists. For example, plenty of Roman Catholics of all races support racial justice yet also backed the overturning of Roe.\n\nBut White Christian nationalists are inspired by those decisions because one of their central goals is to erase the separation of church and state in the US.\n\nA recent study concluded that five of the justices on the Supreme Court are the “most pro-religion since at least World War II,” and that the six conservative justices are “all Christian, mostly Catholic,” and “religiously devout.”\n\nThe sun sets in front of the Supreme Court on June 28, 2022, in Washington. A Supreme Court decision last month overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling and erased a federal right to an abortion. Nathan Howard/Getty Images\n\nWhile some Americans fear the dangers of one-party rule, others like Pamela Paul, a columnist, warn of the Supreme Court instituting one-religion rule.\n\n“With their brand of religious dogma losing its purchase, they’re imposing it on the country themselves,” she wrote in a recent New York Times editorial.\n\nGorski, the historian, says White Christian nationalism represents a grave threat to democracy because it defines “we the people” in a way that excludes many Americans.\n\n“The United States cannot be both a truly multiracial democracy – a people of people and a nation of nations – and a white Christian nation at the same time,” Gorski wrote in “The Flag and the Cross.” “This is why white Christian nationalism has become a serious threat to American democracy, perhaps the most serious threat it now faces.”\n\nThe other source of hope for White Christian nationalists is a former occupant of the White House. Their devotion to him is illustrated by one of most striking images from the January 6 insurrection: A sign depicting a Nordic-looking Jesus wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat.\n\nIf Trump returns to the presidency, some White Christian nationalists may interpret his political resurrection as divine intervention. His support among White evangelicals increased from 2016 to 2020.\n\nAnd what the men carrying wooden crosses among the Capitol mob couldn’t achieve on January 6, they might yet accomplish in 2024.", "authors": ["John Blake"], "publish_date": "2022/07/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/06/09/january-6-committee-hearing-live-updates/7529743001/", "title": "January 6 hearing recap: Panel presents Capitol attack evidence", "text": "Rep. Liz Cheney said Trump oversaw a \"7-part plan\" to overturn election.\n\nFormer Attorney General Bill Barr said he resigned rather than challenge election results.\n\nIvanka Trump said she accepted the Justice Department's finding of no election fraud.\n\nA documentarian showed footage of extremists meeting the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.\n\nWASHINGTON – The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack heard riveting testimony Thursday from a police officer wounded in the attack and broadcast to a prime-time audience video of a meeting between men charged with seditious conspiracy.\n\nThe committee also outlined subjects it will cover in a series of June hearings, including former President Donald Trump's pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election and his attempt to replace his attorney general.\n\nThe highlights:\n\n• Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards described how she suffered a concussion while grappling with rioters over bike racks. “I was slipping in people’s blood,” she said. “I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage.” She also recalled seeing Officer Brian Sicknick, who died the next day, turn ghostly white after being sprayed with chemicals.\n\n• Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the committee, charged that Trump “oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated 7-part plan to overturn the presidential election.\"\n\n• Video from British documentarian Nick Quested showed a meeting between leaders of two far-right groups, Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers, in a parking garage the night before the attack. Tarrio and Rhodes are each charged with seditious conspiracy and each has pleaded not guilty.\n\n• Former Attorney General William Barr told the House panel investigating the Capitol attack he resigned in December 2020 from the Trump administration rather than challenge the election results.\n\n• Ivanka Trump, the former president's daughter and senior adviser, said she accepted the Justice Department’s finding of no fraud sufficient to overturn the 2020 – in contrast to her father.\n\n\"Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy,\" said the committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. said, which he called \"the culmination of an attempted coup.\"\n\nTrump rebuked Jan. 6 panel as biased after first hearing\n\nFormer President Donald Trump derided the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as biased in a statement posted to Truth Social shortly after the panel's first hearing concluded.\n\n\"So the Unselect Committee of political HACKS refuses to play any of the many positive witnesses and statements, refuses to talk of the Election Fraud and irregularities that took place on a massive scale, and decided to use a documentary maker from Fake News ABC to spin only negative footage,\" he wrote. \"Our Country is in such trouble!\"\n\nThe former president's claims of election fraud are unfounded.\n\n- Ella Lee\n\nFact check:Joe Biden legally won presidential election, despite persistent contrary claims\n\nWhen is the next Jan. 6 committee hearing?\n\nThe next hearing of the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol will be Monday at 10 a.m.\n\nTwo more have been announced as well: Wednesday, also at 10 a.m and next Thursday (June 16) at 1 p.m.\n\nSeveral more hearings are expected to be announced in the coming days.Thursday's hearing was the first in a series of public hearings over the next few weeks.\n\nWho's watching?:Jan. 6 committee's long-awaited hearings promise revelations. Will a divided US want to hear them?\n\n- Chelsey Cox\n\nAt DC watch party, hearing gets positive reviews\n\nAfter the hearing concluded at a DC watch party hosted by progressive group Public Citizen, viewers left largely satisfied.\n\nDebbie Allen, 65, a DC native, says she \"was glad to see some new footage.\"\n\n\"I thought they were presenting a cohesive story that gave us a glimpse of what was happening before, during, and after the insurrection.\"\n\nAllen says she has never seen anything like the hearing before. \"I'm 65. The America I grew up in, I thought we were more united about good and bad, right and wrong.\"\n\n- Kenneth Tran\n\nNew evidence: Donald Trump didn't mind the idea of hanging Mike Pence\n\nOne new revelation that surfaced in this hearing: Direct quotes from Donald Trump expressing approval of threats by supporters to hang Vice President Mike Pence.\n\nIn previewing future testimony, committee member Liz Cheney said: \"You will hear that President Trump was yelling and, quote, 'really angry at advisors who told him he needed to be doing something more' and aware of the rioters' chants to 'hang Mike Pence'.\"\n\nShe added: \"The President responded with this sentiment: 'Maybe our supporters have the right idea.' Mike Pence, quote, 'deserves it'.\"\n\nThe New York Times reported last month that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told colleagues that Trump \"had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged.\"\n\nTrump was angry at Pence for his refusal to throw out the electoral votes that elected President Joe Biden; Pence said he lacked the legal authority to do such a thing.\n\n- David Jackson\n\nThe witnesses:Who were the witnesses at the Jan. 6 committee hearing? Here's who testified about the Capitol riot\n\n‘I was slipping in people’s blood,’ Capitol Police officer says\n\nA Capitol Police officer who was injured during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021 described what she saw as a “war scene” that caused her breath to catch into her throat as she saw what was going on.\n\n“It was something like I had seen out of the movies,” said Caroline Edwards. \"I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up.”\n\n“I saw friends with blood all over their faces,” Edwards said. “I was slipping in people’s blood. I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos.”\n\n- Erin Mansfield\n\nGallery:Chilling images from the Capitol riot: Jan. 6 insurrection in photos\n\nFor one attendee, Jan. 6 committee is compelling, but little hopes of change\n\nAt a DC watch party, Zak Sabim from Virginia listened to the hearing \"because I think right is right and wrong is wrong.\" He said he found the committee's evidence compelling.\n\n\"You have to document it. If it's not appreciated now. Hopefully people in the future will appreciate it,\" he said.\n\nBut Sabim also said he sees America as too polarized now for the committee to achieve any outcomes. The Capitol attack has become like a \"soap opera\" for Sabim.\n\n\"I feel like there's been a couple seasons I missed out on,\" he said \"It seems like something if you're a Democratic voter, you probably know all the cast of characters.\"\n\n- Kenneth Tran\n\nThe hearings:Who will be Jan. 6 hearing's most avid viewer? Donald Trump, with a team ready to hit back.\n\nProud Boys membership tripled; then they organized for Jan. 6\n\nMembership in the \"western chauvinist\" group the Proud Boys nearly tripled after then-President Donald Trump told them in a debate to \"stand back and stand by,\" according to testimony.\n\nThen, when Trump urged Twitter followers to show up for a rally on Jan. 6, “Be there, will be wild!” Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio created a social media group to organize its members to show up on Jan. 6.\n\nThe group was called a “Ministry of Self Defense,” according to Department of Justice Documents shared in the hearing.\n\n- Erin Mansfield\n\nWho are the Proud Boys? They joined the Wisconsin Proud Boys looking for brotherhood. They found racism, bullying and antisemitism.\n\nCapitol Police officer describes spraying of colleague who died\n\nCapitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick turned ghostly white after being sprayed with chemicals while grappling with rioters Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards told the House panel investigating the attack.\n\nSicknick died the next day from strokes ruled by natural causes. But Edwards, who suffered a concussion, said she returned to the police line where she served outside the House clashing with the mob over bicycle racks for more than a half-hour with Sicknick.\n\n“All of a sudden, I see movement to the left of me and I turned and it was Officer Sicknick with his head in this hands,” Edwards testified Thursday. “And he was ghostly pale, which I figured at that point that he had been sprayed and I was concerned.”\n\n“My cop alarm bells went off because if you get sprayed with pepper spray, you're going to turn red,” she added, holding up a sheet of paper. “He turned just about as pale as this sheet of paper.”\n\n- Bart Jansen\n\nEdwards describes blacking out after rioters ripped down first barricade\n\nCapitol Police officer Caroline Edwards described her injuries during the Jan. 6 attacks after rioters ripped down the first barricade moments after she told her sergeant that “we're going to need a few more people down here.”\n\nEdwards said that after the first barricade came down, she and other officers started grappling over the bike racks “to make sure that we can get more people down and get our CPU units time to answer the call.” But she said that she felt a back rack come on top of her head, and her foot caught the stair behind where she was standing.\n\n“My chin hit the handrail and then — I at that point I blacked out — but my back of my head clipped the concrete stairs behind me,” Edwards said.\n\n- Rebecca Morin\n\nLeaders of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers met in a parking garage\n\nLeaders of the ‘western chauvanist’ Proud Boys and the extremist militia group Oath Keepers met in a parking garage the night before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.\n\nNick Quested, a documentary filmmaker, testified that he and his crew went to pick up Enrique Tarrio from jail before meeting with Stewart Rhodes.\n\nThe crew “drove down into the parking garage and filmed the scene of Mr. Tarrio and Mr. Rhodes and certain other individuals in that garage,” Quested said.\n\n— Erin Mansfield\n\nCommittee airs film about Trump's inspiration to Proud Boys, other extremist groups\n\nThe committee produced video clips from a documentary about the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other white nationalist groups who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol – and Trump's incitement of them.\n\nThe film replayed Trump's infamous 2020 presidential debate comment about the Proud Boys – \"stand back and stand by\" – and his tweet encouraging people to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Many violent offenders said they believed they were acting at Trump's behest.\n\n\"We have obtained substantial evidence showing that the president's December 19th tweet, calling his followers to D.C. on January 6th, energized individuals from the Proud Boys and other extremist groups,\" said committee chairman Bennie Thompson.\n\nDocumentary filmmaker Nick Quested testified about his filming of the Proud Boys,\n\n- David Jackson\n\nProud Boys:Who are the Proud Boys? Far-right group has concerned experts for years\n\nHouse panel outlines hearing subjects\n\nRep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., outlined the subjects of other June hearings the House panel investigating the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021:\n\n--The hearing Monday at 10 a.m. will explore how former President Donald Trump and his advisers knew he lost the 2020 election, but still spread false and fraudulent information, Cheney said.\n\n--The hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. will reveal Trump corruptly planning to replace Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Cheney said.\n\n--The hearing Thursday at 1 p.m. will describe Trump’s pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors.\n\nThe fifth June hearing will focus on Trump pressuring officials in states he lost to change their results, particularly in Georgia where he urged them to “find” 11,780 votes he needed to win.\n\nThe final two hearings in June will cover Trump summoning a mob and directing them to march on the Capitol, and then failing to stop the violence, Cheney said.\n\n- Bart Jansen\n\nEdwards says she wondered ‘how we had gotten here’ during Capitol attacks\n\nCaroline Edwards, a U.S. Capitol Police officer injured during the Capitol attack, said that she had never had her “patriotism or duty been called into question” but that she would “gladly sacrifice everything to make sure that the America my grandfather defended is here for many years to come.”\n\nIn her opening statement, Edwards said that she had been called “Nancy Pelosi’s dog” and “a traitor to my country, my oath and my constitution” during the attacks at the Capitol.\n\n“In actuality, I wasn't none of those things,” she said. “I was an American standing face to face with other Americans asking myself…how we had gotten here.”\n\n- Rebecca Morin\n\nPence chief of staff: Veep chose Constitution over Trump\n\nMarc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, said he felt proud of much of what was accomplished during the Trump administration, but that his boss split with the president over fighting the election results.\n\nPence refused to single-handedly reject electors, as Trump and his lawyer, John Eastman, repeatedly pressured him to do.\n\n“I think he ultimately knew that his fidelity to the Constitution was his first and foremost oath,” Short told the House panel investigating the Capitol attack in a videotaped deposition. “That's what he articulated publicly. And I think that that's what he felt.”\n\n- Bart Jansen\n\nInvestigation remains ongoing, even as hearings begin\n\nMore information continues to pour into the committee investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is continuing, even as public hearings are ongoing.\n\nRep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., told the public to expect additional information to be included in the final report disclosed to the public because the committee’s investigation remains ongoing.\n\nCheney also said that the Department of Justice has been working with cooperating witnesses and so far has only disclosed some of the information it has identified.\n\n- Erin Mansfield\n\nAdviser Jason Miller: Donald Trump didn't believe evidence he had lost\n\nA Donald Trump political adviser whose videotaped testimony popped up at the Jan. 6 hearing said the committee did not broadcast his remarks in full.\n\nIn the hearing video, Miller testified that an aide told Trump he simply did not have the votes to win the 2020 election.\n\nOn Twitter, Miller said the video was cut off before his next remarks, which were about how Trump did not believe the analysis.\n\nHe provided a transcript:\n\n\"Q: Okay. And what was the President's reaction then when Matt said to him, 'hey, we've looked at the numbers, you're going to lose'? A: I think it's safe to say he disagreed with Matt's analysis.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nHead Oath Keeper:Vegas parking valet, Yale law graduate, unhinged Oath Keepers leader: Who is Stewart Rhodes?\n\nFor some DC watch party attendees, the hearing is personal\n\nTwo attendees, Whitney Williams and Raleigh Lancaster, both DC natives, say the hearing is more personal to them since they were close by when protestors breached the Capitol.\n\n\"This isn't really a place where this happens,\" says Lancaster. \"I've just never seen anything like this before.\"\n\nWilliams is retired, and is barely involved in politics. But because the attack was at her doorstep, \"it's so important,\" for her. She says she never listens to congressional hearings but tonight's hearing is different.\n\n\"It'd be a sad day for America,\" says Lancaster, if nothing comes out of the hearing.\n\n- Kenneth Tran\n\nCheney to Republicans: ‘Your dishonor will remain’\n\nIn the final remarks of her opening statement, Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney condemned the members of her party who have chosen to look the other way on the events of Jan. 6 and the efforts that led to it.\n\n“Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible,” she said. “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”\n\n- Ella Lee\n\nCommittee shows video detailing timeline of Capitol attack\n\nAfter opening remarks, the hearing turned to a video of the Jan. 6 attack, detailing minute-by-minute how the attack unfolded led by Trump’s speech outside the White House beforehand.\n\n“I hope Mike is going to do the right thing,” Trump is shown saying. ” I hope. Because if Mike does the right thing, we win the election.”\n\nThe video detailed involvement of the far-right organization Proud Boys. It also showed communication from Capitol Police officers as rioters began to breach the building, breaking windows and storming the steps as members of Congress met to certify the 2020 electoral count.\n\n- Joey Garrison\n\nWidows of officers who died as result of Jan. 6 emotional watching video\n\nCapitol Police officer Harry Dunn stretched his arm out around widows Serena Liebengood and Sandra Garza as the video played of the violence unfolding on Jan. 6.\n\nLiebengood and Garza pulled out tissues and wiped away tears watching the video — their husbands Howie Liebengood and Brian Sicknick died in the aftermath of Jan 6., one by suicide and one after suffering two strokes.\n\n– Dylan Wells\n\nSean Hannity, Kayleigh McEnany wanted Trump to end 'crazy' stuff\n\nThe committee has released notable text messages from major supporters who urged then-President Donald Trump to stop claiming the 2020 election had been stolen – advice Trump has ignored to this day.\n\nA day after the Jan. 6 insurrection, talk show host Sean Hannity texted White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany about what Trump needed: \"No more crazy people\" and \"no more stolen election talk ... Many people will quit.\"\n\nMcEnany texted back: “Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook.”\n\nTrump did not heed that advice.\n\n- David Jackson\n\nMilley recalls Meadows saying ‘need to kill’ narrative that Trump wasn’t in charge\n\nMark Meadows, who served as Trump’s chief of staff, told Gen. Mark Milley, Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that they “need to kill the narrative” that Trump was not in charge.\n\nMilley said during a video deposition that Vice President Mike Pence \"issued very explicit, very direct, unambiguous orders” to “get the military down here.\"\n\n“We need to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions,” Milley recalled Meadows telling him in a deposition excerpt. “We need to establish the narrative that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable.”\n\n- Rebecca Morin\n\nTrump met with Flynn, Powell, Giuliani before tweeting “Be there, will be wild!”\n\nFormer President Donald Trump met with former aide Gen. Michael Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell, and advisor Rudy Giuliani, among others, to discuss “having the military seize voting machines and potentially rerun elections,” according to Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.\n\nThe meeting that ran late into the evening took place on Dec. 18, according to Cheney. The president met with the group alone before “White House lawyers and other staff discovered the group was there and rushed to intervene.”\n\nThe next day, Trump tweeted that there would be a big protest in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6th. “Be there, will be wild!” he told his followers.\n\n- Erin Mansfield\n\nMore:What we don't know about Jan. 6: What Trump's family told the committee, whether attack was organized\n\nIvanka Trump accepted DOJ’s finding of no election fraud\n\nIvanka Trump, former President Donald Trump’s daughter and senior adviser, said she accepted the Justice Department’s finding of no fraud sufficient to overturn the 2020 – in contrast to her father.\n\nIvanka Trump said she trusted the finding because she respected then-Attorney General William Barr, who said he resigned in part rather than fight to overturn the election. Her conclusion contrasted to her father’s continued efforts to overturn election results.\n\n“It affected my perspective,” Ivanka Trump said. “I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.”\n\n- Bart Jansen\n\nIvanka's take:House Jan. 6 panel shows Ivanka Trump opposing claims of 2020 election fraud, in contrast to former President Donald Trump\n\nCheney: Trump had 7-part plan to overturn the presidential election\n\nRep. Liz Cheney said former President Donald Trump “oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated 7-part plan to overturn the presidential election.”\n\nCheney said Trump wanted to prevent the transfer of presidential power. She added that evidence of each element of the plan will be laid out during the hearing.\n\n“All Americans should keep and bear in mind that on the morning of Jan. 6, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain President of the United States despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election,” she said.\n\n- Rebecca Morin\n\nBennie Thompson: Donald Trump was \"the center of this conspiracy\"\n\nIn case there was any doubt, committee chairman Bennie Thompson made clear the night's main theme: President Donald Trump engineered a plot to steal the 2020 election from President-elect Joe Biden.\n\n\"Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy,\" Thompson said, describing Jan. 6 as \"the culmination of an attempted coup.\"\n\nThompson pledged to show evidence to back up his claim.\n\n- David Jackson\n\nWhat to know:Here's what you need to know about the Jan. 6 committee and its June hearings\n\nCheney: testimony will show Trump ignored aides' pleas to call off attack\n\nRep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said testimony from a more than a half-dozen Trump aides that Thursday’s hearing will highlight will show that Trump ignored pleas from his staff to call off the riot because he supported it.\n\n\"In the hearings to come, President Trump believed his supporters at the Capitol, and I quote, “were doing what they should be doing,’ Cheney said. “This is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob.\"\n\nCheney said that evidence will also show Trump was angry at advisor who told him that he needed to be do something more even though he was aware of threats to hang Vice President Mike Pence\n\n\"The attack on our Capitol was not a spontaneous riot,” Cheney said, pointing to intelligence about the attack beforehand.\n\n- Joey Garrison\n\nBarr opposed Trump’s claims 2020 election was ‘stolen’\n\nFormer Attorney General William Barr told the House panel investigating the Capitol attack he resigned in December 2020 from the Trump administration rather than challenge the election results.\n\nBarr, who has said publicly the Justice Department found no widespread fraud in the 2020 election, said he met with then-President Donald Trump on Nov. 23, Dec. 1 and Dec. 14 to make it clear he didn’t agree with putting out the election was stolen.\n\n“I told the president it was bull----,” Barr said in a videotaped deposition played at the hearing. “I didn’t want to be a part of it and that’s one of the reasons that went into me leaving when I did.”\n\n- Bart Jansen\n\nPolice officers and widows of officers who died are in attendance\n\nU.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, and D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone are in the hearing room, seated behind where witnesses will testify.\n\nErin Smith, Serena Liebengood, and Sandra Garza – all widows of officers who died in the aftermath of Jan. 6 – are seated with them.\n\nDunn is wearing a shirt that shows definitions of \"insurrection,\" including \"January 6, 2021\"\n\n– Dylan Wells\n\nThompson: American democracy ‘remains in danger’\n\nThe chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, will open Thursday’s hearing saying efforts to undermine the Constitution and thwart the will of the American people aren’t over, according to excerpts of his remarks.\n\nThompson, D-Miss., will say \"our democracy remains in danger\" and must be protected through the investigation of the Capitol attack. He said a series of hearings this month won’t just look backward at what happened Jan. 6, 2021, but also forward to protect the rule of law.\n\n“We can’t sweep what happened under the rug,” Thompson will say. “We must confront the truth with candor, resolve and determination.”\n\n--Bart Jansen\n\nWho's on the panel:Meet the members of the January 6 House select committee ahead of first public hearing Thursday\n\nOpen minds but no high expectations at a DC watch party\n\nAt a watch party in the Taft Memorial Carillon hosted by the non-profit progressive consumer group Public Citizen, a couple hundred of attendees are anxiously and excitedly waiting for the long awaited Jan. 6 hearing.\n\nGlenn Daigon, from North Bethesda MD, says he doesn't want to be too excited or disappointed with how the hearing turns out: \"I don't see this as a slam dunk either way.\"\n\nBut he would like to see at least some \"indictments and convictions.\" He says if there's no accountability for the Capitol attack, \"there's no point\" in the hearings.\n\n- Kenneth Tran\n\nWhat is Donald Trump doing during the hearing?\n\nDon't expect former President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence to testify –but Trump is expected to watch, according to people who have spoken with him in recent days.\n\nTrump, a prolific and mercurial watcher of television news during his four years in the White House wants to know what the special House committee, packed with political opponents, will bring out to show to the American people, particularly since he has no allies on the committee to tip him off ahead of time, said two people who have talked with him recently and spoke on condition of anonymity about private conversations.\n\nThe original panel would have included GOP allies of Trump but House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy removed all five of his choices after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of them.\n\n- Chelsey Cox\n\nTrump tuned in:Who will be Jan. 6 hearing's most avid viewer? Donald Trump, with a team ready to hit back.\n\nJim Jordan spurns Jan. 6 committee as Saturday subpoena deadline looms\n\nIn an 11-page letter sent to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questioned the panel’s legitimacy and again asked its members to share the information amassed on him before he agrees to testify.\n\n“While some courts have recognized the Select Committee’s investigation as having a legitimate legislative purpose, it does not necessarily follow that the Select Committee’s subpoena to me is in furtherance of a legitimate legislative purpose,” Jordan writes in the letter, sent the day of the committee’s first public hearing.\n\nJordan is one of five GOP members subpoenaed by the select committee, alongside Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania; Andy Biggs of Arizona; Mo Brooks of Alabama; and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California. Jordan has until Saturday to comply with the subpoena.\n\n- Ella Lee\n\nGet the latest politics news in your inbox:Sign up for our On Politics newsletter\n\nHouse GOP Leader McCarthy declines to address 2020 election legitimacy\n\nHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Thursday declined to say clearly whether President Joe Biden rightfully won the 2020 election.\n\n“We’ve asked this question a long time,” McCarthy said to reporters during a press conference. “Joe Biden is the president. I think you can look that there’s a lot of problems still with the election process.”\n\nMcCarthy, who said Thursday he has answered the questions many times before, has shifted his views since the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection attempt. He suggested days after the attack that Trump resign, but has refused to cooperate with a subpoena from the committee investigating that day.\n\n- Erin Mansfield\n\nBiden calls Jan. 6 attack a ‘flagrant violation of the Constitution’ ahead of primetime hearing\n\nPresident Joe Biden called the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol “a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution” Thursday, hours before a House committee investigating the insurrection holds its first public hearing.\n\n“A lot of Americans are going to see for the first time some of the details that occurred,” Biden said, giving unprompted remarks on the hearing at the beginning of a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Los Angeles at the Summit of Americas.\n\n“I think these guys broke the law and tried to turn around the results an of election. There's a lot of questions - who's responsible, who's involved? I'm not going to make a judgment on that.”\n\n- Joey Garrison\n\nMore:Menendez: Mexico's president tried to ‘blackmail’ Biden to invite ‘dictators’ to Americas summit\n\nBill Barr met with committee about Trump’s election fraud claims\n\nA week before the first public hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee, former attorney general Bill Barr met with the panel about Trump’s claims of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s claims are seen by some as a catalyst for the attack on the Capitol.\n\nBarr’s meeting focused on material in his book, \"One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General.\" Though he left the Trump administration weeks before the insurrection, Barr was still the nation’s top law enforcement officer during and after the presidential election.\n\nAfter a Justice Department investigation into the fraud claims, Barr told the Associated Press in December 2020 that the agency hadn’t “seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”\n\n- Chelsey Cox\n\nFirst 2 witnesses are injured Capitol Police officer, documentarian\n\nTwo witnesses spoke at the first hearing. One was Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a traumatic brain injury when the mob pushed her to the ground after breaking through a fence of bicycle racks outside the Capitol.\n\nShe was the first of 140 officers injured that day, according to the committee. Other officers have recalled hearing her pleas for help.\n\nThe other witness was an acclaimed British documentarian, Nick Quested, who filmed around the Capitol during the attack. The day before the riot, Quested also filmed the leaders of two far-right groups – Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who are each charged with seditious conspiracy – meeting in a parking garage near the Capitol, according to the New York Times.\n\nMore:Who invaded the US Capitol on Jan. 6? Criminal cases shed light on offenses\n\nWhat Republicans are saying: Some blast committee as illegitimate, partisan\n\nHouse Republicans have blasted the committee as illegitimate, partisan and a sham because of how it was set up.\n\nThe heart of the complaint is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to seat GOP Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio on the panel. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., then pulled his nominees rather than have her vet them. Pelosi then appointed nine members – including GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois – rather than the 13 authorized.\n\nFederal courts have upheld the panel’s authority repeatedly. But Republicans argue the one-sided appointments mean there will be no meaningful cross-examination of witnesses or alternate views presented during hearings.\n\nWhat we don't know about Jan. 6:What Trump's family told the committee, whether attack was organized\n\nBiden plans to watch hearings\n\nPresident Joe Biden is expected to watch some of Thursday’s hearing despite hosting the Summit of the Americas in California, according to White House chief of staff Ron Klain.\n\nBiden waived executive privilege to give the committee access to Trump administration documents as part of the investigation.\n\n“These are important hearings,” Klain told MSNBC's \"Deadline: White House\" on Wednesday. “He believes in executive privilege generally, but there is no executive privilege to overthrow the government of the United States. There is no executive privilege to protect plans on an insurrection.”\n\nWhat kind of evidence does the committee have?\n\nThe panel collected more than 100,000 documents and more than 1,000 witnesses cooperated in the inquiry. Pictures and thousands of hours of video from security cameras and body-worn cameras on police officers illustrate how the violent mob smashed its way into the Capitol.\n\n“People have gotten information in snippets over the course of a year plus, but the fact is that we’re going to tell the story in a coherent thread through the hearings,” said a committee member, Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. “It was a tragic event for our country that there were villains that day, of course. But there were people who were heroic, who through their actions really prevented a much worse outcome.”\n\nMore:After Jan. 6, lawmakers want to clarify that vice presidents have ceremonial role in counting votes\n\nMore:What we don't know about Jan. 6: What Trump's family told the committee, whether attack was organized\n\nMore:Prosecutors charge former Proud Boys leader, 4 others with seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack\n\nMore:Who has been subpoenaed so far by the Jan. 6 committee?", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/09/politics/gallery/january-6-hearings/index.html", "title": "Photos: The January 6 hearings | CNN Politics", "text": "The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol held its last public meeting on Monday, laying out its findings, approving its final report and outlining criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and other officials.\n\n\"Evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,\" the committee wrote in a summary of its final report. \"None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.\"\n\nThe committee voted to refer Trump to the Justice Department on multiple criminal charges, including obstructing an official proceeding, defrauding the United States, making false statements and giving aid or comfort to an insurrection. While the referrals are largely symbolic in nature — as the panel lacks prosecutorial powers and the Department of Justice is already conducting its own investigation — committee members have stressed the move serves as a way to document their views for the record. Attorney General Merrick Garland will make the ultimate call on charging decisions.\n\nThe committee's final report will be released to the public on Wednesday, marking the end of an expansive investigation that has spanned more than 17 months, encompassed more than 1,000 interviews and culminated in accusations that Trump and his closest allies sought to overthrow the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power.\n\nThe committee held a series of public hearings this year regarding the Capitol attack. Throughout the hearings, there was live testimony from more than a dozen witnesses and recorded depositions of more than 40 others. Much of the recorded testimony was from members of Trump's inner circle, including former Attorney General William Barr and Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/14/politics/donald-trump-statement-january-6-committee/index.html", "title": "Analysis: Donald Trump's wildest lines from his statement on the ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIn response to the second public hearing of the January 6 committee, former President Donald Trump released a 12-page statement – yes, 12 full pages! – seeking to rebut the charges leveled against him.\n\nIt’s filled with the usual name-calling, exaggerations and conspiracy theories that have dominated Trump’s post-2020 election life. But it’s also a window into the former President’s psyche as the January 6 committee weighs whether to recommend a criminal indictment of Trump to the Department of Justice.\n\nI went through Trump’s, um, statement. The lines from it you need to see are below.\n\n1. “If they had any real evidence, they’d hold real hearings with equal representation.”\n\nRemember that the reason there isn’t an independent commission – like the one that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks – is because Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell killed it after it had passed the House with 35 GOP votes. And away we go!\n\n2. “They use the illegally-constituted committee to put on a smoke and mirrors show for the American people, in a pitiful last-ditch effort to deceive the American public … again.”\n\nIt’s not at all clear to me what Trump thinks is illegal about the January 6 committee. It is a select committee established by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Not unlike the Benghazi select committee established by then-House Speaker John Boehner.\n\n3. “They have refused to allow their political opponents to participate in this process, and have excluded all exculpatory witnesses, and anyone who so easily points out the flaws in their story.”\n\nAgain, this is not quite accurate. First off, the reason the committee has two Republicans and nine Democrats is because a) McConnell nixed the idea of an independent commission and b) House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all five of his picks for the committee when Pelosi rejected the appointments of Indiana Rep. Jim Banks and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Second, plenty of strongly pro-Trump witnesses have been subpoenaed by the committee. In fact, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, two close Trump confidants, have refused to comply with subpoenas to testify before the committee.\n\n4. “The Unselect Pseudo-Committee has coordinated with their media puppets to broadcast their witnesses on national television without any opposition, cross-examination, or rebuttal evidence.”\n\nI hate to sound like a broken record here, but the committee took more than 1,000 depositions from all sorts of witnesses – including Bill Stepien, who managed Trump’s 2020 campaign, and Bill Barr, who served as Trump’s attorney general. Those aren’t exactly portraits of Trump haters. Plus, the committee tried to talk to people like Bannon and Navarro.\n\n5. “What are the members of this treasonous ‘Committee’ afraid of?”\n\nThis is coming from someone who refused to accept the results of a free and fair election and incited people to protest the results because of a series of easily debunked conspiracy theories.\n\n6. “Democrats created the narrative of January 6th to detract from the much larger and more important truth that the 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen.”\n\nUh, what. So, several people died as a result of the riots on January 6. More than 100 police officers were injured. Over 800 people have been criminally charged for their roles in the insurrection that day. That’s less important that a set of lies about supposed election fraud?\n\n7. “They illegally inflated voter rolls, illegally allowed harvested and stuffed ballots, abused the use of mail-in ballots, physically removed Republicans from counting facilities, abused the elderly in nursing homes, bribed election officials with donations, stopped counting on Election Night, gave Democrats three extra days to harvest ballots, and demanded that the American people believe it was legitimate.”\n\nWow. That’s, um a lot. There has been absolutely no evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.\n\nHaberman on how Trump is setting up his defense to Jan. 6 hearings 00:55 - Source: CNN\n\n8. “The truth is that Americans showed up in Washington, D.C. in massive numbers (but seldom revealed by the press), on January 6th, 2021, to hold their elected officials accountable for the obvious signs of criminal activity throughout the Election.”\n\nCrowd size has long been a Trump hobbyhorse. But there’s just no evidence that the press purposely low-balled the crowd on January 6. Also, that is totally beside the point. Which is this: A mob of rioters stormed the US Capitol fueled by an election lie pushed by Trump that he had somehow been cheated out of victory.\n\n9. “This is all a ridiculous and treasonous attempt to cover up the fact that Democrats rigged the Election and are siphoning Americans’ freedoms and power for their own benefit.”\n\nWhat, exactly, is treasonous about the January 6 committee? Trump – surprise, surprise – doesn’t explain.\n\n10. “On Election Night, America watched as my lead grew and grew over Joe Biden, as I was set to claim another victory.”\n\nSimply not true. We knew well in advance of Election Day that, in large part because of new rules in place to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of mail-in ballots would be far higher than in past elections. And we knew that it would take some time to properly process all of them. Here’s what Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, suggested he say on election night: “My recommendation was to say that ‘votes were still being counted, it’s too early to tell, too early to call the race but we’re proud of the race we ran and we think we’re in good position.’” Trump didn’t take that advice.\n\n11. “The Swamp was so determined to keep their stranglehold on power that they delayed the results of the Election so that they could find, manufacture, or produce more ballots, after they knew how many they needed to beat me.”\n\n“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said on December 1, 2020.\n\n12. “There’s no reasonable explanation for why it took so much longer to count the few remaining ballots as opposed to the millions on Election Day – other than they needed to traffic more ballots, and it took four days to produce the ballots and do it.”\n\nAside from simply claiming it to be so, Trump offers no evidence for his claim that there were “few remaining ballots” left to be counted after Election Day. The reason he doesn’t offer any proof for this claim is that none exists.\n\n13. “Like drug mules, in this context, mules are those paid to illegally traffic ballots from nonprofits organizations and drop them into the ballot drop boxes.”\n\nIt’s well worth watching – or reading – Barr’s complete takedown from Monday’s hearing of the film “2,000 Mules” which is where Trump gets this bogus information. Here’s the gist of it in one Barr quote: “If you take 2 million cell phones and figure out where they are physically in a big city like Atlanta or wherever, just by definition, you will find many hundreds of them have passed by and spent time in the vicinity of these boxes.”\n\n14. “The truth is, according to Joe Biden, that the Swamp has created the ‘most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics – and it centers around ballot trafficking.’”\n\nAs Reuters noted of the Biden quote cited by Trump here: “It was a slip of the tongue - Biden was describing the voter protection program his campaign has launched in anticipation of potential legal fights over the outcome of the Nov. 3 election against President Donald Trump.”\n\n'The claims of fraud were bulls**t!': Former AG Barr slams Trump's election fraud claims 02:34 - Source: CNN\n\n15. “It’s also highly likely that True the Vote did not uncover 100% of the mules, making the numbers much larger than a landslide in scope, and that there were many more mules out there affecting more of the Election than we realize. This was not a close Election.”\n\nJoe Biden won more than 81 million votes to Trump’s 74 million. So no, by recent measures it wasn’t a particularly close election. But I don’t think that’s what Trump means.\n\n16. “Joe Biden, a candidate who never left his basement and can’t speak without a teleprompter, outperformed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their two high-charged elections.”\n\nIn terms of raw vote totals, that’s true. Biden’s 81 million votes is more than either Clinton or Obama received. But, in both 2008 (365) and 2012 (332), Obama received more electoral votes than Biden.\n\n17. “Either there’s a lot of black voters in America who identify more with Joe Biden than Barack Obama, or Democrats are stealing black votes – and we all know the answer to that.”\n\nBefore this line, Trump cites a handful of majority-Black counties and areas where Biden did better in 2020 than Obama did in 2008 or 2012. That fact is proof positive of fraud, according to Trump. Of course, it’s not. First of all, the population, in the Black community and elsewhere, grew between 2008 and 2020, meaning that there were just more voters to be had for Biden than for Obama. Also, and I am just spitballing here, isn’t it possible that the desire to vote Trump out of office was a powerful motivator for lots and lots of Black voters?\n\n18. “Mark Zuckerberg contributed $419 million dollars to election initiatives around the country.”\n\nTrump is suggesting here that Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, spent hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that Democrats won the 2020 election. The only thing he gets right though is the amount of money Zuckerberg spent. Trump would do well to read this Protocol piece headlined “How ‘Zuck Bucks’ saved the 2020 election — and fueled the Big Lie.”\n\n19. “Zuckerberg should be criminally prosecuted. Election laws prevent individuals from donating more than $5,000 per year, yet Zuckerberg gave $419 million.”\n\nAgain, Trump is simply wrong about what Zuckerberg did in the 2020 election. As Protocol notes: “He offered grants to any election official who wanted one, so long as they spent it on what a lot of people would consider mundane essentials that make it easier and safer for everyone to vote: ballot sorters, drop boxes, poll workers and — because it was 2020 — hand sanitizer.”\n\n18. “Rumors circulated that the Justices devolved to shouting and argued intensely over how to handle the Texas v. Pennsylvania case. Ultimately, the Justices yielded to the same fear mongering tactics Democrats had deployed for years. They punted and threw the case out on standing.”\n\nAs CNN reported of the election fraud case brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: “The court’s order, issued with no public dissents, to dismiss the challenge is the strongest indication yet that Trump has no chance of overturning election results in court, and that even the justices whom he placed there have no interest in allowing his desperate legal bids to continue.” No public dissents. So, yeah.\n\n19. “But, the Swamp runs deep. I guess that turning around an election was a step too far.”\n\nYes, I would say overturning an election was a “step too far.”\n\n20. “Americans are struggling to fill their gas tanks, feed their babies, educate their children, hire employees, order supplies, protect our border from invasion, and a host of other tragedies that are 100% caused by Democrats who obtained power through a rigged election, and the people of our country are both angry and sad.”\n\nThis sentence is 53 words long. Yup.\n\n21. “Nobody brings this up, but as President, I suffered years of vicious lies, scandals, and innuendo concerning a fake and contrived narrative of Russia, Russia, Russia.”\n\nAllow me to quote from the Mueller Report: “(I)f we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” reads the Mueller report. “Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. … Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”\n\n22. “This is merely an attempt to stop a man that is leading in every poll, against both Republicans and Democrats by wide margins, from running again for the Presidency.”\n\nSo, is Trump saying he is running for president again in 2024? Big news! Yeah, this feels like a good place to end.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/06/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/19/politics/what-is-in-jan-6-committee-report-summary/index.html", "title": "What's in the Jan. 6 committee's report summary | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe full report was published December 22, 2021. Read here.\n\nThe House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol has concluded that former President Donald Trump was ultimately responsible for the insurrection, laying out for the public and the Justice Department a trove of evidence for why he should be prosecuted for multiple crimes.\n\n“That evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the committee writes in a summary of its final report released on Monday. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”\n\nThe summary describes in extensive detail how Trump tried to overpower, pressure and cajole anyone who wasn’t willing to help him overturn his election defeat – while knowing that many of his schemes were unlawful. His relentless arm-twisting included election administrators in key states, senior Justice Department leaders, state lawmakers, and others. The report even suggests possible witness tampering with the committee’s investigation.\n\nThe committee repeatedly uses forceful language to describe Trump’s intent: that he “purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud” in order to aid his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and to successfully solicit about $250 million in political contributions. “These false claims provoked his supporters to violence on January 6th.”\n\nThe full report, based on 1,000-plus interviews, documents collected including emails, texts, phone records and a year and a half of investigation by the nine-member bipartisan committee, will be released Wednesday, along with along with transcripts and other materials collected in the investigation.\n\nHere’s what’s in the report summary:\n\nThe committee thinks Trump and others committed crimes, and is referring them to DOJ\n\nThe House committee lays out a number of criminal statutes it believes were violated in the plots to stave off Trump’s defeat and says there’s evidence for criminal referrals to the Justice Department for Trump, Trump attorney John Eastman and “others.”\n\nThe report summary says there’s evidence to pursue Trump on multiple crimes, including obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, assisting or aiding an insurrection, conspiring to injure or impede an officer and seditious conspiracy.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump and John Eastman\n\nThe committee says it also has the evidence to refer Eastman on the obstruction charge, and it names him as a co-conspirator in other alleged criminal activity lawmakers have gathered evidence on.\n\nIn addition, several others are named as being participants in the conspiracies the committee is linking to Trump, including then-DOJ attorney Jeffrey Clark and Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as Trump-tied lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Rudy Giuliani.\n\nThe committee alluded to evidence of criminal obstruction of the House investigation but the summary does not go into detail about that evidence.\n\nSeveral of the individuals named by the committee – including Trump, Eastman and Giuliani – had their own responses Monday.\n\nTrump’s false victory declaration was ‘premeditated’\n\nThe committee outlines 17 findings from its investigation that underpin its reasoning for criminal referrals, including that Trump knew the fraud allegations he was pushing were false and continued to amplify them anyway.\n\n“President Trump’s decision to declare victory falsely on election night and, unlawfully, to call for the vote counting to stop, was not a spontaneous decision. It was premeditated,” the summary states.\n\nThe committee revealed emails from Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, from before the 2020 presidential election that say Trump should declare victory regardless of the outcome.\n\nIt also notes that Trump’s top allies, including those who testified before the committee, acknowledged they found no proof to back up the former president’s claims.\n\n“Ultimately, even Rudolph Giuliani and his legal team acknowledged that they had no definitive evidence of election fraud sufficient to change the election outcome,” the summary states, referring to Trump’s then-personal attorney.\n\n“For example, although Giuliani repeatedly had claimed in public that Dominion voting machines stole the election, he admitted during his Select Committee deposition that ‘I do not think the machines stole the election,’” it states.\n\nTrump’s belief that the election is stolen is no excuse, lawmakers say\n\nSources familiar with Trump’s legal strategy in the Justice Department probe have told CNN that his attorneys believe prosecutors face an uphill battle in proving he did not believe the election was stolen despite being told as much by senior members of his own administration.\n\nIn making its case for a Justice Department prosecution of Trump, the House committee took aim at that possible defense.\n\nIn describing why the committee believes Trump’s conduct meet the prongs of each criminal statute, the summary stresses evidence that Trump had been warned that his schemes were unlawful.\n\nTrump raised about $250 million by crying fraud\n\nThe committee says it gathered evidence indicating that Trump “raised roughly one quarter of a billion dollars in fundraising efforts between the election and January 6th. Those solicitations persistently claimed and referred to election fraud that did not exist.”\n\n“For example, the Trump Campaign, along with the Republican National Committee, sent millions of emails to their supporters, with messaging claiming that the election was ‘rigged,’ that their donations could stop Democrats from ‘trying to steal the election,’ and that Vice President Biden would be an ‘illegitimate president’ if he took office,’” the summary states.\n\nSeveral members of Congress are being referred to the House Ethics Committee\n\nThe select committee is referring several Republican lawmakers who refused to cooperate with the investigation to the House Ethics Committee.\n\nRep. Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters at the US Capitol in Washington in November. Michael A. McCoy/Reuters\n\nHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, as well as Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona, could all face possible sanctions for their refusal to comply with committee subpoenas.\n\nConcerns about witness credibility and Trump-allied attorneys\n\nThe committee raised concerns that attorneys paid by Trump’s political committee or allied groups were incentivized to protect the former president, saying, “lawyers who are receiving such payments have specific incentives to defend President Trump rather than zealously represent their own clients. The Department of Justice and the Fulton County District Attorney have been provided with certain information related to this topic.”\n\nIn one instance, a witness whose lawyer was being paid by a Trump-allied group was told she could “in certain circumstances, tell the Committee that she did not recall facts when she actually did recall them.” When the witness raised concerns with her lawyer about that approach, the lawyer said, “They don’t know what you know, [witness]. They don’t know that you can recall some of these things. So you saying ‘I don’t recall’ is an entirely acceptable response to this,” according to the report summary.\n\nWhen it came to a specific issue that reflected negatively on Trump, the lawyer told his client, “No, no, no, no, no. We don’t want to go there. We don’t want to talk about that.”\n\nThe committee notes both Trump and his allies attempted to contact witnesses ahead of their committee testimony.\n\n“The Select Committee is aware of multiple efforts by President Trump to contact Select Committee witnesses. The Department of Justice is aware of at least one of those circumstances,” according to the summary.\n\nIvanka Trump and Kayleigh McEnany\n\nThe committee also, in its final report, highlighted two high-profile witnesses – Ivanka Trump and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany – as being less cooperative than others. They and others “displayed a lack of full recollection of certain issues, or were not otherwise as frank or direct as Cipollone.”\n\nA video of Ivanka Trump is shown on screen during the seventh hearing held by the committee on July 12. Doug Mills/The New York Times/Pool/Getty Images\n\nIn another instance, Trump had an angry conversation with Pence in which he referred to the then-vice president as “The P word,” according to a committee interview with Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff, Julie Radford.\n\nIn Radford’s recollection, the name-calling was upsetting to Ivanka at the time, but when the committee asked Ivanka whether there were any “particular words” her father used in the conversation with Pence, “She answered simply: ‘No.’”\n\nThe summary states: “In several circumstances, the Committee has found that less senior White House aides had significantly better recollection of events than senior staff purported to have.”\n\nAs for McEnany, the committee called her testimony “evasive, as if she was testifying from pre-prepared talking points,” noting she was deposed early in the investigation and wasn’t as forthcoming as others from Trump’s press office.\n\nImpropriety by Trump Justice Department officials\n\nThe report points the finger at two Trump appointees at the Justice Department who the committee believes abused their positions and acted unethically.\n\nClark, the former acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Division, is already well known for trying to weaponize the Justice Department to help Trump overturn the 2020 election. The committee raises the prospect that Clark broke the law. The Justice Department is already investigating Clark and federal agents have searched his home.\n\nJeffrey Clark, speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington in September 2020. Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP/Getty Images\n\nOne of the most egregious things Clark did was draft a letter for the Justice Department to send to election officials in battleground states, urging them to essentially overturn their results. The letter, crafted with help from fellow Trump appointee Ken Klukowski, falsely asserted that the department believed there were problems with the results.\n\n“This was an intentional choice by Jeff Clark to contradict specific Department findings on election fraud, and purposely insert the Department into the Presidential election on President Trump’s behalf and risk creating or exacerbating a constitutional crisis,” the summary states.\n\nIn a new development, the panel flagged its concerns about Klukowski’s conduct.\n\nHe worked for the Trump campaign before joining the Justice Department during the final weeks of the administration. And while at the department’s civil division, he spent some of his time helping Clark with his attempts to overturn the election, “despite the fact that election-related matters are not part of the Civil portfolio,” the summary says.\n\nTrump and others may try this again, committee warns\n\nThe summary’s section outlining the referrals makes a case for why the Justice Department’s prosecutions should extend beyond the rioters who physically breached the Capitol.\n\nThe committee says that Trump “believed then, and continues to believe now, that he is above the law, not bound by our Constitution and its explicit checks on Presidential authority.”\n\n“If President Trump and the associates who assisted him in an effort to overturn the lawful outcome of the 2020 election are not ultimately held accountable under the law, their behavior may become a precedent and invitation to danger for future elections,” the summary says. “A failure to hold them accountable now may ultimately lead to future unlawful efforts to overturn our elections, thereby threatening the security and viability of our Republic.”\n\nThe summary revisits Trump’s infamous phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, where he begged Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to nullify Biden’s victory in the state. The summary also highlights that Trump doxed the leader of the Michigan Senate by tweeting out his cell phone number after he publicly said he wouldn’t undermine the election results.\n\nLawmakers also highlighted the plight of former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who previously testified about the abuse they suffered when Giuliani and others in pro-Trump circles falsely accused them of rigging the results in Atlanta.\n\nLike Freeman and Moss, other officials who faced Trump’s ire received death and rape threats and an avalanche of phone calls and emails, and some of them feared for their safety.\n\nPardon requests show that Trump allies knew they were in possible legal jeopardy\n\nThe evidence that Trump allies sought pardons as the administration drew to a close shows that they knew their conduct was legally problematic, the committee argues.\n\nThe summary points to previously public accounts of pardon requests from members of Congress, while providing new details of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz’s alleged attempt for a pardon, which had been discussed in the public committee testimony of ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.\n\nCNN previously reported that the McEntee testimony linked Gaetz’s pardon request to a separate DOJ probe; Hutchinson, however, said Gaetz and others asked “blanket” pardons for participants at a meeting where election-related schemes were discussed.\n\nIntelligence and law enforcement agencies knew of threats of violence on January 6, but information didn’t get through\n\nThe summary of the report lays out how the intelligence community and law enforcement agencies were receiving information that January 6 was likely to be violent and shared that information with the White House and US Secret Service.\n\nFor example, on January 3, 2021, Department of Justice officials received an intelligence summary of plans to “occupy the Capitol” and “invade” the Capitol on January 6. According to testimony from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist predicted on a National Security Council call that the Capitol could be the target of violence.\n\n“I’ll never forget it,” Milley said in testimony revealed by the committee.\n\nThe panel suggests former White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato failed to adequately serve as the intermediary between the intelligence community and the White House when it came to security updates ahead of January 6.\n\n“Ornato had access to intelligence that suggested violence at the Capitol on January 6th, and it was his job to inform Meadows and Trump of that. Although Ornato told us that he did not recall doing so, the Select Committee found multiple parts of Ornato’s testimony questionable,” the panel wrote.\n\nThe head of Trump’s security detail, Bobby Engel, testified to the committee that he shared critical information with Ornato as a means to convey messages to the White House.\n\nOrnato confirmed Engel’s understanding of information sharing, but when pressed on whether he talked to Meadows about concerns of the threat landscape going into January 6 said, “I don’t recall; however, in my position I would’ve made sure he was tracking the demos, which he received a daily brief, Presidential briefing. So he most likely was getting all this in his daily brief as well.”\n\nHope Hicks, former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, displayed on a screen during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. The committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection will complete its 17-month probe with votes on recommendations for the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former president, with offenses including insurrection. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nAides urged Trump to call for peaceful protests\n\nStaffers close to Trump told the committee they tried to get the then-president to act preemptively to quell concerns about January 6.\n\nHope Hicks, Trump’s former communications director, texted spokesman Hogan Gidley as the violence was unfolding on January 6 that she had “suggested…several times” on January 4 and 5 that Trump should publicly state that January 6 remain peaceful. Hicks also testified that Herschmann advised Trump to make a preemptive public statement ahead of January 6 calling for there to be no violence that day. No such statement was ever made.\n\nBy the time of Trump’s rally on January 6, the committee says testimony it received indicates that the former president had received a security briefing and that the Secret Service mentioned that there were prohibited items being confiscated from individuals trying to attend.\n\nMotorcade incident proves Trump’s intent to participate in overturning the election\n\nThe committee highlights Trump’s frustration with not being taken to the Capitol on January 6 as evidence that he intended to participate in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.\n\n“The Committee’s principal concern was that the President actually intended to participate personally in the January 6th efforts at the Capitol, leading the attempt to overturn the election either from inside the House Chamber, from a stage outside the Capitol, or otherwise,” the summary of the report reads. “There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent.”\n\nThe report details that the panel was ultimately unable to get Ornato to corroborate a bombshell moment during the public hearings, in which Hutchinson recalled Ornato describing Trump’s altercation with the head of his security detail when he was told he would not be taken to the Capitol. The committee summary said both Hutchinson and a White House employee testified to the committee about the Ornato conversation. But “Ornato professed that he did not recall either communication, and that he had no knowledge at all about the President’s anger.”\n\nUltimately, the committee writes that it “has significant concerns about the credibility of this testimony” and vows to release his transcript publicly. Ornato did not recall conveying the information to Hutchinson or a White House employee with national security responsibilities, according to the report.\n\n“The Committee is skeptical of Ornato’s account.”\n\nThe panel writes that it has obtained evidence from “several sources about a ‘furious interaction’ in the SUV.” The panel cites multiple members of the Secret Service, a member of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police and national security officials in the White House who described Trump’s behavior as “irate,” “furious,” “insistent,” “profane” and “heated.”\n\nThe driver of Trump’s motorcade on January 6 testified to the committee:\n\nTrump’s former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump continued to push to travel to the Capitol even after he returned to the White House.\n\n“So to the best of my recollection, I recall him being – wanting to saying that he wanted to physically walk and be a part of the march and then saying that he would ride the Beast if he needed to, ride in the Presidential limo,” McEnany said.\n\nAnother intent the committee’s report summary seeks to prove is that Trump’s call to his supporters to go the Capitol during his rally speech was pre-planned.\n\nFor example, the committee notes that January 6 rally organizer Kylie Kremer texted MyPIllow CEO Mike Lindell, “This stays only between us. … It can also not get out about the march because I will be in trouble with the national park service and all the agencies but POTUS is going to just call for it ‘unexpectedly.’”\n\nTrump refused to act as riot unfolded\n\nThe committee lays out Trump’s failure to act as the riot unfolded, noting that as he watched the riot on television, he made no calls for security assistance and resisted efforts from staffers asking him to call off his supporters.\n\n“President Trump did not contact a single top national security official during the day. Not at the Pentagon, nor at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the F.B.I., the Capitol Police Department, or the D.C. Mayor’s office,” the committee writes. “As Vice President Pence has confirmed, President Trump didn’t even try to reach his own Vice President to make sure that Pence was safe.”\n\nMilley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee he had this reaction to Trump, “You know, you’re the Commander in Chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?”\n\nTrump did, however, take the time to reach out to his attorney.\n\nWhite House staffers, meantime, described being appalled that as the Capitol was under attack, Trump fired off a tweet criticizing Pence.\n\nHicks texted a colleague that night to say, “Attacking the VP? Wtf is wrong with him,” according to the committee’s summary report.\n\n“No photographs exist of the President for the remainder of the afternoon until after 4 p.m. President Trump appears to have instructed that the White House photographer was not to take any photographs,” the committee writes, citing testimony from former White House photographer Shealah Craighead.\n\nIn the aftermath, on the evening of January 6, Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale told Katrina Pierson, one of the rally organizers, that that he felt guilty helping Trump win, the report states..\n\nThe events of the day, Parscale said, resulted from “a sitting president asking for civil war.”\n\nGOP lawmakers called for help\n\nThe committee also highlights real-time reactions from Republican members of Congress who have since downplayed the Capitol attack or defended Trump.\n\nTrump’s son-in-law and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner described House GOP leader McCarthy as “scared” as McCarthy reached out to members of Trump’s family for help during the riot.\n\nIn a text to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote, “Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn’t the way to solve anything,” according to the summary.\n\nFILE - Violent rioters, loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. John Minchillo/AP\n\nTrump’s reaction upon finding out the Capitol had been attacked: ‘Oh really?’\n\nThe committee reveals a conversation Trump had with a White House employee upon returning to the White House after his speech on January 6. Trump’s actions and conversations from when he returned to the White House to when he called off the rioters, referred to famously as the 187 minutes, continues to have huge gaps of information.\n\nHe asked the White House employee – whose identity the panel kept anonymous “to guard against the risk of retaliation” – if they had watched his rally speech on television. The White House employee responded, “Sir, they cut it off because they’re rioting down at the Capitol.”\n\nWhen Trump asked what they meant, the employee repeated:\n\nThe committee says DOJ has tools to get more information\n\nThe summary acknowledges the roadblocks the House committee ran into in its investigation and says the Justice Department has the tools – such as grand jury subpoena power – to knock down those obstacles.\n\nThe summary also notes the invocations of privilege made by former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone that prevented the committee from learning details about direct conversations with Trump. But the panels appears optimistic that a recent, under-seal court victory the DOJ secured will allow prosecutors to obtain that testimony from Cipollone.\n\n“Based on the information it has obtained, the Committee believes that Cipollone and others can provide direct testimony establishing that President Trump refused repeatedly, for multiple hours, to make a public statement directing his violent and lawless supporters to leave the Capitol,” the summary says.\n\nMore than 30 witnesses before the select committee exercised their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused, on that basis, to provide testimony. They included individuals central to the investigation, such as Eastman, Clark, Chesebro, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and others.", "authors": ["Tierney Sneed Sara Murray Zachary Cohen Annie Grayer Marshall Cohen", "Tierney Sneed", "Sara Murray", "Zachary Cohen", "Annie Grayer", "Marshall Cohen"], "publish_date": "2022/12/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/01/politics/joe-biden-democracy-speech/index.html", "title": "Biden in speech warns Trump and his closest followers are trying to ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden delivered his sharpest rebuke yet of Republicans and their fealty to his predecessor in an evening speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, alleging they “thrive on chaos” and warning their attempts to undermine democracy could devolve into violence.\n\n“They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies,” Biden said in front of a red-lit Independence Hall, harnessing the historic setting to call for a reckoning on the movement led by former President Donald Trump.\n\nIt was a strident and urgent call to Americans months ahead of midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. Biden’s remarks, while billed as an official address, provided the broad contours of his election message heading into the fall.\n\nEven as he worked to balance a dose of optimism about the country’s future – and his own string of recent accomplishments – Biden painted a dark portrait of his political opponents, saying Trump and his followers are threatening the entire American experiment. He named his predecessor within minutes of taking the stage, and suggested Americans faced an existential choice in the coming elections.\n\n“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault,” Biden said. “We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise.”\n\nBiden attempted to separate Trump’s most loyal followers from the Republican Party as a whole. And as he concluded, he sought to strike a more upbeat note, saying it was still within voters’ power to rein in the nation’s darkest forces.\n\nBut the heart of Biden’s address was a ringing alarm bell about what he called “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”\n\n“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy. No right to contraception, no right to marry who you love,” he said, striking on cultural issues Democrats believe can help them win in November.\n\n“They promote authoritarian leaders,” he went on. “They fanned the flames of political violence.”\n\nAfter tearing into Republicans for what he calls “MAGA extremism” and “semi-fascism” over the past week, administration officials say Biden determined the time was right to provide a more serious, sober reckoning on what he regards as growing anti-democratic forces building across the country.\n\nOfficials insisted Biden’s message wasn’t partisan and instead targeted to an extreme wing of the GOP. Still, he called on his audience to go to the polls in November and lashed into his predecessor, backed by traditionally apolitical symbols like the United States Marine Band and two Marines who were positioned in a spot where they were on camera throughout the speech.\n\n“We must be honest with each other and with ourselves: Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. The Republican Party of 2022 is partly “dominated, driven and intimidated” by Trump and his acolytes, he said.\n\nWatch President Joe Biden's full prime-time address 24:04 - Source: CNN\n\nIt’s a topic Biden has come to embrace more publicly in recent months after initially attempting to ignore the after-effects of his predecessor and focus instead on national unity. At its core, the speech represented the same overarching theme that defined the launch of his presidential campaign in 2019 as he set out to defeat Trump.\n\nIt remained a constant through high profile speeches in locations rife with historical symbolism, including Warm Springs, Georgia, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The prime-time remarks was no different, this time with the site of the nation’s revolutionary beginning as the backdrop.\n\nA crowd of about 300 invited guests – a mix of elected officials and dignitaries, along with Democratic supporters – watched Biden speak from behind panes of bulletproof glass. It was a short distance away from where Biden formally announced his bid for the presidency in 2019, striking similar themes about the “battle for the soul of the nation.”\n\nWhite House officials emphasized ahead of time that when Biden warns of the threat to democracy, he is not talking about Republicans as a whole, but those who style themselves after Trump: the “MAGA Republicans,” as the administration has deemed them.\n\nAhead of the speech, Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Biden was dividing the nation.\n\n“Joe Biden is the divider-in-chief and epitomizes the current state of the Democrat Party: one of divisiveness, disgust, and hostility towards half the country,” she said in a statement.\n\nBiden had been mulling a thematic speech about American democracy for several months, spurred in part by the revealing hearings convened by the congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot, according to an official. He has also watched with alarm as election deniers running for statewide office have been elevated by Trump and was outraged by the attempted attack on an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio.\n\nIn his remarks, Biden said forces on the right were stoking political violence, insisting it was “inflammatory and dangerous.”\n\n“We, the people must say this is not who we are,” he said.\n\nBiden looks to seize the moment\n\nWhile Biden underestimated when the “fever will break” when it came to the GOP’s ties to Trump, the last several weeks have brought into sharp focus that many of the campaign pledges that seemed just as unrealistic – from major bipartisan deals to substantial investments in the manufacturing, climate and health care – have, in fact, been signed into law.\n\nThe convergence of factors has created a genuine sense inside the West Wing that the political winds are changing just as Americans start to tune in ahead of the midterm elections. It has also had a dramatic effect on the White House itself, where months of intraparty warfare, a resurgent and ever-present Covid-19 pandemic and a myriad of crises many aides viewed as outside of their control appear to have finally turned their way.\n\nEven Biden, who revels in telling the story of the doctor who called him “a congenital optimist,” wasn’t immune from a sense of gloom and occasional doom that hung over the West Wing for months.\n\n“He could get pretty dark,” said one person who spoke regularly to Biden said of his view of things toward the end of his first year in office. “It’s not his way, but there was a period there” when Biden’s mood reflected that of the exhausted country he led.\n\nYet the shifting winds this summer coincided with Trump’s major re-emergence into the national spotlight. Republican politicians and candidates running entire campaigns based on false claims of fraudulent elections have only become more prevalent.\n\nAs the midterm campaign season kicks into high gear, convergence of factors created an ideal moment for Biden to lay out what has long been on his mind, officials say.\n\n“The President felt that this was an appropriate time before the traditional campaign season begins next week to lay out what he sees at stake, not for any individual political party, but for our democracy itself,” a senior administration official said.\n\nA rare prime-time speech shows Biden’s focus on democracy\n\nBiden worked for several days with his speechwriters on drafts of the 20- to 30-minute address, poring over the precise language and wording. The President typically rehearses his major addresses beforehand and his schedule was clear of public events on Wednesday and Thursday as he prepared.\n\nBiden has delivered only a smattering of speeches in prime-time over the course of his presidency, including his yearly addresses to Congress and remarks on gun violence earlier this summer. Aides said the President felt the topic was serious enough to address the nation in the evening – and ask television networks to interrupt their regular programming (though the broadcast networks declined to air the President’s remarks).\n\nWhite House officials have said they want to be selective in when and where to address the issues surrounding the erosion of democracy, even though many party activists have clamored for more sustained focus on the issue. The issue itself is one that consumes much of Biden’s own thinking, those close to him say – something can spill into the public sphere during the rare moments he engages in a substantive way with reporters.\n\nBut choosing the right moment to address them on a major national scale, Biden’s team believes, will prevent the issue from becoming rote and routine for voters. Biden, officials note, has had no qualms about that strategy.\n\n‘Semi fascism’ comment draws ire, but White House won’t back down\n\nBiden’s newly aggressive rhetoric has drawn howls of protest from Republicans. When he accused followers of Trump of “semi-fascism” at a fundraiser last week, the response was swift.\n\n“Horribly insulting,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has not aligned himself with Trump. “He’s trying to stir up controversy, he’s trying to stir up this anti-Republican sentiment right before the election, it’s just – it’s horribly inappropriate.”\n\nAt least one Democrat in a tight reelection race also distanced herself from Biden’s remark; Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said Biden “painted with way too broad a brush” when he uttered the comment.\n\nWhile officials describe Biden’s message as urgent, it remains to be seen whether voters facing high prices and an uncertain economy will respond to his warnings about the state of democracy.\n\nYet recent polls have shown concerns about democracy rising among voters. An NBC poll conducted in August found “threats to democracy” rose to the No. 1 issue facing the country, surpassing “cost of living.” And a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found 67% of respondents think the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapse, a 9-point increase from January.\n\nUnplanned – but not entirely unwelcome – for the White House has been the ongoing developments over Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a matter the White House has officially kept at arm’s length to avoid the appearance of politicization.\n\nStill, the reminder to voters of the chaos that surrounded Trump’s presidency has been privately gratifying to some Democrats, who believe it presents a stark contrast to Biden’s way of doing business.\n\n“It’s like the chaos was memory-holed because of the 50 million other things going on,” one Democratic official with close ties to the White House said.\n\nBiden “will never make it about Trump alone – he views it as so much bigger than that and probably, to some degree, beneath him,” the official said. “But I think most in our party appreciate the very clear contrast now that he’s back in the headlines.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments on Thursday.", "authors": ["Kevin Liptak Phil Mattingly Kaitlan Collins", "Kevin Liptak", "Phil Mattingly", "Kaitlan Collins"], "publish_date": "2022/09/01"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/october-jan-6-hearing-takeaways/index.html", "title": "7 takeaways from the January 6 hearing | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe House select committee’s final hearing on the Capitol Hill insurrection before the midterm elections Thursday used new testimony and evidence to demonstrate how former President Donald Trump knew he had lost the election but still went forward with efforts to overturn the results, leading to the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.\n\nThe committee’s hearing used new records obtained from the Secret Service and new deposition footage from former Trump Cabinet secretaries and White House officials to bolster the argument that Trump still remains a danger to democracy heading into the 2024 election.\n\nHere are the takeaways from the committee’s latest January 6 hearing:\n\nCommittee votes to subpoena former President\n\nThe committee voted Thursday to subpoena Trump for documents and testimony, marking an escalation in the panel’s efforts to obtain testimony from the former President.\n\nThe committee’s leaders argued that Trump was at the center of efforts to overturn the 2020 election that led to the violence of the insurrection, and as a result they needed Trump’s testimony to tell the complete story of January 6.\n\n“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” said Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the panel’s top Republican. “And every American is entitled to the answers, so we can act now to protect our republic.”\n\nAnd select committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, argued that Trump “is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6th. So we want to hear from him.”\n\nOf course, the panel is issuing the subpoena nearing the end of recognition as a select committee, which is likely an acknowledgment that Trump is not going to comply. Should Trump object to the subpoena, it could lead to a lengthy court fight that outlives the committee.\n\nThat’s because if Republicans take back control of the House, which they’re favored to do, the January 6 committee as it’s currently constructed will cease to exist – giving the panel less than three months to issue a final report of its findings.\n\nStill, the subpoena marks a notable escalation in taking on Trump directly. While it’s not unprecedented, congressional subpoenas to sitting or former presidents are rare. And if Trump does buck the subpoena, it would allow the committee to proclaim that it made a formal attempt to get Trump to talk to panelists, only to see him to refuse.\n\nPanel airs new footage of congressional leaders scrambling to respond from Fort McNair\n\nThe committee aired previously unseen footage from Fort McNair, the DC-area Army base where congressional leaders took refuge during the insurrection and scrambled to respond to the unfolding crisis.\n\nRep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said during the hearing that the footage highlights how Trump administration officials and congressional leaders worked around Trump to put down the riot that he had incited. By showing these behind-the-scenes clips, the committee delivered on its promise to present new material from January 6 to the public.\n\nThe footage shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other top officials working the phones and coordinating with Trump Cabinet members and other officials to secure the resources needed to quell the insurrection and secure the Capitol.\n\nThe footage also showed two phone calls between Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence, who took on an impromptu leadership role on January 6, coordinating the emergency response.\n\nThe new footage showed Schumer dressing down then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. During their heated phone call, Schumer implored Rosen to intervene directly with Trump, and tell Trump to call off the mob. During the call, Pelosi told Rosen that the pro-Trump rioters were “breaking the law… at the instigation of the President of the United States.”\n\nDuring the hearing, the panel labeled the footage as showing lawmakers at an “undisclosed location.” It has been public knowledge since January 6, 2021, that senior congressional leaders from both parties took refuge at Fort McNair, while the Capitol was overrun.\n\nCNN has obtained additional footage from Fort McNair that wasn’t shown by the committee. The exclusive footage will air on CNN on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET, during a special edition of “Anderson Cooper 360°.” The footage shows congressional leaders, after evacuating from the Capitol, gathering at Fort McNair working the phones, trying to figure out what was going on at the overrun Capitol, and begging for help as they frantically scrambled to quell the insurrection.\n\nPublic hears from Elaine Chao interview\n\nElaine Chao, who resigned from her post as Trump’s secretary of Transportation a day after the insurrection, spoke in personal terms about her disgust toward the attack when she testified to the committee.\n\n“I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking and it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside,” said Chao, one of the former members of Trump’s Cabinet whose recorded testimony lawmakers aired on Thursday.\n\n“And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue, given my personal values and my philosophy. I came as an immigrant to this country. I believe in this country. I believe in the peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so I was – it was a decision that I made on my own,” she said.\n\nCNN reported in August that Chao, who is also the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had met with the committee. But after condemning the attack in her resignation letter in early 2021, Chao has largely stayed out of the national spotlight, with her recent comments to the committee providing fresh insight into her thinking on the deadly attack.\n\nHutchinson says Trump knew he lost\n\nCassidy Hutchinson, the former top aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, provided new testimony to the committee relaying anecdotes of Trump acknowledging he had lost the election.\n\nHutchinson’s testimony had been some of the most damning against Trump during the summer hearings, as she provided detailed accounts about Trump’s actions on the day of January 6.\n\nOn Thursday, the committee showed new video deposition from Hutchinson where she spoke to Meadows about Trump’s January 2021 call where he urged the Georgia secretary of state to “find” the votes he needed to win.\n\n“I remember looking at Mark, and I said ‘Mark, he can’t possibly think we’re going to pull this off. Like, that call was crazy.’ And he looked at me and just started shaking his head. And he’s like, ‘No, Cass, you know, he knows it’s over. He knows he lost. But we’re going to keep trying,’” Hutchinson told the committee.\n\nHutchinson also said that she witnessed a conversation between Meadows and Trump where he was furious the Supreme Court had rejected a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election result.\n\n“The President said … something to the effect of, ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. I don’t want people to know that we lost,’” Hutchinson said.\n\nCommittee reveals new info obtained from Secret Service\n\nIn roughly three months since the last January 6 committee hearing, the panel has obtained more than 1 million records from the Secret Service, and the panel revealed some of what they learned during Thursday’s hearing.\n\nWhile there are still questions surrounding erased text messages from Secret Service agents around the insurrection, the panel obtained messages and emails showing the agency receiving warnings before January 6, 2021, about the prospect of violence, as well as real-time reports of weapons in the crowd ahead of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse.\n\nDays before January Trump’s communication adviser, Jason Miller, boasted to Meadows that he “got the base FIRED UP,” and shared a link to a pro-Trump webpage containing hundreds of threatening comments about killing lawmakers if they went ahead with certifying Joe Biden’s legitimate electoral victory, according to a new text message the panel showed Thursday.\n\n“I got the base FIRED UP,” Miller texted Meadows on December 30, 2020, appearing to take credit for amplifying the violent rhetoric about January 6 that was circulating on the pro-Trump website The Donald dot win.\n\nDemocratic Rep. Adam Schiff said in Thursday’s hearing that that the Secret Service received alerts of online threats made against Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the Capitol insurrection, including that Pence would be “‘a dead man walking if he doesn’t do the right thing.’”\n\nOn January 6, one Secret Service agent texted at 12:36 p.m., according to the committee, “With so many weapons found so far; you wonder how many are unknown. Could be sporty after dark.”\n\nAnother agent responded minutes later, “No doubt. The people at the Ellipse said they are moving to the Capitol after the POTUS speech.”\n\nTrump planned to declare victory no matter what the election results were\n\nThe committee also revealed new evidence Thursday that Trump had devised a plan, well before any votes were counted, to declare victory no matter what the election results were.\n\n“It was a premeditated plan by the President to declare victory no matter what the actual result was,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren said during Thursday’s hearing. “We also interviewed Brad Parscale, President Trump’s former campaign manager. He told us he understood that President Trump planned as early as July that he would say he won the election, even if he lost,” she added.\n\nThe committee played previously unseen video from its deposition of Pence’s counsel, Greg Jacob. In the clip, Jacob describes how he and Pence’s then-chief of staff Marc Short had prepared, ahead of time, for Trump to declare victory on Election Night, regardless of the results.\n\nAfter their conversation on November 3, 2020, Jacob drafted a memo to Short, which the committee said it obtained from the National Archives and presented for the first time on Thursday.\n\n“It is essential that the Vice President not be perceived by the public as having decided questions concerning disputed electoral votes prior to the full development of all relevant facts,” the memo reads.\n\nThe committee also revealed new emails conservative legal activist Tom Fitton sent to two Trump advisers a few days before the election. One email contains a draft statement for Trump to declare victory on Election Night.\n\nNoticeably absent\n\nOne person whose testimony was noticeably absent from Thursday’s hearing was Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.\n\nCommittee members interviewed Ginni Thomas last month but ultimately her testimony was not featured as part of the panel’s last hearing before the midterm election.\n\nDespite saying for months that they wanted to hear from Thomas, members of the panel downplayed the significance of her testimony following her interview, and it was clear ahead of Thursday that she was not expected to be a central part of the hearing that was instead solely focused on Trump.\n\nBut her absence was notable considering the panel did use testimony from several other high-profile witnesses who had been interviewed since the committee’s most recent hearing earlier this summer.\n\nAnd while the committee did play video from its depositions with Trump Cabinet members, the 25th Amendment was not mentioned.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments.", "authors": ["Jeremy Herb Zachary Cohen Marshall Cohen Devan Cole", "Jeremy Herb", "Zachary Cohen", "Marshall Cohen", "Devan Cole"], "publish_date": "2022/10/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/hannity-text-messages-meadows-trump-white-house/index.html", "title": "CNN Exclusive: New text messages reveal Fox's Hannity advising ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nFormer White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Fox’s Sean Hannity exchanged more than 80 text messages between Election Day 2020 and Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration, communications that show Hannity’s evolution from staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump’s election lies to being “fed up” with the “lunatics” hurting Trump’s cause in the days before January 6.\n\nCNN obtained Meadows’ 2,319 text messages, which he selectively provided in December to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. While the logs show Meadows communicating with multiple Fox personalities, as well as a number of journalists from other organizations, Hannity stands out with 82 messages. The texts, including dozens of newly disclosed messages, offer a real-time window into how Hannity, a close friend of Trump, was reacting to the election and its aftermath.\n\n'That's not OK': Bash reacts to Hannity's texts to Mark Meadows 01:43 - Source: CNN\n\nThroughout the logs, Hannity both gives advice and asks for direction, blurring the lines between his Fox show, his radio show and the Trump White House.\n\nOn the afternoon of Election Day, Hannity texted Meadows at 1:36 p.m. to ask about turnout in North Carolina. Two hours later, Meadows responded: “Stress every vote matters. Get out and vote. On radio.”\n\n“Yes sir,” Hannity replied. “On it. Any place in particular we need a push.”\n\n“Pennsylvania. NC AZ,” Meadows wrote, adding: “Nevada.”\n\n“Got it. Everywhere,” Hannity said.\n\nThe texts also show the two men debating Trump’s strategy to challenge the election, complaining about Fox, and plotting about what to do after Trump left office – including possibly working together.\n\n“You also need to spend at least half your time doing business with us,” Hannity texted Meadows on December 12. “And I’m serious. Did u ever talk to Fox. I’ve been at war with them.”\n\n“I agree. We can make a powerful team,” Meadows responded. “I did not talk with (Fox News CEO) Suzanne (Scott) because I got tied up with pardons but I will make sure I connect. You are a true patriot and I am so very proud of you! Your friendship means a great deal to me.”\n\n“Feeling is mutual,” Hannity wrote back.\n\nWhile Hannity did not respond to CNN’s invitation to comment on his text exchanges with Meadows, he appeared to address the matter Friday night on his Fox show.\n\n“I’m on the Fox News channel, which is a news channel, but I don’t claim to be a journalist, I claim to be a talk show host. But I can produce thousands of hours of straight news, thousands of hours of investigative reporting,” Hannity said. “I’m upfront about who I am, I am a registered conservative. Yes, I voted for Donald Trump, I make no apologies. I give my opinion straightforward.”\n\nMeadows and his lawyer did not respond to CNN, but according to a Friday night court filing, Meadows maintains that his texts “are devoid of any evidence that Mr. Meadows had any knowledge of, let alone any role whatsoever in, the untoward events at the Capitol.” The filing also states that the January 6 committee has used the texts Meadows has already handed over “to vilify him publicly through the media.”\n\nFeeding the fraud conspiracies\n\nInitially after the November 2020 election, Hannity appeared to be all in with Trump’s false election claims. On November 29, he texted Meadows saying he had his team trying to prove election fraud: “I’ve had my team digging into the numbers. There is no way Biden got these numbers. Just mathematically impossible. It’s so sad for this country they can pull this off in 2020. We need a major breakthrough, a video, something.”\n\nMeadows responded, “You’re exactly right. Working on breakthrough.”\n\n“Ok. Would be phenomenal,” Hannity texted back.\n\nBut several weeks later, as Trump’s team lost court challenges and the wild claims from attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell failed to materialize into anything more than false conspiracy theories, Hannity’s tone shifted.\n\nSean Hannity looks on as President Donald Trump holds a news conference after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, February 28, 2019. Leah Millis/Reuters\n\nHannity checked in with Meadows on December 22, asking him how he was doing.\n\n“Fighting like crazy. Went to Cobb county to review process. Very tough days but I will keep fighting,” Meadows said, referring to the Trump team’s objections to votes from Cobb County, Georgia.\n\nWhile Hannity never appeared to dispute Trump’s false claims about the election itself, he expressed alarm at the tactics of some of those pushing Trump’s case. Hannity responded to Meadows, “You fighting is fine. The fing lunatics is NOT fine. They are NOT helping him. I’m fed up with those people.”\n\nBy New Year’s Eve, Hannity warned about the fallout if top White House lawyers resigned in protest. Hannity also appeared to accept the fact that the election was over and the President’s best course of action was to go to Florida and engage Biden from there.\n\n“We can’t lose the entire WH counsels office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told,” Hannity said. “After the 6 th. He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voting integrity. Go to Fl and watch Joe mess up daily. Stay engaged. When he speaks people will listen.”\n\n\n\nPrepping for a Trump interview\n\nHannity’s text messages to Meadows are of interest to the House select committee, which wrote to Hannity in January requesting an interview. That month, the panel released some of Hannity’s texts to Meadows showing his concern about what would happen on January 6, 2021.\n\nAfter the letter was sent, Hannity’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, told CNN, “We are reviewing the committee’s letter and will respond as appropriate.”\n\nThe texts provide evidence of what many White House and Fox sources claimed during Trump’s time in office: That Hannity acted as a “shadow chief of staff” while also juggling radio and TV shows. Trump would frequently call into Hannity’s show – and Hannity appeared on stage with the President during his final 2018 campaign rally.\n\nSupporters of President Donald Trump watch a video featuring Fox host Sean Hannity ahead of Trump's arrival to a campaign rally in Michigan on October 30, 2020. John Moore/Getty Images\n\nWhile Hannity was fiercely loyal to Trump on-air, his off-air relationship was more complicated. He sometimes complained about Trump’s conduct and fretted that the President was hurting the Republican Party writ large.\n\nSee what Hannity said on his show vs. what he said privately about Jan. 6 03:13 - Source: CNN\n\nHannity has said he is not a journalist, and Fox does not hold him to traditional journalistic standards. He is more akin to a GOP activist and entertainer, like some of his fellow Fox hosts. In addition to Hannity, Fox’s Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, Maria Bartiromo and Brian Kilmeade all sent messages to Meadows as well.\n\n\n\nA spokesperson for Fox did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nIn one noteworthy text, Bartiromo messaged Meadows on the morning of November 29, less than an hour before she was set to conduct Trump’s first interview since Election Day. The text included questions she planned to ask Trump.\n\n“Hi the public wants to know he will fight this. They want to hear a path to victory. & he’s in control,” Bartiromo texted at 9:21 a.m. “1Q You’ve said MANY TIMES THIS ELECTION IS RIGGED… And the facts are on your side. Let’s start there. What are the facts? Characterize what took place here. Then I will drill down on the fraud including the statistical impossibilities of Biden magic (federalist). Pls make sure he doesn’t go off on tangents. We want to know he is strong he is a fighter & he will win. This is no longer about him. This is about ????. I will ask him about big tech & media influencing ejection as well Toward end I’ll get to GA runoffs & then vaccines.”\n\nFox's Maria Bartiromo Fox News\n\nAt 10:12 a.m., Trump called into Bartiromo’s show, “Sunday Morning Futures.” Her line of questions mirrored much of what she laid out in the text message.\n\n“Thank you for talking with us in the first interview since Election Day,” Bartiromo said. “Mr President, you’ve said many times that this election was rigged, that there was much fraud. And the facts are on your side. Let’s start there. Please go through the facts. Characterize what took place.”\n\nThe committee previously released texts from both Kilmeade and Ingraham expressing alarm over the attacks at the Capitol and its effect on Trump’s legacy. Tucker Carlson appears in only one exchange in the Meadows text logs, when he was trying to speak to Meadows while prepping for his show on November 17.\n\n“Sorry I missed you. I was writing the show. Figured it out I think, but I appreciate it,” Carlson wrote.\n\nThe logs also show there were dozens of journalists from other organizations who texted with Meadows during this time period. In contrast to Hannity’s messages, these reporters were frequently seeking the White House chief of staff’s confirmation of breaking news or trying to secure an interview with Trump.\n\nMeadows received texts from reporters with the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Politico, Bloomberg, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN, among others.\n\n‘I’m beginning to feel down’\n\nAs the returns were coming in on Election Night, Hannity pinged Meadows to share a tweet about early vote totals out of North Carolina, a state that was crucial to Trump’s reelection hopes. “Will we hold??” Hannity asked Meadows.\n\n“We are still good,” Meadows wrote back.\n\nA week later, Hannity checked in again to see how Meadows was “holding up.”\n\n“I am doing well. Working around the clock. We are going to fight and win,” Meadows said.\n\n“You really think it’s possible,” Hannity responded. “I’m beginning to feel down. To (sic) much disorganization. We need Jim to front the messaging. Someone that’s credible.”\n\n“Arizona now down just 12813. Still ballots to count,” Meadows wrote back. “Very disorganized but I have been busting heads yesterday and today. Let NOT your heart be troubled my friend.”\n\nFox's Sean Hannity Fox News\n\nHannity and Meadows’ texts underscore the insular effects of the right-wing media echo chamber, where little if any accurate information about the election results was able to break through.\n\nIn November and early December, Hannity’s show often amplified Trump’s election lies. Guests including then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made near-nightly appearances to sow doubt about the election results and stoke support for doomed legal challenges. “We will follow the facts,” Hannity claimed on his December 2 program, one day after Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, declared there was no evidence of widespread election fraud.\n\nBut in his texts with Meadows, Hannity sounded resigned to the fact that the election was over.\n\n“Texas case is very strong. Still a Herculean climb. Everyone knows it was stolen. Everyone,” Hannity wrote on December 8. “I vacillate between mad as hell and sad as hell. Wtf happened to our country Mark.”\n\nMeadows responded, “So upset to see what we allowed to happen.”\n\n“Honestly we think alike. That’s another discussion,” Hannity wrote back.\n\n\n\n‘I’ve been at war with them all week’\n\nThe text messages also shed light on Hannity’s tensions with Fox. The Trump-aligned channel infuriated the former President by calling Arizona for Biden on Election Night.\n\nOn December 6, Meadows sent Hannity an article about then-Fox host Chris Wallace (who has since been hired by CNN) interrupting Trump’s HHS Secretary Alex Azar when Azar called Biden vice president instead of president-elect.\n\n“Doing this to try and get ratings will not work in the long run and I am doubtful it is even a short term winning strategy,” Meadows wrote.\n\nHannity responded with a jab at Fox and a suggestion about what Meadows should do after leaving the White House: “I’ve been at war with them all week. We will talk wen I see u,” Hannity wrote. “Also if this doesn’t end the way we want, you me and Jay are doing 3 things together. 1- Directing legal strategies vs Biden 2- NC Real estate 3- Other business I talked to Rudy. Thx for helping him.”\n\nHannity expressed his frustrations again several days later, telling Meadows that he had made a campaign ad.\n\n“I was screaming about no ads from Labor Day on,” Hannity wrote on December 8. “I made my own they never ran it. I’m not pointing fingers. I’m frustrated.”\n\nIn his book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election,” reporter Michael Bender reported that Hannity had scripted an ad for the Trump campaign, which then paid Fox more than $1 million to run. According to Bender, the ad ran only on one show, Hannity’s. When Bender’s book was published last year, Hannity denied writing a Trump campaign ad.\n\nOn December 11, Meadows asked Hannity to send him the phone number of Suzanne Scott, the Fox News CEO. “I can call through switchboard but that makes it a bigger deal,” Meadows said.\n\nThe next day, as Hannity pitched Meadows about working for Fox, he also offered an insightful window into how he views Trump. Hannity texted, “I truly feel sorry for our friend. He’s never had a days peace. On the other side of this, he’s exposed a very dark side of the swamp that’s far worse than I ever imagined and I am not particularly optimistic for the future.”\n\n‘The seats are slipping away’\n\nBy mid-December, both Hannity and Meadows were concerned about the two Senate run-offs in Georgia that would decide control of the chamber in 2021. By that point, Trump had started his harsh attacks on Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for certifying the state’s election for Biden.\n\nHannity and Meadows also began making plans for after the Trump administration, discussing how Trump could fashion a comeback bid and how Meadows could work against the Biden administration.\n\n“These 2 senate seats are slipping away. Kemp is a total idiot,” Hannity wrote on December 12.\n\nHannity argued that Trump should make the Senate race about him.\n\n“He has to make this about him. I’ll make a deal with you, If you (elect) 2 R’s to the senate, I’ll run again in 2024,” Hannity wrote of Trump. “Make it about him. 2 of the worst candidates I’ve ever seen.”\n\n“The seats are slipping away,” Meadows responded. “I agree that he has to give some hope for the future. Connect the future to these candidates.”\n\nMeadows continued, “Additionally. I think we set up a group of administrative lawyers, with a communication arm that fights election laws in every state and fight Biden actions every day, starting on Jan 20. ACLU filed over 400 lawsuits against Trump administration. We need to do the same. I think I can raise around 10 million dollars to hire a team to make sure the fight continues and prepares the way for 2024.”\n\n\n\n‘He can’t mention the election again. Ever.’\n\nAs January 6 approached, Hannity expressed his concern about what would transpire. He texted Meadows on January 5, “Im very worried about the next 48 hours. Pence pressure. WH counsel will leave.”\n\nOn January 6, after the Capitol was breached by pro-Trump rioters, Hannity was one of a number of people texting Meadows urging Trump to intervene. “Can he make a statement. I saw the tweet. Ask people to peacefully leave the capital,” Hannity texted Meadows at 3:31 p.m.\n\n“On it,” Meadows responded.\n\nLater that evening, after Trump had sent another tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence, Hannity expressed more alarm to Meadows, “Wth (What the hell) is happening with VPOTUS.”\n\nIn the January 6 aftermath, Hannity sounded a glum note to Meadows as many Republicans looked to cast Trump out of the party. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell gave a floor speech on January 19 saying the mob was “provoked” by Trump, prompting Hannity to share the video with Meadows. “Well this is as bad as this can get,” Hannity texted.\n\nHannity spoke to Trump several days after January 6. The call did not go well, Hannity wrote in a group text to Meadows and GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. Hannity said he wanted Trump never to speak about the 2020 election again, but that Trump was unwilling, and Hannity appeared at a loss for what to do next.\n\n“Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days. He can’t mention the election again. Ever,” Hannity wrote. “I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I’m not sure what is left to do or say, and I don’t like not knowing if it’s truly understood. Ideas?”\n\nNeither Meadows nor Jordan appeared to respond.\n\nThis story has been updated to include Hannity’s recent comments and Meadows’ comments in a court filing.\n\nCORRECTION: This story has been updated to correctly reflect the reporting in Michael Bender’s book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election,” regarding an ad Hannity scripted for the Trump campaign. Bender reported that the ad ran only on one show on Fox, Hannity’s.", "authors": ["Jamie Gangel Jeremy Herb Elizabeth Stuart Brian Stelter", "Jamie Gangel", "Jeremy Herb", "Elizabeth Stuart", "Brian Stelter"], "publish_date": "2022/04/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-conflict-explainer-2-cmd-intl/index.html", "title": "What does Putin want in Ukraine? The conflict explained | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nRussia’s multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine has thrust the country into a conflict that many on the European continent had thought was one for the history books. Now the country is in the throes of war, with a humanitarian disaster unfolding.\n\nAfter months of military buildup and brinkmanship on Russia’s side of the border, Ukraine’s 44 million residents woke up to an all-out conflict on Thursday. Fighting has erupted in several cities across the country, including in the capital, Kyiv, and nearly a half a million people have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.\n\nRussia had been tightening its military grip around Ukraine since last year, amassing tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as equipment and artillery, on the country’s doorstep.\n\nBlack smoke rises from a military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, on Thursday. Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images\n\nFrenzied diplomatic efforts early this year failed to avert the worst-case scenario. Now those troops are engaged in combat with Ukrainians for control of the country.\n\nThe escalation in a years-long conflict between the nations has now triggered the greatest security crisis in Europe since the Cold War. Russia’s attack on the country has also sparked an intense showdown between Western powers and Moscow.\n\nSo how did we get here? The picture on the ground is shifting rapidly, but here’s a breakdown of what we know.\n\nHow did Russia invade Ukraine?\n\nSeveral areas across Ukraine came under attack on Thursday morning after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the start of a “special military operation” and warned of bloodshed unless Ukrainian forces lay down their arms.\n\nThe move came after months of speculation about what Moscow’s intentions were with the troops it had massed on the Ukrainian border. At least 150,000 Russian troops encircled the country on three sides, like a sickle, according to estimates from US and Ukrainian intelligence officials.\n\nIn late 2021 and early 2022, fears heightened as satellite images revealed new Russian deployments of troops, tanks, artillery and other equipment cropping up in multiple locations, including near eastern Ukraine, Crimea and Belarus, where its forces were participating in joint drills with Moscow’s closest international ally.\n\nSome of those forces began pouring across the border, crossing into Ukraine from the north in Belarus and to the south from Crimea, according to the Ukrainian State Border Service. Elsewhere, explosions rang out in multiple cities, including the capital Kyiv.\n\nMissile strikes and street fighting have raged in the days since. Military aged men have been ordered to stay in Ukraine, while countless others have fled westwards towards Poland or Romania.\n\nRussia’s larger and far better-equipped military has, faced determined resistance across the country, as ordinary Ukrainians and reservists have joined efforts to defend their families and homes, frustrating Moscow’s attempts.\n\nThat resistance has been “stiffer than expected” and Russia has had unexpected difficulties supplying its forces, two senior US officials with direct knowledge told CNN. On the battlefield, Russia is suffering heavier losses in personnel and armor and aircraft than expected. This is due in part to the fact that Ukrainian air defenses have performed better than pre-invasion US intelligence assessments had anticipated.\n\nBut US intelligence and defense officials closely tracking the Russian campaign say that Putin still holds a number of moves in reserve that could devastate the Ukrainian resistance.\n\nThe US and its allies have said they have no intention of sending troops into Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. But Ukraine has received assistance in other forms from Europe, the US and beyond, as the West united in condemnation of Putin’s move. NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg condemned the Russian attack as a “grave breach of international law, and a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security.”\n\nAnd a raft of heavy sanctions have threatened to cripple Russia’s economy; Moscow has been virtually cut off from the Western financial apparatus and the value of its currency, the ruble, has tanked.\n\nThe coordinated assault came days after Putin announced that Moscow would officially recognize the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR), in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, ordering the deployment of Russian troops there in what was widely believed to be the opening salvo to a broader military confrontation.\n\nThe territory recognized by Putin extended beyond the areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists, raising red flags about Russia’s intended creep into Ukraine.\n\nWhat set the stage for the conflict?\n\nUkraine was a cornerstone of the Soviet Union until it voted overwhelmingly for independence in a democratic referendum in 1991, a milestone that turned out to be a death knell for the failing superpower.\n\nAfter the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO pushed eastward, bringing into the fold most of the Eastern European nations that had been in the Communist orbit. In 2004, NATO added the former Soviet Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Four years later, it declared its intention to offer membership to Ukraine some day in the distant future – crossing a red line for Russia.\n\nPutin has seen NATO’s expansion as an existential threat, and the prospect of Ukraine joining the Western military alliance a “hostile act” – a view he invoked in a televised speech on Thursday, saying that Ukraine’s aspiration to join the military alliance was a dire threat to Russia.\n\nIn interviews and speeches, Putin has previously emphasized his view that Ukraine is part of Russia, culturally, linguistically and politically. While some of the mostly Russian-speaking population in Ukraine’s east feel the same, a more nationalist, Ukrainian-speaking population in the west has historically supported greater integration with Europe.\n\nIn early 2014, mass protests in the capital Kyiv known as Euromaidan forced out a Russia-friendly president after he refused to sign an EU association agreement. Russia responded by annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and fomenting a separatist rebellion in Ukraine’s east, which seized control of part of the Donbas region. Despite a ceasefire agreement in 2015, the two sides have not seen a stable peace, and the front line has barely moved since. Nearly 14,000 people have died in the conflict, and there are 1.5 million people internally displaced in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian government.\n\nIn the eight years since, Moscow has been accused of engaging in hybrid warfare against Ukraine, using cyberattacks, economic pressure and propaganda to whip up discord. Those tactics have escalated in recent months, and in early February the State Department claimed Putin was preparing a false-flag operation to create “a pretext for an invasion.”\n\nWhat does Putin want?\n\nIn a lengthy essay penned in July 2021, Putin referred to Russians and Ukrainians as “one people,” and suggested the West had corrupted Ukraine and yanked it out of Russia’s orbit through a “forced change of identity.”\n\nThat type of historical revisionism was on full display in Putin’s emotional and grievance-packed address to the nation last Monday announcing his decision to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, while casting doubt on Ukraine’s own sovereignty.\n\nBut Ukrainians, who in the last three decades have sought to align more closely with Western institutions like the European Union and NATO, have pushed back against the notion that they are little more than the West’s “puppet.”\n\nIn fact, Putin’s efforts to bring Ukraine back into Russia’s sphere have been met with a backlash, with several recent polls showing that a majority of Ukrainians now favor membership of the US-led transatlantic military alliance.\n\nIn December, Putin presented the US and NATO with a list of security demands. Chief among them was a guarantee that Ukraine will never enter NATO and that the alliance rolls back its military footprint in Eastern and Central Europe – proposals that the US and its allies have repeatedly said are non-starters.\n\nPutin indicated he was not interested in lengthy negotiations on the topic. “It is you who must give us guarantees, and you must do it immediately, right now,” he said at his annual news conference late last year. “Are we deploying missiles near the US border? No, we are not. It is the United States that has come to our home with its missiles and is already standing at our doorstep.”\n\nHigh-level talks between the West and Russia wrapped in January without any breakthroughs. The standoff left Europe’s leaders to engage in a frenzy of shuttle diplomacy, exploring whether a negotiating channel established between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine to resolve the conflict in Ukraine’s east – known as the Normandy Format talks – could provide an avenue for calming the current crisis.\n\nIn a news conference with the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on February 16, Putin repeated unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine is carrying out a “genocide” against Russian speakers in the Donbas region and called for the conflict to be resolved through the Minsk peace progress – echoing similar rhetoric that was used as a pretext for annexing Crimea.\n\nBut less than a week later, after Russia’s upper house of parliament approved the deployment of military forces outside the country on February 22, Putin told reporters that the Minsk agreements “no longer exist,” adding: “What is there to implement if we have recognized these two entities?”\n\nThe agreements, known as Minsk 1 and Minsk 2 – which were hammered out in the Belarusian capital in a bid to end a bloody in eastern Ukraine – have never been fully implemented, with key issues remaining unresolved.\n\nMoscow and Kyiv have long been at odds over key elements of the peace deal, the second of which was inked in 2015 and lays out a plan for reintegrating the two breakaway republics into Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated that he did not like a single point of the Minsk accords, which require dialogue on local elections in the Russian-backed separatist regions and – although unclear in what sequence – would also restore the Ukrainian government’s control over its eastern borders. Critics say the agreement could give Moscow undue sway over Ukrainian politics.\n\nPutin previously responded in blunt terms by saying that regardless of whether Zelensky likes the plan, it must be implemented. “Like it or don’t like it, it’s your duty, my beauty,” Putin said in a news conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. Zelensky, a former comedian and TV star, won a 2019 election in a landslide on promises to end the war in Donbas, but little has changed. Responding to a question about Putin’s stark, undiplomatic language, Zelensky responded in Russian, saying bluntly: “We are not his.”\n\nHow has Ukraine responded?\n\nPresident Zelensky previously downplayed the danger of all-out war with Russia, noting that the threat has existed for years and that Ukraine is prepared for military aggression. But on Thursday, as Russia launched an assault on his country, Zelensky made an emotional address directly to the Ukrainian people, declaring martial law in the country.\n\n“Russia began an attack on Ukraine today. Putin began war against Ukraine, against the entire democratic world. He wants to destroy my country, our country, everything we’ve been building, everything we are living for,” Zelensky said in a video message posted on his official Facebook page.\n\nAcross the country, residents have been preparing for the worst – packing emergency evacuation kits and taking time out of their weekends to train as reservists.\n\nUkraine’s government insists that Moscow cannot prevent Kyiv from building closer ties with NATO, or otherwise interfere in its domestic or foreign politics. “Russia cannot stop Ukraine from getting closer with NATO and has no right to have any say in relevant discussions,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement to CNN.\n\nZelensky has since requested Ukraine be admitted “urgently” to the European Union, and has implored Western leaders to help boost Ukrainian forces on the ground.\n\nDelegates from Ukraine and Russia held talks on Monday near the border of Belarus, a country which has assisted Putin’s invasion, and which Ukrainian officials fear could soon put its own boots on the ground in support of Russia.\n\nUkraine demanded a full Russian withdrawal in advance of those talks, but it is unclear whether the meetings will result in a Russian retreat. Zelensky downplayed the significance of the talks, which he did not attend in person. “I do not really believe in the result of this meeting, but let them try, so that no citizen of Ukraine would have any doubt that I, as president, did not try to stop the war when there was even a small chance,” he said Sunday,\n\nPeople in Quezon City, Philippines, light candles in the shape of a peace sign February 28 as they protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images A woman from Ukraine takes part in an anti-war protest in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 28. Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters An anti-war protest takes place outside the Russian Embassy in Mexico City on February 28. Luis Cortes/Reuters A boy holds a Ukrainian flag with a heart drawn on it as he attends a protest with his mother in Sydney on February 28. James D. Morgan/Getty Images Thousands of protesters gather in Berlin's Tiergarten park on February 27. Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images Lidiya Zhuravlyova, a Ukrainian performance artist, takes part in an anti-war protest in Bangkok on February 27. Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters A \"Football Stands Together\" message is displayed in Ukrainian colors ahead of the League Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool on February 27 The match was played at Wembley Stadium in London. Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images Silhouettes are seen through a Ukrainian flag during a demonstration in Madrid on February 27. Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket/Getty Images People gather for a demonstration in Prague, Czech Republic, on February 27. The event in Prague was particularly poignant given that many of its attendees experienced a Russian invasion firsthand. In 1968, Soviet-led armies of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia, crushing the so-called Prague Spring democratic reform movement and restoring the totalitarian communist regime. The troops stayed in Czechoslovakia for over two decades, with the last leaving in 1991. Ondrej Deml/CTK/AP Thousands of people show solidarity with Ukraine at Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on February 27. Cris Toala Olivare/Getty Images Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa meets with demonstrators outside Belem Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, to show his support on February 26. Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images A protester holds a sign that says \"help before it's too late\" during a rally in Brussels, Belgium, on February 26. Valeria Mongelli/AP New York's Empire State Building is illuminated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag on February 25. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images People gather to protest outside the Russian Consulate in Istanbul on February 25. Burak Kara/Getty Images People photograph Paris' Eiffel Tower as it is lit with Ukraine's colors on February 25. Adrienne Surprenant/AP A child holds smoke bombs at a protest in Buenos Aires on February 25. Mariana Nedelcu/Reuters A demonstrator against the invasion is led away by police in Moscow on February 24. Hundreds of protesters in Russia have been detained in anti-war protests, independent protest monitoring site OVD-Info said. Russia's Investigative Committee warned that participation in any anti-war protest was illegal. It also said that offenses could be entered on participants' criminal records which would \"leave a mark on the person's future.\" Daniil Danchenko/NurPhoto/Getty Images Ukraine supporters march through the streets of New York with flags and signs on February 24. John Lamparski/NurPhoto/Associated Press Members of the Ukrainian community demonstrate outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles on February 24. Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images People protest in Rome on February 24. Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis/Getty Images Flinders Street Station in Melbourne is lit in yellow and blue on February 24 as public buildings were lit up in the national colors of Ukraine. Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AFP/Getty Images A demonstrator in Barcelona, Spain, cries during a protest on February 24. Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images People protest in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on February 24. Hannibal Hanschke/Getty Images Protesters gather outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston on February 24. M. Scott Brauer/The New York Time/Redux Demonstrators rally at Times Square in New York on February 24. Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images A Ukraine supporter in Minneapolis attends a prayer service inside the St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church on February 24. Stephen Maturen/Reuters Protesters chant and gather in front of the Texas State Capitol in downtown Austin on February 24. Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman/USA Today Network A vigil for Ukraine takes place in Montclair, New Jersey, on February 24. Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com/USA Today Network In pictures: The world rallies in support of Ukraine Prev Next\n\nTensions between the two countries had been exacerbated by a deepening Ukrainian energy crisis that Kyiv believes Moscow has purposefully provoked. Ukraine views the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline – connecting Russian gas supplies directly to Germany – as a threat to its own security.\n\nNord Stream 2 is one of two pipelines that Russia has laid underwater in the Baltic Sea – in addition to its traditional land-based pipeline network that runs through eastern Europe, including Ukraine. Kyiv views the pipelines across Ukraine as an element of protection against invasion by Russia, since any military action could potentially disrupt the vital flow of gas to Europe.\n\nAfter requests from Zelensky and the US administration, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that he would halt the certification of the pipeline following Putin’s decision to order troops into parts of eastern Ukraine.\n\nNord Stream 2 was just one of myriad challenges facing Zelensky’s government; the former actor, who played a president on Ukrainian television, had experienced a brutal baptism of fire into real-world politics since assuming office in 2019, thanks in part to the pandemic and ongoing tensions with Russia.\n\nBut in the days since the invasion, admiration for him has soared both inside and outside Ukraine; Zelensky refused to leave the country and has instead posted frequent videos from the streets of Kyiv, where he has been encouraging his fellow countrymen to resist Russian forces.", "authors": ["Eliza Mackintosh"], "publish_date": "2022/02/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/02/28/fact-check-whats-true-and-whats-false-invasion-ukraine/6952717001/", "title": "Fact check: What's true and what's false about the invasion of Ukraine", "text": "False and misleading information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine has spread rapidly on social media since Russian forces launched a military assault in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 24.\n\nHere’s a roundup of claims related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict analyzed by the USA TODAY Fact Check team:\n\nFact check:Putin's claims justifying war in Ukraine are baseless, experts say\n\nU.S. and European relations with Russia, Ukraine\n\nClaim: There are U.S. biolabs in Ukraine funded by the U.S. government\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe labs in question are owned and funded by the Ukrainian government. The social media posts misrepresent a treaty between the U.S. and Ukraine aimed at preventing biological threats, and numerous reports indicate the claim is tied to a years-long Russian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the U.S. Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukraine was the largest donor to the Clinton Foundation\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThough foreign governments have contributed to the Clinton Foundation, Ukraine is not listed as a donor. The claims misrepresent a 2015 report on donations made between 1999 and 2014 ranked by the nationality of individual contributors, not foreign governments. The vast majority of donations from Ukrainian nationals to the Clinton Foundation in a chart that was part of that report came from one individual. Read more.\n\nClaim: Vladimir Putin has banned the Rothschild family from entering Russia\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThere's no evidence supporting the claim that Putin has banned the Rothschild family from entering Russia, which was first published in 2016 and has been debunked by independent fact-checking organizations. The Rothschild family's company has an office in Moscow. Read more.\n\nClaim: President Joe Biden plans to sell Alaska to Russia\n\nOur rating: Satire\n\nThe claim that the U.S. president plans to sell Alaska to Russia is satire. It stems from an article published by The Babylon Bee, a satire website. There is no evidence Biden plans to sell Alaska. Read more.\n\nClaim: Sean Penn's pre-war Ukraine visit is evidence of propaganda\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nActor Sean Penn's visit to Ukraine in November 2021 for a documentary offers no proof of political propaganda. At the time of his visit, there were already concerns that Russia might invade parts of Ukraine, and the conflict between the two countries dates back to at least 2014. Read more.\n\nClaim: Poland is sending jets to a US air base in Germany to send to Ukraine\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nThe U.S. Department of Defense said it would not advance Poland's plan to send jets to a U.S. air base in Germany so jets could be sent on to Ukraine. Polish officials announced the proposal before it was cleared by the Biden administration. Read more.\n\nClaim: President Joe Biden said there is a 'new world order'\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nBiden did not confirm a world domination conspiracy theory when he mentioned a \"new world order.\" He was describing international changes from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and historians say politicians have used the term for decades. Read more.\n\nClaim: The Space Foundation stripped the honors of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nThe Space Foundation did not revoke any awards or remove any honors from Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. A spokesperson said the nonprofit changed the name of a fundraising event this year in light of recent events to not distract from the event's purpose. Read more.\n\nClaim: The Russian invasion of Ukraine is ‘scripted and staged’\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThere is ample evidence the conflict in Ukraine is real. Photos and videos from correspondents on the ground have shown the extensive damage done to buildings, and the toll inflicted on civilians. A number of countries and international humanitarian organizations have responded to the conflict and confirmed the situation there. Read more.\n\nClaim: The price of crude oil increased 513% between Joe Biden’s inauguration and the Russian invasion of Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nData shows crude oil prices increased by around 75% between Biden's first day in office and the day Russia launched its attack on Ukraine. Experts say different international factors are responsible for the surge in crude oil prices. Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukraine announced it's the first country to implement the 'Great Reset' through a mobile app\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe Diia app, which allows Ukrainians to upload identification documents, is not connected to the World Economic Forum's Great Reset proposal. Read more.\n\nClaim: George Soros is wanted in Russia and has been declared a 'global terrorist' in China\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThere is no evidence Soros is wanted in Russia or that he was declared a terrorist in China. An Open Society Foundations spokesperson said the claims are false. Read more.\n\nClaim: Biden administration is “sucking the Strategic Oil Reserve dry”\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe Biden administration's planned release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the largest on record, but the amount scheduled to be removed is one-third of the total. Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukraine is the money laundering and child sex trafficking \"capital of the world\"\n\nOur rating: False\n\nUkraine isn't ranked the worst in human trafficking or money laundering, experts say. Reports indicate these problems are more prominent in other countries. Read more.\n\nClaim: Pentagon officials said Volodymyr Zelenskyy and George Soros are cousins\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThere is no evidence Zelenskyy and Soros are cousins, and the Pentagon said it did not issue a statement claiming otherwise. Read more.\n\nClaim: Russian forces captured a U.S. general in Mariupol, Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nRussian forces did not capture a U.S. general in Mariupol. NATO said its Allied Land Command leader is in Turkey, and no forces have been deployed to Ukraine. Read more.\n\nFalse or misleading videos\n\nClaim: A video shows Russian soldiers parachuting into Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA viral video, recorded by a man in a military uniform, shows a handful of people with parachutes descending into an open field. But the video was posted on Instagram in 2015, nearly seven years before Russia invaded Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows a recent explosion in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA viral video shows a flash of light followed by an orange glow behind several darkened buildings, claiming its setting is Ukraine. However, the video was shared to TikTok in January and has nothing to do with the Russian invasion. Read more.\n\nClaim: Video shows explosion in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nIn a video claiming to be set in Ukraine, a massive ball of fire explodes in the air. What the video actually shows is an explosion at a chemical warehouse in an industrial city in China. It was captured by an American survivor in 2015. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows a Russian fighter jet in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nAn online video clip shows a plane falling from the sky and bursting into flames, purporting to show a Russian jet shot down by the Ukrainian military. But the footage really shows a Libyan plane shot down by rebels over Benghazi in March 2011, a decade before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Ukrainian police dropping their equipment and walking away\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA video purports to show Odesa police abandoning their equipment and \"refusing to go against its people.\" While the clip does show Odesa police, the footage is from a May 2014 pro-Russian demonstration. It is unrelated to the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Russian jets flying over Kyiv\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video claims Russian planes can be seen flying over the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. But the video actually shows a flyover practice in Moscow ahead of the city's celebration of Victory Day and was posted in May 2020. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows war between Russia and Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video claims to show war between Russia and Ukraine before the former had invaded the latter. That's not true. The video shows footage from \"Arma 3,\" a military-style video game. At the time the footage was posted, on Feb. 20, Russia had not invaded Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A BBC News segment depicts a military escalation between Russia and NATO\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video that purports to show a BBC News segment narrating the escalation of Russian and NATO combat is actually just an out-of-context dramatization made as a training video. The BBC previously debunked its association to the clip in 2018, tracing its source to a private company that identified it as fictional. The video's actor has also gone on the record to say that the clip is fictional. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows a Russian tank running over a Ukrainian car\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nNews organizations and an eyewitness confirmed the authenticity of a video showing an armored vehicle running over a civilian car in Ukraine. But claims that the armored vehicle shows a \"Russian tank\" are unproven. Military experts say the vehicle is likely a Strela-10, which is used by both Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Ukrainian and Russian troops face to face\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nWhile a video shows Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, it wasn't captured during the Russian invasion. The standoff between soldiers took place in 2014 in Crimea. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Ukrainians destroying Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails\n\nOur rating: False\n\nWhile volunteers in Ukraine have been producing Molotov cocktails, the video doesn't depict Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The footage shows Ukrainians clashing with police in 2014 during anti-government demonstrations in Kyiv's central square. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows a 'huge' military convoy heading to Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video showing a train snaking its way through the countryside, pulling a long line of flatcars loaded with tanks, is not related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The footage in question shows an American railway company carrying tanks in Southern California and is at least four years old. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows an explosion at the Ukraine international airport\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video that shows a massive explosion engulfing the sky near a populated area shows an explosion at a Ukrainian air base in the city of Melitopol, not the non-existent \"Ukraine International Airport.\" But numerous international airports in Ukraine have suffered Russian missile strikes. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Russian soldiers preparing nuclear weapons\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video purporting to show Russian soldiers preparing nuclear missiles actually shows a British journalist jokingly placing a lighter near a decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missile. The video was taken in 2014 in Ukraine during the filming of the \"Top Gear\" TV show. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows families fleeing a battle\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA video clip that shows families hurrying to run behind troop lines as an explosion flings debris in the background is a 2021 Russian reenactment of a World War II battle. The video is unrelated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Russians and Ukrainians dancing together\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA video that shows several uniformed individuals dancing to upbeat music in a muddy field while a nearby crowd of clapping soldiers stand on honking armored vehicles is missing context. The video was first shared at least a week before Russian forces invaded Ukraine, and Crimean news reports indicate the dancing took place after a planned tactical exercise in the peninsula. USA TODAY found no evidence the soldiers are members of the Ukrainian military. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows the Ukrainian Air Force shooting down a Russian jet\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video of jets passing over a building and a projectile seemingly striking an object in the sky does not show the Ukrainian Air Force shooting down a Russian jet. The video is from a video game called \"Digital Combat Simulator World.\" Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukrainians are posting videos about 'how to drive abandoned or captured Russian military vehicles'\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nThe claim that Ukrainians are posting videos about \"how to drive abandoned or captured Russian military vehicles\" is missing context. The video in the post was initially published a year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows 'crisis actors' pretending to be dead in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video that shows dozens of people lying in what appear to be body bags, with one of the people moving, does not show crisis actors pretending to be dead. The video is from an Austrian climate protest that occurred weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Ukrainian soldiers saying goodbye to their wives before going to war\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA video that shows women crying and hugging two men wearing military uniforms and black balaclavas is taken out of context. The video was shot in 2014 as soldiers prepared to fight Russia-backed rebels in the Donbas region and was used for a documentary. It has nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine, as the social media posts imply. Read more.\n\nClaim: Video shows meeting between Vladimir Putin and South Korean president\n\nOur rating: False\n\nPutin and the South Korean president are not seen meeting in this viral video. The video actually shows a 2019 meeting between Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Ukrainian and Russian soldiers playing tug-of-war\n\nOur rating: False\n\nFootage purporting to show Ukrainian and Russian soldiers playing tug-of-war actually shows Canadian and American service members in 2012 during a joint training session in Indiana. Read more.\n\nClaim: Video shows downed Russian fighter jet on highway\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA 2014 promotional Star Wars video was falsely described online as showing a downed Russian fighter jet in Kyiv. Read more.\n\nClaim: Video shows Ukrainian soldiers killing civilians in Chechnya\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video purporting to show Ukrainian soldiers killing people in Chechnya is actually a clip from the 2014 fictional film \"The Search.\" Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Putin threatening Kenya\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA Feb. 24 Russian state television broadcast on Putin's reasoning for a military operation in Ukraine has been inaccurately captioned online as showing Putin threatening Kenya. Read more.\n\nClaim: Video shows South Sudan president apologizing to Putin after threat\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA viral video doesn't show an exchange between the president of Russia and the president of South Sudan. The subtitles are inaccurate, and one clip of the South Sudan leader is included out of context. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Russian troops making a temporary bridge\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video shows part of NATO's 2017 training exercise in Lithuania, and it is unrelated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: 'Not one raw footage video' has come out of Ukraine despite widespread internet connectivity\n\nOur rating: False\n\nWhile misleading and edited footage is spreading online, journalists and news outlets have verified plenty of raw footage from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows the destruction of Russian military aircraft and tanks\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA viral clip shows a popular video game, not the destruction of Russian military aircraft and tanks. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows drones putting out a high-rise fire in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe footage shows a 2020 drone firefighting demonstration in China, not drones putting out a high-rise fire in Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows American soldiers parachuting into Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video purporting to show American soldiers parachuting into Ukraine was recorded in 2016 and shows a military training exercise in North Carolina. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows soldiers destroying a Russian tank\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA viral 9-minute video shows footage from the video game Arma 3, not soldiers destroying a Russian tank with an anti-tank weapon. Read more.\n\nClaim: Footage shows a Ukrainian boy crossing the Polish border alone\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA Ukrainian boy seen crossing the Polish border in a viral video wasn't traveling alone, according to the Polish Border Guard. Read more.\n\nClaim: Video shows new graves for Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video purporting to show new graves for Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine dates back to at least 2021 and shows pre-drug graves in preparation for frozen soil conditions in the winter. Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukraine's emergency wartime payment is dependent on a citizen's COVID-19 vaccination status\n\nOur rating: False\n\nUkraine's government said all citizens impacted by the war are eligible for an emergency wartime payment, and there is no mention of a COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Online posts distorted a speech from Ukraine's prime minister about the relief program. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows Slovak lawmakers pouring water on the Ukrainian flag\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA video of opposition lawmakers in Slovakia pouring water on a Ukrainian flag was taken prior to the Russian invasion. Slovakia is a NATO member and has supported Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A video shows a 'dead' Ukrainian smoking a cigarette\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA video purporting to show a \"dead\" Ukrainian smoking a cigarette shows an actor smoking in a body bag for a Russian music video. Read more.\n\nDeceptive use of images\n\nClaim: A photo shows a Russian jet going down in flames as it invaded Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe image that claims to show a Russian jet crashing in flames as it invaded Ukraine was actually taken in 1993, after two Russian fighter jets collided in mid-air while performing at an airshow in England. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows a Russian plane shot down by Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe photo of a plane falling from the sky was captured in August 2015 during an air show in Russia. Read more.\n\nClaim: A photo shows Ukrainians praying in the snow 'in this phase of war danger'\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nThe photo of people praying in the snow is from Ukraine, but it has circulated online since at least 2019. It does not show Ukrainians praying during recent tensions with Russia. Read more.\n\nClaim: A photo shows an explosion in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nAn image of a large explosion depicts Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in May 2021, not ongoing fighting in Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A photo shows a celebration after Ukraine's president lifted a ban on proselytizing\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe image of thousands protesting was taken in 2017 during a celebration in Kyiv of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. USA TODAY found no evidence that Ukraine ever banned proselytizing. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image of a woman holding a rifle shows 'life in Ukraine, now'\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe photo of a woman holding a rifle on a bus while checking her phone was first shared online in March 2020. A Russian social media influencer said it shows her posing with a fake weapon after a photo shoot. Read more.\n\nClaim: Image shows Japanese ambassador to Ukraine dressed as a samurai who stayed in Kiev\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA photo purporting to show the Japanese ambassador to Ukraine dressed in a samurai outfit in Kyiv actually shows the Ukrainian ambassador to Japan. The image was captured prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in military uniform 'alongside his people'\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nWhile a photo showing Zelenskyy in military garb is authentic, it wasn't captured recently amid current conflict with Russia. It was taken in early 2021 when he visited troops in eastern Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska in uniform\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA viral image shows a Ukrainian soldier at a military parade rehearsal in Kyiv in August 2021, not Ukraine's first lady. Some users claimed the photo shows the vice president's wife, however there is no vice president role in Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image of a wounded child is from the Russian invasion of Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA 2018 photo of a wounded girl in a hospital after a bombing in Syria is being falsely described online as showing a wounded child from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: A photo shows children saluting Ukrainian troops\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nAn image of a young boy and girl saluting Ukrainian soldiers predates Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The photo is from 2016, two years after the Russian annexation of Crimea. Read more.\n\nClaim: A photo shows a Time magazine cover comparing Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler\n\nOur rating: Altered\n\nAn image depicting a supposed Time magazine cover comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler is altered. A graphic designer created the photo of Putin and Hitler and edited it to appear as if it were a real Time cover. The magazine's most recent cover shows a Russian tank, not Putin. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows a Ukrainian girl confronting a Russian soldier\n\nOur rating: False\n\nViral pictures of a young girl appearing to shout and wave her fist in front of a soldier with a gun weren't taken in Ukraine. The image shows a Palestinian girl confronting an Israeli soldier in the West Bank in 2012. Read more.\n\nClaim: Former beauty queen Anastasiia Lenna joined the Ukrainian military\n\nOur rating: False\n\nViral photos purporting to show former Miss Grand Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna joining the military to defend her country actually show her posing with an airsoft gun, which she says were meant to inspire people amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Lenna clarified she has not joined the military and that she is an airsoft player. Her Instagram page shows she has been sharing airsoft game photos for years. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko with a machine gun\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA photo that shows Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitscheko with a machine gun is from March 2021 when he visited a military training center. It is unrelated to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: Samuel Hyde is the 'Ghost of Kyiv'\n\nOur rating: False\n\nSamuel Hyde is not the so-called Ghost of Kyiv. The image in the post was altered to replace a U.S. pilot's face with Hyde's face. Hyde has been falsely linked to various mass shootings and global tragedies for years. Read more.\n\nClaim: Russia unveiled a nuclear missile called 'Satan 2'\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nThe missile was first announced in 2016 – not recently, as posts online makes it seem – and reportedly will not be in use until late 2022. None of the three images in the post show \"Satan 2.\" Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows Natasha Perakov, the first Ukrainian female fighter pilot\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThe first Ukrainian female fighter pilot is not shown in the post. The image shows a Ukrainian soldier who won a beauty contest in 2016. Ukraine's first female fighter pilot is Nadiya Savchenko. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows members of Dynamo Kyiv in military attire\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA picture showing 25 men dressed in camouflage military attire doesn't show members of Ukrainian soccer team Dynamo Kyiv. The image shows members of Gonor, a Ukrainian nationalist group. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows a captured Russian tank for sale on eBay\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA company spokesperson told USA TODAY the listing is fake. The sale of military items, including weapons and vehicles, is prohibited on eBay. The image of the T-72 tank in the post dates back to 2010. Read more.\n\nClaim: Photos show Ukrainian demonstration in support of Myanmar\n\nOur rating: Altered\n\nPhotos on social media don't show a Ukrainian demonstration for Myanmar. The original photos were taken at Ukrainian demonstrations that were unrelated to Myanmar. They were altered to include pro-Myanmar slogans and images on protest signs. Read more.\n\nClaim: Photos show 'angel'-like cloud formations over Kyiv amid Russian siege\n\nOur rating: False\n\nPhotos purporting to show \"angel\"-like cloud formations over Kyiv are at least five years old and predate the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows a Russian Su-34 aircraft shot down in Kyiv\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA 1944 image of a U.S. B-17 aircraft that crash-landed at an airfield in Papua New Guinea is being falsely described as showing a Russian Su-34 aircraft shot down in Kyiv. Read more.\n\nClaim: Image shows St. Louis Arch lit up with the colors of the Ukrainian flag\n\nOur rating: Altered\n\nThe Gateway Arch in St. Louis was not lit up with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, according to the National Park Service. A photo claiming to show otherwise has been digitally altered. Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukraine revealed a new stamp titled 'Russian warship, go (expletive) yourself'\n\nOur rating: True\n\nAn image showing a soldier flipping off a warship with the text \"Russian warship go (expletive) yourself\" is an authentic Ukrainian postage stamp. The design honors the soldiers who defended Snake Island. Read more.\n\nClaim: A photo shows a Ukrainian farmer towing a captured Russian jet\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA photo shows a jet being towed by tractor through the streets of Zagreb, Croatia, in 2011, not a Ukrainian farmer towing a captured Russian jet amid the invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nThe claim: Photo shows Ukrainian children hiding in a metro station after Russia's invasion\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA photo purporting to show Ukrainian children in a metro station after Russia's invasion shows children taking part in a practice drill at a school bomb shelter before the invasion began on Feb. 24. Read more.\n\nThe claim: The Russian attack on a Mariupol maternity hospital was staged\n\nOur rating: False\n\nImages of an injured pregnant woman in the aftermath of a hospital attack show a Ukrainian beauty influencer, but there's no evidence she is a \"crisis actor.\" International health agencies and news organizations confirmed the bombing of a Mariupol maternity hospital took place on March 9. Read more.\n\nClaim: Images show Russian-bombed Syria, and Kyiv\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA photo purporting to show Aleppo, Syria, is actually a 2017 image of Mosul, Iraq. The second image shows Kyiv, but it was taken one day after the start of the Russian invasion, not after weeks of bombing. Read more.\n\nClaim: A Ukrainian artist created a mosaic of Vladimir Putin's face with bullet casings from the Ukrainian front\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA portrait of Putin's face is authentic, but it was created by a Ukrainian artist in 2015 in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, not recently amid the invasion. Read more.\n\nClaim: Photo shows child whose parents died in the war in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA photo purporting to show a child whose parents died in the war in Ukraine originated from a 2015 music video. Read more.\n\nClaim: Photo shows Ukrainian tractor towing Russian rocket\n\nOur rating: Altered\n\nA photo claiming to show a Ukrainian tractor towing a Russian rocket was altered using a 2018 image of a Soyuz rocket being pulled by a train. Read more.\n\nClaim: Photo shows a young girl preparing to fight in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA photo of a young girl holding a gun does not show her preparing for war in Ukraine. The girl's father said it was staged and taken before the Russian invasion. Read more.\n\nClaim: Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko auctioned his Olympic medal to help Ukrainian children\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nKlitschko auctioned his Olympic medal to help Ukrainian children at a charity event in 2012, a decade before the Russian invasion. Read more.\n\nClaim: The Ukrainian army uses cats to identify sniper laser sights\n\nOur rating: False\n\nAn image purporting to show a Ukrainian soldier holding a military cat has circulated online since at least 2018, and the poster who initiated this claim has said it was fabricated. Read more.\n\nClaim: Russian Consulate in Montreal is now located on 'Avenue Zelensky'\n\nOur rating: False\n\nCity officials said the address of the Russian Consulate in Montreal has not changed. The street remains listed as Avenue de Musée, not \"Avenue Zelensky.\" Read more.\n\nUse of fake or misleading media reports\n\nClaim: CNN reported the death of 'Bernie Gores' in both Afghanistan and Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA post claiming CNN reported the same man was both executed by the Taliban in 2021 and killed by Ukrainian separatists in February is false. The tweets pictured in social media posts appear to have come from unverified accounts that have been suspended. CNN denied posting the tweets. Read more.\n\nClaim: Russia deployed nuclear weapons 'in America's backyard,' CNN reported\n\nOur rating: Missing context\n\nA CNN news clip featuring correspondent Brian Todd and a chyron that asserts Putin is \"making military moves in America's backyard\" was shared out of context. The video was recorded and originally posted online in 2018, when two Russian bombers arrived in Venezuela to carry out military exercises over the Caribbean. The video has nothing to do with the current invasion of Ukraine. Read more.\n\nClaim: An image shows a CNN chyron that reads, 'Ocasio-Cortez says she feared being raped during Ukraine invasion'\n\nOur rating: Altered\n\nAn image that claims to show a CNN chyron that reads, \"Ocasio-Cortez says she feared being raped during Ukraine invasion\" is fake. It was superimposed on an image of Ocasio-Cortez from an interview with CNN in August 2021. Read more.\n\nClaim: CNN tweeted a story about a former teacher dubbed the 'Kharkiv Kid Finder'\n\nOur rating: False\n\nCNN did not tweet a story about a former teacher dubbed the \"Kharkiv Kid Finder\" in Ukraine. A spokesperson for the network said the tweet is fabricated. Read more.\n\nClaim: A protest during a Russian news broadcast was staged because 'there are no live on-air television broadcasts in Russia'\n\nOur rating: False\n\nRussian media experts say news is broadcast live in the country, and there is no evidence a producer's antiwar protest during a Russian news broadcast was fake. Read more.\n\nClaim: George Soros said on CNN he helped overthrow the former Ukrainian president\n\nOur rating: False\n\nThere is no evidence that American billionaire George Soros said he helped overthrow the former Ukrainian president. CNN and the Soros' foundation said the claim is false, and the 2014 CNN transcript of Soros' interview includes no such statement. Read more.\n\nClaim: CNN sent tweet with picture of Serbian building, claimed it was bombed hotel in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: Altered\n\nAn image purporting to show a CNN tweet identifying a Serbian building as a bombed Ukrainian hotel is altered. The formatting suggests a lack of authenticity, and a CNN spokesperson said it's fabricated. Read more.\n\nClaim: Canadian sniper 'Wali' was killed by Russian forces in Ukraine\n\nOur rating: False\n\nA Canadian sniper nicknamed 'Wali' was not killed in Ukraine. He has confirmed to numerous news outlets in video interviews that he is still alive. Read more.\n\nClaim: A Ukrainian plane tore off a road sign while flying low to avoid Russian radar\n\nOur rating: False\n\nAn image showing a Ukrainian military plane that tore off a road sign was captured in August 2020, not amid the Russian invasion. Read more.\n\nClaim: Tucker Carlson suggested photos of bodies in Bucha, Ukraine, could have been staged\n\nOur rating: False\n\nTucker Carlson didn't suggest photos of bodies in Bucha were staged. He denied the quote and the author of the tweet acknowledged it was fabricated. Read more.\n\nThank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app, or electronic newspaper replica here.\n\nOur fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/28"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_8", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:00", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2023/03/31/iowa-tornado-warning-watch-storm-updates-severe-weather-storms-friday/70069094007/", "title": "Tornado, storm damage in Iowa: Coralville, Hills among hardest hit", "text": "At least eight tornadoes were spotted across Iowa Friday as large swaths of the southeastern portion of the state reported extensive damage to homes and buildings in a massive storm front that killed more than two-dozen people across the nation.\n\nThe National Weather Service has confirmed at least eight tornadoes based on preliminary data, including a low-end EF4 that tracked from Wapello into Johnson County; five EF2 tornadoes, one in Cedar county into Clinton County, one in Clinton County, two in Johnson county and one in Des Moines County; and two tornadoes in Jackson county, one EF1 tornado that began in Jackson County before moving to Illinois and another EF0 stayed in county lines.\n\nThe total number of tornadoes is expected to rise.\n\nThe EF scale uses wind estimates based on damage and calculates 3-second gusts estimated at the point of damage, according to the NWS. EF4 tornadoes bring gusts of 166 to 200 mph; EF3, 136 to 165; EF2, 111 to 135; and EF1, 86 to 110.\n\nCoralville and Hills in Johnson County were among the towns that saw extensive damage, and part of Charlotte in Clinton County was evacuated because of a propane leak.\n\nThe Iowa storms were part of a powerful system of storms and tornadoes that tore through the South and Midwest starting Friday. By Sunday morning, the death toll nationally had risen to 26.\n\nMore:'Where are my kids going to stay?': Storm damage leaves some Coralville families homeless\n\nNWS to have official tornado count Monday; at least 40 structures damaged in Corallville and Hills\n\nNational Weather Service officials in Davenport are still working on the official tornado count, a number that will most likely be available Monday morning, the NWS said. The latest tornadoes added are the two surveyed near the town of Solon. Survey teams have preliminarily rated those both as EF2, according to NWS Quad Cities.\n\nDavid Wilson, director of Johnson County Homeland Security and Emergency, said 20 buildings and homes were damaged in Coralville, along with another 20 in Hills but believes the total will be north of 60 structures. Other numbers will be available later Sunday afternoon, he said. 118 calls were placed to 911 during the event.\n\nEF4 tornado confirmed; it tracked from Wapello to Johnson County\n\nPreliminary data has led to a low-end EF4 rating for a tornado that tracked from Wapello into Johnson County, with maximum estimated winds at about 170 mph and maximum width of 600 yards, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nMore:9 possible tornadoes tallied in eastern Iowa Friday from 'strong and unusual storm system'\n\nEF1 tornado confirmed in Bellevue\n\nPreliminary data shows an EF1 tornado crossed over Bellevue before heading over the Mississippi River, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nEF2 tornado confirmed in Clinton County\n\nThe National Weather Service confirmed an EF2 tornado touched down in Clinton County, moving northeast from Grand Mound through Charlotte.\n\nGov. Kim Reynolds signs disaster proclamation for 12 counties\n\nIowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a disaster relief proclamation on Saturday morning for 12 counties in eastern Iowa in the wake of the storm damage.\n\nThe proclamation intends to \"ease restrictions on the transportation of materials related to disaster response and repairs,\" according to a press release. Those measures include temporarily suspending restrictions on hours of service for disaster relief crews and movement of loads on highways to help in disaster recovery.\n\nThe counties included in the proclamation are Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Grundy, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Mahaska, Wapello and Washington.\n\nThe Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program is now also available for residents of those counties impacted by the disaster whose household annual income is at 200% or less than the federal poverty level. Households may receive up to $5,000 to assist in disaster recovery such as home or car repairs, food, clothing and other recovery expenses. Individuals have until May 16 to apply through the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services website.\n\nResidents of the counties of any income bracket can also receive assistance through the Disaster Case Management Program. Care is organized through local community action associations.\n\nThe proclamation is in effect from April 1 to May 1.\n\nMore:How to claim tornado relief in Iowa if your house or property has been damaged\n\nNational Weather Service warns of more severe weather next week\n\nThe National Weather Service warned that another round of severe weather could hit central and eastern Iowa on Tuesday.\n\nSoutheastern Iowa is particularly at risk of tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail, the organization wrote on Twitter.\n\nEF3 tornado confirmed near Keota\n\nPreliminary data confirms an E3 tornado touched down near Keota on Friday, according to The National Weather Service.\n\nCharlotte propane tank leak contained; one family rescued from fallen home in Clinton County\n\nOfficials quickly repaired a leak in a 10,000-gallon propane tank in northern Charlotte Friday night, which had required half of the town's residents to evacuate. Residents were able to return to their homes last night, according to Clinton County Emergency Management Coordinator Chance Kness.\n\nKness said several homes across the county were destroyed by the strong storms. He said eyewitness accounts confirmed at least one tornado touched down in the county, but his team is awaiting confirmation from the National Weather Service.\n\nEmergency personnel rescued a family of three trapped in their collapsed home north of Grand Mound last night at 6 p.m., Kness said. One of the residents was transported to Genesis Medical Center in DeWitt for their injuries, he said.\n\nKness said emergency personnel worked efficiently to survey damage and respond to calls for service in the county, thanks in large part to early warnings ahead of the storm.\n\n\"Because of the extremely early warning about the severity of this event, we had staffed our Emergency Operations Center, notified responders,\" he said. \"We're very fortunate in Clinton County to have excellent first response capabilities and great working relationships. I feel like everything went very smoothly.\"\n\nEF3 tornado confirmed outside Hedrick\n\nThe National Weather Service out of the Quad Cities confirmed preliminary data shows an EF3 tornado touched down three to five miles away from Hedrick in Keokuk County.\n\nInsulation, debris line grass on 23rd Street in Coralville\n\nDozens of community members, including Coralville Mayor Meghann Foster and Iowa City Community School District employees, lined 23rd Street in Coralville Saturday morning to help clear out debris.\n\n“We have a lot of people that want to step up and help,” Foster said.\n\nOn Ninth Street, insulation littered the grass in front of people's homes. From afar, it looked almost like snow.\n\nEF2 tornado confirmed in Johnson County\n\nThe National Weather Service based in the Quad Cities has confirmed one EF-2 tornado touched down in Johnson County Friday near Hills. Johnson County Emergency Management Coordinator Dave Wilson said there may have been up to three tornadoes that hit the county.\n\nThe tornadoes first were sighted in the southwest corner of the county, in Frytown, and made their way up through the west side of Hills, he said.\n\nIn Hills, \"about a six-block-wide area between Highway 218 and the railroad tracks\" sustained notable damage, he said. The area is made up of apartment buildings, a few individual residences and commercial storage sheds, he said.\n\nFrom there, the storm moved to the west of Iowa City over the city's landfill and ended up in Coralville, where a portion of four blocks stretching from Highway 6 to Boston Way sustained damage, he said. The storm then \"hopped up\" to Solon, Wilson said, where it damaged a new subdivision under construction and took the roof off a local hardware store and Mexican restaurant. Wilson reported \"scattered damage\" throughout smaller towns and rural areas in the county.\n\nLocal power companies helped restore power to the majority of buildings, and the county was able to reopen all roadways by midnight Friday, Wilson said.\n\nThe county helped shelter 11 individuals following the storm: Eight stayed at the Red Cross-run shelter at the Coralville Recreation Center, and three stayed in an off-site location for \"medical special needs,\" Wilson said. All three at the off-site location had departed as of 8:30 a.m.\n\nAcross the county, only two minor injuries were reported, he said, and there were no fatalities or reports of anyone trapped. Officials responded to 118 calls for service as of 8 a.m. Saturday morning, including 14 for public assistance, six for a gas line break, five for rescue and 24 for road hazards, according to data provided by Wilson.\n\nEight Johnson County residents spend night in shelter after storms destroyed homes\n\nEight Johnson County residents spent the night at the Coralville Recreation Center after a series of storms and potential tornadoes ripped through the region and destroyed their homes.\n\nMamie Kahulumbanda, her two daughters, son, husband and younger brother lost their home due to yesterday’s tornado. Her daughter, Precieuse, said they are “traumatized.”\n\n“We have nothing besides our car,” she said.\n\nAngla and Robert Manning spent the evening at a hotel last night after their home was destroyed. Angla would have been home when the tornado hit, but had to run an errand at Walmart and remained there during the storm. “It was a blessing that we weren’t home,” she said.\n\nThe Red Cross ran the shelter, which provided residents with blankets, teddy bears and hygiene bags including toothbrushes.\n\nCoralville sets up emergency shelter for those displaced after the storm\n\nThe Coralville Recreation Center at 1506 Eighth Street will serve as an emergency shelter for those who are displaced by the storm, according to Mayor Meghann Foster.\n\nRed Cross staff and volunteers will be there to assist residents at the shelter, she said.\n\n\"If anybody is interested or needs that help, they can call the Johnson County Emergency Dispatch, and they will get them connected to the right people,\" Foster said.\n\nCity of Charlotte evacuates half of the town from propane tank leak\n\nIn the wake of the storms, emergency service personnel discovered a leaking 10,000-gallon propane tank on the north side of Charlotte in Clinton County.\n\nCity Auditor and Public Information Officer Eric VanLancker said concerns over strong winds prompted the city to evacuate half of the town of just under 400 people.\n\nDavenport Hazmat is assisting the city and other emergency officials with repairing the leak, which VanLancker said the city hoped would be completed by Friday night.\n\nThose who could not shelter with other family and friends were evacuated to the Lutheran Church on the south side of the town, VanLancker said.\n\nCoralville Mayor said minor injuries reported, no fatalities\n\nCoralville Mayor Foster said minor injuries have been reported so far after an apparent tornado tore through the city and left considerable damage in its wake.\n\n\"As of right now, we're not hearing of any fatalities, which is something we are very grateful for and hopefully, that continues to be the trend that we are seeing,\" she said.\n\nShe said first responders are out helping to clear debris and ensure residents are safe and accounted for. Gas lines in certain parts of the city have been turned off as a precaution while the damage is assessed, she said.\n\nA vehicle with a light tower is being placed near the Subway on Highway 6.\n\n\"We've got quite a bit of damage in the community right now,\" she said. \"And it's really important that we're letting the first responders clear away that debris and get everything settled.\"\n\nShe said the city is working on setting up a shelter for those whose homes have been severely damaged or lost due to the tornado. More information on the shelter will be released as it becomes available, she said.\n\nHundreds help neighbors with damage in Hills\n\nHundreds of residents of Hills came out to help each other after an apparent tornado barreled through the town, ripping off roofs and leaving a trail of debris in its path.\n\nInsulation covered nearly two city blocks on the northwest side of Hills from Casey's to the edge of town, with other buildings damaged along the way.\n\nBuildings flattened, roads blocked by fallen trees in Coralville\n\nFamilies and neighbors gathered along a row of houses on 23rd Street in Coralville Friday afternoon to assess the damage from a tornado that rolled through the region.\n\nDowned trees and power lines riddled streets and driveways next to homes which sustained major damage.\n\nJust past the street, downed trees were blocking Highway 6. An apartment building off Boston Way was flattened next to a semi-truck flipped onto its back.\n\nThe branches of trees left standing were riddled with debris from nearby buildings and homes.\n\nCoralville resident Gordon Knight said he watched from the window of his basement apartment as the building's siding started flying away amid the gusting winds and heavy rainfall. Within minutes, he saw the roof of a neighboring building torn off. In the parking lot, a tree fell onto one of the resident's cars.\n\n\"I've lived in Iowa about 50 years and that's the closest I ever came to a tornado,\" he said.\n\nWhile the exterior of his apartment building sustained notable damage, he said all of the residents inside were safe and didn't suffer any injuries.\n\nDes Moines clear of severe weather, but gusty winds still expected\n\nAs of 7 p.m., there were no more severe storms forecasted for Des Moines and central Iowa Friday evening. However, the National Weather Service warned residents should still expect \"strong gusty winds\" while those up north are likely to experience snow.\n\nTornado warning issued in De Witt, Preston and Charlotte\n\nA tornado warning is in effect following an observed tornado in the regions of De Witt, Preston and Charlotte. The warning is in effect until 6:45 p.m. and there is no hail expected.\n\nTornado warning issued for Wyoming, Oxford Junction and Lost Nation\n\nA tornado was seen in the region of Wyoming, Oxford and Lost Nation. A warning is in effect in the area until 6:30 p.m., during which the region may experience up to golf-ball-sized hail.\n\nTornado warning issued for Lowden, Wheatland and Delmar\n\nAn observed tornado triggered a tornado warning in the areas around Lowden, Wheatland and Delmar. The warning is in effect until 6:15 p.m. No hail is expected in the area.\n\nTornado warning issued for Manchester, Earlville and Delhi\n\nThe National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the regions around Manchester, Earlville and Delhi until 6:15 p.m. The region could experience quarter-sized hail.\n\nTornado warning issued for Tipton, Mechanicsville and Clarence\n\nA tornado warning is in effect for the regions around Tipton, Mechanicsville and Clarence until 5:45 p.m. Golf-ball-sized hail is possible in the region. As of 5:30 p.m., the threat was raised from an observed tornado to a \"damaging tornado.\"\n\nA further warning was issued for Clarence, Olin and Stanwood until 5:45 p.m. also described as a \"damaging tornado.\"\n\nTornado warning issued for Wilton, Durant and Bennett\n\nA tornado warning is in effect for Wilton, Durant and Bennett until 6 p.m. Pea-sized hail is possible.\n\nTornado warning issued for Anamosa, Mount Vernon and Lisbon\n\nA tornado warning is in effect in Anamosa, Mount Vernon and Lisbon until 5:45 p.m. The region could see up to golf ball-sized hail.\n\nAs of 5:40 p.m., the warning was extended to 6:15 p.m. to include the regions around Anamosa, Dyersville and Monticello.\n\nTornado warning issued for West Liberty, West Branch, Rochester\n\nThe National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the region of West Liberty, West Branch and Rochester, just outside of Iowa City. The warning is in effect until 5:30 p.m. and the region could see ping-pong-sized hail.\n\nTornado warning issued for Fairfield, Mount Pleasant and Wayland\n\nA tornado warning in Fairfield, Mount Pleasant and Wayland is in effect until 5:30 p.m. Ping-pong-sized hail is possible.\n\nTornado warning issued for Vinton, Center Point and Urbana\n\nA tornado warning is in effect in Vinton, Center Point and Urbana until 5:30 p.m. Quarter-sized hail is possible.\n\nTornado warning issued for Waterloo and surrounding areas\n\nA tornado warning is in effect in Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Grundy Center until 5:15 p.m. Pea-sized hail is possible in the region.\n\nTornado warning issued for Washington, Kalona and Riverside\n\nA tornado warning for Washington, Kalona and Riverside is in effect until 5 p.m. The region could experience ping-pong-sized hail as storms move through.\n\nTornado warning issued for Coralville and surrounding areas\n\nThe National Weather Service declared a tornado warning for Coralville, North Liberty and Mount Vernon until 5:15 p.m. Baseball-sized hail is possible in the region.\n\nTornado warning issued for Marshalltown and surrounding areas\n\nA tornado warning is in effect for Marshalltown, Reinbeck, and Gladbrook.\n\nThe warning is in effect until 5:15 p.m. and those in the area could see up to pea-sized hail.\n\nTornado warning issued for Waverly, Parkersburg and Ackley\n\nA tornado warning is in effect for Waverly, Parkersburg and Ackley, located just east of Iowa Falls.\n\nThe warning is in effect until 5:15 p.m. and those in the area could see up to pea-sized hail.\n\nCentral Iowa no longer under severe weather threat as storms head east\n\nCentral Iowa is no longer considered to be under threat of severe weather as storms with large hail and tornadoes continue to rock parts of eastern Iowa.\n\nThe National Weather Service said storms and gusty winds may continue in central Iowa. Eastern Iowa continues to be impacted by severe weather.\n\nTornado warning issued in Benton County\n\nA tornado warning was in effect in Vinton, Garrison and Mount Auburn, all located in Benton County. The warning is radar-indicated and the region may see up to pea-sized hail.\n\nThe warning expired at 4:45 p.m.\n\nTornado warning issued in parts of Iowa, Washington Counties\n\nA tornado warning has been issued for Williamsburg, Wellman and North English located in Iowa and Washington Counties. Baseball-sized hail is possible. The warning expired at 4:45 p.m.\n\nTornado confirmed near Jefferson, Keokuk Counties\n\nA large and dangerous tornado is on the ground in Keokuk County, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nThe tornado touched down near Packwood in Jefferson County and is headed toward Hedrick and Martinsburg in Keokuk County.\n\nAll those in the area should take cover now.\n\nTornado warning issued for Tama, Toledo and Chelsea\n\nA radar-indicated tornado warning has been issued for Tama, Toledo and Chelsea, located in between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. Pea sized hail is possible as a storm rolls through the region.\n\nThe warning expired at 4:45 p.m.\n\nA severe thunderstorm warning has also been issued for the region, including Grinnell.\n\nTornado spotted Montezuma\n\nA tornado has been spotted near Malcom and Montezuma, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nThe warning for this area was allowed to expire as storms move east.\n\nTornado confirmed near Ottumwa\n\nThe National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down just northeast of Ottumwa.\n\nThe tornado warning for this area has expired, but it remains under a severe thunderstorm warning.\n\nAnyone in the area should take cover now.\n\nLarge hail reported across the state\n\nStorms moving across Iowa dropped large hail. The National Weather Service reported a cell moving through Story County around 3 p.m. produced hail as large as 2 inches in diameter.\n\nWhat should you do during a tornado warning?\n\nThe weather service says it's always important to have an emergency plan in place in the event of severe weather, including designating a \"safe place\" in your home, preferably away from windows and in an interior room. Keeping supplies handy like flashlights, batteries, food, water, clothes and shoes is also recommended.\n\nMore tornado safety tips:What to do when a watch or warning is issued depends on where you are\n\nSevere thunderstorm warning issued for Des Moines metro\n\nMultiple severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued for metro counties as storms approach Des Moines.\n\nA warning until 3:45 p.m. covers Huxley, Ames, Nevada and to the north and east. Winds of up to 60 mph and 2 inch sized hail are possible.\n\nOther warnings for the Des Moines area have been allowed to expire.\n\nClick here for a map and full list of warnings across the state.\n\nWhat is the severe weather forecast for Iowa today? Is there a tornado watch too?\n\nThe National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for parts of central and eastern Iowa, including Des Moines, Ames and Iowa City. The watch encompasses an area with a population of over 5 million people and will remain in place until 8 p.m. Friday evening.\n\nA tornado watch means conditions are right for a tornado to form. Iowans should pay attention to conditions and be prepared to seek shelter.\n\nThe National Weather Service's warning states that \"this is a particularly dangerous situation.\" Meteorologist Jeff Zogg said the National Weather Service does not typically issue that type of warning unless the situation \"pose[s] a significant danger to the public.\"\n\n\"We're looking at the potential for severe weather this afternoon. Tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds. Any storms that do develop will move fairly rapidly. And there is the potential for violent long-track tornadoes too. So that's one of the reasons we put that kind of wording in there,\" he said.\n\nZogg recommended Iowans pay close attention to weather updates, such as through visiting https://www.weather.gov/dmx/, and to have a plan in place if severe weather hits their locations.\n\n\"Just be aware that any storms that do develop will intensify pretty rapidly and move fast as well,\" he said, adding Iowans should \"know where you can go for safety if threatening weather does approach your location.\"\n\nWhat's the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning?\n\nTornado watches are alerts to stay prepared and be ready to act, according to the NWS. They mean that tornadoes are possible and weather conditions \"favor thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes.\"\n\nMore details:What is a tornado watch? Tornado warning? Here's a look at the differences\n\nA warning means imminent danger, according to the NWS. A tornado warning is issued when a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar and you should seek shelter immediately.\n\nBlizzard and winter storm warnings issued for northern Iowa\n\nThe National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning in far northwest Iowa near the city of Estherville in Emmet County which will be in effect from 11 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday.\n\nThe combination of rain, strong winds and colder air arriving tonight \"will produce blizzard to near blizzard conditions\" with the potential to impact travel conditions, according to NWS. The region could see between two and four inches of snow and wind gusts up to 50 mph.\n\nNWS issued a winter storm warning during the same time period for the surrounding counties, including Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth, Palo Alto, and Hancock.\n\nIn central Iowa, rain and snow could mix overnight with light snow possible through 7 a.m. Saturday. Less than a half an inch of snow is expected. Mixed rain and snowfall are possible through 7 a.m. Saturday near Iowa City.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/31"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/weather/nationwide-winter-storm-blizzard-tuesday/index.html", "title": "At least 5 tornadoes confirmed in Texas as storms roll through ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAt least five tornadoes were confirmed in Texas during a storm outbreak Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.\n\nThree of the tornadoes were in Tarrant County, with the strongest having an EF-1 rating. One damage track was seen in the city of Grapevine, near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.\n\nThe weather service said there was also an EF-2 tornado with 125 mph winds in Wise County, as well a tornado just west of the city of Paris. Damage surveys will be conducted in those communities Wednesday. Based on radar and damage reports, the National Weather Service said there could have been as many as 12 tornadoes in Texas Tuesday that they have not yet confirmed.\n\nThe storms have carved a path of destruction across Oklahoma and the Dallas-Fort Worth area Tuesday and injured at least seven people. They’re part of a larger storm system that threatens more damage in the South and blizzard conditions in states farther north.\n\nThe giant winter storm system is pushing through the central US after walloping the West. And about 10 million people – largely in the north-central US – are under winter-weather warnings or advisories Tuesday, with blowing snow and power outages a key concern.\n\nA “one-in-five-year storm” worked its way through parts of Nebraska Tuesday and is expected to linger in the area through the end of the week, according to the NWS metrologist Bill Taylor. Blizzard warnings are in place throughout parts of the state and the state’s Department of Transportation said several roadways are closed, including all roadways from Nebraska into Colorado.\n\n“If your destination is west, please delay those plans and adjust accordingly!” the department tweeted.\n\nMore than 18 million people from Texas to Mississippi are under threat of severe storms Tuesday, including tornadoes.\n\nIn Caddo Parish, Louisiana, which includes Shreveport, authorities are performing a search and rescue operation after a strong storm moved through Tuesday afternoon. The storms resulted in one woman being sent to the hospital and two people are currently missing, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office said on their Facebook page.\n\n“Several structures were damaged. Electrical lines and trees were also knocked down,” the sheriff’s office said. “Caddo deputies, K-9 teams, fireman, and volunteers are searching through debris and the area for the missing people. Caddo deputies continue to check the welfare of citizens from house to house.”\n\nAuthorities are “in search and rescue operations of a subdivision that contains approximately 40 homes,” Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office Homeland Security Deputy Director Robert Jump tells CNN.\n\nIn a Facebook post Tuesday evening, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office asked anyone concerned with missing people to contact their dispatch.\n\nBelinda Penner carries belongings from her cousin's home that was destroyed by a tornado on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in Wayne, Oklahoma. Sue Ogrocki/AP\n\nA tornado watch is in effect for northeast Louisiana, southwest Arkansas and western Mississippi until 2 a.m. CST, according to the Storm Prediction Center. This watch covers more than 1.5 million people and includes Shreveport and Alexandria, Louisiana.\n\n“A few tornadoes and a couple intense tornadoes [are] possible,” the Storm Prediction Center said. Additionally, damaging winds up to 70 mph are also possible.\n\nDamage on Tuesday includes:\n\n• Grapevine, Texas: At least one tornado was reported in this city just outside Dallas Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service said, and storms left at least five people there injured, Grapevine police said. Details about the injuries weren’t immediately available.\n\nBusinesses including a Grapevine mall, a Sam’s Club and a Walmart were damaged, police said. A gas station was destroyed, and drivers on one road were forced to share a single lane because downed trees and other debris blocked parts of the thoroughfare, motorist Claudio Ropain David told CNN.\n\nA storm damaged Bertha Gonzalez's home on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, near Decatur, Texas. Rebecca Slezak/The Dallas Morning News/AP\n\n• Elsewhere outside Dallas: At least two people were injured, and homes and businesses were damaged, as severe weather hit east of Paradise and south of Decatur in Wise County on Tuesday morning, northwest of Fort Worth, county officials said.\n\nOne person was hurt when wind overturned their vehicle, and the other – also in a vehicle – was hurt by flying debris, the Wise County emergency management office said. One was taken to a hospital, the office said without elaborating.\n\nA damaged home is seen Tuesday morning in Parker, Texas, outside Dallas. KTVT\n\nHigh winds also damaged homes and trees near Callisburg north of Dallas, blew over tractor-trailers near the towns of Millsap and Weatherford; and damaged barns near the town of Jacksboro, the National Weather Service said.\n\n• Wayne, Oklahoma: A confirmed EF2 tornado in that town knocked out power and damaged homes, outbuildings and barns early Tuesday, officials said, adding no injuries were reported. Homes were flattened or had roofs torn off, and trees were snapped like twigs, video from CNN affiliate KOCO showed.\n\nThe storm that rocked Wayne was on the ground for at least 3 miles with 120-125 mph winds, the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, said.\n\nMore severe storms capable of tornadoes, as well as hail and damaging winds are expected Tuesday and Wednesday in the Gulf Coast region as the complex snow-or-rain system sweeps through the central US from north to south.\n\nA home sits in shambles Tuesday in Wayne, Oklahoma, after a tornado reportedly struck. KOCO\n\nBlizzard and ice warnings in the north-central US\n\nAcross the central and northern Plains and Upper Midwest, heavy, blowing snow and/or freezing rain into Thursday could snarl travel and threaten power outages.\n\nBlizzard warnings – forecasting at least three hours of sustained winds or frequent gusts at 35 mph or greater during considerable snowfall and poor visibility – extended Tuesday from parts of Montana and Wyoming into northeastern Colorado, western Nebraska and South Dakota.\n\nBlizzard conditions were being reported in the morning and early afternoon near the Colorado-Kansas state line. Visibility along Interstate 70 in that area was down to 100 feet, a Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman said on Twitter.\n\nSnowfall through Wednesday morning generally could be 10 to 18 inches in the central and northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Some areas inside the blizzard warning zones – particularly western South Dakota, eastern Wyoming and northwestern Nebraska – could get as many as 24 inches of snow, with winds strong enough to knock down tree limbs and cause power outages, the Weather Prediction Center said.\n\nSouth Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that all state government executive branch offices statewide will be closed Tuesday due to the winter storm.\n\nMost state offices in South Dakota will be closed again Wednesday and state workers who are normally in the offices affected will be working remotely, the governor’s office said.\n\nState offices will be reopening Wednesday in 11 southeast counties that have less severe travel conditions.\n\n“Officials continue to closely monitor the storm which features heavy snow, freezing rain, and high winds,” the governor’s office said. “A decision on state government office availability for Thursday will be made Wednesday.”\n\nParts of Wyoming have reported snow accumulations between 1 and 2 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The state’s Department of Transportation on Tuesday said wintry weather is impacting roadways throughout the entire state.\n\n“Not a single green stretch of road in the state,” the department said in a Facebook post. “Strong winds, blowing snow, whiteout conditions and slick spots are impacting routes statewide (and in some neighboring states!)”\n\nThe Wyoming Highway Patrol also advised motorists to be aware of road conditions, as “many roads across Wyoming are currently closed due to crashes and winter conditions.”\n\nIn Sidney, Nebraska, winds whipped Tuesday morning at 53 mph, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said, “and then you add in the snow, visibility is a quarter mile.”\n\nInterstates in South Dakota could become impassable amid the blizzard conditions, resulting in roadway closures across the state, the South Dakota Department of Transportation warned Monday.\n\nIce storm warnings were issued for parts of eastern South Dakota. Up to two-tenths of an inch of ice could accumulate in some of these areas, forecasters said.\n\nWintry precipitation “will begin to spread eastward over the Upper Great Lakes late Tuesday and Wednesday and into the Northeast late Wednesday as the storm system continues eastward,” the prediction center said.\n\nFreezing rain and sleet, meanwhile, will be possible through Wednesday in the Upper Midwest.\n\nMore tornadoes are a threat on the storm’s southern end\n\nMeanwhile, the southern end of the storm threatens to bring more tornadoes.\n\nAn alert for enhanced risk of severe weather – level 3 of 5 – was issued Tuesday for eastern Texas and the lower Mississippi River Valley, with the main threats including powerful tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail. Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and Lafayette, Louisiana, are part of the threatened area, as is Jackson, Mississippi.\n\n“My main concern with the tornadoes is going to be after dark,” Myers said Tuesday. “We have very short days this time of year, so 5 or 6 o’clock, it’s going to be dark out there. Spotters aren’t as accurate when it is dark. Tornado warnings are a little bit slow; if you’re sleeping, you may not get them. So, that’s the real danger with this storm.”\n\n\"Everything was calm, and then I just saw a huge wall cloud,\" said Darrell Barton of the storm effect he spotted early Tuesday around Decatur, Texas. \"The rain and lightning was insane.\" Darrell Barton/B-Safe shelters\n\nA zone of slight risk – level 2 of 5 – encircled that area, stretching from eastern Texas and southern Oklahoma to southern Arkansas and much of the rest of Louisiana, including New Orleans, and central Mississippi.\n\nTuesday also brings a slight risk of excessive rainfall in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, with 2 to 4 inches of rain and flash flooding possible, the Weather Prediction Center said.\n\nOn Wednesday, the threat for severe weather is largely focused on the Gulf Coast, with tornadoes and damaging winds possible over parts of southern Louisiana, Mississippi, southwest Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, the Storm Prediction Center said.\n\nIn Mississippi, the Meridian Public School District – which serves over 4,900 students – announced they will be closed Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather. Meridian is about 86 miles east of Jackson.\n\n“All schools, offices, and departments in the Meridian Public School District will be closed on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, due to the threat of 70 mph winds and possible tornadoes throughout the day on Wednesday, December 14, 2022. All extracurricular activities and practices are also canceled for December 14, 2022,” the school district said in a message on Facebook.\n\nThe Lawrence County and McComb School Districts also announced they were closing Wednesday due to the threat of severe weather.\n\nThe Mississippi Emergency Management Agency also noted the severe weather expected in the state and asked residents to prepare.\n\n“With severe weather expected throughout Mississippi tonight and tomorrow, please review your severe weather preparedness checklist to make sure you are ready for the storms,” the agency said in a message on Twitter.", "authors": ["Amir Vera Jason Hanna Monica Garrett", "Amir Vera", "Jason Hanna", "Monica Garrett"], "publish_date": "2022/12/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/weather/christmas-artic-winter-storm-tuesday/index.html", "title": "Polar air and a powerful winter storm put millions under winter alerts ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFor millions of Americans across a large swath of the country, the holiday week is beginning with unrelenting below-freezing temperatures made even more miserable by heavy snow expected Tuesday and Wednesday in several central and northwestern states.\n\nA developing ‘bomb cyclone’ has prompted alerts from Washington state to Maryland that cover over 50 million people, according to the National Weather Service, and that number is expected to grow over the coming days.\n\nA ‘bomb cyclone’ is a term used by meteorologists to describe a rapidly strengthening storm. Specifically, it means a drop of 24 millibars (a term used to measure atmospheric pressure), in 24 hours. These storms frequently occur with winter nor’easters, but in this case, the bomb cyclone is expected to occur in the Plains. That’s because of the extreme temperature difference between the warm and moist air in advance of the storm and the extreme Arctic air mass moving in from Canada.\n\nThis weather phenomenon is expected to be the pressure equivalent of a category 2 hurricane as it reaches the Great Lakes, with the weather service now calling the strength of the low a “once-in-a-generation” event.\n\nMore than 40 million people are under wind chill alerts across much of the central and northwestern US, including in places slammed with blizzard conditions by a separate storm system last week. Parts of Alabama and Tennessee are also under a wind chill watch as the “feel like” temperatures are expected to plummet below zero.\n\nOn Tuesday, the sprawling weather system is delivering dangerously cold temperatures and snow to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and most of Minnesota, where high temperatures will remain below zero, according to forecasters at the NWS.\n\nThe air feels so cold, frostbite on exposed skin can occur in under 10 minutes in most of the impacted areas, and some isolated locations in under five minutes, forecasters warn.\n\n“In addition to the brutally cold temperatures, dangerous wind chill values of 35 to 55 degrees below zero are possible into the end of the week across these areas,” the Weather Prediction Center said Monday.\n\nWind chill advisories are in place for Sioux, South Dakota, and Fargo, North Dakota, Tuesday, when the dangers of frostbite are settling in. Wind chill, which indicates what the wind feels like, will be as low as 40 degrees below zero, and in Wyoming on Wednesday night could hit a staggering 70 degrees below zero.\n\n“Starting tonight, the worst of the arctic air mass will reach our area, bringing dangerous temperatures and wind chills. Slippery roads will continue with additional accumulating snow expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning,” the weather service office in Glasgow, Montana, said Monday evening.\n\nDrastic temperature drops are coming. In Denver, for example, the temperature will be 50 degrees at noon on Wednesday but is expected to drop to 12 below by daybreak on Thursday. Similarly, New Yorkers will enjoy 60-degree weather on Friday in Manhattan and then see a temperature of 24 degrees as a high on Christmas Eve.\n\nSnowfall has already begun in Seattle, which is under a winter storm warning Tuesday. The storm will move east into portions of Idaho Tuesday morning and then spread out across northern and central Montana later in the afternoon.\n\nAs the storm moves east this week, it stands to make holiday travel difficult, if not dangerous, in many places, with forecasters urging people to be prepared to make changes.\n\nIn Minnesota, the weather service in the Twin Cities implored residents to be cautious of the “potentially dangerous week of weather,” with the worst of the effects in the Midwest beginning Wednesday.\n\n“The bottom line is travel will be very dangerous and could be LIFE-THREATENING later this week so be prepared to alter travel plans now!” the local weather service office said.\n\nMany local governments in the affected areas have opened warming centers in an attempt to provide relief to those who need it.\n\nSioux Falls, South Dakota, was hit last week by a massive winter storm. The city is again under winter weather alerts Tuesday. Erin Woodiel/Argus Leader/USA Today\n\nWhat’s ahead Christmas week\n\nOverall, most of the US is expected to see abnormally cold temperatures this week. In fact, more than 80% of the country, excluding Hawaii and Alaska, are forecast to see below-freezing temperatures.\n\nIn Montana, Helena and Missoula are under winter storm warnings beginning Tuesday, and Billings is under a wind chill advisory through noon Friday.\n\nThe storm is also expected to intensify as it approaches the Midwest, where the greatest impacts are forecast. Snow will begin in the region Wednesday and last through much of the Christmas weekend.\n\nIn parts of central Minnesota, several inches of fluffy snow are expected Wednesday, followed by high winds, creating the potential for blizzard conditions. A blizzard is defined as having winds of at least 35 mph along with falling or blowing snow which reduces visibility to a quarter-mile or less, for at least three hours.\n\n“By Thursday, wind gusts of 40-50 mph appear likely. With the fluffy snow in place, blizzard conditions are highly likely area wide, even in areas that typically aren’t favored for whiteout conditions,” the weather service said.\n\nKristin Jagodzinske sweeps the snow off the sidewalk in front of her shop in snowy downtown Poulsbo on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun/USA Today Network\n\nChicago is forecast to be one of the hardest hit cities, where a winter storm watch is in effect starting Thursday night through Friday evening. With blizzard conditions likely, holiday travel could grind to a halt for many seeking to celebrate with family and loved ones.\n\nThe city could pick up 6 to 8 inches of snow from Thursday morning through late Friday night and when combined with 55 mph winds, the weather will bring travel to a stand still. The blizzard conditions could close O’Hare airport during the peak of the storm and will likely cause the cancellations of hundreds of flights in Chicago alone.\n\n“Rapidly deteriorating conditions by late Thursday afternoon, with dangerous blizzard conditions appearing increasingly likely Thursday night into Friday,” said the weather service office in Chicago, home not only to one of the nation’s busiest airports but also long-distance train depots.\n\nSouth bracing for unseasonably cold temps\n\nMeanwhile, even southern cities unaccustomed to wintry conditions will get a brittle taste of it this holiday season, with Austin, Houston, Atlanta, and even Orlando at risk of seeing temperatures below freezing beginning midweek.\n\nIn Texas, the weather service made it a point to reassure residents this week’s unusually cold temperatures are not expected to affect the state as severely as last year’s brutal winter storms, when millions of people lost power during a weeklong extreme weather event in February 2021.\n\nHowever, water pipes will be at risk of bursting, the weather service said. A wind chill watch for Amarillo, Texas, is in effect from Wednesday night through Friday afternoon.\n\n“Outdoor pipes will be at risk due to well below freezing temps and windy conditions late this week,” the weather service in Fort Worth said. “Make sure to cover pipes and let faucets drip!”\n\nMississippi is urging residents to start bracing for what could be an extremely cold couple of days, the state’s emergency management agency said in a Facebook post Tuesday morning.\n\n“Dangerous, cold temperatures are expected this week for most of the state. Start prepping NOW,” the post said. “Wrap pipes and keep a preparedness kit in your car with extra blankets. Remember the Four P’s of Winter Weather Preparedness. People, Pets, Pipes, and Plants!”\n\nMuch of the state is under a hard freeze watch, according to the weather service. Subfreezing temperatures are expected.\n\n“A prolonged period of subfreezing temperatures may cause pipes to burst. Bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills will result in hypothermia and become life-threatening to those with prolonged exposure or without access to adequate warmth,” the weather service said.\n\nIn a post Monday, state emergency management officials reminded residents to seal windows and doors, insulate pipes and test smoke alarms.", "authors": ["Aya Elamroussi"], "publish_date": "2022/12/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/03/31/indianapolis-weather-severe-storms-possible-march-31-april-1-2023-tornado-hail-wind-gusts-rain/70066544007/", "title": "Indianapolis weather: Severe storms possible March 31, April 1, 2023", "text": "A line of severe thunderstorms made its way across Central Indiana late Friday and early Saturday morning, bringing strong winds, rain and tornado warnings.\n\nFollow along here for the latest information.\n\nGov. Eric Holcomb declares disaster emergency in several Indiana counties\n\nGov. Eric Holcomb declared a disaster emergency in several Indiana counties after severe storms and tornados rolled across the Hoosier state March 31 into the next day. The counties included in the disaster emergency are Benton, Monroe, Owen, Morgan and White.\n\nHolcomb issued the disaster emergency Tuesday. He previously issued a disaster emergency in Johnson and Sullivan counties due to impacts from the the severe weather.\n\nThose in need of government services will be able to stop in at sites in Whiteland and Sullivan from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The sites will be at Sullivan City Hall and the Clark Pleasant School District Administration Building. State agencies offering assistance will include:\n\nBureau of Motor Vehicles\n\nDepartment of Insurance\n\nDepartment of Workforce Development\n\nFamily and Social Services Administration\n\nHousing and Community Development Authority\n\nDepartment of Health\n\nDepartment of Homeland Security\n\nScattered power outages as worst of storm clears Indianapolis\n\n12:19 a.m.: The Marion County Emergency Management Service declares that the severe weather threat has passed for Indianapolis. The city and AES are working on downed trees and power lines as the utility reports 5,165 customers without power across Marion County.\n\n11:54 p.m.: Gusts of 41 mph and light rain are reported at Indianapolis International Airport, down from gusts of 45 mph at 10:54 p.m. The temperature is 57 degrees, down from 68 an hour earlier.\n\nSevere thunderstorm warning for Indy, Carmel, Fishers\n\n11:26 p.m.: Sirens sound across Indianapolis as winds pick up. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning until midnight for an area that includes Indianapolis, Carmel and Fishers. The warning will continue until 12:30 for Muncie, Anderson and Yorktown.\n\nThe severe thunderstorm warning expires at 11:45 for Avon and Plainfield, on the western side of the metro area.\n\n\"This storm will contain wind gusts to 70 MPH!\" the agency tweeted.\n\nCheck the most recent weather alerts around the country here.\n\nTornado warning issued for Franklin, Shelbyville\n\n11:26 p.m.: There's a tornado warning for Franklin, Shelbyville and New Whiteland until midnight.\n\nTornado warning issued for Morgan County\n\n11:20 p.m.: The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning until 11:30 for an area south of Indianapolis including Martinsville and Morgantown.\n\n\"Strong rotation with debris signature located just north of Stinesville at 1105 PM EDT,\" the NWS's Indianapolis office tweeted.\n\nTornado indications at Indiana-Illinois border\n\n10:20 p.m.: The National Weather Service urges residents of Sullivan County, which is south of Terre Haute on the Indiana-Illinois state line, to take shelter due to \"strong indications\" of a tornado just west of the county.\n\nLatest line of rain and thunderstorms hits western Central Indiana\n\n9:50 p.m.: \"Areas of showers and thunderstorms are moving across western Central Indiana at this time,\" the National Weather Service in Indianapolis posted. \"This line will progress across the area over the next few hours.\"\n\nTornado watch issued for parts of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan\n\n8:01 p.m.: A tornado watch is in effect for Indianapolis and much of Indiana until 3 a.m., according to the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. The watch stretches from South Bend to Evansville, with only eastern Indiana and the northwestern corner not included.\n\nA tornado watch – which means weather conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form – was also issued for parts of Illinois, Kentucky and Michigan.\n\nMarion County Emergency Management: 'Have a place in your home to shelter.'\n\n7:25 p.m.: Marion County Emergency Management officials are urging Hoosiers in Central Indiana to stay mindful of the weather.\n\n\"Some weaker storms are making their way out of Marion County, however the next round is approaching from Illinois,\" the organization tweeted Friday night. \"Multiple tornados in several states to our west and south west. Have a place identified in your home to shelter, a basement or interior room with no windows.\"\n\nSevere storms from Illinois creeping into Indiana\n\n6:35 p.m.: A line of severe storms is making its way from western Illinois into western Central Indiana and are expected to arrive by around 9 p.m. Friday, according to a Tweet by NWS Indianapolis. Meteorologists say showers, thunderstorms, strong winds, hail, and possible tornadoes are possible.\n\nRain and thunderstorms enter the Indianapolis area\n\n4:25 p.m.: Rain and thunderstorms have entered the area, according to a tweet by NWS Indianapolis, which said residents can expect an increase in sustained wind speeds and gusts as the evening progresses.\n\nFederal forecasters issue first high-risk severe weather alert in 2 years\n\n2:45 p.m.: Federal forecasters have issued their first high-risk severe weather alert in two years.\n\nAn outbreak of violent thunderstorms is forecast to impact more than a dozen states on Friday, with several tornadoes a near certainty.\n\nAbout 89 million people in at least 15 states – from Texas to Alabama in the South all the way up north to Wisconsin and Michigan – are at risk from the \"explosive\" storms.\n\nOn Friday, two rare high-risk zones for severe weather were issued by the Storm Prediction Center, one centered near Memphis and the other on the border between Iowa and Illinois. It's the first time in more than two years the SPC has issued a high risk.\n\nA tornado watch – which means weather conditions are ripe for tornadoes to form – was also issued for a large portion of the central U.S., all the way from Iowa to Arkansas.\n\nCentral Indiana upgraded to moderate risk for severe storms\n\n12:45 p.m.: Central Indiana is now within the moderate risk for severe storms this evening, according to a tweet by NWS. Damaging winds are expected with the line of storms along with isolated tornadoes. Additional severe storms are possible ahead of the line.\n\nModerate risk means an area where widespread severe weather with several tornadoes and/or numerous severe thunderstorms is likely, some of which should be intense. This risk is usually reserved for days with several supercells producing intense tornadoes and/or very large hail, or an intense squall line with widespread damaging winds.\n\nEARLIER PREDICTIONS: A line of severe thunderstorms is expected to make its way across Central Indiana late Friday and Saturday, bringing with it damaging winds, small to large hail, and the possibility of isolated tornadoes.\n\nThe Indianapolis area can expect rain Friday afternoon, followed by a chance for severe weather Friday evening, say meteorologists.\n\n\"We're looking at the potential for a few scattered showers and storms, probably between 5-8 p.m. Friday, and then a line of strong to severe storms coming in after that,\" said Andrew White, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis.\n\nIndianapolis weather:What Central Indiana residents can expect moving into 'heart of the severe weather season'\n\nWhite said Hoosiers in Central Indiana should brace for damaging winds between 7-10 p.m. Friday, adding that an isolated tornado couldn't be ruled out.\n\nA line of thunderstorms moving through Central Indiana Friday evening could bring damaging winds up to 70 mph and some risk of a few brief tornadoes, according to a hazardous weather outlook issued by NWS.\n\nA wind advisory is also in place for portions of Central Indiana, including Indianapolis, from 8 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday.\n\n\"I would say winds of 60-70 mph certainly looks likely at spots,\" White said. \"Not everyone's going to get winds that fast. It all depends on where you are along the lines of the storm.\"\n\nThe gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects, down trees and cause power outages, according to the wind advisory.\n\nThe area of greatest concern appeared to be west-central Indiana counties and communities, but all residents of Central Indiana should monitor weather conditions Friday, according to a statement by NWS.\n\nIn addition to other safety precautions, White recommended Hoosiers bring in their outdoor lawn furniture in anticipation of strong winds and, if possible, to remove dead tree limbs that could cause potential hazards.\n\nOthers are reading:A falling tree killed two Indy children. Parents hope billboard will help save lives\n\n\"After the showers and storms move through the area, we are going to be looking at another period of strong winds,\" White said. \"There could be some additional wind gusts of about 50 mph, which could cause some additional power outages.\"\n\nAES Indiana is encouraging Hoosiers to be prepared for possible power outages Friday and Saturday.\n\nWeather forecast for Indianapolis\n\nAccording to NWS, the weather in Indianapolis will be windy, wet, and moderately warm this upcoming week. Here's what Hoosiers can expect.\n\nFriday: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 4 p.m. High near 65 degrees. Breezy, with a south wind 18 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.\n\nFriday Night: Showers and thunderstorms, mainly before midnight. Low around 41 degrees. Windy, with a west southwest wind 24 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.\n\nSaturday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Increasing clouds, with a temperature falling to around 41 degrees by noon. Windy, with a west wind 24 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 47 mph.\n\nSaturday Night: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 27 degrees. Northwest wind 8 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.\n\nSunday: Sunny, with a high near 57 degrees. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning.\n\nSunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 46 degrees.\n\nMonday: A 40 percent chance of showers, mainly after 2 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 68 degrees.\n\nMonday night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 8 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57 degrees. Chance of precipitation is 70%.\n\nTuesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75 degrees.\n\nTuesday night: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Low around 59 degrees. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%.\n\nWednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 70 degrees. Breezy.\n\nWednesday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40 degrees. Breezy.\n\nThursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 57 degrees.\n\nIndyStar's Jake Allen and Cindi Andrews contributed to this article.\n\nJohn Tufts covers evening breaking and trending news for the Indianapolis Star. Send him a news tip at JTufts@Gannett.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/31"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/weather/christmas-arctic-winter-storm-thursday/index.html", "title": "Christmas weather: More than half the US population awaits ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nNearly 177 million Americans – or more than half the US population – will await Christmas weekend under wind chill alerts as a major arctic blast plunges temperatures to dangerous levels in much of the country, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nAnd the snowiest part is yet to come as the perilous winter storm barrels east across the nation.\n\nA developing “bomb cyclone” is set to unload heavy snow and blizzard conditions especially in the Midwest on Thursday and Friday.\n\nThe cold air and storm are affecting nearly every state in some way: More than 200 million people coast-to-coast were under winter-weather alerts for snow or icy conditions Thursday evening, the weather service said.\n\nWind chill alerts are impacting people from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and from Washington state to Florida, with below-zero wind chills recorded as far south as Texas on Thursday morning and expected in the Southeast by Friday.\n\n“Life-threatening wind chills over the Great Plains (will) overspread the eastern half of the nation by Friday,” the Weather Prediction Center said – and wind chills below minus 50 degrees already have been reported in the past two days in parts of Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming.\n\nFOLLOW LIVE UPDATES\n\nSome low temperature records were set Thursday morning in the West and South, and in some cases they dropped this week with record-breaking speed: Denver International Airport saw a 37-degree plunge over one hour Wednesday, preliminarily the biggest one-hour drop recorded there, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nSnow, meanwhile, has been hitting parts of the West and is expected in the next two days across much of the country’s eastern half.\n\nA major snowstorm is shaping up for the Midwest and Great Lakes especially – with widespread light to moderate snowfall – but with powerful winds that may make for impossible travel conditions.\n\n“Heavy snowfall rates” of 1 to 2 inches per hour, “along with wind gusts of over 50 mph will result in near-zero visibility and considerable blowing and drifting of snow,” the prediction center said.\n\nThe storm is expected to become a “bomb cyclone” – a rapidly strengthening storm that drops a certain amount of pressure within 24 hours – Thursday evening into Friday, reaching the pressure equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane as it moves into the Great Lakes. This could be “a once in a generation type of event,” a forecaster in the weather service’s Buffalo office wrote Tuesday, after noting that kind of strengthening doesn’t often happen in the lower Great Lakes.\n\nA blizzard warning will be in place at 7 a.m. Friday in Buffalo and surrounding communities, where one to three feet of snow and 70 mph wind gusts are likely, according to the National Weather Service.\n\n“This is not going to be a typical storm,” Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said Thursday. “In fact, this could be a life-threatening storm.”\n\nAbout 2,400 flights have been canceled across the US Thursday, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware, snarling air travel amid the busy holiday season. And airlines have canceled more than 2,200 US flights scheduled for Friday.\n\nIn South Dakota, a 340-mile stretch of Interstate 90 was closed in both directions Thursday morning, from Rapid City to Sioux Falls, because of blizzard-like conditions, officials said. Near-zero visibility also led to many highway closures between Colorado and Wyoming on Wednesday.\n\nEven Florida won’t be spared, with residents of the Sunshine State expected to see sudden temperature drops Friday. Some cities in the South – including Nashville and Memphis – are expected to see snow Thursday.\n\nFlooding, meanwhile, is possible in parts of the Northeast, including Washington and Philadelphia, as rain hits the area Thursday before temperatures plummet overnight and bring a “flash freeze.”\n\nPresident Joe Biden received a briefing on the weather Thursday morning at the White House, from the National Weather Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency. He encouraged Americans to heed the warnings of local officials and to stay safe in the face of the extreme cold.\n\n“This is really a very serious weather alert here,” Biden said, adding that the White House has reached out to 26 governors in the affected regions.\n\nSnow blankets buildings in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday, December 28. Joed Viera/AFP/Getty Images National Guard troops check on Buffalo residents on December 28. Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP A traveler searches for luggage December 28 at a Southwest Airlines baggage holding area in Denver International Airport. More than 90% of Wednesday's US flight cancellations were Southwest flights, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images People help push a car out of snow in Buffalo on Tuesday, December 27. John Normile/Getty Images Niagara Falls in New York is partially frozen on December 27. Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Travelers at Baltimore/Washington International Airport deal with the impact of canceled flights on December 27. Michael McCoy/Reuters A gas station canopy lays on its side after high winds and heavy snow in Lackawanna, New York, on December 27. The historic winter storm dumped up to 4 feet of snow on the area. John Normile/Getty Images Hundreds of unclaimed suitcases sit near the Southwest Airlines baggage claim area in Tennessee's Nashville International Airport after the airline canceled thousands of flights on December 27. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images A street is blanketed by snow in downtown Buffalo on Monday, December 26. Gov. Kathy Hochul/Twitter/AP A person clears a snow-covered driveway in Buffalo on December 26. Faith Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A man and a boy walk across the frozen Reflecting Pool towards the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on December 26. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Firefighters carry rescue equipment as they respond to a fire on a snow-covered street in Buffalo on Sunday, December 25. Jalen Wright/The New York Times/Redux Snow blankets a neighborhood in Cheektowaga, New York, on Christmas Day. Western New York is drowning in thick \"lake effect\" snow -- which forms when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Great Lakes -- just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm. John Waller via AP A man tries to dig out his car after he got stuck in a snowdrift about a block from home in Buffalo on Saturday, December 24. Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP Icicles created by a sprinkler hang from an orange tree in Clermont, Florida, on December 24. Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A young holiday traveler passes the time at Detroit Wayne County Metro Airport on December 24. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images Pedestrians deal with the cold in Chicago on December 24. Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP Hoak's Restaurant in Hamburg, New York, is seen covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie on December 24. Kevin Hoak via Reuters Nissan Stadium employees clear the field in Nashville before the an NFL football game on December 24. Mark Zaleski/AP Amanda Kelly cleans off snow and ice from her car in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, December 23. Joseph Scheller/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Cars drive in whiteout conditions in Orchard Park, New York, on December 23. Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News/AP Travelers sleep while lines of people pass through a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport. David Zalubowski/AP Snow-covered buildings are seen in Louisville, Kentucky. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images The waters of Lake Erie wash over the shoreline in Hamburg, New York, on December 23. John Normile/Getty Images Snow collects on a bison at the Longfield Farm in Goshen, Kentucky, on December 23. Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal/USA Today Network Volunteers welcome a homeless person to a shelter at Louisville's Broadbent Arena on December 23. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images Stones are removed from a road in Westport, Massachusetts, after a storm surge made landfall, flooding many coastal areas on December 23. Peter Pereira/The Standard-Times/AP The Louisville skyline is obscured by steam rising from the Ohio River on December 23. Matt Stone/The Louisville Courier/USA Today Network Antonio Smothers jump-starts his vehicle in Nashville on December 23. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by drifting snow in Mandan on Thursday, December 22. Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune/AP Migrants warm themselves by a fire next to the US-Mexico border fence on December 22 in El Paso, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images Robert Arnold puts chains onto the tires of his semitrailer while he waits for the eastbound lane of I-70 to reopen in Silverthorne, Colorado, on December 22. Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images A musician departs following a show on Broadway in Nashville on December 22. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images Brady Myers helps turn the Stewpot Community Services day shelter for the unhoused into an emergency overnight shelter in Jackson, Mississippi, on December 22. Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger/USA Today Network Vehicles travel along Interstate 44 on December 22, in St. Louis. Jeff Roberson/AP A person walks through the snow on December 22 in downtown Minneapolis. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP A clean car passes a snow-covered car in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall/AP Travelers walk in front of flight information screens at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP Ice collects on a window in Oklahoma City on December 22. Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network Bus riders wait at a sheltered stop in Chicago on December 22. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP An accident involving a semi-tractor-trailer blocks the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in West Des Moines on December 22. Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register/AP Kids shovel snow off a sidewalk and driveway in Minneapolis on December 22. Abbie Parr/AP Travelers arrive for their flights at O'Hare International Airport on December 22 in Chicago. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images Mist rises above ice flows on the Yellowstone River on December 22 in Paradise Valley, Montana. William Campbell/Getty Images Students walk to school buses after early dismissal at a middle school in Wheeling, Illinois, on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP Miguel Salazar clears sidewalks in Denver on December 22. Hyoung Chang/Denver Post/Getty Images Travelers arrive at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on December 21. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP Salt is prepared to be loaded onto a truck at the Department of Public Works sanitation yard in Milwaukee on December 21. Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP Propane heaters sit next to pens at the City of Mission Animal Shelter in Mission, Texas, on December 21. Joel Martinez/The Monitor/AP Crews de-ice a Southwest Airlines plane before takeoff in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 21. Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald/AP An Iowa Department of Transportation plow clears a road in Iowa City on December 21. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press Citizen/AP Snow covers homes in Seattle on December 20. Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times/AP In pictures: Winter storm impacts the US Prev Next\n\nWhat’s ahead for the bomb cyclone\n\n• Snow was falling early Thursday afternoon from Oklahoma to Michigan.\n\n• Snow and high winds are expected to make for terrible travel conditions from eastern Montana and the northern Plains into the Midwest and upstate New York.\n\n• Blizzard warnings – meaning snow and wind of 35 mph will frequently reduce visibility to less than a quarter of a mile for at least three hours – were in effect Thursday morning in some of those areas, including just southwest of Minneapolis, just south and east of Chicago, and western and northern Michigan.\n\n• Major cities including Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus and Detroit are under winter storm warnings.\n\nMore on the extreme cold\n\n• Wind chill warnings, watches and advisories were in effect for more than 30 states from Washington to Florida on Thursday.\n\n• The arctic front will push south into the Gulf of Mexico and sweep off the Eastern Seaboard by late Friday, bringing cold into the Deep South.\n\n• Thursday’s daytime temperatures may stay below zero in the northern Plains and get barely above that in the central Plains.\n\n• Areas further south – Texas and the Gulf Coast – will see temperatures in the single digits and teens Thursday evening, the Storm Prediction Center said.\n\n• Officials in several southern states are warning residents to take precautions. Alabama warned Thursday and Friday would likely feature “the coldest December airmass to hit the state since 1989,” the state’s emergency management agency said. Friday’s lows in that state were expected to range from the single digits in the north to the low 20s by the Gulf of Mexico.\n\n• Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards asked residents Thursday to check on friends and family members that might have a hard time with the frigid temperatures. Lows Friday and Saturday were expected to be in the teens and 20s there.\n\n• Two locations in Wyoming set records early Thursday for the lowest temperatures ever recorded at a particular location, regardless of the date on the calendar. Those new records are minus 41 degrees in Casper, and minus 29 in Riverton.\n\n• Other locations in the West and South set record lows Thursday for temperatures on any December 22. They included several places in Montana (including minus 34 degrees in Boseman and minus 20 in East Cut Bank); Greybull, Wyoming, (minus 26); East Rapid City, South Dakota, (minus 18); Ketchikan Airport, Arkansas, (3); and three places in Washington state, including minus 20 degrees in Pullman.", "authors": ["Jason Hanna Ray Sanchez Dave Hennen", "Jason Hanna", "Ray Sanchez", "Dave Hennen"], "publish_date": "2022/12/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/weather/2023/03/31/weather-storms-tornadoes-friday-forecast/11564697002/", "title": "Friday Tornado outbreak: Tornado emergencies; damage in Little ...", "text": "LATEST SATURDAY UPDATES:Tornadoes, severe storms tear across South, Midwest\n\nA tornado outbreak caused widespread havoc Friday evening, killing four and injuring dozens as federal forecasters warned of rare twister emergencies and confirmed tornadoes across several states.\n\nOne tornado ripped through neighborhoods on the west side of Little Rock, Arkansas claiming at least one life, the Associated Press reported. It destroyed homes and apartment buildings, overturned vehicles and prompted search and rescue efforts.\n\nThere were more confirmed twisters in Iowa and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.\n\nIn Belvidere, Illinois, the roof of the Apollo Theater collapsed on heavy metal concertgoers as a storm swept through the area, causing multiple injuries, reported the Rockford Register Star, a USA TODAY Network property. One person died and 28 were injured, officials said late Friday. Dozens of ambulances were called to the scene as emergency responders cared for the wounded.\n\nBelvidere Fire Department Chief Shawn Schadle said 260 people were in the venue at the time. He said first responders also rescued someone from an elevator and had to grapple with downed power lines outside the theater.\n\nBelvidere Police Chief Shane Woody described the scene after the collapse as \"chaos, absolute chaos.\"\n\nGabrielle Lewellyn had just entered the theater when a portion of the ceiling collapsed.\n\n\"I was there within a minute before it came down,\" she told WTVO-TV. \"The winds, when I was walking up to the building, it went like from zero to a thousand within five seconds.\"\n\nSome people rushed to lift the collapsed portion of the ceiling and pull people out of the rubble, said Lewellyn, who wasn’t hurt.\n\n\"They dragged someone out from the rubble and I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him) 'It’s going to be OK.' I didn’t really know much else what to do.\"\n\nAnother tornado ripped through Wynne, in eastern Arkansas, killing two, trapping others in debris and causing widespread damage. More than seven tornadoes and large hail were confirmed by the weather service across Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Tennessee.\n\nThe destructive weather came as President Joe Biden toured the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck in Mississippi one week ago and promised the government would help the area recover.\n\nFriday's storm threats continued throughout the evening, with the National Weather Service warning supercell storms were increasing the threat of tornadoes across east central Arkansas near the Mississippi and Tennessee borders. Residents were urged to take cover in basements and interior rooms away from windows.\n\nThe storms sped across the Mississippi Valley Friday just a week after another tornado outbreak killed 21 people in Mississippi, including a long-track twister that destroyed much of Rolling Fork and brought President Joe Biden to the community on Friday.\n\nForecasters also are warning the Mississippi Valley will face another round of severe storms and a potential tornado outbreak on Tuesday.\n\nIs a tornado watch or warning worse?:What to know about preparing for these violent storms\n\nREAD MORE:Bad tornado season in US is set to get worse\n\nTornado emergency in Arkansas\n\nDozens were injured as a tornado roared through Little Rock during one of several \"tornado emergencies\" Friday as the powerful storm system moved across the Mississippi River valley. A tornado emergency is issued when a severe threat to human life or catastrophic damage is imminent or ongoing.\n\nThe Little Rock Fire Department reported heavy damage and debris. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock was operating at a mass casualty level and preparing for up to 20 patients, spokesperson Leslie Taylor said. Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock officials told KATV in the afternoon that 21 people had checked in there with tornado-caused injuries, including five in critical condition.\n\nMayor Frank Scott Jr. tweeted that city officials were aware of 24 who had been hospitalized, and said property damage was \"extensive.\"\n\nEarlier in the afternoon, he had requested assistance from the Arkansas National Guard. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the state's guard to respond to damage throughout the state.\n\nSanders tweeted: \"Significant damage has occurred in Central Arkansas....Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm. Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through.\"\n\nThe weather service issued a separate tornado emergency late Friday afternoon for the towns of Parkin and Earle in eastern Arkansas, when the tornado struck Wynne. The tornado prompted emergency responders to try to close a portion of Interstate 55 at Marion, just west of Memphis.\n\nThe tornado destroyed buildings, damaged Wynne High School, flipped cars and shredded rooftops reported the Commercial Appeal, a USA TODAY Network paper in Memphis.\n\nThe twisters were moving at speeds of 55 to 60 mph.\n\nBy 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time, more than 300,000 customers were out of electricity across eight states as the storms moved east with 60-70 mph winds. More than 100,000 customers were without electricity in Illinois, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages. The website reported outages as high as 80,000 customers in Arkansas earlier in the evening. Outages also were reported in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee and Iowa.\n\nTornadoes cause damages in Iowa, Illinois and Tennessee\n\nIn Clinton County, Iowa, the Sheriff's office asked people to stay home after \"a strong storm system\" moved through. The agency reported a house had collapsed on people.\n\nIn Charlotte, Iowa, a storm damaged a 10,000 gallon propane tank, with wind concerns prompting authorities to evacuate about half the town's 400 residents, reported the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network.\n\nPHOTOS:Iowa City area tornado damage\n\nStorms also caused damage in Eastern Iowa, the Register reported, with residents working to help neighbors salvage belongings from storm-damaged homes in Hills and a shelter being set up in Coralville for people who lost homes.\n\nIn Covington, Tennessee, the city's police department posted on Facebook that the city was \"impassable,\" the Commercial Appeal reported. Multiple homes and structures also were damaged in Tipton County.\n\nLate into the evening, strong winds of 60 - 70 mph were reported across much of the region. At one point the weather service office in Memphis reported losing electricity and operating on a generator as storms continued to hammer the area.\n\nTornado surveys\n\nExperts in weather service field offices throughout the region plan to begin tornado damage surveys early Saturday morning. They'll start the process of determining the magnitude of the tornadoes and the time and length they were on the ground.\n\nEarly warnings\n\nOn Friday morning, an estimated 89 million people in at least 15 states – from Texas to Alabama in the South all the way up north to Wisconsin and Michigan – were warned of a \"high risk\" from the \"explosive\" storms, with a chance for violent, long-track tornadoes. It was the first time in two years the center had issued a \"high risk\" warning, and this time there were two.\n\nMeanwhile, heavy snow and strong winds were produced blizzard-like conditions in South Dakota.\n\nWhat is a tornado emergency?\n\nA step above a tornado warning, issued by the National Weather Service in “exceedingly rare” situations, when:\n\nA severe threat to human life or catastrophic damage is imminent or ongoing.\n\nVisual or radar evidence such as a reliable source confirms a tornado or a radar picks up the signature of a ball of debris inside the tornado.\n\nBiden visited tornado-ravaged Mississippi town\n\nPresident Joe Biden on Friday visited areas severely damaged by tornadoes last week. Rolling Fork and nearby Silver City, Mississippi, lost around 300 homes and businesses, with hundreds of other buildings badly damaged.\n\nThe president and first lady Jill Biden surveyed tornado damage, met with affected homeowners and first responders and received an operational briefing from federal and state officials.\n\nThey were joined by Gov. Tate Reeves, Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Rep. Bennie Thompson.\n\nBiden announced the federal government will cover the total cost of the state’s emergency measures for the next 30 days, including overtime for first responders and debris cleanup.\n\nIs a tornado watch or warning worse?:What to know about preparing for these violent storms\n\nTornado preparedness tips\n\nIt's always important to have an emergency plan in place in the event of severe weather, including designating a \"safe place\" in your home, preferably away from windows and in an interior room, the weather service says.\n\nKeeping supplies handy like flashlights, batteries, food, water, clothes and shoes\n\nHave multiple ways to get updates, including push alerts, local TV reports, weather apps and a NOAA weather radio.\n\n\"I think the No. 1 message that people need to have is that they need to be prepared,\" said Pam Knox, director of the University of Georgia Weather Network. \"Don't rely on outdoor sirens as a warning. Instead, have a weather radio or smartphone at the ready.\n\n\"And know where you're going to go if you hear a tornado warning,\" she said.\n\nIt's been a bad start to the USA's tornado season\n\nWith 311 tornadoes through Thursday, the U.S. had already seen the third-most-active start to a year on record.\n\n“We should be at about 200 tornadoes for today's date,” Victor Gensini, associate professor at Northern Illinois University, told USA TODAY. “So we're running about 100 tornadoes above average, and we have been the entire year.\"\n\nREAD MORE:Bad tornado season in US is set to get worse\n\nUS weather watches and warnings\n\nBlizzard warning issued in Plains, upper Great Lakes\n\nThe same storm system is expected to produce a band of heavy snow, with blizzard conditions possible from the central Plains to the upper Great Lakes region from Friday to Saturday, Larson said.\n\nThe weather service issued a blizzard warning from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning for a large swath of South Dakota and neighboring states.\n\nSome spots in South Dakota could pick up as much as 20 inches of snow from the storm, the weather service said.\n\nMore winter weather in Northwest\n\nMeanwhile in parts of Oregon and Washington, a winter storm warning is in effect through Sunday, with snow accumulations up to 48 inches possible at\n\nhigher elevations in the Cascades, and winds of up to 40 mph.\n\nWinter storm map\n\nNational weather radar\n\nMore coverage from USA TODAY\n\nContributing: The Associated Press, Commercial Appeal and Des Moines Register.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/12/13/winter-storm-forecast-updates-blizzard-tornado-warnings/10886597002/", "title": "Winter storm forecast: Latest updates on blizzard warnings, tornadoes", "text": "Looking for latest updates on winter storms? This story is a recap of weather from Tuesday, Dec. 13. Read here for the latest forecast and storm updates for Wednesday, Dec. 14.\n\n***\n\nA massive winter storm roaring across the West dumped up to 4 feet of snow in parts of Nevada and Idaho, fueled blizzard warnings in six other states, and spawned tornadoes that injured several people in the South.\n\nMore than 25 million Americans were under dangerous weather watches and warnings Tuesday. The storm's march across the nation could last through the weekend when parts of the northeast could be blasted with more than a foot of snow, forecasters warned.\n\n\"This is a 'we are not kidding' kind of storm,\" the South Dakota Department of Transportation tweeted as it warned of road closures across much of the state. \"BLIZZARD and ICE STORM WARNINGS have been issued. Rain/freezing rain and heavy snow coupled with high winds will impact travel.\"\n\nThe powerful storm system left some southern communities in shambles. There were multiple reports of injuries in the south, mainly in Texas and Louisiana, as tornadoes and storms tore through the region.\n\n6 states face blizzard conditions\n\nParts of Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas were facing blizzard conditions – snow with winds of at least 35 mph, reducing visibilities to a quarter of a mile or less – and several other states faced winter storm and ice storm warnings, the National Weather Service said.\n\nThe Nebraska Department of Transportation closed stretches of Interstate 80 and Interstate 76. The Nebraska State Patrol urged people to stay off the roads.\n\n“There’s essentially no one traveling right now,” said Justin McCallum, a manager at the Flying J truck stop at Ogallala, Nebraska.\n\nIn Colorado, the weather service office in Boulder said state transportation department cameras showed \"deteriorating conditions across the plains\" Tuesday. The heaviest snow reported in the past 24 hours happened in the northern and western areas of the state, including 10 inches in Stoner and more than 8 inches in Steamboat Springs, according to AccuWeather.\n\nThe storm was forecast to rage through Wednesday, and the weather service said most roads in northeast Colorado were closed. Conditions were expected to worsen amid heavy snow and wind gusts that could reach 60 mph.\n\nParts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota have also been dealing with freezing rain, according to AccuWeather. Residents from these states have been advised to avoid unnecessary travel due to icy roads and outages may be possible due to strong winds and as ice accumulates on power lines.\n\nCommunities in South Dakota have also seen piles of snow on Tuesday with some seeing 18 inches of snow, AccuWeather said.\n\nGRAPHICS: Major winter storm to bring significant weather hazards across the US\n\n7 injured in Texas tornadoes, storms\n\nTornado sirens blared across much of North Texas as a line of storms tore through the Dallas area, and social media posts depicted extensive damage. The weather service office in Fort Worth confirmed Tuesday that five tornadoes touched down and as many as 12 may have occurred.\n\nThree of the tornadoes touched down in Tarrant County, one in Wise County and one west of Paris, Texas in Lamar County.\n\n\"Line continues to move east producing isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail up to quarter size,\" the Fort Worth office tweeted.\n\nIn Grapevine, 20 miles northwest of Dallas, at least five people were injured, and a Sam's Club, a Walmart and the Grapevine Mills Mall were shut down due to damage, police said. Several other businesses in the area also were damaged, police said in a Facebook post.\n\nEmergency management officials in Dallas warned wind gusts could reach 70 mph and that hail was possible. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport briefly activated a \"shelter in place\" program.\n\n\"We ask that you move away from windows & exteriors,\" airport authorities said in a Tuesday morning tweet. \"Shelter in enclosed spaces if you are at the airport. Please do not travel to the airport until the tornado warning is deactivated.\"\n\nThe alert was later cleared by the National Weather Service, but the airport urged travelers to \"please check the weather in your area before traveling to the airport, and check with your airline for the latest on your flight status.\"\n\nMeanwhile, at least two people were reported injured in Decatur, Texas, about 70 miles northwest of Dallas. One person was hurt when wind overturned their vehicle, and another in a separate vehicle was hurt by flying debris, the county's emergency management office said. One person was taken to the hospital and the other was treated at the scene.\n\nAdditionally, numerous homes and businesses were damaged due to the severe weather that hit east of Paradise and south of Decatur in Wise County, according to CNN.\n\n1 injured, 2 missing in Louisiana after tornado\n\nA tornado spun through Caddo Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles northwest of Shreveport on Tuesday night — leaving one person injured and two others missing, according to Caddo Parish police. Local authorities have been searching for the two missing through the debris after the tornado damaged several structures and other infrastructure.\n\nTornado damages homes in Oklahoma\n\nAt least one tornado touched down Tuesday in south central Oklahoma. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported in the McClain County town of Wayne, 40 miles south of Oklahoma City. County Sheriff’s Capt. Bryan Murrell said damage was widespread in Wayne, where storm sirens are tested every Friday when the weather is sunny, according to the town's website.\n\n\"We’ve got multiple family structures with significant damage,\" he said, adding that power lines were down in and around the town.\n\n'WHITEOUT CONDITIONS:Winter storm could fuel blizzard conditions, travel havoc across swath of US\n\nIce storm could darken parts of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota\n\nThe weather service said that parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota could see a half-inch of ice and wind gusts of up to 45 mph. Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions threatened the region, and the impact could remain into the weekend.\n\n\"Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects,\" the weather service in Iowa warned. \"Be sure to secure outdoor holiday decorations. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.\"\n\nIn Minnesota and South Dakota, a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow on Tuesday will give way to slushy Wednesday morning commutes before getting drier later in the day.\n\nThe weather will likely transition to potentially double-digit amounts of snow that could blanket Minnesota and the Dakotas Thursday through Saturday, said Tyler Hasenstein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minn.\n\n\"It's been a doozy for sure,\" Hasenstein said. \"The precipitation is constantly changing and has been hard to pin down until it actually hits us.\"\n\nEast Coast won't be spared\n\nAccuWeather said the storm will create a \"spinoff system\" along the East Coast that could bring a foot of snow or more to parts of the Northeast along with icy conditions and coastal flooding.\n\n\"A storm will develop near southeastern Virginia on Thursday, track just off the New Jersey coast on Friday and finally spin near southeastern New England on Saturday,\" AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. She forecast a widespread snowfall for a large part of the region.\n\nBE PREPARED:The key for how to survive a blizzard? Plan ahead\n\nTornado conditions target Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi\n\nIn addition to Oklahoma and Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi could draw \"severe hail, winds, and tornadoes, including the potential for a couple strong tornadoes,\" the weather service said.\n\nAccuWeather warned that the line of storms will gain intensity and become more widespread as it slides east. Tuesday's severe weather could stretch into major population centers beyond Dallas, including Houston, Little Rock, Arkansas; and New Orleans, AccuWeather said.\n\nAnchorage schools set to reopen after 'unprecedented' storms\n\nEven Alaska wasn't safe – a series of record-breaking storms forced the closure of Anchorage schools for a week, unprecedented in a city accustomed to dealing with wintry conditions.\n\n\"Barring any unforeseen weather conditions in the next 12 hours, it’s back-to-school tomorrow as best we can given these unprecedented back-to-back snow storms,\" the district said in a Facebook post on Monday. \"It’s going to take patience and planning as a community to make it happen.\"\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/12/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/29/weather/tornadoes-severe-storms-south-tuesday/index.html", "title": "A 'particularly dangerous situation' tornado watch in effect for parts of ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: Affected by the storms? Use CNN’s lite site for low bandwidth.\n\nCNN —\n\nNumerous tornadoes – including a few intense ones – are possible Tuesday evening for parts of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi as severe storms rake the area, a situation that moved forecasters to issue a special tornado watch alerting residents to an unusual level of risk.\n\nTrack the storms as they develop >>\n\nA “particularly dangerous situation” tornado watch, reserved for the most significant severe-storm threats and used in only 3% of watches, was issued for central Mississippi, northeast Louisiana and southwest Arkansas, and is in effect until 2 a.m. CT. It is the second such watch issued Tuesday and covers many of the same locations as the first, which has expired.\n\n“An outbreak of severe thunderstorms is underway in the South this evening and is expected to push into the overnight hours,” the National Weather Service said Tuesday. “Severe thunderstorms are bringing strong tornadoes, very large hail, and severe wind gusts across parts of the lower to mid Mississippi Valley, Mid-South and parts of the Southeast.”\n\nAt least 10 tornadoes had been reported as of 8:30 p.m. ET. All but one were in central and southern Mississippi.\n\nA strong storm that hit Lowndes County, Mississippi, this evening left behind a path of destruction, with reports of damaged homes, Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins told CNN affiliate WTVA.\n\nThis comes as severe storms could hit a much wider area of the United States from Tuesday into early Wednesday, from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest, with tornadoes, damaging winds and hail, forecasters said.\n\nBut prediction center forecasters focused especially on Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, saying “parameters appear favorable for strong and long-tracked tornadoes,” meaning ones that stay on the ground for an extended period, Tuesday afternoon and early evening in the watch area.\n\n“Numerous tornadoes (are) expected with a few intense tornadoes likely,” along with scattered large hail and scattered damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph, forecasters said in the special tornado watch.\n\nOverall, more than 41 million people from southeastern Texas eastward to Georgia and northward to central Indiana and Illinois are under at least a marginal threat of severe weather Tuesday, according to the Storm Prediction Center.\n\nSeparate from the special tornado watch, the prediction center laid out an area where it believed the largest potential for severe weather, including tornadoes, existed – covering 1.6 million people in east-central Louisiana; a sliver of southeastern Arkansas; much of Mississippi, including Jackson; and northwestern Alabama. The threat for that area – a Level 4 of 5, or moderate – is relatively rare for this time of year, and tornadoes, though they can happen year-round, are more frequent in the spring and summer.", "authors": ["Jason Hanna Aya Elamroussi", "Jason Hanna", "Aya Elamroussi"], "publish_date": "2022/11/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/04/san-francisco-bay-area-brace-severe-weather-flooding-rain/10983813002/", "title": "Massive California storms pummels state with heavy rain and winds", "text": "Looking for updates on California storms? Follow our latest coverage here.\n\nSAN FRANCISCO – California declared a state of emergency Wednesday as a powerful storm generated 45-foot waves out at sea, dropped soaking rain on already saturated ground, and prompted warnings of floods and mudslides, knocking out power to more than 100,000 people.\n\nThe storm was expected to dump up to 6 inches of rain in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area where most of the region would remain under flood warnings into late Thursday night. In Southern California, the storm was expected to peak in intensity overnight into early Thursday morning with Santa Barbara and Ventura counties likely to see the most rain, forecasters said.\n\nOn Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom authorized state National Guard units to support disaster response as a massive storm pummeled much of the state's coastline.\n\nFire and rescue equipment and personnel have been prepositioned in areas deemed most likely to experience severe flooding and mudflows.\n\nGRAPHICS:'Rivers in the sky': Graphics show atmospheric river soaking California's Bay Area\n\n\"If you've still got power, it's a good idea to charge your cellphone, computers and tablets now while you can,\" said National Weather Service meteorologist Cynthia Palmer in the agency's San Francisco area office. If the power goes out, having access to timely information about the storm – and something to watch – will be useful, she said.\n\nThe storm is termed a \"bomb cyclone\" because it is expected to be marked by a quick drop in atmospheric pressure resulting in a high-intensity storm.\n\n\"All told it's about a 30-hour event from start to finish,\" said Rick Canepa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's San Francisco office. \"The rain won't be done until Thursday afternoon or early evening.\"\n\nSevere weather could drop 10 or more inches of rain in some parts of Northern California over the next week, forecasters say. Wednesday's storm was expected to knock down trees, cause widespread flooding, wash out roads, cause hillsides to collapse, slow airports and potentially lead to the \"loss of human life,\" the National Weather Service said.\n\nBut officials warn even then the danger isn't over. Forecasters are watching other systems out at sea that could also hit the region with more precipitation.\n\nMeanwhile, California wasn't the only place facing severe weather on Wednesday. A possible tornado touched down near Montgomery, Alabama, early Wednesday. There were no deaths but the twister damaged more than 50 homes.\n\nFlood-related deaths confirmed in Sacramento; motorists rescued\n\nTwo more bodies were found Wednesday after flooding in a rural part of south Sacramento County, authorities said, bringing the death toll from the atmospheric river storm on New Year's Eve to three.\n\nThe third body was found in a vehicle that was submerged in water , said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Office spokesman.\n\nThe victim had not been identified and there was no additional information about the incident, Gandhi said Wednesday night.\n\nDuring the morning, California Highway Patrol officers found the body of a woman while recovering vehicles that got stuck due to flooding.\n\nOn Sunday, authorities discovered the body of a man inside a submerged vehicle. Gandhi said rescue efforts in Sacramento County are ongoing.\n\nElsewhere across Northern California communities, several motorists were rescued from flooded roads and fallen trees.\n\nThe San Francisco Fire Department rescued a family Wednesday night after fallen trees on a city road trapped the family.\n\nCalifornia residents face outages\n\nWith heavy rain saturating the ground and strong winds, trees are more likely to fall and can cause widespread power outages, according to Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources.\n\nOfficials and power companies warned residents to prepare for possible outages due to the storm by creating emergency kits and keeping essential devices charged.\n\nNearly 178,000 homes and businesses were in the dark Wednesday night, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages. Most outages were reported on the north coast of the state.\n\nHelping homeless people from storm\n\nAt the foot of San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, Magaly Rowell waited for her bus under an umbrella at what passes for a bus shelter next to Precita Park. She was defying the elements not because of her job at a security company, but to feed homeless people at a nearby church, something Rowell said she does daily.\n\n“It’s not so bad if there’s no wind,” Rowell said as her umbrella got pelted by the rain and torrents of water flowed down Folsom Street. “It gets harder when the wind picks up like today. I worry about the homeless people. They’re the ones who suffer the most when the weather gets like this.”\n\nEvacuations ordered in coastal cities\n\nOfficials in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara issued evacuation orders Wednesday as the huge storm puts the coastal areas at high risk due to potential mudslides and flooding.\n\nMandatory evacuation orders were issued for those living in burn scar areas in Santa Barbara County due to potential flooding and debris flows, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown announced during a Wednesday news conference.\n\nThe Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office issued numerous evacuation orders for southern parts of the county throughout Wednesday due to concerns over potential flooding and debris flow from storm conditions.\n\nFlight disruptions amid powerful storm\n\nWith its high winds and heavy rains, the storm is already causing flight disruptions in the Bay Area with more anticipated to come as the peak approaches.\n\nAs of Wednesday afternoon, San Francisco International Airport has experienced 74 flight cancellations, accounting for 8% of all flights.\n\nAbout 191 flights have been delayed by an average of 35 minutes, according to Doug Yakel, a public information officer for the airport. \"Delays and cancellations are a result of both the reduced ceilings and winds,\" he told USA TODAY.\n\n\"In regards to general airport operations here at OAK, our operations team is prepared,\" a spokesperson for Oakland International Airport told USA TODAY. Passengers with flights to and from Oakland are strongly encouraged to check with their airline through their mobile app or website for updates on their flights.\n\nTravel waivers for flights disrupted by California's \"bomb cyclone\":\n\nSouthwest Airlines is offering free rebooking for flights scheduled for Wednesday, for flights to and from Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose. The rebooking must have the same city pairs and travel dates within 14 days of the original travel date.\n\nOn Wednesday night, Delta Air Lines issued a travel waiver for flights scheduled on Thursday and Friday to or from San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fresno. The fare difference will be waived when the rebooked travel takes place on or before Jan. 8.\n\nResidents brace for floods\n\nIn San Francisco, customers at Papenhausen Hardware were most worried about flooding, said store co-owner Karl Aguilar.\n\n“Last week a fair amount of people were focused on the roofs – small leaks, windows, things like that,’’ Aguilar said. “There was a point where it transitioned and people became much more concerned with flooding mitigation. This particular storm, it’s all flood mitigation.’’\n\nA few doors to the east, Grace Daryanani at Bulls Head restaurant has sandbags and wet/dry vacuum cleaners at the ready. Her space has flooded in big storms before but she's hoping a new outdoor dining area might divert some of the water.\n\n“Maybe that will help,\" she said.\n\nLEARN MORE:What is a bomb cyclone?\n\nWEATHER TERMS:What is an 'atmospheric river'?\n\nWind gusts as high as 80 mph\n\nForecasters warned of flood threats and issued high wind warnings in the lead-up to the storm. The National Weather Service in the Bay Area delivered a rare admonition saying the coming \"brutal\" storm system \"needs to be taken seriously.\"\n\n\"Honestly, the biggest story right now is the winds,\" said Palmer. Coastal areas could be hit with winds in the 40 to 50 mph range, while some mountain areas could get gusts as high as 80 mph.\n\nFlooding and landslides likely\n\nBecause the ground was already saturated with the more than 5 inches of rain that fell on New Year's Eve, Wednesday's storm could cause severe problems and damage in some areas.\n\n\"The main concern is the smaller watersheds and steep slopes. So mudslides, shallow landslides and urban and small creek flooding could get quite significant for a period of time on Wednesday night in some locations,\" said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.\n\nSevere weather, possible tornadoes in South\n\nThe South, too, was being hit with intense weather Wednesday. Heavy rains, flash floods and severe weather were seen in a swath across Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina.\n\nA possible tornado touched down in east Montgomery, Alabama at 3:14 a.m. on Wednesday.\n\nRodney Penn, who was home when the storm hit, said a fallen tree limb broke out the windows in his wife's car but there was no structural damage to his apartment.\n\n“It literally sounded like there were a thousand baseball bats hitting the side of the house at the same time,” Penn said.\n\nIn South Carolina, five counties were under a tornado watch Wednesday.\n\nHeavy rain in California not an end to drought in West\n\nThe extreme drought conditions California has struggled under are helping avert some possible flooding because many of the state's larger reservoirs are still quite low, said Swain.\n\n\"They have a lot of headroom right now to absorb a lot of water,\" he said.\n\nThe state finds itself in the middle of a flood emergency even as it's in the middle of a drought emergency, Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources said during a news conference Wednesday.\n\n\"A lot of our trees are stressed after three years of intensive drought, the ground is saturated and there is a significant chance of downed trees that will create significant problems, potentially flooding problems, potentially power problems,\" she said.\n\nWhile the rains are likely to alleviate the short-term drought in Northern California along the coast, they will do little in terms of bringing drought relief to the West as a whole.\n\n\"It won't really help move the needle in the Colorado basin but it certainly will in central and northern California,\" Swain said.\n\nMore water is on the way\n\nThere are two more possible storms also out in the Pacific, one that could arrive late Friday and run into Sunday and then another possible storm that could arrive Tuesday, Canepa said.\n\nBoth could bring higher-than-normal rain levels through the middle of January.\n\nThere's a wide range of uncertainty for next week, ranging from a couple of additional moderate storms which wouldn't cause too many problems to one or possibly more atmospheric river events.\n\nWhat's an atmospheric river?\n\nThe storm, the second of three or possibly four headed toward the California coast, is coming from across the Pacific ocean. It's what's known as an atmospheric river or, to use the term more common a few years ago, a Pineapple Express because it originates over Hawaii.\n\nThese storms bring heavy rainfall and occur when a line of warm, moist air flows from near the islands across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast.\n\nWhen it reaches the cooler air over the western landmass, the water vapor falls as heavy rain. Atmospheric rivers are long, flowing regions of the atmosphere that carry water vapor across a swath of sky 250 to 375 miles wide. They can be more than 1,000 miles long – and can carry more water than the Mississippi River.\n\nContributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver and Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY; Evan Mealins and Alex Gladden, Montgomery Advertiser; Hannah Workman, The Record", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/25/weather/christmas-arctic-winter-storm-power-outages-sunday/index.html", "title": "Prolonged winter storm causes at least 37 deaths and leaves ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe prolonged winter storm that brought heavy snow, high winds and brutal cold to most of the US this past week has killed at least 37 people and had hundreds of thousands without power on Christmas morning.\n\nPerhaps the worst impact was around Buffalo, New York, where 43 inches of snow fell as of Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The snowfall and blizzard conditions made roads impassable, froze power substations and left more than a dozen people dead, Erie County officials said.\n\nThe conditions eased slightly on Sunday, allowing emergency responders to get out and see the extent of the problem.\n\n“I don’t want to say that this is going to be it because that would be a fallacy for me to say that, because we know that there are people who have been stuck in cars for more than two days,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Sunday. “There are people in homes who are below freezing temperatures.”\n\nNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul called it the “most devastating storm in Buffalo’s long storied history” due to its power and its extended length.\n\n“It’s a crisis of epic proportion,” Hochul told CNN’s Paula Reid on Sunday.\n\nOver the past week, this winter storm brought dangerously cold temperatures, blizzard conditions and coastal flooding to almost the entirety of the US, wrecking Christmas plans along the way.\n\nMore than 55 million people were under wind chill alerts Sunday morning, and freeze warnings are in effect across the South.\n\nThe blizzard conditions persisted Sunday across the Great Lakes, while frigid cold temperatures gripped the eastern two-thirds of the country.\n\nSome major cities in the Southeast, Midwest and East Coast recorded their coldest Christmas in decades. In Florida, it will be the coldest December 25 since 1983 for Miami, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach.\n\nNew York City also saw record cold temperatures on Christmas Eve at several locations, including its JFK and LaGuardia airports. The high at Central Park was 15 degrees, marking it the second-coldest December 24 in at least 150 years, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nTemperatures are forecast to rebound later in the week with a much-welcomed warming trend with above-normal temperatures.\n\nAbout 250,000 homes and businesses in the US had no electricity service as of about 11 a.m. ET Sunday, with nearly half of those affected in Maine and New York, according to PowerOutage.us. Since the start of the storm the number of outages has at times exceeded a million customers.\n\nPower grid struggling with cold\n\nSnow blankets buildings in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday, December 28. Joed Viera/AFP/Getty Images National Guard troops check on Buffalo residents on December 28. Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP A traveler searches for luggage December 28 at a Southwest Airlines baggage holding area in Denver International Airport. More than 90% of Wednesday's US flight cancellations were Southwest flights, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images People help push a car out of snow in Buffalo on Tuesday, December 27. John Normile/Getty Images Niagara Falls in New York is partially frozen on December 27. Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Travelers at Baltimore/Washington International Airport deal with the impact of canceled flights on December 27. Michael McCoy/Reuters A gas station canopy lays on its side after high winds and heavy snow in Lackawanna, New York, on December 27. The historic winter storm dumped up to 4 feet of snow on the area. John Normile/Getty Images Hundreds of unclaimed suitcases sit near the Southwest Airlines baggage claim area in Tennessee's Nashville International Airport after the airline canceled thousands of flights on December 27. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images A street is blanketed by snow in downtown Buffalo on Monday, December 26. Gov. Kathy Hochul/Twitter/AP A person clears a snow-covered driveway in Buffalo on December 26. Faith Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A man and a boy walk across the frozen Reflecting Pool towards the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on December 26. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Firefighters carry rescue equipment as they respond to a fire on a snow-covered street in Buffalo on Sunday, December 25. Jalen Wright/The New York Times/Redux Snow blankets a neighborhood in Cheektowaga, New York, on Christmas Day. Western New York is drowning in thick \"lake effect\" snow -- which forms when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Great Lakes -- just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm. John Waller via AP A man tries to dig out his car after he got stuck in a snowdrift about a block from home in Buffalo on Saturday, December 24. Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP Icicles created by a sprinkler hang from an orange tree in Clermont, Florida, on December 24. Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A young holiday traveler passes the time at Detroit Wayne County Metro Airport on December 24. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images Pedestrians deal with the cold in Chicago on December 24. Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP Hoak's Restaurant in Hamburg, New York, is seen covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie on December 24. Kevin Hoak via Reuters Nissan Stadium employees clear the field in Nashville before the an NFL football game on December 24. Mark Zaleski/AP Amanda Kelly cleans off snow and ice from her car in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, December 23. Joseph Scheller/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Cars drive in whiteout conditions in Orchard Park, New York, on December 23. Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News/AP Travelers sleep while lines of people pass through a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport. David Zalubowski/AP Snow-covered buildings are seen in Louisville, Kentucky. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images The waters of Lake Erie wash over the shoreline in Hamburg, New York, on December 23. John Normile/Getty Images Snow collects on a bison at the Longfield Farm in Goshen, Kentucky, on December 23. Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal/USA Today Network Volunteers welcome a homeless person to a shelter at Louisville's Broadbent Arena on December 23. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images Stones are removed from a road in Westport, Massachusetts, after a storm surge made landfall, flooding many coastal areas on December 23. Peter Pereira/The Standard-Times/AP The Louisville skyline is obscured by steam rising from the Ohio River on December 23. Matt Stone/The Louisville Courier/USA Today Network Antonio Smothers jump-starts his vehicle in Nashville on December 23. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by drifting snow in Mandan on Thursday, December 22. Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune/AP Migrants warm themselves by a fire next to the US-Mexico border fence on December 22 in El Paso, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images Robert Arnold puts chains onto the tires of his semitrailer while he waits for the eastbound lane of I-70 to reopen in Silverthorne, Colorado, on December 22. Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images A musician departs following a show on Broadway in Nashville on December 22. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images Brady Myers helps turn the Stewpot Community Services day shelter for the unhoused into an emergency overnight shelter in Jackson, Mississippi, on December 22. Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger/USA Today Network Vehicles travel along Interstate 44 on December 22, in St. Louis. Jeff Roberson/AP A person walks through the snow on December 22 in downtown Minneapolis. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP A clean car passes a snow-covered car in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall/AP Travelers walk in front of flight information screens at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP Ice collects on a window in Oklahoma City on December 22. Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network Bus riders wait at a sheltered stop in Chicago on December 22. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP An accident involving a semi-tractor-trailer blocks the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in West Des Moines on December 22. Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register/AP Kids shovel snow off a sidewalk and driveway in Minneapolis on December 22. Abbie Parr/AP Travelers arrive for their flights at O'Hare International Airport on December 22 in Chicago. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images Mist rises above ice flows on the Yellowstone River on December 22 in Paradise Valley, Montana. William Campbell/Getty Images Students walk to school buses after early dismissal at a middle school in Wheeling, Illinois, on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP Miguel Salazar clears sidewalks in Denver on December 22. Hyoung Chang/Denver Post/Getty Images Travelers arrive at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on December 21. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP Salt is prepared to be loaded onto a truck at the Department of Public Works sanitation yard in Milwaukee on December 21. Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP Propane heaters sit next to pens at the City of Mission Animal Shelter in Mission, Texas, on December 21. Joel Martinez/The Monitor/AP Crews de-ice a Southwest Airlines plane before takeoff in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 21. Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald/AP An Iowa Department of Transportation plow clears a road in Iowa City on December 21. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press Citizen/AP Snow covers homes in Seattle on December 20. Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times/AP In pictures: Winter storm impacts the US Prev Next\n\nA power grid operator for at least 13 states in the country’s eastern half asked customers to conserve power and set thermostats lower than usual from early Saturday to 10 a.m. on Sunday because usage was straining capacity.\n\nThe operator, PJM Interconnection, serves about 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The operator warned rolling blackouts could happen if the strain becomes too much.\n\nIn New York, utility companies Con Edison and Natural Grid US also urged customers to conserve energy, citing extreme weather conditions and increased energy demand on interstate pipelines carrying natural gas into the city.\n\nMeanwhile, a shortage of electricity in Texas prompted the US Department of Energy to declare an emergency Friday, allowing the state’s energy provider to exceed environmental emissions standards until energy usage drops.\n\nIn Jackson, Mississippi, frigid temperatures are hampering efforts to repair a large water main break late Saturday, which has caused a loss in water pressure for residents, city officials said.\n\n“We are grateful to the crews who are braving these frigid temperatures on this Christmas Eve night, while working to restore pressure to residents. Their sacrifice does not go unnoticed and is appreciated not only by this administration, but also by every resident who is affected,” the release stated.\n\nThe brutal weather conditions have also snarled travel during the busy holiday weekend, with more than 5,000 flights canceled Friday, more than 3,400 flights canceled Saturday, and more than 2,800 canceled for Christmas Day.\n\nDangerous weather conditions claim lives\n\nSnow covers a vehicle on December 24, 2022, in Hamburg, New York. John Normile/Getty Images\n\nOut of the 17 weather-related fatalities recorded across New York, 16 were in Erie County, officials said, and one was a fatal carbon monoxide poisoning reported in Niagara County, according to the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office.\n\nBlistering blizzard conditions swept the region, and Poloncarz, the county executive, said about 500 motorists found themselves stranded in their vehicles Friday night into Saturday morning, despite a county driving ban put in place during the storm.\n\nNational Guard troops had been called in to help “rescue people that are stuck in vehicles,” he said.\n\nOf the deaths reported early Sunday – with individuals ranging in age from 26 to 93 years of age – “some were found in cars and some were found actually on the street in snow banks,” Poloncarz said.\n\nTwo died in separate incidents Friday night when emergency medical personnel could not get to their homes in time for medical emergencies, Poloncarz said Saturday morning. Details about a third death, confirmed by a county spokesperson Saturday afternoon, weren’t immediately available.\n\n“The loss of two lives in Buffalo – storm related – because people were not able to get to medical attention, is again a crisis situation that unfolds before your eyes and you realize that lifesaving ambulances and emergency medical personnel cannot get to people during a blizzard situation,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Saturday.\n\nHochul said she will ask the federal government “for a declaration of emergency that’ll allow us to seek reimbursements for the extraordinary expenses of all the overtime and the fact that we brought in mutual aid from other parts of the state.”\n\nPowerful winter storm leaves first responders in need of rescue, official says 01:49 - Source: CNN\n\nOther storm-related deaths have been reported in the country. They include:\n\n• Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado, reported two deaths related to the cold since Thursday, with one man found near a power transformer of a building possibly looking for warmth, and another in a camp in an alleyway.\n\n• Kansas: Three people have died in weather-related traffic accidents, the Kansas Highway Patrol said Friday.\n\n• Kentucky: Three people have died in the state, officials have said, including one involving a vehicle crash in Montgomery County.\n\n• Missouri: One person died after a caravan slid off an icy road and into a frozen creek, Kansas City police said.\n\n• Ohio: Nine people have died as a result of weather-related auto crashes, including four in a Saturday morning crash on Interstate 75, when a semi tractor-trailer crossed the median and collided with an SUV and a pickup, authorities said.\n\n• Tennessee: The Tennessee Department of Health on Friday confirmed one storm-related fatality.\n\n• Wisconsin: Wisconsin State Patrol on Thursday reported one fatal crash due to winter weather.\n\nWhat to expect as the storm slowly weakens and hazardous conditions continue\n\nStrong winds behind the arctic cold front that pushed through this week will lead to lake-effect snow and blizzard conditions at times across portions of the Great Lakes on Sunday.\n\nBlizzard warnings, winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories blanket much of the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes region and Ohio Valley.\n\nAn additional 8 to 16 inches of lake-effect snow is possible.\n\nThe storm system is forecast to gradually weaken as it lifts into southeastern Canada, moving slowly during the next couple of days and pulling arctic air from Canada down into much of the eastern side of the country.\n\nThe Arctic blast will slowly moderate into Monday.\n\nThe cold temperatures combined with dangerous wind chills will create a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers who become stranded, people who work outside, livestock and pets, according to the National Weather Service.\n\n“In some areas, being outdoors could lead to frostbite in minutes,” the Weather Service warned.\n\nAs the frigid air continues to blast the warm waters of the Great Lakes, lake-effect snows and blizzard conditions are expected to continue, but slowly become less intense.\n\nStill, strong gusty winds initially up to 60 mph accompanying the snow downwind from the Great Lakes will continue to make for extremely dangerous conditions on the road.\n\nBy Christmas night into Monday, another low pressure system coming from the Pacific will deliver the next surge of moisture toward the Pacific Northwest and then into northern California, according to the Weather Service.", "authors": ["Nouran Salahieh"], "publish_date": "2022/12/25"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_9", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230310_10", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/acc/2023/03/08/jim-boeheim-retires-syracuse-coach-adrian-autry-replace-him/11429810002/", "title": "Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim steps down after 47th season; Adrian ...", "text": "The question about when Jim Boeheim's career as the men's basketball coach at Syracuse would end has finally been answered.\n\nBoeheim hinted he might be stepping down in his press conference after the Orange were eliminated from the ACC tournament Wednesday against Wake Forest. A few hours later, the school announced that Boeheim’s 47th season helming the Syracuse program would be his last. Adrian Autry, a former player and long-time assistant for Boeheim, was tapped to take over the program.\n\n\"There is no doubt in my mind that without Jim Boeheim, Syracuse Basketball would not be the powerhouse program it is today,\" Syracuse chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement. \"Jim has invested and dedicated the majority of his life to building this program, cultivating generations of student-athletes and representing his alma mater with pride and distinction. I extend my deep appreciation and gratitude to an alumnus who epitomizes what it means to be 'Forever Orange.'\"\n\nPOSTSEASON LINEUP:Conference tournament schedules, scores\n\nBRACKETOLOGY:Penn State gives Big Ten its 10th team in tournament\n\nTICKETS PUNCHED:Which team has secured NCAA tournament spots?\n\nUnofficially, Boeheim won a total of 1,116 career games in nearly a half century coaching his alma mater. Officially, his record is 1,015-441 due to a series of NCAA sanctions due to rules violations that vacated a total of 101 of those wins. Whatever number you acknowledge, Boeheim ranks second overall behind Mike Krzyzewski for career Division I wins among men's coaches.\n\nBoeheim spent almost all his professional life at Syracuse after playing for the Orange from 1963-66. He became an assistant coach in 1969 before assuming the lead job in 1976. During his coaching tenure, Boeheim became synonymous with a Syracuse program that made five Final Four trips, finished as runner-up twice and won the 2003 national championship while he was on the bench.\n\nHis final campaign ends with the Orange going 17-15. They will miss the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. Boeheim is second all-time with 35 tournament appearances, one behind Krzyzewski.\n\nAutry played for Boeheim from 1990-94 and was a first-team Big East selection as a senior. He joined Syracuse's coaching staff in 2011 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2017.\n\n\"There have been very few stronger influential forces in my life than Syracuse University and Jim Boeheim. They have both played such important roles and without either of them, I am certain I would not have this incredible opportunity before me,\" Autry said in a statement. \"I have spent much of my time in the game of basketball learning from Jim and am so grateful to him for preparing me to carry on the winning tradition that is Orange Basketball. It's hard to imagine a world without him on the bench, but together with our coaches, student-athletes and fans, we will build on decades of success as a winning program.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/04/07/early-2015-16-top-25-college-basketball-kentucky-north-carolina/70758552/", "title": "Who belongs in early 2015-16 college basketball top 25?", "text": "Scott Gleeson\n\nUSA TODAY Sports\n\nThe 2014-15 season and the madness that came with the postseason has officially concluded, which means it's time to put that image of Duke cutting down the nets into the rearview mirror and turn our focus to the 2015-16 season.\n\nEvents of the off-season — players testing the NBA waters, the cycling of coaches and transfers through the landscape and the impact of incoming freshmen — are sure to shake things up. But for now, here's USA TODAY Sports' instant look at the way-too-early top 25 for next season.\n\n1. North Carolina (26-12, 11-7): All five starters should be back from this Sweet 16 team, giving coach Roy Williams a veteran group that can contend for a national title. Point guard Marcus Paige (14.1 ppg after 17.5 ppg as a sophomore) didn't have an All-American type of season in 2014-15 to boost his draft stock, but he'll get another chance if he stays. He remains the Tar Heels' catalyst, and expect underclassmen Kennedy Meeks and Justin Jackson to take significant jumps next season.\n\nRecruiting grade: C+. Very quiet so far with under the radar commit Luke Maye, but that could change quickly if in-state stars Brandon Ingram and/or Jaylen Brown.\n\n2. Kentucky (38-1, 18-0 in 2014-15): Coach John Calipari will likely have his roster depleted by the NBA draft. Barring any surprising comebacks like last season — Karl-Anthony Towns, Trey Lyles and Willie Cauley-Stein are projected lottery picks, Devin Booker should go in the first round and then Dakari Johnson looks like a second-rounder, and Aaron and Andrew Harrison could join him there. That's the Wildcats' top seven scorers.\n\nReserves Tyler Ulis, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee could be the only holdovers. No matter. Calipari has once again reloaded with a stellar recruiting class, led by Skal Labissiere, No. 5 in the class of 2015 (via 247Sports), and elite point guard Isaiah Briscoe. And there are seven McDonald's All-Americans who are unsigned and considering UK, likely waiting to see what type of openings there will be.\n\nRecruiting grade: A- But only by their standards and it could quickly become an A+.\n\n3. Virginia (30-4, 16-2): The Cavaliers were dominant in 2014-15, only losing one game before March when they dropped three of six and bowed out of the NCAAs in the round of 32. If Justin Anderson returns, the bulk of the ACC regular-season championship roster will be back to avenge this past season's unhappy ending. Malcolm Brogdon (14.0 ppg) is a two-time All-American and will returns as as Virginia's leading scorer. Anthony Gill and Mike Tobey should make significant improvements as seniors, and look for pass-first point guard London Perrantes to have more scoring duties in 2015-16.\n\nRecruiting grade: B-. Jarred Reuter, a 6-8 forward is the lone signee thus far.\n\n4. Iowa State (25-9, 12-6): Georges Niang's decision to return will make the Cyclones a favorite to win the Big 12 title. Point guard Monte Morris, the nation's leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, and forward Jameel McKay will also be back for coach Fred Hoiberg, who won't have to rebuild as much as he's had to do in the past. And Iowa State again hit the transfer jackpot. Oregon State transfer Hallice Cooke, Marquette transfer Deonte Burton and junior college transfer Darien Williams could make immediate impacts. A surprising loss to UAB in the opening round of the NCAA tournament will likely fuel this team in the offseason.\n\nRecruiting grade: Incomplete. The Cyclones have four scholarships and no commitments.\n\n5. Maryland (28-7, 14-4): The Terrapins will be the favorite to win the Big Ten in their second season in the league. Leading scorer Melo Trimble's return will help an experienced Maryland team continue the momentum from a school-record 26 regular-season wins in 2014-15. The Terps lose veteran guard Dez Wells but bring in promising big man Diamond Stone (No. 10 via 247Sports).\n\nRecruiting grade: A. Five-star Stone could be a game-changer and says he sees himself on a similar trajectory to the way Maryland developed Alex Len, the fifth overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft.\n\n6. Villanova (33-3, 16-2): The Wildcats lose leading scorer Darrun Hilliard II and mainstay JayVaughn Pinkston to graduation. And Dylan Ennis announced he'll transfer. But Villanova should once again have a strong backcourt that will make it the Big East front-runner. Josh Hart (10.1 ppg) and Ryan Arcidiacono (10.1 ppg) will welcome top-30 point guard Jalen Brunson. Back-to-back unexpected early NCAA tourney exits should serve as incentive for this group.\n\nRecruiting grade: A. Brunson, who won the skills competition at the McDonald's All American Game, might already have had an impact on the program with Ennis' decision to transfer rather than play his final season with the Wildcats.\n\n7. Kansas (27-9, 13-5): Kelly Oubre Jr. announced he'll turn pro and fellow freshman Cliff Alexander likely will as well. But if KU returns leading scorer Perry Ellis (13.8 ppg), it will have its two best players back (the other being feisty point guard Frank Mason III. Both will be upperclassmen and much better, as will guard Wayne Selden Jr. and Jamari Traylor. Devonte Graham, who showed potential but never put it all together as a freshman, should also blossom. Coach Bill Self also has hauled in a dynamic power forward in Carlton Bragg (No. 18 via 247Sports).\n\nRecruiting grade: A-. The 6-9 Bragg from Cleveland is the lone member of the class thus far, but Kansas is in the running for a number of the top uncommitted players.\n\n8. Notre Dame (32-6, 14-4): The Irish lose top players Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton but bring back core players in Zach Auguste, Demetrius Jackson, Steve Vasturia and Bonzie Colson, all of whom will take on much larger roles. A return to the Elite Eight would be a lofty goal but coach Mike Brey should have this team back in the national mix.\n\nRecruiting grade: B+. In Rex Pflueger, Notre Dame gets a multipurpose player who comes from a winning program at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).\n\n9. Gonzaga (25-3, 17-1): The veteran backcourt — Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell Jr. and Byron Wesley — will be irreplaceable, but the returning frontcourt should keep the 'Zags in the national conversation. All-America forward Kyle Wiltjer (16.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 47% three-point shooting) should be back, Przemek Karnowski should take another step in his last year of elgibility and Domantas Sabonis should become one of the best big men in the country as a sophomore. Mark Few will have to figure out his starting guards for the first time in four seasons.\n\nRecruiting grade: B. Guard Jesse Wade has been committed since October 2013, but the Zags will need to add more to this class.\n\n10. Duke (35-4, 15-3): The Blue Devils will likely lose all the offensive firepower that got them to the Final Four — Quinn Cook to graduation and Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones to the NBA draft. But coach Mike Krzyzewski's staff is strong on the recruiting trail. It has reeled in top-30 players Chase Jeter and Luke Kennard, both of whom will see time right away. Role players Amile Jefferson, Marshall Plumlee and Matt Jones will provide leadership. And neglected freshman Grayson Allen will have an increased role.\n\nRecruiting grade: A. In McDonald's All Americans Jeter and Kennard, Duke has two players who will fit in right away. Plus, the Blue Devils remain in the running for a number of top players.\n\n***\n\n11. Arizona (34-4, 16-2): Point guard T.J. McConnell, the team's heart and soul on the past two Elite Eight teams, is gone. Stanley Johnson will likely leave as a lottery pick, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley could leave for the NBA as well. Regardless, coach Sean Miller has once again reloaded with his 2015 class — highlighted by top-15 recruits forward Ray Smith and Allonzo Trier. Holdovers Gabe York and Elliot Pitts should take on bigger roles, and likely returning 7-footer Kalen Tarczewski still has a chance to become elite. And Kadeem Allen, a junior college transfer who redshirted this past season, might be the toughest Wildcats player to defend.\n\nRecruiting grade: A. Trier is trying to recruit Oakland big man and fellow McDonald's All American Ivan Rabb, who is down to Arizona and Cal.\n\n12. UCLA (22-14, 11-7): The Bruins looked like a bottom-tier Pac-12 team at the start of last season but finished as a Sweet 16 team. They'll start much better in 2015-16, returning starting guards Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton. Big men Tony Parker and Thomas Welsh will also be back, while Kevon Looney is likely turning pro. UCLA's top addition will be elite recruit Prince Ali, who should help fill the void of departing guard Norman Powell.\n\nRecruiting grade: B. The Bruins bring in a pair of four stars led by Ali from Florida. The interesting X factor might be whether star football recruit Sosa Jamabo tries hoops too. Jamabo helped lead Plano (Texas) West to a state title in basketball.\n\n13. Wichita State (30-5, 17-1): The Shockers' biggest returnee will be the man that's transformed Wichita State from decent mid-major to an elite program. Coach Gregg Marshall turned down Alabama and will again have the Shockers playing with the toughness that's paved way to breakthrough success over the past three seasons. Wichita State loses Darius Carter and Tekele Cotton but brings back one of the best backcourts in the country in rising seniors Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker, who combined for more than 28 points a game last season.\n\nRecruiting grade: B+ Power forward Eric Hamilton played for a very good Sunrise Christian Academy team in Kansas, and Markus McDuffie is another excellent product of St. Anthony's in Jersey City, N.J.\n\n14. SMU (27-7, 15-3): AAC player of the year Nic Moore (14.5 ppg, 5.1 apg) is back as a senior and so is menacing big man Markus Kennedy. Keith Frazier should also be back after missing nearly half the season for eligibility reasons. Top-100 recruit Shake Milton will provide a boost to what should be a deep roster in Larry Brown's fourth season at the helm.\n\nRecruiting grade: B+. Milton is a top-100 player and the top prospect in Oklahoma, but was lured away to Dallas.\n\n15. Arkansas (27-9, 13-5): If Bobby Portis (17.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg) bypasses early entry into the NBA, expect the Razorbacks to be a serious national threat. The 1-2 punch of Portis and Michael Qualls (15.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg) make for one of the best inside-out tandems in the SEC. Rashad Madden and Alandise Harris won't be easy to replace, but there are plenty of players ready to take on bigger roles, including Anton Beard. Coach Mike Anderson brings in a strong 2015 class, led by top-40 recruit Ted Kapita, a fierce power forward.\n\nRecruiting grade: B. Kapita from Huntington (W.Va.) Prep is an enticing prospect at 6-8.\n\n16. Oklahoma (24-11, 12-6): Much depends on whether Buddy Hield (17.4 ppg) returns to Norman or goes to the NBA. The Big 12 Player of the Year would rejoin fellow starting guards Jordan Woodard and Isaiah Cousins to form one of the best backcourts in the league. TaShawn Thomas departs but Ryan Spangler (9.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg) can anchor the paint.\n\nRecruiting grade: B-. Junior college center Akolda Manyang, a 7-footer, is the primary addition.\n\n17. Texas (20-14, 8-10): Shaka Smart will usher in a new era with the program but how his techniques mesh with the talent Rick Barnes hauled in will be one of the more intriguing story lines in 2014-15. Among the likely returnees from last season's underachieving team, point guard Isaiah Taylor (13.1 ppg, 4.6 apg) could benefit the most from Smart's guidance if he skips entering the NBA draft. Big man Myles Turner has already declared. Cameron Ridley isn't a great fit for Smart's system, so it will be interesting to see how a fleet of rim-protecting bigs are used.\n\nRecruiting grade: B+. All signs point toward Smart being able to retain Barnes' two commitments. Guard Kerwin Roach Jr., a top 50 player, should fit Smart's style nicely.\n\n18. Butler (23-11, 12-6): Leading scorers Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones return from last season's overachieving group. And there's no coaching uncertainty, with Chris Holtmann signing an extension through 2020-2021 after taking over for Brandon Miller last season. N.C. State transfer Tyler Lewis will likely take over controls at the point and make an immediate impact.\n\nRecruiting grade: B. In-state guard Sean McDermott is a big-time shooter from the perimeter.\n\n19. Syracuse (18-13, 9-9): The Orange lose Rakeem Christmas and Chris McCullough declared for the draft, but everyone else is back. Coach Jim Boeheim, who's announced he's retiring in three seasons, will be tasked with helping the program weather the storm in light of looming NCAA penalties. The Orange will be loaded in the backcourt with returnees Trevor Cooney, Michael Gbinije and Kaleb Joseph. Joining them will be top-20 recruit Malachi Richardson, an explosive shooting guard.\n\nRecruiting grade: B-. The Orange pulled in four four-star players led by shooting guard Malachi Richardson from Hamilton, N.J., who is ranked among the top 30 players in the class.\n\n20. Indiana (20-14, 9-9): Barring any surprising departures, the Hoosiers should bring back one of the most talented rosters of any Big Ten team, led by underrated guard Yogi Ferrell (16.3 ppg, 4.9 apg) and James Blackmon Jr., who should hit another level as a sophomore. Forward Troy Williams will also be back and is capable of averaging a double-double with more consistency. Undecided high-level recruit Thon Maker also is considering Indiana.\n\nRecruiting grade: A-. The Hoosiers' frontcourt will get an immediate boost from 6-10 five-star prospect Thomas Bryant from Huntington Prep.\n\n21. Michigan State (27-12, 12-6): In January, the Spartans were an NCAA tournament bubble team. In April, they were in the Final Four. That's a testament to just how good Tom Izzo is as a coach, both in motivating his players and mastering the Xs and Os. Travis Trice and Branden Dawson will be gone, but Denzel Valentine should return as a veteran alongside guard Bryn Forbes. Michigan State adds top-20 recruit Deyonta Davis, an athletic power forward who will be called upon early and often. And the most important newcomer to watch is West Virginia transfer Eron Harris, who dazzled in practice while sitting out this season.\n\nRecruiting grade: A. Davis is a McDonald's All American, and the Spartans also add shooter Matt McQuaid and athletic Kyle Ahrens.\n\n22. N.C. State (22-14, 10-8): There's a chance Cat Barber turns pro, but if he comes back the late-peaking Wolfpack have a chance to pose a bigger threat early in 2015-16. Barber and Trevor Lacey will make for a fearsome backcourt tandem, and N.C. State's frontcourt should be much better thanks to a year of maturity. If coach Mark Gottfried's cast plays at the level it did in the NCAAs — knocking off top-seeded Villanova to reach the Sweet 16 — they'll be a darkhorse contender in the ACC.\n\nRecruiting grade: Incomplete. The Pack has three scholarships open and no commitments. This could change quickly, especially if they can get Ingram or Malik Newman.\n\n23. Miami (25-13, 10-8): The Hurricanes will have virtually everyone back from last season's team, including the potent backcourt duo of Angel Rodriguez and Sheldon McClellan. Miami fell on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble in 2014-15, but coach Jim Larrañaga will have one of the most experienced rosters in the ACC next season.\n\nRecruiting grade: C. Thus far, the class is only small forward Anthony Lawrence from St. Petersburg, Fla.\n\n24. Wisconsin (36-4, 16-2): Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker are likely first-round NBA draft picks, while Josh Gasser and Traevon Jackson are gone. Without their top two players, the Badgers won't be Final Four good. But it's still Wisconsin and as long as coach Bo Ryan is on the sidelines, there's no reason to underestimate this team and not expect a top-four finish in the Big Ten. Nigel Hayes will assert himself into a lead role. And departing point guard Jackson's injury-plagued season will pay off for blossoming combo guard Bronson Koenig, who still has two seasons of eligibility to jump into a larger role.\n\nRecruiting grade: A. The Badgers add size and strength and the scoring of 6-4 in-state guard Brevin Pritzl.​\n\n25. Utah (26-9, 13-5): All-American and do-everything guard Delon Wright will take his talents to the NBA. But everyone else is likely back from a Sweet 16 team, barring an unexpected pro departure for promising big man Jakob Poeltl. Point guard Brandon Taylor and forward Jordan Loveridge will be seniors and will play a part in keeping the Utes relevant in 2015-16.\n\nRecruiting grade: A-. In 6-9 Makol Mawein, the Utes get a shot blocker with a developing offensive game. Junior college guard Gabe Bealer is a potential scorer.\n\nJust missed: No. 26 Florida State, No. 27 Baylor, No. 28 LSU, No. 29 Texas A&M, No. 30 Tulsa\n\nAlso considered: Louisville, Purdue, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Cincinnati, Memphis, UConn, Valparaiso, Marquette, Dayton, West Virginia.\n\nContributing: Josh Barnett", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/04/07"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_11", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/america/theme-parks/2023/03/08/peppa-pig-theme-park-dallas-fort-worth-texas/11428638002/", "title": "A second Peppa Pig Theme Park is coming in 2024, this time to Texas", "text": "Watch out, Orlando.\n\nAnother new, family-focused theme park is heading to the Dallas-Forth Worth area.\n\nNorth America's second Peppa Pig Theme Park will open in North Richland Hills next year, Merlin Entertainments announced Tuesday.\n\n\"North Texas is growing and vibrant – Merlin Entertainments is excited to have the opportunity to add a world-class entertainment experience to residents and visitors alike,\" the company said in a statement to USA TODAY.\n\n\"Peppa Pig\" is a popular British children's show with young fans around the globe, and this park aims \"to be the ultimate theme park experience for little ones.\"\n\n\"Families will meet Peppa and her friends as they snort, giggle and play to build their first theme park memories together,\" Merlin, which also owns LEGOLAND parks and Madam Tussauds, said in a press release.\n\nLEGOLAND parks are becoming more autism-friendly:Here's how and what guests\n\n'That is me':See how Disney World, Disneyland made 'it's a small world' more inclusive\n\nLike the world's first standalone Peppa Pig Theme Park, which opened in Central Florida last year, this new park will feature rides, shows and other entertainment based on characters and locations fans will \"instantly\" recognize from the show.\n\nThe park announcement comes less than two months after Universal revealed plans for its own family-friendly theme park in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas.\n\nThe area is already home to Peppa Pig World of Play Dallas, an indoor play center in Grapevine, just north of DFW International Airport.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/08"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_12", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/04/06/california-walgreens-gavin-newsom-abortion-pill/11617610002/", "title": "Newsom wanted California to cut ties with Walgreens. What ...", "text": "Samantha Young\n\nKHN\n\nGov. Gavin Newsom declared in March that California was “done” doing business with Walgreens after the pharmacy chain said it would not distribute an abortion pill in 21 states where Republicans threatened legal action. Since then, KHN has learned that the Democratic governor must compromise on his hard-line tweet.\n\nCalifornia is legally bound to continue doing business with Walgreens through the state’s massive Medicaid program, health law experts said. And according to a public records request, the state paid Walgreens $1.5 billion last year.\n\nNewsom’s administration confirmed it will “continue to comply” with federal law by paying Walgreens through Medi-Cal, which provides health coverage to roughly 15 million residents with low incomes and disabilities. Were California to stop covering Medi-Cal prescriptions filled at Walgreens stores, legal scholars warned, the state would run afoul of federal law, which allows patients to get their medications at any approved pharmacy.\n\n“California has no intention of taking any action that would violate federal Medicaid requirements, or that could undermine access for low-income individuals,” said Tony Cava, a spokesperson for the California Department of Health Care Services, in a statement.\n\n'We're done':Why California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered the state to cut ties with Walgreens\n\nWalgreens cuts sales:Walgreens says it won't sell abortion pills in 20 GOP-led states, even where it is still legal\n\nWhat did Gavin Newsom say about Walgreens?\n\nOn March 6, the governor tweeted “California won’t be doing business with @walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” after the second-largest U.S. pharmacy chain said it would not dispense mifepristone in states where it is illegal to dispense the pill or where the company faced potential lawsuits if it did so.\n\nNewsom spokesperson Anthony York said, “Tweeting is not policy.” He added the governor will not “take any action that hurts people who need access to care.” Walgreens has even been invited to apply for a specialty drug contract that Newsom pulled back on renewing last month, York said. Walgreens has received about $54 million from the state under the contract.\n\nThe dust-up with the Illinois-based pharmacy chain illustrates Newsom’s panache for sweeping announcements on social media, where he garners national headlines but offers few specifics and little follow-through, political strategists said. Newsom has raised his national profile — and speculation of a presidential bid — by traveling to red states and launching a new political action committee.\n\n“It’s much more about appearances and style and approach than it is about substance,” said David McCuan, political science department chair at Sonoma State University. Newsom and his administration “oversell their pronouncements and don’t actually deliver.”\n\nDemocratic strategist Steve Maviglio said continuing to pay Walgreens through Medi-Cal doesn’t take away from Newsom’s support of abortion rights.\n\n“He’s going to get the headline for protecting abortion rights, and this he can chalk up to a technical difficulty,” Maviglio said. “He will be rewarded for standing up to a corporation.”\n\nFederal law is designed to ensure Medicaid patients have choices in where they get health care, including prescriptions. Approved providers like Walgreens are protected by Medicaid statute, which states that no health plan or entity can “restrict the choice of the qualified person from whom the individual may receive services.” Legal and Medicaid experts said that makes it extremely difficult for the Newsom administration to disqualify Walgreens.\n\n“As long as Walgreens is performing for Medicaid beneficiaries as it should, dispensing all legal drugs in a manner that is consistent with permissible pharmacy practice, then I don’t see the basis for excluding them,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health law and policy at George Washington University.\n\nThe federal regulations that protect Walgreens are the same that have allowed Planned Parenthood to offer health care services to Medicaid enrollees in conservative states, where leaders have sought unsuccessfully to exclude the network of clinics from receiving taxpayer funding.\n\nAn approved pharmacy company can be excluded from state networks only if it has committed fraud or other contract violations, added Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University with expertise in Medicaid law.\n\n“Certainly, that wouldn’t be the case for Walgreens,” Park said.\n\nIt’s unclear whether Newsom was aware of how difficult it would be for California to unwind its Medi-Cal provider agreement with Walgreens, said Daniel Schnur, a Republican-turned-independent strategist who also teaches political science at the University of Southern California.\n\n“The original announcement sounded like a seminal step for the state of California to take on principle, even at great financial expense,” Schnur said. “They’ve quietly backed away.”\n\nThrough a records request, KHN learned the state paid Walgreens $1.5 billion last year to buy and dispense prescriptions to Medi-Cal enrollees. The bulk of the payment, $1.4 billion, reimbursed Walgreens for the prescriptions it distributed. And the remaining $123 million went to dispensing fees, a payment to pharmacists for each prescription they fill. The federal government covers at least half the state’s payments, which are also offset by rebates from drug manufacturers.\n\nA Walgreens spokesperson declined to comment on its business with California, referring to the same statement it issued in March: “Providing legally approved medications to patients is what pharmacies do, and is rooted in our commitment to the communities in which we operate.”\n\nIs Walgreens not selling abortion pills in California?\n\nWalgreens said it plans to dispense mifepristone “in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so.” The company was responding to an FDA rule finalized in January that allows certified pharmacies to dispense the abortion pill, which is the most common way people terminate pregnancies. Walgreens isn’t proposing to limit abortion pill sales in California or other states where abortion is legal and pharmacies are allowed to dispense it.\n\nDemocrats have urged pharmacy chains to sell the abortion pill even as GOP attorneys general threaten legal action. But many, including Walmart, Costco, Albertsons, and Health Mart, have not waded into the fight. Only Rite Aid and CVS have said they plan to begin certification to dispense the pills.\n\nHad Newsom been able to sever Medi-Cal’s relationship with Walgreens, he would have contradicted one of his signature health initiatives. When he took office in 2019, Newsom proposed the state take over prescription drug coverage for Medi-Cal patients, many of whom had been covered through managed-care plans.\n\nPart of Newsom’s pitch: Patients could go to nearly any pharmacy in California.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/04/06"}, {"url": "http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/arizona-health/2020/02/28/coronavirus-arizona-updates-virus-travel-safety-more/4903384002/", "title": "LIVE Arizona coronavirus updates: New cases, closures, advisories", "text": "Arizona Republic\n\nThe spread of a highly contagious coronavirus has had wide-ranging global impacts, including in the financial markets and government travel policies.\n\nTHE LATEST: This blog has moved. Find the latest azcentral updates here.\n\nAs a public service, The Arizona Republic is offering coverage of coronavirus health and safety free of charge on azcentral.com. Here are answers to some frequently asked questions: Ask us a new question here.\n\nTop White House advisers predict as many as 240,000 US deaths from coronavirus\n\nMarch 31: Members of President Donald Trump’s administration laid out dire estimates Tuesday to underscore the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, a grim prediction they said was at the center of the president’s decision to extend strict social distancing guidelines through the end of April.\n\nFederal public health officials said that between 100,000 and 240,000 could succumb to the virus by the end of the year — making it one of the nation’s worst public health crises — said Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator.\n\nWithout intervention, Birx said, as many 2.2 million could have died.\n\nPresented to the president over the weekend, the data explains why Trump backed down from an earlier notion of “reopening” the country by Easter, or potentially opening parts of the nation that were less hard hit, officials said. Trump announced Sunday he would extend social distancing guidelines through April 30.\n\nAmericans abroad urged to come home\n\nMarch 31: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is making his advice to U.S. citizens still overseas during the coronavirus crisis simple: \"Americans who wish to return home from abroad should so immediately and make arrangements to accomplish that,\" he stressed during a Tuesday briefing.\n\nWhile Pompeo said his repatriation task force remains committed to bringing all Americans home, he said the window to do so is closing.\n\n\"We do not know how long the commercial flights in your countries may continue to operate,\" he said as airlines have already slashed international service. \"We can't guarantee the U.S. government's ability to arrange charter flights indefinitely where commercial options no longer exist.\"\n\nIn the meantime, he urged Americans to register with their nearest embassy or consulate or do so online via STEP, the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program.\n\nAt-home coronavirus tests halted despite progress\n\nMarch 31: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration abruptly shut down sales of at-home coronavirus test kits earlier this month but some companies say they haven’t given up.\n\nThe scarcity of tests in general, coupled with consumers' desire to take control, makes the idea both intriguing and controversial.\n\nCritics say home tests may be unreliable, might delay necessary treatment and could soak up scarce resources. Proponents say at-home test kits could save money and resources – and in the near future could play a critical role in tracking COVID-19.\n\nThe FDA leaped into action on March 20 when several startup companies started selling or preparing to sell at-home kits.\n\nIn strong language, the agency called at-home test kits “fraudulent.”\n\nFeds launch inquiry of 4 lawmakers who sold off stock\n\nMarch 30: Federal authorities are reviewing the stock sales of four lawmakers just before the market slide triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.\n\nFinancial disclosure statements indicated that Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C.; Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.; Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga.; and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; their spouses or advisers sold large chunks of stock around the time lawmakers received behind-the-scenes briefings about the severity of the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 2,900 lives in the USA.\n\nThe senators denied any wrongdoing, and Burr asked the Senate Ethics Committee to review his transactions involving up to $1.6 million. The federal inquiry, which was in its early stages, was first reported by CNN.\n\nGov. Ducey issues stay-at-home order\n\nMarch 30:Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday issued a statewide \"stay-at-home\" order to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, preventing Arizonans from leaving their residences except for food, medicine and other \"essential activities.\"\n\nThe directive, which also allows for outdoor exercise, will take effect at the close of business Tuesday and apply through at least April 30.\n\n\"Already, things have shut down to a large degree,\" the Republican leader said at an afternoon press briefing, with Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ at his side. \"They're going to shut down even further.\"\n\nDucey indicated he did not consider the mandate a \"shelter-in-place\" order, however, saying that phrase is reserved for nuclear attacks or active shooter situations.\n\n\"Our goal here is to protect the lives of those we love most and to ensure the health care system has the capacity to provide them with the care and comfort they deserve,\" he said. \"We want people to stay at home.\"\n\nArizona schools closed for the rest of the school year\n\nMarch 30: Gov. Doug Ducey has extended the closure of all Arizona schools through the end of this school year.\n\nIn a joint statement Monday with Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, Ducey wrote that the decision was made to align with guidance from the federal government.\n\n\"These efforts are crucial, and we recognize that schools are making every effort possible to continue providing instruction during closures,\" they wrote in the statement.\n\nOn Friday, Ducey signed legislation to allow students to finish the school year from home.\n\nThe plan mandates that schools offer classes in an alternative format, presumably online, so students could finish out the school year from home. It also includes provisions to ensure seniors in high school graduate.\n\nGov. Ducey holds 2 p.m. press conference\n\nSummer Olympics to kick off in July 2021\n\nMarch 30: Less than a week after announcing that the Summer Games in Japan would be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers have decided on a new start date of July 23, 2021, according to an International Olympic Committee spokesman. The closing ceremony will be held on Aug. 8. The Tokyo Olympics had previously been set to start almost exactly one year earlier, running from July 24 through Aug. 9.\n\nArizona coronavirus cases now surpass 1K, with 20 deaths\n\nMarch 30: Arizona cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, now number more than 1,000, with 20 known deaths, new numbers posted by the Arizona Department of Health Services on Monday show.\n\nThe total identified cases in Arizona is 1,157, according to the latest state figures, with every one of the state's 15 counties now recording at least one case.\n\nThat's an increase of confirmed 238 cases, or 26%, since Sunday.\n\nArizona's new coronavirus cases increase to 912; deaths rise to 16\n\nMarch 29: The number of identified new coronavirus cases in Arizona rose to 912 on Sunday — a roughly 17% increase from the day before, according to data released by the Arizona Department of Health Services.\n\nThe number of reported deaths related to COVID-19 also increased by one to a total of 16 on Sunday.\n\nMore than 2,000 coronavirus patients have died in U.S.\n\nMarch 28: Just one day after the U.S. surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, the nation witnessed another grim figure: More than 2,000 COVID-19 patients have died.\n\nTesting continues to expand across the nation, and the U.S. is seeing daily spikes in the number of reported cases. Nearly 500 coronavirus-related deaths were reported Saturday, up from 1,544 confirmed deaths 24 hours earlier, according to Johns Hopkins University's data dashboard.\n\nThe death toll was 2,010 Saturday shortly after 6 p.m. ET. That number is expected to rise steadily in the coming days and weeks, and health officials say the number of cases is likely higher due to lack of testing. Nearly 18,000 new cases were reported on both Wednesday and Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins.\n\nMore than 120,000 cases have been reported in the U.S.\n\nCases have been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. New York has reported the most deaths, followed by Washington, New York and Louisiana, according to Johns Hopkins.\n\nFDA authorizes 5-minute coronavirus test the size of a toaster\n\nMarch 28: CHICAGO – A five-minute, point-of-care coronavirus test could be coming to urgent care clinics next week, and experts say it could be \"game-changing.\"\n\nThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued Emergency Use Authorization to Illinois-based medical device maker Abbott Labs on Friday for a coronavirus test that delivers positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes, the company said.\n\nThe company expects the tests to be available next week and expects to ramp up manufacturing to deliver 50,000 tests per day.\n\nDays before closing, Caesars Entertainment said 3,200 workers would lose jobs\n\nLAS VEGAS – Four days before closing nine hotel-casinos along the Las Vegas Strip to slow the spread of COVID-19, Caesars Entertainment notified state officials that 3,200 workers would lose their jobs, according to documents obtained by the Reno-Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.\n\nIn a March 14 letter to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, the company announced the cuts would happen the following day.\n\n\"Given the unknown certainty surrounding COVID-19,\" wrote Servando Lara, Caesars' director of labor relations, \"we are unable to make a determination as to whether the layoff will be temporary or permanent.\"\n\nOne day after the letter arrived, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered that all non-essential businesses across the state shut down to arrest the spread of COVID-19.\n\nArizona COVID-19 deaths up to 15; reported cases rise to 773\n\nMarch 28: Arizona's death toll related to the new coronavirus rose to 15, according to data released by the Arizona Department of Health Services on Saturday morning.\n\nThe number of reported cases around the state also rose to 773.\n\nAs of Friday, there were 13 deaths and 665 reported cases around the state. Cases grew from Friday to Saturday by roughly 16%.\n\nOn Saturday, Pima County announced an additional coronavirus-related death, bringing the county total to five.\n\nThe man was a hospice patient between the age of 18 and 40, the county said.\n\nIt wasn't immediately clear whether the Pima County death was one of the two additional deaths announced by the state Saturday morning.\n\nMaricopa County reported a growth of 53 cases, with 96 of the 452 cases in the county requiring hospitalization.\n\nMember of Alhambra school community infected\n\nMarch 28: Alhambra Elementary School District announced Friday that someone who attended the school's non-sponsored trip to Magic Mountain has tested positive for COVID-19.\n\nThe news was shared via an email to parents from Richard Stinnett, the school's principal. The email did not reveal whether the infected person was a student or other party.\n\nStinnett relayed in the email that the trip took place from March 6-8, more than two weeks removed since the person in question received their positive test. School has not been in session since the trip, Stinnett wrote.\n\nStill, the email communicated that the infected person is recovering at home while quarantined and that no other cases have been linked to this case.\n\nDisney World, Disneyland to stay closed indefinitely\n\nMarch 27: Citing an \"increasingly complex crisis,\" Disneyland and Disney World are going to stay closed \"until further notice\" due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Walt Disney Company said Friday.\n\nThe company's decision dashes hopes that the fabled theme parks would reopen by next month, as had been previously announced. Earlier this week, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood announced they were extending their closures through April 19.\n\nFor Disney, the concern was about making sure park-goers and employees aren't exposed to the virus.\n\n\"While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains the Walt Disney Company’s top priority,\" the company said in an email statement. It said the decision was \"in line with direction provided by health experts and government officials.\"\n\nTrump signs $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus intended to halt economic meltdown\n\nMarch 27: WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion bipartisan stimulus package Friday that is intended to address the threat of economic disaster posed by the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nTrump signed the measure – the largest stimulus in U.S. history – in the Oval Office hours after it was approved by the House of Representatives, an unusually rapid approval that underscored dire warnings of a recession as companies began to lay off workers and U.S. consumers hunkered down in their homes to avoid spreading the virus.\n\n\"I want to thank Democrats and Republicans for coming together and putting America first,\" Trump said at the signing.\n\nWhile the president’s signature ended the legislative effort on Capitol Hill, it marked a beginning to the government’s work managing the crisis. Now the Trump administration must rapidly pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy in the form of direct payments, loans and grants to hard-hit industries such as the airlines.\n\nThe stimulus package will provide $1,200 checks to many Americans – and more for families – while making available hundreds of billions of dollars for companies to maintain payroll through the crisis. It significantly expands the nation’s unemployment safety net and it directs a huge infusion of cash to hospitals and other medical facilities on the front line of fighting the pandemic.\n\nMarkets rallied in recent days on the news that Republicans and Democrats had reached a deal on the stimulus, recovering some of the staggering losses of the past several weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained down Friday in midday trading.\n\nHouse approves historic coronavirus package, sending $2 trillion bill to Trump’s desk\n\nMarch 27: WASHINGTON – The House voted to pass a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package – the largest emergency aid bill in history – that will offer $1,200 checks to Americans, extensive unemployment benefits for those out of work and financial relief to businesses and the health care industry hard-hit by the worsening crisis.\n\nThe House’s vote allows the bill to head to President Donald Trump’s desk for final approval. Trump has signaled he will sign the bill.\n\nThe vote comes one day after the U.S. reached two grim milestones, becoming the country with the most coronavirus cases in the world and reporting a record 3.28 million workers who applied for unemployment benefits in one week – the highest number in history since the Department of Labor started tracking data in 1967. The massive package aims to offer a financial lifeline to Americans and businesses that are hurting while also offering reassurance to the markets, which have been battered by fears that shutdowns related to the pandemic could throw the economy into a deep recession.\n\nUS neglected its medical stockpile, whistleblowers say\n\nMarch 27: A secretive cache of medical supplies to save Americans from deadly disasters for years lacked the funding to prepare for a pandemic as widespread as the coronavirus, former managers of the stockpile told USA TODAY.\n\nOverseen by a cadre of scientists, disease specialists and others at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Strategic National Stockpile houses roughly $8 billion in inventory for rapid deployment to anywhere in the nation in under 12 hours.\n\nBut its inadequate supply of ventilators, respiratory masks and other personal protective equipment will leave critical shortages for U.S. hospitals scrambling to respond to the mounting coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe stockpile had just 16,600 of the breathing machines and an estimated 12 million N95 masks at the start of the pandemic – not enough for the country, USA TODAY reports.\n\nThe latest: US COVID-19 count\n\nUS passes Italy, China as nation with the most confirmed cases of COVID-19\n\nMarch 26: The U.S. surged past China and Italy to become the planet's most infected nation Thursday, a stark milestone in the coronavirus era - and a reminder of its deadly, culture-changing effects on American life.\n\nThe Johns Hopkins University dashboard showed the U.S. with 82,404 COVID-19 infections as of 6 p.m., ET, moving past Italy (80,589) and China (81,782). More than 1,100 people have died in the U.S.\n\nPart of the reason for the nation's top ranking is cause and effect: The U.S. has drastically ramped up its testing protocols in order to identify infected people and those who may be carriers of the virus. As testing has increased, so has the number of confirmed cases.\n\nWatch: Trump speaks on coronavirus\n\nMarch 26: On a day when jobless claims smashed a record and U.S. deaths surged past 1,100 as the coronavirus tightened its grip on America, the prospect of a stimulus package soon becoming reality helped propel a third consecutive stock market rally Thursday.\n\nThe Labor Department, in announcing the unemployment claims numbers for last week, said what Americans already knew – that layoffs hit the hospitality and food service industries particularly hard. Other industries that struggled included health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing industries, Labor said.\n\nCongress was trying to supply a ray of hope. The House is scheduled to take up a Senate-passed, $2 trillion emergency aid proposal Friday. Swift passage was expected – after an initial hangup, the package flew through the Senate on Wednesday night by a vote of 96-0. President Donald Trump has expressed a willingness to sign the measure.\n\nDow posts best 3-day gain since 1931\n\nMarch 26: U.S. stocks notched their first three-day rally in six weeks Thursday on hopes that Congress will quickly approve a coronavirus rescue package for the economy while the outbreak in China shows signs that it has been largely contained.\n\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1,351.62 points, or 6.4%, to close at 22,552.17. The blue-chip average has advanced 21.3% over the past three days, its biggest three-day gain since 1931. Those gains helped push the Dow back into bull market territory after ending its 11-year historic run this month.\n\nThe Standard & Poor’s 500 added 6.2% to finish at 2,630.07. It has gained 17.6% over the past three days, its best percentage gain since 1933.\n\nThe gains came even as data revealed a record number of Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week after a wave of layoffs from the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nArizona coronavirus cases top 500, with 8 known deaths\n\nMarch 26: Confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, topped 500 on Thursday, with eight known deaths, state numbers show.\n\nIdentified cases now total 508 across the state. Maricopa County has just shy of 300 cases.\n\nThe level of community spread, as listed on the state health department’s website, went from moderate to “widespread.” Community spread means the patient had no history of traveling to regions of the world affected by new coronavirus, and also had no known contact with anyone infected by it.\n\nHere's the difference between shelter-in-place and quarantine, and what police can enforce\n\nMarch 26: On March 19, California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all 40 million people in the state to shelter in place as health officials battle the new coronavirus. Two days later, Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker ordered his state's 12.7 million residents to also shelter in place.\n\nSince then, millions of people across at least 20 states have been given orders to shelter in place, restricting them from leaving their homes except to go to work if they can't work from home, get food or see a doctor.\n\nBut Arizona, with a population of seven million, isn't one of them.\n\nCongress on track to add $600 per week to jobless checks\n\nMarch 26:The U.S. Senate approved an additional $600 a week in jobless benefits for laid-off workers on Wednesday as the number of people applying for help nationwide hit an all-time weekly record of 3.28 million because of the economic carnage of the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nArizona also set a new one-day record this week for the number of jobless claims filed.\n\nBenefits currently are capped at $240 a week in Arizona, the second-lowest amount in the nation. The change would increase the figure to $840 per week for people laid off because of the outbreak.\n\nJobless claims surge to 3.3M\n\nMarch 26: Layoffs are skyrocketing as the coronavirus upends the U.S. economy.\n\nThe number of Americans filing initial applications for unemployment benefits jumped nearly twelvefold to a record 3.28 million last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, offering the most vivid evidence yet of the outbreak's widespread damage to the economy.\n\nThe total was well above the 1.5 million claims economists had forecast, according to the median estimate of those surveyed by Bloomberg.\n\nIllnesses from coronavirus could peak in April with hospitalizations topping out in May, health officials say\n\nMarch 25: Arizona's governor and top health official on Wednesday shared mixed updates on the state's new coronavirus response, reporting a sizable increase in testing but warning of continued medical supply shortages as the virus spreads.\n\nIf infections continue at their current pace, illnesses would peak in April and hospitalizations would peak in May, state Health Director Dr. Cara Christ said at a Wednesday press briefing.\n\n\"Arizona is still in the opening stages of its COVID-19 outbreak, and the number of cases within the state will increase significantly,\" Christ said.\n\nArizona could be short 13,000 beds in treating coronavirus patients\n\nMarch 25: The new coronavirus pandemic could leave Arizona short 13,000 hospital beds for sick patients, a top health official said Wednesday.\n\nThe state's modeling has shown if there's a big wave of illness here — what state officials emphasize is a worst-case scenario — it would hit in mid- to late April, with a high rate of hospitalizations in May, Dr. Cara Christ, the Arizona Department of Health Services director, told reporters during a news briefing with Gov. Doug Ducey.\n\n\"We must continue to increase our bed capacity. With a potential surge of COVID-19 patients, we expect it to be above and beyond our current capacity of beds,\" she said.\n\nSenate passes historic $2 trillion stimulus package\n\nMarch 25: The Senate approved its largest emergency aid package in modern history that will offer $2 trillion to help Americans, hospitals and businesses weather the effects of the coronavirus. The vote late Wednesday night was 96-0.\n\nThe bill will now go to the House for approval before it’s sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.\n\nHouse Majority Leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., announced that the House will vote on the $2 trillion bill Friday, and that they will convene at 9 a.m.\n\n\"We expect the bill to pass by voice vote,\" he said.\n\nAmong the provisions offered in the measure are one-time $1,200 checks to individuals, $367 billion in loans and grants to small businesses, over $130 billion for hospitals and community health centers and financial help to airlines and other industries hit hard by the virus.\n\nU.S. death toll surges past 1,000\n\nMarch 25: The U.S. death toll was at 1,031 late Wednesday afternoon after eclipsing 600 on Tuesday. Globally, more than 21,000 people have been killed by the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.\n\nGov. Ducey to hold press conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday\n\nMost Americans to get $1,200 checks\n\nMarch 25: People earning less than $75,000 per year will get $1,200 checks under the stimulus agreement. Married couples earning less than $150,000 will get $2,400 and children will be worth another $500 each under the deal. The final language is still being crafted, but the package includes $367 billion for small businesses, $500 billion for loans to larger industries, $100 billion for hospitals and the health care system and $600 more per week in unemployment benefits for those out of work.\n\nSenate Minority leader Chuck Schumer said the goal is to ensure that every worker who is laid off or furloughed can pay their bills.\n\n\"And because so many of them will be furloughed rather than fired, if they have benefits, they can continue, and – extremely important – they can stay with the company or small business,\" he said.\n\nIdentified cases in Arizona now top 400, with 6 known deaths\n\nMarch 25: Coronavirus cases in Arizona continue to rise, with 401 identified cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, reported by the state Wednesday.\n\nMohave County reported its first identified case, which means the county will start restricting businesses. Maricopa County reported it now has two cases in people under age 18.\n\nIdentified cases have increased by 23% since Tuesday morning's numbers update from the state. The percentage increase was lower Wednesday than it was on Monday and Tuesday.\n\nOn Tuesday, there were at least 326 identified cases and five known deaths reported by the state in its morning numbers update. The state's database now reflects the sixth death, which was announced by Coconino County late Tuesday.\n\nThree known deaths have occurred in Maricopa County, according to county data, as well as one in Pima County and one in Coconino County. It is unclear in which county one of the deaths happened. Coconino County's first known death related to COVID-19 was announced on Tuesday.\n\nNew symptom of COVID-19?\n\nMarch 24: A loss of a sense of smell or taste may be a symptom of COVID-19, medical groups representing ear, nose and throat specialists have warned.\n\nCiting a growing number of cases around the globe, the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and ENT UK each issued warnings about patients who tested positive for the new coronavirus with the only symptom being a lost or altered sense of smell or taste.\n\n\"Anecdotal evidence is rapidly accumulating from sites around the world that anosmia and dysgeusia are significant symptoms associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,\" the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery wrote in a statement.\n\nAnosmia is the loss of smell while dysgeusia is an altered sense of taste.\n\nTrump sets Easter as possible date to lift restrictions\n\nMarch 24: President Trump said Tuesday that he would like to have the government restrictions on travel and social gatherings eased by Easter, which comes on Sunday, April 12.\n\n“We’re going to be opening relatively soon,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall Tuesday. “I'd love to have it open by Easter ... It's such an important day for other reasons but I'll make an important date for this too. I would love to have the country, opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”\n\nAsked if it’s possible for the country to return to normal by Easter, Trump said, “I think it’s absolutely possible. Now, people are going to have to practice all of the social distancing and things we’re doing now. … But we have to get our country back to work.”\n\nTrump seemed to suggest Americans could both go to work and adhere to social distancing practices but did not specify how that would work.\n\nShortly after Trump’s remarks, three major U.S. health organizations – representing the nation’s doctors, nurses and hospitals – issued a public plea to Americans to stay home.\n\n“Staying at home in this urgent moment is our best defense to turn the tide against COVID-19,” wrote the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, and American Nurses Association in an open letter.\n\nArizona's known coronavirus deaths increase to 5, total cases to 326\n\nMarch 24: Arizona's COVID-19 cases are accelerating quickly as more testing becomes available, with 326 identified cases and five known deaths reported Tuesday.\n\nThe number of cases increased 39% since Monday.\n\nGov. Doug Ducey first announced the state now had five total deaths known to be from COVID-19 on a KTAR (92.3 FM) radio show Tuesday morning.\n\n2020 Tokyo Olympics officially postponed due to coronavirus outbreak\n\nMarch 24: For thousands of athletes around the world, it would have once been considered a nightmare scenario.\n\nAnd on Tuesday, it finally became official.\n\nIn an unprecedented and unavoidable move, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese government agreed to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics \"to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021\" due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.\n\nArizona Legislature approves $50 million for coronavirus relief, adjourns for 3 weeks\n\nMarch 23: The Arizona House of Representatives broke through a political logjam on Monday, approving a $50 million relief package as the state faces the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and adjourning for three weeks as a public health precaution.\n\nThe spending package allows Gov. Doug Ducey's administration to use the funds for housing assistance, aid for businesses, nonprofits and health care providers with fewer than 50 employees, and assistance for food banks as well as organizations serving people experiencing homelessness.\n\nWith this, the Legislature finished work on a basic budget that will keep state government operating into the new fiscal year that starts in July.\n\nGov. Ducey holds 1 p.m. press conference\n\nIOC member says that 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed\n\nMarch 23: Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks.\n\n“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said in a phone interview. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.\"\n\nArizona coronavirus cases rise to 234, mostly in Maricopa County\n\nMarch 23: Arizona now has 234 identified cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, a database from the Arizona Department of Health Services showed on Monday.\n\nThat's an increase of 55% from Sunday.\n\nOn Sunday, the department reported 152 total identified cases, an increase of 48 cases from the day before.\n\nBanner Health launches drive-thru COVID-19 testing at 4 Arizona sites\n\nMarch 23: Banner Health, Arizona's largest health system, on Monday is launching drive-thru COVID-19 testing for prescreened patients at four sites, three in Phoenix and one in Tucson.\n\nPatients will not need a doctor's order, but they will need to speak by phone with a Banner clinician before being scheduled for a testing appointment.\n\nThat's why Phoenix-based nonprofit Banner Health isn't publicly sharing the addresses of the sites: Patients need to call ahead. People who arrive at a testing site without an appointment won't be tested, officials said.\n\nArizona Diamondbacks to donate $550K to help Arizona in pandemic\n\nMarch 23: The Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation announced that it is donating to local charities to help during the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe team released a statement on Monday announcing the donation of $550,000 to Arizona-based nonprofit organizations \"that will immediately assist in helping those most vulnerable during the current national emergency.\"\n\n“Over the past 10 days, we have watched the heroic efforts of so many Arizonans who are helping those in need – from medical professionals to local food banks and childcare operations that have opened their doors to those working long hours to keep our community running,” D-Backs Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick said in the statement.\n\nArizona's first coronavirus death: Phoenix learned employee had COVID-19 after he died\n\nMarch 23:Phoenix officials and managers in the city's Aviation Department first learned that an aviation employee had COVID-19 when the Maricopa County Department of Public Health called to inform them of that several days after the man had died.\n\nOn March 17, the employee's family notified the aviation department that the man had died. On March 20, the health department notified the city that the man died of COVID-19 brought on by the new coronavirus.\n\nIn the wake of this news, the city and aviation department scrambled to inform coworkers and close contacts that they may have been exposed to the virus, as well as to publicly acknowledge that Arizona's first coronavirus victim was a city employee.\n\nAmid outbreak, Arizonans find little social distance on crowded hiking trails\n\nMarch 22: When Gov. Doug Ducey warned people to avoid large gatherings and close contact with others, the state and Phoenix park systems came up with a healthy alternative: Get outdoors, they announced. Come hike our trails.\n\nIt has worked. So well that, at peak times in some parks this weekend, avoiding large gatherings and close contact on narrow trails was as challenging as, for instance, finding a parking space — even in a dry stream bed near the Superstition Mountains.\n\nArizona National Guard activates 700 to help grocery stores and food banks this week\n\nMarch 22: The Arizona National Guard is sending out more than 700 Citizen-Soldiers this week to support grocery stores and food banks as part of Gov. Doug Ducey's activation, the Arizona National Guard said in a press release.\n\nOn Sunday, a group of 12 Citizen-Soldiers worked at a food bank in Gilbert loading pallets with boxes of food.\n\n“Our efforts are intended to reduce the concern that builds in the public when they see empty shelves,” said Maj. Gen. Michael T. McGuire, Arizona’s Adjutant General.\n\nArizona reports 2nd coronavirus death as state's total case count rises to 152\n\nMarch 22: Arizona had its second new coronavirus-related death Saturday as the number of identified cases throughout the state increased by 48, the Arizona Department of Health Services announced in a press release Sunday.\n\nThe man who died was in his 70s with underlying health conditions, the press release said.\n\nOfficials said the number of identified cases of coronavirus increased by 48 throughout Saturday to a total of 152, the release stated.\n\nArizona's 1st death from coronavirus is a Maricopa County man in his 50s\n\nArizona's first death tied to the new coronavirus is a Maricopa County man in his 50s, state and Maricopa County health officials said Friday night.\n\nThe man, who had underlying health conditions, died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said in a joint statement.\n\nMaricopa County is notifying close contacts of the man and will ask them to monitor for symptoms, health officials said.\n\nAs of Friday, Arizona had 76 reported cases of COVID-19, including 35 in Maricopa County.\n\nPence staffer tests positive for coronavirus\n\nA member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff has tested positive for coronavirus, the White House said Friday, marking the first such infection within the top rungs of the administration.\n\nKatie Miller, a spokeswoman for Pence, did not identify the staffer, nor did she say specifically where the individual worked. Pence is leading the administration’s coronavirus task force and has been a regular presence at the president’s side in recent weeks.\n\n“This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the Coronavirus,” Miller said in statement. “Neither President Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual.”\n\nMiller said contact tracing was being conducted in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pence said Monday that he had not been tested for the virus. Trump was tested and said his test was negative.\n\nArizona school closures extended to April 10\n\nMarch 20: Arizona schools will stay closed until April 10, Gov. Doug Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman announced Friday.\n\nThey had originally announced school closures until March 27. The state leaders said the two-week extension would help schools and parents plan ahead.\n\n\"Our goal is to get kids safely back in the classroom as soon as possible,\" Ducey said in a video with Hoffman posted on Twitter. \"The safest place for children during this time is at home.\"\n\nArizona's coronavirus case count rises to 75; 10 of state's counties\n\nMarch 20: The reported statewide count of coronavirus cases climbed to 75 with 11 additional cases and a \"shelter-in-place\" order announced on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona.\n\nThe new positives indicate the illness is spreading throughout the state. Ten of Arizona's 15 counties now have presumed positive or confirmed cases. Yuma County and Cochise counties announced their first presumed positive cases.\n\nThe Navajo Nation announced 11 cases late Thursday night, bringing the tally in Navajo County to 14. Tribal President Jonathan Nez issued a \"shelter-in-place\" order for the community of Chilchinbeto, where seven of the 11 new patients lived.\n\nArizona coronavirus: County-by-county look at COVID-19\n\nMarch 20: The Republic is tracking coronavirus cases across Arizona and updating this county-by-county map daily. For all the latest news about coronavirus in Arizona, visit coronavirus.azcentral.com.\n\nHere's how Phoenix tattoo shops are responding to coronavirus and COVID-19\n\nMarch 20: As cities across the Phoenix area declare states of emergency due to the new coronavirus outbreak and call for the closure of entertainment venues and gathering places, there are few places to watch movies, work out and convene with friends and family.\n\nOne activity you can still do during this pandemic? Get new ink.\n\nSome Phoenix tattoo shops have opted to close to slow the spread of COVID-19, at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House. Others remain open while stepping up their sanitizing efforts, temporarily refusing walk-in appointments and imposing no penalties for rescheduled appointments.\n\nTrump to close US-Mexico border\n\nMarch 20: The U.S.-Mexico border will be closed to nonessential travel to further help stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, Trump announced Friday.\n\n\"As we did with Canada, we're also working with Mexico to implement new rules at our ports of entry to suspend nonessential travel,\" Trump said. \"These new rules and procedures will not impede lawful trade and commerce.\" Trump said that Mexico is also suspending air travel from Europe.\n\nThe expected announcement follows the closure of the border between the U.S. and Canada to nonessential travel, which was announced Wednesday. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters the closure would happen at midnight Friday.\n\nTax Day delayed until July 15\n\nMarch 20: Tax Day was moved back to July and governors in California and Pennsylvania took the boldest action yet to slow the spread of coronavirus as the pandemic continued Friday to dramatically alter lives.\n\nTreasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Friday that the deadline for Americans to file their taxes would be moved back from April 15 to July 15. \"All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties,\" Mnuchin tweeted.\n\nMeanwhile, Californians awoke to a new order to stay inside and shelter-in-place as Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out a sobering, staggering prediction that more than half the 40-plus million California population would contract COVID-19 in the next eight weeks.\n\nDucey orders closure of bars, theaters and gyms in some Arizona counties; National Guard to help grocery stores\n\nMarch 19: Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday announced he would limit restaurant service and close bars, theaters and gyms in counties with confirmed cases of COVID-19, stepping up Arizona's efforts to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.\n\nThe directive will take effect upon close of business Friday.\n\nThe Republican leader also:\n\nCalled on the National Guard to help grocery stores and food banks restock shelves to protect food supplies.\n\nHalted all elective surgeries \"to free up medical resources and maintain the capacity for hospitals and providers to continue offering vital services.\"\n\nDelayed expiration dates for Arizona drivers licenses, so that residents who are 65 or older don't need to wait in line at state offices to renew them.\n\nAuthorized restaurants to deliver alcoholic beverages alongside food, and allowed manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to buy back unopened products from restaurants, bars and clubs.\n\nPhoenix VA sets up medical tent, bans visitors to prepare for coronavirus\n\nMarch 19: Nurses in protective gear stood at the entrance of the Phoenix VA hospital Thursday afternoon, directing everyone to wash their hands in portable sinks set up under a small canopy.\n\nIt’s part of a new screening protocol requiring everyone who enters the hospital to wash their hands and answer questions on whether they are experiencing symptoms and if they’ve had contact with someone confirmed to have the new coronavirus.\n\n\"We have not had any positive cases. We have tested some folks based on a clinical assessment ... but at this point we have seen no positive cases,\" Cindy Dorfner, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix VA Health Care System, told The Arizona Republic on Thursday afternoon.\n\nPhoenix area hospitals restrict visitors due to the new coronavirus outbreak\n\nMarch 19: As COVID-19 continues to spread, some Phoenix area hospitals are implementing restrictions on visitors.\n\nAs of 7 a.m. Thursday, Banner Health and Dignity Health no longer allow visitors in their hospitals, according to statements from each organization.\n\n\"We understand this will be challenging, but we're committed to take the necessary precautions to protect our patients, health care workers and the community,\" the Banner Health statement said.\n\nTempe closes all city facilities, shutters some businesses to curb spread of coronavirus\n\nMarch 19:Tempe declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and shut down bars, dining in restaurants and other businesses on Thursday amid growing coronavirus concerns.\n\nThe city has closed all city facilities, canceled city-sponsored events and was the first Valley city to announce it would hold City Council meetings without the public physically there. The city’s first virtual meeting was on Wednesday.\n\nCities across metro Phoenix are taking steps to mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus as the number of cases in Arizona increases.\n\nUsing robots to speed up testing, ASU hopes to open drive-thru coronavirus testing\n\nMarch 19: Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute hopes to dramatically increase available coronavirus testing by using robots that can process a high volume of samples simultaneously, with a goal of opening a drive-thru testing site for the general public as early as Monday.\n\nBy using robots to process the samples, Biodesign Institute executive director Joshua LaBaer said, ASU can offer testing at a faster rate than state and hospital labs.\n\nFaced with a testing kit bottleneck, health care officials and the state have lacked the ability to conduct widespread testing to screen for the virus, even among those who may be exhibiting symptoms or who are at risk already. If successful, ASU believes it could provide a crucial service that could start to turn the tide in fighting this outbreak.\n\nLove in the time of coronavirus: Couples at home find friction instead of sparks\n\nMarch 19: Suddenly, in the age of coronavirus, WFH is all the rage.\n\nIt stands for Working From Home, but it might as well stand for Wives Fight Husbands, or vice-versa.\n\nWe've only been at the social distancing and self-quarantining thing a short time, but already people are getting on each other's nerves, especially spouses who no longer have to ask how their partner's day was because their partner's day happened right in front of them.\n\nOh, it's a thing.\n\nLong lines at Luke AFB pharmacy after switching to curbside assistance only\n\nMarch 19: A long line of cars surround Luke Air Force Base's pharmacy after the base made it serve customers curbside only.\n\nU.S. Air Force Capt. Candice Dillitte, a spokeswoman for the base, said the base has taken measures to reduce the amount of contact between service people and their families amid the spread of the novel coronavirus.\n\n\"Our medical group here on base closed down the normal pharmacy (where people) could physically go into the building,\" Dillitte said. \"They've limited it to just the drive-thru pharmacy.\"\n\nDillette said those visiting the pharmacy should expect a longer wait, as the base serves airmen, their families and veterans.\n\nState Department tells Americans: 'Do not travel' abroad, come home if overseas\n\nMarch 19: The State Department told Americans not to travel abroad at all, the strongest U.S. alert yet as novel coronavirus continued its steady march across the globe.\n\nThe department on Thursday issued Level 4 advisory for travel abroad — \"do not travel\" — only four days after it issued a Level 3 advisory — \"reconsider travel.\"\n\n\"In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period,\" the advisory said. \"U.S. citizens who live abroad should avoid all international travel.\"\n\nThe advisory came as the number of cases have multiplied: More than 11,000 in the United States out of 236,000 worldwide. The global death toll also neared 10,000 on Thursday, including 157 in the United States.\n\nGrim milestone: Italy's coronavirus deaths surpass China's\n\nMarch 19: Italy marked a grim milestone Thursday as its number of deaths from the rampaging global coronavirus outbreak surpassed those in China.\n\nThe country's death toll hit 3,405 as of Thursday, an increase of 427 compared to Wednesday, according to Italy’s Civil Protection Department.\n\nItaly has been staggering under the effects of the pandemic for weeks. Hospitals and even some morgues in the hard-hit northern Italian city of Milan are stretched beyond capacity.\n\nHealth officials are searching for new ways to get more doctors in the field, ranging from calling recent retirees back to work to rushing as many as 10,000 soon-to-graduate students into low-leverage situations before they finish with exams as a way to free up more experienced colleagues.\n\nThe entire population of more than 60 million is under lockdown, allowed to leave home only for \"essential\" activities like visits to grocery stores or pharmacies. Police and the military are roaming the streets on the lookout for people breaking quarantine. Everything from open restaurants and coffee bars to weddings and funerals is prohibited.\n\nCoronavirus case count in Arizona climbs to 45; 6 Arizona counties now have cases\n\nMarch 19:Arizona's reported coronavirus case count was 45 on Thursday morning, with six of the state's 15 counties reporting infected patients, state data shows.\n\nThe tally of confirmed and presumptive positive cases of the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, is at 22 in Maricopa County, which is the highest case number of any county in the state. The case count in Maricopa County doubled between Wednesday and Thursday morning.\n\nThe state data showed Pinal County has 10 cases, Pima County has seven, Navajo County has three, and Coconino and Graham counties each have one. A second Coconino County case was listed on the county's website later Thursday morning but is not reflected in the state data.\n\n4 resources for metro Phoenix restaurant and bar workers unemployed due to coronavirus\n\nMarch 19: Aspen Bingham used to work as a bartender at Josephine and The Churchill, both in downtown Phoenix.\n\nOn Tuesday afternoon, however, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego declared a state of emergency, immediately shutting down all bars and requiring restaurants to switch to takeout and delivery at 8 p.m.\n\nNow, like many others in the bar and restaurant industry, Bingham finds herself unemployed.\n\nMany people across metro Phoenix can't work at home during coronavirus outbreak\n\nMarch 19: The guidelines from the government to combat the spread of the new coronavirus are clear: Work from home whenever possible.\n\nBut, for some people, those who make food, repair cars, deliver mail or put out fires, that is not possible.\n\nInstead, these employees continue working as usual, even though the environment around them has changed dramatically.\n\nArizona's count rises to 31 as Coconino County, Luke AFB confirm cases\n\nMarch 18: Arizona's count of reported presumptive positive and confirmed coronavirus patients rose to 31 on Wednesday after new cases were confirmed in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties and the Navajo Nation, Coconino County announced its first case and Luke Air Force Base announced two cases.\n\nThat number is up from the 18 cases reported in the Tuesday morning update from the Arizona Department of Health Services.\n\nThe state announced it had 27 total presumptive positive and confirmed coronavirus patients in its morning report. Four other cases were reported by other entities later in the day.\n\nTrump signs coronavirus emergency aid package\n\nMarch 18: President Donald Trump signed a sweeping multibillion-dollar emergency aid package Wednesday night that will provide paid sick leave for Americans who are in quarantine, helping a family member who is infected with COVID-19 or have children whose schools have closed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.\n\nThe bill also offers free testing for coronavirus and boosts unemployment insurance, food assistance and federal funding for Medicaid as part of an ongoing effort by Washington to combat the rapid spread of the pandemic.\n\n\"Today, I have signed into law H.R. 6201, the \"Families First Coronavirus Response Act\" (the \"Act\"),\" the president said in a statement. \"The Act makes emergency supplemental appropriations and other changes to law to help the Nation respond to the coronavirus outbreak.\"\n\nTrump noted a provision in the measure that requires the secretary of agriculture to submit a report to Congress that includes legislative recommendations. The president said he would \"treat this provision in a manner consistent with Article II, section 3 of the Constitution,\" which provides him \"exclusive authority\" to make recommendations to Congress.\n\nDow plummets 1,300 points despite promises for coronavirus aid\n\nMarch 18: U.S. stocks collapsed Wednesday and were briefly halted for trading as coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions expanded, rattling investors despite Washington’s promises for economic aid.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial average tumbled more than 1,300 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 sank 5.2%, briefly triggering an automatic shock absorber for 15 minutes in afternoon trading. That marked the fourth time in eight trading sessions that circuit breakers were triggered.\n\nArizona's coronavirus count rises to 27 as new cases reported in 3 counties\n\nMarch 18: Arizona's count of reported presumptive positive and confirmed coronavirus patients rose to 27 Wednesday morning after new cases were confirmed in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties.\n\nThat number is up from the 18 cases reported in the Tuesday morning update from the Arizona Department of Health Services.\n\nStocks rebound after historic sell-off\n\nMarch 17: U.S. stocks rebounded Tuesday after the White House laid out additional plans to help cushion the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nPresident Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin say they are exploring the idea of legislation that would include sending checks to Americans to help them manage through the economic impact of the virus disruptions.\n\nThe gains follow the market's worst sell-off in more than three decades on Monday.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1,048.86 points to close at 21,237.38. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 6% to finish at 2,529.19. Both averages had their worst day since the “Black Monday” stock market crash of 1987 the prior day.\n\nTrump looking at 'big, bold' stimulus\n\nMarch 17: President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin say they are exploring the idea of legislation that would include sending checks to Americans to help them manage through the economic impact of coronavirus disruptions.\n\n\"We're looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,\" Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said at a news conference Tuesday by the administration's coronavirus task force.\n\nTrump added he believed lawmakers and the administration could come together for a \"big, bold\" package. Mnuchin has been meeting with Democrats and Republicans as the White House and Congress attempt to pass more legislation aimed at addressing the impacts of coronavirus.\n\nSome Phoenix area nursing homes restrict even family visitors to protect the elderly\n\nMarch 17:Phoenix-area assisted living facilities and nursing homes are restricting visitors and retirement communities are closing swimming pools and other recreation centers to better protect older adults against the new coronavirus pandemic.\n\nOlder adults face higher risk with the respiratory illness, as the early outbreak in Washington state showed. One Seattle-area nursing home has had 29 deaths linked to coronavirus, according to King County.\n\nBanner Health officials on Monday said the death toll from the coronavirus could be higher in Arizona over the coming months because of the state's large retirement population. Nearly 22% of Arizonans are over 60, according to U.S. Census figures.\n\nArizona to expand testing as doctors raise concerns about lack of preparation\n\nMarch 17: Arizona's health officials are planning to ramp up coronavirus testing by opening community testing sites for COVID-19, the illness caused by the new virus, sometime \"this week,\" they said at a press conference Monday afternoon.\n\nLimited testing is troubling for Arizona doctors who expect to see a surge in cases as the illness spreads among the community. The Arizona Medical Association issued a statement of concern Friday.\n\nArizona retailers, suppliers grapple with shortages and disruptions as public responds\n\nMarch 17: More production. Round-the-clock shifts. Additional hiring in some cases.\n\nBusinesses that supply everything from beef to toilet paper in Arizona say they're striving to get more products out to consumers amid supply-chain disruptions caused by the new coronavirus, while also cutting back hours in some cases to restock shelves and make sure stores and other facilities remain clean.\n\nThe Arizona Food Marketing Alliance, which represents supermarkets and other food companies, acknowledged that high demand for paper towels, bathroom tissue, bottled water, sanitizing products and various other items has put a strain on the system.\n\nArizona's coronavirus count still at 18, but health official predicts cases to 'skyrocket'\n\nMarch 17: Arizona's count of reported coronavirus cases remained at 18 on Tuesday, for the second consecutive day, but the tally likely does not reflect the actual number of cases in the state.\n\nSo far, the state has reported eight presumptive positive or confirmed cases in Maricopa County; five in Pinal County; four in Pima County; and one in Graham County.\n\nTrump seeking stimulus package\n\nMarch 17: President Donald Trump is expected to ask Congress for a large stimulus package to stem the blow to the economy from massive shutdowns related to the coronavirus.\n\nSenators later today will hear more about the next package and hope to get a precise dollar figure from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a Republican lunch at the U.S. Capitol.\n\nTrump has been pushing the idea of a payroll tax holiday to get cash into Americans' pockets. He said Monday that he believes help for the beleaguered airline industry is also crucial. Democrats and some Republicans are wary of the payroll tax idea, saying it won't help some of the people hit hardest by the disruptions, such as those who have lost their jobs or had their hours reduced.\n\nSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY. has unveiled a proposal to spend $750 billion.\n\nStocks open quietly after darkest day\n\nMarch 17: U.S. stocks opened mildly higher but quickly gave a way those gains Tuesday after the Trump administration said it planned financial support for an airline industry devastated by a drop in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe gains following the market's worst sell-off in more than three decades on Monday. Futures tied to the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 surged 5% overnight, triggering a trading halt but later gave back most of those gains. That came hours after both averages suffered their worst day since the “Black Monday” stock market crash of 1987.\n\nBay Area under near-lockdown, affecting nearly 7 million\n\nMarch 16: Six counties across the Bay Area in California issued a “shelter in place” order on Monday for all residents – requiring roughly 6.7 million people to stay in their homes – in an attempt to slow the coronavirus outbreak.\n\nFor the next three weeks, people living in San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties will be restricted from all “non-essential travel” by “foot, bicycle, scooter, automobile, or public transit” outside their homes. Also, most businesses will be forced to close until April 7, starting at midnight on Monday.\n\n\"Because of the risk of the rapid spread of the virus, and the need to protect all members of the community and the Bay Area region, especially including our members most vulnerable to the virus and also health care providers,\" the order states, \"this Order requires all individuals anywhere in San Francisco to shelter in place – that is, stay at home – except for certain essential activities and work to provide essential business and government services or perform essential public infrastructure construction, including housing.\"\n\nSinema says Ducey isn't doing enough to halt spread\n\nMarch 16: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema called Monday on Arizona to take far more aggressive actions than it has so far to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.\n\nArizona's strategies to prevent spread of COVID-19 remain less aggressive than those taken by other states, even after Gov. Doug Ducey reversed course Sunday and ordered schools to close through the end of the month. In making her statement on Twitter, Sinema, D-Ariz., shared an Arizona Republic story detailing Ducey's less aggressive approach.\n\n\"Arizona can and should take action NOW to reduce spread, keep our hospitals from getting overwhelmed, and save lives,\" Sinema said in a written statement. \"It is time to temporarily close clubs, bars, museums, libraries, gyms, and other places where large groups congregate.\"\n\nIn response to Sinema's statement, Ducey spokesman Patrick Ptak said: \"We will continue to follow the recommendations of the CDC and public health officials in making our decisions.\"\n\nTrump tells nation to hunker down\n\nMarch 16: President Donald Trump issued guidelines on Monday for Americans to follow over the next 15 days to help avoid spread of the novel coronavirus but did not take drastic measures such as imposing a national quarantine or curfew.\n\nThe new guidelines call called on Americans to avoid social gatherings involving groups of 10 or more.\n\nThe guidelines also call for governors in states with evidence of community transmission to close schools in affected and surrounding areas. Bars, restaurants, food courts, gyms and other venues where groups of people congregate should also be closed in states with evidence of community transmission, according to the guidelines.\n\n“If everyone makes these critical changes and sacrifices now, we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus,” Trump said.\n\nCoronavirus relief stalls on technicalities\n\nMarch 16: The sweeping coronavirus relief bill the House rushed to pass early Saturday is being delayed over technical issues and could take days to reach President Donald Trump's desk.\n\nA bill to fix some of the language related to the paid family leave portion of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is being held up in the House while negotiations on the issue are resolved.\n\nThe measure passed the House 363-40. But it's unclear when the Senate will vote or when it will reach Trump's desk.\n\nThe House bill to make the technical corrections would be brought up on what’s known as “unanimous consent,” or UC, meaning only one member would have to object to force a full vote by the House. A vote by the full House could remedy that but lawmakers are back in their districts on recess.\n\nIdris Elba reveals he tested positive for coronavirus despite having no symptoms\n\nMarch 16: Idris Elba revealed on Twitter Monday that he has tested positive for coronavirus.\n\n\"This morning I tested positive for COVID-19. I feel OK, I have no symptoms so far but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus,\" the actor captioned a video announcement. \"Stay home people and be pragmatic. I will keep you updated on how I’m doing 👊🏾👊🏾 No panic.\"\n\nArizona governor takes less-aggressive approach to coronavirus than many other governors\n\nMarch 16: Arizona's strategies to contain the new coronavirus remain less aggressive than those adopted by several other states, even after Gov. Doug Ducey changed his tune on school closures and public gatherings in rapid succession Sunday.\n\nBy the time the Republican leader decided to shutter schools for two weeks, for instance, more than 30 of his peers had closed or shared plans to close schools in their states.\n\nLas Vegas Strip resorts closing\n\nMajor resorts on the Las Vegas Strip are now closing in response to the spread of coronavirus.\n\nWynn Resorts will close its two luxury hotel-casinos on the Strip for two weeks starting Tuesday. MGM Resorts will cease casino operations on Monday and will completely close its 13 properties on Tuesday.\n\nThe company announced the closures of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore after Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered that all K-12 public schools in the Clark County School District close.\n\nAfter two weeks, Wynn Resorts will evaluate the situation, according to a release sent to investors. Some employees will stay at the properties to maintain facilities and security.\n\nMGM will not take reservations for new arrivals prior to May 1.\n\nArizona's reported coronavirus case count is now at 18\n\nMarch 16: The number of reported cases of new coronavirus in Arizona was 18 as of Monday morning.\n\nSix new cases of the illness, which is also called COVID-19, tested positive over the weekend.\n\nThe total number of cases in Maricopa County is now eight. There have been five cases reported in Pinal County, four in Pima County and one in Graham County, state data shows.\n\nWhite House says coronavirus curfews not under consideration\n\nMarch 16: The White House is pushing back on news reports that it is considering imposing curfews and a national quarantine in the wake of the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.\n\n\"This is not correct,\" tweeted Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence, who is heading up the coronavirus task force appointed by President Donald Trump.\n\nMiller re-tweeted a CNN report that there are \"active discussions\" to encourage a possible nationwide curfew in which non-essential businesses would have to close by a certain time each night.\n\nAsked about rumors that the administration is considering some kind of national quarantine, Miller said: \"Consider it shot down.\"\n\nThe White House announcement follow a National Security Council tweet late Sunday about text messages floating around the Internet.\n\nSaid the NSC: \"Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus.\n\nFed cuts rate to zero, launches more bond purchases\n\nMarch 15: The Federal Reserve unleased much of its arsenal Sunday to combat the economic damage caused by the coronavirus, cutting short-term interest rates to zero, renewing its crisis-era bond purchases to lower long-term rates and encouraging more bank loans to households and businesses.\n\nCentral bank policymakers agreed to lower the Fed’s benchmark federal funds rate by a full percentage point to a range of zero to 0.25% — where it hovered for years during and after the 2008 financial crisis.\n\n“The coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries, including the United States,” the Fed said in a statement. ““The effects of the coronavirus will weigh on economic activity in the near-term and pose risks to the economic outlook.“\n\nArizona coronavirus cases rises to 13; latest case in Pima County\n\nMarch 15: A third person in Pima County was identified by county health officials as having the new coronavirus, bringing the state's total of coronavirus cases to 13.\n\nThe person was presumptive positive with COVID-19, the Pima County Health Department announced in a press release on Sunday. The person was described as \"an older adult\" who was recovering at a hospital in the area.\n\nThe case is the county first positive as the result of commercial testing performed by a private laboratory, the press release said.\n\nAmerican Airlines suspends flight to London from Phoenix\n\nMarch 14: American Airlines announced Saturday that it will temporarily suspend its flight from Phoenix to the United Kingdom in response to decreased demand and changes to U.S. government travel restrictions due to coronavirus.\n\nPresident Donald Trump's recent order added the United Kingdom and Ireland to the places from where travel is restricted and require extra screenings through designated airports. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is not currently one of the 13 airports approved to conduct additional screenings on passengers arriving from those countries.\n\nThe final eastbound flight from Phoenix will be Sunday, while the final westbound flight returning to Phoenix will depart Monday.\n\nHavasupai Falls closes temporarily because of coronavirus threat\n\nMarch 14: The Havasupai Tribal Council on Saturday announced a temporary suspension of hiking and tourism to the tribe's wildly popular waterfalls in a remote part of northwestern Arizona.\n\nTourism will be suspended from March 16 through April 14, according to an email from the tribe's publicist, Abbie Fink.\n\nTrump tests negative for coronavirus, White House doctor says\n\nMarch 14: President Donald Trump has tested negative for the coronavirus, the White House announced on Saturday evening.\n\nThe president’s physician, Sean P. Conley, said in a memo released by the White House that Trump decided to get tested on Friday after they conferred about the matter.\n\n“Last night after an in-depth discussion with the president regarding COVID-19 testing, he elected to proceed,” the president’s physician, Sean P. Conley, wrote in a memorandum released by the White House Saturday evening.\n\n“This evening I received confirmation that the test is negative,” Conley wrote.\n\nFlights to Europe from Sky Harbor likely paused\n\nMarch 14: President Donald Trump’s order to add the United Kingdom and Ireland to the places from where travel is restricted and require extra screenings through designated airports will likely temporarily pause Phoenix’s flights to Europe. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is not currently one of the 13 airports approved to conduct additional screenings on passengers arriving from those countries.\n\nAmerican Airlines was still evaluating how the order will affect its schedule. Curtis Blessing, a spokesman for American said, “We are in contact with the federal government to comply with this directive which now applies to Ireland and the United Kingdom. The health and safety of our customers and team members remains our highest priority.”\n\nThe Arizona Republic has reached out to Sky Harbor and will update when it responds.\n\nCondor already pushed back the start of its seasonal service to Frankfurt to April 18. Lufthansa’s Eurowings flights are not scheduled to begin until April 29.\n\nA spokesman for British Airways says the airline is evaluating the situation. In addition, the airline has a new booking policy it launched yesterday. Customers who booked flights before May 31 and want to change their dates can either re-book or receive a voucher for the value of the fare.\n\nPac-12 cancels all sports competition through end of 2019-20 school year\n\nMarch 14: The Pac-12 is canceling all conference and non-conference sport competitions and championships through the end of the school year.\n\nThat announcement was made Saturday following a meeting of the Pac-12 chief executive officer group and athletic directors.\n\nThe decision is an extension of an earlier suspension of all sports until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NCAA also canceled all remaining winter and spring championships.\n\nTrump says he was tested for virus\n\nMarch 14: President Donald Trump has been tested for the coronavirus and is awaiting results, he said Saturday at a press briefing, a day after he declared the coronavirus pandemic to be a national emergency.\n\nThe president has had multiple direct and indirect contact with people who have tested positive for the pandemic virus. Test results typically take at least 24 hours.\n\nTrump adds UK, Ireland to travel restrictions\n\nMarch 14: Trump on Saturday said the United Kingdom and Ireland will be added to the Europe travel restrictions that went into effect late Friday. This means residents of those countries will not be allowed to travel to the United States for 30 days beginning Monday.\n\nU.S. residents and legal permanent residents won't be banned but they will face airport screenings upon their return and will be asked to self quarantine for 14 days.\n\nIn response to the broadened ban and the resulting falloff in travel demand, airlines are likely to sharply cut flights between the U.S. and London and Ireland.\n\nMexico holds off canceling mass gatherings\n\nMarch 14: Supporters mobbed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as he entered the Hermosillo airport on Thursday, having arrived on a commercial flight. On Friday, the man known as AMLO flew to Acapulco to address the annual bankers’ convention, where social media video showed hugs and hand-shaking.\n\nHe then set out for a quartet campaign-style rallies — events rife with opportunities for presidential selfies — in the Afro-Mexican communities to the southeast of Acapulco.\n\nMexico’s popular president continues gladhanding. His administration, meanwhile, has taken a wait-and-see approach to the coronavirus, preferring not to provoke panic — or inflict economic hardship — by closing schools, restricting public events or imposing travel restrictions.\n\nThe approach is stirring angst in Mexico, where efforts such as screening travelers from high-risk countries and widespread testing have been scant.\n\nNew case in Graham County brings Arizona total to 12\n\nMarch 14: The newest case is from Graham County. The county posted on its Facebook page that there were possible exposures at Pima Elementary School. The health department will set up a testing clinic for students who are impacted and present symptoms at Pima Junior High School on March 16, 17 and 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.\n\nThe department asks 5th and 6th graders to voluntarily stay home until March 25.\n\n\"Like many communities across the world, our community has been challenged by this new virus,\" the Graham County release said. \"It will take a community-wide effort to fight COVID-19.\"\n\nDepartment of Defense restricting domestic travel for service members\n\nMarch 14: The Department of Defense has issued domestic travel restrictions for service members and their families that includes travel in and out of NAS Pensacola to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus.\n\nThe biggest impact on base is likely to be a delay of Permanent Change Station and Temporary Duty orders, said NAS Pensacola Public Affairs Officer Jason Bortz.\n\n“Basically we’re saying that if it’s not necessary, we’re not letting people travel and that even includes regular leave,” Bortz said. “We’re just kind of reviewing everything.”\n\nUnder the DoD order, personal travel to areas with high coronavirus cases would be restricted, for example. Other domestic travel may be allowed after a thorough review.\n\n“The biggest emphasis is on overseas travel or traveling to areas with coronavirus,” Bortz said.\n\nLayoffs hit casinos on Las Vegas Strip\n\nMarch 14: Layoffs and furloughs are starting next week at one of Las Vegas' largest casino operators, MGM Resorts International, in response to a slowdown in demand due to COVID-19 fallout.\n\n“We just don’t know to what extent,” said Rocky Colavito, Jr., a Bellagio blackjack dealer who got news of the cuts before walking onto the casino floor for his Friday night shift.\n\nA letter to employees Friday announced that workforce reductions and furloughs would begin next week.\n\nLaid off workers will maintain benefits through June 30, the letter said.\n\nAll Arizona prison visits suspended\n\nMarch 13: The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry announced on Friday that it suspended all visits to Arizona prison complexes for at least the next 30 days as concerns over coronavirus continue to swell.\n\n\"The suspension of visitation includes non-contact visits and applies to facilities operated by the Department as well as third-party operated facilities,\" according to the press release. \"Our policies for phone calls and written letters remain in effect, and inmates will have access to two 15-minute phone calls per week free of charge during this period.\"\n\nThe illness can spread quickly in enclosed spaces, particularly among individuals with chronic health problems. Prisons have become outbreak hot spots in other countries affected by the virus.\n\n2nd person infected with coronavirus in Pima County, bringing Arizona total to 10\n\nMarch 13: A second presumptive case of new coronavirus has been identified in Pima County, bringing the total number of cases in Arizona up to 10.\n\nThe Pima County Health Department announced the new case on Friday evening. The department is still investigating how the person contracted the virus and whom they may have exposed.\n\n\"The Health Department was notified Friday afternoon and is working hard to learn more about this individual’s potential exposure to the virus,\" the statement reads. \"At this time there is no clear link between this case and the presumptive case identified in Pima County on March 9th.\"\n\nMajor cruise lines suspend operations\n\nMarch 13: Major cruise lines including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC will suspend sailing operations to and from U.S. ports for 30 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cruise Lines International Association announced Friday.\n\nViking and Disney cruises announced similar measures on Thursday.\n\n“CLIA cruise line members are voluntarily and temporarily suspending operations from the U.S. as we work to address this public health crisis,” said Kelly Craighead, CLIA president and CEO in a statement. “This is an unprecedented situation.\"\n\nCraighead said that the association was working with the Centers for Disease Control. \"This has been a challenging time, but we hope that this decision will enable us to focus on the future and a return to normal as soon as possible.\"\n\nThe suspension will take effect at midnight Friday. CLIA said it will focused on the \"safe and smooth return\" of those currently at sea on ships.\n\nTrump, lawmakers reach deal on coronavirus economic relief package, Pelosi announces\n\nMarch 13: Democratic congressional leaders and the Trump administration reached a deal on an economic package to help Americans cope with the impact of the coronavirus, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who spent days negotiating it with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.\n\nThe legislation would ensure sick leave for affected workers and include money for testing for Americans, including the uninsured. Trump and lawmakers have been under pressure to ease fears over the spread of coronavirus, which has halted many parts of public life, forced the closure of schools and pummeled financial markets.\n\nPresident Donald Trump, who has declared a national emergency, is expected to sign off on the deal. Later Friday, the House overwhelmingly passed the legislation. The bill now heads to the Senate for an expected vote on Monday.\n\nTrump said he encouraged Republican and Democratic lawmakers to \"VOTE YES\" on the package.\n\nDow soars 1,900 points after US acts\n\nMarch 13: Stocks recovered Friday following a brutal week of selling after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus, a move that will free up about $50 billion in federal aid to combat the global pandemic.\n\nTrump also announced new efforts to expand testing for the virus. Investors were anticipating an aid package from Washington, a move that investors hope can stem the economic damage from the virus.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1,985 points to close at 23,185.62, a day after plunging 2,352 points, or 10%, for its worst loss since its nearly 23% drop on Oct. 19, 1987.\n\nThe Standard & Poor’s 500 soared 9.3% to end at 2,711.02, following record losses Thursday.\n\nTrump declares national emergency\n\nMarch 13: President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Friday to free up billions of dollars to combat the coronavirus as he sought to persuade anxious Americans and battered financial markets that he was responding forcefully to the crisis.\n\n\"I am officially declaring a national emergency. Two very big words,\" Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden. As the outbreak has shuttered schools, sporting events and even Broadway, Trump has come under intense criticism for his handling of the pandemic, including an Oval Office address he delivered Wednesday that was marred by factual errors. Medical experts say there’s an acute shortage of coronavirus testing kits, the number of infections has soared and Wall Street suffered its worst day Thursday since the financial crash of 1987.\n\nThe emergency declaration would enable federal officials to direct billions of dollars in disaster money to responders fighting the virus.\n\nHouse to vote on sweeping aid package\n\nMarch 13: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would move forward with a vote Friday on a sweeping package to confront the coronavirus.\n\nThe bill would include free virus testing for all Americans, including the uninsured, as well as two weeks of paid sick leave for those who have to skip work due to the virus. It would also included expanded federal food assistance, such as seniors’ meals, student lunches and food banks.\n\n\"The three most important parts of this bill are: testing, testing, testing,” she said in her televised remarks at the U.S. Capitol.\n\nArizona's case count holds at 9\n\nMarch 13: The number of presumptive positive and confirmed cases of new coronavirus in Arizona remained at nine Friday — the same number it has been since Wednesday.\n\nTesting is increasing. A total of 143 people in the state have been tested for the new virus, also called COVID-19, the state's numbers say. Forty test results were pending as of Friday morning and test samples belonging to 94 people have been ruled negative.\n\nA COVID-19 information hotline has been set up at 1-844-542-8201.\n\nThese schools have closed despite state's advice\n\nMarch 13: Several Arizona school districts have so far announced closures amid coronavirus concerns.\n\nThe Osborn School Distirct and the Cartwright School District, both in Phoenix, announced their decisions Thursday night to close schools until further notice. Kyrene School District, which has schools in Ahwatukee, Tempe and Chandler, also announced its decision to close, as did the Tempe Elementary School District.\n\n\"We believe this proactive measure will keep our families safe,\" Cartwright Superintendent LeeAnn-Aguilar Lawlor wrote in a statement. \"As you already know, during spring break we are disinfecting all schools and district facilities and we will continue to use sanitary methods to keep our school community safe.\"\n\nAlhambra Elementary School District made a similar announcement earlier in the day.\n\nStudent debt relief, airline help on table for next US deal\n\nMarch 13: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said debt relief for student loans and help for the hard-hit airline industry are under consideration for the next coronavirus rescue package. Speaking to CNBC as a deal was imminent on a separate, near-term package that includes paid emergency leave, Mnuchin said President Donald Trump has no intention of closing financial markets.\n\nMnuchin also said:\n\nCongress and the administration have \"100 things on our list” for the next possible package, and added “The president wants a stimulus package.\"\n\nFinancial authorities are ready to provide liquidity to parts of the economy taking a hit from shutdowns.\n\nA “big rebound” in economic activity could come by the end of the year, drawing a contrast with the Great Recession that began after the 2008 market meltdown.\n\n\"This not like financial crisis where people don't know when this will end...By the end of the year, we're going to expect we're going to have a big rebound in economic activity,\" he said.\n\nAsked about suspending student debt of three months, Mnuchin said: \"That's on our list of 50 different items we're bringing to the president for a decision.\" He added. “We're like in the second inning of getting things done. We'll be passing more legislation.\"\n\nHe’s spoken to the airlines: \"That is the next priority on my list,\" Mnuchin said while also mentioning hotels, the cruise industry and small businesses.\n\nTariff rollbacks are not under consideration by Trump.\n\nMarch 13: Amid concern over coronavirus, Arizona Public Service Co. will not shut off power to customers who are unable to pay their utility bill, the company announced in a statement on its website.\n\n“Our focus is on continuing to provide reliable electricity while supporting customers struggling to pay their APS bill,” the utility said.\n\nAPS acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 and said the policy will remain in effect for the immediate future.\n\nHere's how Arizona schools and universities are responding\n\nMarch 12: Arizona officials have not recommended widespread closures of K-12 schools, but at least three school districts have decided to close.\n\nAlhambra Elementary School District said schools would not return from spring break on Monday and would remain closed indefinitely. Osborn School District said its schools will be closed for a minimum of two weeks starting Monday, and Cartwright School District will be closing all of their schools until further notice.\n\nDr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, told statewide school leaders Arizona was experiencing \"minimal transmission,\" which contributed to the recommendation to keep schools open.\n\nShe said, \"there may come a time\" when state officials recommend closure but for now, it might contribute to the spread of disease by putting children in contact with people who are not in their school community.\n\nMeanwhile, all three state universities and Grand Canyon University have temporarily moved classes online or extended spring break to lessen the spread of the new coronavirus, affecting hundreds of thousands of students.\n\nArizona State University and Northern Arizona University announced they would move classes online for at least two weeks. The University of Arizona announced it would delay its return from spring break and move mostly to online classes.\n\nAll three universities' campuses remained opened with residential halls and food services operational.\n\nMaricopa Community Colleges, which serves more than 100,000 students across 10 locations, is extending the school system's spring break through March 20 and is considering moving classes online, while many smaller Arizona colleges were monitoring the situation.\n\nCanada's Justin Trudeau in isolation after wife tests positive for coronavirus\n\nMarch 12: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, has tested positive for coronavirus.\n\nCameron Ahmad, communications direction for the Prime Minster, released a statement, Thursday saying: \"Following medical recommendations, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau was tested for COVID-19 today. The test came back positive. Also following medical advice, she will remain in isolation for the time being. She is feeling well, is taking all recommended precautions, and her symptoms remain mild.\"\n\nThe statement continued that Prime Minister Trudeau \"is in good health with no symptoms. As a precautionary measure and following the advice of doctors, he will be in isolation for a planned period of 14 days. Also on the advice of doctors, he will not be tested at this stage since he has no symptoms. For the same reason, doctors say there is no risk to those who have been in contact with him recently.\"\n\nWynn Resorts uses thermal cameras to screen guests\n\nMarch 12: Wynn Resorts is using thermal cameras to monitor the temperatures of guests in Las Vegas.\n\n“We will be screening for temperature using non-invasive thermal cameras at all our entrances,” Wynn CEO Matt Maddox said in a statement.\n\nThe USA TODAY Network asked the company how it will use temperature readings:\n\n\"Any person registering a temperature of 100.4F or higher will be discreetly informed by a trained member of the security team and not be permitted to remain inside the resort,\" a company statement said.\n\nThe casino gaming company will also cancel all nightclub and theater events.\n\nPelosi, White House struggle to come together on deal\n\nMarch 12: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were working into the night Thursday to find common ground on a measure to stem the economic damage from the coronavirus.\n\nDemocrats want to vote on legislation to offer paid sick leave for workers, additional food assistance, free coronavirus testing and bolstered unemployment insurance among the provisions. But the proposal has been met with skepticism from President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans who raised concerns about some of the provisions and the costs incurred by businesses.\n\nAfter at least seven phone calls between Pelosi and Mnuchin, a deal appeared closer.\n\nOne hurdle that appears to have been crossed was Republican opposition to sick leave because of the costs to businesses that implement a mandatory leave due to the coronavirus. A aide familiar with the discussions said Democrats were able to keep in paid sick leave by offering additional tax credits that will help small and medium-sized businesses pay for the policy.\n\nIf a deal is struck, the House could vote to approve the bill as early as Thursday night.\n\nProspective jurors who are sick advised to call the court's Jury Office\n\nMaricopa County Superior Court is asking prospective jurors who are sick to call the Jury Office to discuss postponing their service, according to spokeswoman Amy Love.\n\nCourt employees who are sick are being asked to stay home, according to Love. Employees were asked to voluntarily notify human resources if they traveled internationally, have been on a cruise in the past two weeks or are scheduled to do so in the future.\n\nThe court also increased its cleaning frequency for public areas, including restrooms, elevators, jury assembly rooms and courtrooms.\n\nProspective jurors who are sick should call the Jury Office to discuss postponing service at 602-506-5879.\n\nDisneyland shuts its doors until end of March\n\nMarch 12: Disneyland announced Thursday it would be shutting its doors starting Saturday through the end of March in the wake of growing concerns in the U.S. and around the world about the coronavirus pandemic.\n\n\"While there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 at Disneyland Resort, after carefully reviewing the guidelines of the Governor of California’s executive order and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the closure of Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park,\" the theme park said in a statement.\n\n\"The Hotels of Disneyland Resort will remain open until Monday, March 16 to give guests the ability to make necessary travel arrangements; Downtown Disney will remain open,\" the statement continued. \"We will monitor the ongoing situation and follow the advice and guidance of federal and state officials and health agencies. Disney will continue to pay cast members during this time.\"\n\n\"Disneyland Resort will work with guests who wish to change or cancel their visits, and will provide refunds to those who have hotel bookings during this closure period,\" the statement said. \"We anticipate heavy call volume over the next several days and appreciate guests’ patience as we work hard to respond to all inquiries.\"\n\nNCAA cancels March Madness\n\nMarch 12: The NCAA announced that all its winter and spring championships — including March Madness — have been canceled, following moves by other major sports leagues.\n\n\"Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships,\" a statement from the NCAA said. \"This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities.\n\nThis is the first time a men's basketball champion will not be decided since NCAA postseason play began in 1939, and a first for women since the NCAA took over that tournament in 1981-1982.\n\nRELATED:Conference basketball tournaments canceled, too\n\nMORE:MLB cancels rest of spring training\n\nIt's official: US stocks are in bear market\n\nMarch 12: The stock market rout intensified on Thursday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 tumbling into a bear market for the first time since the financial crisis.\n\nThe S&P 500 dropped 9.5%, the day after President Donald Trump banned travel from Europe to stem the economic fallout from the virus. A series of distressing headlines followed, including suspension of the NBA and NHL seasons. The MLB delayed opening day games. New York state, meanwhile, will ban events of 500 people or more and impose restrictions on other gathering venues.\n\nThe S&P 500, which professional investors watch closely as a gauge for the health of the markets, fell into a bear market, or a drop of 20% from its peak, ending the longest bull market in Wall Street history.\n\nThe Dow Jones industrial average, which fell into bear market territory Wednesday, plunged 2,200 points, or 10% -- its biggest one-day percentage drop since the 1987 market crash.\n\nUA delays return from spring break, goes mostly online until April\n\nThe University of Arizona will delay the start of classes after spring break and move mostly to online classes, the university announced Wednesday night, although dorms and food halls will remain open.\n\nThe move comes after universities around the country, including Arizona State University, have moved online to confront COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The situation around the virus escalated dramatically Wednesday, as the U.S. said people from Europe, excluding the United Kingdom, could not enter the country for 30 days.\n\nUA will not start classes on Monday as planned. Instead, classes will resume next Wednesday, March 18, and move from in-person classes to online instruction \"wherever possible,\" an email to the university community from UA President Robert Robbins said.\n\nCruise ships bringing 100K people to U.S. ports this week\n\nMarch 12: Dozens of cruise ships were poised to hit U.S. cities as some port authorities, including those in Monterey and Santa Barbara, California, close their docks to large passenger ships.\n\nAt least 30 cruise ships at sea list port destinations in the U.S. this week, according to a USA TODAY satellite tracking analysis of 380 of the world’s largest cruise ships.\n\nThat means upward of 100,000 people – 70% of them passengers – could look to come ashore at a range of U.S. ports, based on the average capacity of the ships from cruisemapper.com.\n\nNone of the ships at sea has reported passengers with symptoms of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19. Such a report could, as was the case with the Grand Princess, trigger changed itineraries, port delays, helicopter evacuations and long quarantines.\n\nNavajo Nation declares state of emergency\n\nMarch 11: The Navajo Nation declared a state of emergency amid concerns of the new coronavirus spreading throughout the world.\n\n\"There are no confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the Navajo Nation, however the declaration is a proactive measure to help ensure the Navajo Nation preparedness and the health and well-being of the Navajo people,\" the tribe said in a written statement.\n\nThe tribe added that it was restricting all work-related travel off the reservation for executive branch employees until further notice.\n\nGlendale shutting down adult center, senior classes\n\nMarch 11: The city of Glendale announced on Wednesday that it is shutting down the Glendale Adult Center on Saturday, along with senior classes and gatherings amid growing concerns surrounding the new coronavirus.\n\n\"The most vulnerable members of our community are our senior population,\" the city said in a statement Wednesday evening.\n\nGlendale will also suspend senior adult classes and senior gatherings at Foothills Recreation & Aquatics Center and city libraries.\n\nNBA shuts down after Utah center tests positive for coronavirus\n\nMarch 11: The NBA announced Wednesday night it is suspending its season after a Utah Jazz player preliminarily tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).\n\nThe league said it is halting operations “following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”\n\nTrump restricts Europe travel for 30 days\n\nMarch 11: Trump said the administration would restrict “all travel” to the U.S. from Europe, which is reeling from the epidemic, for the next 30 days. The United Kingdom will be exempt from the new limits, which Trump said will go into effect on Friday at midnight.\n\n“These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground,” the president said of the European Union travel curbs.\n\nItaly has been hit the hardest, with more than 12,000 confirmed infections and more than 800 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. France, Spain and Germany each have about 2,000 confirmed cases.\n\nThe administration has already restricted travel from China and Iran. Trump has repeatedly trumpeted his early move to limit travel from China, saying the decision saved lives. Experts say it likely slowed the arrival of the virus in the United States.\n\nASU goes online-only for 2 weeks\n\nMarch 11:Arizona State University announced Wednesday that its classes will move online for two weeks starting March 16 as a wave of universities across the country have made similar changes to address the new coronavirus, known as COVID-19, pandemic.\n\nLast week, ASU, one of the largest universities in the U.S., started testing programs for faculty to move their classes online via video-teleconferencing software called Zoom.\n\nDespite one of the country’s first confirmed cases being a member of the ASU community, the university did not immediately move courses entirely online. Students posted on social media complaining about classes continuing as normal, and an online petition to cancel in-person classes drew more than 25,000 signatures.\n\nBeyond the logistical complexities of moving an entire student body to fully online classes, many students rely on universities for housing, food and employment, making a transition away from in-person college life difficult.\n\n5 polling places for presidential primary relocated\n\nMarch 11: The Maricopa County Elections Department will move five polling places from senior living facilities for next week's Presidential Preference Election in light of concerns about the new coronavirus.\n\nThe five locations — one in Scottsdale, one in Sun City, one in Phoenix and two in Chandler — have been relocated to nearby community spaces.\n\n\"Because they were at the homes of older adults and those with serious chronic medical conditions, we made the decision to relocate these polling locations to nonresidential facilities,\" Maricopa County Elections Department spokeswoman Megan Gilbertson said in a statement.\n\nTarget, Walmart and others are limiting purchases of supplies\n\nMarch 11: Shoppers hoping to stock up on hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes are running out of options as more coronavirus cases continue to surge.\n\nMany stores including Target, Walmart, Kroger and Publix are restricting shoppers by placing limits on how many of these COVID-19-related items that shoppers can buy with signs citing \"high demand\" or \"increased demand.\"\n\nWalmart said that store managers have been authorized to \"manage their inventory, including the discretion to limit sales quantities on items that are in unusually high demand.\" The limits can vary by location.\n\nArizona Gov. Doug Ducey signs emergency health declaration\n\nMarch 11: Gov. Doug Ducey declared a public health emergency on Wednesday afternoon in response to the new coronavirus, hours after health officials announced a ninth case in the state.\n\nThe governor said the declaration will allow the state to tap into emergency funding and give health officials additional authority to procure needed medical supplies as Arizona authorities expect additional cases of the virus to emerge.\n\nDucey also issued an executive order that calls on insurance companies to cover the full cost of testing and on heightened prevention measures at nursing homes.\n\nThe virus first emerged in Arizona in January when a person connected to Arizona State University and who had traveled to Wuhan, China, tested positive for the virus. Eight more cases have emerged since March 3, including in people who have not traveled recently.\n\nThirty-two tests were pending as of Wednesday morning.\n\nDow tumbles into bear market as coronavirus fears intensify\n\nMarch 11: Stocks tumbled again as fears about the economic damage from the coronavirus intensified and investors questioned whether any economic response from Washington would be enough.\n\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,464 points, dragging it 20% below the record set last month and putting it in a bear market. The broader S&P 500 index, which professional investors watch more closely, is a single percentage point away from falling into its own bear market, which would end the longest bull market in Wall Street history.\n\nThe decline has been one of the swiftest sell-offs of this magnitude. The fastest the S&P 500 has ever fallen from a record into a bear market was over 55 days in 1987.\n\nWednesday's day’s loss wiped out a 1,167-point gain for the Dow from Tuesday and stan", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/02/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/arizona-health/2020/03/12/covid-19-questions-symptoms-cure-flu-answered/5026948002/", "title": "Coronavirus in Arizona: Your COVID-19 questions answered", "text": "Republic Staff\n\nThe new coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed many with worries, concerns and changes to their daily lives.\n\nThe Arizona Republic staff has answered some frequently asked questions, but we know that as things change, new questions might arise. We want to know what is on your mind and we want to be as accurate, helpful and clear in our coverage as possible.\n\nWhat are you wondering? Have you seen something you don't understand? How has the new coronavirus affected your daily life? We've got a helpline established here, and our team will get you answers as best we can. (En espanol aqui)\n\nWe're also answering questions you may have for scientists and researchers, in partnership with AZBio.\n\nCan a business force workers to wear masks? What about customers?\n\n\"OSHA allows companies to require employees to wear a mask,\" employment attorney Julie Pace said. \"They can make you do that.\"\n\nThey also can ask the same of customers, though it is less clear how strict enforcement will be for such policies. Major chains are beginning to enact such policies, she said.\n\nThe wearing of masks and adhering to social-distancing protocols like standing six feet apart could present a thorny issue around the workplace, as people vary in terms of how much they agree with these policies, said Karen Stafford, Arizona president of the Employers Council in Scottsdale.\n\nBut if employers establish these practices as company policy, then they would want to enforce them as they would any other policy, she said.\n\nWhen will public and community pools be open?\n\nGov. Doug Ducey said in a press conference on May 4 that he is still seeking proper guidance for reopening pools and gyms.\n\nAt this time, there is no expected date for pools to reopen, according to previous reporting from The Republic. Updated information will come soon, Ducey said.\n\nCan you get coronavirus from a pool or water slide?\n\nGetting on a water slide may come with some risks, but contracting the new coronavirus from the water is unlikely to be one of them. Chlorine kills the virus.\n\nAccording to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, there is no evidence that COVID-19, can be spread through water.\n\n“There is no evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas or water play areas,\" according to the CDC's website. \"Proper operation and maintenance (including disinfection with chlorine and bromine) of these facilities should inactivate the virus in the water.”\n\nWhen they reopen, visitors should still remain vigilant at a park or pool. Maintain social distancing - at last 6 feet. Current research shows the coronavirus can be transmitted via surfaces. People should be careful to not touch railings and other shared surfaces.\n\nWill to-go cocktails still be allowed when bars reopen?\n\nThe governor's executive orders have not changed any of Arizona's liquor laws. Instead, the orders relax police enforcement of those laws.\n\nAt this point, the governor has not announced an end date for the new rules allowing takeout cocktails.\n\n\"This order shall remain in place until further notice, and shall be reconsidered for repeal or revision every two weeks,\" the March 19 executive order concludes.\n\nBut for takeout cocktails to be allowed permanently, liquor laws would need to be changed.\n\nMy dentist postponed my dental surgery. Can I reschedule it now?\n\nPossibly. Gov. Doug Ducey announced April 22 that dental offices can resume surgeries if they meet certain safety requirements.\n\nOne requirement is that a patient must test negative for COVID-19 before the procedure.\n\nYou should contact your dentist to ask if the office has applied to the Arizona Department of Health Services for approval to resume surgeries, whether the office can schedule you, and how to receive a test.\n\nAre non-essential businesses such as barbers, hair salons and gyms opening soon?\n\nDucey announced April 29 that closed retail businesses can begin delivery and curbside pick-up on May 4 and in-person operations on May 8 as long as they implement social distancing and sanitation measures.\n\nThe governor also hopes to allow restaurants to offer dine-in services sometime in May, but he has not set a date.\n\nAll other non-essential businesses — such as barbers, hair salons, nail salons and gyms — are required to stay closed until at least May 15. They could be closed longer if the governor extends the stay-at-home order again.\n\nDoes having an overactive immune system protect me from COVID-19?\n\nCOVID-19 may come with an all-new set of complications for those with an overactive immune system response, according to The New York Times. In normal cases, the immune system shuts off once it has fought the virus. However, an overreaction called a cytokine storm can happen when the body continues to produce cytokines, the molecules that fight off viruses, after the infection poses little to no threat.\n\nDuring a cytokine storm, the body remains on high alert and cytokines may attack other organs, sometimes resulting in death. This reaction may help explain why some otherwise completely healthy people die after getting COVID-19 and others only show mild symptoms.\n\nDoctors and other medical professionals are currently exploring potential cures for both COVID-19 and this reaction, as well as the connection between the two, according to The New York Times.\n\nIs it safe to eat meat that was processed at plants that have closed because of the virus?\n\nThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID-19 is unlikely to spread through food products.\n\n\"Currently there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with food,\" the federal agency said. \"In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures.\"\n\nThe Los Angeles Times asked Dr. Stephen Berger, co-founder of the Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network: Can you acquire COVID-19 from food?\n\n\"The bottom line answer is ... no,\" he said.\n\nDo I have seasonal flu or Covid-19?\n\nTesting could confirm which virus you might have.\n\nAnyone who thinks they could be infected with COVID-19 or who has been exposed can get tested, the Arizona Department of Health Services said on April 23.\n\nCOVID-19 is more contagious, and evidence so far shows it's also more deadly than seasonal flu.\n\nBut some symptoms of the coronavirus are similar to the flu, and both can cause pneumonia and both can be deadly.\n\nSymptoms, from coughing to fever, are similar, but the flu often appears more rapidly after exposure than COVID-19. In other words, you'll know more quickly that you're sick (and contagious) with the flu.\n\nThe incubation period for COVID-19 is thought to be between three and 14 days, compared to one to four days with the flu, according to the CDC.\n\nWhy is it taking so long for the IRS putting up the link to the website to enter my direct deposit information? I don't want to wait for payment in mail.\n\nThe IRS currently has a payment portal online. Get My Payment allows those who qualify to set up direct deposit rather than waiting for payment via mail. In order to use the portal, you may need your 2018 and 2019 tax returns. The portal also can be used to track the status of payments and is updated once per day.\n\nFor more information about eligibility, payment amounts and the application process, visit the Frequently Asked Questions page. The Republic also shares need-to-know information, such as how much to expect.\n\nI am a seasonal resident in Arizona. Is it legal/safe to travel back to my other home?\n\nFor snowbirds and other seasonal residents, \"home\" may not be located in just one state. Gov. Doug Ducey's order for Arizona residents to stay at home does not ban road trips outright but does say to avoid unnecessary travel.\n\nIf one plans to make a trip that crosses several state lines, they should observe the rules of those states. Some parts of Arkansas, for example, limit travel from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to The New York Times.\n\nSouth Carolina restricts travelers coming from hot spots — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Travelers must quarantine for 14 days if they plan to stay, and hotels and motels cannot rent to travelers from those states, according to the Naples Daily News, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.\n\nOne azcentral reader question was specific to traveling home to Denver, Colorado, with an overnight stay in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This may prove difficult. The Colorado Official State Web Portal explicitly tells state residents not to visit their second homes and warns that local law enforcement agencies can decide whether to pull over people for driving on the roads. Roads will not be closed, according to the website, but use should be limited.\n\n\"You should only travel if it is essential to your work or health or that of your household members, family, or animals,\" according to the website.\n\nAn overnight stay in New Mexico also may be a challenge. Hotels and other lodging only can operate at 25% capacity, according to the state's Public Health Order.\n\nAnyone taking a trip that would require an overnight hotel stay should research their options before they leave, as some hotels have closed entirely or limited operations. Airports also should be researched as some only are open for domestic travel and have limited flights.\n\nIn terms of safety, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends asking the following questions before beginning your trip:\n\nIs COVID-19 spreading in the area where you’re going?\n\nWill you or your travel companion(s) be in close contact with others during your trip?\n\nAre you or your travel companion(s) more likely to get severe illness if you get COVID-19?\n\nDo you have a plan for taking time off from work or school, in case you are told to stay home for 14 days for self-monitoring or if you get sick with COVID-19?\n\nDo you live with someone who is older or has a serious, chronic medical condition?\n\nIs COVID-19 spreading where I live when I return from travel?\n\nThe CDC does not generally issue travel advisories, but health officials have repeatedly said older adults, a demographic that makes up many of Arizona's snowbird residents, are at a higher risk of health complications from COVID-19. More information regarding travel and COVID-19 can be found on the CDC's website here.\n\nWhich kind of face mask should someone wear who is not infected but is at high risk?\n\nPublic health officials now say most people should wear nonmedical masks if they go out in public, such as a homemade cloth mask, bandanna or close-fitting scarf. However, children under 2 and people who can't wear one safely, for instance because of breathing problems, should not.\n\nSurgical and N95 masks should be reserved for medical professionals, unless you've been ordered by a doctor to wear one, officials said.\n\nHere are some tips on how to wear your mask and where to buy one.\n\nBeware that there are still risks associated with wearing a mask. Don't touch your mask while wearing it, including pulling it down to speak to someone or adjusting the fit, because you could contaminate your hands.\n\nWhen you come home, take the mask off carefully, put it directly into your washing machine, avoid touching your face and wash your hands thoroughly.\n\nAlthough masks may provide some protection from catching COVID-19, experts say it is more useful for protecting others, since you could have COVID-19 without symptoms.\n\nHow should I clean my mask?\n\nMasks should be washed and dried on high heat after every use. If you do not have a washing machine at home, some have suggested boiling your mask for five minutes.\n\nDo not microwave your masks. Microwaving masks can be especially dangerous if there is metal sewn into the material.\n\nAdditionally, don't use bleach, alcohol or household cleaners to disinfect masks as ingesting or inhaling these chemicals can be harmful.\n\nBefore using a mask, inspect it for wear and tear. If the cloth has eroded from washing, there is a higher risk that the coronavirus could penetrate the mask.\n\nCan cats get coronavirus?\n\nA 4-year-old Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo was confirmed to have COVID-19 after she was seen dry coughing and wheezing. Zookeepers think Nadia got it from an infected human, and half a dozen other lions and tigers were also ill.\n\nA North Carolina pug was believed to be the first dog in the U.S. confirmed to have the virus in late April.\n\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that there is no evidence that pets can spread COVID-19 to people, or that they could be a source of infection. But it says more research is needed to understand if and how different animals could be infected.\n\n\"We are still learning about this virus, but we know that it is zoonotic and it appears that it can spread from people to animals in some situations,\" the CDC stated.\n\nIt recommends individuals who are sick with COVID-19 restrict contact with their pets, just like they would around people. If you must care for your pet, wash your hands before and after you interact with them and avoid petting, snuggling, being licked and sharing food.\n\nAre swimming pools safe?\n\nA myriad of public swimming pools around the Valley, most of which are operated by their respective towns, are not currently open. It may have less to do with concerns about spreading COVID-19 through water and more about stunting community gatherings.\n\nAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, \"there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the use of pools and tubs.\"\n\nMoreover, should someone with the virus use a swimming pool, the CDC added that \"proper maintenance, and disinfection (e.g., with chlorine and bromine) of pools and hot tubs should remove or inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.\"\n\nWill families who receive food stamps be eligible for the stimulus check?\n\nYes, families who receive food stamps are eligible to receive a stimulus check.\n\nThe $2 trillion stimulus plan includes one-time payments of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child, $367 billion for small businesses, $500 billion for loans to larger industries, $100 billion for hospitals and the health care system, and $600 more per week in unemployment benefits for those out of work.\n\nI'm a foster parent. Can I claim the $500 child stipend approved by Congress?\n\nIt depends how long the child was/has been in your home, according to the Children Need Amazing Parents organization, which promotes healthy parenting.\n\nFoster parents qualify if they claimed the child tax credit on their most recent federal tax filing and if the child was in their care for more than six months for the same year as their most recent IRS filing.\n\n\"It's not a perfect fit for a lot foster families,\" said Hope Cooper, who directs the organization.\n\nFor example, foster parents caring for an infant would not qualify if the baby came into their care after they last filed taxes.\n\nHow many tests are available in Arizona? Can anyone get tested?\n\nCOVID-19 testing now is allowed more broadly.\n\nAnyone who thinks they could be infected with COVID-19 or who has been exposed to it can now get tested, the Arizona Department of Health Services said on April 23.\n\nPreviously, the state discouraged widespread testing because of a lack of tests, although Gov. Doug Ducey has consistently said he wants more testing to be done.\n\nHere's information on testing sites.\n\nDespite calls for more coronavirus testing in order to safely reopen the economy, COVID-19 testing in Arizona has trended downward for weeks, according to the state's official tally through mid-April.\n\nThe high-water mark for tests came during the week that ended March 28, when 12,728 tests were conducted. Since then, weekly testing numbers fell to 11,864, and then 10,684 for the week ending April 11.\n\nFor more questions about testing, isolation and quarantine guidance, call Arizona Poison Control at 1-844-542-8201.\n\nDoes Arizona have a curfew due to the coronavirus?\n\nArizona does not have a curfew, although the hard-hit Navajo Nation in the northeastern part of the state implemented one.\n\nGov. Doug Ducey has ordered businesses such as bars, gyms and theaters to close and limited restaurants to takeout. He issued a statewide \"stay-at-home\" order that took effect March 31 to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, preventing Arizonans from leaving their residences except for food, medicine and other \"essential activities.\n\nThe Navajo Nation implemented a curfew on March 30 as the number of COVID-19 cases climbed. The curfew is 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the weekends through April. The reservation, which covers much of northeastern Arizona and two other states, had 1,282 identified cases with 49 confirmed deaths as of April 22.\n\nHow many people in Arizona have recovered from COVID-19 and how many are past the 14-day isolation period?\n\nADHS is not reporting the number of patients who have recovered from the new coronavirus.\n\nIs my 70-year-old wife on oxygen more susceptible to the coronavirus? How dangerous is coronavirus for a 72-year-old man with mild COPD and a heart attack years ago?\n\nThe American Lung Association warns that older adults with underlying health conditions are most at risk for severe symptoms, including people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and other lung diseases.\n\nThe association says it is vital for these people to practice social distancing and avoid public places when possible. Be on the watch for symptoms, such as fever and worse coughing or shortness of breath than usual. Continue taking your medications and make sure you don't run out.\n\nThe Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease says people with COPD have been amongst the worst affected by COVID-19 and should carefully follow the advice of public health officials. The initiative says oxygen therapy should be provided if needed, according to physician recommendations.\n\nPeople with questions about COVID-19 and other lung-related concerns can call the American Lung Association's free Lung HelpLine, which is staffed by medical professionals and offers more than 250 languages. Call 1-800-586-4872 or submit a question online at www.lung.org/support-community/lung-helpline-and-tobacco-quitline/submit-your-question.\n\nI’m 74 and have had a pneumonia shot. Will this prevent me from getting pneumonia if I contract COVID-19?\n\nA pneumonia vaccine won’t protect you from getting COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. But it is highly recommended to protect your overall health.\n\nStudies not related to the new coronavirus have shown vaccines prevent about 45-70% of pneumonia infections, depending on the type of vaccine and the strain of pneumonia, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.\n\nSo if you already received a pneumonia vaccine, that’s a good thing. If you haven’t gotten one, call your doctor or local pharmacy to ask if you should. It’s possible that going into a busy office or pharmacy, where you might encounter the new coronavirus, is not worth the risk.\n\nThe CDC recommends routine pneumococcal conjugate vaccination for all babies and children younger than 2, and for people 2 years or older with certain medical conditions. It recommends routine pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination for all adults age 65 or older, younger people with certain medical conditions, and adults age 19 through 64 who smoke. Read more here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/pneumo/index.html.\n\nWhat is the average length of hospitalization for patients with the new coronavirus?\n\nScientists are still collecting data to understand the disease, but one study from China found people with COVID-19 stayed in the hospital an average of 11 days.\n\nAnother Chinese study found about a third of patients who were hospitalized were discharged after 10 days, while about 60% of patients remained in the hospital at the time of the study’s publication.\n\nShould I still play tennis? Golf?\n\nThe general guidance is to make sure you're not in groups larger than 10, and at least six feet apart. Several public golf courses have taken measures to limit social interaction and the use of shared equipment.\n\nArizona Biltmore Golf Club in Phoenix instituted social-distancing measures to \"navigate these challenging times,\" according to its website. These guidelines include encouraging guests to pay online or over the phone, carrying one's own clubs and meeting with service members outside the shop, among other things.\n\nThe website says that golf carts are sanitized after each use and implores guests to avoid using ball washers and touching flagsticks.\n\nHow much food should I buy when grocery shopping?\n\nToilet paper, pasta and other essentials have been difficult to get. But for most of us, it’s not necessary to hoard right now. Stockpiling, however, might be smart.\n\nThink about having enough goods and food to last about a week or two.\n\nHere’s a shopping list for your own preparedness kit.\n\nCan I travel to California by car from Arizona?\n\nWhile there have been no definitive travel bans to California, the state is under a mandatory shelter-in-place order. This means that, yes, you can travel to California via car, but options are limited once you get there.\n\nOn March 19, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that shut down non-essential services and directed residents to stay at home whenever possible, with some exceptions, including acquiring food or healthcare.\n\nWhen out walking our dog, people frequently pet him. Can a dog’s fur retain the virus and spread it to others?\n\nAccording to the American Veterinary Medical Association, it is unclear how long the virus can live on surfaces like fur.\n\nGail Golab, the AVMA’s chief veterinary officer, told The Washington Post that pet fur is porous, making it more difficult to contract the virus via touch as opposed to a smooth surface like countertops or doorknobs.\n\nThe AVMA recommends washing your hands before and after petting domestic animals. If you have symptoms that align with COVID-19, the AVMA recommends that you avoid contact with pets whenever possible. If someone is concerned about spread of the virus while walking their dog, they may refrain from petting other animals or letting others pet theirs.\n\nThe Arizona Humane Society is urging pet owners to think about what to do with their animals if they become sick, such as designating a friend or family member to care for the pets, researching temporary housing options for them, compiling vet records, ensuring they are up to date on vaccines and setting aside extra food and supplies for them.\n\nAn emergency checklist can be found at www.azhumane.org/disaster.\n\nIs it safe to handle letters and packages delivered to my house?\n\nThe U.S. Postal Service said the risk is low that the new coronavirus can be spread from products or packages shipped from overseas because the virus dies within hours or days on surfaces. The agency said there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods.\n\nThe postal service has increased cleaning at its facilities, is providing hand sanitizer and encouraging employees to wash their hands. It is asking employees who feel sick to stay home.\n\nAccording to the CDC, the likelihood of someone getting COVID-19 from mail or packages, even domestically, is low. This is because packages and mail take time to ship, which decreases traces of the virus.\n\nAlthough chances of contracting COVID-19 from mail or packages are unlikely, washing your hands is a good way to prevent spread from surfaces like paper or cardboard.\n\nHow much toilet paper do you need?\n\nGeorgia-Pacific calculated how many rolls each household needs based on IRI data and the U.S. Census. Each household represents 2.6 people.\n\nThe data found that the average U.S. household uses approximately 400 rolls per year.\n\nBut, as millions of Americans begin working and learning from home to stop the spread of COVID-19, average daily use increases 140%.\n\nAccording to their data, \"to last approximately 2 weeks, a 2-person household would need 9 double rolls, or 5 mega rolls. A 4-person household would need 17 double rolls, or 9 mega rolls to last approximately 2 weeks.\"\n\nOr calculate the number of rolls you need to survive the pandemic at https://howmuchtoiletpaper.com.\n\nWhat does COVID-19 stand for?\n\nOn Feb. 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced an official name for the disease that is causing the novel coronavirus outbreak. The new name was coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In COVID-19, CO stands for corona, VI stands for virus, and D stands for disease. The 19 is for the year was first identified.\n\nI understand local schools are providing pack lunches. However, I don’t have a car. I also am not comfortable walking with my child to a school to receive, as he has low immunity. What can be done for someone in our situation?\n\nCall your school principal to see if they can make special accommodations. Most schools are eager to assure all students get the free meals, and are willing to help make that happen.\n\nSome districts are delivering free breakfasts and lunches to children using the school bus routes so families don't have to go to school.\n\nAlso, you don't have to go to the school your child attends. If there is a school — elementary, middle or high school — that's closer than your child's school, you can see if they are offering free meals.\n\nWith businesses closing and people out of work, what happens with rental payments and evictions? What about utility bill shut-off?\n\nMany utility companies have promised to help customers during this unprecedented time.\n\nYou can see a full list of utilities and what they're pledging here.\n\nOn March 13, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced no evictions would take place in city housing.\n\nOn March 24, Gov. Doug Ducey issued a 120-day order delaying the enforcement of evictions for renters impacted by COVID-19 because they are sick, can’t work or lost jobs.\n\nThe order calls for tenants eligible for eviction delays to contact their landlord in writing and include documentation to support their cause.\n\nThe state housing department launched a Rental Eviction Prevention Assistance Program with $5 million in state funding. Arizona renters can fill out applications to get help paying rent at housing.az.gov.\n\nAre borders with Mexico closed?\n\nFor nonessential travel, yes. On March 21, the U.S. and Mexico agreed to close the border to nonessential travel, such as tourism.\n\nU.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency in charge of enforcing the travel restrictions, has warned visitors to stay away unless they have an essential reason.\n\nDoes the flu shot prevent the coronavirus? If we already got one, should we get another dose?\n\nThere is currently no vaccine to protect against COVID-19.\n\nA flu shot can help in an indirect way, according to Dr. Albert Ko of the Yale School of Public Health. As more people have immunity to influenza, fewer will need treatment, causing less confusion about whether an infected person has COVID-19 or flu, and leaving more hospital beds open for coronavirus patients.\n\nChildren age 6 months to 8 years may need a second flu shot because their immune systems aren't as developed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For adults, a vaccine is recommended once a year, in October, before the peak of flu, the CDC said.\n\nAlthough the flu season is coming to an end, you can still get a flu shot, said Dr. Gregory Poland, of Mayo Clinic. But call your doctor first. Many medical facilities are limiting non-essential visits.\n\nWho should I call if I might have symptoms but don’t have a primary care physician?\n\nYou can call a nearby urgent care or a community health clinic, such as Mountain Park Health Center at 602-243-7277.\n\nShould I be worried about riding the light rail?\n\nWe checked in early March, and like many services, Valley Metro light rail has stepped up cleaning.\n\n\"With the advent of COVID-19 in the U.S., we are enhancing the cleaning and disinfecting regimens on public transit,\" Valley Metro said in a statement.\n\nCan you catch the virus from someone who died?\n\nThere is no known risk associated with being in the same room at a funeral or visitation service with the body of someone who died of COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But you should avoid touching, kissing, washing or shrouding the body, even after it has been prepared, especially if you are older or have a severe underlying health condition, the CDC said.\n\nIf washing or shrouding the body is important to your religious or cultural practice, the agency encourages families to work with religious and cultural leaders and funeral home staff to reduce exposure as much as possible, such as wearing disposable gloves, gowns, goggles, masks or other protective equipment.\n\nFuneral home workers should wear full protective gear while preparing a body and wash their hands and disinfect surfaces afterward, the CDC said.\n\nMy husband and I are scheduled to fly from Ohio to Phoenix soon. We are 69 and 70. Should we cancel our trip?\n\nThe CDC recommends people who are at higher risk of getting sick avoid non-essential travel. Those at higher risk are older adults and people of any age with serious chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and lung disease, the CDC said.\n\nSome airlines have offered to waive change fees for travelers who want to delay trips. Check with your airline carrier for details.\n\nWhen will the outbreak lose momentum?\n\nProjections for Arizona's peak caseload vary by nearly two months from one model to the next, depending on factors such as social distancing. A May 22 prediction of the state's hospital peak takes the midpoint of two predictions: one if mitigation strategies continue, and one if they do not.\n\nBut data shows preventing transmission early on slows the spread so patients don't overwhelm hospitals and fewer people die. That’s why events in the U.S. have been canceled, travel has been postponed and companies have told employees to work from home.\n\nResearchers can't say with any certainty whether warmer weather will impact COVID-19. Of the seven different coronaviruses, four are more common, seasonal and found often in children. The two other novel coronaviruses, which cause MERS and SARS, have not been seasonal.\n\nCan the new coronavirus be sexually transmitted?\n\nAlthough scientists do not believe the illness is sexually transmitted, kissing and touching an infected person increases your risk of exposure, according to Anna Muldoon, a former science policy adviser at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.\n\nThe virus is spread when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks, said Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention at Johns Hopkins University. People may inhale the invisible droplets in the air or touch the droplets after they land on surfaces around the infected person.\n\nThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends staying 6 feet or more from an infected person.\n\nIf your spouse has COVID-19, health officials recommend sleeping in a different room, not sharing dishes or towels, washing your hands frequently, cleaning common surfaces such as doorknobs and bathrooms with a household disinfectant and asking the infected person to wear a mask when in a shared room, the MIT Medical School said.\n\nHow are COVID-19 symptoms different from allergies?\n\nPeople with COVID-19 have symptoms almost identical to the flu, except that the symptoms come on more gradually, within two to 14 days after exposure, the CDC said.\n\nAllergies caused by pollen, grass or ragweed may cause similar symptoms, such as congestion, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, shortness of breath and tiredness, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and Mayo Clinic.\n\nBut COVID-19 is not associated with common allergy symptoms such as an itchy nose, eyes or mouth; watery, red or puffy eyes; or rashes, officials said.\n\nAnd allergies don't usually cause fever, aches, sore throat, vomiting or diarrhea, which can come with the new coronavirus.\n\nThe CDC recommends that anyone who thinks they've been exposed to COVID-19 and develops a fever and respiratory symptoms such as coughing or difficulty breathing call their doctor immediately.\n\nIf I feel sick, at what point should I get tested and how?\n\nIf you start having flu-like symptoms, such as fever and cough, you should call your primary care doctor, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Your doctor will work with local and state officials to determine if you need to be tested, ADHS said.\n\nDon't visit an urgent care or hospital without first calling your family doctor, unless it's an emergency, such as if you are having difficulty breathing, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. This will help prevent spreading the virus to other patients.\n\nSymptoms include fever, coughing, shortness of breath, aches, chills, tiredness, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea.\n\nHow much will it cost me to get a COVID-19 test?\n\nMedicare, Medicaid and major U.S. health insurers — including Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and Humana — announced they will cover some or all of the costs of coronavirus testing and treatment. Several announced additional benefits, such as free telemedicine.\n\nThe IRS also clarified that high-deductible health plans can cover coronavirus testing and treatment before patients have met their deductibles.\n\nBut it's best to call the 800 number on the back of your insurance card to make sure about the costs before undergoing coronavirus testing and treatment, so you're aren't caught by surprise fees.\n\nHow do people without insurance get tested?\n\nUninsured patients may be able to receive free COVID-19 testing and treatment from a public health clinic or health care provider that agrees to write off the cost of care, according to Berkeley School of Public Health professor Stephen Shortell. But it's best to call ahead.\n\nTo find a free or low-cost health clinic near you, go to https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ or call the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration at 877-464-4772 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET weekdays.\n\nDo not show up at a clinic, urgent care or hospital unless it is an emergency, such as if you are struggling to breathe. Instead, call the clinic, describe your symptoms and follow the doctor's instructions.\n\nIf you go to a doctor's office or hospital that does not write off the cost of care, you may be charged $500 to $1,000 for a test, according to Johns Hopkins University professor Gerard Anderson.\n\nHospital leaders have urged the Trump administration to use a national disaster program to fund coronavirus care for the nation's 27 million uninsured people, but federal officials have not done so yet.\n\nIf you become infected with the new coronavirus, can you get it again?\n\nScientists don't know for sure.\n\nIn a small number of cases, patients who appeared to have recovered from the illness experienced a second onset of symptoms and tested positive for the virus again.\n\nHowever, experts say this doesn't prove people can get reinfected.\n\nIt's possible that testing was inaccurate, people were not fully recovered or people's immune systems did not develop enough antibodies during the illness to ensure immunity.\n\nAnother possibility: The disease could have several phases that scientists are only now observing, a period of symptoms followed by dormancy followed by more symptoms. More research is needed to provide an answer.\n\nAt 2 medical appointments last week, doctors extended their hands to shake mine. They seemed surprised when I declined. Isn't there a protocol in place for health care providers?\n\nYou get kudos from the experts.\n\n\"I congratulate your reader because that's very good,\" said Pima County Public Health Interim Director Bob England. \"What we're trying to navigate is doing rational things to decrease risk without disrupting our society so much. But the one thing we all agree on to do is the personal stuff, the individual prevention of transmission: Washing your hands, keeping your hands away from your face\" and not shaking hands.\n\nEngland said he meets with dozens of people a day and \"everybody's been doing the elbow bump,\" which is both safer and keeps things \"light-hearted.\"\n\nHe thinks family physicians should use this as a teaching moment.\n\n\"I would encourage docs as a teaching tool, when they come into a room, not to shake the patient's hands, as a way to drive home the point\" of practicing good hygiene, England said. \"Finally, maybe people will listen because it's the same message every flu season.\"\n\nConsumer reporter Rebekah L. Sanders investigates issues of fraud and abuse involving businesses, health-care entities and government agencies. Contact her at rsanders@azcentral.com or follow her on Twitter at @RebekahLSanders.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/03/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2019/10/09/teen-climate-activists-highway-bagel-roast-red-tide-news-around-states/40286763/", "title": "Teen climate activists, highway bagel roast: News from around our ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nTuscaloosa: The city is getting $3 million in federal grant money to help remove lead contamination from low-income homes. The Tuscaloosa News reports the money will be used for safety improvements in 250 homes in the city. Tuscaloosa is the only Alabama city to receive money under a $314 million program overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Money is going to 77 state and local agencies nationwide. Lead paint is sometimes found in the paint that’s in older homes, and exposure to the metal can cause damage to the brain and nervous system in children. Officials in Tuscaloosa will work with housing agencies, medical and social service providers to identify homes with lead-based hazards.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: A new report by a nonpartisan watchdog group says the U.S. Forest Service has lost nearly $600 million through its management of the Tongass National Forest. Coast Alaska reports the study by Taxpayers for Common Sense calculates the service’s losses through roadbuilding and timber sales. The report says the average net loss has been about $30 million annually over the past 20 years. The group cites a 2016 report by the Government Accountability Office detailing the average annual cost of the Tongass timber program without factoring the cost of building access roads. The group projects a net loss of at least $180 million despite the Forest Service projecting the availability of an additional 300 million feet of boards in the next four years.\n\nArizona\n\nFlagstaff: A Colorado River tributary in northeastern Arizona is being eyed for power generation. A newly formed Phoenix company wants to put up dams on the Little Colorado River. Pumped Hydro Storage LLC is seeking approval from the federal government to study sites on the Navajo Nation. Nothing would happen without the tribe’s approval. Tribal President Jonathan Nez says the Navajo Nation would need to consider the impacts of the proposals on water, the economy and the environment and hear from those living in the area. Environmentalists say the protection of sacred sites, an endangered fish and the serenity of the larger Grand Canyon region is at stake. The hydropower industry says there’s renewed interest in pumped storage facilities to supplement wind and solar energy.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The mayor on Monday proposed returning local control to the city’s schools after a state plan to grant only limited authority sparked fears that the district could revert to a racially divided, “separate but equal” system 62 years after the desegregation of Central High School. Mayor Frank Scott proposed forming a temporary school board appointed by the city and state to run the district from January until a local board is elected in November 2020. Arkansas has been in control of the 23,000-student district since January 2015, when the district was taken over because of low test scores at several schools. Scott asked the state Board of Education to take up the proposal when it meets this week and said he also has discussed it with Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Education Secretary Johnny Key.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: Pharmacists in the state will be able to dispense HIV prevention pills to patients without a doctor’s prescription after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday that supporters say will greatly reduce the spread of infection. Advocates of Senate Bill 159 say California is the first state to authorize pre-exposure prophylaxis, also called PrEP, and post-exposure prophylaxis, known as PEP, without prescriptions. California is already considered a leader in AIDS prevention, they say. PrEP is a once-daily pill for HIV-negative people, while PEP is a medication that people take to prevent the virus from taking hold. Supporters say PEP significantly reduces the risk of infection, but only if started within 72 hours of exposure to the virus. Not everyone can get to a doctor in that time frame, says Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California.\n\nColorado\n\nAurora: A group of demonstrators against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement disrupted a City Council meeting after breaking out in chants. The Sentinel reports that the Aurora City Council meeting was briefly suspended Monday after some council members left their seats while police escorted demonstrators outside. Authorities say anti-ICE protesters made multiple demands of the city during public comment, including ending the use of city resources to help ICE, prohibiting participation in ICE functions and barring police from profiling prior to making stops. Officials say the city doesn’t invest funds in private prisons, and officers do not participate in ICE arrests, according to department policy.\n\nConnecticut\n\nWindsor: Authorities exhumed the bodies Monday of two victims of the 1944 Hartford circus fire in the hopes of determining whether one of them is a woman who is among five people still listed as missing after the tragedy. The exhumations at Northwood Cemetery in Windsor occurred about 2 miles from the site of the big top fire that killed 168 people and injured 682 others. Forensic experts at the chief medical examiner’s office will try to determine whether one of the two unidentified women was 47-year-old Grace Fifield, of Newport, Vermont, who was never seen again after attending the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus on July 6, 1944. Officials will compare DNA samples taken from the remains to ones provided by Fifield’s granddaughter, Sandra Sumrow.\n\nDelaware\n\nWilmington: Five of the state’s previous governors and two of its former chief justices are backing Gov. John Carney in his attempt to preserve a Delaware law that requires a political balance among state court judges. The former officials have filed legal briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Carney, who has asked the court to reverse a federal court decision that struck down the state constitutional provision that requires Carney to split judicial nominations and judgeships between the two major political parties. Former Govs. Jack Markell, Ruth Ann Minner, Tom Carper, Dale Wolf and Michael Castle filed a brief to back Carney. Former Delaware Chief Justices Myron T. Steele and E. Norman Veasey filed a separate brief in support of Carney. Seventeen law professors from across the country filed a third supporting brief.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Lawmakers in the district are considering a tax on sugary drinks containing “natural common sweeteners.” The Washington Post reports the bill proposed Monday by council member Brianne K. Nadeau would levy a 1.5 cent-per-ounce excise tax on the sweet drinks. It wouldn’t apply to alcohol, milk, all-natural juices or drinks with artificial sweeteners, such as diet soda. The newspaper notes this would be one of the highest taxes on sugary drinks in the nation. The bill would replace the city’s recently passed 2% additional sales tax on soft drinks. Researchers say higher sales taxes don’t affect consumer decisions, as the extra cost is added at the register, after a consumer has already picked their product. An excise cost would be imposed on distributors, who would then raise sticker prices.\n\nFlorida\n\nSt. Petersburg: Scientists say toxic red tide is back in the waters off the state’s southwest coast after fading away earlier this year following a 15-month bloom. Biologists at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute said Friday that samples taken from the waters off the shore of Collier County found high concentrations of the toxic algae where they also received reports of dead fish and cases of respiratory irritation. Red tide is a natural occurrence that happens due to the presence of nutrients in salt water and an organism called a dinoflagellate. The 15-month bloom caused respiratory irritation in people and killed sea turtles, manatees, dolphins and fish. Scientists also observed low concentrations of the red tide algae in Lee County, according to the institute’s red tide status report.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: Oprah Winfrey says she’s giving $13 million to increase a scholarship endowment at a historically black college. Winfrey announced her plan Monday at Morehouse College, adding to the $12 million she gave to the all-male college 30 years ago. She was meeting with 47 students already benefiting from the existing endowment. Morehouse President David Thomas says Winfrey’s endowment has paid to educate almost 600 students over the past three decades. Winfrey’s announcement came weeks after Morehouse announced it would cut some employee salaries and retirement contributions to increase student aid and would also eliminate some jobs. Billionaire Robert Smith won wide notice earlier this year when he promised to repay all student and family loans accumulated by Morehouse’s class of 2019. That one-time gift will be worth $34 million.\n\nHawaii\n\nKailua-Kona: A county agency has found nearly 10% of tsunami warning sirens on Hawaii Island are inoperable. West Hawaii Today reports Hawaii County Civil Defense made the determination following an Oct. 1 test of the Big Island’s outdoor warning system. Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno says nine of the 92 sirens installed in communities around the island did not work during the test. The sirens warn people to move to high ground when an approaching tsunami is detected. Civil defense sends tsunami alerts via cellphone, but not all areas have reliable service, nor are all residents registered. Magno says the state Emergency Management Agency is responsible for the maintenance, repair and replacement of sirens across Hawaii.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: The city has closed a day shelter for homeless families and plans on moving some funding to Interfaith Sanctuary Shelter, which will begin offering day-shelter services seven days a week this month. Interfaith Sanctuary Jodi Peterson-Stigers told the Idaho Statesman shelter officials hope to reduce the trauma families experience from having nowhere to go on the weekends. Boise spokesman Mike Journee says attendance at the city day shelter has been declining since Interfaith Sanctuary opened its day shelter in late 2017, so it made sense to close the city facility and rely on Interfaith Sanctuary for the service. The city plans to lease the site of its former shelter to Jesse Tree, a private nonprofit that provides assistance to low-income people struggling to pay rent or facing eviction.\n\nIllinois\n\nAurora: An overnight fire has destroyed a historic Masonic temple that was abandoned more than a decade ago. The fire began about 10 p.m. Monday in the Lincoln Masonic Temple in the Chicago suburb about 40 miles west of Chicago. A portion of the building collapsed onto power lines, cutting power to some homes as firefighters worked to douse the flames. Aurora Fire Chief Gary Krienitz tells WLS-TV the building’s structural integrity was a big challenge for crews. The 50,000-square-foot building was built in 1922 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It’s been empty since 2008, when it was last used as a banquet hall. Aurora officials then shut the building down due to potentially hazardous conditions.\n\nIndiana\n\nRensselaer: Thousands of bagels went from frozen to toasted Sunday evening after a semi hauling the beloved breakfast item went up in flames. An off-duty Indiana State Police trooper saw a semi driving north on I-65 that was smoking heavily from its rear axle, according to the Indiana State Police. By the time the trooper arrived at the truck, its brakes were engulfed in flames, and the fire was spreading to the trailer itself. The rear tires of the semi also exploded due to the heat from the brake fire, state police said. The driver was eventually able to disconnect the tractor from the trailer, and the fire was extinguished. The semi was carrying 38,000 pounds of frozen bagels, state police said. The fire closed the right lane of northbound I-65 near Rensselaer until about 1 a.m. Monday.\n\nIowa\n\nWaterloo: The city has become the first in the state to approve a measure banning the city and many businesses from asking about applicants’ criminal records in early stages of the hiring process. The City Council approved the so-called ban-the-box ordinance, which doesn’t let employers ask about an applicant’s criminal history until after making a conditional job offer, according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. The measure is intended to ensure people with criminal convictions get a fair chance of getting jobs by encouraging employers not to discard applications only because potential workers check a box stating they have been convicted of a crime. Similar measures have been passed in dozens of cities around the country, but Waterloo is the first city in Iowa to approve such an ordinance.\n\nKansas\n\nOverland Park: The state’s second-largest city has passed an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. KCUR reports that the City Council in this Kansas City suburb passed the measure Monday with a 10-1 vote. The new ordinance prevents residents and employees from being denied housing, employment or services from businesses because of sexual orientation or gender identity. Backers were overjoyed. Brett Hoedl, of Equality Kansas of Metro Kansas City, said it could create pressure for adoption of a statewide law. Nearly two dozen states outlaw discrimination against someone because they are LGBTQ. Missouri and Kansas aren’t among them. Council Member Dave White voted for the ordinance but said he wanted more teeth in the legislation. The ordinance allows fines of up to $1,000.\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: A young elephant calf born this summer has just about everything he needs, except a name. But he’s a step closer to getting one. The Louisville Zoo has announced three finalists: Fitz, Rocket and Walt. A Monday zoo statement says that more than 15,000 names were submitted for the calf born Aug. 2. Kristin Hays of Prospect submitted “Fitz” after her great-grandfather, who loved elephants. Tatyana Malkin’s 9-year-old daughter, Sofia, asked her to submit “Rocket” to go with the zoo’s recently named bongo, “Groot,” both from the movie “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and Taylor Barr of Meade County submitted “Walt” after Walt Disney. Zoo visitors can drop coins or bills in a kiosk to vote at the zoo, or vote online with credit card donations.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: Gov. John Bel Edwards is battling to hold onto the Democrats’ only governorship in the Deep South, with an onslaught of national GOP firepower aimed at ousting him. Republicans see Edwards’ 2015 victory as a fluke and believe they can recapture the governor’s mansion in a state with no other Democratic statewide elected officials. But the moderate Edwards is an anti-abortion, pro-gun former Army ranger. And he is proving remarkably resilient deep in the heart of Trump country. Edwards is leading in the polls, within striking distance of outright victory in Saturday’s primary, when all candidates run against each other on the same ballot. National Republican leaders are barnstorming the state trying to energize GOP voters and keep Edwards from claiming enough cross-party support to top 50%.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Marijuana enthusiasts in the Pine Tree State will probably be able to purchase their preferred products in retail stores by March 2020 after years of waiting. Voters approved legal adult-use marijuana at the polls in November 2016, and the road to legal sales has been long and bumpy. The state’s Office of Marijuana Policy says a key act passed by the Legislature is now in effect, and that means the office is in a position to complete final adoption of Maine’s marijuana rules. The act made tweaks to Maine’s Marijuana Legalization Act that were necessary for the marijuana office to adopt the rules, which it is expected to do within two months. That means it will probably be able to accept applications for retail marijuana sales by the end of 2019.\n\nMaryland\n\nBaltimore: A City Council committee has modified a proposed ban of plastic bags to focus on particularly thin plastic. The Baltimore Sun reports the Judiciary Committee voted 4-2 Monday to amend the proposed ban to apply only to bags thinner than about two-thousandths of an inch. The newspaper says the move upset bill sponsor Councilman Bill Henry and environmentalists, who say the bags are barely distinguishable from thinner grocery bags. Retailers argue the thin bags are reusable. Henry says retailers could just continue to use plastic bags under the amended language, and the added thickness of permitted bags wouldn’t be enough to encourage their reuse.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts has been scrambling to make amends since black students were mistreated on a class trip in May. The world-class museum was accused of racism after students said they were harangued by white patrons and a staff member who allegedly told the children: “No food, no drink and no watermelon.” Makeeba McCreary, MFA’s chief of learning and community engagement, says the museum has doubled down on efforts to be a more diverse, inclusive place. In addition to banning two patrons and launching an internal investigation and an independent review, the MFA has created a new position: senior director of inclusion. It’s given over an entire wing to female artists in “Women Take the Floor,” an exhibition timed to coincide with next year’s centennial of U.S. women winning the right to vote. And this month, for the first time, it’ll open its doors for free to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: At its darkest hour, in the early 1950s, fewer than 20 male Kirtland’s warblers were counted in the world. Today, after a concerted recovery effort by federal and state wildlife management agencies, conservation groups and the timber industry, the black-and-gray songbird with a yellow underbelly, a uniquely Michigan-centric species, has more than 2,000 nesting pairs. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday removed the bird from the federal list of endangered species. Kirtland’s warblers have historically nested in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The birds require very specific conditions – large stands of young, dense jack pine forest. If the trees are older, the birds, for some reason, won’t use them.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMinneapolis: President Donald Trump’s campaign is threatening to sue the city for trying to force it to pay $530,000 in security costs for this week’s rally. Trump’s campaign accused Mayor Jacob Frey, who has been critical of the president, of “conjuring a phony and outlandish bill for security” at Thursday’s rally at Target Center. The campaign said arena management attempted to pass the costs to the campaign under threat of withholding use of the arena. It also said the sum was far more than that for a 2009 health care rally at the building by President Barack Obama. The Star Tribune says the city based its estimate on methodology for past major events like the 2018 Super Bowl and Final Four. Frey said when Trump’s rally was announced last month that Trump’s “message of hatred” was unwelcome.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: A federal court that rejected the state’s 15-week abortion ban should have let the state present evidence about whether a fetus experiences pain, an attorney for the state argued Monday. But a lawyer for Mississippi’s only abortion clinic said the Supreme Court has been clear that a woman has a right to have an abortion before the fetus is viable. The arguments came during a hearing at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. It’s one of many laws pushed by conservative states in recent years, aimed at trying to persuade the increasingly conservative Supreme Court to further restrict the amount of time when abortion is legally available, or even to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.\n\nMissouri\n\nColumbia: The city has banned so-called conversion therapy for minors. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the City Council voted unanimously Monday to become the first in the state to ban the practice. “Conversion therapy” is the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations. A Democratic state lawmaker proposed a statewide ban on the practice during this year’s annual legislative session. But the bill didn’t get a hearing in the Republican-led Legislature. Columbia is home to the University of Missouri System’s flagship campus and trends more liberal than many other areas of the state.\n\nMontana\n\nHarlem: The City Council has voted to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. The Billings Gazette reports Harlem passed a resolution last month to join Missoula, Bozeman and Helena as Montana cities that have changed the name of the federal holiday that will be marked next Monday. Harlem is located just outside the Fort Belknap Reservation. Columbus Day recognizes Christopher Columbus, whose 1492 voyage spurred European colonization of the Americas. Native Americans say celebrating Columbus ignores the atrocities and violence inflicted on their ancestors. The Montana House passed a bill in 2019 to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day statewide, but it died in a Senate committee.\n\nNebraska\n\nTerrytown: City Council members have decided to put off indefinitely a proposed ordinance that would have barred anyone from feeding geese or other wild critters inside city limits. The council had scheduled a third and final reading and vote last week. But City Attorney Libby Stobel told the council Thursday that the proposal conflicts with a proposed zoning change that would allow residents to keep up to eight hens, either chicken, duck or turkey. The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reports that Stobel says the proposed ordinance defines ducks as waterfowl, so if the proposal were to be passed, people would be allowed to own ducks but not feed them. Stobel recommended that before more discussion, council members should determine whether the ordinance was worth pursuing. They voted 4-0 to stop any further consideration of the measure.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: Maintaining the state’s status as keeper of the highest year-round highway pass in the Sierra Nevada might get a little more difficult this winter, but the Nevada Department of Transportation insists it is up to the task. The department has concerns about the reliability of a remote-operated system that uses propane-powered blasts to trigger controlled avalanches on Nevada State Route 431 at the Mount Rose Summit. The human-triggered avalanches clear the snow load from slopes overhanging the highway, thus making the roadway safer for drivers once the avalanche debris is cleared. But that system is showing its age, NDOT spokesperson Meg Ragonese says, and the department is making contingency plans in the event the system can’t operate during the upcoming winter.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: The state’s Democratic congressional delegation says New Hampshire will be getting more than $600,000 in federal funds to help law enforcement agencies fight the opioid crisis. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen says the state is receiving $664,673 through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services program. Of that, $489,674 will go to the New Hampshire Department of Safety for the state’s Anti-Heroin Task Force and $174,999 to Dartmouth College for a program supporting the hiring of law enforcement officers and expansion of community policing. State Police Col. Chris Wagner welcomed the funding, saying it will drive cross-border initiatives to disrupt drug trafficking organizations that fuel the opioid epidemic.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nSeaside Heights: The New Jersey Historic Trust is providing a $750,000 grant to help refurbish a 109-year-old carousel. The money will go toward restoring the 1910 Dr. Floyd L. Moreland Dentzel-Looff Carousel at the Casino Pier arcade in Seaside Heights. But the funds won’t be made available until the grant is approved by the Legislature and receives Gov. Phil Murphy’s signature. The carousel was shut down in early April and will be dismantled later this month. The ride will be temporarily moved into storage, and its mechanical parts will be inspected. Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz says he hopes the refurbished carousel is running by 2021.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: About a quarter of Navajo women and some infants who were part of a federally funded study on uranium exposure had high levels of the radioactive metal in their systems, decades after mining for Cold War weaponry ended on their reservation, a U.S. health official said Monday. The preliminary findings from the University of New Mexico study were shared during a congressional field hearing in Albuquerque. Dr. Loretta Christensen – the chief medical officer on the Navajo Nation for Indian Health Service, a partner in the research – said 781 women were screened during an initial phase of the study that ended last year. Among them, 26% had concentrations of uranium that exceeded levels found in the highest 5% of the U.S. population, and newborns with equally high concentrations continued to be exposed to uranium during their first year, she said.\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: Brook trout have been discovered in a high-elevation Adirondack Mountains lake for the first time since the lake was declared fishless due to acid rain 32 years ago. The Department of Environmental Conservation says the breeding population of trout in Lake Colden in the High Peaks Wilderness demonstrates the effectiveness of clean air regulations enacted since the 1980s. Acid rain results when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from fossil fuel combustion mix with moisture in the air to produce sulfuric and nitric acid. In the 1960s, scientists determined it was causing tree die-offs in higher elevations of the Catskills and Adirondacks and had made many lakes and streams too acidic to support fish. Ongoing sampling has shown improving water quality since air pollution emissions have been reduced.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nStatesville: The star of CNBC’s “The Profit” has settled a yearlong dispute with the city over a huge American flag at the reality TV star’s recreational vehicle store. News outlets report Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh announced the settlement with Marcus Lemonis on Monday, allowing the flag to continue flying outside Lemonis’ Gander RV company. At 40 feet by 80 feet, the flag violates a city ordinance limiting flags to 25 feet by 40 feet. The settlement requires Gander RV to pay about $16,000 for fines and legal costs and the council to change the ordinance to allow the flag. The council voted against that in June but unanimously agreed to it this time, just ahead of Tuesday’s elections.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: State environmental regulators have signed an agreement with the federal government that permits companies to self-report infractions in exchange for exemption from fines. The Bismarck Tribune reports the state Department of Environmental Quality signed a memorandum with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday. The agreement follows a North Dakota law passed in 2017 that gives companies the choice of conducting self-audits at power plants, oil and gas sites, and waste facilities and then reporting issues they identify to the state. Environmental Quality director Dave Glatt says the types of infractions could include companies forgetting to submit paperwork or neglecting to secure a necessary permit for a facility.\n\nOhio\n\nDayton: Books on a young white supremacist’s awakening and on Iranian refugees in Sweden are winners of awards celebrating literature’s power to promote peace and understanding. Dayton Literary Peace Prize officials say Eli Saslow’s “Rising Out of Hatred” won for nonfiction, and Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde’s “What We Owe” won for fiction. Runners-up are Wil Haygood’s “Tigerland,” about an inner-city Ohio school’s 1969 athletic triumphs, in nonfiction and Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Overstory,” about human impact on forests, in fiction. Winners receive $10,000 each and runners-up $5,000 each. A Nov. 3 gala is planned in Dayton. The literary peace prizes grew out of the 1995 Bosnia peace accords negotiated in the southwestern Ohio city.\n\nOklahoma\n\nTulsa: A committee overseeing a project to find the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre says more areas should be investigated. The Oklahoma Archaeological Survey used ground-penetrating radar to search north Tulsa’s Oaklawn Cemetery on Monday. It also plans to search another cemetery and a park for the victims of the violence that left as many as 300 dead on Tulsa’s Black Wall Street. Oversight committee member and state Rep. Regina Goodwin says searchers should also look under U.S. Highway 75, adjacent to the cemetery, where she believes bodies may have been buried. Officials say Monday’s search was largely inconclusive because nearby cameras and cellphones interfered with scanning equipment. Bystanders are asked to stay at least 300 feet away. The area will be searched again.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: If state lawmakers again fail to pass a law regulating greenhouse gas emissions next year, voters could be called on to do it. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports three initiative petitions filed with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office on Monday would require the state to phase out electricity sources that contribute to global warming and transition to a carbon-free economy by 2050. If they proceed to the November 2020 ballot, the measures would likely usher in a bruising ballot fight. But one of the organizations spearheading the efforts, clean energy coalition Renew Oregon, is hoping the measures instead add urgency to next year’s legislative session. The carbon cap bill has been in the works for over a decade and was the focus of a tussle in the Legislature this year, flaming out amid a walkout by Senate Republicans.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh is moving to block a new election seeking to unionize graduate student workers that has been proposed by a state labor board official. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the university said in a statement Tuesday that it disagrees with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board official’s finding of unfair labor practices. A university statement Tuesday said the institution “acted appropriately leading up to and throughout the April 2019 election,” which left the United Steelworkers 37 votes short. The union and student organizers accused university officials of tactics including coercion that discouraged the vote. The university had 20 days to respond to the hearing examiner’s Sept. 18 proposed ruling and order for a new election. The matter is now expected to go before the full labor board.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $12.4 million in the state to protect low-income families from lead-based paint and home health hazards. The agency and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, announced Monday that RIHousing is getting $8.4 million, and the city of Woonsocket is getting $4 million. Reed says lead poisoning remains a real problem that affects too many kids. RIHousing, created by the General Assembly, provides mortgage loans and other assistance to homebuyers. It will address lead hazards in 340 homes for low-income families with children and perform assessments in another 118 units. The work will be targeted in Pawtucket and Central Falls.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nWalhalla: A police officer killed in the line of duty in 1928 is finally being remembered at a national law enforcement memorial. Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw said research by his employees showed Officer William Henry Talley confronted two men disrupting a church service near Salem on Oct. 11, 1928. The men beat him in the head with a club or stick, and he died the next day at age 52. Crenshaw says one man was sentenced to life in prison and the other to 10 years. Crenshaw said in a statement that the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C., reviewed the research and will place Talley’s name on its memorial. Talley worked for the Oconee County Rural Police Department, the predecessor to the sheriff’s office.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nRapid City: Two 16-year-old activists, one from Pine Ridge Reservation and one from Sweden, urged politicians Monday to listen to indigenous people on climate change. At a rally in Rapid City that attracted hundreds of people, Greta Thunberg spoke out against the proposed path of the Keystone XL pipeline through South Dakota, which she said is “not morally defensible.” “Indigenous peoples have been leading this fight for centuries,” the Swedish teen said. “They have taken care of the planet, and they have lived in balance with nature, and we need to make sure that they’re voices are being heard.” Tokata Iron Eyes planned the rally and invited Thunberg to speak at the Pine Ridge and Standing Rock reservations. “We are marching for our lives, we are marching for climate justice, and we are marching for indigenous rights at the same time – because those two things go hand in hand,” Iron Eyes said.\n\nTennessee\n\nMemphis: A group of voters is appealing a judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the security of voting machines in the state’s largest county and calling for a switch to a handwritten ballot and a voter-verifiable paper trail. Lawyer Carol Chumney says Shelby County Advocates for Valid Elections has filed an appeal to U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker’s ruling last month that their lawsuit failed to show any harm has come to them and that they have no legal standing. The lawsuit claims the outdated touchscreen voting machines are not secure because they do not produce a voter-verifiable paper trail, and security safeguards are needed to shield the system from outside manipulation. The voters’ group says Parker disregarded that “there is circumstantial evidence that election tampering has occurred” in the county.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: Texas A&M University officials decided to ban e-cigarettes from all campuses because of the health risks associated with smoking them. Chancellor John Sharp announced Tuesday in a memo that the ban will go in effect “as soon as possible” on all A&M system campuses across the state, including the flagship university in College Station and Tarleton State University and Texas A&M University-Commerce in North Texas. The ban is applicable to students, faculty and staff at 11 universities and across eight state agencies. “This health threat is serious enough that I want to see the ban include every building, outside space, parking lot, garage and laboratory within the Texas A&M System,” Sharp said in the memo. He noted smoking is prohibited in most areas of the A&M system.\n\nUtah\n\nSt. George: Zion National Park visitation set records this summer, averaging more than a half-million visitors per month. Yearly park visitors have more than doubled over the past decade at the southern Utah park known for its red-rock cliffs and narrow slot canyons. Park officials have been struggling with how to handle the crowds, and this year they limited the number of people who could hike two of the most popular trails on holidays. Park spokesman Eugenne Moisa says visitors to Angels Landing and the Narrows were kept waiting in the shade, instead of on the narrow, sunny trails. The nonprofit Zion Forever Project is also accepting donations to expand access to the east side of the park in hopes of dispersing visitors to that less-visited area.\n\nVermont\n\nBurlington: The City Council has passed a resolution that aims to let noncitizens vote in city elections. Councilors voted in favor of the resolution 10-2 on Monday. Councilor Adam Roof, who wrote the resolution, says everyone in Burlington should get a vote because they’re all affected by the decisions of local government. He tells WCAX-TV that expanding voting rights would “build a more inclusive community” and make it easier for everyone in Burlington to participate in the democratic process. Council President Kurt Wright says he voted against the proposal because he believes only American citizens should have the right to vote. The resolution needs ultimate approval from the Legislature before it can become law.\n\nVirginia\n\nCharlottesville: The city is preparing to appeal its defeat in a lawsuit over two Confederate monuments. The Daily Progress reports the City Council on Monday night authorized the city attorney to appeal once a judge delivers his final ruling against removing statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore ruled last month that monuments don’t send a racially discriminatory message. He also issued a permanent injunction preventing the city from removing the statues. A group of residents sued the city, citing a state law that protects war memorials. The only outstanding issue is their request for more than $600,000 in attorneys’ fees. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15.\n\nWashington\n\nSpokane: Gov. Jay Inslee is seeking ways to reduce the number of wolves killed by the state. Inslee sent a letter Tuesday to the Department of Fish and Wildlife saying the statewide wolf management plan does not appear to be working in the Kettle River Range area of Ferry County, where the state has killed about two dozen wolves that were preying on cattle. His efforts come as wildlife experts say the vast majority of the predators are causing no trouble. The Ferry County situation is unique, experts said. “About 90% of wolf packs are co-existing in our state without livestock conflicts,” the agency said in a statement. The Kettle River Range is different because the lush, steep terrain is ideal wolf habitat that is also shared with large cattle ranches, making predation an issue.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: The U.S. Supreme Court says it will leave in place a court decision that derailed the impeachment trials of three West Virginia Supreme Court justices accused of corruption. The case was one of a long list of those the high court announced Monday that it wouldn’t hear. In question was a decision by five acting justices of West Virginia’s highest court who ruled last year that prosecuting then-state Chief Justice Margaret Workman in the state Senate would violate West Virginia Constitution’s separation of powers clause. That ruling in Workman’s case was later applied to also halt impeachment proceedings against two other justices who have since left the court: Robin Davis and Allen Loughry. Davis retired after the House approved impeachment charges against her. Loughry resigned after being convicted in federal court of felony fraud charges.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: A paralyzed state lawmaker would be allowed to call into committee meetings he can’t attend in person under rule changes Republicans unveiled Tuesday that are designed to meet demands the Democrat made nearly a year ago. But Democrats and Rep. Jimmy Anderson, who is paralyzed from the waist down, objected to Republicans tying the accommodations with several other rule changes that would strengthen GOP power in the Assembly. One of the most significant would allow Republicans to take multiple votes on overrides of vetoes made by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. “I don’t know why these are all being mixed together,” Anderson said. Republicans didn’t include Anderson in discussion of the accommodations, which he called “offensive, disappointing and frankly really frustrating.”\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: A hunting advocacy group seeks to eliminate mountain biking and all-terrain vehicles in two wilderness study areas in the western part of the state. The group Mountain Pursuit sued the U.S. Forest Service in federal court in Casper on Sept. 26. The lawsuit targets mountain biking in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area and biking and ATVs in the Shoal Creek Wilderness Study Area. The group claims that the Forest Service allows bikes and ATVs but that the law that established the areas doesn’t. Wilderness study areas are candidates for designation as wilderness, where mechanized transportation is prohibited. Forest Service spokeswoman Mary Cernicek declined comment Friday, citing policy not to comment on litigation.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/10/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/06/07/turtle-power-lotto-mania-slaughterhouse-strike-news-around-states/116883348/", "title": "Turtle power, lotto mania: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: Groups representing landlords on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to end the federal moratorium on evicting tenants who aren’t paying rent during the coronavirus pandemic. The Alabama Association of Realtors is leading the petition that argues that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority in issuing the order regarding evictions and that any health concerns have since dissipated since people are now gathering in public without masks. The eviction ban, initially put in place last year, provides protection for renters out of concern that having families lose their homes and move into shelters or share crowded conditions with relatives or friends during the pandemic would further spread the highly contagious virus. The order is now set to expire June 30. The emergency petition asks for a lower court decision blocking the order to go into effect immediately. “Landlords have been losing over $13 billion every month under the moratorium, and the total effect of the CDC’s overreach may reach up to $200 billion if it remains in effect for a year,” the emergency petition says. There have been multiple lawsuits over the eviction ban.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: Supporters of efforts to limit cruise ship traffic in the city said they failed to gather enough signatures to qualify their proposals for a vote. A group of Juneau-area residents behind the effort needed to collect signatures from nearly 3,000 registered Juneau voters for each of the three proposed measures to qualify the questions for an Oct. 5 municipal election. Karla Hart, a leader of the group, said the group failed to do so. She declined to say how many signatures were collected, KTOO Public Media reports. Wednesday was the deadline to turn in signatures. One of the proposed measures sought to prohibit cruise ships that carry more than 250 passengers from docking or anchoring in Juneau between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., and another sought to ban them from docking or anchoring on Saturdays. The third proposal sought to bar cruise ships larger than 100,000 gross tonnage from being at dock or anchor after Jan. 1, 2026. The proposed ballot questions were the subject of vigorous debate in Juneau, where tourism is a major industry, and state and local officials and businesses pushed for cruise ship travel to resume after the pandemic halted cruises last year.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: The state’s top health official expressed cautious optimism Friday that Arizona can reach a goal of getting 70% of adults partially vaccinated in the next month. “I just am fearful with our slowdown and decreased demand, it’s going to make it harder to reach that 70%, but I’m hopeful Arizona would,” Dr. Cara Christ, director of the state Department of Health Services, said during a virtual briefing. President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a “month of action” to urge more Americans to get vaccinated before the July 4 holiday. In Arizona, less than half of the state’s population eligible to receive vaccines has actually been inoculated. Unlike some other states, Arizona has not created any vaccine incentive programs. However, officials are open to partnering on one-time events. The state teamed up with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona for a family vaccine clinic Saturday at Chase Field offering free tickets for shots. There have been other incentives at the local level. In Pima County, the local health department gave out Arizona Lottery scratcher tickets at two vaccination sites over the Memorial Day weekend. A local chain of marijuana dispensaries in Mesa is offering “Snax for Vaxx,” a free pre-rolled joint and an edible gummy for getting vaccinated.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: One of the state’s largest courthouses is set to reopen to the public after access was limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock is scheduled to reopen Monday. Restrictions on entry into all county facilities by the public have been lifted. All visitors will be required to wear a face mask and have their temperature checked upon entry. Social distancing will also be mandatory in all areas of the courthouse. “We appreciate the support and patience of Pulaski County citizens with our temporary operational area during the last 15 months. It wasn’t ideal, but my office was determined to remain open for business and provide the essential services. We look forward to serving the public inside the various offices once again,” said Pulaski County Circuit and County Clerk Terri Hollingsworth. Coronavirus cases in the state rose by 253 on Friday, while those hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped by two to 178, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. “While we are seeing hopeful COVID-19 progress, let’s continue this trend by ensuring we all play a role in protecting others,” Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted Thursday.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: Gov. Gavin Newsom played game show host Friday in a drawing for 15 winners of $50,000 prizes for getting vaccinated. “If you’re on the fence, if you’re just a little bit hesitant, or you just were unwilling in the past, but all the sudden you think, ‘Wait a sec, I could really use $50,000,’ we’re doing all of this to encourage that and to get you to think anew and hopefully act anew,” Newsom said at the California State Lottery headquarters, where he was flanked by a machine used to randomly choose winners and a Wheel of Fortune-style colored wheel for show. It was the first in a series of drawings for $16.5 million in prize money aimed at encouraging Californians to get their COVID-19 shots ahead of June 15, when the state plans to lift almost all virus-related restrictions. So far, 67% of eligible people 12 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The state’s goal is to fully vaccinate at least 75% of people. Newsom announced the prize money last week, warning the state’s vaccination rates were about to go off a cliff without an intervention. State officials said rates had dropped at the time by 18% from the week before. This week, another 15 people will win $50,000, and on June 15 there will be 10 grand prize winners who will get $1.5 million each.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: The state has picked its first $1 million winner in a new lottery aimed at inspiring residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Gov. Jared Polis announced Friday that Sally Sliger of the Weld County town of Mead won the first of five $1 million prizes for residents who have received a COVID-19 vaccine. Sliger is a clinical data analyst at Tru Community Care, a Lafayette-based nonprofit health organization that offers hospice and other care. Sliger recounted how she and the community at large have suffered both personally and professionally the loss of neighbors and loved ones during the pandemic. “Like all the rest of us, we have postponed family events,” she said. “We’ve postponed memorial services. … So when the wait was over, there was no doubt I would get my vaccination.” She said she and her husband, Chris, initially planned to bolster their retirement savings and help their children with the winnings. “I am hoping that you all get the vaccine because this is the gift we have right now. This is the gift that keeps on giving,” Sliger said. Every resident who was vaccinated by the end of May was entered in the first of five weekly drawings. Residents needed to be 18 years old and have received at least one dose to be eligible. They didn’t need to register for the drawing, conducted by the Colorado Lottery.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The city’s Puerto Rican Day parade returned to the streets Saturday for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic started, with colorful floats winding their way through neighborhoods. People on the floats and in vehicles in the caravan waved the red, white and blue flags of Puerto Rico and played music as hundreds of onlookers cheered and displayed their own flags. This year’s procession was smaller than in previous years. Last year’s parade was canceled because of the pandemic. Saturday’s event also honored health care workers, first responders and other essential personnel for their work during the pandemic. Parade watcher Juliany Polar said the parade had the atmosphere of a neighborhood party. “People are happy,” Polar told the Hartford Courant. “People are ready to get out and about and enjoy the better weather, the better rates against COVID.”\n\nDelaware\n\nWilmington: The state has seen a 35% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in the past year, though local experts say the total is likely far higher due to the challenges of counting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 60% of that increase is among children, according to a recent report from the Housing Alliance Delaware, a statewide nonprofit that performed the count and aims to alleviate issues facing the homeless population. The count didn’t include unsheltered people living in cars and encampments due to COVID-19 precautions and logistical challenges this year – communities that would drive up the total number of people experiencing homelessness across Delaware. “Even though they didn’t count the unsheltered, which should have brought the count down, the count went up by 35%,” said Stephen Metraux, director of the University of Delaware’s Center for Community Research and Service. Experts say the increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness is due to a variety of factors, including a lack of affordable housing and COVID-19 safety concerns that led people to stay in hotels and motels for extended periods of time. In response, increased funds and rapid rehousing programs in the state are helping members of the homeless population find and maintain stable housing.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: With the resumption of full parking enforcement, residents have been scrambling to find available appointments at the Department of Motor Vehicles, WUSA-TV reports. After a 14-month hiatus due to the pandemic, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that ticketing wound resume again, including for expired parking meters, expired residential parking permits and expired vehicle tags. Vehicles must also display valid registration stickers. However, due to public health protocols, the DMV currently doesn’t allow walk-ins, and spots must be reserved online. Residents have until July 1 before enforcement for expired driver licenses will resume, according to the city. The mayor announced the plans weeks in advance, but some residents say it was still a struggle even to find a reservation.\n\nFlorida\n\nTallahassee: The state’s chief justice says Florida’s justice system will soon be allowed to resume in-person court proceedings without masks and social distancing rules put in place last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The administrative order issued Friday by Chief Justice Charles Canady would also require courts to take steps to resume rules guaranteeing speedy trials, which were suspended amid the logistical challenges the pandemic posed. The chief justice, however, directed courts to continue conducting most proceedings remotely, such as jury selection, unless an in-person hearing is required. Some proceedings, including hearings to determine whether an individual should be involuntarily committed, would have to be conducted in person unless the requirement is waived by the subject of the hearing. The order said criminal jury trials will be given priority for in-person hearings, while less serious cases will continue to be conducted remotely as part of the transition to pre-pandemic operations. Florida Supreme Court officials said the restrictions are being lifted because of increased vaccination rates and updated guidance from health officials. Chief judges across the state may drop the mask and distancing requirements in courtrooms as soon as June 21 and no later than Aug. 2.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: The Biden administration is reevaluating a plan by Georgia officials to overhaul how residents buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act as federal officials try to boost former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. In a letter to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services raised concerns about the state’s proposal to have the private sector, not the government, engage in outreach to get residents to sign up for insurance under the ACA. “In its application, Georgia neither quantified the size of the expected investment by the private sector nor indicated any specific commitments by the private sector to engage in outreach and marketing,” the letter sent Thursday said. It asked the governor to reassess his plan to bypass healthcare.gov and have residents shop for federally subsidized health insurance through private agents. Former President Donald Trump’s administration approved that plan last year, and state officials have touted it as a way to boost insurance coverage. A spokeswoman for the governor’s office, Mallory Blount, said Friday that the letter was still being reviewed.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Gov. David Ige said Friday that the state will drop its quarantine and coronavirus testing requirements for travelers once 70% of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. Hawaii will also lift its requirement that people wear masks indoors once that level has been reached, he said. The state Department of Health website said 59% of Hawaii’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 52% have finished their dosing regimen. The state is using its own figures, not those provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to calculate thresholds for lifting restrictions. Health Department Director Dr. Libby Char said that’s because Hawaii’s numbers are more accurate. She said it appears the CDC has been counting some of Hawaii’s doses twice. Right now, travelers arriving from out of state must spend 10 days in quarantine, or, to bypass that quarantine, they must show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken before departure for the islands. Once 60% of Hawaii’s population is vaccinated, Ige said, the state will allow travelers to bypass a quarantine requirement as long as they can prove they were vaccinated in the U.S. Restrictions on travel between the islands will open up before that.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: Schools didn’t report the majority of coronavirus cases among the state’s K-12 students in the most recent academic year, the Idaho Capital Sun reports. While state officials count more than 16,000 cases among school-age kids from September through May 22, a website showing cases by school listed only 8,660 known cases in that time period, causing concerns about whether districts and schools are armed with the information they need to prepare for the fall semester. Dr. David Pate, an adviser to Gov. Brad Little and some schools on handling the pandemic, said underfunding, privacy issues, and a lack of coronavirus testing – compounded by Idaho legislators’ rejection of federal funding to expand surveillance – combined to make the already complicated task of tracking COVID-19 outbreaks even more difficult, according to the newspaper.\n\nIllinois\n\nSpringfield: The state announced Friday that it will officially enter Phase 5 of its reopening plan on schedule this week, marking the end of 15 months of capacity restrictions and mandates brought on to help defeat the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a press release that with hospitalizations and caseloads declining, not to mention having more than half of the population vaccinated, the time was right to commence the move to full reopening next Friday, June 11. “After a tremendously challenging year, Illinois has now reached a defining moment in our efforts to defeat COVID-19,” Pritzker said. “Thanks to the hard work of residents across the state, Illinois will soon resume life as we knew it before – returning to events, gatherings and a fully reopened economy, with some of the safety guidelines we’ve adopted still in place.” The new guidance means that businesses, sporting events, conventions, theme parks and other events can return to full capacity and attendance, with vaccinated people being allowed to go without their masks, a sign of a return to normalcy that so many across the state have anticipated. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said that “the vaccine is giving us our freedoms back and allowing us to move to Phase 5.”\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: A judge will hear arguments this month over whether the governor can go ahead with a lawsuit challenging the power legislators have given themselves to intervene during public emergencies. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb asked a judge in April to block the new law passed by the GOP-dominated Legislature following criticism from many conservatives over COVID-19 restrictions that Holcomb imposed. Attorney General Todd Rokita, also a Republican, has argued he has the authority to stop Holcomb from taking the dispute to court after the Legislature overrode the governor’s veto of the new law. His office’s court filings have called the private lawyers working for Holcomb “unauthorized counsel” in asking for them to be removed from the case. Marion County Judge Patrick Dietrick on Thursday set a hearing about that dispute for June 16. Holcomb and some legal experts maintain the state constitution only allows the governor to call the Legislature into special session after its annual session ends. They argue the constitution doesn’t allow the new process under which legislative leaders could call the General Assembly into what it calls an “emergency session.”\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: A spontaneous scene of joy erupted downtown Friday as the Lauridsen Fountain in Cowles Commons was switched on for the first time since fall 2019. The signature fountain’s jets of water sprang to life in mid-morning Friday. Within the hour, a shirtless, barefoot boy was running amid them and rolling in the shallow pool. By midday, as many as eight other children and two dogs had joined the revelry as the temperature climbed above 90 degrees. The fountain had been shut off for the winter, as usual, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020. With public gatherings forbidden and shows at the adjacent Des Moines Civic Center postponed or canceled, Des Moines Performing Arts left the fountain shut down throughout summer 2020. Now, with the coronavirus infection rate waning, the Willis Broadway Series at the Civic Center rescheduled, and free public events planned over the summer on the commons, DMPA has revived the landmark water feature. Completed in 2015 as part of a major redo of the former Nollen Plaza, the so-called zero depth fountain is comprised of 17 arcing jets of water rising from the pavement of Cowles Commons. Lighted at night, they provide a colorful contrast to the illuminated sculpture “Swirl,” by artist Jim Campbell, that dominates the opposite side of the plaza.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: The state ordered less than 1% of its vaccine allocation from the federal government for last week, the state health department reported Friday. The disclosure came as the department’s data showed that Kansas still had nearly 593,000 unused doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Friday, about 21% of the 2.8 million shipped to the state. Demand for inoculations has dropped, prompting the state and county health departments to increase mobile clinics and bring vaccines to churches and work sites. The state, Wyandotte County and the University of Kansas Health System partnered with Kansas Speedway to promote vaccinations Thursday and Friday at the Kansas City, Kansas, NASCAR track. The speedway offered people who got vaccinated two laps around its track and entered them in a raffle for prizes that included tickets to the NASCAR Cup Series race there in October. The state health department said it ordered only 1,020 doses, or 0.7% of its federal allocation of 147,660, for last week. Its data showed that an average of 4,348 vaccine shots a day were administered during the seven days ending Friday, its lowest seven-day average since Jan. 21. The department said 42.5% of the state’s 2.9 million residents had received at least one vaccine shot as of Friday.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort: The state joined the giveaway bonanza Friday to entice more people to get COVID-19 vaccines, with Gov. Andy Beshear offering $1 million prizes and college scholarships. Three Kentucky adults will win $1 million prizes, and 15 students ages 12-17 will be awarded full-ride scholarships to a Kentucky public university, college, technical or trade school, he announced. The Democratic governor is hoping the chance at landing a lucrative prize is enough to overcome vaccine hesitancy keeping many Kentuckians from rolling up their sleeves for the shots. “If you’re on the fence, how about a free ride to college?” Beshear said at a news conference. “Or how about the best odds that you will ever have at winning $1 million? All you’ve got to do is the right thing that every public health official in America says you ought to be doing anyway.” To enter the three drawings, Kentucky adults vying for the $1 million prizes must have received at least the first dose of a Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Kentucky youngsters 12-17 must have received at least their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine to be eligible for the scholarships, which will cover tuition, room and board, and books. Drawings will be July 1, July 29 and Aug. 26, with winners announced the next day.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: The state is adding free entry to all 21 state parks as a perk for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday. Unlike the free drinks available this month at some bars and restaurants around the state, the free admission runs through July for anyone who can prove full vaccination, no matter when, he said. About 32% of all eligible residents have been fully vaccinated, he said. That compares with 41.2% nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under “A Shot for a Shot,” announced earlier in the week, participating establishments are offering a free drink this month to anyone who shows proof of full vaccination within the previous seven days. The state parks freebie is for visitors as well as state residents. It is part of Louisiana’s “Bring Back the Summer” initiative, Edwards said. He also noted that there are numerous nationwide incentives listed at www.vaccines.gov/incentives.html. “Stay tuned for more incentives and rewards that will be offered in the near future,” he said.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: The state’s mobile COVID-19 vaccine unit is being redirected to parts of southern Maine later this month and will wrap up service in two weeks. The state has used the mobile unit to provide vaccines to rural and underserved communities. It’s scheduled to continue that effort in Madawaska in far northern Maine through Monday. Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah said the mobile unit will then come to Portland and Old Orchard Beach. Its final day in service will be in Old Orchard Beach on June 18. That represents a shift in strategy for the unit, Shah said. Moving it to high-population centers in its final days will allow it to serve many people before it closes, he said. The unit will also be able to offer some of the numerous hospitality workers in southern Maine a shot, Shah said during a Maine Public appearance Thursday. “For much of the mobile vaccination unit’s drive through Maine, it has focused on rural Maine,” he said. The unit can administer about 500 shots a day, Shah said. It has provided more than 9,000 vaccinations, mostly to rural Maine residents, he said.\n\nMaryland\n\nWestover: Eastern Correctional Institution inmates harvested 13,000 pounds of produce in 2020 despite the constraints of a pandemic. A Somerset County Health Department initiative that started in 2014 aims to address food insecurity and childhood obesity in Somerset County, which has just two grocery stores and a Dollar General, making options for fresh fruits and vegetables slim. Sixteen inmates at ECI work daily throughout the year tilling, weeding and watering – their three gardens have no irrigation system – to grow plants including kale, cabbage, beets, tomatoes, yellow onions, eggplant, cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini and bell peppers. Their first harvest of the 2021 season weighed in at 764 pounds, which is believed to be the gardens’ largest yield yet for the start of a season. Project director Sharon Lynch of the Somerset County Health Department explained that the boxes will be divvied up among roughly 20 community partners. From there, they will reach family tables in Somerset and Wicomico counties. The program started with a three-quarter-acre plot on the prison property but has since expanded to place a garden on each side of the main prison compound and at the annex.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Four communities that state officials say were shortchanged in federal pandemic relief aid will receive a total of $109 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Friday. The communities were among those hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic but, due to shortcomings in the federal funding formula, were set to receive disproportionately smaller amounts of funding compared to other hard-hit communities, the Republican said. “Our Administration committed additional funds to Chelsea, Everett, Methuen and Randolph to ensure all of the Commonwealth’s communities received the funding they deserved from the federal relief package,” Baker said in a statement. The American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden this spring, allocated direct aid to some municipalities based on the federal Community Development Block Grant program formula, while aid to other communities was allocated on a per capita basis. The Baker administration said the use of these two different formulas created disparities in distributions. Chelsea, Everett, Methuen and Randolph are the four designated hardest-hit communities to receive disproportionately smaller levels of federal funding compared to other hardest-hit communities.\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday vetoed Republican-sponsored legislation that would have exempted high school graduation ceremonies from COVID-19 restrictions on crowd sizes. The veto, which was expected, came two days after her administration’s order was loosened to end outdoor capacity limits and limit indoor gatherings to 50% occupancy. “This bill is a solution in search of a problem,” the Democratic governor wrote to the GOP-led House. “Rather than sending me half-baked and punchless legislation like HB 4728, I encourage the Legislature to join me in eradicating this pandemic and making transformational investments in our economy.” When the measure won final passage more than two weeks ago, Michigan was restricting crowds at many outdoor stadiums to 1,000. At most indoor arenas, the limit was 375. Also Thursday, Whitmer vetoed a bill that would have prohibited a governor from issuing an emergency order extending response times for public-records requests or otherwise limiting a public body’s duties under the Freedom of Information Act. She did so for two months early in the pandemic. The since-expired order, Whitmer said, was designed to protect government officials’ lives during the first surge. She said she will not sign bills that constrain the governor’s ability to protect people.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Cloud: U.S. Sen. Tina Smith met with child care leaders and providers Friday to talk about the toll of the pandemic on child care in Central Minnesota. At Blooming Kids Care Center, she toured the facility and talked with owner Abdi Daisane, who said he’s seen a drastic drop in attendance during the pandemic. Affordability of child care, access to culturally sensitive staff and operating costs are significant problems for Minnesotans that have become even more exacerbated in the pandemic, Smith said at the meeting. During a roundtable discussion with Smith at the United Way of Central Minnesota, many of those present talked about the high cost of child care in the area, the need for more centers that are affordable for families, and benefits of public prekindergarten education. Others talked about the high costs associated with operating child care centers, which often leave owners like Daisane to take on second jobs and don’t motivate new people to enter the industry. A Minnesota family can spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on child care costs, equivalent to a semester’s tuition at the University of Minnesota, Smith said, and two-thirds of Minnesota counties are “child care deserts,” meaning there is one spot available at a child care center for every three children in the state.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The state’s top health official said Friday that lack of access isn’t the reason Mississippi is last in the nation for COVID-19 vaccinations – it’s apathy. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said he guarantees the state is among the easiest in the country to get a vaccine, but many people refuse because they don’t think they need it. “I think that’s something that we really struggle with because it’s part of our health care culture here,” he said during a virtual conversation with the Mississippi Medical Association. “It’s really sad because people in foreign countries would saw off their small toe to get a COVID vaccine, and … we’re not going to take five minutes as we walk by the Kroger pharmacy.” Only about 27% of the population is fully vaccinated. Vaccines are available at state-run sites throughout Mississippi that don’t require appointments and can be accessed at dozens of pharmacies, clinics and hospitals, all listed on the Department of Health website. “It’s almost like you need to try to not get the vaccine,” Mississippi Medical Association Executive Director Dr. Claude Brunson said Friday. Dobbs said he has been doing at-home visits personally to vaccinate homebound residents, and he said the Department of Health is exploring incentives and other measures to encourage more vaccinations.\n\nMissouri\n\nSpringfield: Health officials in Springfield and Joplin are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations amid relatively low vaccination rates and more people gathering for social events without masks or social distancing. CoxHealth’s flagship hospital in Springfield had between 35 and 40 COVID-19 patients, more than double the number two weeks ago, CEO Steve Edwards said Thursday. And nearly 20% of patients tested at CoxHealth facilities in southwestern Missouri are testing positive for the coronavirus, up from just 5% two weeks ago, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Three hospitals in Joplin reported a total of 39 COVID-19 patients Wednesday. That figure hovered around 15 in early May, The Joplin Globe reports. The city straddles Jasper and Newton counties, which have relatively low vaccination rates. About 38% of Joplin residents have completed vaccinations, but only 19% of Jasper County residents and 16% of Newton County residents have been vaccinated, according to state data. Edwards said more people have been gathering for events such as graduations, and fewer people are wearing masks or social distancing. He said nurses tell him patients say that they did not think COVID-19 was real and that they wish they had been vaccinated.\n\nMontana\n\nMissoula: A record number of residents are enrolled in the state’s Medicaid expansion program, which provides health insurance for low-income adults, according to the state health department. Nearly 99,000 people were being served by the program in April – 18,300 more than the nearly 80,500 enrolled a year earlier, according to state data. The state stopped disenrolling people from Medicaid programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the higher enrollment numbers, Chuck Council, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Health and Human Services, told Montana Public Radio. The department will resume taking people off the programs if they’re no longer eligible once Montana’s public health emergency ends, Council said. Republican Rep. Ed Buttrey of Great Falls, who co-sponsored the Medicaid expansion legislation, said the program is working as it should. “When we get into hard times, people get into hard times, this is a safety net measure to make sure that folks are not neglecting their health care and that providers are getting paid for the services they provide,” Buttrey said. The previous enrollment high was 96,656 people in August 2018. Medicaid expansion in Montana, which requires participants to pay premiums, is funded with 89% federal money and 11% state money.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The University of Nebraska Medical Center will require faculty, staff and students to document whether they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 beginning June 21. Documentation is required because medical students work with patients in clinics and hospital wards, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Faculty, staff and students who choose not to get vaccinated will be required to wear masks at medical facilities, and students who are not inoculated might miss out on clinical placements outside University of Nebraska partners. The documentation is only required for the medical center and not other campuses in the University of Nebraska system, said Jane Meza, interim executive director for the office of health security at UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Creighton University will require all students to be fully vaccinated at the Omaha and Phoenix campuses starting July 7, said the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, the university president. Creighton faculty and staff are encouraged but not required to get vaccinated.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: The Washoe County School District will offer $2,000 hiring and retention bonuses, earmarked from federal pandemic relief funds, to school bus drivers in the wake of a critical shortage ahead of summer school and the 2021-22 school year. A returning driver could make as much as $3,000 in bonuses for returning to the job and referring someone who is hired. District bus drivers get paid between $14.18 and $25.04 per hour and are full-time benefitted employees who are eligible for Nevada’s Public Employees’ Retirement System. The district and the union representing bus drivers have already signed on to a memorandum of understanding for the $2 million proposal. The agreement is slated to go in front of the school board for final approval Tuesday. Meanwhile, Washoe County School District Superintendent Kristen McNeill said the district was working on contingency plans if bus drivers and other support staff don’t show up for work Monday, after rumors that bus drivers and others who were paid for snow days and are expected to work this week without additional pay might not show up. The school year originally was scheduled to end Friday, but three days were added after schools closed for snow and smoke last year.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: The state House on Friday rejected an attempt to introduce legislation aimed at protecting workers from being punished for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Rep. Joshua Adjutant, D-Bristol, sought to suspend the rules and introduce a bill prohibiting employers from firing or docking the pay of workers who take up to three days off in connection with vaccination appointments. The goal, he said, was to eliminate a key concern for those who have yet to get inoculated. “I hope this will still do some good for some folks,” he said. Republicans argued the bill was unnecessary given the state’s high rate of vaccination. Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, was particularly scornful. “There comes a time and a place where we all come together and say enough is enough,” he said. During the pandemic, the 400-member House has met at the UNH ice arena, outside on an athletic field, in a parking lot from their cars and, for the past several months, at a Bedford athletic complex. Former House Speaker Dick Hinch, R-Merrimack, died in December, a week after being sworn in at the outdoor ceremony. “We’ve played enough games,” Baldasaro said. “We’re sitting here when we should be in our Statehouse. I hope everyone stands tall and says no.”\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed a bill to end the state’s public health emergency stemming from the coronavirus in the next 30 days. Murphy, a Democrat, signed the bill just a day after the Democrat-led Legislature passed it over objections from Republicans and a loud crowd outside the Senate chamber calling for the measure to be killed. The measure does away with some 100 executive orders, retaining just over a dozen, including one that created moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs. It leaves in place an executive order barring the garnishment of stimulus checks and extending certain rulemaking deadlines, among other directives from the governor. “Today’s lifting of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency is a clear and decisive step on the path toward normalcy,” Murphy in a statement. “The past 15 months have been a challenge, and I thank every New Jerseyan who stayed home, masked up, took precautions to keep this virus in check, and got vaccinated for allowing us to get to this point.” The public health emergency goes back to March of last year, when the first cases were detected in New Jersey, and the state soon became a hot spot. The new law says the state’s mask and distancing requirements cannot be more restrictive than what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: State finance authorities have said demand appears to be building for minimum-interest loans aimed at helping small businesses that lost income or experienced major disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic. New Mexico Finance Authority CEO Marquita Russel told a panel of state legislators Wednesday that about 865 businesses have applied for loans worth a combined $65 million since the program was overhauled in March. Reforms to the state’s small-business recovery loan program, signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in early March, doubled the maximum individual loan amount to $150,000 and broadened eligibility after businesses expressed a limited appetite for the original program. “That program, as a result of the changes made to it, really had some traction, and we’ve seen a great deal of interest,” Russel said. The federal government has closed out its Paycheck Protection Program that provided forgivable loans to businesses beginning in April 2020. Restaurants are still in line for federal relief under the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package. New Mexico’s small-business recovery loans are repaid at half the prime rate of interest that commercial banks charge their most creditworthy customers, with zero interest accrued during the first year.\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: The state failed to provide desperately needed protective gear, testing, and help with staffing for group homes serving residents with developmental and intellectual disabilities at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders of those homes and family members told lawmakers at a legislative hearing Thursday. Staffing levels in New York’s system supporting individuals with disabilities have dwindled since the beginning of the pandemic, which advocates say threatens the quality of care for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers faced calls Thursday to boost pay for group home workers, require routine coronavirus testing and ensure people with disabilities are a priority in response plans. Among advocates’ concerns is that group homes, unlike nursing homes, aren’t required to regularly test staff for the virus or launch rounds of testing after a resident or staffer tests positive. At least 577 people have died due to confirmed COVID-19 infection at group residences overseen by the state’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, according to the agency’s latest data. That tally doesn’t include the number of residents who died at hospitals, or deaths of residents who likely died of COVID-19.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: For the first time since COVID-19 vaccines became available in December 2020, the state declined to accept any more supplies last week. Instead, last week’s requests from North Carolina providers were being fulfilled through transfers from other providers or through requests to local health departments, according to state health officials. “We are currently focusing on prioritizing the in-state inventory of vaccine by using a first-in, first-out strategy so that providers use vaccines by date of expiration in chronological order, as well as transferring vaccine between providers who can use them,” the state Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement Friday. The move comes as North Carolina nears an announcement on additional financial incentives to boost vaccine participation amid a sizable drop in vaccine demand over the past two months. North Carolina had returned more than 1.2 million doses to the federal government as of Friday. Nearly all states have contributed to the federal pool, according to the state Health Department. Data the department released Friday shows a surplus of nearly 2.4 million COVID-19 vaccines waiting for residents to take. The state has also turned down nearly 2.4 million additional shots from its federal allocation.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The state is accepting applications for its Medical Marijuana Advisory Board after changes to the panel’s membership by the 2021 Legislature. The Bismarck Tribune reports the deadline to apply is June 30. Current board members’ terms will expire July 31. New membership of the nine-member board includes six people appointed by the governor: a health care provider, a state Health Department representative, a manufacturing representative, a dispensary representative, a registered qualifying patient and a licensed pharmacist. Voters approved medical marijuana in 2016. The 2017 Legislature implemented the program, which has 5,392 active patient cards and eight dispensaries operating in the state, including one in Bismarck.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: The state’s firefighters, officers, nurses, doctors and child care providers all worked outside the home throughout the coronavirus pandemic. But who among them deserves a $1,000 bonus check from federal pandemic relief funding allocated to the state has become a heated debate. Three Republican representatives and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost introduced a plan to give first responders $1,000 checks if they worked full time throughout the pandemic and weren’t disciplined during that time period. Part-time first responders and volunteer firefighters would get $500 checks. But Rep. Erica Crawley, D-Columbus, said she thinks all front-line workers deserve these “hero pay” checks. “I don’t think we should be pitting one essential worker against another,” Crawley said. “We all needed them in their respective fields as we navigated COVID-19.” Shannon Jones, a former Republican state senator who now runs early childhood advocacy group Groundwork Ohio, went a step further, calling it a “punch to the gut” to see the Senate put lines in its budget proposal to prohibit Ohio from giving child care workers these kinds of bonuses. “The average wage for child care professionals is $10.60 per hour,” Jones said. “They could have earned more money on unemployment during the pandemic.”\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: More than 51,700 residents have qualified for Medicaid since enrollment began last week under an expansion of the program that voters approved last year, state officials said Friday. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees the Medicaid program, reported that 51,708 Oklahomans have already qualified for benefits, including about 30,000 from urban areas and more than 21,000 from rural Oklahoma. Benefits will begin July 1. After a decade of Republican resistance, Oklahoma voters narrowly approved a constitutional amendment last year to expand eligibility for benefits. Now, an individual who earns up to $17,796 annually, or $36,588 for a family of four, qualifies for Medicaid health care coverage. The Health Care Authority has projected that about 215,000 residents would qualify for expanded Medicaid for a total annual cost of about $1.3 billion. The estimated state share would be about $164 million. But those numbers could be considerably higher given the number of Oklahomans who lost their jobs and work-related health insurance because of the economic shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday that the state is close to lifting masking, physical distancing and capacity restrictions statewide. Last month, Brown set a vaccination goal of 70% of Oregon adults receiving at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine before reopening the economy. As of Friday, 66% of residents 18 and up had been vaccinated. “I want to be very clear that we are able to reopen like this because of the efficiency of the vaccines,” Brown said. “However, there are still Oregonians who need to take extra precautions to feel and stay safe.” For more than a year, Oregon has faced some of the nation’s strictest safety measures – county risk levels, mask requirements inside and outside, limited gatherings and restaurants closed for indoor dining. But as vaccination numbers increase, restrictions have been loosened as the state shifts from emergency response to recovery. Last month, Brown set statewide and county vaccination targets, with the hope of reopening the state’s economy by the end of June. Another 127,000 people must be vaccinated to reach the goal of 70%. “This has really become a tale of two pandemics. If you are vaccinated, then you’re safe; you can carry on safely without wearing a mask and social distancing,” Brown said. “If you are not vaccinated, this virus still poses a very real threat.”\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPhiladelphia: Bike riders won’t need their shirts, pants, skirts or even underwear – just a mask. Organizers of the annual Philly Naked Bike Ride say this year’s event will take place Aug. 28 and will require masks, based on the city’s earlier coronavirus restrictions. The city lifted most of its COVID-19 rules last week, citing an increase in vaccinations and a decrease in cases. But ride organizers said they hadn’t had a chance to chat since the city’s guidelines changed, so for the time being, they’re “going to stick with our initial mask guidance.” Lead organizer Wesley Noonan-Sessa said they’ll keep an eye on what the city says in the next month or so. Ride participants, sometimes in the thousands, usually gather in a park to strip off their clothes and paint each other’s bodies before carefully hopping on their bikes. The naked ride aims to promote positive body image, advocate for the safety of cyclists and protest dependence on fossil fuels. Riders pedal a 10-mile course while taking in sights including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s steps, featured in the “Rocky” movies. The coronavirus pandemic slammed the brakes on the ride that had been planned for last year. Organizers said then that canceling the 2020 event was “the most responsible thing to do.”\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: The state’s restaurant industry, with the backing of some lawmakers, wants to extend a pandemic state-of-emergency rule that allows eateries to sell alcohol along with takeout orders. With indoor dining banned or limited for long stretches during the crisis of 2020, it was a way for restaurants make up for lost sales. Sam Glynn, owner of Chomp Kitchen & Drinks in Providence, said when restaurants were first reopening after last spring’s lockdown, takeout drink orders made up as much as a quarter of his sales. That has dropped to closer to about 10% as indoor dining has returned to near-normal. He would like to see the rule made permanent. “I remember when it first passed, people were concerned it would get taken advantage of, but it hasn’t been a problem, and now it just allows people to have some of the experience of going out for drinks when they are home,” Glynn said. The House passed a bill in March that would allow beer, wine and cocktails to be sold with takeout orders through the end of this year. An initial Senate version of the legislation would have made the last call for takeout drinks the end of 2022, but that was dialed back to March 2022 in a revised version that passed the Senate special legislation committee Wednesday.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: People who get vaccinated against COVID-19 at breweries in the state this month will receive a free beer as part of an effort to get shots into the arms of young adults, the health department announced Thursday. The “Shot and a Chaser” events are scheduled throughout June at participating breweries across the state as part of a partnership between the Department of Health and Environmental Control and the South Carolina Brewers Guild. Trained medical professionals will offer the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine; people who get their shot on site can get a free beer or soda. Some sites will also offer the two-dose Moderna vaccine. “Young adults are often busy travelers and incredibly social, so we want to make sure they get their shot to protect themselves and others while visiting restaurants, vacationing and attending various events,” Dr. Edward Simmer, the agency’s director, said in a statement. The campaign targets young adults in the state, health officials said. Fewer than 16,000 people between the ages of 20 and 24 have been vaccinated in the state, according to DHEC data – equaling less than 1% of all vaccinated people in South Carolina.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: In a sign of meatpacking workers becoming emboldened by the pandemic’s health threats and economic repercussions, the union at a local pork processing plant that experienced a bad coronavirus outbreak last year has overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer from Smithfield Foods and will next move to bring the prospect of a strike to the negotiating table. The Sioux Falls chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said 99% of union members who voted on the new contract offered from Smithfield Foods rejected it. Throughout the pandemic, workers have organized around pushes for workplace safety and are now navigating an economy where some slaughterhouses, desperate for employees, have suddenly boosted wages. Smithfield Foods downplayed the contract rejection, saying it was a “routine” part of negotiations. But the UFCW plans to vote Monday on whether to authorize a walkout. Union leaders said they view striking as a last resort, as they push for a base wage of $19 an hour to match the rate at a JBS pork plant 70 miles away in Minnesota. Slaughterhouse jobs usually offer elevated wages and benefits in exchange for the bloody, back-breaking work on butchering lines. But the wage gap is closing between meatpacking jobs and those at fast-food chains or retail stores, union leaders warned.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Summer concerts returned in the city’s post-pandemic restriction era with the OUTLOUD Music Festival over the weekend. “It feels good to be back out,” said Jack Davis, founder of Good Neighbor Festivals. The two-day festival Friday and Saturday featured 18 solo acts, music groups and bands and was billed as “a celebration of LGBTQ+ artists and allies.” OUTLOUD is not to be confused with the annual Nashville Pride Festival, which is traditionally held in June. This year’s event was postponed until September due to the pandemic. Friday’s OUTLOUD lineup featured Japanese Breakfast and Tank and the Bangas as the headliners. The latter headlined again Saturday along with Todrick Hall. It was OUTLOUD’s fifth year holding a concert series, with similar events to this weekend’s held from 2017 to 2019. Organizers held a drive-in concert in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. “It was a good learning experience that I never want to do again,” Davis joked. OUTLOUD serves as one of many unofficial ends to the COVID-19 era in Nashville. For weeks the city has lowered restrictions at restaurants, bars, sporting events and concert venues as the vaccinated population rose to nearly 1 of every 2 Nashvillians having received at least one dose.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: After a hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Eric Munscher of Houston returned to the Austin lakefront restaurant County Line over the weekend – not for its barbecue but for its turtles. On Saturday morning, Munscher of the Turtle Survival Alliance and a handful of other volunteers gathered at the restaurant, which sits on Bull Creek near Lake Austin, to resume a study of the abundant turtles in the area. “It’s just neat to finally be out again and getting people to come see the turtles,” said Munscher, director of the alliance’s North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group. With fishnets in tow, they dived into the water to catch, identify and tag turtles. They returned Sunday to continue their work and to celebrate the six different local species at the Turtlemania fundraiser, where people can drink beer and save turtles. Proceeds from the event, featuring discounted beer from the Celis Brewery, are earmarked to help fund the Turtle Survival Alliance’s research. Munscher, who occasionally watched the turtles through the restaurant’s online “turtle cam” during the pandemic, said the group plans to return again in the fall, when he said they hope to open the volunteer opportunity to more members of the public after further progress in vaccinations in economic reopening.\n\nUtah\n\nOgden: If not for a special pot of federal COVID-19 relief funding meant to help foster kids and young adults who have left the system, Olivia Kilfoyle worries about what could have been. Thanks to the funding, she recently moved into an apartment and has a place to call home. Without the help – part of some $343.5 million in all meant to help foster kids and former foster youth around the country contend with the fallout from the pandemic – she worries she may have joined the ranks of the homeless, the Standard-Examiner reports. “It put me in a safe place,” said Kilfoyle, 21, a former foster child now living on her own. Now, state officials who help foster kids and those who have aged out of the system are putting out a call. Utah received $2 million, and funds are still available for those in need. “Please get in contact if you’re out there and need help,” said Aubrey Adams, who aids the population as a program administrator with the Utah Department of Human Services’ Division of Child and Family Services. Funds can help with back rent, apartment deposits, car repairs, some schooling-related expenses and more, she said. The program is meant for those 14 and older in foster care but is also geared to some adults as old as 27 who no longer receive care but did at some point after the age of 14.\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: The state has launched an economic recovery program for businesses that have not received prior state and federal pandemic-related funding and for others that continue to suffer pandemic-related losses. The program is expected to deliver $30 million in federal financial relief to businesses that were ineligible for state and federal funding and to businesses that can show a continued loss of revenues, Gov. Phil Scott said. “As we move out of the pandemic emergency and into our long-term recovery, it’s so important that we support Vermont’s small businesses and employers, who are the backbone of our economy,” Scott said Thursday. “These grants will provide critical relief in the short term, allowing them to rebuild a stable foundation for their economic futures.” The state will start taking applications for the Economic Recovery Bridge Program on Monday. Grants will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis. In the first 30 days, priority will be given to businesses that have not received or do not have a pending application for any state or federal financial assistance in 2020 or 2021, officials said. More information is available online on the Agency of Commerce and Community Development Recovery Resource Center website.\n\nVirginia\n\nMount Solon: After a year’s hiatus due to the coronavirus, Red Wing Roots music festival is back and set to sell out quick, according to festival organizers. “We are thrilled to be coming together after such a long, difficult time,” said Michael Weaver, co-founder of the festival. “We anticipate a lot of emotion. For sure, it will be a year unlike any other.” The festival, the brainchild of local band The Steel Wheels, is focused on finger-picking, bluegrass and American roots music. It is also a way to bring the band back home to the area each summer. The music festival, which takes place at Natural Chimneys Park in Mount Solon, will be held July 9-11. In addition to The Steel Wheels, other 2021 headliners include Yarn, Asleep at the Wheel, The Mavericks, Dustbowl Revival and Tim O’Brien Band. Since it began in 2013, Red Wing has emphasized great music, great food and great fun for the entire family in the great outdoors, a release said. This year, the festival will have featured musical performances on five stages, along with regional food trucks with options for craft beer, cider and wine.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia: The state is joining the trend of offering prizes to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, with Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday announcing a series of giveaways that includes lottery drawings totaling $2 million, college tuition assistance, airline tickets and game systems. The incentive program, called “Shot of a Lifetime,” applies to those who start the vaccination process this month, as well as residents who are already inoculated. “This is a very, very commonsense investment to save lives,” Inslee said. Starting Tuesday, the state lottery will hold two drawings a week for four weeks, one for adults and another for those ages 12-17. The lottery cash prize will start out with a weekly prize of $250,000 through the end of June. On July 13, a final $1 million drawing will be held. In addition, the state’s public four-year universities and two-year community and technical colleges will receive nearly $1 million to run their own drawing for free tuition and expenses for vaccinated students. The state lottery will also hold drawings to offer 30 prizes of one-year of tuition college credits to 12- to 17-year-olds through the state’s Guaranteed Education Tuition program, with the credits going directly to the students’ families.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: Gov. Jim Justice has called a special session of the Legislature aimed at allocating federal pandemic relief funding and increasing funds for road improvements. Justice announced that the session will begin Monday at noon. Lawmakers were already scheduled to be in Charleston for June committee meetings, he said. The Legislature will consider allocating federal relief funds to the Department of Health and Human Resources and the Department of Education, Justice said in a statement. The funding was received after the end of the regular legislative session, he said. He also wants lawmakers to consider allocating $150 million from the state’s general fund to the Division of Highways for road projects. Justice said it would fund 702 miles of road paving and projects on 40 bridges across all 55 counties. West Virginia’s aging infrastructure often receives a failing grade. Voters approved a $1.6 billion bond measure called Roads to Prosperity in 2017 that the governor championed to improve public works.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: Gov. Tony Evers made it official Saturday, announcing his bid for a second term in the battleground state where he stands as a Democratic check on the Republican-controlled Legislature. Evers, 69, said he decided to run again because he has unfinished business and needs to remain able to stop Republicans through his veto powers, especially as they advocate for election law changes that would make it harder to vote by absentee ballot. “Even though I haven’t played much hockey, I have come to appreciate the role of being a goalie,” Evers said. He announced his plans during the Wisconsin Democratic Convention, which was held virtually Saturday for a second year in a row. The first 31/ 2 years of Evers’ term have been marked by clashes with the GOP-led Legislature and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans brought successful lawsuits accusing Evers of overstepping his authority with closures, capacity limits and mask orders meant to slow the spread of the virus. Evers said his handling of the pandemic saved lives, and he listed it as “easily the most important thing that we’ve done.” Wisconsin Republican Party spokeswoman Anna Kelly accused Evers of a multitude of failures, including not getting kids back to school sooner and not getting benefits to the unemployed quickly enough.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: Health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic have changed how ticketing will be handled at this year’s Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. The “World’s Largest Outdoor Rodeo and Western Celebration” is switching to a mostly virtual system for the July 23-Aug. 1 event, which was canceled last year for the first time in its 125-year history. Digital tickets can be scanned via an app or browser on a smartphone, and those who opt for printed tickets will face steep surcharges, according to the newspaper. Few other pandemic-related precautions are planned, with crowds allowed at full capacity and no mask requirements.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/06/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/02/22/preaching-vaccines-bonnet-scheme-water-news-around-states/115492470/", "title": "Preaching vaccines, bonnet scheme: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: The state health officer said Friday that he is cautiously optimistic about improving COVID-19 numbers but urged people to maintain precautions such as wearing masks and avoiding crowds. “This is the most optimistic we’ve been, I think, maybe since this all began,” Dr. Scott Harris said. Three major barometers of the pandemic’s severity – hospitalizations, daily new cases and coronavirus test percent positivity – have fallen to levels the state last saw in fall or summer. “We are not out of the woods, but we see how to get out of the woods. Please don’t stop doing the things that you are doing. This is not the time to ease up wearing your mask. It’s not the time to go be in large groups of people,” Harris said. The number of COVID-19 patients in Alabama hospitals Friday dipped below 1,000 for the first time since October. Harris said there may be increased immunity both from vaccinations and from temporary natural immunity in people who have been exposed to the virus. The end of the holiday season and related large gatherings likely also plays a part, he said. “Frankly, it has been a breath of fresh air for all of us in health care. This has been a tremendous burden for all of us,” said Dr. Sarah Nafziger, vice president for clinical services at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: Gov. Mike Dunleavy said his administration will no longer respond to or participate in hearings led by state Sen. Lora Reinbold, telling the fellow Republican in a withering letter that she has used her position to “misrepresent” the state’s COVID-19 response and that her demands for information have gone beyond checks and balances and are “not based in fact.” “It is lamentable that the good citizens of Eagle River and Chugiak are deprived of meaningful representation by the actions of the person holding the office of Senator,” Dunleavy wrote in the letter dated Thursday. “I will not continue to subject the public resources of the State of Alaska to the mockery of a charade, disguised as public purpose.” Reinbold has criticized the governor for issuing pandemic-related disaster declarations while the Legislature was not in session and taken aim at health restrictions imposed by local governments, airlines and the Legislature, including mask requirements. On social media, Reinbold has accused the Dunleavy administration of being “wild” about “these experimental” COVID-19 vaccines, “bragging over 100,000 have gotten them in Alaska,” and characterized the administration as seeking disaster declarations to get mass vaccination clinics. Health officials say the vaccines are safe and effective, and no steps were skipped during the clinical trials.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: The state on Friday announced it would provide $100 million of federal funding to counties for coronavirus testing and related work. The state Department of Health Services said the $100 million initial allocation is being provided for staffing, laboratory testing “and other activities critical to combating COVID-19.” The announcement followed Pima County officials’ recent declaration that they might have to suspend testing as of Monday because of a lack of funding. Arizona received $418.9 million in January from the federal government for virus testing and related work and must submit a budget by mid-March to detail how it will spend the money, the department said. In addition to allocations to counties, the state will use some of the money for statewide testing programs, including testing done by Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, the department said. Of the $100 million to counties, $60.6 million is being sent to Maricopa County and $14.4 million to Pima County, which include most of metro Phoenix and most of the Tucson area, respectively.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The number of coronavirus cases in the state rose by more than 500 on Saturday, and the death toll increased by 12, the Department of Health said, as the averages of both numbers continued to decline. According to the department, 5,348 Arkansans have died of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. The number of people hospitalized in the state with the virus fell by 25 to 605. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases in Arkansas has decreased by nearly 75%, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers. Gov. Asa Hutchinson planned to visit vaccination clinics over the weekend, a senior citizen’s center in Lavaca and a pharmacy in Bryant, after urging vaccine providers on Friday to schedule extra weekend hours to make up for a slowdown because of last week’s snowstorms. “It is critical to get our vaccines out as quickly as possible, and we have to catch up on the missed appointments and slow vaccine distribution over the last week,” he said in a statement. Hutchinson has said the state needs to vaccinate more people age 70 and older before expanding the vaccine program to others.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: The state plans to set aside 10% of first vaccine doses for educators, school staff and child care providers starting in March to help get children back in classrooms, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday. The move is aimed at jump-starting in-person learning after nearly a year of distance learning for most of California’s 6 million K-12 students. The announcement came a day after legislative leaders announced a $6.5 billion proposal aimed at reopening schools this spring. Newsom said that’s not fast enough and suggested he could veto it. “I can’t support something that’s going to delay the safe reopening of schools for our youngest kids,” he said. Lawmakers didn’t appear deterred by Newsom’s comments and still planned to take up the school legislation Monday, said Nannette Miranda, a spokeswoman for Assemblyman Phil Ting, a Democrat who heads the chamber’s budget committee. California on Friday also announced a more rapid return to athletic playing fields for youth sports, while Newsom recently said more counties will soon be able to allow various businesses to reopen and expand customer volume. But school districts in many areas of the state such as San Francisco and the city of Los Angeles remain closed to in-person learning.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: Out-of-work residents are able to reopen and file new claims after a program distributing pandemic unemployment assistance ended in December, officials said. Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Director Joe Barela said residents could begin filing Saturday, marking the second launch of federal extended jobless benefits this year, Colorado Public Radio reports. The first phase began in February for people who still had money remaining on their account in December, when federal programs funded through the coronavirus relief bill ended. “They will be able to begin certifying their weeks or the payments filing new claims and reopening if they were moving into programs,” Barela said. “That’s really exciting.” The state does not know exactly how many people qualified over the weekend but said about 289,000 were contacted with information on how to sign up for the benefits. The state was delayed in revamping the benefits because it upgraded its system and needed to reprogram the benefit options. Phil Spesshardt, benefits services manager with the department, said the delay was caused in part by Congress, which waited until the program ended to take any action and then waited for additional information from the U.S. Department of Labor.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The state is partnering with a Hartford-based nonprofit organization that advocates for health equity across the state to reach out to more than 10,000 minority residents over the next three months and dispel myths about the COVID-19 vaccine. The arrangement announced Friday is part of the state’s efforts to reach out to Black and Latino communities that have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus and may be reticent to get vaccinated. “We want to ensure that communities at highest risk have equitable access to the vaccines that will protect them and allow everyone to return to a sense of normalcy,” Dr. Deidre Gifford, the state’s acting public health commissioner, said in a statement. “The team at Health Equity Solutions will strengthen and enhance our outreach efforts in the Black and Latino communities.” The organization plans to focus on faith- and education-based networks to reach the widest audience possible with information about the vaccine. There will be a particular focus on issues concerning distrust of the medical system within the state’s Black community. Health Equity Solutions already hosted webinars that have reached more than 3,000 people, and more than 20 events have been scheduled, with more being planned.\n\nDelaware\n\nWilmington: With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continuing to plummet, Gov. John Carney on Friday announced a loosening of the restrictions for indoor gatherings at businesses and other indoor spaces. The new rules allow for a maximum of 25 people or 50% of the stated fire occupancy restrictions, whichever is lower, though organizers may submit a plan to the Division of Public Health to host larger events up to 150 people. Outdoor gatherings are limited to 50 people or up to 250 with an approved plan from DPH. “I don’t think anything else is imminent after today’s announcement,” said Jonathan Starkey, a spokesman for Carney. “We are continuing to see positive trends in the numbers – hospitalizations, percent positive and cases. That’s good news. We are also still moving down from the winter peaks, which is why the governor and the public health team are taking a cautious approach as we see sustained decreases in spread. We’ll continue to follow the numbers and ask everyone to do their part.”\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith started his virtual Valentine’s Day sermon at Shiloh Baptist Church by talking about love and vaccinations. “When you get a vaccination, you are saying to everyone around you that you love them enough that you don’t want any hurt, harm or danger to befall them,” he said. “In the spirit of love, keep at it until you get your vaccination. That’s the only thing that’s going to erase this terrible scourge.” Health officials in the nation’s capital are hoping Smith and other Black religious leaders will serve as community influencers to overcome what officials say is a persistent vaccine reluctance in the Black community. Smith and several other local ministers recently received their first vaccine shots. Black residents make up a little under half of Washington’s population but constitute nearly three-fourths of the city’s COVID-19 deaths. D.C. is now offering vaccinations to residents over age 65, but numbers show seniors in the poorest and blackest parts of Washington are lagging behind. Officials partially blame historic distrust of the medical establishment, especially among Black seniors, who vividly remember medical exploitation horrors such as the Tuskegee syphilis study. The D.C. government is giving priority for vaccine registration to predominantly Black ZIP codes and running public information campaigns. “There’s distrust in our community. We can’t ignore that,” said the Rev. James Coleman of All Nations Baptist, who was vaccinated along with Smith. “The church, and particularly the Black church, is essential. … That’s what pastors do.”\n\nFlorida\n\nOrlando: Two women who dressed up to make themselves appear older to get COVID-19 vaccinations were turned away and issued trespass warnings, officials said. Dr. Raul Pino, state health officer in Orange County, said the women disguised themselves Wednesday with bonnets, gloves and glasses. Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Guido told the Orlando Sentinel the women altered their birth years on their vaccination registrations to bypass the state system, which prioritizes people 65 and older. It appeared the women had gotten the first shot, but it was unclear where. “Their names matched their registration but not their dates of birth,” she told the newspaper. The women were 35 and 45 years old, officials said in a news release. Health Department officials asked deputies to issue trespass warnings. In a video provided by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy could be heard saying, “You’ve stolen a vaccine from somebody that needs it more than you.” Guido said the warning means the women can’t return to the convention center for any reason – including a vaccine, coronavirus test, convention or show. If they do return, they could face arrest.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: The state is renewing its request to again be exempted from federal requirements to administer standardized tests. State Superintendent Richard Woods announced Thursday that he and Gov. Brian Kemp had resubmitted a waiver request to the U.S. Department of Education. Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in September that she would deny waiver requests for the 2020-2021 school year, after granting them last year. Woods argues that tests are useless because they’re supposed to measure instruction in a regular learning environment. “This unprecedented school year has been anything but traditional, and experts know tests cannot be completely redesigned and revamped overnight,” Woods said in a statement Thursday. Most Georgia school districts have been offering in-person instruction for most of the year, but a substantial portion of students have chosen to learn remotely from home. A handful of districts have offered no in-person instruction. It’s unclear how the Biden administration will receive renewed waiver requests, which are being submitted by a number of states. Miguel Cardona, Biden’s nominee for education secretary, has yet to get a confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate. Woods said it will be hard for all students to take tests in-person, as testing security rules required.\n\nHawaii\n\nLihue: More than 200 people gathered on Kauai last week to show support for reopening tourism on the island amid the pandemic. The group outside Vidinha Stadium on Wednesday primarily consisted of business owners, The Garden Island reports. Attendees said they wanted to express concerns to county and state officials about the continued economic impact of restrictions on tourism. Kauai requires visitors to take part in the Safe Travels Hawaii pre-travel testing program. Those who stay at a county-approved resort can bypass the state’s mandated 10-day quarantine with a negative coronavirus test taken after at least three days on the island. Cynthia Keener shared the struggles she and her husband have experienced under travel restrictions while trying to operate their business, Ohana Fishing Charters. “Just like many in the business community, we had a thriving growing business before COVID,” she said. “As a result of these policies, we have almost lost 100% of our revenue and acquired mountains of debt from government loans just to hang on.” Keener said there is “no transparency” from the Kauai County Council or the office of Mayor Derek Kawakami about future plans. “Keep me alive; (don’t) kill my dream. Don’t kill that,” said David Stewart, who owns a landscaping business he hopes to pass on to his children..\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: A bill to outlaw demonstrating at a person’s residence headed to the full state House on Friday, after a series of demonstrations at the homes of officials and police officers spurred by frustration with restrictions on gatherings or mask-wearing mandates to slow coronavirus infections and deaths. The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted 11-4 to approve the bill backers say is needed to prevent mobs from trying to intimidate and even terrorize families in their homes. Backers say allowing the demonstrations will tear the social fabric by causing people to avoid public service or join police agencies. “When we turn the volume up this high on political discourse, we crowd out anybody not willing to be equally as confrontational, angry, loud or violent,” Republican Rep. Greg Chaney said. He is a co-sponsor of the legislation with Rep. Brooke Green, a Democrat from Boise. In the past year, “a new playbook has been written, and several groups of individuals across the spectrum used it to terrify families in their homes,” Green said. The public hearing drew so many people wanting to testify that comments were taken Wednesday and Friday. After Wednesday’s raucous hearing, torch- and pitchfork-wielding protesters gathered outside Chaney’s house that evening.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: The state’s top doctor has vowed wide availability of the COVID-19 vaccine to residents but said it’ll take months for supply to meet demand. Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike’s comments in a weekend Chicago Tribune opinion piece come amid complaints of shortages and difficulties in obtaining appointments. A recent blast of winter weather also delayed shipments, leading to canceled appointments. “It will be months before our supply comfortably outpaces demand – an obstacle we always expected, and the very reason we have devoted so much time and thought to the phases of prioritization,” Ezike wrote. “Everyone deserves their turn to get the vaccine, and it’s my promise to Illinois that we will get there – as efficiently, quickly and equitably as we can.” Currently, health care workers, residents 65 and older, and essential workers are eligible in Illinois. State officials announced an expansion starting later this month to include people with underlying health conditions, but Chicago and other areas are delaying, citing a vaccine shortage. More than 2.1 million doses have been administered in Illinois, according to state officials. Overall, Illinois has reported more than 1.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 20,000 deaths.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Legislators are supporting proposals that would permanently allow members of local government boards to participate virtually in public meetings. Similar bills approved by the state House and Senate would permit boards to adopt policies allowing members to vote virtually as long as they can be seen and heard. State and local government boards have generally been allowed to hold all-virtual meetings since Gov. Eric Holcomb issued an exemption to the current state law requiring in-person meetings last spring as part of COVID-19 public health measures. The proposals would require that at least half of board members attend public meetings in person and that members participate virtually in no more than half of the meetings except for limited reasons such as illness or military service. The House-passed version would require meetings with virtual participation to also allow the public to observe the meeting online starting in July, while the Senate version would delay that requirement until January 2023.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Seventy-six of the state’s 82 critical-access hospitals ended the last fiscal year with negative operating margins, an IowaWatch analysis of their most recently reported financial data shows. Only six critical-access hospitals – facilities with 25 or fewer beds and designated by Congress as essential for rural communities – brought in more revenue from patient care than what they spent on providing that care, the data shows. “If you were vulnerable before this, you’re more vulnerable now,” said Kirk Norris, the Iowa Hospital Association’s president and CEO. The new data includes the distribution of federal stimulus money to stem revenue losses after the onset of COVID-19. Stimulus money helped 37 of the 50 hospitals ending their fiscal year in June 2020 to report net income, IowaWatch’s analysis showed. But COVID-19 clearly disrupted hospitals forced to switch from offering their main revenue producer – outpatient services – to focusing on patients with COVID-19 last spring. The Iowa Hospital Association reported last year that 17 hospitals already were at financial risk more than a year before COVID-19 hit the state. The association reported in December that Iowa hospitals, overall, lost an estimated $433 million in March through October because of COVID-19.\n\nKansas\n\nMission: Gov. Laura Kelly has announced plans to fix issues that have led the state to underreport the number of people vaccinated against COVID-19. Kansas’ vaccination rate consistently ranks among the lowest in the country, and Kelly has blamed technical problems with the tracking system, called KSWebIZ. As of Friday, 11.1% of the state’s population, or 456,093 people, had received at least the first of two required doses, state health data showed. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed the state had administered only 72% of 581,975 doses received, up from 60.2% a week ago. The state’s data showed that 78% of 581,975 doses had been administered. Dr. Lee Norman, the head of the state health department, said last week that 100,000 doses administered had not been registered as such because of system glitches. Kelly said in a statement released Thursday evening that the state is working on addressing underlying data transfer problems with KSWebIZ. In the meantime, providers are required starting Monday to report daily on the number of doses received, administered, in inventory and transferred.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort: The state is relaxing coronavirus-related restrictions at some of its long-term care facilities. Indoor visitation will resume at non-Medicare-certified facilities that have been through the COVID-19 vaccination process, Gov. Andy Beshear said. Group activities, communal dining and visitations among vaccinated residents will resume, he said. Included in the updated protocols are assisted living facilities, personal care homes, intermediate care facilities for people with intellectual disabilities and independent living centers, Beshear said. “It’s been a long journey, and it’s exciting to be able to relax some restrictions,” said state Cabinet for Health and Family Services inspector general Adam Mather. People will be expected to schedule their visits with the facility, and up to two visitors from the same household can visit a resident at one time, state officials said. Visitors will need to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of the visit. The new protocols took effect Saturday. Beshear said Friday that more than 550,000 Kentuckians had received at least one dose of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: The state is asking President Joe Biden’s administration to establish one of its planned federal COVID-19 vaccine sites at the New Orleans convention center, but state officials would like that site to come with extra doses of the shots rather than a reshuffling of current supply. Negotiations continue with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Key questions remain unanswered about how such a site could be financed and whether that would help Louisiana get new doses of the vaccine, said Dr. Joe Kanter, the top public health adviser to Gov. John Bel Edwards. Kanter said New Orleans is prepared to staff the vaccination site itself, working with LCMC Health, which operates six hospitals and urgent care centers in the region. But Kanter said the city “would like some financial reimbursement on it. And the doses would be important to all of us. So those are the two biggest things.” The Biden administration said it intends to open 100 federal vaccination sites by the end of the month in an effort to speed the immunizations. But governors and health officials around the country are mixed on the offer because they don’t necessarily need more places to administer the vaccine – just more doses overall.\n\nMaine\n\nManchester: Pediatricians are reminding parents to get their children caught up on routine immunizations, which many students have missed during the coronavirus pandemic. The Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics said Thursday that a Blue Cross Blue Shield analysis found a 26% drop in vaccine doses last year. The analysis also found 40% of parents surveyed said their children missed shots because of the pandemic. The chapter called on parents to get in touch with their pediatricians to schedule visits to keep their children up to date. Data indicates adolescents in Maine are behind on vaccines for certain cancers, pertussis and meningitis, the organization said in a statement. The chapter said parents have delayed or skipped vaccination appointments because of fear of catching the coronavirus, economic hardship, and greater demands on their time and attention. Immunizations are required to attend school in Maine, and a new law goes into effect this year that takes away philosophical and religious exemptions.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: The state Senate voted Friday to expand a tax credit for low-income workers to include immigrants, including those living in the country illegally, who work and pay taxes in the state in a measure that adds to a broader pandemic relief initiative already enacted last week. The measure, now in the hands of the House of Delegates, is a follow-up to more than $1 billion in relief that passed with bipartisan support this month and was signed into law last Monday by Gov. Larry Hogan. The House had added the provisions but withdrew them over the Republican governor’s opposition. Democrats, who control the General Assembly, are moving forward now in separate legislation. The measure, which extends the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income residents to people who use individual taxpayer individual numbers rather than Social Security numbers, was approved 32-15, largely along party lines. Sen. Justin Ready, R-Carroll County, noted that the measure would cost about $60 million in each of the next three years. But supporters say the workers covered under the measure pay more than $100 million in taxes annually without being eligible for most tax credits or public assistance programs.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: The medical director of the city agency coordinating Boston’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been working remotely from Hawaii for several months, and even though she has permission to do so, some critics say it may hinder her effectiveness. Dr. Jennifer Lo relocated with her family in November with approval from Rita Nieves, the Boston Public Health Commission’s executive director, NBC10 Boston reports. Since then, the city has had to deal with a post-holiday surge in cases and the vaccine rollout. As medical director, Lo’s job is to advise the commission on medical policy issues. Lo, in an email to the station, said she and her husband made “the difficult decision” to temporarily relocate to Hawaii for personal reasons, including to take care of two sets of aging parents. She said plans on returning to Massachusetts this summer. She offered to resign, but the commission “determined I would be able to effectively continue my work remotely while maintaining the same level of responsibilities required in this role,” she wrote. Nieves said she consulted with other city leaders before approving Lo’s work arrangement. She said it took about a year to fill the position the last time it opened, and she didn’t want to risk being without a medical director during an emergency.\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: A $2.5 million federal grant will be used to address health care staffing shortages in the state’s rural communities. Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity said the grant will support the addition of more than 430 new health care workers over the next four years. The agency will lead MiREACH, a network of employer-led collaboratives, to identify targeted health care occupations based on employer demand and feedback. The grant program aims to help individuals gain the skills necessary to provide needed services, fill vacancies and allow employers to find skilled workers more readily. The coronavirus pandemic has increased the need for health care workers, particularly in rural areas, according to the state.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMinneapolis: Public school enrollment in the state dropped by about 17,000 students as families turned to home schooling, private schools and delaying entry into kindergarten amid the coronavirus pandemic, education officials announced Friday. The enrollment figures from the Minnesota Department of Education represented a 2% drop from the previous year. The state allocates school funding based on enrollment, and districts stand to lose about $10,164 for every student they failed to keep. Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed education budget includes $25 million in one-time money to compensate. “COVID-19 has already robbed our students of so many milestones that make school memorable,” Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker said in a statement. “Now, our schools are potentially facing a huge loss in funding and resources, which will mean schools faced with eliminating learning opportunities and experiences for our students, especially students who need them most.” The “vast majority” of the decline in public school enrollment was among white students, the department said. It said the change was driven mostly by younger students, with public kindergarten enrollment dropping 9% even as private kindergarten enrollment rose 12.4%. And 49.5% more students were home-schooled.\n\nMississippi\n\nMcComb: Neither rain, snow nor waterless pipes could prevent Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center from helping patients in need, as employees carried buckets of water drawn from a well to clean and sanitize during the city’s water crisis last week. The hospital’s clinics closed ahead of the winter weather and remained closed when the water shortage hit. “Water is for sure vital to the operation of the hospital,” hospital CEO?Charla Rowley said, noting that cleaning and sanitation is impossible without it and that many operations in the hospital could not function either. She said she was proud of the hard work of the maintenance staff for keeping the hospital operating during the storm and outage, noting that the dietary department also played a huge role in the hospital’s operations. With the closure of clinics and the cancellation of elective surgeries, Rowley said the hospital has taken a half-million-dollar hit a day, which could come back with some serious repercussions in the long run. “We have had tornadoes, hurricanes, COVID and now this freeze,”?she said. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kevin Richardson said the lack of water could not stop the hospital from serving the community. “Mother Nature’s challenges were not enough to dampen the grit of our front-line providers,” he said.\n\nMissouri\n\nSt. Louis: The city’s NAACP chapter filed federal civil rights complaints against the state over the lack of COVID-19 vaccinations for prisoners. No Missouri prisoners had been inoculated, a state corrections department spokeswoman told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday. The St. Louis NAACP filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division over the lack of vaccinations, the chapter president said in a Thursday news release. “While we are well aware that the CDC makes recommendations with respect to who should be offered COVID-19 vaccine first, and each state has its own plan for deciding who will be vaccinated first and how they can receive vaccines; that ‘Does Not’ exempt the State from long-standing civil rights nondiscrimination requirements when utilizing Federal assistance,” St. Louis NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt said in a statement, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said about 8,000 Missouri inmates, or roughly a third of the total imprisoned population, now qualify for the vaccine. Of those, 6,000 said they would like to be vaccinated.\n\nMontana\n\nGreat Falls: Cascade County residents ages 16-69 with underlying health conditions are now eligible to sign up for COVID-19 vaccination appointments. People eligible for the vaccine in Phase 1B include people 70 and older, people 16-69 with qualifying health conditions, and Native Americans and other people of color. Qualifying health conditions in Phase 1B include cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Down syndrome, heart conditions, immunocompromised state from solid organ transplant, severe obesity, sickle cell disease, diabetes and other conditions on a case-by-case basis determined by medical providers. Proof of medical conditions is not required to make an appointment. As of Friday, 12,749 total doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Cascade County, and 3,514 residents had been fully immunized, meaning they had received both doses. For more information and to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment, visit www.benefis.org/COVIDvaccine.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Gov. Pete Ricketts on Friday defended the state’s decision to prioritize the elderly for vaccination shots over people with underlying health conditions, noting that most residents who have died so far were at least 65 years old. Ricketts’ administration amended its COVID-19 vaccination plan last week. People who have cancer, diabetes and other major health problems were previously eligible in the current phase of the state’s vaccination plan, but they were removed from their spot on the list so health officials could focus on older residents. Essential workers such as first responders, teachers and corrections employees also qualify, but state officials have ordered local public health districts and pharmacies to give at least 90% of their available doses to senior citizens. Approximately 82% of the 2,043 people who have died from the coronavirus in Nebraska were at least 65 years old, according to the state’s online tracking portal. Age isn’t the only risk factor, however. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that people with ailments such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart disease or obesity are at greater risk of getting severely ill. Ricketts said giving too many of the state’s limited doses to people besides seniors is a “less efficient” approach.\n\nNevada\n\nCarson City: Restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus in the Legislature have changed the nature of lobbying and raised new questions about how to regulate it. Public access to the legislative building has been restricted since lawmakers reconvened Feb. 1, leaving the normally bustling corridors empty aside from staff and reporters. But that hasn’t stopped advocates from pursuing their usual work, lobbying for and against the hundreds of bills that have already been introduced. Unlike other states, Nevada’s Lobbying Disclosure and Regulation Act only requires lobbyists to register if they lobby in person. With the building closed, no lobbyists have registered since lawmakers reconvened three weeks ago. Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson and Assemblywoman Brittney Miller introduced a bill last week that would require lobbyists to register whether they advocate on behalf of their clients in person or remotely. Many lobbyists say they support the bill. But Melissa Clement of Nevada Right to Life and three other lobbyists for conservative groups and causes filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming the closure of the legislative building violates their First Amendment right to petition government.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: A federal judge heard arguments Friday on whether medically vulnerable lawmakers should be given remote access to state House sessions this week or whether separate entrances for Democrats and Republicans and other safety measures would suffice. Seven Democratic lawmakers sued Republican House Speaker Sherm Packard last week, arguing that holding in-person sessions without a remote option violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and the state and federal constitutions. It also forces them to choose between risking their lives and not performing their duties as elected officials, attorney Paul Twomey said at a hearing Friday. If all 28 lawmakers with medical disabilities stayed home, nearly 100,000 residents across the state would lose representation, he said. Republican House leaders have said fully remote sessions are not possible because no rules exist to allow them, while blocking attempts to create such rules. But the Senate has been meeting remotely without an explicit rule, and the House has been holding “hybrid” committee hearings that allow for remote participation. Judge Landya McCafferty gave the parties more time to provide more background material.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nNewark: As debate mounts over how to reopen schools during the pandemic, some parents are taking to federal court, arguing that their children’s struggles with remote learning represent a violation of constitutional rights. The South Orange and Maplewood district joined the legal parade late last month, with parents asking a judge to end nearly a year of online-only instruction for its 7,000 students. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Newark stood out not only for its wrenching stories of students slipping behind as they study in isolation but also for the full-scale reversal it seeks: Parents asked the court to force the K-12 district for both towns, known locally as SOMA, to resume full-day classes, five days a week. The “arbitrary” closures during the pandemic violate students’ constitutional rights and have wreaked havoc on their psyches and academic performance, the lawsuit says. Two parents said their 7-year-old has struggled with digital lessons and “often says he is ‘stupid’ and ‘the dumbest kid in the class.’ ” But two Rutgers University law professors questioned whether the heartbreaking anecdotes will be enough to convince the courts that constitutional violations had occurred or that a judge should overrule local officials.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: Legislators are sprinting amid the pandemic to come up with a framework for regulating and taxing recreational marijuana after voters ousted key opponents of pot legalization in 2020 elections. Four Democrat-backed proposals with a social-justice bent are competing for traction at the Legislature, along with a Republican proposal aimed at stamping out the illicit pot market. The Legislature has until March 20 to send a cannabis bill to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, an enthusiastic backer of marijuana as a tool of economic development and fiscal security for the state. The primary election in 2020 unseated several staunch legalization opponents, including the former top-ranked Senate Democrat. The New Mexico Constitution doesn’t allow for ballot initiatives, leaving cannabis legalization to the legislative process. A House panel last Monday advanced a bill that places an emphasis on economic and social issues by subsidizing medical marijuana for poor patients, underwriting grants for communities affected by drug criminalization, and expunging convictions for cannabis use and possession. Senate committees are poised to vet at least three separate proposals. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, an arbitration attorney by trade, said he’s eager to bring a compromise bill to the floor.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: The city’s restaurants will be allowed to serve more customers indoors starting this Friday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced late last week that New York City indoor dining will be able to expand from 25% capacity to 35% capacity – in line with New Jersey’s current limit. His announcement came as the state sees a continued drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations. The rate of New Yorkers testing positive for the coronavirus has fallen to the lowest mark since before Thanksgiving, state officials said Saturday. Cuomo said the state’s seven-day rolling average positivity rate had fallen 43 straight days, hitting 3.5% on Friday. The number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus, meanwhile, fell below 6,000 for the first time since Dec. 14. The state said 97 New Yorkers died of the coronavirus Friday, bringing the state’s official death total to 37,776. Cuomo asked New Yorkers to remain patient with vaccinations, as the state’s distribution network and population of eligible recipients – 10 million – continues to far exceed supply coming from the federal government. The state now has the resources to vaccinate up to 100,000 New Yorkers every day, he said, but not nearly enough vaccines to do so.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: President Joe Biden’s administration told the state Friday afternoon that it will see further delays in shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses. North Carolina public health officials said they now expect more deliveries of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to resume at the start of the week. The state health department also warned that some providers may choose not to go forward with plans to vaccinate teachers and school staff once eligibility opens up to that group Wednesday. Severe winter weather has fueled delays across the country, causing tens of thousands of North Carolinians scheduled to be vaccinated last week to have their appointments pushed back. “What we are being informed by Operation Warp Speed is that shipments are being held by the producers and distributors until they are sure shipments won’t be delayed,” the department said in a statement. “To our knowledge, operations are being planned to help ensure spoilage isn’t an issue.” The delay could affect North Carolina’s transition to its third phase of vaccine distribution, which expands eligibility Wednesday to child care workers, pre-K-12 educators and school staff. A far more expansive group of “front-line essential workers” ranging from mail carriers to elected officials is scheduled to become eligible starting March 10.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: Visitation to the state’s No. 1 tourist attraction fell last year, but it wasn’t all because of the coronavirus pandemic. Theodore Roosevelt National Park saw about 558,000 visitors in 2020, the fewest since 2013. Visitation fell 20% from 2019, but some months last year spiked substantially over the previous year – including December, which saw a 173% jump. Visitation is measured in an algorithm counting people who stop in visitor centers combined with an average of people in vehicles. Park Superintendent Wendy Ross said she sees “so many variables, especially this past year.” “I don’t put much stock in the fact that we were down 20%; in fact, I’m a little surprised we weren’t down more, but it was a very busy year. It felt like a ‘normal’ year,” Ross said. Annual visitation averaged about 700,000 people from 2015 to 2019. The emerging pandemic and reduced oil and gas activity likely brought more people to the park in February, March and April, according to Ross. Visitation in February and March leapt 253% and 106%, respectively, over the same months in 2019, The Bismarck Tribune reports.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: Legislative testimony made Wednesday in support of a GOP-backed effort to limit public health orders made by the governor was removed from YouTube after the service deemed it contained COVID-19 misinformation. The Google-owned platform said it removed content that was uploaded last week to the Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom channel for violating the company’s terms of services. The video showed Thomas Renz, an attorney for Ohio Stands Up, a citizen group, making the opening testimony during a House committee hearing on a bill that would allow lawmakers to vote down public health orders during the pandemic. In the more than 30-minute testimony, Renz made a number of debunked or baseless claims, including that no Ohioans under the age of 19 have died from COVID-19 – a claim that has been debunked by state data. “We have clear Community Guidelines that govern what videos may stay on YouTube, which we enforce consistently, regardless of speaker,” said Ivy Choi, a spokesperson for Google. “We removed this video in accordance with our COVID-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content that claims a certain age group cannot transmit the virus.”\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: More than 681,000 Oklahomans have now received COVID-19 vaccine shots, including more than 204,000 who have received both required doses, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The state ranked 12th in the nation Saturday with 14.3% of the population having received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control, and the state health department scheduled vaccination clinics over the weekend to replace those canceled because of a winter storm. There have been a reported 418,318 total coronavirus cases and 4,155 deaths due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, increases of 973 cases and 23 deaths since Friday, according to the health department. The seven-day rolling average of new cases in the state has fallen below 1,000 in the past two weeks, dropping from 2,215.7 per day to 932.4, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day rolling average of deaths declined from 34.1 per day to 24.7 during the same period.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: Despite historic winter weather across the country causing shipment delays and forcing mass vaccination sites to reschedule appointments, health officials said Friday that the state’s vaccination timeline remains on schedule. While more than 10,000 vaccine appointments were canceled earlier this month, beginning Monday people 70 and older will be eligible to receive doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and people 65 and older will be eligible March 1. “I want to reassure every Oregon senior – nothing that’s happened in the past week will slow down our schedule,” Pat Allen, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, said during a news conference Friday. “It seems like every season brings a new test on top of the pandemic. Oregon’s vaccination clinics were no exception.” However, health officials said they do not expect that “these problems will have a long-term impact on our vaccination schedule.” During the past week, Oregon averaged more than 14,000 vaccinations per day. As of Thursday, 12% of the state’s population has been vaccinated with first doses, and 5% of residents had been fully vaccinated.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: The state Department of Health announced a change Friday in its vaccine distribution plan that aims to ramp up the number of COVID-19 inoculations by distributing more doses to large hospitals and removing smaller physician practices and clinics from the provider list altogether. Tried-and-true distribution methods in Pennsylvania are insufficient for vaccines that require subzero transportation and storage temperatures and require people to come back for a second dose. Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said the four groups handling distribution going forward would be hospitals, federally qualified health centers, county health departments and pharmacies. Primary care doctors, long the mainstay of vaccination efforts, are being left out and left in the dark when it comes to battling the coronavirus, said Dr. Tracey Conti, a physician and president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians. They have no information for the patients calling daily with pleas for the vaccine. Yet they believe their involvement is essential to counter the misinformation that could undermine the whole effort. “People would rather get vaccinated by their doctor,” Conti said. “It’s not clear they’ll accept it from anyone else.”\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: As part of the state’s plan to get vaccines to residents who cannot leave their homes, health officials on Friday launched a website to gather information about the housebound. The site does not allow people to sign up for a vaccination appointment – it is simply to collect information for planning purposes, the Department of Health said in a statement. The information in most cases is already being provided by cities and towns and home health agencies, but the state wants to make sure everyone limited to their homes is covered. Health care providers or family members can help fill out the form, the agency said. The state has been vaccinating residents 75 and older, and starting Monday, people 65 and older are eligible to make appointments. Also, the number of retail pharmacies in the state offering the vaccine will increase significantly by the end of the week, the agency said. CVS should be vaccinating at 14 locations, up from the current seven, while Walgreens should be vaccinating at 24 locations, up from the current 15. Nearly 127,000 people have received a vaccine first dose in Rhode Island, while 57,000 people have been fully vaccinated, according to health department data released Friday.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: The leader of the state agency that provides services for people with disabilities has been fired without explanation. After meeting privately and with no discussion Thursday, the board of the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs voted 5-1 to immediately fire Director Mary Poole, The Post and Courier of Charleston reports. She had been at the agency for less than three years and made $171,400. Commissioner David Thomas of Greenville made the motion to dismiss Poole. A former state senator, Thomas told the newspaper he couldn’t say why she was fired because it was a personnel issue. He said Poole’s firing is for the good of the agency and hopefully will lead to the agency serving more people and serving them better. Poole said she has worked honestly and diligently for more than 30 years with people with disabilities and was not given an opportunity to discuss with the board any concerns with her work. “We found and corrected many long-standing and significant issues within the agency and provider network,” Poole said in a statement. “My only regret is that these efforts were cut short with so much work left to be done.” When Poole was hired in mid-2018, the department was suffering from years of abuse allegations with its providers, financial problems and long waiting lists.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: State health officials said Sunday that the number of hospitalizations due to the coronavirus continues to fall, although a virus research group ranks the state among the top 10 for the number of deaths relative to population. The state reported 140 new cases and four new deaths in the past day, raising the totals to 111,309 known cases and 1,863 fatalities since the start of the pandemic. The COVID Tracking Project ranks South Dakota seventh in the country in the number of deaths per capita. The update showed that the number of hospitalizations fell from 95 to 90. Of those patients, 17 were being treated in intensive care units, and nine required ventilators. There were about 230 new cases per 100,000 people in South Dakota over the past two weeks, which ranks 38th in the country for new cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. One in every 919 people in South Dakota tested positive in the past week.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Residents bought more guns in 2020 than ever before, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found. The state law enforcement agency found 740,580 gun transactions were performed last year, a 53% jump compared to 2019. Tennessee outpaced the national average in gun purchases, which saw about a 40% increase. TBI personnel track gun purchases and perform background checks on prospective gun buyers. Pam Beck, assistant director of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division, pointed to four main causes in the spike of firearms purchases: the coronavirus pandemic, talks of defunding the police, bouts of civil unrest and the 2020 election. “People feel like they have to protect themselves,” she said. According to data provided by TBI, the state saw the biggest jump in gun purchases in March, when residents purchased more than 77,000 firearms. This came at the start of the pandemic, when the first coronavirus case was discovered in Tennessee and when then-President Donald Trump declared a national emergency because of the virus. Some states began announcing lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, and grocery store shelves emptied as panic buying ensued.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: The number of COVID-19 deaths across the state increased by more than 200 on Saturday, while the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus declined, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. There were an additional 227 COVID-19 deaths, more than 4,900 new cases and 7,535 hospitalizations, a decline of 222 people hospitalized, the department reported. Texas has recorded more than 2.5 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began and more than 42,000 deaths due to COVID-19, the third-highest death count in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day rolling average of new cases has fallen from nearly 18,980 per day to nearly 5,041, and the average of daily deaths has dropped from 305.7 per day to 127.3, according to the Johns Hopkins data. During the past two weeks, the rolling average of daily new cases in Texas has fallen by 13,849.3, a decrease of 74.7%, according to the Johns Hopkins figures.\n\nUtah\n\nSalt Lake City: Utah State Parks has reported park visitation increased by 2.6 million between 2019 and 2020 despite safety restrictions implemented during the coronavirus pandemic. “Our state parks saw elevated visitation numbers throughout the traditional summer season,” Utah Division of Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Rasmussen said. “Not only that, but record-breaking visitation continued into the fall and winter and has not tapered off like it normally does.” The agency reported that the 44 parks across the state recorded 10.6 million visitors combined last year compared to the 8 million recorded in 2019, according to KSTU-TV. Officials said popular boating and off-highway vehicle areas statewide also saw increase use. Park officials announced in April last year that many state parks would reopen after weeks of being restricted to in-county residents to limit the spread of COVID-19. Some stayed closed based on local public health orders. “We never closed our doors to the public. While there was a time when visitation was restricted due to local health orders, we were always open,” Rasmussen said. Utah State Parks expects visitation to remain high this year as people continue to find outdoor spaces to escape during the pandemic.\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: The state is easing travel restrictions for Vermonters and visitors who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 starting this week, Gov. Phil Scott announced Friday. Two weeks after receiving their second dose of the vaccine, Vermonters do not have to quarantine after travel starting Tuesday, Scott said during his twice-weekly virus briefing. Out-of-state visitors also are exempt from quarantining if they can prove they have been fully vaccinated. “Of course they’ll still need to comply with all our other health guidance like masking and distancing,” Scott said. The state is also easing restrictions for fully vaccinated residents of long-term care facilities in areas where there are no current outbreaks beginning this Friday. The state is encouraging full vaccination status as a factor in planning for activities, such as eating together and participating in other group activities, and for having indoor visitors, said Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. Residents of all skilled nursing facilities have received the second dose of the vaccine, Smith said. A total of 93% of residents of all skilled nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities have gotten their first dose, and 74% have received their second dose, he said.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Lawmakers have passed bills that allow certain first responders to file workers’ compensation benefits for being disabled from COVID-19, but legislators still need to reach agreement on some differences. The measures would make COVID-19 an occupational disease for firefighters, emergency medical services personnel, and law enforcement or correctional officers and allow these individuals to file for workers’ compensation benefits. The workers’ dependents also would be eligible for benefits if the workers die from COVID-19. Occupational diseases arise out of and in the course of employment, according to state law, and include hepatitis, meningococcal meningitis, tuberculosis or HIV. Senate Bill 1375, sponsored by Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, and House Bill 2207, introduced by Del. Jay Jones, D- Norfolk, had mostly unanimous support. The main difference is that the House bill would extend the compensation to regional jail officers. The Senate also rejected an amendment by the House that would allow compensation for cases going back to March 2020. The bills would apply to persons diagnosed with COVID-19 on or after July 1 whose death or disability from COVID-19 occurred on or after that same date, Del. Kaye Kory, D-Falls Church, said in an email.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia: More than $2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding will be allocated across the state under a measure signed into law Friday by Gov. Jay Inslee. The legislation, which received strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate this month, spends $2.2 billion on various efforts, including vaccine administration, rental assistance and money for school districts. “The focus this year is relief, recovery and resilience, and this legislation will make big progress in all three,” Inslee said before signing the bill. It stipulates that $714 million will be allocated to schools as they move toward welcoming students back to the classroom. An additional $618 million will go toward vaccine administration, contact tracing and testing, and $365 million will go toward rental assistance to help renters and landlords affected by the pandemic. The bill also allocates $240 million to small-business assistance grants that will be administered through the state Department of Commerce and $70 million to assist undocumented immigrants affected by the pandemic who do not qualify for federal or state assistance. An additional $50 million is for grants to help child care businesses stay open and expand capacity, and $26 million is for food assistance.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: Gov. Jim Justice has ordered the loosening of pandemic restrictions on businesses after a decline in coronavirus deaths and cases, and he sought the return of all elementary and middle school students to in-person learning. In a flurry of announcements, the governor on Friday said small businesses and grocery stores can double their allowed capacity, and the limit on social gatherings will go up from 25 to 75 people. Bars and restaurants can allow 75% of seating capacity, up from 50%, if social distancing is possible. Hours later, the state health department announced that the first three cases of the coronavirus variant from the United Kingdom have been detected in West Virginia. It is among one of three variants already found in other states that researchers believe may spread more easily. “While the presence of this COVID-19 variant in West Virginia is not surprising, it’s a good motivator for us to double down on the prevention efforts we’ve had in place for many months now,” Dr. Ayne Amjad, the state health officer, said in a statement. Justice said all teachers and school workers over age 50 who accepted the offer for a vaccine will be given their second doses this week. He said he is asking the State Board of Education to bring all students from kindergarten to eighth grade back to classrooms.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: The University of Wisconsin-Madison warned of a recent spike in coronavirus cases Friday, a day after a more contagious variant of the virus was detected in the county, and the university system’s president said he wanted students to attend nearly all classes in person this fall. The warning emailed to students, faculty and staff told of a “significant increase” in COVID-19 cases among students on and off campus. There were 112 newly confirmed cases reported Wednesday and 99 more Thursday, according to the email from Jake Baggott, the head of University Health Services. “Equally concerning, contact tracing suggests that many of the students who have tested positive had attended gatherings, sometimes without wearing masks,” Baggott said. The seven-day average of new cases both on and off campus was up 13.2%, according to the UW dashboard. Although no immediate mitigation steps were being taken on campus, Baggott said the university was preparing to take action if necessary. He said that could include limiting access to or temporarily closing recreational facilities; placing residence halls under quarantine; increasing testing frequency for students off campus; and directing students to stay at home except for attending class and work.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: National weather issues prevented some shipments of vaccines against COVID-19, according to the Wyoming Department of Health. WDH said last week that it was not expecting any Moderna vaccine doses to be delivered to Wyoming locations due to weather problems in other states. Wyoming was slated to receive 5,700 first doses and 3,700 second doses for its distribution process. Shipments to the Walmart locations involved in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program were also affected. “At this point, we are awaiting updates from our federal partners about next week’s shipments,” said Angie Van Houten, Community Health Section chief with WDH. More than 93,000 residents have received their first dose so far when state and special federal counts are combined. Each of the currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines requires two doses for maximum effectiveness. Because some of the affected vaccine shipments included second doses, Van Houten said individuals who are delayed in receiving their second dose can still receive the vaccine when it is available. “There will not be a need to ‘start over,’ ” she said.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/21/retail-thefts-shoplifting-becoming-more-brazen-california/7956997002/", "title": "Retail thefts, shoplifting becoming more brazen in California", "text": "Retailers have been clamoring for help when it comes to organized retail thefts\n\n75% of retailers reported seeing some increase in organized retail thefts throughout 2020\n\nCalifornia's Proposition 47 raised the felony threshold for shoplifting from $450 to $950\n\nLOS ANGELES – The man laid a large black garbage bag on the ground of a Walgreens and nonchalantly grabbed products from shelves and threw them in before he hauled the goods out of the San Francisco store on his bicycle.\n\nFootage of the incident and viral videos of thefts in stores in the area are examples of what retailers call a rise in the boldness of retail thefts nationwide.\n\nCalifornia has two of the top five cities most targeted by organized retail thefts. Some of the largest shopping chains have been taking unprecedented steps in hopes of stunting the phenomenon, from cutting store hours, beefing up security measures and even closing locations entirely.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/07/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/03/10/smithsonian-exhibit-summer-camp-boom-turn-lights-news-around-states/115544416/", "title": "Smithsonian exhibit, summer camp boom: News from around our 50 ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nTuscaloosa: The city’s schools will continue their Monday-through-Thursday schedule of in-person classes for the rest of the 2020-21 school year, according to Superintendent Mike Daria. He said Tuscaloosa City Schools will resume five days of face-to-face instruction next fall for the 2021-22 school year. “As we’ve worked to make the decision for the last part of the school year, we’ve looked at everything from our employee vaccinations, the needs of our virtual students, balancing the needs of educators and the needs of our students,” Daria said. “We want to make sure the instruction is robust and strong.” Keeping the status quo will help virtual students and provide TCS the opportunity to continue meal distribution for families on Fridays, according to a news release from the school system. About one-third of TCS students take virtual classes full time, many instructed by educators who are teaching face-to-face classes during the week as well. “Our virtual students’ schedules are important,” Daria said. “It’s important that they have access to their instructors at the times they have access to (them) now, and that includes time on Friday.” Keeping classrooms empty on Fridays also allows for deeper cleaning of school facilities. And TCS has plans for a Monday-Friday summer learning program.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said he’s feeling better after contracting the coronavirus last month. Dunleavy said Friday that while his voice still gets slightly hoarse if he talks for too long, his other symptoms are now mild. He said he had a bad headache, fever, chills and body aches for several days. Dunleavy was scheduled to finish his isolation period last Saturday. There have been more than 56,000 coronavirus cases and 301 virus-related deaths in Alaska as of Friday, according to data from the state Department of Health and Social Services. Dunleavy, a Republican, said his experience with the virus has not changed much about how he thinks the state should respond to the pandemic. He encouraged people without allergies to receive vaccines to mitigate the spread of the virus, KTOO-FM reports. “If you get the virus, you’re out of commission for 14 days,” Dunleavy said. “You don’t want to spread this to others – you don’t want to be part of that. If you get the vaccination – after your first shot, you’ve got a pretty good dose of immunity for the most part, if everything works out. And then you don’t have to end up under house arrest.”\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: Restaurant workers may have to wait a little longer for their chance to sign up for COVID-19 vaccines, despite the fact that their jobs often require interaction with customers. The Arizona Department of Health Services classifies restaurants as “essential services.” This previously meant restaurant workers would be able to sign up for vaccines once their county reached Phase 1B of distribution. But the state switched away from its phase-based distribution plan Monday and started an age-based plan for access to shots. State-run vaccination sites are now welcoming anyone 55 and up. The next age bracket includes those 45 and older. The new plan, however, isn’t uniform across the state. Individual counties are each developing their own plans, merging aspects of the original and the new to form hybrid plans. These plans allow counties to prioritize essential workers as they choose. Holly Poynter, public information officer for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said while the state receives federal recommendations on who should be prioritized, “local allocators may further subprioritize populations in each phase based on vaccine supply.” Restaurant owners can help employees get vaccinated by submitting a Phase 1B Employer Vaccine Request Form, available through ADHS.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The state on Monday expanded eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines to another 180,000 people, including manufacturing workers and essential government employees. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Arkansas would fully open up access to the remainder of the 1B category under the state’s vaccination plan. The move also opens up the vaccine to those working in public transportation and grocery stores, as well as people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Arkansas had previously made the vaccine available to those at least 65 years old, teachers, health care workers, law enforcement, and workers at poultry plants and other food manufacturing facilities. Hutchinson said demand was less than expected when the state held vaccination clinics over the weekend. He also announced Arkansas was setting up a statewide vaccination scheduling system. Up to 30 employees will be staffing a call center to help residents make appointments, the governor said. The expanded eligibility does not include food service workers, despite the state last month lifting most of its restrictions including capacity limits on restaurants and bars. They are currently in the 1C category, which Hutchinson said he hoped to make eligible by next month.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSan Jose: Santa Clara County will not participate in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to have Blue Shield control COVID-19 vaccine distribution, a newspaper reports. County Executive Jeff Smith said late Monday that the county will not sign a contract with the health insurance company because it would not improve speed or efficiency, The Mercury News reports. The state’s switch to a vaccine appointment and delivery system administered by Blue Shield was expected to be completed by March 31. Skepticism, however, has surfaced among the state’s 58 counties. So far, Kern County is the only county to sign a contract with Blue Shield. But 41 federally qualified health centers, 28 hospitals, four large medical groups, three pharmacies and three tribal clinics have signed on, according to the company. In Santa Clara County, Smith characterized Blue Shield’s role as “adding bureaucracies.” The state turned to Blue Shield to create uniform rules and increase the rate of vaccinations, with the state’s My Turn system serving as the central portal for getting appointments. Blue Shield is also tasked with improving targeting of hard-hit communities.\n\nColorado\n\nBuena Vista: Three cases of the coronavirus variant originating in South Africa have been reported at a correctional facility in the town, officials said. The Colorado State Public Health Laboratory said two employees and one inmate tested positive after being randomly selected for tests intended to detect potential variants, KDVR-TV reports. They are now in isolation. The state lab is expected to check all confirmed coronavirus-positive results for the variant. People who test negative are expected to receive vaccinations, including family members and those who have been in close contact with workers at the facility. The vaccinations at the facility are part of a health department policy that has prioritized people “for emerging risk of rapid spread of COVID-19,” health officials said. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is investigating an outbreak that began in October at the Buena Vista Correctional Complex, a state prison for men about 100 miles west of Colorado Springs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus variant from South Africa spreads quickly and is more contagious.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The state is on track to receive more than $10 billion in federal COVID-19 funding in the Democratic coronavirus relief legislation before Congress, including $4 billion worth of stimulus payments, members of the state’s all-Democratic House delegation said Tuesday. Eligible residents among an estimated 1.5 million Connecticut households are set to receive up to $1,400 in direct payments under the massive 628-page bill, which is now awaiting final approval in the House of Representatives. “That relief is going to be seen at the dinner table and assisting in terms of the day-to-day, ongoing efforts, on behalf of our citizens to make ends meet,” said U.S. Rep. John Larson, who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District. The federal lawmakers said Connecticut is set to receive funds for a variety of COVID-19-related needs. Those include expanded food assistance, rental and mortgage assistance, statewide and community-based vaccination clinics and outreach, health insurance subsidies, school safety improvements, child care tax credits, and an estimated $276 million in direct aid to financially struggling child care providers.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: The state says it’s reviewing new federal guidance that eases restrictions for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The Delaware Division of Public Health told the Delaware State News on Monday that it will determine how to incorporate the federal updates into the state’s guidance for residents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says people who are fully vaccinated can gather indoors with others who’ve been fully vaccinated without wearing a mask or social distancing. Vaccinated people can also come together in a single household with people who are considered at low risk for severe disease. For instance, fully vaccinated grandparents could visit healthy children and grandchildren. A person is considered fully inoculated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of the vaccine. However, the CDC is continuing to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks and maintain social distancing when in public.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has acquired the vial that contained the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine administered in the United States as part of its plans to document the global pandemic and “this extraordinary period we were going through.” The acquisition, along with other materials related to that first vaccine dose, was announced by the museum Tuesday to mark the upcoming one-year anniversary of the pandemic. Associated Press journalists were given an exclusive backstage look at the newly obtained materials, which include vials, special shipping equipment, and the medical scrubs and ID badge of the New York City nurse who was America’s first COVID-19 vaccine recipient. “We wanted objects that would tell the full story,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s director. “Everything from the scrubs to the freezer unit that shipped the vaccines.” Although there are a host of coronavirus-related anniversaries taking place, the museum is choosing to mark Thursday – March 11, the day last year that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. That’s also the week that much of American life shut down as the coronavirus made inroads into offices, homes and sporting events.\n\nFlorida\n\nMiami Beach: Local faith leaders and the fire department have joined resources to expedite vaccination of older adults starting with the homebound and those in low-income housing. Through late February the initiative was responsible for delivering 5,466 shots in the city, where a relatively high 17% of its 92,000 residents are 65 and over, including hundreds of Holocaust survivors. “We’re not responding with lights and sirens, but we are responding to a need in the community,” Miami Beach Fire Chief Virgil Fernandez said. Firefighters already have an “evacuation list” of people they need to get to safety during hurricanes. To go beyond that, they turned to temples and churches that minister to and are familiar with many of the neediest in the community. Rabbi Mendy Levy of the Chabad Hasidic movement helps train health care providers who treat Holocaust survivors, some of whom can be retraumatized by triggers such as injections and white coats after being subjected to experiments carried out by doctors in concentration camps. It’s crucial that firefighters and nurses take the vaccines to a welcoming setting, such as a synagogue or a patient’s home, and visit with them and their families. “Though it’s a trigger, so in general they are afraid, they recognize this is a God-given gift,” Levy said.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: Every hospital or nursing home patient could designate at least one person who would have at least one hour of access each day under a bill approved by the state House on Monday. The legislation – a response to hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities banning visitors for months at a time during the coronavirus pandemic – now moves to the Senate for more debate. Gov. Brian Kemp implemented a ban on visitors at long-term care facilities in April by executive order. In September, Kemp eased those restrictions by putting in place a phased approach to allowing visitors based on the severity of a COVID-19 outbreak in a particular area. House lawmakers held multiple hearings during which they heard emotional testimony saying people were suffering because of loneliness and avoiding medical care to avoid being cut off from loved ones. “People have things they need to say,” said Rep. Bonnie Rich, R-Suwanee, who recounted her own severe illness in the hospital with her husband by her side. “What kind of society denies this? How many people have died in the last year with things they needed to say to loved ones? Is there anything really more important?” Hospital representatives raised concerns that the measure could heighten the risk of the virus spreading among vulnerable populations.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: The state Department of Health has launched a mental health crisis counseling hotline to provide residents support amid the coronavirus pandemic. The new program, called “Ku Makani – The Hawaii Resiliency Project,” offers counseling, education and information for people experiencing mental health crises during the pandemic, Hawaii News Now reports. The program has trained counselors on each island and serves people who speak multiple language, with staff fluent in Ilokano, Spanish, Hawaiian, Tongan, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Japanese, Palauan and Samoan. The state Department of Health received a $2.1 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to create the program. Residents can access it by calling Hawaii CARES 1-800-753-6879 and selecting option No. 1. Calls can be made between 4 and 9 p.m. on weekdays and state holidays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The service is available for children, teenagers and adults.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: A state House panel on Tuesday approved legislation banning anyone under 21 from buying cigarettes or electronic smoking products. The House Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday approved the measure that will bring Idaho in line with the federal smoking age. Former President Donald Trump signed a law last year that bars tobacco sales to anyone under 21. Supporters said Idaho stores are already abiding by federal law, but state law needs to be changed to avoid confusion and confrontations in stores. Opponents said the law will limit local governments in prohibiting specific types of smoking products. Opponents also said young people ages 18 to 20 who can legally do such things as join the military or buy a house should be able to buy cigarettes or vaping products. There was concern among some lawmakers that the legislation could prevent local leaders from banning smoking in parks. But backers of the legislation said the ability for cities and towns to do that is found in other areas of Idaho law. “We are not trying to stop anyone from saying where you can and can’t smoke,” Pam Eaton, of the Idaho Retailers Association, told lawmakers. “We’re just trying to make uniform the laws retailers have to follow.”\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday said the mass vaccination site at Chicago’s United Center will be limited to city residents because the federal government wants to ensure people most in need are being vaccinated. According to officials, more than 40,000 people 65 and older booked appointments at the United Center since registration began Thursday, but fewer than 40% were Chicago residents. Lightfoot said Monday that the disparity prompted discussions about ensuring the appointments were open to more Black and Latino city dwellers. Pritzker said as a result of weekend negotiations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency over the United Center vaccination policy, the state is securing additional doses on top of its usual allotment to be used at federally run mobile vaccination sites outside Chicago. Those who made their appointments prior to Sunday’s eligibility change can keep their appointments, Pritzker said. A second website is being established so suburban Cook County residents can eventually sign up for vaccine appointments at the United Center. Chicago public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the site may eventually be open to all Illinois residents.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: While customers of 317 Burger are devouring truffle fries and burgers ordered through a delivery app, the locally owned restaurant is eating a chunk of the cost. Delivery services are both a blessing and a curse for the local restaurant industry, which has been relying on providers such as Uber Eats, Grubhub and DoorDash to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. “Takeout works if you are at full capacity, and you couldn’t fit another person in the restaurant, but you still have a person making food and whatnot,” said 317 Burger owner Bill Ficca. “But if you’re only allowed to operate at a fraction of your capacity, and then you pay someone 30% of your retail price or your menu price, you lose money.” A new proposal making its way through the Indianapolis City-County Council would temporarily limit the fees that third-party food delivery services charge to restaurants, an attempt to protect a local food industry already struggling to stay afloat. The ordinance, which is up for a council vote March 15, would restrict fees to 15% of the pretax cost of the meal for delivery services and 5% for other services such as credit card processing or online pickup fees. The restrictions would sunset 90 days after Marion County eliminates restrictions for indoor dining, which is now limited to 75% capacity.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Des Moines Public Schools is giving middle and high school students who might otherwise have received failing grades this school year the chance to raise their grades this summer or next school year. “It felt like an F wasn’t necessarily representative of students necessarily not learning,” said Sarah Dougherty, Des Moines schools director of secondary teaching and learning. “It could represent a whole lot of things, a whole lot of hardships on our community and our families and our students during the pandemic.” The solution is to give students incompletes and the chance to either make up the classes this summer or retake them during the 2021-22 school year. The move, described as for one year only, was prompted by the learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. School officials opted to start the 2020-21 school year completely online despite a state mandate that districts offer at least 50% in-person instruction, and the district continued instruction online in November through January after receiving a waiver from the state due to the high number of coronavirus cases in Polk County. As of Feb. 12, 15.3% of middle schoolers and 59.1% of high schoolers in the district had a D or F in at least one course.\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: Middle and high school school students in the state’s largest school district will be able to return in person five days a week after spring break as more staff members are vaccinated and coronavirus numbers improve. The Wichita Eagle reports the Board of Education in the 47,000-student district voted 6-0 Monday to make the change, which will take effect starting March 29, though the district will continue to offer a virtual learning option. Elementary students already had been learning in person five days a week. But older students are attending classes in a hybrid mode in which they learn at home part of the time and and in person the rest of the time. School data on COVID-19 cases and quarantines has been improving. As of Friday, the district reported 307 employees were in active quarantines, down from 622 as of Jan. 8. The district has administered 4,590 first doses of a vaccine to school staff as of Sunday. Meanwhile, the community has begun vaccinating more essential workers. About 30,000 workers in the aviation supply chain, 3,500 public safety officials, 1,700 licensed child care providers and 1,100 meatpacking workers may begin scheduling appointments through the county’s website Tuesday, Sedgwick County Manager Tom Stolz said.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort: About a quarter of the state’s adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday, and he expects that number to rise as more vaccination sites open and supplies increase. “This is, in many ways, a race against time against the variants,” Beshear said at a virtual news briefing. “If we can continue that downward trajectory while increasing the number of people vaccinated, then we can hopefully get to the end of this thing sooner rather than later.” Kentucky reported 331 new confirmed coronavirus cases, the lowest number of new cases since Sept. 14. Beshear also announced 10 coronavirus-related deaths. Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, advised that fully vaccinated Kentuckians should continue wearing face coverings and follow social distancing guidelines in public. The state’s test positivity rate is 4.06%. The positivity rate is an indicator of the extent of the spread of the virus, according to the World Health Organization. If the rate is less than 5% for two weeks, and testing is widespread, the virus is considered under control. Fifteen of Kentucky’s 120 counties are reported to be in the red zone – the most serious category for COVID-19 incidence rates.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: On the one-year anniversary of its first confirmed COVID-19 case, the state widened COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older who has among two dozen high-risk medical conditions, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Tuesday. The broader eligibility sweeps hundreds of thousands of additional people onto the access list starting immediately. The Democratic governor’s decision adds anyone with hypertension asthma, cancer, diabetes, sickle cell disease, chronic kidney or liver disease, chronic pulmonary disease, Down syndrome, heart conditions, a weakened immune system or one of several other preexisting conditions. Smokers and people who are overweight also are eligible. In addition, people who work at homeless shelters, jails and group homes now have access. Those who are 16 or 17 will have access to the Pfizer vaccine because it is the only vaccine currently authorized for younger people. The hopeful news about broadened vaccine access fell on the same day Louisiana marked a more somber benchmark. Exactly a year prior, the state received confirmation of its first coronavirus case in the New Orleans area. Since then, 9,044 deaths from COVID-19 have been confirmed across the state, and hundreds of additional deaths are suspected.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: There are going to be more happy campers this summer as more camps choose to reopen despite the pandemic, providing millions more kids an opportunity to gather around a campfire. Most camp directors sat out last summer as the coronavirus raged across the country, either because of state restrictions or because of concerns about keeping kids healthy. But with cases declining and more people vaccinated each day, many are feeling more confident about reopening this season. Parents are scrambling to get their kids signed up before slots are filled in Maine, where at least 100 overnight camps will be open. “Given all that kids have gone through, it’s an amazing opportunity for them that gives them a glimpse of normal life in a world that’s far from normal,” said Elisabeth Mischel, of Short Hills, New Jersey, who’s sending her two boys, 11 and 13, to camp in Maine. At Camp Winnebago, owner Andy Lilienthal said camp directors know how to keep kids safe – there were no infections at his camp last summer – and they’ll make adjustments needed to carry on. His biggest concern at this point is that there’s so much demand amid worries about the emotional toll the pandemic is taking on kids. “It makes me sad to turn people away,” he said.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan is proposing a $1,000 bonus for state employees. The Republican governor submitted a $74 million supplemental budget Monday to provide for the bonuses. The governor’s office said the bonuses are made possible in part by the early and aggressive budget actions taken last year in response to projected revenue impacts from COVID-19. Hogan said the bonuses recognize the hard work of state employees, who have overcome significant challenges to deliver essential services to Marylanders during this public health emergency. The supplemental budget for the bonuses will need approval by the General Assembly. If they are approved, they would take effect April 14 for most employees and April 21 for University System of Maryland employees.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Unions representing teachers and firefighters have proposed having firefighters administer COVID-19 vaccines to educators, who become eligible to sign up for their shots later this week. Union leaders are scheduled to meet Wednesday with the state’s health and human services secretary to discuss the plan, which they say would make the process of inoculating teachers faster and more convenient. “Our educators are working during the day, and the majority of them are already in schools … and they can’t be at a computer all day hitting ‘refresh’ trying to get an appointment,” Beth Kontos, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, told The Boston Globe. “It would be much better if we could deliver our vaccine to school sites.” Unions have already met four times with Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders about the proposal, she said. About 400,000 teachers, school staff and day care workers are eligible to sign up for vaccinations starting Thursday. The proposal is based on the process that was used to vaccinate first responders, many of whom got shots in their workplaces. Kate Reilly, a state COVID-19 Response Command Center spokesperson, said in a statement that Sudders “has recurring meetings” with education officials and unions.\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is asking Michiganders to turn on the lights outside their homes for an hour to remember thousands of people who have died from COVID-19. The remembrance will occur from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, one year after the state first confirmed coronavirus cases. Michigan has seen more than 16,600 confirmed or probable deaths tied to the disease and more than 658,000 infections, spurred by surges last spring and in the fall and winter. Whitmer said Monday that turning on porch lights will “remember those we’ve lost and remind ourselves that even in times of darkness, we’re in this together. As we mark this occasion, we also look towards the light at the end of the tunnel.” The authorization of three vaccines will protect people from COVID-19 and help the country and economy return to normal, she said.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMinneapolis: The state is expanding eligibility for vaccines after reaching its goal of inoculating at least 70% of people ages 65 and older, Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday. The state will expand eligibility to the next two phases at once starting Wednesday to include people with underlying health conditions and those at a risk of workplace exposure, including about 45,000 people who work at food processing plants. Walz said the state expects to have 70% of seniors vaccinated by Wednesday, weeks before an earlier projection of the end of March. The governor said he feels a “real sense of urgency” to ramp up vaccination efforts to diminish the impact of coronavirus variants spreading across Minnesota. The next two phases include about 1.8 million people. Providers are encouraged to prioritize vaccinating individuals with underlying health conditions who would be most at risk of hospitalization or death due to the virus. They include Minnesotans with sickle cell disease or Down syndrome, those in cancer treatment or who are immunocompromised from organ transplant, and those who have oxygen-dependent chronic lung and heart conditions. Front-line workers in food service, food retail, food production, manufacturing, agriculture and public transit, among others sectors, are also eligible.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The state’s top public health official is urging people to continue wearing masks in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus, even after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves lifted a mask mandate. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, said during a news conference Monday that Mississippi has seen a significant decrease in hospitalizations from COVID-19 in recent weeks, but “we’re not done with the COVID pandemic.” “Just like in a baseball game, if you’re up a run or two in the sixth or seventh inning, you don’t just lay down and let the other team just go at it on offense,” Dobbs said. “It’s time to continue with some of the safety measures we have in place. Continue to mask in public. Continue to avoid indoor social gatherings. And get vaccinated when it’s your turn.” The Health Department said Monday that more than 488,000 people in the state of 3 million have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 276,000 are fully vaccinated. Dobbs said Mississippi is closing the gap on racial disparities in vaccinations. Black people, who comprise 38% of the population, now represent 25% of those who have received at least one dose, up from about 17% in early February.\n\nMissouri\n\nSt. Louis: A year after the state confirmed its first COVID-19 infection, local governments on Monday continued to relax coronavirus restrictions as the number of cases in the state declines and vaccinations efforts expand. Gov. Mike Parson and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced the state’s first case March 7, 2020 – a woman from the county who had recently returned after studying in Italy. “Since COVID-19 struck Missouri one year ago, we have worked nonstop to take a balanced approach, fight the virus, and keep Missourians as safe as possible,” Parson said in a statement Monday. “A tremendous amount of work has been accomplished over the past 12 months, and I could not be more proud of Missourians for their efforts.” Page announced Monday that several health orders prompted by COVID-19 will be eased, effective immediately. Those include increasing public gathering limits from 10 to 20 people and allowing businesses to stay open until midnight. Also Monday, the Cape Girardeau County Commission voted unanimously to rescind the county’s mask mandate, effective immediately, and replace it with a statement saying wearing masks is “highly recommended” to help control the spread of COVID-19.\n\nMontana\n\nKalispell: The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill approved by the U.S. Senate over the weekend includes funding for Amtrak’s Empire Builder route, which runs through northern Montana. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester proposed the legislation to provide up to $166 million to reinstate furloughed Amtrak employees and restore daily service on the carrier’s routes, the Daily Inter Lake reports. The bill now moves to the House, where it is expected to be approved before heading to the desk of President Joe Biden to sign. The Empire Builder and other long-distance routes were cut because of a massive decline in passengers as a result of the pandemic. The company furloughed about 1,250 employees nationwide. The Empire Builder route was reduced to operating three days a week between Chicago and Seattle and Portland, Oregon. It services a dozen communities in Montana, including Whitefish, where more than 55,000 passengers board or disembark annually. “Folks on the Hi-Line depend on Amtrak to stay connected, and its full return will boost the economy and create good-paying jobs across the region,” Tester said.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Officials may start using mobile sites to help expand the number of places where residents can get a COVID-19 vaccine as available doses increase, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday. His comments came as the number of new vaccinations administered continues to trend upward, with dips on weekends. “Certainly, that may be one thing we do,” Ricketts said at a coronavirus news conference. Health officials inoculated a new one-day high of 20,949 people Thursday. Statewide, 12% of Nebraska residents who are at least 16 years old have been fully vaccinated, according to the state’s online tracking portal. Nebraska hospitals that are working through the state’s vaccination program have received 502,470 doses so far. The state has also received 109,735 through the federal government’s retail pharmacy program, which distributes vaccines to local pharmacies. Ricketts said the state has seen success with mass vaccination sites, such as the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department’s location at Pinnacle Bank Arena in downtown Lincoln. Nebraska officials are still giving top priority for vaccinations to residents who are at least 65 years old, a group that accounts for a large majority of the state’s coronavirus deaths.\n\nNevada\n\nLas Vegas: Health officials reported Monday that about 1 in 6 people statewide has received at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine since shots became available in mid-December. “I do think progress is starting to finally click and continue to increase,” said James English, COVID-19 response operations chief in Washoe County, where state statistics show 16.8% of residents have received their first shot, and 9.8% have been fully vaccinated. In Clark County, home to Las Vegas, the first-dose figure was about 16.2%, with the Las Vegas area nearing 200,000 people fully vaccinated – almost 8.5% of the area population, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Statewide, the number of first doses was nearly 16.5%, and full vaccinations reached almost 9%. English said he expected vaccinations to “ramp up” during the next couple of weeks. Washoe County health officials said they have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and plan to begin administering it for the first time this week. Some area pharmacies and other providers in Reno and Sparks received the single-shot vaccine last week. A first shipment of about 15,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses also arrived in Las Vegas last week.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: Looking beyond the pending coronavirus relief package, some town managers in the state worry about the future of small businesses, infrastructure projects and caring for older adults. “Businesses are trying to reopen, they’re trying to have some normalcy, but if they don’t survive, we’re going to have a lot of empty storefronts” and concern about a property tax base loss, said Steve Fournier, Newmarket town manager, during a call hosted Monday by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Shaheen said there is some funding in the pending $1.9 trillion package for small businesses. Some managers are hoping for money for infrastructure projects. A fund in the package is included to help state and local governments with them. Butch Burbank, town manager in Lincoln, said the town is planning for the expansion of water storage facilities for fire protection. He also expressed concern about retaining workers in service industries, and Shaheen said the relief package contains funding for job retraining and the restaurant industry. In Sunapee, Town Manager Donna Nashawaty said more broadband expansion funds would be welcome and expressed concern that some seniors are still isolated. Shaheen there is funding in the bill for services for seniors, including mental health programs.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nMiddletown: With the state’s commercial fishing industry about to receive a second round of federal coronavirus aid, boat owners and those who run fishing-related businesses say the extra money is helping to keep them afloat amid a sea of red ink. New Jersey’s fishing industry received $11 million last March under congressional pandemic relief. And it should get roughly the same amount under a second bill passed by Congress in December, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. said Monday. Pallone, D-N.J., held a news conference at the Belford Seafood Cooperative in Middletown with boat owners and those who run related businesses. Many said the extra money could make the difference between working and not working this spring and summer. “In the fishing industry, we’re no strangers to uncertainty. We have overcome many challenges, but nothing prepared us for 2020,” said Jung Kim, owner of a bait and tackle shop in South Amboy. He estimated his store lost up to 65% of its business over the past year, including a sharp dip in wholesale supply distribution. The charter fishing industry also sustained deep losses last year as normally packed boats were subjected to capacity limitations in the name of slowing the coronavirus’ spread. Many customers simply stayed away.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: The state House of Representatives endorsed a tax increase Monday that would boost subsidies for insurance coverage on the state health insurance exchange. The bill, which moves to the Senate for consideration, has the support of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. A similar proposal to broadly increase the surtax on insurance premiums won House approval and stalled in the Senate last year, as the federal government repealed its health care provider fee that helped support state insurance markets established under the Affordable Care Act. About 45,000 residents of New Mexico rely on the insurance exchange for health care. At the same time, separate enrollment has swelled during the coronavirus pandemic in Medicaid insurance for people living in poverty or on the cusp as the federal government pours extra money into the program. As the economy recovers and Medicaid enrollment unwinds, state insurance regulators hope to lower costs for many consumers of marketplace insurance policies and broaden the enrollment pool to make the exchange more useful and sustainable. House Republicans stood in unified opposition to the surtax increase. GOP House minority caucus chair Rebecca Dow of Truth or Consequences described the bill as an affront to small business amid the economic fallout from the pandemic.\n\nNew York\n\nSyracuse: The state will lower COVID-19 vaccine eligibility from age 65 to 60 this week and will soon loosen restrictions on vaccination sites that local officials have criticized, under a plan Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday. Cuomo said anyone who qualifies will be able to be vaccinated starting Wednesday. Eligibility is also open to people with certain health conditions and to certain essential workers including teachers, health care providers and police officers. The Democratic governor said promises of more vaccine shipments have made him comfortable with increasing eligibility, even with overall supplies still too low to vaccinate everyone eligible in New York. His office had previously estimated 7 million New Yorkers were eligible before the list grew to include millions more with underlying medical conditions. “But the supply is increasing,” said Cuomo, who spoke at a vaccination site in Syracuse. Cuomo said New York will allow additional essential workers to receive the vaccine starting March 17: public and certain nonprofit employees who interact with the public, public works employees, child service case workers, sanitation workers and building service workers. “These are the people who are the everyday heroes,” Cuomo said.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nNags Head: Officials with the Cape Hatteras National Seashore say its beaches on North Carolina’s Outer Banks recently saw a record-breaking surge in visitors. The Virginian-Pilot reports the national seashore recorded nearly 87,000 visitors in January. The park said in a news release that the number breaks the record for January 2020 by 5,000. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore has 67 miles of shoreline from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke. People visit in the winter months for walks on the beach, shell collecting and reeling in fish. Dave Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said the desire for escape from coronavirus-related isolation helped fuel the increase in visitors. “More people are seeing the beauty of the seashore during the winter,” he said Friday. “You can pretty much drive from anywhere on the East Coast to the Outer Banks in a day.” The park saw 2.6 million visitors during 2020 despite the fact that Dare and Hyde counties had blocked access to the beaches from March to May because of the pandemic. The number was the still highest in 17 years.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The Republican-led Legislature has relaxed a requirement for lawmakers to wear masks in House and Senate chambers. The Senate on Monday endorsed the rule change with the needed two-thirds vote. The House met the two-thirds threshold Friday, before sending the change over to the other chamber. Most Democrats opposed the change, along with only a handful of GOP lawmakers. Only a couple of lawmakers have announced publicly that they have been infected with the coronavirus since the session began Jan. 5. Democratic House Minority Leader Josh Boschee said the mask mandate in the chambers should “absolutely not” go away. “It’s worked,” he said. Lawmakers decided ahead of the session that convened in January to require masks at the state Capitol to help protect lawmakers and the public, despite opposition by ultraconservative members of the Republican-controlled Legislature. No one has been sanctioned under the rule, despite a relatively lax attitude toward wearing face coverings by many members. The amended rule only allows lawmakers to be maskless on chamber floors. The public and media still must wear a face covering.\n\nOhio\n\nCincinnati: Dancing is again allowed at weddings, proms and banquet hall events, state health officials clarified this week. A March 2 health order lifted the 300-person capacity limit for banquet halls and catering facilities. The order didn’t explicitly mention dancing, but an Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman confirmed the order replaced a November health order temporarily banning socializing in congregate areas and dancing. Gov. Mike DeWine put that ban in place as cases and hospitalizations were rising statewide. The new order applies to “wedding receptions, funeral repasts, proms and other events, whether or not food is served, at banquet facilities.” Facilities must adhere to the business safety guidelines issued in orders Sept. 23 and July 23. That includes face coverings for everyone except when eating or drinking, which must be done while seated. “In short, dancing is permitted by both the Sept. 23 order, and for those specific types of events mentioned in the recently amended mass gathering order,” Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman Alicia Shoults wrote in an email.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: State health officials plan to start offering COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday to workers in a wide range of essential industries, a move that will immediately make a vast majority of Oklahomans eligible. Also on the list for the vaccine beginning Tuesday will be child care workers and students and employees at colleges, universities and vocational schools. “This is a big step,” Oklahoma Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed said. “By the time we roll this group in, we’ve practically covered everyone in the state.” Reed said the latest expansion should include all but about 500,000 Oklahomans. Oklahoma’s list of essential industries includes a wide range of jobs, including manufacturing, construction, communications, energy, finance, state and federal government, transportation and retail. Oklahoma currently ranks tenth in the nation with 20.9% of its population having received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That compares to a national average of 18.1%. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s seven-day rolling averages of coronavirus test positivity rate, daily new cases and daily deaths have all declined over the past two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: The state’s housing problem was further exacerbated in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires. Lawmakers are considering options that include building more shelters, extending the grace period by which tenants must pay back their rent, increasing homeownership access to low-income individuals, and an effort to reduce housing disparities for communities of color. The housing bills being considered in Salem were outlined by House Speaker Tina Kotek alongside housing committee chairs Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, and Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene. “Oregon had a housing crisis before the pandemic dramatically worsened income inequality and wildfires devastated the housing supply in vulnerable communities,” Kotek said Monday. “The Legislature has worked hard in recent sessions to turn the tide, and this moment demands that we keep pushing forward.” The 17 bills lawmakers presented include $535 million in new state investments for increasing affordable housing, addressing homelessness and supporting homeownership. Lawmakers say they are also “expecting significant federal support” from the federal government.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: State, county and city governments in Pennsylvania will receive about $13 billion from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue package making its way through Congress – a huge sum of money at a time when the state is projecting a multibillion-dollar deficit. The state’s share of that will be about $7.3 billion, while the other $5.7 billion will go to local governments, officials with the Independent Fiscal Office told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday. Governments can use the money to pay for costs associated with responding to the pandemic or to backfill revenue losses inflicted by the pandemic’s effects, they said. It cannot finance tax cuts, they said. The Independent Fiscal Office has projected a roughly $2.5 billion deficit for state government next year, with much of the rising costs being driven by long-term nursing care for a growing number of elderly residents. Pennsylvania’s tax collections this year through February, the eighth month of the fiscal year, were slightly behind last year’s collections when adjusting for $1.8 billion that the Department of Revenue said was collected in this fiscal year because of delayed tax-filing deadlines last year.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: The state plans to get all K-12 teachers, school support staffers and workers at state licensed child care facilities their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March, Gov. Daniel McKee said Tuesday. The shots will be administered starting as early as this week at the 30 local vaccination clinics already established around the state, the Democrat said during a news conference at a Pawtucket vaccination site. Staffers at public, private and parochial schools will be eligible. Support staff including paraprofessionals, clerical staff, custodial staff, bus drivers and others are included in the plan, he said. “Getting our teachers, school staff and child care workers vaccinated is one of the best things we can do right now to support students, families, schools and our economy,” McKee said Tuesday. The only exception will be in Providence, where a clinic exclusively for school and day care workers will be set up to administer the shots, state Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green said. To reach the state’s goals, about 18,500 teachers, school staffers and child care workers need to be vaccinated, said Tom McCarthy, director of the state Department of Health’s COVID-19 unit. People will be vaccinated based on where they work, not where they live, he said.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nGreenville: Sales of lottery tickets have soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Experts attribute the trend to a lack of other entertainment options, federal stimulus payments that left players flush with cash and two big jackpots earlier this year. Slightly more than $2 billion was spent on lottery tickets in South Carolina between mid-April 2020 and the end of last month, an increase of more than $300 million, or almost 19%, compared to the same period in the prior year. “This has been a very unusual and in many ways unprecedented year,” South Carolina Education Lottery spokesperson Holli Armstrong said in an email. The increase in sales of lottery tickets has led to a corresponding boost in the amount of scholarship money that the state has for students attending its technical colleges and universities. Projections of lottery revenues available for funding scholarships have increased by nearly 20% in recent months. The proposed state budget prepared last week by a state House committee includes $575 million in lottery revenues, nearly $52 million more than Gov. Henry McMaster put in his spending plan in January. On the flip side, another likely result of the increase in lottery ticket sales is that some players spent more than they could afford without winning.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: The state Department of Corrections won’t say how many of its staff or those in their care are receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Almost a third of the state’s adults have been vaccinated. And though staff and those incarcerated have been offered shots, officials with the department have refused on multiple occasions to say how many have opted to receive one. The corrections department started releasing daily updates on inmate and staff COVID-19 case numbers in late April 2020 after news outlets reported the department wouldn’t publicly share case numbers, as routinely done in other states. But there’s been no sign the department would make a similar move when it came to vaccines. About 2,300 people in the state’s prison population have contracted the coronavirus, according to the department, giving the state prison system the third-highest infection rate in the nation based on a state-by-state prison COVID-19 tracker from the Marshall Project and the Associated Press. Seven incarcerated men have died with COVID-19. As of Tuesday, one person in prison had COVID-19. A few cases have popped up in the past few weeks after the department reported in late January that all inmates had recovered from the disease.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: The city intends to vaccinate 10,000 residents in one day at a drive-thru event at Nissan Stadium on March 20 – the largest mass vaccination drive announced in Tennessee so far. The event will exclusively use the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, so participants won’t be required to seek a second dose elsewhere, according to the Nashville Metro Public Health Department. The event will last from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. in stadium parking lots A through D, according to a news release. Registration begins 10 a.m. Wednesday at covid19.nashville.gov. Eligibility is limited to people age 65 or above in or vaccination phases 1A, 1B or 1C, according to a news release announcing the event. There is no sign-up process available by phone. To keep lines as short as possible, those who sign up for the Nissan Stadium event are encouraged to come to the event with multiple registrants in a single car but not more people than the number of doors on the vehicle. Nashville officials expect the stadium event to be the first of several “large-scale drive-thru events” in the coming weeks, and state health officials have considered similar events at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: Despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s statewide mask mandate ending Wednesday, the Austin area’s top public health official said he wanted to hold off on relaxing pandemic rules because of an uptick in hospitalizations over the weekend. Dr. Mark Escott, interim Austin-Travis County health authority, told members of the City Council and the County Commissioners Court that he recommended keeping the area in Stage 4 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based guidelines until at least the end of the week. Austin and Travis County businesses must still require customers to wear masks as part of a local ordinance passed in July, city and county officials said Tuesday. Those rules are set expire next month, but Austin and Travis County leaders said they will stay in place until then. Under the city and county rules, people can face criminal charges if they walk into a business without a mask and refuse to leave if asked by the business. It’s still unclear whether Abbott will challenge the local decision on masks. Past pandemic policies have been superseded by the governor’s pandemic-related executive orders. However, the rules in July were set in place by Escott as the area’s health authority, not Mayor Steve Adler or Travis County Judge Andy Brown.\n\nUtah\n\nSt. George: The popular outdoor sculpture gallery Art Around the Corner makes its return this month, with a full collection of pieces set for installation ahead of the scheduled St. George Art Festival, which starts April 2. The popular open-air gallery was most recently updated in 2019, with the COVID-19 pandemic delaying any 2020 updates, but residents can expect to start seeing new pieces of work move into place along the city’s downtown streets in the coming weeks. The new collection is expected to draw works from artists across the U.S., in addition to sculptures from well-known local artists like Matt Clark, Marcia Robinson-Rouse and Cheryl Collins. Other familiar names include northern Utah sculptors Deveren Farley, Dana Kuglin, Gary Lee Price and Dan Toone. “Art Around the Corner’s 2021-2022 Outdoor Sculpture Gallery will be the perfect celebration of a community reconnecting after a very challenging year,” said Marianne Hamilton, the chair of the board that organizes the event. “The new show includes a very diverse range of styles and materials, from traditional bronze sculptures to pieces crafted from recycled and reclaimed metal components, and will feature everything from a winged angel to a revered historical figure to a heavy-metal rocker.”\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: The number of new coronavirus cases in the state is increasing, but cases among older Vermonters and deaths continue to decline, officials said Tuesday. Statistics also show the vaccination campaign that focused on older Vermonters first is producing results, with fewer cases in long-term care facilities, fewer hospitalizations, fewer patients in intensive care and fewer deaths. Despite the recent increase in cases, officials expect the number positive tests reported in the state to hold steady over the next several weeks and then decline as the vaccination program continues. The state is estimating there will be seven to 15 deaths in March, down from 71 in December, 34 in January and 25 in February. “We are concerned, but it seems to be at least steady and level, and we do feel that our strategy as we continue to vaccinate those by age-band after we get through this high-risk category will be beneficial to the state,” Gov. Phil Scott said Tuesday during the twice-weekly virus briefing. The statistics were released as state officials said they were moving to Thursday when people ages 16-54 with high-risk medical conditions will be able to register for vaccinations. The plan had been for that group to begin registering March 15, but fewer people in the 55-64 category were registering than expected.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday that he hopes the state has reached the final stage of the coronavirus pandemic as the vaccination rate grows and the number of new COVID-19 cases goes down. The Democratic governor said Virginia has already reached a goal of administering an average of 50,000 vaccine shots a day. And he said 1.5 million residents – or 18% of Virginians – have received at least one dose. The state also reported more than 1,500 new coronavirus cases Monday. That number is far below the nearly 10,000 new cases that were reported in mid-January as cases surged following the holidays. But Northam, who is a physician, cautioned that a return to normal won’t happen until the state has reached “herd immunity.” That is when the virus can longer find the human hosts it needs to survive and mutate. “The vaccines are a light at the end of a long tunnel, and that light gets brighter every day,” Northam said at a news conference. “For now, we need to keep doing the things that we know work. Wash your hands. Wear your mask. Keep your distance. But there is every reason to be hopeful that things are getting better for all.” Northam urged people to answer their phones to make sure they receive calls from health officials who are scheduling vaccine appointments.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: Local officials say the start of in-person classes for some special education students and preschoolers has been pushed back to March 29. Seattle Public Schools had hoped to resume classroom learning for some students this week. The new target date was announced Tuesday by the district and the teachers union. The Seattle Times reports the announcement comes after intense opposition from the union to the district’s move to summon 700 educators back to buildings this week to teach students ahead of an agreement on expanding in-person instruction. Those educators were supposed to report to their buildings Monday to ready their classrooms for learning, but a campaign by the Seattle Education Association asked them to stay remote. A safety check of some district buildings by union and district officials, an independent HVAC system contractor and the state Labor & Industries department found no major issues. The two parties are still working on an agreement to offer in-person services to about 10,000 students, including kindergartners and first graders. The timeline is the first jointly released by management and labor for any type of in-person instruction since the pandemic began. Seattle Public Schools is the state’s largest district, with about 50,000 students.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: West Virginia University will get a $307,000 grant to study best practices for online tutoring in science, technology, engineering and math fields for undergraduate students in response to learning loss during the pandemic. U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin announced the funding for the West Virginia University Research Corporation through the National Science Foundation. “The COVID-19 pandemic created major challenges for all of our educational institutions, forcing students to adapt to new methods of learning,” Capito said in a news release. Manchin praised the National Science Foundation for continuing to be a “great partner for West Virginia and our universities.” “I look forward to seeing the benefits of this research for students in West Virginia and across the nation,” Manchin said.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: About 2 million more residents, including those with certain preexisting conditions, will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in the next round to be announced later this week, the state’s deputy health secretary said Monday. That would be the single largest expansion of vaccine-eligible people in Wisconsin since the first doses began trickling into the state in mid-December. Those were targeted to front-line health care workers, then expanded to those over age 65, and this month a group of 700,000 people, including all teachers, was made eligible. Health officials have been under pressure to broaden those eligible to people with underlying health conditions that could put them more at risk of serious illness should they get COVID-19. State health officials have been working to determine which conditions will qualify and are expected to announce the next group Thursday, said Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. It didn’t make sense to allow such a large group of people to become eligible earlier when vaccine supply was limit to only 70,000 doses a week, Willems Van Dijk said. Expanding too fast and creating a hope that vaccine is available even though supply already can’t meet demand remains a concern, she said.\n\nWyoming\n\nCasper: Teton County health officials have detected the coronavirus variant that originated in South Africa. The Teton County Health Department said Monday that a sample from a resident who tested positive for the virus in January revealed the variant, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. Health officials said the person did not travel prior to becoming infected. The state Department of Health has not announced any other cases of the variant. County Health Officer Dr. Travis Riddell has encouraged residents to get tested for the coronavirus if they have symptoms or come in contact with someone who tested positive. “Testing is still our best mechanism to identify people who test positive for COVID-19 and to quickly work to determine their close contracts so that we can reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community,” Riddell said. Health officials have advised that residents should continue to follow safety guidelines such as mask-wearing and social distancing.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/03/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2020/12/10/restaurant-win-skiing-changes-seafood-boost-news-around-states/115127760/", "title": "Restaurant win, skiing changes: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday extended a mask order until Jan. 22 as the state experiences a record-setting surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Ivey and State Health Officer Scott Harris announced the extension during a news conference at the Alabama Capitol. The order, which requires face coverings to be worn in public when interacting within 6 feet of people outside one’s household, had been scheduled to expire Friday. The Republican governor cited the rising case numbers as she announced the extension. Ivey said she has not seriously considered another lockdown. Alabama this week hit a record for the number of patients in hospitals with COVID-19 with more than 2,000 people hospitalized. The state also saw a record number of daily cases with more than 3,000 new infections being reported daily. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Alabama has risen over the past two weeks from 2,288 new cases a day Nov. 24 to 3,395 new cases a day Tuesday.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: The traditional holiday open house at the governor’s mansion won’t be held this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesperson for Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Tuesday. Jeff Turner, by email, said the pandemic “has fundamentally changed how Alaskans will observe the holidays. To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect the community of Juneau, the decision has been made to cancel this year’s holiday open house.” The mansion in years past has opened to the public for the event, with the governor and often the lieutenant governor and their spouses greeting people as they file through the decorated house en route to a room filled with cookies and other treats. The holiday-season tradition began in 1913 and was held every year except for two years during World War II, the governor’s office has said. Dunleavy last month asked Alaskans to “consider celebrating differently” during the holidays. The state has reported more than 36,700 resident cases of COVID-19 and 145 related deaths.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: The state’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 7,000 on Wednesday as it reported more than 100 additional fatalities from the virus. Arizona reported 4,444 additional COVID-19 cases and 108 deaths, increasing the state’s known totals to 382,601 cases and 7,081 deaths. Department of Health Services spokeswoman Holly Poynter said 80 of the 108 deaths were newly attributed to COVID-19 based on reviews of past death certificates. The results of such periodic reviews of death certificates produce larger-than-normal daily reports of deaths. According to the state’s coronavirus dashboard, COVID-19-related hospitalizations as of Tuesday reached 3,287, up 130 from Monday and including 766 patients in intensive care unit beds. The dashboard indicated that 10% of both hospital beds and ICU beds in hospitals statewide were vacant, with COVID-19 patients occupying 44% of the ICU beds. Hospital officials and public health experts have warned that the current surge could exceed the health system’s capacity.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The state’s positivity rate for coronavirus tests and its number of new cases put Arkansas in the “red zone,” and more limitations should be placed on bars and indoor dining until those rates drop, a new White House report said. The White House Coronavirus Task Force, in a report released Tuesday, said more than half of all Arkansas counties are experiencing high levels of community transmission of the virus, which has killed 2,752 people in the state since the start of the pandemic. “Pandemic spread is unyielding in Arkansas,” the report said. “Virus levels continue to increase and are extremely high; activities that were safe in the summer are not safe now.” Gov. Asa Hutchinson has resisted calls for more restrictions and said Tuesday that he’s still considering whether to impose stricter rules on large indoor gatherings. Under the state’s current coronavirus restrictions, indoor events with more than 100 people expected must have a plan approved beforehand by the state.\n\nCalifornia\n\nLos Angeles: Los Angeles County’s health director acted “arbitrarily” and didn’t prove the danger to the public when she banned outdoor dining at restaurants as coronavirus cases surged last month, a judge ruled Tuesday in a case other businesses may use to try to overturn closures and restrictions. The county failed to show that health benefits outweighed negative economic effects before issuing the ban, Superior Court Judge James Chalfant wrote. He also said the county did not offer evidence that outdoor dining presented a greater risk of spreading the virus. “By failing to weigh the benefits of an outdoor dining restriction against its costs, the county acted arbitrarily and its decision lacks a rational relationship to a legitimate end,″ the judge wrote. Chalfant limited the outdoor dining ban to three weeks and said once it expires Dec. 16, the Department of Public Health must conduct a risk-benefit analysis before trying to extend it. It was the first victory for California restaurants challenging health orders that have crippled their industry. But there was no immediate relief for LA county restaurant owners because a more sweeping shutdown ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom now is in effect.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: The state has lifted its coronavirus-related capacity restrictions on religious gatherings after the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily barred New York from imposing limits on such events. The amended state order went into effect Monday. State public health officials still recommend people limit religious gatherings as much as possible. “Worship and ceremonies such as weddings and funerals are classified as essential,” the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement. “This means that they must do their best to follow public health recommendations but may exceed recommended capacity caps if they cannot conduct their essential activity within those restrictions. They still must require masks indoors and other prevention measures like 6-foot spacing between members of different households and appropriate sanitation. Outdoor activities are still strongly preferred.” The state had allowed religious gatherings to occur at 50% of their capacity or up to 500 people in counties with the least amount of virus spread. No counties currently fit that criteria, the Colorado Sun reports.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to front-line health care workers could begin as early as this weekend, state health officials said Wednesday. Eric Arlia, the director of pharmacy systems for Hartford HealthCare, said officials there expect to receive the vaccine within 24 hours of its emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration and are prepared to quickly begin administering it to workers “that treat COVID patients or work on units that treat COVID patients.” “We’ll be prepared and ready to receive the vaccine as early as Friday,” he said. Arlia said he expects it will take two to three weeks to get the vaccine to all the front-line workers who wish to receive it. Yale New Haven Health has said assuming the FDA grants emergency approval, it plans to begin vaccinating its staff next week. Dr. Thomas Balcezak, chief clinical officer for the system, said officials hope to have 29,000 workers there vaccinated within three weeks. “That 29,000 is our estimate of how many individuals we have that come in contact with patients,” Balcezak said. “It’s a massive undertaking.”\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: The Delaware Restaurant Association says new coronavirus restrictions in the state could force up to 40% of restaurants to shutter within a year without a financial lifeline. The Delaware State News reports the most recent COVID-19 rules restrict capacity in restaurants to 30%. The regulations were issued as Delaware experiences its highest rate of new daily cases and hospitalizations. The Delaware Restaurant Association said restaurants are being unfairly scapegoated for the surge. “Although we continue to support action to protect the health of all Delawareans, we believe there is an unfounded impression that restaurants are part of the problem,” DRA President and CEO Carrie Leishman said. “As a result, restaurants will severely suffer from these inconsistent and restrictive mandates not applied to other industries.” But Gov. John Carney has said that contact tracing data points to restaurants as places where people who have tested positive have been. “Places where you gather and you’re drinking alcohol and you might let your guard down,” Carney said. “That’s problematic only when we have a pandemic.”\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: For the first time, D.C. is releasing data on the activities that may be leading to new cases of the coronavirus in the city, WUSA-TV reports. Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the District of Columbia Department of Health, said Monday that her agency would begin publishing weekly data about exposure activities on the city’s coronavirus portal. The data reflects the percentage of people who’ve contracted COVID-19 who said they participated in certain activities deemed “high-risk” in the two weeks prior to developing symptoms. The first batch of data, posted Monday, shows that a shockingly high number of people are still participating in social events – nearly a quarter of all contact tracing respondents said they’d attended one in the two weeks before they got sick. Work, dining out and travel also ranked high among likely exposure activities.\n\nFlorida\n\nTallahassee: Giving to the Salvation Army’s famous Red Kettle campaign is down sharply in the city, with some shoppers keeping their distance from bell-ringers because of the coronavirus. With only two weeks left to give, the Salvation Army of Tallahassee has raised only $49,764, less than a quarter of the nonprofit’s $215,000 goal. Donations are off 20% from this time last year, when the campaign had $62,215 on hand. “From the reports we’re hearing, it’s the worst season in close memory,” said Margo Armistead, director of Community Relations. Armistead said fewer stores are participating this year because of COVID-19 concerns, and fewer civic clubs and individuals are volunteering. Fewer people are shopping in person, too. “Many people are calling in and having their groceries delivered and aren’t even going into the stores,” she said. “So we’ve lost an awful lot of foot traffic.” Armistead said the Salvation Army has taken steps to make giving as safe as possible, with personal protective equipment and frequent sanitization of surfaces.\n\nGeorgia\n\nSavannah: The state should start distributing thousands of doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of next week, though most people will have to wait several months before they can get a shot, Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday. The Republican governor praised the vaccines as “a miracle of modern science that will save countless lives” in a state where COVID-19 has killed more than 9,000 people. Kemp also warned that infections and hospitalizations are soaring in Georgia and that the virus will remain a serious threat well into 2021. The first doses, expected within the next 10 days, will be used to vaccinate Georgia health care workers and nursing home residents and employees. “The general public will be not able to be vaccinated for months,” Kemp said in a news conference streamed online from the state Capitol in Atlanta. “We must all continue to still wear our masks. We must still wash our hands. We must continue more than ever to watch our distance.”\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: The Hawaii National Guard has received approval for an extension of federal funds to continue assisting the state’s coronavirus response through March. The funding for National Guard units in Hawaii and 47 other states was scheduled to expire at the end of the month but was extended Thursday, Hawaii Public Radio reports. “The Hawaii situation is not unique,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Case said. “But it’s especially acute here in Hawaii because of all of the roles that we’re asking the Guard to play.” About 800 Hawaii National Guard members work daily throughout the state on tasks related to virus mitigation, including contact tracing, testing and the state’s incoming traveler program. The Guard’s activities cost about $8.5 million monthly, with the federal government providing 75% of the funds. Hawaii pays about $2 million per month. The Guard soon may take on the additional role of assisting with vaccine distribution, Case said. “The Guard is critical to the district distribution here in Hawaii, not just the receipt of it but the distribution across Hawaii itself,” Case said.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: Transportation officials have reported that highway and interstate traffic volumes on Thanksgiving Day were down in most of the state except eastern Idaho. Data from the state Department of Transportation shows about 20% fewer cars in northern Idaho and about 8% fewer cars near the Oregon state line compared to 2019, Boise State Public Radio reports. However, traffic headed south to Utah increased by 23% on Interstate 84 near the border and about 5% on Interstate 15, officials said. Vehicle counts on state highways were also up in eastern Idaho compared to last year. Department spokesman Jake Melder said that overall Thanksgiving traffic volumes – lower overall in southwest, south-central and northern Idaho, and higher in eastern Idaho – mirror current non-holiday traffic trends. Many hospitals across the state were overwhelmed before the holiday because of COVID-19, health officials said.\n\nIllinois\n\nRockford: A coroner’s office has purchased a refrigerated trailer in the event deaths related to COVID-19 overwhelm his office’s capacity to store bodies. The purchase of the $30,000 trailer was made as space in the county’s morgue neared capacity, Winnebago County Coroner Bill Hintz said. “The way our numbers were rising at an alarming level, and I do say alarming, I did not want to be caught without any spaces left,” he said. Hintz told the Rockford Register-Star that there was ample room through early fall to accept bodies from each of the city’s hospitals as their smaller individual morgues began to fill up. The county morgue began to fill in November. Hintz said its 64-body capacity doesn’t accurately reflect the number of bodies that can be stored, and it is not unusual for a body to be kept at the morgue for 30 days or longer, adding that moving bodies to a funeral home in a timely fashion is not easy. “When we reach out to the next of kin and ask them what funeral home they would like to use, some of the answers we get are, ‘I don’t have a job. I lost my job due to COVID. It’s going to take me a little bit to find money so I can take care of my loved one,’ ” Hintz said.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: The spread of the coronavirus continues to worsen, a weekly update of the state health department’s map shows. For the first time, zero counties are placed in the categories that show minimal or moderate community spread. The past few weeks, one county had been in the yellow category for moderate community spread. That means all 92 Indiana counties are now seeing moderate to high community spread, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. The number of counties the health department has categorized as red, for high community spread, more than doubled over the past week, from 16 to 36. All of the state’s other 56 counties are categorized as orange, for moderate to high spread. This means every county will face restrictions put in place by Gov. Eric Holcomb last month to combat spread. Indiana reported 5,853 new cases of coronavirus Wednesday and an additional 98 deaths. The state’s positivity rate continues to climb as fewer tests are performed in the wake of the Thanksgiving holiday, although it is not clear why testing has dropped off. All but nine counties in the state are at a 10% or higher positivity rate.\n\nIowa\n\nJohnston: The state added another 123 coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday, boosting Iowa’s pandemic death toll to 3,021, according to state public health records. The count continues to grow as hospitalization rates, although significantly lower than a week ago, remain high with 900 people hospitalized and 111 COVID-19 patients admitted in the previous 24 hours. The Iowa Department of Public Health is transitioning to a new method of counting deaths that has the potential to add several hundred more cases to the state’s total in the coming weeks. Public health data indicates the virus’s spread may be slowing from its highest point in mid-November as the daily number of positive cases has decreased since Nov. 17. Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday that she will extend the state’s mask requirements and limitations on some indoor and outdoor gatherings for another week. She said Iowa needs to see its downward trend continue. “We’ve made good progress over the last few weeks, but our ultimate goal is to get virus activity to a level that we can manage over the next few months,” she said at a news conference.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: The state school board is recommending that elementary schools continue in-person classes even if the spread of the coronavirus in their communities is so great that schools otherwise would close. The State Board of Education on Tuesday updated its pandemic guidance, which many districts are following closely. The change comes after a surge in coronavirus cases across the state over the past month prompted some districts to return to online classes for many or all of their students. Education Commissioner Randy Watson cited research showing younger students do not get as ill when infected. The state Department of Health and Environment reported that as of Monday, only 3.3% of the state’s 174,000 confirmed or probable cases and none of its more than 1,800 deaths for the pandemic were in children 9 years old or younger. “The chance for the virus impacting elementary schools, both from a teacher and student standpoint, is so low that the risk of not being in school is higher than being in school,” Watson said.\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: As the state continues to wrestle with a pandemic that has killed more than 2,000 residents, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Tuesday that hospitals in many parts of state are nearing full capacity and warned that it could make it more difficult for people to receive proper treatment. “Hospital capacity in many ways doesn’t care about ‘why’ you’re there,” he said. “We need an ICU bed open for any individual that might need one.” The Democratic governor announced that hospital capacity for inpatient beds, intensive care unit beds or ventilators is at or above 80% in four parts of the state. ICU capacity in two zones, one along the Tennessee border and one in eastern Kentucky, is over 90%. Hospitalizations are up roughly 17% since the beginning of November, and Kentucky has averaged about 3,300 new cases per day in the past week alone, according to data released by the governor’s office. A University of Kentucky hospital has closed five of its operating rooms to increase capacity for COVID-19 patients, while another in northeastern Kentucky has resorted to using its lobby as an overflow area for the emergency room.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: The state will wait until mid-January to update its income projections to account for the latest effects of the coronavirus outbreak, delaying a traditional pre-holiday forecasting meeting amid continued economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Whatever numbers are set by the Revenue Estimating Conference, a four-member panel that draws up Louisiana’s state government income projections, will form the basis for the 2021-22 budget proposal that Gov. John Bel Edwards must submit to lawmakers by Feb. 26. Setting those projections has gotten even trickier than usual, with a national economic recession caused by the coronavirus, business restrictions enacted in response to the outbreak, increased jobless rates, and an oil and gas industry slowdown. Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, Edwards’ chief financial adviser, said he’s hopeful Louisiana will avoid a midyear deficit in the current budget that ends June 30. But he’s warning the numbers could be grim for the 2021-22 financial year that begins July 1.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Seafood is a big part of Maine’s culture and history, and the state wants home cooks to use more of it during the pandemic. That’s the focus of a branding and promotion initiative the Maine Department of Marine Resources is launching. The effort will use $1 million in federal coronavirus aid to help consumers discover and use more Maine seafood, said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher. Retail seafood sales are up 35% compared to this time last year, the marine resources department said. However, the seafood industry is also heavily reliant on restaurant sales, which have cratered since the pandemic started. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 Maine fishermen are expected to receive federal coronavirus aid before the end of the year, Keliher said Tuesday. The $19 million in aid was made available for commercial fishermen, aquaculturists, fishing charter operators, and seafood dealers and processors who suffered losses due to the pandemic, he said. The pandemic has disrupted the seafood industry, one of the most important sectors of the economy in the state that’s America’s largest producer of lobsters.\n\nMaryland\n\nBaltimore: The city will shut down indoor and outdoor dining this week to fight the spread of COVID-19, as part of new restrictions announced Wednesday by the freshly inaugurated mayor. The restrictions in Maryland’s largest city will go into effect at 5 p.m. Friday. Mayor Brandon Scott also announced that capacity at religious facilities, retail establishments and malls will be limited to 25% maximum capacity. Fitness centers, casinos and museums also will be limited to 25% maximum capacity. “Baltimore, we face some difficult days ahead, and we must all do more to reduce the spread and transmission of COVID-19 in our city,” said Scott, a Democrat who was sworn into office a day earlier. “These restrictions today, while they may seem harsh, are being implemented to save lives and to reduce the stress on our medical system.” The revised guidelines limit restaurants to carry-out, delivery and drive-thri service. Indoor gatherings at public and private facilities will be limited to no more than 10 people. Outdoor gatherings at public and private facilities will be limited to no more than 25 people.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: The area’s public transportation system won’t see major service cuts, at least for the moment. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s board deferred a vote this week on service cuts proposed in the wake of plummeting ridership amid the pandemic. MBTA General Manager Steven Poftak requested the board revisit the proposed cuts next week in light of recent developments, including development of COVID-19 vaccines and another possible round of federal stimulus to help shore up the agency’s budget. He said the agency should continue to work with labor unions and other groups to find ways to reduce costs while preserving essential services. The proposed cuts would eliminate weekend commuter rail services, 25 bus routes, all ferry service and subway service after midnight over the course of 2021 because of the drop in ridership and revenue. Mayor Marty Walsh had joined city councilors and public transportation advocates in calling on the MBTA not to move forward with the proposal. But spending money for buses and trains with few riders makes no sense, Gov. Charlie Baker said.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: City officials on Tuesday announced an extension of water shutoff protections through 2022 and said they want to develop a plan to permanently stop shutoffs in the future. Detroit’s COVID-19 Water Restart Plan, launched in March for people who are unable to make payments during the pandemic, was set to expire at the end of this month. Through state, federal, private and local funds, that moratorium will now run through at least 2022. “The shutoff moratorium issued by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services ends in 23 days, but not here in Detroit,” Gary Brown, director of the city’s water and sewerage department, said during a news conference Tuesday. “We are continuing the moratorium through 2022, while we work on a permanent water affordability solution at the state and federal level.” Detroit water activists have long advocated for a comprehensive water affordability plan that would stop water shutoffs. “The devil will be in the details, in terms of a real commitment to a timeline and a budget line,” said Monica Lewis-Patrick, of We the People Detroit.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMinneapolis: The first of 183,000 Minnesotans who will get the new coronavirus vaccine in the initial wave could get their shots as early as Christmas week, Gov. Tim Walz and state health officials announced Tuesday. “So perhaps an early Christmas present,” said the state’s infectious disease director, Kris Ehresmann. Minnesota is poised to receive 46,800 doses of the Pfizer vaccine next week, followed by 136,000 of the Moderna vaccine in the two weeks after that, for a total of 183,400 doses within the first month. But state officials cautioned that the information they’re getting from the federal government keeps changing, and schedules for future deliveries are uncertain. Ehresmann said the top priorities are health care personnel who have the most direct contact with COVID-19 patients, as well as residents of skilled nursing facilities. State health officials reported 4,539 new coronavirus cases Wednesday and 82 new deaths, the state’s third-highest one-day total of the pandemic. But hospitalizations are continuing a slow decline. Minnesota had 1,545 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, with 358 in intensive care.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The number of people who have died of coronavirus complications in the state surpassed 4,000 on Tuesday, and health officials warned that there will be more fatalities and hospitalizations if residents continue gathering. “We are seeing ongoing heavy case burdens – many, many cases, rising deaths and increasing strain on our health care system,” said the state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs. He said rising cases are attributable to social gatherings – funerals, parties, sporting events – where people are not following safety guidelines. “It’s not a joke – if we would just wear a mask in public and avoid nonessential social gatherings, the universe would be an entirely different place,” he said. The number of coronavirus hospitalizations has peaked in recent days as numbers of new cases have surged. However, the number of intensive care unit patients has not yet reached the record highs of the summer, although most units are full, Dobb said. That’s something he expects will change soon. As it is, Dobbs said hospitals are unable to find health care facilities where they can transfer patients because everywhere is full.\n\nMissouri\n\nJefferson City: The coronavirus has claimed almost 200 more lives in the state, based on numbers from the past two days. The state health department cited 28 additional deaths Wednesday, a day after the toll rose sharply by 161, based in part on death certificate analyses. Hospital capacity continues to be a concern. The state said intensive care unit bed space is at 19% statewide. ICU space is at 6% in southwestern Missouri, 14% in northeast Missouri and 18% in St. Louis. The statewide positivity rate of 19.1% is down slightly from last week but still nearly four times higher than the 5% benchmark set by the World Health Organization. “The stark and sobering reality is that we are losing people in our community daily to this virus. We must all act with responsible empathy and be willing to make small sacrifices now so that our community can finish strong. We need to do everything we can to prevent the spread of this illness, especially for those most vulnerable,” Greene County’s health director, Clay Goddard, said in a news release.\n\nMontana\n\nGreat Falls: The state reported 747 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday and eight additional deaths related to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, Showdown Montana announced it spent $100,000 “revamping” the ski area to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The ski hill has installed takeout windows and kiosks to minimize contact when ordering food. Outdoor bathrooms and outdoor seating have been installed, among other changes. Great Falls Public Schools reported 59 active cases across the district, with Great Falls High School reporting the highest number of 11 active cases, as of Tuesday. C.M. Russell High School had nine active cases, according to the same report. Gov. Steve Bullock earlier this week issued a COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan that would prioritize major hospitals in Montana, including Benefis Health System and Great Falls Clinic. There are 490 active hospitalizations statewide due to COVID-19 and 2,963 total hospitalizations.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Officials released further details on how the state’s coronavirus vaccination plan will work, including that meatpacking plant workers, prison staffers and teachers will be among the first to receive doses after health care workers and people who work in long-term care facilities. Nebraska is expected to receive its first shipment of 15,600 doses next week from the drugmaker Pfizer, assuming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine as expected Thursday. Once the needs of hospitals and care facilities are met, the state will expand who is eligible, said Angie Ling, incident commander for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Under the distribution plan that was updated Monday, first responders and people who work in education, the food and agricultural industries, correctional facilities, and utilities and transportation will be next in line to be eligible to get vaccinated. After them, the virus will go to people who are 65 years and older or who are otherwise considered vulnerable, as well as to those living in shared living facilities.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: A three-member U.S. appeals court panel appeared sympathetic Tuesday to arguments by lawyers for two churches that say state COVID-19 restrictions treating churches differently from casinos and other secular businesses violate their First Amendment rights. The 9th Circuit panel in San Francisco heard arguments via video from lawyers for Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley east of Reno and Cavalry Chapel Lone Mountain in Las Vegas who want the appellate court to reverse earlier district court rulings upholding hard attendance caps Gov. Steve Sisolak has set on the size of indoor worship services. They say churches should be held to the same standards that allow casinos, bars, restaurants and others to operate based on a percentage of their capacity – currently 25% – not a hard cap. All three justices cited recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that handed victories to churches waging similar battles over religious freedom in New York and California. Each expressed skepticism about various arguments lawyers for Nevada made to justify disparate treatment of churches and secular businesses.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: Ski and snowmobile businesses are optimistic about the season as they see increased interest in getting outdoors, but they note there will be changes because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Your car is sort of your base lodge this year,” Ben Wilcox, general manager of the Cranmore Mountain Resort, said during an online meeting Wednesday hosted by U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas. People should try to store their equipment in their car, as no bags are being allowed in buildings, he said. There will be social distancing in lift lines. Face coverings will be required at all times except when skiing and eating in a restaurant, Wilcox said. Peter Gagne of Northern Extremes Snowmobiling, a rental service in Bartlett, said a lot of new customers are interested in snowmobiling this winter. He said there have even been record sales for used equipment. Gagne said he’s advising people to book four to six weeks out for weekends because there’s been record demand. He said he’s also seen a big increase in midweek reservations. Ellen Chandler of Jackson Cross Country Ski Center said she’s also seen increased interest in season passes and in programs for children during the week.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nEnglewood: Englewood Health has been named the “Pandemic Hero of the Year” by an independent national watchdog organization for its actions during the initial surge of the pandemic. The Leapfrog Group named two recipients for the pandemic hero of the year Tuesday, and the Englewood hospital was recognized in the “teams” category for the award – the only hospital in the nation to receive the title from the organization. Leah Binder, CEO of The Leapfrog Group, said the organization was most impressed by the hospital’s staff, who “came together in so many ways” and showed courage and compassion during the COVID-19 crisis. The Leapfrog Group cited the hospital’s many initiatives launched earlier this year as the basis for its decision, including a physician liaison team that connected with patients’ families, the introduction of telemedicine, and a team that helped patients stay connected to loved ones through daily phone calls and other technology. The hospital’s employee assistance program, which helped provide mental health support to 5,000 employees and other affiliates, was also highlighted.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: Top health officials say the state has a solid plan in place to stretch hospital and health care resources as far as possible before having to ration care, but they also warned Tuesday that the state could face that prospect if the pandemic worsens. Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said hospitals around New Mexico are facing extremely high demands, and state health officials are expected to formally declare soon that providers are at a stage where rationing care becomes necessary, despite a slowdown in the rate of spread and a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases being reported daily in the state. Under a crisis standards of care declaration, an established framework and guidelines would be used for making ethical decisions about triaging care. Local triage boards are up and running at hospitals around the state, and a centralized call center has been helping to identify which hospitals have room and which ones need help. Unlike other states, the idea early on was for separate providers in New Mexico to work together to pool their resources since the state already ranked near the bottom nationally for hospital beds per capita.\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: The governor said the state could receive its first deliveries of COVID-19 vaccine in the coming days as the pandemic is landing more patients into hospitals across the state, including on Staten Island. “This is a hospital capacity crisis, and more and more, it’s becoming a greater crisis for hospitals because their capacity is further diminished,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Hospitals across New York reported nearly 5,000 COVID-19 patients as of Tuesday. That amount has doubled since Nov. 20 and is the highest since May 20. And there’s no sign the pandemic is slowing. The state has averaged 50 daily new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. That figure has also doubled since Nov. 20. Hospitals and nursing homes reported 495 deaths of COVID-19 patients in the past seven days – double from two weeks ago. Cuomo described the vaccine as “the weapon that will win the war.” He said the state hopes to use the initial delivery of 170,000 doses to cover nursing home residents and then staffers. The state has opted into a federal program that will involve CVS and Walgreen’s administering vaccines by Dec. 21.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled a modified stay-at-home order Tuesday that requires residents to remain off the streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The executive order set to take effect Friday orders bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and personal care businesses closed by 10 p.m., though grocery chains and some retailers that sell groceries will be allowed to operate within the seven-hour window. On-site alcohol sales at bars must end by 9 p.m. Travel to and from work during curfew hours is still permitted, as is travel to get food, gas, medical care or social services. Cooper hinted at further restrictions if spread does not slow. The state’s hospitals face increased risk of being overrun. For the sixth day in a row and 11 of the past 12 days, North Carolina hit new highs in current COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Data posted Tuesday from the state Department of Health and Human Services shows nearly 2,400 people are hospitalized due to coronavirus. This represents a doubling of hospitalizations over the past month. Cases, the percentage of tests coming coming back positive and deaths are also sharply rising.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nFargo: State health officials on Tuesday confirmed 30 new deaths and 24 new hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, a reality check from the past two weeks when the positivity rate of tests had steadily fallen. The state Department of Health also announced that its daily update of virus cases will include people who take rapid antigen tests, not just the nasal swab tests that have been employed since early in the pandemic. A dozen people who took the rapid tests eventually died, but the health department does not consider them part of the daily report because they were spread out among the past two months. The change in reporting comes on advice from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Hospitalizations increased to 328 in a state that is already running low on health care space and workers. And the daily positivity rate jumped above 11% after several days in single digits. Antigen tests are not included in positivity figures because not every facility is reporting them, health officials said.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: By any measure, the rise of COVID-19 in the state remains unchecked and out of control, and federal officials warn the arrival of vaccines will not begin to reverse the course of the pandemic until at least late spring. State health officials reported an above-average 10,094 confirmed and probable daily virus infections and 84 additional deaths Wednesday. The 304,415 infections recorded in roughly six weeks since Nov. 1 account for 59% of the more than 520,000 cases recorded during the pandemic, which hit the nine-month mark in Ohio on Wednesday. After November began with 3,303 cases, Ohio since has recorded an average of 7,806 new daily infections, with case counts topping 10,000 on six days. A one-day record of 11,728 confirmed cases was recorded Tuesday. COVID-19 deaths also are spiking to a potential record, with December fatalities totaling 758 – an average of 84 each day. If that deadly pace continues, Ohio will mark slightly more than 2,600 deaths in December, more than double the 1,180 reported in May, the state’s deadliest month. Ohio now has recorded a total of 7,187 virus deaths.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt has rescinded his appointment to the State Board of Education of an Enid woman who led an anti-mask crusade in the northwest Oklahoma city. Stitt said in a statement Monday that he rescinded the appointment of Melissa Crabtree at her request. “I was extremely disappointed to see how many were so quick to judge her without taking the time to personally speak to her,” Stitt said. “Ms. Crabtree is a loving mother and wife, and her public school teaching experience and work with special needs children would have been valuable assets to our state. However, it’s become clear that Democrats and unions only value the voices of teachers when they are willing to fall in line with their political agendas.” Crabtree had faced fierce criticism from Democrats in the Legislature and some public education groups for social media posts in which she shared misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines. The posts were first reported by the nonprofit journalism website Oklahoma Watch and were later hidden from public view on her Facebook page.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: The state reported 1,341 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday and a record 36 deaths. Meanwhile, Salem Hospital has begun postponing some elective surgeries, as the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 there is rising. “Our goal is to find the right balance between potential capacity needs and providing patients access to other types of care,” Salem Health spokesman Michael Gay said in a statement Tuesday. Salem Hospital had 73 COVID-19 patients Tuesday. Statewide, 553 patients were hospitalized Tuesday, with 127 in intensive care. Salem Hospital has consistently had more COVID-19 patients than other hospitals statewide. Some Portland-area hospitals began postponing some elective surgeries about a month ago. Last week, St. Charles Health System in Bend announced it also would postpone some elective surgeries.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and is isolating at home while working remotely. “I have no symptoms and am feeling well,” the second-term Democrat said in a statement. “I am following CDC and Department of Health guidelines.” Wolf’s public schedule for the past week had just one event, a virtual news conference about the pandemic Monday at which he appeared along with his health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, and one of her deputies. All wore masks as they took turns at the podium. Nearly a month ago, the Wolf administration strengthened its mask mandate and required out-of-state travelers to test negative for the virus before arrival. But infections, hospitalizations and deaths have continued to increase sharply in the state, prompting Wolf to reveal Monday that he is considering new mitigation measures. Pennsylvania is averaging about 10,000 new confirmed cases per day, up more than 50% in two weeks, according to an AP analysis of data from the COVID Tracking Project. Hospitalizations have risen tenfold this fall. The state is averaging 140 deaths per day, up 64% since Nov. 24.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to reach new heights, according to state Department of Health numbers released Wednesday. There were 461 patients in the state’s hospitals with the disease as of Monday, the latest day for which the information was available, a single-day record. The previous record was 455 on Sunday. The department also reported more than 1,200 new confirmed cases out of nearly 16,200 tests, a daily positivity rate of about 7.6%. The latest seven-day average positivity rate in Rhode Island is 9.04%, according to the COVID Tracking Project. Meanwhile, the state Department of Health is warning of an email scam in which someone purporting to be a department doctor asks recipients to click on a link to preregister for a COVID-19 vaccine. The department warned in a social media post Tuesday that it is a phishing scam and that anyone who receives the email from a Dr. Kimberly Turner should not open or share it but instead should delete it. The department does not employ a Dr. Kimberly Turner, and there are no licensed physicians with that name in Rhode Island.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: The state’s highest court again rejected Gov. Henry McMaster’s plan to use $32 million in federal coronavirus relief to provide tuition grants for private schools, ruling Wednesday that spending public money that way is unconstitutional. The unanimous decision by the state Supreme Court says the governor’s decision to use federal aid in such a way “constitutes the use of public funds for the direct benefit of private educational institutions within the meaning of, and prohibited by” the South Carolina Constitution. McMaster unveiled his plan for Safe Access to Flexible Education in July, effectively creating a one-time voucher program for parents who couldn’t otherwise afford the expense of private school. The plan was immediately challenged in court. Saying he wanted to give more families the option to send their children to private schools – especially if their own schools would not reopen for in-person instruction because of the pandemic – McMaster said the program would cover about 5,000 SAFE grants of up to $6,500 each. The governor had called on all the state’s schools to reopen classrooms five days a week, but many instead opted for virtual instruction or a combination of face-to-face and remote learning.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nPierre: Gov. Kristi Noem defended her coronavirus response Tuesday in a budget address to lawmakers, laying out proposals to spend millions in excess funds after federal aid bolstered the state’s budget. The Republican compared both the state’s virus situation and its financial outlook to states such as Illinois, New Jersey and New York. While South Dakota is currently suffering through one of the worst virus outbreaks in the nation, its economy and budget forecast are rosier. Noem opened her speech with a moment of silence for the 1,111 people who have died from COVID-19, which she described as a “horrible virus.” But Noem, who has eschewed government-enforced lockdowns and mask mandates, claimed that the virus does not seem to be any worse in states that have taken aggressive measures to prevent infections from spreading, pointing to places like California and New Jersey that have recent spikes in COVID-19 hospitalizations. However, some of the statistics the governor used for her comparison have been called into question.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Camping at state parks is reaching historic highs amid the pandemic. State parks saw more than 62,000 camping nights sold in October, a one-month record for camping stays in the parks system, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in a news release. That number eclipses the mark of more than 57,000 camping nights set in June of this year, the department said. November had more than 36,000 camping nights sold, the highest total ever for the month, the department said. Four of the top 10 camping months ever have occurred this year, “driven by visitors seeking the outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic,” the news release said. “The appeal of louder, busier and crowded entertainment venues has given way to the space, freedom and connection the outdoors provide,” said Jim Bryson, deputy commissioner of the department. Tennessee State Parks operate more than 3,000 campsites.\n\nTexas\n\nDallas: The state on Tuesday reported more than 15,000 newly confirmed daily cases of the coronavirus amid spikes in cases and hospitalization as winter approaches. The Texas Department of State Health Services also said 9,028 people were hospitalized across the state. Last week marked the first time Texas surpassed a daily count of 9,000 hospitalizations since a deadly summer outbreak. During the summer outbreak, the state saw the numbers of new daily cases go just past 10,000 for the first time. Since late November, the new daily cases have soared past 10,000 on several days, with 15,103 new cases reported Tuesday, according to state health officials. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say Texas has had more than 23,000 COVID-19 related deaths so far, the second most in the U.S. Over the past two weeks, the rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by 17%, according to Johns Hopkins. The university says 1 in every 309 people in Texas tested positive in the past week.\n\nUtah\n\nIvins: The historic decision to move Gov.-elect Spencer Cox’s January inauguration from its historical location at the Capitol to the Tuacahn Center for the Arts was made because Cox wanted to show his commitment to all of Utah, not just Salt Lake City, his office said Monday. The amphitheater’s outdoor location also offers a safer environment in light of the pandemic. “Gov.-elect Cox campaigned on a promise to represent all of Utah, so he felt it was important to demonstrate that commitment by launching his administration off the Wasatch Front,” Jennifer Napier-Pierce, Cox’s communications director, wrote in an email. The Jan. 4 event will mark the first time a new Utah governor will be inaugurated away from the Capitol. Stephen Wade, co-chair of the Utah Inaugural Commission, said concerns about COVID-19 quickly ruled out the usual inaugural venue inside the State Capitol Building. “We felt this needed to be held outside,” Wade said. The Tuacahn Center for the Arts is a 2,000-seat outdoor amphitheater nestled at the mouth of Snow Canyon State Park just north of Ivins. Attendance on inauguration day will be limited to 25% or less of the amphitheater’s capacity, and guests will be physically distanced.\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: The Vermont Health Department will begin sending text messages to people who may have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19, an official said. Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said Tuesday that the system is intended to ensure the word gets to people who may have been exposed to the virus as quickly as possible. The person infected with the virus will provide the cellphone numbers of the people who may have been exposed. After receiving the texts, people will also receive calls from Health Department contact tracers. “Our contact tracing team will help determine who gets these texts based on the exact situation,” Levine said during the state’s virus briefing. The person will receive two short texts from the number 86911. The texts will be sent between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. “If you do get a text, please know it is a legitimate and important message from the department of health,” Levine said.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: A GOP state senator is suing over plans by Democratic leaders to limit public access to lawmakers’ offices during next year’s legislative session. Virginia Beach Sen. Bill DeSteph announced his lawsuit Tuesday, saying plans to keep a state office building open only to credentialed staff and lawmakers during the legislative session constitute a violation of the First Amendment. DeSteph said the Pocahontas Building, which sits just next to the state Capitol, should be open for in-person meetings. House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn announced last month that the House would conduct its work remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic when it convenes in January. House and Senate Republican leaders responded by saying they would use a procedural move to limit the 2021 session to 30 days, rather than the typical 45 days.\n\nWashington\n\nYakima: An appellate judge has ruled that the state Department of Labor and Industries did not show sufficient evidence to fine a gym owner for alleged violations of coronavirus regulations. One of Anytime Fitness’ owners, Bradshaw Development Inc., was fined more than $9,000 in July and $29,000 in August after the department said the gym exposed its employees to COVID-19, The Yakima Herald-Republic reports. Department officials claimed gym locations in Yakima, Selah and Union Gap operated in violation of the state’s reopening plan when the county was in Phase 1 of the plan and gyms were not allowed to reopen. Judge William R. Strange ruled in favor of the gym after it appealed the fines. Anytime Fitness attorney Scott Brumback said the ruling was a victory for owner Wes Bradshaw. “They fined him nearly $40,000,” Brumback said. “They were trying to make an example of him, and he stood up to them.” Department of Labor spokesperson Tim Church said the agency disagrees with the decision. The department has less than 20 days to request a written review from the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: The state has reported 63 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the beginning of this week, already more than half as many deaths as were reported in the previous week’s record high virus numbers. The state reported 890 confirmed cases Wednesday. West Virginia has set records for confirmed virus cases in seven of the past nine weeks. Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday that the state expects to receive its first doses of the Pfizer vaccine within 24 hours after it gains emergency use authorization from the federal government. Justice has refused to further close public life and shut down businesses. He said short of closing the entire state down, partial restrictions, such as on restaurants and other establishments, ”probably won’t make any significant effect.” He asked: “Why in the world am I going to blow my foot off if I have no idea if it’s going to help at all?”\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: Flu vaccinations are up so far this year, and state health officials hope a new education and awareness campaign launched Wednesday will boost participation among minorities who historically have been more reticent to get vaccinated. Getting the flu shot is recommended every year, but never more so than now, as hospitals and health care systems are already under stress from the coronavirus pandemic. Adding an influx of flu patients would completely overwhelm a health care system already stretched to the limit, said Dr. Tom Haupt, influenza surveillance coordinator for the state Department of Health Services. The good news for now, Haupt said, is there have been very few confirmed cases of the flu so far this season, and more people are getting vaccinated compared to last year. The number of people who got the flu this year started dropping in March and “fell off the table” in the summer with very little activity, Haupt said. The precautions people have taken to avoid getting COVID-19 – frequently washing hands, avoiding crowds, staying home – certainly also help to avoid the flu, but that must be complemented with the vaccine, he said. On Wednesday, the state added 3,619 new COVID-19 cases and 81 deaths.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: A Wyoming Department of Health official who falsely described the coronavirus and development of vaccines against it as a communist plot has resigned, a department spokeswoman said Wednesday. Igor Shepherd, who was the agency’s readiness and countermeasures manager, submitted his resignation Tuesday, and it was accepted the same day, department spokeswoman Kim Deti said, declining further comment. The baseless claims he made about the “so-called pandemic” at a Colorado event last month went against the department’s aggressive public education efforts to promote social distancing, mask-wearing and other measures to counter COVID-19. Shepherd was involved in Wyoming’s response to the coronavirus but not in a leadership role and had worked for the health department since 2013, according to state health officials. Toward the end of his talk in Loveland, Shepherd expressed doubt he would continue working for his state’s health department. “If you ask me how deeply I’m enjoying the job, well, I don’t anymore,” he said. “Who knows how long I’ll be around.”\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/12/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/05/04/minaret-vaccination-rushmore-fight-enrollment-drops-news-around-states/115964070/", "title": "Minaret vaccination, Rushmore fight: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMobile: With demand for COVID-19 shots flagging at an immunization clinic set up at the Alabama Cruise Terminal, an official said the site could shut down soon as the cruise industry prepares to restart. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines recently that would allow companies that meet certain benchmarks to resume operating around mid-July, and officials are hopeful Carnival Cruise Lines can resume its trips to the western Caribbean from Mobile. The city’s cruise terminal near downtown is being used as a mass vaccination site by the Mobile County Health Department, but Health Officer Dr. Bert Eichold told WALA-TV he expects the operation to wrap up in the next couple of weeks. More than 22% of Mobile County residents are fully vaccinated, according to CDC statistics. But the county also has one of the higher levels of community disease transmission in Alabama, according to the state. And Alabama is last in the nation in the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations. The area tourism agency said cruises account for 35,000 hotel nights and $150 million annually, and the more than yearlong shutdown of the industry has taken a chunk out of the local economy. “It’s been a big blow,” said David Clark, chief executive of Visit Mobile. “Tourism’s never, ever seen what they’ve seen in terms of disaster in the economy, from travel, or the lack of travel.”\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: The Alaska Court System temporarily disconnected most of its operations from the internet after a cybersecurity threat Saturday, including its website and removing the ability to look up court records. The threat blocked electronic court filings, disrupted online payments and prevented hearings from taking place by videoconference for several days, officials said. “I think for a few days, there may may be some inconveniences, there may be some hearings that are canceled, or some judges who decide to shift from videoconference to teleconference proceedings or the like. We don’t have all of that figured out yet,” Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Joel Bolger told the Anchorage Daily News. The court system said in a statement that it was working to remove malware from its servers. “At this time, the court system does not believe any confidential court documents or employee information has been compromised, but will promptly notify any affected individuals if that occurs,” the statement said. “No customer credit card information was compromised.” On Sunday, the court system posted on its Facebook and Twitter that all in-custody arraignments would proceed as scheduled. “Local courts have reached out to justice partners to let them know of any changes,” the posts said.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: More than 38,500 children disappeared from both virtual and physical classrooms this school year as the coronavirus spread through the state. The loss – a 3.3% drop year over year, according to Arizona Department of Education data – has school officials scrambling to figure out where these children went, if they will return in the fall and how they will fashion curricula for students who may have had significant learning loss. Their conclusions also will shape budget decisions, as schools are funded based on the number of children who show up in the fall. The steepest enrollment declines came at the youngest ages: About 42% of the loss is due to preschoolers and kindergartners not showing up on public school rolls, according to state data. Eighth graders and high school seniors were the only classes to show an increase, though the gains were minimal. Teachers, counselors and school administrators say many kids just stayed home, moved to private schools or began homeschooling. Then there are the questions left hanging when school officials visit family homes only to find no one there and no evidence of where the children went. “That’s the burning question,” said Kayla Fulmer, director of marketing and community relations at the J.O. Combs Unified School District. “We wonder and worry about that.”\n\nArkansas\n\nMountain Home: More than 84,000 state residents have missed their second COVID-19 vaccine dose. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, the second dose should be given within three to four weeks of the first, depending on the product. However, if an individual misses that time frame, they can still receive a second dose within six weeks of the first. As of April 30, 84,191 people in Arkansas were noted as being outside that 42-day window. Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the state epidemiologist and medical director for immunizations and outbreak response for the Arkansas Department of Health, said that number may not be entirely representative of those who actually missed the second shot, but officials are working on correcting that. “What we noticed when the people in our call centers started calling was some people reported they had received the second dose,” she said. The ADH is now allowing for more time before compiling numbers to allow for delayed reporting from vaccine providers. The department uses call center employees to make contact with people who are close to missing or have missed the window for the second shot.\n\nCalifornia\n\nPalm Springs: Enrollment drops at the Desert Sands and Palm Springs Unified school districts are outpacing the already steep statewide decline reported across California public schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, Coachella Valley private schools are reporting a surge in enrollment, as some parents say distance-learning models simply haven’t worked for their kids and families. Desert Sands Unified reports a 3.4% decline in enrollment and Palm Springs Unified a 3.2% decline from the 2019-20 academic year, the two districts reported. Those are greater than the 2.6% decline reported statewide for the same time frame, according to California Department of Public Education data that was released April 22. The statewide loss equates to a decrease of 160,000 enrolled students for a total of 6,002,523 students currently enrolled at K-12 schools. The statewide drop in enrollment – the largest decline in at least 20 years, according to California Department of Education data – came after Gov. Gavin Newsom closed public schools in March 2020, and the state’s school districts kept students in distance-learning models for much of the 2020-21 school year.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: Gov. Jared Polis extended a statewide mask mandate for another 30 days Sunday but loosened face covering requirements for groups of people who are vaccinated against COVID-19. Under the new executive order, people gathering inside in groups of 10 or more are no longer required to wear masks if at least 80% of the group is vaccinated. The order says people must show proof of vaccination, but it does not elaborate on what proof is considered acceptable. In April, Polis lifted mask requirements in most indoor settings in counties where the threat of COVID-19 was the lowest – the counties that fall under “Level Green” on the state’s scale. In counties with higher rates of COVID-19, masks must be worn in all public indoor spaces when 10 or more unvaccinated individuals or individuals of unknown vaccination status are present. Residents statewide are still required to wear masks at schools, child care centers, indoor children’s camps, public-facing state government facilities, correctional facilities and health care settings. About 1.9 million people in Colorado are fully vaccinated, and 2.6 million have received at least one dose, according to state data.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: Residents were breathing a sigh of relief over the weekend as some statewide restrictions that were put in place a year ago were eased. As of Saturday, bars that don’t serve food can open on an outdoor-only basis, and an eight-person limit per table for outdoor seating has been lifted. The limit remains in effect for indoor dining. Face masks are still required indoors, though NBC Connecticut reports Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to announce whether that will shift to a recommendation when there’s a wider easing of restrictions later this month. The rollback, scheduled to go into effect May 19, is contingent on low rates of infection and increasing vaccination rates.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: A conservative group pushing back against pandemic-related restrictions is making a push into school board elections, endorsing candidates up and down the state with platforms dedicated to hot-button issues like fully reopening schools and keeping concepts like social justice and lessons about race out of classrooms. Since the start of the pandemic, the grassroots group Stand Up Delaware has held rally after rally calling Gov. John Carney’s COVID-19 orders an infringement on individual liberties. Stand Up Delaware has since merged with the newly formed Patriots for Delaware, which has grown to include 11,000 members in its private Facebook group and turned its sights toward school board seats. Patriots for Delaware calls itself nonpartisan, but its members are largely right-wing conservatives, supporting former President Donald Trump, resisting COVID-19 restrictions and decrying mask mandates. “Within three years, we can change things completely,” Lisa McCulley, a lead organizer of Stand Up Delaware, told a crowd at a March rally outside Legislative Hall. “But we have to stop being complacent.” She pointed to Appoquinimink School District as an example of where the group sees an opening: a school board with “one awesome conservative” overruled by “three women who control the whole board.”\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: After 2020 threw wrenches in the wedding plans of so many couples, some are now facing yet another hurdle. Mayor Muriel Bowser has banned dancing at indoor and outdoor weddings, leaving many lovebirds scrambling to find venues outside the district, WUSA-TV reports. One wedding planner complained that the city is starting to feel a little like the mythical town of Bomont in the classic movie “Footloose” – the town that banned dancing. Stephanie Sadowski of SRS Events said she was “completely shell-shocked” upon hearing the news. The district is loosening some pandemic restrictions, but Bowser sneaked in a bombshell at her news conference last Monday, Sadowski said. The latest order allows indoor weddings at 25% capacity, or 250 people, but “standing and dancing at receptions are not allowed.” For some couples, that’s a deal breaker, and they’re rushing to relocate their celebrations to Maryland or Virginia venues where restrictions are looser. Sadowski said she had four weddings planned in D.C. next month, at the height of wedding season, and she’s scrambling to move all of them. “I cannot even believe we’re in 2021 right now, and we are saying no dancing,” she said. “Why can’t we just have masks?”\n\nFlorida\n\nTallahassee: Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to suspend all remaining COVID-19 restrictions imposed by communities across his state Monday, signing into law freshly passed legislation giving him sweeping powers to invalidate local emergency measures put in place during the pandemic – including mask mandates, limitations on business operations and the shuttering of schools. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” DeSantis said, “but I think this creates a structure that’s going to be a little bit more respectful, I think, of people’s businesses, jobs, schools and personal freedom.” The Republican governor has been touting his record on the coronavirus as he readies to launch his reelection campaign and considers a run for president in 2024. Even as DeSantis has urged Floridians to get vaccinated, he has become among the most nationally prominent Republicans to push back on mask mandates and other precautions that federal health officials have recommended in the continuing battle against the pandemic. Some mayors, particularly those aligned with the Democratic Party, decried Republican-led preemptions as a power grab against local government’s ability to control a potential resurgence of the coronavirus but also restrict their ability to respond to future public health emergencies.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: It’s one shot and no appointment needed at all eight state-run mass vaccination sites. Starting Monday, the sites are offering the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and are no longer accepting appointments. Instead, people who haven’t received a first dose are asked to drive up. The sites are still accepting appointments for people who need a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Those appointments can be made at myvaccinegeorgia.com. The sites are in Clarkesville, Columbus, Emerson, Hapeville, Macon, Sandersville, Savannah and Waycross. Most operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week, either Monday through Friday or Tuesday through Saturday. The state-run mass vaccination sites are scheduled to close May 21 amid what state officials described as slackening demand for vaccination. More than 6.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been given in Georgia, but the state ranks 44th in doses administered per capita to people 18 and older, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Health officials reported 113 newly confirmed coronavirus cases across the state Sunday, increasing the statewide total to more than 32,500 infections since the pandemic began early last year. The Hawaii Department of Health said there were no virus-related deaths, keeping the statewide toll at 483, including 374 fatalities on Oahu. The report includes cases reported to the department Friday, officials said. There were 80 reported cases in Honolulu County, 16 in Maui County, nine in Kauai County and three in Hawaii County, as well as five residents diagnosed outside the state, health officials said. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports one previous case appears to have been removed from the state’s tally. There have been more than 1,100 new infections in the state in the past two weeks. As of Sunday, the state has administered about 1.4 million vaccine doses through state and federal programs. More than 53% of the state’s population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 35% of the population is fully vaccinated.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: A state Senate panel on Monday rejected legislation intended to give lawmakers veto power over decisions by the federal government and courts, with senators citing its potential violation of the Idaho and U.S. constitutions. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 to kill the legislation brought forward by Republican Rep. Sage Dixon, who after the meeting said he would bring forward revamped legislation next year to try again. His bill would have allowed any member of the Republican-dominated state House or Senate to make a complaint about a federal action, potentially leading to a polling of members of the Committee on Federalism, which Dixon co-chairs. If the committee found merit in the complaint, the federal action would be immediately “paused” until the full Legislature acted to potentially declare it null and void. Federal actions involving abortion, gun laws, taxes and other issues could have been challenged under the proposed measure. The range of those issues made lawmakers uncomfortable. Lawmakers opposed to the bill said it violated the state and federal constitutions, with some citing their oaths of office and noting that at the start of each full Senate session they recite the Pledge of Allegiance.\n\nIllinois\n\nSpringfield: The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is offering free admission to people vaccinated against COVID-19. Officials at the museum in Springfield announced last week that the offer is good throughout May and June. Anyone who has received at least one shot is eligible to get a free ticket at the museum’s website. “Vaccination is key to beating this disease, keeping everyone healthy and returning to normal in America,” said Melissa Coultas, acting executive director of the museum. “If we can help by offering a little extra incentive, then we’re happy to do so.” People claiming a free ticket will have to show a vaccination card at the museum. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors or students, and $10 for military personnel. There is no charge for kids younger than 5 and a $6 fee for children between the ages of 5 and 15. Visitors to the museum must wear a mask. The facility also limits the number of people inside.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: The state on Monday reported 812 new coronavirus cases and a single death. More than 1.9 million residents 16 and older, or more than 35% of the eligible population, are now fully vaccinated. Black and Latino Hoosiers remain less likely to be vaccinated than those who identify as white. While Black residents make up 9.4% of the population, they represent just under 6% of people who have gotten a shot, according to the state’s vaccine dashboard. Latino residents comprise 6.2% of the population and 3.5% of those vaccinated. However, the statistics shift when only the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is considered. Black people received 7.6% of those vaccines and Latino people 5.9%. White people made up just under 78% of those receiving this vaccine and comprise 86% of the state’s population.\n\nIowa\n\nGranger: A vaccination event at the Islamic and Cultural Center Bosniak on Sunday morning aimed to deliver COVID-19 protection to 300 people. Ankeny vaccine distribution startup VaxiTaxi.com hosted the event, where Elvedin Sivac, president of the Es-Selam Mosque, was among those receiving their first shot. Alma Michelson, a pharmacist for Walgreens, helped set up Sunday’s clinic and said many of her fellow Bosnians distrust vaccines. “It’s a community that’s not quite on board with vaccines because they were influenced by the media so much,” she said. Other Bosnians in town are considered “essential workers” and were already given vaccines through their employers, Michelson said. Casey Villhauer started VaxiTaxi in July as a way to bring all types of vaccines into people’s homes or directly to them. She gave a flu shot to a person on a tractor once but said the shot she gave contractor Safet Tabakovic inside the minaret he’s building atop the mosque was unique. Michelson, Sivac and Villhauer hiked up 111 steps to give him his injection 80 feet off the ground. “We reached a lot of people that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten a shot,” Villhauer said.\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: COVID-19 vaccinations slowed last month, even as more contagious variants of the coronavirus surged and as hospitalizations from the disease rose in the state, according to health officials. Kansas Department of Health and Environment numbers show about 91,000 fewer people received first doses of the available vaccines in April than in March, the Wichita Eagle reports. There were 520 new hospitalizations and 157 new intensive care unit admissions in April, compared with 438 new hospitalizations and 150 new ICU admissions in March, officials said. “Almost exclusively, the answer is those needing hospitalized are unvaccinated,” Dr. David Wild with the University of Kansas Health System said Friday. Statewide, children account for a growing share of the new cases. Of the more than 6,750 new cases in April, more than 1 in 5 were in patients younger than 18, according to health department numbers. Children accounted for about 12% of all cases in March. Meanwhile, confirmed variant cases nearly tripled over the last three weeks of April, officials said. Officials did see a decrease in deaths from COVID-19 in April, at 69, compared with 170 deaths in March.\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: Berea College appears to be the first institution of higher learning in the state to require students to be vaccinated when they return to campus in the fall. The college announced Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines will be mandatory except for limited exemptions for medical or religious reasons. So far, none of Kentucky’s public universities have announced mandatory vaccines for students, but they’ve said they are strongly encouraging them, including the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville and Western Kentucky University. At Berea, students who decline the vaccine will be offered online classes, according to a news release. First-year students who aren’t vaccinated may defer their admission, and current students may request a leave of absence if they don’t choose online courses. The small, private college in Eastern Kentucky was among the first colleges in the country to stop in-person learning when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state in March 2020. The vaccine policy was developed after surveying students, faculty and staff, the news release said. Founded in 1869 by abolitionists, Berea was the first integrated and co-educational college in the South. Aided by a $1 billion endowment, Berea charges no tuition to its 1,600 students, who are required to work on campus.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: The state has paid roughly $6.2 million in improper unemployment benefits to nearly 1,200 people locked up in jails or prisons, the state Legislative Auditor’s Office said in a report released Monday. The state labor department didn’t dispute the findings and said it was working to correct the problems. It said criminal enterprises have targeted the state’s unemployment insurance program to take advantage of increased payouts during the coronavirus pandemic. The report noted two possible factors contributing to the improper payments, which amount to a tiny fraction of more than $8 billion in unemployment benefits paid during the pandemic. The report noted that the labor department failed to correctly match its data on unemployment benefits with information a vendor provides on inmates. Also, the report said more than 80% of the incarcerated recipients got the money through a program for contractors and gig workers that was created as part of a 2020 coronavirus relief bill. That complicates the job of the labor department, known as the Louisiana Workforce Commission, because it doesn’t have electronic wage data on gig and contract workers.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: L.L. Bean’s flagship store returned to 24-hour operations, and Amtrak’s Downeaster resumed its full schedule Monday, marking moves toward normalcy amid the pandemic. Amtrak’s expanded schedule includes a new southbound train that will depart Brunswick mid-morning and a new northbound train that will depart Boston mid-afternoon. In Freeport, workers removed the locks Monday as L.L. Bean’s flagship store resumed around-the-clock sales. The store had been operating on limited hours after Bean briefly closed all stores last year during the pandemic. Returning to 24-hour operations marks an important milestone for the company, restoring a tradition that dates to 1951, said Shawn Gorman, company chairman. Meanwhile, the Maine International Film Festival is returning this summer with a mix of in-person and virtual events. Movies that are normally screened at Railroad Square Cinema and the Waterville Opera House were moved to the nearby Skowhegan Drive-In Theater and online last summer. This summer, movies will be screened at all three of those locations, as well as online, from July 9 to July 18, the Morning Sentinel reports. To protect attendees’ safety, indoor movie showings will have capacity limits and require social distancing and protective masks.\n\nMaryland\n\nOcean City: Despite growing optimism that larger crowds could return for the 2021 tourism season, many business owners in the town worry a worsening labor shortage could spoil what might be a strong summer. The labor shortage that plagued businesses in 2020 has grown into a crisis in 2021. Seasonal business owners say it’s become more difficult to hire people, and it’s unlikely the J-1 visa program that brings foreign student workers will return this year. Altogether, many businesses might be short-staffed at critical levels as the demands of the tourist season take hold in a few weeks. “There’s a sign on every street in Ocean City that says ‘now hiring,’ ” said Anna Dolle Bushnell, owner of Dolle’s Candyland. This summer could be a financial challenge if Dolle’s doesn’t hire enough employees, Bushnell said, as it will have to cut its hours if it can’t hire enough staff. “This summer is going to hurt unless we get the help like we did last year from the government for being closed and for the reduced profits,” Bushnell said. Each summer approximately 12,000 seasonal jobs open up in Ocean City, said Susan Jones, executive director of the Ocean City Hotel-Motel Restaurant Association. Last year, nearly 4,000 weren’t filled because then-President Donald Trump placed a temporary ban on the J-1 cultural exchange visa program.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: The state plans on closing four of its seven mass vaccination sites by the end of June in favor of a more targeted approach to reach the roughly 30% of its eligible population that has not yet received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday. The state will instead send more doses to 22 smaller regional sites, expand mobile vaccination efforts, and bring vaccine clinics to senior centers, YMCAs, houses of worship and other community sites, the Republican governor said at a news conference. While there has been some hesitancy among people who have not yet been vaccinated, more often that not it’s a matter of convenience, Baker said, and he wants to make it as easy as possible to get a shot. The state can change its focus because it is on target to reach its goal of getting more than 4 million people vaccinated by the end of May. “Now that we believe we are going to hit the 4.1 million goal we started with over the course of the next few weeks, it’s time to adapt or vaccination effort to get make sure we get to some of the harder-to-reach populations,” he said. Mass vaccination sites at Gillette Stadium, the Doubletree hotel in Danvers, the Natick Mall and the Hynes Convention Center in Boston will close at the end of June. But Baker stressed that there are still plenty of appointments available.\n\nMichigan\n\nTraverse City: The Traverse City Film Festival is being canceled for the second consecutive year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael Moore said Friday. “This is truly upsetting for us and for everyone here who loves the movies and sees this festival as a cultural cornerstone of the community,” said Moore, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker who co-founded the event in 2005. The festival board concluded it would be irresponsible to invite thousands of visitors to the Lake Michigan resort town as the coronavirus continues to ravage the state, said Moore, the board’s president. As of Friday, Michigan had the nation’s highest seven-day infection rate, although numbers have been improving. Of the 30 counties across the U.S. with the most new cases per capita in the past 14 days, 17 are in Michigan, according to Johns Hopkins University. “We have simply run out of time waiting for this virus to be contained,” board secretary David Poinsett said, adding that it takes six months to plan and produce the event. A shortened version of the festival could take place late this year or in early 2022 if the virus situation improves, Moore said.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Cloud: Child care providers were hit hard by the pandemic, and helping them may be crucial to economic recovery. Closures of family child care centers have caused a shortage of child care spots across the state, and COVID-19 accelerated that because many parents kept their children home. Now the shortage is dire. There is a need for 39,000 child care spots in Minnesota, including more than 1,400 in St. Cloud, according to the Greater Minnesota Partnership. “If we’re going to entice (women) back into the workforce, they’re going to need child care. Or maybe they’d like to consider going into child care,” said Don Hickman, vice president for Community and Workforce Development at the Initiative Foundation. “But without child care, we’re going to have a much slower economic recovery.” In recent months, a new solution has emerged to help address that need. Pine Technical and Community College launched a new training program for child care providers in March, with St. Cloud Technical and Community College set to follow suit. Participants will pay next to nothing to take classes and earn a certificate because outside funders are so eager to bolster the child care workforce.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: Despite the state’s declining COVID-19 vaccination rate, a statewide survey shows residents are actually more likely to get vaccinated than what has been indicated in national polls, according to state health officials. Survey results published last month by the Morning Consult, a national data intelligence company, had claimed Mississippians are the most unwilling in the U.S. when it comes to getting a COVID-19 shot. It showed 30% of more than 2,000 survey-takers in Mississippi were unwilling to get a vaccine to armor against the coronavirus. Another 18% were undecided. A recent trust survey conducted by the state health department and the Community Engagement Alliance from December to March told a different story. Of over 11,000 Mississippians surveyed, Director of Preventive Health and Health Equity Victor Sutton said 73% were willing to get vaccinated. The survey also showed there was not much variation based on political affiliation. That strays from the Pew Research Center’s national data revealing Republicans are less likely to get a shot than Democrats. The conflicting results stem from how questions were asked, Sutton said. The variation isn’t unusual. “We did a really rich, grassroots outreach,” he said. “It’s very Mississippi-centric.”\n\nMissouri\n\nCarthage: A gathering that traditionally has drawn tens of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics from across the U.S. to southwest Missouri has been canceled for a second straight year because of the pandemic. The Joplin Globe reports the city of Carthage and the Congregation of the Mother of the Redeemer have decided that the risk of COVID-19 transmission is still too great to hold the Marian Days celebration. Before 2020, the event had taken place in the city every year since 1978, reuniting families and friends separated after the fall of Saigon. The Rev. John Paul Tai Tran, provincial minister of the congregation, said the decision not to hold the celebration during the first week of August was again difficult. “Our people come from all over, and there are a lot of states in the U.S. where the cases of infection are still booming,” he said. Carthage police Chief Greg Dagnan said the leaders of the congregation met with city officials last Tuesday about the event but had pretty much decided beforehand that it would still be too dangerous. “We’re not at the level where we can have 50,000 or 60,000 people stand shoulder-to-shoulder and camp together for a week,” Dagnan said.\n\nMontana\n\nKalispell: About 96% of residents who have received their first COVID-19 vaccine have been returning to get their second dose, state health officials said. Jim Murphy, administrator of the health department’s Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Bureau, told Montana Public Radio he’s pleased that nearly everyone who got a first dose is following up with a second. Nationally, 8% of people who were due to get their second dose by April 9 didn’t return for their second shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Out of almost 400,000 Montanans who have received a first dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, about 14,600 are at least two weeks overdue for their second shot, Murphy said. It’s possible some have received a second dose in another state or decided to get a second dose at a pharmacy rather than returning to a mass vaccination clinic, he said, while others could wrongly believe they are protected after one dose. Others may be wary after their initial experience or reports of side effects by others. Dr. Douglas Kuntzweiler with Mountain-Pacific Quality Health told a nervous woman last week during a virtual AARP Montana town hall that a bad case of COVID-19 would cause a person to feel a lot worse than the brief potential side effects of being vaccinated.\n\nNebraska\n\nLincoln: The state government will collect an extra $90 million in tax revenue in the current fiscal year that ends June 30 but will face a less rosy outlook over the following two years, based on new state estimates. The Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board on Friday lowered its revenue projections by $5 million over the following two budget years, starting July 1. The new predictions will give lawmakers about $38 million more than expected in the current legislative session, after adjusting for requirements of state law. The projections will also trigger an automatic boost to a new state property tax credit program. Gov. Pete Ricketts urged lawmakers to “stay the course” with his plan to ease the local property tax burden for Nebraska residents. “Nebraska’s economy continues to show significant signs of strength as we emerge from the pandemic,” Ricketts said.\n\nNevada\n\nCarson City: Gov. Steve Sisolak said Friday that the panel he appointed to oversee the state’s coronavirus pandemic response won’t meet regularly after June 1, the date he has set for lifting coronavirus mitigation restrictions except mask mandates. Caleb Cage also will step down as COVID-19 response director and return to the Nevada System of Higher Education with a promotion to vice chancellor of workforce development and chief innovation officer, the governor and the university system announced. Sisolak praised Cage for “a year of selfless public service” and called Cage’s emergency management leadership and expertise invaluable to the state. “While the pandemic is not yet over, our state response efforts will naturally transition as the situation evolves and we focus on mass vaccination of Nevadans,” the governor said. The task force began regular meetings last August. Sisolak said it will continue to meet through May, while the state’s 17 counties assume full local control of COVID-19 restrictions. Weekly COVID-19 Task Force calls with the media will end in June, the Democratic governor said.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: An annual contest that rewards high school journalists in the state has been adjusted this year to take into account the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Previously, those competing for the Brodsky Prize were required to submit examples of published work. But given the challenges the pandemic posed to school papers, this year’s contest asks students to submit essays of up to 800 words about how the pandemic has challenged their communities or schools and how it could lead to positive changes. The $5,000 prize, established by a former editor of the school paper at Central High School in Manchester, is open to all New Hampshire high school seniors. The deadline for submissions is May 14.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: The state will lift all COVID-19 outdoor gathering limits and remove a 50% capacity limit on indoor restaurants and bars beginning May 19 as long as social distancing can be maintained, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. Murphy said the state’s positive coronavirus trends have enabled the change. “This means that the events that we all associate with summer, from fireworks displays to parades to the state fair, can all go forward, as long as attendees keep 6 feet of distance,” he said. Murphy also announced that relaxed restrictions slated to take effect May 10 will now apply Friday, three days earlier. Those changes include increasing the outdoor gathering limits to 500 people and raising indoor capacities to 50% up to 250 individuals for political gatherings, weddings, funerals, memorial services and performances. Privately catered events will also be permitted to have dancing. Murphy, a Democrat seeking reelection this year, will also remove a prohibition on tables of eight diners or more. Tables can be spaced closer than 6 feet if partitions are used. Also done away with is a 50% capacity limit for religious services, retail, gyms, saloons and amusement businesses. Instead, Murphy said, the state will require a minimum of 6 feet of distance between people.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: State legislators bristled Friday at vetoes by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that block legislative authority over new federal pandemic aid, and they said they may seek a court ruling to defend the Legislature’s authority over that spending. Pandemic relief legislation signed this year by President Joe Biden assigns $1.6 billion in aid directly to New Mexico’s government. Legislators in March assigned $1.1 billion to backfill the state’s unemployment insurance trust, underwrite roadway projects, provide several years of tuition-free college to in-state students and shore up finances at state museums. Lujan Grisham vetoed those provisions, and several leading legislators say the governor went too far in asserting her authority over the money. Lawmakers also say several line-item vetoes to a budget bill went beyond simple spending deletions to alter or expand state spending. During a meeting Friday of a year-round legislative committee on budgeting and accountability, state Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup, urged colleagues to seek an opinion from the state Supreme Court. “I just think that the Legislature has to determine under their purview if they’re going to be the funding body, or are we going to let the governor dictate,” he said. “This is not a personal battle.”\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: The city’s subway will begin rolling all night again, and capacity restrictions for most types of businesses will end statewide in mid-May, as COVID-19 infection rates continue to decline, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. City subway service will return to 24-hour operation May 17 after being closed for cleaning during overnight hours since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic last year, the Democratic governor said. Capacity restrictions on businesses – including restaurants, offices, beauty salons and gyms – will be lifted in New York and its neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut on May 19, Cuomo said. Businesses in New York will still be required to operate in a way that guarantees that unvaccinated people can keep 6 feet of social distancing space, even after the occupancy limits go away, the governor said. New York City’s subways, famous for all-night operation, were shut down between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. starting April 30, 2020, so that trains and stations could be disinfected. The change was also intended to make it easier to remove homeless people from trains where many had been spending the night. The overnight closure was scaled back to 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. in February.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nAsheville: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s strain on students through virtual, hybrid and distanced in-person instruction, local school districts anticipate an uptick in summer school attendance this year. Buncombe County Schools spokesperson Stacia Harris said the district predicts more students will attend school this summer than last year, when 1,600 students participated in the county’s summer program, which was available virtually and in person for students going into first through fifth grades. Before the pandemic, the district’s only summer programs were reading support for first through third grades and credit recovery for high schoolers who failed classes and needed to retake them. Asheville City Schools spokesperson Ashley-Michelle Thublin said the district is still finalizing the number of students who need summer school. Daniel Winthrow, a member of the North Carolina Association of Educators and teacher for the academically and intellectually gifted at Isaac Dickson Elementary School, said he could see many students opting for summer instruction for Asheville City Schools. “As a teacher, I’m seeing a lot of students just academically are not in the same place that you would expect them to be at this point in the year, which makes sense having a global pandemic,” he said.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum has signed into law a bill that directs the state’s Department of Health and its Department of Human Services to unite into the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, effective Sept. 1, 2022. “North Dakota’s Department of Health and Department of Human Services have a long history of working together to serve the citizens of our state, as evidenced by their lifesaving work during the current pandemic,” Burgum said in a statement. “By bringing these two agencies together, we will build on each agency’s strengths, enhance collaboration, provide expanded career opportunities for team members and, most importantly, deliver programs and services more efficiently and effectively to the citizens of North Dakota.” The governor’s office will lead an integration team with representation from the two agencies. “Team members from both agencies have distinguished themselves with their dedication, commitment and sacrifice throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” Burgum said. “Improving health, providing quality human services and supporting our team members will continue to be our top priorities as we build a streamlined service delivery system for North Dakota citizens.”\n\nOhio\n\nCincinnati: Fully vaccinated employees at nursing homes and assisted living facilities don’t need to be tested for the coronavirus, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday. Staff who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 must still be tested twice a week. “When staff is not vaccinated, that does increase the odds of the virus getting into the nursing home,” DeWine said. Someone is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after his or her final shot. The state reported fewer than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases between Sunday and Monday. “We are moving in the right direction in regard to cases,” DeWine said. Ohio reported 89 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and 17 patients admitted to intensive care units during that time, according to Ohio Department of Health data. Ohio is at 147.9 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. If the state dips below 50 new cases per 100,000 residents, DeWine said he would lift all health orders, including the mask requirement.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: More than 110,000 people who got a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the state are overdue for a second one, according to state health department data. Of those who have received a first dose through state allocations, 9.4% are at least two weeks late on their second. That doesn’t include those who have received vaccines in Oklahoma through federal allocations, such as those given through tribal governments. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are a two-dose regimen, given three and four weeks apart, respectively. The first dose can offer some protection, but to get the 90%-plus efficacy shown in the vaccines’ clinical trials, both shots are necessary, experts say. Health Department Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed said vaccine providers try to set second-dose appointments at the time someone gets their first dose and send reminders to return to complete the series. “We also realize that things do come up, life gets in the way sometimes, and people need to reschedule, so hopefully they’ll respond to our reminders and step up and get vaccinated,” he said. “Because while we’re pleased to get one dose into people, because that does afford some significant protection, we want them to be fully vaccinated and receive the full benefits of vaccination.”\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: Last week was unusually slow for Oregon National Guard members distributing COVID-19 vaccinations at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. For the past four months, the site has seen a steady stream of Oregonians receiving their first and second doses. “But this past week, it’s like we fell off a cliff,” said Col. Ron Smith, of Sherwood, who oversees the vaccine administration at the fairgrounds. Smith and his fellow supervisors are unsure why. Smith, 59, said the site has the resources to vaccinate 5,000 people per day, though Guard members vaccinated about half that number of people Wednesday. “We have the doses, we have the staffing and everything ready to go, and we’re kind of just sitting here begging for people right now,” Smith said. Guard supervisors are still scratching their heads about the drop-off in vaccine recipients. “Maybe we’ve got all the people who want to get shots, and now we’re down to the people who for whatever reason are hesitant. Who knows what it is, but it is,” Smith said. The State Fairgrounds is not the only site experiencing a drop in demand. Statewide, vaccinations peaked at about 52,000 per day April 8. They were down to 26,000 on April 28.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: The state should immediately terminate the no-bid state contract of a company that performed coronavirus contact tracing and exposed the private medical information of tens of thousands of residents, Republican lawmakers said Monday. GOP leaders also called for state and federal probes into the Atlanta-based contractor’s mishandling of the data and what they said was the slow response by the Wolf administration. Employees of Insight Global used unauthorized Google accounts – readily viewable online – to store names, phone numbers, email addresses, COVID-19 exposure status, sexual orientations and other information about residents who had been reached for contact tracing. The company’s contract with the state required it safeguard people’s data. The Department of Health said last week that at least 72,000 people were affected. The state plans to drop Insight Global once its contract expires at the end of the July. But GOP lawmakers said at a news conference at the Capitol on Monday that the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf needs to find a new vendor immediately. “The public trust in Insight Global is gone,” said state Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-Allegheny. “And as as long as the company continues to do contact tracing for our state, who is going to give them any information?”\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: High schools across the state have scheduled vaccination clinics this week for their students 16 and up, starting Monday at Cranston East. Another clinic is scheduled for Wednesday at Cranston West, Barrington is scheduled to host a clinic Thursday, and Johnston and North Kingstown are set to vaccinate students starting Friday. Cranston Mayor Kenneth Hopkins told WPRI-TV that vaccinations will help students feel safe during prom and graduation season and give them a chance to get a shot before college, as many schools are requiring students to be vaccinated for the fall semester. The city is providing the Pfizer vaccine, which is authorized for use in those over the age of 16. Students can get a shot without parental authorization, the state Department of Health said. Second doses for Cranston students are scheduled to be administered May 24 and 26. Gov. Daniel McKee said last week that his administration will work with any high school that wants to host a vaccination clinic for students.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nGreenville: Greenville County got nearly twice as much federal pandemic aid as all other South Carolina counties combined, and more than a third of that money was kept for county government’s own use. Because of its population, the county qualified for a direct allocation of $91.3 million from the $2 trillion stimulus package enacted last spring. Greenville County Administrator Joe Kernell dispersed about $58.5 million in community health grants, financial assistance to businesses, and funding for other government agencies and nonprofits. He decided to keep the remaining 35% of the money for county government’s own uses. Nearly $33 million was spent to pay emergency medical personnel and buy equipment ranging from medical mannequins to take-home computers as well as cover other expenses such as face masks, advertising costs and cellphone bills. Because they had fewer than 500,000 residents, South Carolina’s 45 other counties had to submit requests to state officials in Columbia for funding from the federal package. Those counties ended up getting a total of about $46 million. Kernell didn’t face such oversight. After approving a budget outline in June, Greenville County Council members allowed the administrator to make spending decisions.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nMount Rushmore National Memorial: Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday told the state’s tourism industry to gear up for a busy summer, as she expects an influx of visitors itching to travel after more than a year of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. During an event at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where she is suing to hold another fireworks display this summer, the Republican governor said there are many signs that tourism – the state’s second-largest industry – will make a big rebound. Tourism spending dropped by 18% in 2020, but Noem said the state still welcomed ample visitors. She drew widespread attention and criticism for forgoing virus restrictions and hosting a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore that featured former President Donald Trump. She also welcomed people to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where hundreds contracted COVID-19 and brought it back to 30 states. “The tourism industry is so important to our entire state,” Noem said, pointing to the tax revenue it brings in and jobs it sustains. The governor has initiated a legal battle with President Joe Biden’s administration over holding fireworks at the monument to celebrate Independence Day again this year. The National Park Service denied the state’s application to hold the event this summer due to safety concerns and objections from local Native American tribes.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: The city’s financial leaders have presented what credit-rating agencies deemed a stable $2.6billion budget package despite devastating natural disasters, the pandemic and social unrest that dragged at city coffers. Finances are so steady that $267 million in federal COVID-19 pandemic recovery funds can be set aside for more services and economic growth, officials said Friday. A controversial 34% property tax increase will set the city up for years of fiscal health while maintaining relatively low rates, they said. “The property tax increase stabilized our revenue base,” Finance Director Kevin Crumbo said Friday. “The American Rescue Plan will move us from a stable position to one that is sustainable for generations to come.” The full line-item budget will be released this week. But Crumbo outlined key takeaways, and Mayor John Cooper released his priorities for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Cooper will invest in a hefty pay raise for teachers, improved roads and expanded bus routes, and more affordable housing development. “Last year’s budget was a crisis budget. This year’s budget is an investment budget,” Cooper said. “We’ve weathered the storm. And we have a new opportunity to rise, together.”\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: Serving up a to-go margarita with Maudie’s Tex Mex fare “has been a lifesaver” for the restaurant chain over the past year, said Ryan Leugers, director of operations for the Austin-based company. He said the to-go alcohol option, temporarily afforded to Texas restaurants as the pandemic ravaged sales, has boosted mixed-beverage sales 10% to 20% across the restaurant’s six Austin-area locations. Now, a bill headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk would make alcohol to-go sales at restaurants a permanent option. Abbott last year expressed support for making such sales permanent. Under the bill, establishments could sell beer, wine and mixed drinks as part of pickup and delivery food orders. House Bill 1024 was filed by Republican state Rep. Charlie Geren, who owns a barbecue restaurant in Fort Worth. The House approved the bill in March, and the Senate gave final approval Wednesday. If Abbott signs the bill, it will go into effect immediately. If he doesn’t sign it and allows it to become law, it will take effect Sept. 1. The Texas Restaurant Association applauded the legislation to make alcohol to-go sales permanent. “This ability has saved thousands of restaurant jobs during the pandemic, and it will remain a critical tool as the industry rebuilds,” the association said in a statement.\n\nUtah\n\nSt. George: State health officials have announced more options for free rapid coronavirus testing. The test sites, which are determined by health officials based on an area’s positivity rates, testing rates, wastewater sampling and other surveillance data, offer free tests to anyone 3 or older, with test results typically expected in less than an hour. Some of the locations are drive-thru, while others are held indoors. Those held inside ask people to wear masks and maintain social distancing while waiting in line. Anyone with symptoms associated with COVID-19, even if they are minor, is encouraged to get tested. Those who have been in contact with someone who has had COVID-19 while they could have been infectious are also encouraged to get tested. The Utah Department of Health asks that anyone seeking a test register online first. Registration can be done on site, but it could take longer to receive a test. Identification may also be required. Rapid antigen tests are less sensitive than the also-common polymerase chain reaction tests, according to the department. This means PCR tests are better than antigen tests at detecting the virus, especially when a person has small amounts of virus in their body.\n\nVermont\n\nSt. Johnsbury: The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles is considering whether to reopen a number of regional offices across the state that were closed during the early days of the pandemic. DMV Commissioner Wanda Minoli said officials are in the process of evaluating the future of offices in St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, Middlebury, Dummerston and White River Junction. Offices in Bennington, Rutland, Newport, South Burlington and Springfield are open by appointment only. The pandemic spurred significant improvements to online services, such as license renewals and some vehicle registration services, that has reduced demand for in-person services. Minoli has said the reopening of satellite locations is dependent on how things go in the locations that are open. “Accessibility and user-friendliness are at an all-time high, with additional online systems and services that were developed throughout the pandemic to enable customers to do their business right at their own computer,” Minoli said in an email to the Caledonian Record. Among the services now available online are online vehicle registration and standard learner’s permit tests. Commercial learner’s permits tests must still be taken in person, as must driving tests.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can forgo a face mask outdoors, Gov. Ralph Northam says, as long as they are alone or with others who have also completed a vaccine regimen. The Democratic governor amended his mask order Thursday to align with federal guidelines released last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anyone who is considered “fully vaccinated” – meaning they are two weeks removed from their last or only dose of a vaccine – is safe to be outside without a mask as long as they are alone or in a small group with others also fully vaccinated. Masks still would be required in crowded outdoor settings such as concerts and sporting events. “The CDC’s recommendations underscore what we have said all along – vaccinations are the way we will put this pandemic behind us and get back to normal life,” Northam said in a statement. “Our increasing vaccination rate and decreasing number of new COVID-19 cases has made it possible to ease mitigation measures in a thoughtful and measured manner.” Northam also changed the effective date of new guidelines for outdoor sporting events from May 15 to immediately accommodate this past weekend’s slate of state high school football championship games.\n\nWashington\n\nBremerton: With coronavirus cases rising dramatically in Kitsap in recent weeks, the county faces the possibility of tighter restrictions and being sent back a phase in the state’s reopening plan. Counties must either keep new case rates below 200 cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period or new hospitalizations below five per 100,000 over a one-week period to stay in Phase 3. Kitsap Public Health District Administrator Keith Grellner said Friday that Kitsap’s case rate is now well above 200. “There is a strong possibility that the state will move Kitsap County back to Phase 2 ... because COVID-19 disease activity and hospitalizations appear to be exceeding the state’s thresholds,” he said. “This a wake-up call for our community. We need to get as many residents as possible vaccinated so we can curb the spread of COVID-19 and get our recovery back on track.” The tightened restrictions in Phase 2 limit gatherings to 25% capacity in settings like indoor eating and drinking establishments, entertainment venues, worship services, retail stores and fitness facilities, among other limitations. A phase rollback would be announced Tuesday, and the new restrictions would be implemented Friday. The next reevaluation would happen in three weeks. All but three counties statewide are currently in Phase 3.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nKeyser: WVU Potomac State College will hold its spring commencement ceremony Saturday, but it will look different from in years past as the college implements safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the location has changed to the Keyser High School Alumni Stadium to meet the physical distancing requirements mandated by state regulations for graduation ceremonies. The event will be held rain or shine. Additionally, the college is issuing guest tickets this year, allowing four per graduate. Tickets are required to enter the stadium. Children 2 and younger will be allowed to sit on parents’ laps without the need for a ticket. Masks will be required at all times. The college will also welcome back May, August and December 2020 graduates who registered to participate with the May 2021 graduates. Giving the keynote address will be campus President Jennifer Orlikoff. The ceremony will be livestreamed for family and friends who are unable to attend in person.\n\nWisconsin\n\nBaraboo: Observation towers and playgrounds at Wisconsin state parks have reopened, as more restrictions in place during the coronavirus pandemic are loosening. The state Department of Natural Resources has also increased capacity to 100 at open-air shelters, amphitheaters and outdoor group campgrounds, WMTV reports. “Over the course of the past year, we have been closely monitoring the health activities going on and making adjustments to our operations when it’s safe to do so,” said Brian Hefty, Wisconsin State Parks deputy director. “We’ll continue to do that with public safety being the No. 1 priority for us.” Attendance at state parks has increased 25% so far this year compared to 2020, the DNR said. Hefty said state park staff will continue to monitor public areas and keep an eye on park capacity limits. If the crowds grow too large, staff may enact a temporary capacity closure.\n\nWyoming\n\nJackson: Bicyclists will no longer be allowed to ride into Yellowstone National Park through the south gate before the road opens for motorized vehicles each spring. After spring plowing, Yellowstone keeps some of its interior roads closed to motorized vehicles for several weeks while opening them to human-powered recreation. The park recently announced a permanent ban on bikes between the South Entrance and Grant Village during the spring shoulder season, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reports. “Usually there are high snowbanks, no place to get out of the road and no restrooms in that section,” Yellowstone spokeswoman Linda Veress said. “It wasn’t the safest place to ride a bike.” Fewer bicyclists ride in southern Yellowstone in spring compared to the more accessible main road through nearby Grand Teton National Park. Snow and ice prevented Yellowstone’s South Entrance from opening to bicyclists in 2018 and 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic closed the road through much of the spring of 2020. Yellowstone officials plan to open the south gate to all traffic May 14.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/05/04"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_13", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/memphis200/2019/04/17/memphis-bicentennial-history-trivia/3301701002/", "title": "Memphis Bicentennial: Here are 200 Bluff City historical facts", "text": "Memphis — the city established on the bluffs of the Mississippi River and named after an ancient capital on the Nile delta — turns 200 this year.\n\nIn recognition of this bicentennial, here are 200 markers along the road of history that led to the present day.\n\nThe events cited range from the comic to the tragic, from the risible to the world-shaking, from the all-but-forgotten to the never-to-be-forgotten. But they barely scratch the surface of the rich, silty soil that enabled Memphis to become \"the Hardwood Capital of America,\" to cite just one of the city's nicknames.\n\nIn other words, this is not a definitive Memphis timeline. With a few exceptions, it ignores music and sports (which will be celebrated by this newspaper later in the year with their own bicentennial tributes). You will have complaints about omissions. But we hope you will enjoy or appreciate the inclusions.\n\nSo, here it is — a Memphis 200 for a Bluff City Bicentennial.\n\n1. May 22, 1819: Modern Memphis is founded by planter and judge John Overton, Revolutionary War officer James Winchester and future president Andrew Jackson, a year after the federal government purchased the territory from the Chickasaw Nation in negotiations partly led by Jackson. Planned as a grid of streets along the river, the city is named for a former great river town, the ancient capital of Egypt.\n\n2. Progress was slow. \"From its founding in 1819 until about 1840, Memphis was a primitive and pestilential little mudhole striving to survive as a town.\" — John E. Harkins, \"Metropolis of the American Nile,\" 1982.\n\n3. The city's founding came 270 years after the first Memphis-area encounter between American Indians and Europeans, led by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Both France and Spain would build forts on the \"Chickasaw bluffs\" in the 18th century.\n\n4. Memphis' first grand jury indictment arrives in 1820, when Patrick Meagher is charged with two counts of assault and battery after indulging in too much \"fire water\" and brawling with bartenders. His fine: $2.\n\n5. 1826: Encouraged by Memphis Mayor Marcus Winchester, Davy Crockett is elected to the U.S House of Representatives, representing Tennessee's 9th Congressional District — the seat (with very different boundaries) later held by Harold Ford and Steve Cohen.\n\n6. Memphis' oldest noise ordinance, from 1827, prohibits \"whooping, halloo-ing and swearing loudly,\" punishable by a $5 fine — or $10, if the offense occurs on a Sunday.\n\n7. In Memphis, traffic problems predate automobiles: An 1837 law makes driving a horse-drawn conveyance \"faster than a trot\" punishable by a $10 fine.\n\n8. April 21, 1841: Henry Van Pelt publishes the first issue of The Appeal. The paper later merges or buys out the Monitor, the Western Mercury and the Avalanche; in 1894, it is renamed The Commercial Appeal.\n\n9. 1848: Free public school opens.\n\n10. 1851: Nathan Bedford Forrest moves to Memphis and opens a slave trading company, one of a dozen in the city during the decade.\n\n11. March 15, 1851: Memphians pay an astronomical $20 per ticket to see Jenny Lind, the so-called \"Swedish Nightingale,\" perform at Odd Fellows Hall. Her manager for the tour: P.T. Barnum.\n\n12. 1852: Construction of St. Peter's Catholic Church begins.\n\n13. 1853: The first synagogue in Tennessee, B'nai Israel, is established by Jewish German immigrants. In 1943 it adopts its current name: Temple Israel.\n\n14. July 15, 1853: Elmwood Cemetery opens for business, so to speak, when the late Mrs. R.B. Berry is laid to rest as its first occupant. The 75,000 interred since then have included slaves, suffragists, yellow fever victims and author Shelby Foote.\n\n15. \"May God bless Memphis, the noblest city on the face of the earth.” — Mark Twain, in an 1858 letter to his sister, after visiting the Memphis hospital where his brother Henry was taken after a steamboat explosion that took \"hundreds of lives.\"\n\n16. June 6, 1862: The Mississippi River churns as Union gunboats defeat Confederate naval forces at the first Battle of Memphis.\n\n17. Also June 6, 1862: To avoid \"Yankee\" takeover, the presses and plates of the pro-Confederacy newspaper, The Appeal, are loaded into a boxcar and moved to Grenada, Mississippi, where the newspaper resumes publication. Keeping one step ahead of Union confiscators, The Appeal later journeys to Jackson, Mississippi; Meridian, Mississippi; Atlanta; Montgomery, Alabama; and Columbus, Georgia.\n\n18. Aug. 21, 1864: Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops raid the Union-occupied city but ultimately withdraw; this incursion becomes known as the second Battle of Memphis.\n\n19. Bright kid, promising future: In 1865, 18-year-old Thomas Edison works as a telegraph operator in Memphis.\n\n20. April 27, 1865: The greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history occurs on the Mississippi River at Memphis when the boilers of the overloaded Sultana explode. Close to 1,800 of the 2,400 people aboard the 260-foot wooden steamboat are killed or drowned (about 50 more than will be lost in the sinking of the Titanic). The boat's legal capacity was 376.\n\n21. Forty-six black people and two white people are killed when white civilians and police officers rampage through black neighborhoods for two days of mob violence, May 1-3, 1866. The event becomes known as the \"Memphis Massacre.\"\n\n22. 1869: The foundation stone is laid for Beale Street Baptist Church (also known as First Baptist Church — Beale Street), a congregation organized by freed slaves.\n\n23. The city's oldest degree-granting collegiate institution, Christian Brothers University, is established in 1871 (as Christian Brothers College) by members of a Catholic congregation founded by France's St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the patron saint for \"teachers of youth.\"\n\n24. 1875: Walter Burke Sr. opens the original Burke's Book Store at 180 N Main. Now located at 936 Cooper, the store has remained independent and Memphis-owned ever since.\n\n25. Jan. 15, 1877, becomes known as \"The Day It Rained Snakes.\" According to newspaper reports that inspired an investigation by Scientific American, a \"torrential downpour\" left behind great numbers of snakes in the area of Vance and Lauderdale. The Monthly Weather Review reported the snakes were dark brown or black and \"very thick in some places, being tangled together like a mass of thread or yarn.\" Whether the reptiles were driven from subterranean hiding places or deposited on the Bluff City via some sort of storm-driven snakenado remains a mystery.\n\n26. Aug. 13, 1878: Restaurant owner Kate Bionda becomes the city's first recorded victim of yellow fever, having contracted the disease from a man who had escaped a quarantined steamboat. She would be followed by close to 5,000 others by the end of the year, as the epidemic devastates the city.\n\n27. One of the most significant figures to ever call this city home, former slave Ida B. Wells moves to Memphis in 1882 at the age of 20. A few years later, she launches her anti-lynching campaign through her newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight.\n\n28. Wells makes an international reputation: \"Miss Ida B. Wells is a negress, a young lady of little more than twenty years of age, a graceful, sweet-faced, intelligent, courageous girl. She hails from Memphis, Tenn. She is not going back there just now, because the white people are anxious to hang her up by the neck in the market place, and burn the soles of her feet, and gouge her beautiful dark eyes out with red-hot irons.'' — The London Sun, 1894.\n\n29. An estimated 50 men, women and children, are killed on March 30, 1882, when a broken lantern causes a fire aboard the steamer Golden City, as the boat is about to dock. According to a newspaper account, the \"howls of a burning menagerie ... mingled with shrieks of women and children.\"\n\n30. 1887: Artesian well water becomes available for the first time, establishing Memphis as a city with notably pure drinking water.\n\n31. On Oct. 15, 1887, Grover Cleveland becomes the first president to visit Memphis while in office. Thousands lined the streets (and were infiltrated by gangs of pickpockets, according to The Commercial Appeal), but the joy gives way to shock when a prominent local citizen, Judge Henry T. Ellett, grandly introduces the 24th president of the United States and then promptly drops dead on stage. The newspaper calls it “one of the saddest incidents that ever characterized a gala occasion,\" and offers this recounting: \"Judge Ellett was placed upon the platform, his shoes removed, and all that mortal effort and medical science could suggest applied to bring resuscitation. It was useless, his spirit had fled.\"\n\n32. A Memphis community designed expressly for black residents, Orange Mound — named for the area's many Osage orange trees — begins to be developed in 1890, on former plantation property. For much of its history, the neighborhood is said to represent the largest concentration of African Americans outside of Harlem.\n\n33. Feb. 23, 1892: \"Tomboy\" Alice Mitchell, 19, uses her father's razor blade to cut the throat of her former Higbee School for Young Ladies classmate, Freda Ward, 17; the sensational murder trial that follows exposes what the one newspaper calls \"the Perverted Affection of One Girl for Another.\" Alice — who apparently had dreamed of dressing as a man and marrying Freda — is sentenced to what was then called the Western State Hospital for the Insane in Bolivar, Tennessee.\n\n34. The city's first public library, the Cossitt Library, opens on April 12, 1893. However, a public campaign for donations is necessary to stock its shelves with books.\n\n35. Memphis' first skyscraper, the 10-story Porter Building at 10 N. Main, is constructed in 1895.\n\n36. A May 1901 reunion of Confederate troops ends with a parade of 15,000 veterans, according to The Commercial Appeal. \"Never before in the history of Memphis were the people so enthused as they were yesterday,\" the newspaper reported, while also praising \"the survivors of the most superb soldiery that ever bore a part in making world's history.\"\n\n37. In about 1901, Natch the black bear — who over a century later would be weirdly reimagined as NBA mascot Grizz’s chief romantic rival — is put on display in Overton Park, stoking the public interest that results in the April 1906 founding of the Memphis Zoo. Natch, who lived chained to a tree, is poisoned by a bruincidal maniac in 1906; his head is removed, stuffed and put on display at the zoo, but reportedly is petted and hugged so often by the Natch-loving public that it literally falls to pieces.\n\n38. Prohibition advocate Carrie Nation, notorious for attacking bars and taverns with her signature hatchet, makes the rounds of several Memphis saloons on Oct. 23, 1902. Although she \"dashed to the floor a glass of liquor just as a thirsty person was turning it down his throat,\" according to The Commercial Appeal, she delivered tongue-lashings and temperance lectures instead of her so-called \"hatchetations.\"\n\n39. 1906: One of Memphis' most influential citizens, Robert R. Church, known as the South's first African American millionaire, becomes founding president of Solvent Savings Banks, Memphis' first \"black\" bank, vital to the development of black-owned business.\n\n40. Marion Scudder Griffin in 1907 becomes the first woman to be granted a license to practice law in Tennessee; then, in 1923, she is the first woman elected to the state legislature. She practices law in Memphis for 40 years.\n\n41. The nation's largest Pentecostal denomination, the Church of God in Christ is organized by \"disfellowshipped\" black Baptist preachers and formally incorporated during a 1907 meeting in Memphis. The church's founding bishop is a Memphis advocate of Holy Ghost-inspired \"speaking in tongues,\" Charles Harrison Mason.\n\n42. The city's first speed limit is instituted in 1910. It is 8 mph.\n\n43. Edward Hull Crump is elected mayor of Memphis in 1909. He serves only one full term but he nevertheless essentially runs the city until the mid-1950s, as was known throughout the nation. In 1946, he appears on the cover of Time, identified as \"Memphis' Boss Crump.\"\n\n44. The Memphis Zoo begins to establish its reputation as the \"Hippo Capital\" of America with the 1914 arrival of its first hippopotamuses, Venus and Adonis. Enthusiastic parents, the proud pachyderms produce 16 calves.\n\n45. In 1914, the LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School — which traces its origins to a movement to provide education for free black people and runaway slaves — relocates to the Walker Avenue address where it remains, now greatly expanded and known as LeMoyne-Owen College.\n\n46. 1916: The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art opens in Overton Park.\n\n47. \"I'd rather be here/ Than anywhere I know.\" — W.C. Handy, 1916, \"The Beale Street Blues.\"\n\n48. Clarence Saunders, Part 1: A Virginia-born grocer who moved to Memphis in 1904, Saunders creates the self-service grocery store when the first Piggly Wiggly opens at 79 Jefferson Ave. on Sept. 11, 1916.\n\n49. In December 1919, the city fire department auctions off its 37 horses to make way for motorized vehicles. The horses, according to newspaper accounts, have full names: Among the veteran hay-burners to find buyers are Charlie Fitz, Mike Haggerty and Mike Fitzmorris.\n\n50. In 1923, The Commercial Appeal is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service for \"the publication of cartoons and the handling of news in reference to the operations of the Ku Klux Klan.'' Leading the charge in the newspaper's battles with the Klan are editor C.P.J. Mooney and cartoonist J.P. Alley.\n\n51. May 8, 1925: Immortalized as \"a very worthy Negro\" on an obelisk in the park that bears his name, 39-year-old levee worker Tom Lee — who could not swim — makes four trips in his small skiff, the Zev, to rescue 32 of the 72 people in danger of drowning in the swift currents of the Mississippi after the 1925 sinking of the M.E. Norman, a steamboat. Lee's effort remains Memphis' most famous act of heroism.\n\n52. \"The Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel,\" journalist David Cohn wrote in 1935. And that lobby has been at 149 Union Avenue since Sept. 1, 1925, when \"The South's Grand Hotel\" reopened at its second and still current location.\n\n53. Founded in Clarksville in 1848 as the Masonic University of Tennessee, the school that in 1984 would become known as Rhodes College relocates to Memphis in 1925.\n\n54. Operating out of a Midtown house on Poplar Avenue, infamous black market baby trafficker Georgia Tann makes millions selling thousands of infants from the 1920s until her death in 1950, which preceded the public revelation of her scam. Tann used pressure tactics and legal threats to dupe single mothers into giving up their babies, which she sold to wealthy or desperate couples through her \"adoption\" agency.\n\n55. Billed as one of the largest stores in the U.S., the Crosstown neighborhood Sears-Roebuck opens on Aug. 27, 1927, attracting a crowd of 2,000 before its art-deco doors are even unlocked. Closed and empty by 1993, the gargantuan building is re-imagined and redeveloped as the Crosstown Concourse \"vertical village\" of apartments and businesses, which has its grand opening Aug. 19, 2017.\n\n56. 1927: Lloyd T. Binford is appointed head of the Memphis Censor Board; he reigns as America's most inflexible, eccentric and subjective censor until 1955, banning movies with Charlie Chaplin (\"a London guttersnipe\") and Ingrid Bergman (due to her \"notorious adultery\"), and penning the types of condemnations that transformed the targets of his ire into instant must-sees. Banning David O. Selznick's \"Duel in the Sun\" in 1947, Binford wrote: \"It is sadism at its deepest level. It is the fleshpots of Pharaoh, modernized and filled to overflowing. It is a barbaric symphony of passion and hatred, spilling from a blood-tinted screen. It is mental and physical putrefaction.\"\n\n57. Aviator Charles Lindbergh, 25, visits Memphis in October 1927, some five months after his solo flight across the Atlantic makes him one of the world's most celebrated men. Reports The Commercial Appeal: \"A tousle-haired boy, slender and shy, weighted down with plaudits of nations and tired of it all, captured the heart of Memphis yesterday with a simple smile as his only weapon.\"\n\n58. Welcome Wagon, a company that attempts to connect new homeowners with local stores and businesses, is launched by Memphis entrepreneur Thomas Briggs in 1928. Now a \"direct marketing\" company based in Coral Springs, Florida, Welcome Wagon in the days before TV and social media employed gift basket-bearing \"hostesses\" who made home visits.\n\n59. \"I left Memphis to spread the news/ Memphis women don't wear no shoes\" — Furry Lewis, \"Kassie Jones Part 2,\" 1928.\n\n60. Filmed in and around Memphis in 1928, King Vidor's classic \"Hallelujah\" — the story of a sharecropper and a seductress — is one of the first major-studio films with an all-black cast. Released by MGM in 1929, the movie earned Vidor a Best Director Oscar nomination.\n\n61. Clarence Saunders, Part 2: Now known as the Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium (or \"Pink Palace,\" for short), the \"Memphis Museum of Natural History and Industrial Arts\" opened in 1930 in a Georgia pink marble mansion on Central Avenue that Saunders built in the 1920s. The city acquired the property after Saunders went bankrupt.\n\n62. Insurance statistician Frederick L. Hoffman on March 20, 1930, issues a report declaring Memphis the murder capital of America, based on the 1929 homicide rate. Memphians object, pointing out that Chicago, for example, had hosted the \"St. Valentine's Day Massacre\" that same year.\n\n63. 1932: Duck decoys placed in the ornate Italian marble fountain of The Peabody prove so popular that the hotel institutes a tradition of live ducks in the lobby. Edward D. Pembroke becomes \"duckmaster\" in 1940 and keeps the job until 1991, ensuring that the chatty mallards — who waddle the elevator-to-fountain red carpet twice daily — remain Memphis' most popular runway models.\n\n64. The bootlegging and kidnapping gangster career of former Central High School student George \"Machine Gun\" Kelly comes to an end when the FBI's first Public Enemy No. 1 is arrested on Sept. 26, 1933, at 1408 Rayner. Also arrested: Kelly's \"Titian-tressed\" (to quote The Commercial Appeal) wife, Kathryn.\n\n65. Ice Ice Baby: According to \"Memphis: A Folk History,\" by Linton Weeks, the \"first wedding between two people encased in ice'' occurs during the 1935 Cotton Carnival when a pair of circus performers — Freezo, the Human Polar Bear, and Ginger, the Guillotine Girl — are sealed in cakes of ice with microphones that allow them to broadcast \"I-I-I d-d-d-do.\"\n\n66. A globe-trotting Indiana Jones of the 1920s and '30s whose adventures spellbound millions of newspaper readers, Memphian Richard Halliburton (namesake of Halliburton Tower on the Rhodes College campus) disappears in 1939 while attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean in a Chinese junk.\n\n67. 1934: Written by local political leader George Washington Lee, \"Beale Street: Where the Blues Began\" becomes the first book by a black author to be a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.\n\n68. 1937: The Goldsmith's department store on Main Street becomes one of the first major Memphis stores to adopt \"all-the-year-round air-conditioning,\" in the form of an old-school refrigeration system installed by an ice company.\n\n69. 1939: Memphis Light, Gas and Water is born after the city purchases a private electrical system, to augment its 37-years-earlier purchase of a private water delivery system.\n\n70. 1940: Struggling entertainer Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz — known professionally as Danny Thomas — enters a church in Detroit, falls to his knees, and prays \"specifically\" to St. Jude Thaddeus. \"If he was supposed to be the saint of the hopeless, that certainly included me,\" Thomas wrote in his autobiography. \"I blurted out those words, 'Help me to find my way in life, and I'll build you a shrine.'\" Twenty-two years later, Thomas — by then a top TV and nightclub star — founds St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, which becomes the world's leading institute in the battle against childhood cancer.\n\n71. The notorious \"Goat Gland Doctor,\" John Romulus Brinkley, earns a fortune and international fame by transplanting the testicular glands of goats into the testicule sacs of men, to restore the recipient's \"potency.\" Buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Brinkley lives much of his life in Memphis, but performs most of his quackery in Kansas; he is bankrupted by lawsuits a few years before his 1941 death.\n\n72. Named by pilot Robert K. Morgan for his Memphis sweetheart, Margaret Polk, the Memphis Belle — a B17 \"Flying Fortress\" bomber — completes 25 combat missions from 1942 to 1943, becoming one of the most celebrated airplanes of World War II.\n\n73. WDIA AM-1070 begins broadcasting on June 7, 1947. After the success of Nat D. Williams' \"Tan Town Jubilee\" show aimed at black listeners in 1948, WDIA abandons country and pop and switches entirely to programming aimed at black audiences, hosted by black on-air personalities. It soon becomes Memphis' top radio station, with a staff of disc jockeys that includes B.B. King and Rufus Thomas.\n\n74. A decade after TV came to New York, it arrives in Memphis when WMC — then co-owned by The Commercial Appeal — signs on the air on Dec. 11, 1948. After an hour of test patterns, dedications, political proclamations and backstage tours, the \"entertainment\" programming begins with Santa Claus, live on the air, reading letters from kids. WHBQ-TV Channel 13 followed in 1953, then WREC-TV (now WREG) Channel 3 in 1956.\n\n75. Memphis businessman Kemmons Wilson opens the first Holiday Inn — a single-story motor court — in August 1952, at 4925 Summer. The name is inspired by the title of the 1942 Bing Crosby movie that introduced the song \"White Christmas.\" In 1965, the growing chain introduces a centralized reservation system, and by 1968 Wilson is operating 1,000 Holiday Inns across America. A 1972 Time magazine cover story labels Wilson \"The Man with 300,000 Beds.\"\n\n76. Broadcasting at \"1,000 Beautiful Watts,\" radio station WHER AM-1430 — \"The First All-Girl-Radio-Station in the World\" — goes on the air in October 1955, from a South Third studio dubbed \"The Doll Den,\" decorated with nylon stockings draped over clotheslines. The station is the creation of two of Memphis' most famed innovators: Sun founder Sam Phillips and Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson.\n\n77. A mere satellite compared to the nuclear furnace of Sun, Cordell Jackson's Moon Records label in 1956 releases Jackson's double-sided holiday single, \"Rock and Roll Christmas,\" backed by \"Beboppers' Christmas.\" The latter song contains perhaps the most memorable introduction of St. Nick since Clement Moore's: \"He had white fuzz all over his chin/ He came boppin' up and said, 'Give me some skin.'\"\n\n78. Reviewing Elvis' acting debut in \"Love Me Tender\" in 1956, an unimpressed Time magazine critic wrote: \"Is it a sausage? It is certainly smooth and damp-looking, but who ever heard of a 172-pound sausage, 6 feet tall? Is it a Walt Disney goldfish? It has the same sort of big, soft beautiful eyes and curly lashes, but who ever heard of a goldfish with sideburns?\"\n\n79. Known for his black outfits, Bogart sneer and prowess with a bullwhip, movie cowboy Lash LaRue is arrested for buying and concealing stolen property — sewing machines — in connection with car thefts that occur while he is a \"Wild West\" performer at the 1956 Mid-South Fair. Acquitted of the charges, LaRue returns to Memphis frequently in the 1970s and '80s as a guest of the nostalgia-oriented Memphis Film Festival. Said one organizer: \"Occasionally, when things would be a little bit dead in the dealers' room, he would break out the whip.''\n\n80. A prime example of 1950s Polynesian exotica, the Luau restaurant opens at 3135 Poplar in February 1959. The Memphis Press-Scimitar lauded the establishment for its tiki statuary, war clubs, stuffed sharks and waterfall entrance, \"with a banyan tree rising toward the roof, dotted with coral and giant clam shells.\"\n\n81. Jan. 13, 1960: Striking a body blow against the establishment, professional wrestler Sputnik Monroe is arrested on a disorderly conduct charge for what an officer describes as the crime of \"drinking in a negro cafe with negros,\" according to The Commercial Appeal. In what the judge said was \"the first time he can recall that a white man was represented in City Court by a negro attorney,\" Sputnik's lawyer was Russell B. Sugarmon Jr., the future General Sessions judge. Sputnik was fined $26.\n\n82. Easter Sunday 1960: In a dramatic blaze that old-timers still talk about, fire destroys Russwood Park, the mostly wooden ballpark built in 1896 at 916 Madison Ave. that was home to the Memphis Chicks minor league baseball team.\n\n83. \"I've never been to Chicago/ They say it's a mighty fine place/ I never could get past Tennessee with Mississippi all over my face\" — Johnny Cash, \"Going to Memphis,\" 1960.\n\n84. Sculpted by Leone Tommasi and cast in Florence, Italy (and not in Handy's hometown of Florence, Alabama), a bronze statue of W.C. Handy, the \"Father of the Blues,\" is erected near Beale Street in 1960, two years after the Memphis composer's death.\n\n85. \"4 City Schools Are Integrated — Order Reigns.\" That's the front-page headline in The Commercial Appeal on Oct. 4, 1961, after 13 black first-graders are enrolled in four previously all-white elementary schools. Some 200 police officers are assigned to the schools for the week; but what broke out, according to the newspaper, was not trouble but games of Farmer-in-the-Dell and Drop-the-Handkerchief.\n\n86. Hosted by \"your monster of ceremonies,\" Sivad (Malco marketing maven Watson Davis), WHBQ-TV’s horror movie program “Fantastic Features” debuts on Sept 29, 1962, with “The Giant Behemoth” (1959), about a resurrected radioactive dinosaur that terrorizes London. Wildly successful, the show lasts 10 years, ending with the \"Us\"-anticipating “The Human Duplicators” (1962).\n\n87. Its striking modern design by Memphis architect Roy Harrover now partially obscured by an ugly parking garage, the current Memphis International Airport terminal opens on June 7, 1963.\n\n88. In perhaps the greatest convergence of talent since the Million Dollar Quartet, the 1963 Mid-South Fair brings the Three Stooges — Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe — and three of the Beverly Hillbillies — Granny (Irene Ryan), Jethro (Max Baer) and Elly May (Donna Douglas) — to Memphis for sold-out shows on consecutive days in the rodeo arena.\n\n89. A beloved and seemingly ubiquitous harbinger of summer from the 1960s through the mid-1970s, the Memphis-born circular ice-cream delivery vehicle known as the \"Merrymobile\" roams the streets at a puttering 15 mph, making it easy prey for loose change-wielding, popsicle-craving urchins. During its late-1960s heyday, the Merrymobile company operates dozens of the iconic vehicles, which — with their striped canopy roofs — resemble circus tents or fairground carousels on wheels.\n\n90. On Christmas Eve 1963, Memphis earns the distinction of being the coldest spot in the nation when the city records a temperature of 13 degrees below zero; this remains the record low for Memphis.\n\n91. Killed in a Viet Cong ambush, Army Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Alexander Gray is the first of an estimated 214 Memphis and Shelby County casualties of the Vietnam War. Gray is honored during a city ceremony on July 29, 1964.\n\n92. The $3.7-million city-built Memphis Memorial Stadium — later renamed Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium — opens in 1965 as the home football field for the Tigers (who previously played at Crump Stadium). The first rock band to play there is Three Dog Night, in 1972, with opening act Black Oak Arkansas; subsequent concert headliners include the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Paul McCartney and U2.\n\n93. Calling himself \"Mr. Magic,\" WMC-TV Channel 5 \"weather man\" Dick Williams in 1965 debuts \"Magicland,\" a weekly program for kids that showcases his talents as an illusionist and prestidigitator. The program ends in 1989 after some 1,200 episodes, making it TV's longest-running magic show, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.\n\n94. 1966: The city's first enclosed shopping mall, Southland Mall, opens on Shelby Drive in Whitehaven. It is followed by Raleigh Springs Mall (1971); the Mall of Memphis and Hickory Ridge Mall (both 1981); and Oak Court Mall (1988), among others.\n\n95. According to the Memphis Press-Scimitar, the Beatles hope to begin recording tracks for their \"Revolver\" album at Stax on April 9, 1966, but the plans are scuttled due to security concerns.\n\n96. Now the city's last remaining open-air cinema, Malco's ballyhooed two-screen Summer Drive-In opens on Sept. 1, 1966, with \"23 Acres - No Dust, No Gravel or Mud\" (according to newspaper advertisements). Opening night movies include \"The Glass Bottom Boat,\" with Doris Day, and \"How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.\"\n\n97. 1967: Inspired by Oakland's Black Panthers, young Memphis militants organize a \"black power\" group called the Invaders. The moniker is inspired by the ABC science-fiction series of the same name, which depicts the infiltration of America by humanoid aliens. Said Invaders leader Coby Smith: \"The kind of things we were talking about were as alien to our communities as if somebody had brought in these ideas from outer space.\"\n\n98. Legendary lawman Buford Pusser is rushed to Baptist Hospital here after being shot in McNairy County during an April 12, 1967, ambush in which his wife, Pauline, is killed. Pusser, the McNairy County sheriff known for his one-man campaign against moonshine, prostitution and illegal gambling, was the inspiration for the movie \"Walking Tall.\" He survived the ambush but died in a 1974 car accident while returning home from a Memphis news conference where it was announced he would play himself in a sequel.\n\n99. On Feb. 1, 1968, sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker are crushed to death in a garbage compactor while taking shelter from the rain. The deaths help inspire the strike that will bring Dr Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis.\n\n100. Feb. 12, 1968: Some 1,375 city workers do not show up for their jobs, launching the sanitation strike.\n\n101. Strike news took second place to weather news when a storm dropped 17.3 inches of snow — the second heaviest snowfall on record — on Memphis from March 21 to 23, 1968.\n\n102. Mitchell High School student Larry Payne is fatally shot in the stomach by police officer Leslie Dean Jones on March 28, 1968, in the aftermath of a demonstration led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in support of striking sanitation workers. Witnesses say the youth was unarmed. Jones, 76, died March 15, 2019.\n\n103. April 4, 1968: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is shot and killed in Memphis — an event that the city and the nation have yet to fully reckon with.\n\n104. After the King assassination, Time magazine in its April 12, 1968, issue refers to Memphis as a \"Southern backwater\" and \"decaying Mississippi River town.\"\n\n105. April 16, 1968: The city sanitation strike ends. Workers win union recognition and wage increases.\n\n106. June 21, 1968: Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson visits Memphis to promote the opening of Mahalia Jackson Glori-Fried Chicken, a first restaurant in a fast-food franchise established by Memphians A.W. Willis and Benjamin L. Hooks in partnership with Jackson and the Minnie Pearl's Chicken franchise company. The union of white country and black gospel vocalists was intended to \"set an example of racial partnership\" in the wake of King's assassination, according to publicity, but both chains folded, in part because a major investor was financially embattled Tennessee gubernatorial candidate John Jay Hooker.\n\n107. About a dozen Memphis and Shelby County library titles — including \"Valley of the Dolls,\" \"Myra Breckenridge\" and \"Portnoy's Complaint\" — are placed off limits to readers under 18 in the summer of 1969 after Mayor Henry Loeb attended a library board meeting and \"shooed all women out of the room and read aloud passages he had underlined in red ink\" from \"Portnoy,\" according to The Commercial Appeal. Asked one board member: \"Is this book fit for women to read?\" After the newspaper's story appears, demand for \"Portnoy\" increases so much that the library orders 10 extra copies to join the five already in circulation.\n\n108. According to a report in The Commercial Appeal, Memphians on July 20, 1969, are so engrossed by the Apollo 11 moon landing that for a period of seven minutes water pressure rises so high from lack of usage that MLGW is forced to shut down all five main pumping stations.\n\n109. Sept. 11, 1969: Memphis \"spree killer\" George Howard Putt, 59, is arrested after a month-long reign of terror in which he bludgeoned, strangled and stabbed five victims, male and female, between the ages of 21 and 80.\n\n110. Hard to believe, but it is not until Nov. 25, 1969, that voters pass a special referendum allowing \"liquor by the drink,\" meaning that adults could purchase alcoholic drinks at a restaurant rather than \"brown-bagging\" it by bringing their own bottles.\n\n111. Visionary Memphis State University theater director Keith Kennedy courts controversy and causes a sensation in March 1970 by staging a student production of Broadway's Age-of-Aquarius \"tribal love-rock\" musical, \"Hair\" — the first licensed production outside New York. One compromise: In Memphis, no nudity.\n\n112. May 21, 1970: Inspired by the new availability of liquor-by-the-drink, Memphis investors open the first Friday's restaurant and bar outside of New York, spurring what would become the Overton Square-centered nightlife explosion of the next two decades. (The location currently is occupied by Babalu, a Mexican restaurant.)\n\n113. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis is founded on June 20, 1970. Prior to that decision by Pope Paul VI, the entire state of Tennessee had been encompassed by the Diocese of Nashville.\n\n114. 1971: Outraged by the use of nude models and an exhibition of nude photography at Memphis College of Art (then known as the Academy of Art), brick mason Newton C. Estes kidnaps the 14-year-old son of art instructor Richard Batey, in order to force the school to remove the offending pictures. College officials quickly comply, and the boy is released unharmed two hours later.\n\n115. March 1971: In a victory for the citizens who organized to fight plans to extend Interstate 40 through Overton Park, the U.S. Supreme Court overturns decisions by district and appellate courts and rules that the federal Secretary of Transportation had failed to demonstrate the lack of “feasible and prudent” alternatives to the park route, as required by a 1966 highway bill intended to protect public spaces. The decision preserves the park.\n\n116. June 7, 1971: After years in Ellis Auditorium, professional wrestling relocates to the Mid-South Coliseum, attracting 9,253 fans for opening-night matches showcasing such suplex superstars as Tojo Yamamoto, Bearcat Brown, the Fabulous Moolah, Len Rossi and Sputnik Monroe. Although the arena opened in 1963, \"I probably am responsible for building this coliseum,\" Sputnik told The Commercial Appeal. \"They didn't have room for me anywhere else to wrestle.\"\n\n117. April 20, 1972: U.S. District Judge Robert McRae Jr. orders the Memphis Board of Education to implement a desegregation plan that will require the busing of an estimated 13,789 students during the following school year. The decision forever changes local education.\n\n118. East Memphis' 34-story Clark Tower is completed in June 1972, adjacent to the 22-story White Station Tower (now the i-Bank Tower), which opened seven years earlier. The twin towers remain East Memphis anomalies.\n\n119. April 17, 1973: Fred Smith's Federal Express — now, FedEx — begins operations when 14 aircraft take off from Memphis to deliver 186 packages to 25 U.S cities, absolutely positively overnight.\n\n120. June 4, 1973: The Park Commission ends the popular practice of staging commercial rock concerts in the Overton Park Shell after complaints about \"criminal\" behavior in the audience. According to the Memphis Press-Scimitar, crowds \"at various times smoked marijuana, drank alcoholic beverages, took drugs and openly participated in love-making.\"\n\n121. 1974: Harold Ford Sr. becomes the first black person elected to Congress in Tennessee. Other Fords who have held elective office include his brothers, John, Joe, Edmund and James; his sister, Ophelia; his uncle, Emmitt; and his son, Harold Jr., to name a few.\n\n122. The city completes construction of the Mid-America Mall on Main Street in 1975. The controversial pedestrian-mall project is intended to restore Downtown's luster, but longtime merchants complain that the elimination of street parking kills their business.\n\n123. 1975: Through the coordination of Catholic Charities, refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos begin to resettle in Memphis in earnest, following the April \"fall of Saigon.\"\n\n124. In what comes to be regarded as a revolutionary moment in the history of photography, an exhibit of color work by William Eggleston goes on display on May 24, 1976, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, establishing the Memphis photographer as arguably the Bluff City's most influential artist outside the realm of music.\n\n125. Nov. 23, 1976: A pistol-toting and inebriated Jerry Lee Lewis is arrested after pulling up to the gates of Graceland in a new Lincoln Continental and demanding to see Elvis. Mugshots show an injury to the singer's nose that apparently resulted from a rebounding champagne bottle that Jerry Lee had tried to hurl out a rolled-up window.\n\n126. 1977: Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks of Memphis becomes national executive director of the NAACP.\n\n127. Jan. 15, 1977: Three months after hitting No. 1 with his novelty dance hit \"Disco Duck,\" Memphis deejay Rick Dees — recording as \"Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots\" — releases a follow-up single, \"Dis-Gorilla.\" Even an appearance on \"The Brady Bunch Hour\" that finds Dees introduced by the kids from \"What's Happening!!\" and performing in front of a pair of swinging King Kong arms couldn't lift the song above No. 56 on the Billboard pop charts.\n\n128. The Memphis in May International Festival is organized in 1977. The first \"honored country\" is Japan.\n\n129. Out of office less than five months, former president Gerald Ford sinks a hole-in-one during the June 1977 pro-am portion of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic golf tournament at Colonial Country Club. (The shot made up for a past tournament, when one of Ford's errant balls beaned a spectator.)\n\n130. Aug. 16, 1977: Elvis Presley dies at 42.\n\n131. A trio of apparent would-be grave robbers said to be plotting to burgle Elvis' body from Forest Hill Cemetery are arrested on Aug. 29, 1977, when one of them turns FBI informant. The thieves reportedly had planned to ransom the corpse for $10 million. Soon after, Presley's body is moved to Graceland.\n\n132. Nov. 15, 1977: Memphis-based \"Woolly Bully\" creator Sam the Sham releases \"The Wookie,\" a \"Star Wars\"-inspired would-be dance hit that celebrates Han Solo's furry sidekick, Chewbacca. Sample lyric: \"Not too many things can bend him out of shape/ His mama must have come from the Planet of the Apes.\"\n\n133. Hundreds of National Guardsmen are assigned to Memphis in the summer of 1978 after police officers and firefighters go on strike. On July 1, 1,400 firefighters walk off the job; that same day, 45 fires occur in four hours, inspiring a front-page editorial in The Commercial Appeal: \"The rash of vandalism and harassment that accompanied the strike is contrary to the public image of Memphis firemen. It comes as an ugly shock.\" The next month, police also go on strike.\n\n134. 1979: Adrian Rogers, senior pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church, is elected to the first of the three terms he will serve as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. A charismatic and telegenic preacher, Rogers is a leader in the denomination's \"conservative resurgence,\" which emphasizes a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible.\n\n135. Known for pastel-colored playful postmodern furniture and ceramics, an internationally influential affiliation of Italian designers in 1980 dubs itself \"The Memphis Group,\" in homage to the Bob Dylan song, \"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.\"\n\n136. July 13, 1980: Memphis experiences what remains its record high temperature: 108 degrees.\n\n137. After Mayor Wyeth Chandler resigns from office in 1982 to accept a Circuit Court judgeship, City Council member J.O. Patterson Jr. is named interim mayor — making him the city's first black mayor. (W.W. Herenton does not become the first elected black mayor until 10 years later.)\n\n138. Graceland opens to the public on July 7, 1982 — less than five years after Elvis' death. It is now the second most-visited home in the U.S., after the White House.\n\n139. Distraught over the death of his 8-year-old son, who had been treated for leukemia at the hospital, a marijuana-smoking and .357 Magnum-wielding French-Canadian, John Claude Goulet, 40, takes a pediatrician, a nurse, a psychiatrist and a psychologist hostage inside an office at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The 34-hour siege ends when police storm the office and kill Goulet on Feb. 5, 1982.\n\n140. St. Agnes student Leslie Marie Gattas, 15, is rescued March 18, 1982, from an attic hideaway at Christ United Methodist Church, where her kidnapper, Ernest Stubblefield, had kept her for 119 days.\n\n141. April 5, 1982: Wrestler Jerry Lawler \"injures\" comedian/wrestler Andy Kaufman with a \"piledriver\" move at the Mid-South Coliseum, a highlight of a still much talked-about feud that reaches its apex in July when Lawler slaps Kaufman's face on \"Late Night with David Letterman.\"\n\n142. January 1983: The \"Shannon Street\" tragedy leaves seven suspects dead after police storm a North Memphis house and kill all occupants, following the torture death of a police officer, Robert S. Hester, 34, who had been held hostage in the house.\n\n143. The city's daily evening newspaper, the distinctively named Memphis Press-Scimitar, publishes its final edition on Halloween 1983. The paper had operated as the Press-Scimitar since the 1926 merger of two competing evening dailies, The News Scimitar and the Memphis Press.\n\n144. Memphis State University football coach Rex Dockery, 41, and three others — freshman defensive back Charles Greenhill, offensive coordinator Chris Faros and booster Glenn Jones — are killed Dec. 12, 1983, in a small plane crash while en route to a speaking engagement in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.\n\n145. Organized by a coalition of bar owners, restaurateurs and devotees of blarney that calls itself \"Irish Eyes of Memphis,\" the St. Patrick's Day \"pub crawl\" reaches its bacchanalian height (or depth) in 1982, when an estimated 50,000 revelers stagger from Main Street to Overton Square in search of green-dyed beer. Legal fees and other complications eventually reduce the event to its current manageable form, a parade on Beale.\n\n146. 1982: The Mud Island river park opens to the public, complete with concert amphitheater and monorail transportation between the park and the \"mainland.\" Its most impressive aspect may be its \"Riverwalk,\" a scale reproduction of the 954 miles of the lower Mississippi River, with \"every sandbar, oxbow, and topographic contour faithfully reproduced in cement,\" according to Roadside America. Starting at \"Cairo, Illinois,\" the Riverwalk ends at a \"Gulf of Mexico\" that for several embarrassing years was rebranded as a Budweiser-sponsored water park named \"Bud Boogie Beach.\"\n\n147. When the New York Metropolitan Opera brings a touring performance of \"Macbeth\" that features a topless witch to the Auditorium North Hall on May 10, 1983, a group calling itself MASH — Memphians Against Social Harassment — stage a \"strip-in\" to protest the unequal enforcement of the city's anti-nudity ordinance. When the witch appears onstage, MASH members in the audience — mostly dancers at \"adult\" nightclubs — remove their tops. The ordinance later is declared unconstitutional.\n\n148. \"Memphis — A Diamond in the Bluff'\" is the winning entry in a 1983 contest to pick a slogan for Memphis, sponsored by The Commercial Appeal and the Rotary Club. Newspaper stories promise that the coinage \"will soon grace billboards, newspaper advertisements and possibly airwaves.\" Memphis boosters are asked to use the phrase as often as possible. It is never heard of again.\n\n149. Oct. 30, 1983: Founded in 1901, Bellevue Baptist Church votes to leave its longtime Midtown location and relocate to a Cordova campus, where it expands to \"megachurch\" proportions.\n\n150. \"While most of us were stuffing ourselves with turkey,\" The Commercial Appeal reports on Nov. 25, 1983, \"a pair of armed, Halloween-masked gunmen pulled off the largest robbery in Memphis history, stealing an estimated $2 million from the Wells Fargo building on Monroe.\"\n\n151. Jan. 7, 1984: Restored to its former glory, The Orpheum — Main Street's historic \"palace\" of a theater — reopens with a public \"Champagne and Gershwin\" party. A harbinger of Downtown's revival, the theater was built in 1928, on the site of the Grand Opera House, which had burned to the ground in 1923.\n\n152. The bizarre and \"epic\" (in the characterization of The Commercial Appeal) Georgian Hills Day Care child sex abuse scandal dominates much of the news from 1984 to 1988 and results in the indictments of four adult workers in connection with the alleged molestations of at least 19 children. Eventually, all charges are dropped and the one conviction overturned, due in part to the implausibility of much of the testimony of the child witnesses (one boy said child victims were \"baptized to the devil\"). The investigation is now regarded as a textbook case of 1980s \"satanic panic.\"\n\n153. Sept. 5, 1986: In a predecessor to the current \"Mighty Lights\" display, the \"M\"-shaped structure of the Hernando de Soto Bridge (still referred to as \"the new bridge,\" if you're old) is illuminated with 200 sodium lights, following a fundraising campaign by fashion designer Pat Kerr Tigrett and developer Henry Turley.\n\n154. \"After we moved to Memphis, I don't recall Mother's ever once saying: 'A gentleman must always' do so and so. Or: 'A lady will never' do so and so ... The old delicate balance between her wild nature and her strict Presbyterian, genteel upbringing was gone in Memphis ... When we were all in the doldrums, she more than once said: 'I sometimes think a shooting in the family would have been better than a move to Memphis.'\" — Peter Taylor, \"A Summons to Memphis,\" which wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1987.\n\n155. 1988: Michael Hooks becomes the first black candidate elected to countywide office when he wins the race for assessor.\n\n156. 1989: Self-promoting promoter Sidney Shlenker makes a deal to take over Mud Island, announcing plans to convert the river park to a $100 million entertainment complex called \"Rakapolis,\" a name intended to suggest ancient Egypt and modern rock 'n' roll. Rakapolis was to come complete with a huge crystal sphinx, a \"time machine\" ride and a re-created Egyptian village. Shlenker — who already had the contract to manage the then-under-construction Pyramid arena — predicts 3 million visitors a year. For some reason, people believe him. Eventually, local government has to sue to regain control of the attractions.\n\n157. Commodities trader Charles D. McVean invests about $8 million into the development of a new type of \"horse\" racing: indoor Hackney pony races with remote-controlled robots for jockeys, the reins attached to the robots' tiny metal arms. \"You put 10,000 people in here with a six-pack of beer apiece, and then by God you've got something!\" McVean told the Wall Street Journal, during a test run at the Fairgrounds in 1989. The state Racing Commission rejects the idea.\n\n158. Memphians are all shook up when the news media hypes \"self-proclaimed climatologist\" Dr. Iben Browning's prediction that a major earthquake will rock the New Madrid Fault on Dec. 3, 1990. When the much-feared date arrives, Memphis fails to shake, rattle, or even roll, at least tectonically.\n\n159. Writing in his book \"Rythm Oil\" in 1991, Stanley Booth sticks up for the Bluff City when confronted by skeptics: \"I told them that in this century, Memphis, Tennessee, had changed the lives of more people than any other city in the world. I used, I regret to report, the phrase 'cultural influence' ... I never had a chance to tell them that, like it or not, they had shopped at supermarkets, eaten at drive-in restaurants, slept in Holiday Inns, and heard the blues because people in Memphis had found ways to convert these things into groceries.\"\n\n160. July 4, 1991: Constructed around the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, the National Civil Rights Museum is dedicated. It opens to the public in September 1991.\n\n161. Oct. 4, 1991: Former city schools superintendent W.W. Herenton is elected mayor, defeating incumbent Dick Hackett by 172 votes out of about 250,000 cast. (Proving joke candidates can make a difference, Robert \"Prince Mongo\" Hodges, who claimed to be a resident of a planet named Zambodia, received 2,921 votes.) The city's first elected black mayor, Herenton will be elected to five terms; he resigns in 2009 to pursue an unsuccessful bid for Congress.\n\n162. Memphis' distinctive Pyramid arena opens with a concert on Nov. 9, 1991. The headliners? The mother-and-daughter country act, the Judds.\n\n163. On Nov. 16, 1991, patrons burst like scalded cats from the doors of the Madison Avenue punk club, the Antenna, when shock rocker GG Allin lived up to his reputation and began flinging his own feces into the crowd. The cover charge: $5.\n\n164. \"They left Chickasaw Gardens and drove west with the traffic toward downtown, into the fading sun ... The warm, sticky, humid Memphis summer air settled in with the dark. Softball fields came to life as teams of fat men with tight polyester pants and lime-green and fluorescent-yellow shirts laid chalk lines and prepared to do battle. Cars full of teenagers crowded into fast-food joints to drink beer and gossip and check out the opposite sex.\" — John Grisham, \"The Firm,\" 1991.\n\n165. Lionel Linder, 60, editor of The Commercial Appeal since 1988, is killed in a 1992 New Year's Eve accident on Union Avenue when a drunk driver plows into his car. Linder spearheaded the campaign to bring President George H.W. Bush to Memphis in 1989 for an event on the newspaper's lawn, where Bush designated The CA as the first \"Point of Light\" in a program honoring the nation's volunteers.\n\n166. \"In his prime, he was one of the three greatest jazz pianists of all time,\" wrote critic Leonard Feather. He was Phineas Newborn Jr., whose classic albums include \"A World of Piano!\" (1961) and \"The Newborn Touch\" (1964). He is found dead of natural causes at his Memphis home on May 26, 1989, at the age of 57.\n\n167. 1992: \"Several visitors to a zoo exhibit called 'Dinosaurs Live!' asked for refunds after discovering that dinosaurs ceased to roam the Earth 65 million years ago,\" the newspaper reports, in a story about zoo patrons who expected to find real live dinosaurs when they attended an exhibit that actually featured motorized mechanical replica dinosaurs. \"People have watched too much Fred Flintstone,\" says zoo vice president Ann Ball.\n\n168. Artist Carroll Cloar, 79, who had been suffering from cancer, dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 10, 1993. In The Commercial Appeal, critic Fredric Koeppel writes that the Arkansas-born Cloar \"drew on memories of rural life to compose canvases whose realism was tempered with touches of whimsy, folklore and mystery.\" Many of Cloar's paintings are on display at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.\n\n169. Feb. 11, 1994: Memphians wake to the warzone-like cracks of explosive timber after the region is blanketed by a devastating ice storm that snaps trees — at least one person is killed by a falling limb — and cuts power to close to 425,000 MLGW customers, some of whom are without electricity for 17 days.\n\n170. On April 7, 1994, the crew of a Federal Express DC10 flight leaving Memphis overpowers a hammer-wielding company employee and safely lands the plane after a hijacking-suicide attempt by Auburn Calloway, 42, a pilot facing termination for falsifying his job application. Calloway is sentenced to life terms for attempted murder and attempted air piracy; he said he planned to crash the aircraft so his family could collect his $2.5 million life insurance policy.\n\n171. On July 1, 1994, Memphis State University becomes the University of Memphis — the fifth name change since its founding in 1912 as the West Tennessee Normal School.\n\n172. Longtime WHBQ-TV kiddie-show host and toy store impresario Harold \"Happy Hal\" Miller, 74, dies on Nov. 28, 1997. From the 1950s to 1973, Miller was Memphis' answer to \"Captain Kangaroo\"; his hand-puppet sidekick was the blue-hued and taxonomically indeterminate \"Lil' Bow,\" described by Miller in a 1988 interview as a bow-tie-wearing \"cross between a mouse and a chipmunk-type thing.\"\n\n173. In 1998, University of Memphis student Kelly Chandler hangs a sheet on the wall of The Edge coffee shop in Cooper-Young and hosts a group of local filmmakers, who project their work on the sheet. This is the humble origin of what is now the region's largest film event, the Indie Memphis Film Festival.\n\n174. Downtown's gem of a baseball diamond, AutoZone Park, opens on April 1, 2000, with an exhibition game between the Memphis Redbirds and the St. Louis Cardinals. Columnist Geoff Calkins calls it \"the first day of the rest of our baseball lives.\"\n\n175. 2001: A community gathering place and headquarters for the Memphis Public Libraries system, the new five-story $70 million \"main library\" opens at 3030 Poplar, replacing the old central library at Peabody and McLean. It is renamed the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in 2005.\n\n176. Ben Affleck, Michael Jordan and Donald Trump are among the 15,327 who reportedly attend the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis heavyweight boxing match at the Pyramid on June 8, 2002. Lewis knocks out Tyson in the 8th round in what at the time was the highest-grossing event in pay-per-view history.\n\n177. In 2002, former Shelby County Public Defender A C Wharton is elected the first black mayor of Shelby County. In 2009, he is elected the 63rd mayor of Memphis, but he loses his 2015 re-election bid to Jim Strickland.\n\n178. During Elvis Week 2002, Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, then at the height of his leonine majesty, sits atop the base of a large upwardly tilted silver \"rocket\" ship during the Elvis Beale Street parade. The suggestion that this man is the literal father of rock 'n' roll is hard to miss.\n\n179. Nicknamed \"Hurricane Elvis,\" the most damaging wind storm in Memphis history strikes on July 22, 2003, toppling trees and telephone poles, cutting service to 340,000 homes and businesses, and introducing Memphians to the term \"derecho,\" which refers to a type of devastating straight-line wind.\n\n180. After some five years of planning, the $250 million FedExForum opens to the public with a Sept. 6, 2004, \"open house.\"\n\n181. His fur was brown and shaggy, his belly was round and saggy: A slobby Everybear, the original version of Grizz, the Memphis Grizzlies mascot, is retired for the current blue-furred Superbear when the team moves from the Pyramid to FedExForum in 2004.\n\n182. A movie about a North Memphis hustler who \"dares to dream the pimpossible dream\" (to quote Time magazine), Craig Brewer's future Oscar-winner \"Hustle & Flow\" has its Memphis premiere at the now vanished Muvico Peabody Place 22 on July 6, 2005. Police report that some 6,000 \"well-behaved\" fans crowd the red carpet to see such celebrities as Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson; producer John Singleton; members of Three 6 Mafia; Brewer (“resplendent” in a Girbaud denim suit, gold Versace sunglasses, straw cowboy hat and a 3-carat diamond ring that had belonged to Sam Phillips); and — incongruously — martial-arts star Steven Seagal.\n\n183. In a spectacular blast that attracts hundreds of spectators, the 50-year-old Baptist Memorial Hospital on Union Avenue — where Elvis was declared dead, among other historic happenstances — is razed at 6:45 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2005, by the controlled detonations of 600 pounds of explosives placed on six of the building's 21 stories.\n\n184. March 5, 2006: Thirty-four years after Stax legend Isaac Hayes earned an Oscar in the same category for \"Theme from Shaft,\" Memphis hip-hop artists Jordan Houston (Juicy J), Paul Beauregard (DJ Paul) and Cedric Coleman (Frayser Boy) win the Academy Award for Best Original Song for \"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp,\" their contribution to writer-director Craig Brewer's made-in-Memphis \"Hustle & Flow.\"\n\n185. Graceland is known for celebrity visitors, but on July 1, 2006, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits Elvis' home in the company of President George W. Bush. \"Hold me close, hold me tight,\" sang Koizumi, as he put his arm around Elvis' daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.\n\n186. An off-course manatee appears on Oct. 24, 2006, in Wolf River Harbor, some 720 miles north of its usual coastal habitat. Reports of the marine mammal's meanderings transfixed Memphians for several days, but the docile creature eluded capture and came to a sad end: It was found dead in December in McKellar Lake.\n\n187. Farewell to the Ape Girl, water-skiing squirrels and a life-sized Dolly Parton sculpted from butter: The last Mid-South Fair at the old Fairgrounds is held in 2008.\n\n188. A second printing of more than 40,000 copies quickly disappears as Memphians descend on The Commercial Appeal offices on Nov. 5, 2008, seeking souvenir editions of the newspaper that reported Barack Obama's presidential victory with a front-page headline that proclaimed \"Yes He Did\" — a play on the Obama campaign slogan, \"Yes We Can.\"\n\n189. Sept. 22, 2009: Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery greets the Dalai Lama with a fist bump and the comment: \"I've always wanted to say, 'Hello, Dalai!'\"\n\n190. Crews in January 2010, dismantle Elvis' favorite roller coaster, the 80-year-old Zippin Pippin, marking a definitive end to decades of amusement park rides at the Fairgrounds. The nerve-wrackingly rickety old-school wooden roller coaster is re-created at the Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin.\n\n191. April 9, 2011: Funeral services are held for former University of Memphis basketball player and coach Larry Finch, 60, arguably the most significant sports figure in local history. Finch led Memphis State to the 1973 NCAA title game against victorious UCLA that — however briefly — united the city.\n\n192. After a decade of planning, Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid opens to the public on April 29, 2015, bringing camo boots, duck decoys and live gators to the 14-year-old pyramid-shaped arena that had hosted the Tigers, Grizzlies, Bruce Springsteen and Prince.\n\n193. May 23, 2015: The Memphis in May Sunset Symphony ends its 39-year annual run at Tom Lee Park. The event was perhaps best known for its 17 years of “Ol' Man River,” the \"Showboat\" tune that was a centerpiece of the symphony until the 1998 retirement of James Hyter, the sonorous-voiced singer who each year led thousands of riverside revelers in multiple singalong encores.\n\n194. In association with nationwide actions organized by Black Lives Matter in response to the police killings of black civilians, almost a thousand protesters shut down the Interstate 40 bridge over the Mississippi River for close to four hours on July 10, 2016.\n\n195. Statues of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and Confederate president Jefferson Davis are removed from city parks on Dec. 20, 2017, following some political sleight of hand in which the city outfoxes statue advocates in the state legislature by selling the two parks to nonprofit Memphis Greenspace for $1,000 each.\n\n196. According to city records, there currently are about 9,850 street names in Memphis, including Saint Nick Drive and North Pole Cove; Elvis Presley Boulevard and Elvis Cove; Danny Thomas Boulevard and Uncle Remus Road; Nottingham Place, Maid Marian Lane, Friar Tuck Road, Robin Hood Lane and Zorro Cove; Nightingale Drive, Parrot Cove, Parakeet Road and Mockingbird Lane; Panda Lane, Otter Drive and Doberman Cove; and, perplexingly, Sea Shore Road.\n\n197. Long distance information, give me Memphis, Missouri: Memphis, Tennessee, population 646,889 (according to the 2010 Census), may be the biggest Memphis in the United States, but it isn't the only one. Some others include Memphis, Florida, pop. 7,848; Memphis, Texas, 2,290; Memphis, Missouri, 1,822; Memphis, Nebraska, 114; Memphis, Mississippi, 70; and Memphis, Alabama, which, according to a 2017 estimate, has 28 residents.\n\n198. Feb. 2, 2019: The Tom Lee Park Engagement Center at Beale Street Landing opens, to give Memphians a chance to view a proposed redesign that would radically transform the popular Mississippi River-front park.\n\n199. In recognition of this year's 150th anniversary of The Peabody, chefs at Chez Philippe created a $150 burger. The patty is between a brioche bun, and is accessorized with butter-poached lobster, caramelized onion, Saint-André cheese, huckleberry aioli and Parmesan black truffle fries.\n\n200. Meanwhile, the 67-year-old Tops Bar-B-Q chain gets new owners, a partnership group announces April 2. A Tops burger costs $3.95 (or $4.25, with cheese).\n\nSpecial thanks to former Shelby County Historian Jimmy Ogle; G. Wayne Dowdy, archivist at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library: wrestling scholar Mark James (MarkJamesBooks.com); and Corinne Kennedy and Micaela Watts of The Commercial Appeal.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/04/17"}, {"url": "http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/09/paula-cooper-executioner-within/93650408/", "title": "Indiana killer Paula Cooper: The Executioner Within", "text": "Robert King\n\nrobert.king@indystar.com\n\nThis 13-chapter story, told as a real-life novel, raises questions about race, justice, poverty and abuse. But it is also the story about the human capacity for forgiveness and a young woman’s struggle to find peace.\n\nStill shrouded in darkness, she sat alone in her car, parked between night and day, between this world and the next.\n\nBehind her, a family of teddy bears sat strapped in by a seat belt. In the front seat next to her was a digital recorder. And a gun.\n\nShe picked up the recorder and clicked it on.\n\n\"This is Paula Cooper.\"\n\nA short introduction, a simple statement. Even though nothing had been simple about being Paula Cooper.\n\n\"I believe today is the 26th; 5:15 will be my death.\"\n\nShe saw it clearly now, even in the pre-dawn gloom. She'd spent so much of her life searching for peace. But early on the morning of May 26, 2015, the end was in sight. She would reach it before sunrise.\n\nShe just had a few things left to say.\n\n—\n\n\"My sister. My queen. My everything.\"\n\nEvery morning she spoke to Rhonda. Why should this morning be different?\n\n—\n\n\"My mother, I felt like you didn't love me. You didn't care about me. You cut me off. You judged me. You didn't want me at your church. You hurt me about the man I loved. But I still love you.\"\n\nOthers had forgiven Paula. Yet she never felt it from the woman who mattered most.\n\n—\n\n\"To Monica, I'm so sorry. This pain that I feel every day. I walk around. I'm so miserable inside. I can't deal with this reality.\"\n\nMonica had been like a godmother in the fairy tales — someone to fill the void in the absence of a mother's love.\n\n—\n\n\"LeShon, I love you. … You showed me how to love.You showed me how to be a woman.\"\n\nLeShon looked beyond Paula's past. As if it had never occurred.\n\n—\n\n\"Michael, I'm so proud of you. And thank you for apologizing.\"\n\nMichael was her first love. She wanted a life with him; he wanted something else.\n\n—\n\n\"Meshia … you helped me when I was down, but I explained to you better than anybody how I feel.\"\n\nMeshia knew Paula's pain; she'd just been unable to stop it.\n\n—\n\nThese were the people Paula loved most. And to each one she had revealed part of herself, but never the whole. It was a select list from a life populated by characters: Her brutal father and her innocent victim; the judge who condemned her and the man who forgave her. There were friars and a bishop and a pope; jailers and journalists; people who were zealous to save her life and people eager to end it. There were too many to consider, really. And the sun would be up soon. She could wait no longer.\n\n\"Forgive me,\" she said in a recording that would soon become part of a police investigation. \"I must go now.\"\n\nHer coda finished, Paula stepped out of the car and into the shadows. She took a seat against a blighted tree. She felt the breeze in her hair. She felt the gun in her hand.\n\nShe was familiar with death. She'd seen it up close. She'd been condemned to it, resigned to it and reprieved from it. She had debated its merits and come to terms with it. Never had she stopped thinking of it.\n\nBut the question that would vex those she was leaving behind was maddeningly simple.\n\nWhy, after all she had endured and all she had survived, after all she had done and seemed capable of doing, had she chosen to die now?\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nThe garden spot in the woods — where her father grew vegetables and beat his daughters — was only an occasional venue of torture.\n\nMore often, for Paula Cooper, it happened at home.\n\nAs a child, Paula went to bed night after night next to her sister, listening to their parents argue, listening to her father make threats to come after them. Sometimes her mother would talk him out of it. Sometimes the man's wrath ebbed and they fell asleep. Sometimes they would be jarred awake at 3 o'clock in the morning, her father standing over them, ready to beat them.\n\nPaula believed there were other kinds of families out there. She watched the people on \"The Cosby Show,\" and they seemed to have such a nice family. But that was television. This was real. This was her family. And it looked as if there was no escaping it.\n\n—\n\nPaula was born in Chicago to Herman and Gloria Cooper on Aug. 25, 1969. Her sister, Rhonda, was three years older. Early on, the family lived in Michigan City, but by the time Paula was old enough for school they had moved to Gary.\n\nThe girls attended Bethune Grade School, a stone's throw from home. They went to nearby New Testament Baptist Church, where Paula sang in the choir and helped with the little children's Bible classes.\n\nBy the late 1970s, Gary's downward spiral from a midcentury boomtown was picking up speed. Manufacturing jobs were disappearing. White families were fleeing to the suburbs. Crime was rising. Like many black families still in the city, the Coopers were left in the wake of all this.\n\nGloria worked as a lab tech at a hospital. She had an assortment of health problems, none of them helped by the drugs and booze she added to the mixture.\n\n\"One day my mother be nice, the next day she be angry,\" Paula would tell Woman's Day, years later, when her story was national news. \"And the next day she be real strange-acting.\"\n\nHerman worked for U.S. Steel and worked construction, but his employment was sporadic. He had a girlfriend on the side and would be gone for long stretches. When he returned, chaos followed. Herman and Gloria were a volatile pair, drinking hard and arguing often, creating an atmosphere that was not just unstable, but dangerous.\n\nThe result, as Paula would say later, was that the girls had to \"fend for themselves.\" Sometimes, on evenings when Herman was gone and Gloria worked late, Paula took meals with the next-door neighbors, who allowed her to stick around and watch TV. Most of the time the girls had food and nice clothing. But, as Rhonda would say later, \"we hardly ever had any love.\"\n\nExcept from each other.\n\nIn the middle of all the darkness, Paula and Rhonda clung tightly to each other. They found moments to giggle together, play pranks together and share secrets.\n\nMore than just a sister, Rhonda became Paula's caregiver. Yet, through their early years, they were unaware of an important family secret: Rhonda was the child of a different father. It was a secret Gloria took great pains to hide, even though she allowed Rhonda's father, Ronald Williams, to visit occasionally. She said he was her uncle.\n\nBefore Herman came along, Ronald and Gloria were engaged. They broke it off, as Williams would later tell a courtroom, because he felt Gloria had a \"split personality.\" In short, he thought she was crazy.\n\nLiving with Herman Cooper didn't help.\n\nHerman beat everyone in the house. He beat Gloria in front of the girls. He beat the girls together. He beat them separately, sometimes in front of their mother. Sometimes Gloria seemed to egg on the violence.\n\n\"We did everything we was supposed to do, but it just wasn't never good enough for her,\" Paula told Woman's Day many years later. \"… She get mad at us and he'd beat us. 'Be a man,' she'd tell him. 'Take care of it,' she'd say. And he'd take care of it.\"\n\nThe girls grew up unable to remember a time before the abuse. When they were little, Paula would later say, Herman beat them \"for the things little kids do.\" When they were older, Rhonda remembered, he beat them for forgetting to take out the trash, for not doing the dishes and for skipping school.\n\nHerman employed an assortment of tools for punishment, whatever he could get his hands on — shoes, straps, sticks, a broom. Sometimes he used an electrical cord from an air conditioner.\n\n\"He'd triple it up and go to work,\" Paula would say later. \"It got to the point I was so used to it I didn't cry anymore.\"\n\nTo heighten the pain, Herman sometimes ordered the girls to remove their clothes before a beating. Questioned later, he denied that he ever abused the girls at all.\n\n—\n\nThis stark picture of Paula Cooper's childhood emerges from several sources; the courtroom testimony from Rhonda and her father; testimony from Dr. Frank Brogno, a clinical psychologist who discussed what he learned from examining Paula. Some of the glimpses into the darkness come from now-yellowed news clippings. Others come from anecdotes Paula shared with friends and loved ones and the few journalists she favored. Finally, there's the freshest source of insight into Paula's world — more than 100 personal letters she wrote to a treasured friend that were reviewed by IndyStar.\n\nTaken together, they amount to a catalog of horrors. Her father's beatings, Paula said, left her \"close to death so many times.\" With no apparent means of escape, she seemed to stop fearing death at all. \"I just cried,\" she wrote, \"until all my tears were gone away.\"\n\n—\n\nIn 1978, when Paula was 9, the tears were still flowing. Her parents separated, but it was often fuzzy as to when they were back together and when they were apart. Once, when Herman returned home to find the doors locked, he forced his way in. According to testimony Rhonda gave in court, Herman entered their home, beat up their mother and raped her in front of the two girls.\n\nThe incident seems to have been a tipping point. Not long after, Gloria began telling her daughters the world had nothing to offer them. Instead, she said, they'd all be better off going to heaven. On this point, Rhonda would say later, Gloria began pressuring her daughters. Eventually, the girls came to believe, like their mother, they had nothing to live for.\n\nGloria phoned Ronald Williams, Rhonda's father and steady friend. It was late. She'd been drinking and taking pills. She was crying. Herman had been giving her problems, she said, and things weren't good at work.\n\nShe was thinking of killing herself.\n\nWilliams had heard this kind of talk from Gloria before. Always, he had been able to console her, to talk her back from the precipice. He reminded her that she had Paula and Rhonda to think about. What would happen to them? His question made Gloria think. But only for an hour.\n\nShe called Williams back. Between her tears and her wailing, Gloria said: \"I finally found out what I'm going to do with the kids.\"\n\nWilliams was alarmed. He demanded to know what she meant.\n\n\"I'm going to take them with me,\" she replied. \"I'm going to let you speak to your daughter and Paula for the last time.\"\n\nThe girls took the phone in turns. They were crying, too. Rhonda said they were going to heaven with their mother.\n\n\"Don't do nothing drastic,\" Williams told them. \"Let me speak to your mother, OK.\"\n\nThe phone went dead.\n\nWilliams panicked. Gloria and the girls had recently moved. She hadn't shared their new address. He didn't know where to find them, how to stop her.\n\nHe called the operator and asked for his last call to be traced; it was no good. He called Gary police. Without an address, they could do nothing.\n\nThere was nothing anyone could do. Williams waited. For three weeks, he waited. He feared what had become of them.\n\nHad Gloria killed them all?\n\n—\n\nAfter she hung up the phone, Gloria decided not to act right away; she'd wait until morning. When she awoke, Gloria took the girls out to the car in the garage. She put them in the back seat and started the engine. The garage door remained closed.\n\nFrom there, accounts differ. Williams testified that a friend told him neighbors noticed something and called the fire department. Rhonda testified that, as the fumes gathered, the girls drifted off to sleep. They thought they were going to heaven; instead, they woke up in bed. How they got there isn't clear. Rhonda said Gloria had changed her mind. When the girls awoke, she said, their mother was coughing on the lawn.\n\nFrom then on, Williams tried to coax Gloria into letting him have the girls. Rhonda was his daughter, and he was fond of Paula, too. Gloria would have none of it.\n\n\"I'd rather see them both dead,\" she said.\n\n—\n\nThe girls survived their first brush with death. But Paula and her sister were being shaped in a world without hope. And now their mother had planted a seed: The ultimate escape was death.\n\nRhonda looked around at this nihilist world and began seeking a way out. Several times she tried to run. Soon, she began taking Paula with her. \"I couldn't take it no more in that house,\" she would say, \"and I didn't want her to, either.\"\n\nBy 1982, when both girls were teenagers, they made an unsuccessful attempt to run and were sent — together — to the Thelma Marshall Children's Home in Gary. Within a short time, they were returned to the Coopers. For Paula, it was the beginning of a cycle — of running and being returned home. For Rhonda, that cycle ended only when she learned Ronald Williams was her biological father. At her first opportunity, she left the Coopers to live with him.\n\nIf the move helped Rhonda, it had grievous consequences for Paula, then 13. Her sister had been the most stable person in her home. Now she was gone. Paula came to believe her parents blamed her for Rhonda's departure. Now that her father's anger had one less target, Paula's beatings grew more frequent and more brutal. Even as her parents divorced, Herman never quite left the picture. And his handiwork began to show.\n\nAt school, Paula revealed to an administrator a rash of injuries — a bruise on her thigh, a welt on her arm, a rug burn on her elbow.\n\nWhen a welfare caseworker visited the Cooper home, Herman and Gloria cursed at her. They blamed Paula's problems on interference from the courts, from the school psychologist and from the welfare department itself. When the caseworker recommended family counseling, Gloria said she'd rather go to jail.\n\nAt various times, Gloria and Herman seemed to vacillate between wanting Paula and considering her a curse. Paula began running away on her own. After one attempt, welfare officials wanted to send Paula home, but her mother objected. If Paula returned, Gloria vowed to leave.\n\nOn another occasion, when Rhonda made a rare visit to spend a weekend with Paula and her mother, arguments ensued and Williams returned for Rhonda. He couldn't find her there, but he found Paula. She was crying so loudly he heard her without going in. Gloria, who stood in front of the house fuming about Paula, simply said: \"I'm going to kill that bitch.\"\n\nPaula emerged and, seeing Williams, ran to him and jumped into his arms. He asked her if her mother would really hurt her.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nWilliams told her to get in the car. Gloria charged out toward them and began to threaten Paula. \"I'm going to kill you and if I don't (Herman) will.\"\n\nWilliams considered it serious business to take Paula. He lived in Illinois and assumed it would be a crime to take a child across the state line without permission of the parents. He took her anyway. Gloria and other family members threatened to phone the police.\n\nAt his home, Williams asked Paula what she wanted to do. They talked about the logistics of her staying with him without her mother's permission. It would be impossible for her to go to school. Then there was the trouble Williams might face. With tears, Paula looked at Williams and said, \"It's best for me to go home … I don't want to get you in no trouble.\" Paula's respite lasted only a few hours.\n\nEven though he wasn't keeping Paula, Williams couldn't fathom returning her home. Instead, he just let her walk away. She was young, no more than 13, but Williams believed she was safer on the streets of Chicago than at home. Under scrutiny for making such a choice, Williams later told a courtroom he thought Paula was in danger there. \"I would rather see her in the street as a slut than for her mother to blow her brains out.\"\n\nFor several days, Paula survived on her own. Inevitably, she wound up back home.\n\n—\n\nBy 1983, when Paula turned 14, she stayed away from home as much as possible. She was smoking cigarettes and drinking. She smoked marijuana almost daily. Tall, but heavy, she took speed to lose weight. She tried cocaine. She skipped school routinely. She was sexually active. Years later, she would warn others against making similar choices. But for the moment, it was her life.\n\nAnd it was a rootless life. She spent six months at a children's home in Mishawaka and three months in a juvenile detention center. She was removed from one home after only six days after she threatened a staff member and another resident — with a knife.\n\nWith each new address, Paula changed schools. She attended four high schools without ever finishing the 10th grade. Her schoolwork, decent at first, nosedived. She called a teacher \"crazy,\" resulting in a suspension. She struggled to keep friends. She developed a reputation as a bully. All the while, Paula struggled to wake up in the mornings. When she was evaluated for the problem, a doctor at a local hospital asked if she ever thought of killing herself.\n\n\"Yes,\" she replied.\n\nFor that answer, she was sent to a mental hospital. Released four days later, she returned home.\n\n\"I told people I needed help and to talk, but all they did was move me from home to home,\" Paula would write a few years later. \"I didn't care about life or trouble or consequences at all.\"\n\n—\n\nPerhaps the pinnacle of Paula's abuse came, ironically, after her father visited Gary police seeking advice on how to deal with a wayward child. Paula was 14, and Herman Cooper couldn't keep her reined in. Frustrated, he asked the police what he should do with her. It was a family matter, they said; he should do what he thought was right.\n\nFor Herman Cooper, that meant one thing: another beating. But for what he had in mind this time, he'd need some privacy. He took Paula to a woody patch near a spot where he kept a garden. Paula had been there before; so had Rhonda.\n\n\"If you scream where I take you,\" he told Paula, \"no one will hear you.\"\n\nSeveral times in her life, Paula thought her father was going to beat her to death. This was one of them. \"He just kept beating me and beating me,\" she would tell the clinical psychologist, for what seemed like half an hour. Instead of the cord or a broom or a stick, this time Herman beat her with his bare hands.\n\nWhen he was done, Herman put Paula in the car to take her home. But as they drove through the darkening streets of Gary, Paula knew she couldn't go back there. Not when the possibility of more punishment lay ahead in the Cooper house of horrors.\n\nAs Herman pulled the car up to the house, Paula jumped out and took off running into the night. Running and screaming. Herman gave chase, but porch lights began to click on. Up and down the street, neighbors stepped out to investigate the commotion. The neighbors had seen this show before; it never seemed to end. This time, though, Herman retreated.\n\nPaula ran until she wound up where the night had begun — at the police station. She told officers there about the beating, told them she couldn't go home. At least not while Herman was around. The state pulled her away from the Coopers. It isn't clear from the record where she was placed. But soon, she was sent back home.\n\n—\n\nIn the summer of 1984, when Paula turned 15, she felt as lonely as ever.\n\nAdrift, Paula briefly took up with a guy she hoped might offer her a haven. Later, she would tell others he was a rough character who dealt drugs and treated her poorly. The one thing he did for Paula was leave her pregnant.\n\nMany teenage girls would consider pregnancy a tragedy; Paula saw it as a blessing. She had almost forgotten how to care about anyone. She wanted a family, wanted someone to belong to. The child growing inside her represented someone she could love, someone who would love her in return.\n\nAnd then it was gone.\n\nGloria had been dead set against the pregnancy; she wanted Paula to end it. Paula refused and ran off — perhaps to seek help from a woman she knew in Chicago. Her mother tracked her down and, as Paula would write years later in a letter and tell friends, forced her to have an abortion.\n\nPaula was several months into the pregnancy; the procedure nearly killed her. \"She took something that would have completed my life,\" Paula would write later, \"and after that I felt I had no one.\"\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nRuth Pelke was gentle, an old woman with silvery hair and horn-rimmed glasses. As her stepson Robert and his wife pleaded for her to leave Gary, she listened.\n\nRobert pledged to do everything necessary to make her house ready for sale — the legal stuff, the touch-up jobs, whatever. She listened as they talked to her about how dangerous her neighborhood had become.\n\nBut Ruth didn't really need reminding. Her Glen Park neighborhood was still one of the better places to live in Gary, although that wasn't saying much, given the city's downward lurch. There were abandoned houses now. There were burglaries. Her own home had been hit five times in recent years, including when her husband, Oscar, was still alive. Now, at 78, she was widowed and alone, and things were only getting worse. But Ruth had been in Glen Park for 41 years; it was home. She still had some good neighbors. Just as important, she had a mission.\n\nFor decades, she'd opened her home and heart to the neighborhood children. She'd taught them the Bible using felt cutouts of Bible characters that she stuck to a flannel board. She'd given the kids candy when they memorized Scripture. She'd driven them to church. She believed these were children who needed hope, and they could find it in Jesus. No, she finally said that night after her stepson's plea — she wouldn't be leaving the home in her neighborhood.\n\n\"I'll stay here until I go there,\" she said.\n\nRuth Pelke was pointing a finger to heaven.\n\n—\n\nThe next day, Tuesday, May 14, 1985, Ruth's doorbell rang.\n\nShe answered it and found three teenage girls standing on her porch. She didn't recognize them, but she opened her door. One of the girls said, \"My auntie would like to know about Bible classes. When do y'all hold them?\"\n\nRuth wasn't up to teaching anymore, but she wanted to help the girls. \"Come back on Saturday,\" she said. And closed the door.\n\n—\n\nThe girls — Karen Corder, Denise Thomas and Paula Cooper — walked back across the alley. Sitting on a porch, April Beverly was waiting.\n\nThe foursome — all ninth- and 10th-graders at Lew Wallace High School — left school at lunchtime that afternoon with no intention of going back. The girls walked the 10 blocks or so to an arcade near 45th and Broadway where they spent what little money they had on games and candy. When their money was gone, they headed back to the house where April was staying with her sister.\n\nThey were a ragtag bunch.\n\nAt 16, Karen Corder — known to her friends as \"Pooky\" — was the oldest. More than two years earlier, she'd given birth to a baby boy whom she'd delivered in a toilet. She'd managed to keep the pregnancy secret from her parents until the child was born, according to court records.\n\nAt 15, April Beverly was seven months pregnant. She was part of a divided family with 11 children, and she bounced between two homes, her father's and her sister's. Her mother was dead, her father had remarried. On occasion, April benefited from the kindness of the old lady across the alley. She'd listened to Ruth Pelke's Bible lessons. And the old woman had brought food over to April and her siblings when she was concerned they might be hungry.\n\nAt 14, Denise Thomas was the youngest of the four and the smallest. The others were mature young women — at different places on the spectrum of teen motherhood. Denise still looked very much like a little girl. In the context of this group, some would later describe her as a tag-along.\n\nAnd, of course, there was Paula Cooper. At 15, she was only months removed from an unwanted abortion that had nearly killed her. She was tall, somewhat heavy and had the bearing of a girl beyond her years. She would be described as the \"prime mover\" of the quartet — the ringleader. But it was a label she'd never cop to.\n\n—\n\nTo date, the sum total of their illicit behavior was strictly small-time. Karen had tried her hand at shoplifting. Paula, Karen and April had pulled off a burglary a few days before that netted them $90. Mostly, the girls were truants. And on this Tuesday afternoon away from school, their immediate priority was to raise some money so they could go back to the arcade.\n\nTheir first attempt was a harebrained scheme April cooked up to get some cash from a woman up the street. All four girls had gone to the woman's door. April introduced Denise, the small one, as her daughter. April claimed the woman's husband had taken $20 from Denise and they'd come to collect it. For added zest, April threw in this detail: The woman's husband had been naked when he stepped into the street to take Denise's money.\n\nThe woman didn't go for it.\n\nAfter that failure, April turned her focus to Ruth Pelke. She seemed to recall the lady keeping a jar of $2 bills. She thought the woman might even have some jewelry. The question was how to get to it all.\n\nAs they sat on the porch at her sister's house, April asked Paula to come inside — she might know where there was a gun. For the girls, a gun crime would be a considerable step up the criminal ladder. But the gun wasn't where April thought it was; she couldn't find it. Then it occurred to April: Something else might do.\n\n\"I have a knife you could scare the lady with,\" she said.\n\nSoon, April produced a 12-inch butcher knife. It was sharp and had a curving blade that graduated to a fine point. It was a cooking tool, but also a potentially lethal instrument. Paula took the knife and hid it in her light jacket. Out on the porch, she and April explained to the other girls: This was their new weapon of choice. And Karen came up with another approach to getting inside the old lady's home: They would ask her to write down the time and place where the Bible classes would be.\n\nIn all this planning, Paula and the other girls would forever swear, the subject of killing the old woman never came up. The most they would admit, according to Corder, was that they'd knock out the woman and rob her. Still, the reality of what they were planning — to con their way into her house, pull a knife and take the old woman's valuables — was fraught with danger.\n\nAs their scheme unfolded, April stayed back again, resting on her sister's porch; she didn't want the old woman to recognize her. Karen, Paula and Denise crossed the alley.\n\nThey rang the bell, and soon Ruth Pelke appeared at the door. This time, when she answered, Karen said: \"My auntie wants to know where the Bible classes are held at. Could you write it down for me?\"\n\nRuth said she no longer taught the classes, but she knew of a lady. \"I'll look up her telephone number for you.\" She invited the girls to come in. And she turned to walk to the desk on the far side of the room.\n\n—\n\nRuth Pelke looked for all the world like the kindly grandmother drawn up in children's books. She was also a woman whose Christian faith was essential to who she was. She went to church on Wednesday nights and twice on Sundays. She visited church members who were too old or too sick to get out. She sang in the choir. She hosted missionaries in her home on their trips back from foreign lands. She took her own missionary journeys, going deeper into the heart of Gary to share her faith with children.\n\nWhat followed — recorded in statements to police, testified to in court, reported in newspaper accounts and, in brief instances, described in letters Paula would write years later — was a scene that would shock Northwest Indiana and the rest of the state.\n\nAs Ruth Pelke crossed her living room to the desk where she kept phone numbers, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck.\n\nPaula had put her jacket on the couch and run up on Ruth, grabbing her from behind. For a moment, the teenager and the old woman struggled. Ruth still tended a garden and did a little work outside the house to keep fit, but she was in no shape for a chunky 15-year-old girl who now had her in a headlock.\n\nPaula threw Ruth to the floor.\n\nOn a table nearby sat an item some would describe as a vase but others likened more to a triangular snow globe. One of the girls picked it up and hit Ruth Pelke over the head. Prosecutors would allege it was Denise Thomas; Paula took the blame.\n\nPaula demanded to know where Ruth kept her valuables. She threatened to cut her with the knife. \"Give me the money, bitch,\" she said.\n\nRuth looked up and said simply: \"You aren't going to kill me.\" She began hollering for help. Paula's anger rose now. Then she looked at Ruth's head. Blood was streaming from the place where she'd been hit with the vase. Paula saw the blood and reacted in a way she would struggle to explain for the rest of her life.\n\nTo police investigators, she would say she entered \"a blackout stage.\"\n\nTo a judge, she would say, \"Something clicked in on me.\"\n\nTo a psychologist, she said the sight of the blood altered her perception of whom she was attacking: \"I saw somebody else inside of that body.\"\n\nSeveral friends and supporters who heard similar explanations from Paula concluded that, in this moment, Paula no longer saw the meek and mild Bible teacher in front of her. They believed Paula saw the woman who watched her suffer so many beatings and did nothing to stop them, the woman who took away the baby she'd wanted to love. They were convinced that, in the defenseless woman pinned to the floor, Paula saw her mother.\n\nWhatever she saw, Paula reached for the knife. She grabbed it by the handle and began slashing. She sliced open the old woman's cheek. She stabbed at her head, without deep penetration. Ruth fell back, flat on the floor. And Paula went to work, cutting her arms and legs.\n\nThe other girls stood by in disbelief.\n\nKaren Corder, the oldest, told Paula to stop.\n\nDenise Thomas, the youngest, cried and screamed for Paula to quit. Later, she would claim she yelled, \"I'm getting out of here,\" only to be met with a withering threat from Paula: \"Leave and you're dead.\"\n\nPaula's barrage was relentless. She stabbed the old woman in the belly and, finally, thrust the blade deep into the side of Ruth's chest. With that, Paula stopped; she pulled back from the carnage.\n\n\"I can't take it no more,\" she said.\n\nPaula looked at Denise; she told her to come hold the knife. But Denise refused. She looked at Karen, communicating the same message. Karen knelt beside the wounded woman. The blade remained lodged in her chest. And Karen held it in place.\n\nApril Beverly, who concocted the robbery scheme, initially held back. After the others went inside, she had come up to Ruth's porch and acted as lookout. Now she entered the house. The old woman was lying on her back, her dress covered in blood, her arms and legs still moving. Karen, she noticed, held the knife as it protruded from the woman's side. To April, it appeared that Karen wasn't just holding it: She was wiggling the knife back and forth. Out of some morbid curiosity, she would tell police later, Karen pushed the blade farther into the hole to see how deep it would go. At one point, she concluded, \"The bitch won't die.\"\n\nKaren estimated she held the knife in Ruth Pelke's side for upwards of 15 minutes; Paula thought it closer to 30.\n\nRuth Pelke moaned through most of this. The old woman's torn and tortured face was too much for the girls to bear. One of them went to the bathroom and got a towel to cover Ruth's face — and try to smother the last breaths of life from her. Paula and Denise said it was Karen; Karen said it was Paula.\n\nIn her dying moments, Ruth Pelke managed to share a few last words. Denise heard her saying the Lord's Prayer.\n\n\"Our Father, which art in heaven …\"\n\nPaula had stalked in and out of the room, and the last words she heard from Ruth were something else. Words that would haunt her the rest of her life.\n\n\"If you kill me,\" she heard Ruth say, \"you will be sorry.\"\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nPaula and Denise began tearing the house apart, rifling through drawers, ripping items off shelves and upending furniture.\n\nFor Paula, it was a mad search for some reward for the awful business she'd just concluded. There had to be some money somewhere. Maybe some jewelry. But as she continued her desperate search, a nervousness began to grow inside her. Whether it was regret for the killing or the chilling final words of her victim, she felt uneasy. And she didn't like it. As they were going through the upstairs rooms, Paula tried to pull herself away. But the only place to go was back downstairs, where the source of her angst lay dead on the floor. She resumed the treasure hunt and soon managed to turn up some cash — all of $10. She came across a key and thought it might start the old woman's Plymouth in the garage. She ran out to give it a try. Nothing.\n\nApril joined in the search and quickly turned up another key. This time when Paula tried it, the engine stirred to life. April went inside to fetch the other girls.\n\nBy then, Karen and Denise were alone with Ruth Pelke's body. Karen had watched the rise and fall of the old woman's chest until it grew shallower. Finally, it stopped. Maybe April sensed some new panic; she sternly warned the other girls: \"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you.\"\n\nThe girls had spent roughly an hour in the old woman's house. They hadn't found a jar of $2 bills. They hadn't found a trove of jewelry. But it was time to go. Someone might come looking. Before they could leave, Karen grabbed one last item.\n\nShe knelt down again beside Ruth. The butcher knife was planted firmly in the left side of her chest, just below her breast. Karen grabbed the handle. She pulled it out. As they headed out to the car, Karen carried the knife at her side. She climbed into the back of the car and dropped it to the floor. The blade was still coated in blood.\n\n—\n\nPaula Cooper was 15. She was too young to drive. But with her three accomplices as passengers, she managed to steer Ruth's car out of the neighborhood and onto 45th Avenue. They were just down the street from Lew Wallace High School. School was out now and, almost immediately, they saw a classmate walking along the street. Almost reflexively, they waved to Beverly Byndum. And Beverly waved back.\n\nThis was the paradox they now faced. They were teenagers in possession of a car, the apex of adolescence. Yet they had acquired it in the most horrific way imaginable. Years later, Paula would say things just \"got out of control.\" But here she was — a killer. Now that the deed was done, now that they had a few bucks, Paula and the others seemed in no mood to enjoy it.\n\nBefore they arrived at the video arcade, Karen asked Paula to let her out of the car; she wanted to go back to April's house. Paula let her go, but not before asking her to perform a little task: Go back to the old lady's house and get the jacket Paula had left inside.\n\nNext, Denise said she wanted to go home. She asked Paula to let her out at a convenience store and she would make her way from there.\n\nWhen Paula and April pulled up to Candyland Arcade, they were alone. For a few minutes, they just sat there, talking about what they'd done. April hadn't witnessed everything that went on inside the house. It's not clear how many of the missing details Paula shared.\n\nPaula said she needed to use the restroom, and she ventured into the arcade. When she returned, five girls from school were standing around the car. One of them was Beverly Byndum, whom they had passed on the street. Her sister, Latesha, asked where they had come by the car. Paula said it was her sister's.\n\nWithin minutes, Karen walked up to the arcade out of breath, as if she had been running to catch up with the crew. Wherever she had been, she hadn't stayed long. Paula pulled her aside and asked if she'd gone back to the house, if she'd picked up the jacket. No, Karen replied. It was probably the last place on Earth she wanted to go. And she didn't hang around long enough to talk further about it. In a few minutes, she caught a bus for home.\n\nWhether Paula remembered it or not, she had left more than her jacket in the house. Inside one of its pockets was a newly filled prescription for birth control pills — her pills. She had picked them up earlier that morning before school. It was just one of the clues she had left for investigators to find.\n\nPaula and April looked around at the girls and asked if anyone wanted a ride home. Eagerly, their friends piled into the Plymouth. Latesha Byndum was among those who jumped into the back. As she did, she felt her foot brush across something on the floor. She reached down to pick it up. It was a knife. And there was blood on it. There was also blood on her shoe. Latesha looked at Paula and April in the front seat and asked, \"What you all do? Just kill somebody?\"\n\nThe girls looked back at Latesha.\n\nNo, they replied.\n\nAnd, in a response that would reverberate across the community, Paula and April laughed.\n\n—\n\nPaula and April dropped off their passengers at various addresses around Gary. But details about where and how they spent their next two days are choppy and imprecise.\n\nProsecutors would characterize their time in the car as a joy ride. But from this point on, Paula and April seemed to have a different sense of what to do next.\n\nApril wanted to go to a park in Hammond; she wanted to see her brother Tony; she wanted to see her boyfriend. When she found $40 in Ruth Pelke's glove box, she wanted to spend it. When they picked up April's boyfriend and he brought some alcohol, she drank it.\n\nPaula wanted to go to a girl's home where she had lived for a time; she wanted to pick up some friends there. But she quickly decided she and April needed some time to focus on what to do next. When April found the money, Paula thought they should save it for gas. While April got drunk, Paula wanted nothing to drink. She was too nervous.\n\nMost symbolic of their division, perhaps, is what happened to the money from Ruth's glove box. The girls wrestled over it, and one of the $20 bills was torn. Paula gave up the fight. April could keep the money and do with it what she wanted.\n\n—\n\nOn Wednesday morning, the day after the crime, Robert Pelke phoned Ruth's house to check up on her. She didn't pick up the phone, and he decided to check on her in person. Just three days before, he and a large portion of the extended Pelke family had taken Ruth out for a Mother's Day dinner. Just two days earlier, Robert and his wife had pushed Ruth to think about selling her house and leaving Gary. Robert rang the doorbell, with no idea how prescient that conversation had been.\n\nThere was no answer, so Robert opened the mail slot on the door and called inside. There was only silence. But through the mail slot, something caught Robert's eye: The dining room was torn apart. He went to fetch a spare key Ruth kept hidden outside. Looking around the place, he noticed Ruth's car was missing from the garage, and he assumed Ruth must be gone, too.\n\nHe found the key, unlocked the door and stepped into the house. The place appeared to have been ransacked. Pictures that had adorned the walls were now scattered about the floor. Cushions from the couch had been pulled up and cast about. And then his eyes turned to the dining room floor.\n\nThe cloaked figure of a woman lay there motionless. Her dress was caked in blood. Her arms were slashed. A towel masked her face.\n\nRobert knelt down next to her. He pulled the towel away and called her name. Still, there was no movement. He touched her, and the body was cold. He knew she was dead.\n\nRobert got up and went for the phone. In an age when every phone was a landline, Ruth's had been ripped from its place on the wall. He stepped outside and began going door to door, looking for someone who would let him use their phone. But at house after house, he found nobody. Finally, Robert looked farther up the street and saw a man and a woman getting out of a car. He approached them and asked them to call the police.\n\nHis stepmother had been murdered.\n\n—\n\nRobert's son, Bill Pelke, arrived home just after 3 o'clock from his shift at Bethlehem Steel and soon received a phone call. It was one of his uncles. Nana, he said, was dead.\n\nNana was the term of endearment everyone in the family used for Ruth. Bill had grown up listening to her Bible stories. He'd loved her flannel board tales of the three men in the fiery furnace, of Noah and the ark and his favorite — Joseph and the coat of many colors.\n\nEven as a 37-year-old man, he still loved to go to Nana's house for the holidays, to warm himself beside her fireplace and congregate there with the rest of the family. His grandfather had passed almost two years before, but Nana was still a magnet. She could still bring the family together. And now, suddenly, she was gone.\n\nAt such moments of shock, the brain's processor goes into hyperdrive. And some key facts rushed through Bill's head: Nana had been 78; she was the oldest Pelke; she'd had a good life; it must have been her time. But that instant of comfort evaporated quickly. He sensed something else in his uncle's voice that was borne out in his next words: There'd been a break-in at Nana's house. He didn't know if there was a connection.\n\nBill hung up and turned on the television, wondering if there might be some news about it. Sure enough, his father appeared on camera. He was saying something about it being a terrible murder. For Bill, everything else was a blur; he had to go. He had to be with his family.\n\nAs it turned out, Ruth Pelke had been dead for a full day.\n\n—\n\nBy that spring of 1985, crime was a painful reality in Gary. Its murder rate was among the highest in the country. It was on its way to becoming the murder capital of the United States.\n\nGary was a city in decline; poverty was growing like a cancer. But the violence was being spread through an influx of gangs with names such as The Family and the Black Gangster Disciples.\n\nYet as accustomed to crime as the city had become, the murder of Ruth Pelke shocked and angered people in a whole new way. There was the innocence of Ruth herself — the elderly Bible teacher. As one observer put it, she was a grandma to the neighborhood. The killing's effect also might have been amplified because it happened in Glen Park, which a prosecutor later described as a \"last bastion\" of the white population in a city from which white residents had disappeared.\n\nOn the day after the discovery of Ruth's body, The Post-Tribune in Gary devoted two front-page columns to the story: \"Bible teacher, 77, murdered in her home.\" It had her age wrong, but the dominant image on the page was a picture of Ruth — silver-haired and smiling behind her horn-rimmed glasses from another era.\n\nThe newspaper reported that neighborhood children \"were visibly upset and shaken by the murder.\" They spoke of Pelke as \"meek and mild,\" serving cookies during summer Bible classes and giving out boxes of candy to the children who memorized Scripture.\n\nAs for who might be responsible, the initial story carried some important nuggets: Police were searching for a 15-year-old girl who'd been seen driving Pelke's blue Plymouth. They weren't releasing her name, but the girl was a student at Lew Wallace High and lived in Gary's Marshalltown neighborhood.\n\n—\n\nPaula Cooper lived in Marshalltown.\n\nAs they combed through Ruth's house, police found the jacket with the prescription in the pocket. Eyewitnesses had seen Paula and the other girls in a car that matched the description of Ruth's missing Plymouth. And on the day Ruth's body was discovered, Gloria Cooper phoned police to report her 15-year-old daughter missing; she'd been missing since the day before.\n\nThe ink was barely dry on the newspaper stories when Karen Corder, walking around school on Thursday, two days after the crime, began looking for someone on whom she could unload her conscience. She had opted out of the joy ride and gone home and had a couple of restless nights' sleep. She found a gym teacher who'd been nice to her and said they needed to talk; she'd witnessed a murder. Soon, police were at the school. They took Karen and Denise into custody. And Karen was telling her story about the crime.\n\nIn the two days since the killing, Paula and April — with April's brother, Tony — had driven aimlessly from Gary to Hammond and to various parts of Chicago's South Side. They'd had no real sense of direction.\n\nTony pressed on in Ruth's Plymouth until the gas needle dropped well below empty. Then he pushed it some more. Finally, the car died. Their money gone, they found a phone and called April's sister. Thursday night, with the police dragnet closing around them, she took the girls to see the Gary police.\n\n—\n\nDetective William Kennedy Jr. had been looking for Paula Cooper and April Beverly for the better part of two days. When his phone rang around midnight, the news was good: They'd turned themselves in.\n\nIn addition to being a cop, Kennedy worked security at Lew Wallace High School. He'd seen Paula Cooper walking the halls. He never knew her name, but they'd exchanged hellos. Now, he was tidying up the loose ends of a case for murder against her.\n\nWhen he arrived at the station, Paula's parents were waiting. Kennedy asked Herman and Gloria Cooper if Paula could make a formal statement about the crime. Herman, speaking for everyone, declined. They were interested in talking to a lawyer, and he seemed annoyed at the article in the morning paper, which he felt pointed a finger at Paula even if it didn't name her.\n\nThe Coopers met briefly with Paula, then returned to the waiting room. Soon, Rhonda arrived at the station. She'd read the papers. She knew Paula was in jail. And she was upset. She wanted to see her sister.\n\nGloria was OK with that but urged her to persuade Paula to talk about what she'd done. When the police wouldn't let Rhonda see her sister without a parent, Gloria agreed to go with Rhonda.\n\nAfter so many years of turmoil and strife, Gloria and her two daughters were together again — for a moment alone in a police interrogation room. What they said isn't clear. But when Kennedy, the detective, rejoined them, Gloria gave Paula a nudge.\n\n\"Say something,\" she said.\n\nPaula hesitated. She said she didn't want anyone looking at her. So Kennedy turned 45 degrees and looked at a wall. Paula began to speak. She kept speaking for 15 minutes. She laid out the essential elements of Ruth Pelke's murder, described the girls' desire for money and a car, described how they came up with the Bible class as their way in. She described how she got the knife and stabbed the old woman more times than she could remember. She talked about the aftermath, when they took the car and gave rides to their friends. At one point, according to the account the detective would later make from his \"mental notes,\" Gloria Cooper asked Paula in front of the detective: Were you and Karen basically responsible for the lady's death?\n\nPaula's answer: \"Yeah, you could say that.\"\n\nWhen Paula was done, Kennedy left the room. Her mother and her sister left, too. As Paula stood alone in the interrogation room, April Beverly was giving a statement in a room nearby. When Kennedy returned to Paula, she was newly animated. She began unloading a rapid-fire addendum to her confession to the detective.\n\n\"April is lying. She's lying on me, so I'm going to tell you where the murder weapon is. It's at the McDonald's in Hammond on Calumet Avenue, next to the police station. Her brother threw it out the car right by the drive-thru window side. It was by a tree right there.\"\n\nFor Paula, this was the start of one of the great grievances of her life — her claim that the other girls lied. A few details aside, their stories largely matched up. But in the discrepancies, Paula saw injustice. And correcting the narrative to fit her exact version of the truth would become an obsession.\n\nThe legal ramifications of what she'd shared, in her two statements, were that Paula had essentially confessed to the key elements of the murder. She had gift-wrapped a case for the authorities. She also had put herself in the cross hairs of a zealous prosecutor. She had no idea just how precarious her own life had become.\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nJack Crawford — with a swooping, blow-dried haircut that gave him an appearance not unlike the televangelists of the era — came before a bank of reporters with material certain to make a splash.\n\nA rising star in Indiana's Democratic Party, Crawford had swept into the Lake County prosecutor's job years before, having pledged to get tough on crime. Since then, he had pursued the death penalty more than any other prosecutor in the state. In the first five months of 1985, he'd already won four death penalty convictions.\n\nNow, flanked by a pair of cops, Crawford came before the gathered media with an announcement sure to make headlines: For the first time in Lake County, his office was charging four girls with murder. He would seek the death penalty against the oldest — 16-year-old Karen Corder — and if the other girls were moved out of juvenile court, he'd likely seek death for them, too.\n\n\"I've been a prosecutor for seven years,\" Crawford told the media, \"and we've never had a case like this before.\"\n\nAs zealous as he was, Crawford privately acknowledged that same day that his chance for death sentences had already taken a big hit. That's because the clerk's office announced that the judge handling the Ruth Pelke cases was Superior Court Judge James C. Kimbrough Jr.\n\nKimbrough was a former public defender and NAACP lawyer who'd grown up in the civil rights heartland of Selma, Ala. More important than all of that, everyone around the courts — from prosecutors and public defenders to reporters and clerks — knew Kimbrough hated the death penalty. Hated it for its unfairness. Hated it for its inability to deter crime. And in a county where other judges had shown themselves willing to brandish the ultimate weapon, Kimbrough hadn't sent anyone to the electric chair during 12 years on the bench. Only once had he come close: Kimbrough sentenced a man to death who had been convicted of a double murder. Soon, though, the judge reversed himself and gave the man a new trial. Eventually, he was set free.\n\nSo, at word of Kimbrough's assignment, Jack Crawford and his team murmured that the path to a death sentence was a steep one. \"We certainly thought we had an uphill climb,\" he would say later.\n\n—\n\nIn the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center, Paula Cooper's life behind bars was getting off to a rough start.\n\nShe was no stranger to jail, having spent three months in the same detention center two years earlier after she ran away from home. She was a bit weepy then, even tender, the guards remembered. But this 15-year-old version of Paula Cooper was angrier, explosive and cocky. She acted as if she owned the place. She was a handful.\n\nTwo weeks after the crime, Paula took a seat next to two of her friends in the jail during \"quiet hour.\" Soon they grew noisy. A guard told them to shut up and disperse; Paula refused. The guard ordered her back to her cell. But as she stepped into the hall, Paula struck the guard across the bridge of the nose. She fought until reinforcements arrived to pull Paula off. As they were dragging her away, Paula issued a warning: They'd better transfer the guard or she would get a knife and come after her.\n\nThe dust-up prompted a transfer for the girls — from the juvenile center to the Lake County Jail. It also made the local papers, which didn't help the cause of saving their lives.\n\nBy the end of July 1985, the cases against all four girls were formally moved to adult court. Crawford, after sifting through the ample evidence, made his purpose clear: He would seek the death penalty against all four.\n\nThe case had pricked the public's consciousness of crime at a new level.\n\nCrawford's decision made news on the Chicago television stations; it made headlines across Indiana. The public defender assigned to represent Paula, Kevin Relphorde, was incredulous. \"They must be the youngest females in the country facing the death penalty,\" he told reporters.\n\nBy then, Paula and Karen, sharing a cell in the Lake County Jail, had been locked up two months. They began telling jail staff they were considering suicide. On cards they were given to report health problems, they wrote things such as \"Give me the electric chair\" and \"Give me that shock. I want to die.\"\n\nAs a precaution, jail officers took their personal belongings and stripped them to their underwear; they were on suicide watch.\n\nPaula and Karen responded by banging on the bars and making noise. To calm them, a nurse broke out the oral sedatives. Karen took hers; Paula refused. The guards teamed up to hold down Paula so the nurse could give her a shot. But as they tried to restrain her, Paula jumped up and hit one guard in the shoulder.\n\n\"Oh you tough, huh?\" the guard replied. \"You stabbed an old lady.\" It was less than professional, but it was a gut reaction.\n\n\"Yeah, I stabbed an old lady,\" Paula replied. \"And I'd stab that bitch again. I'd stab your fucking grandmother.\"\n\nThe jail incidents were part of a pattern to be repeated in years to come. Paula didn't respond well to restraints; she bucked authority. In such instances, she could be aggressive and hostile. A psychologist noted her tendencies and something else plain to see: Battered and badgered as a girl, she was now mistrustful and suspicious.\n\nSoon, Paula's interaction with the jail staff would grow more complicated. By August 1985, about the time she turned 16, Paula began receiving a series of private visitors. Two were male corrections officers. Another was a male recreational therapist. They weren't visiting just because of their jobs.\n\nThey were coming for sex.\n\n—\n\nOutside the jail, the stories about the angry young prisoners seemed only to add to the public's contempt. And as the details of their crime emerged, they were already easy to hate. Especially the girl who had wielded the knife — Paula Cooper.\n\nPaula had not just killed Ruth Pelke; she had stabbed her 33 times, according to the coroner. Some of the cuts on her arms looked like saw marks, as if the knife had been pulled back and forth. In other instances, the 12-inch knife had been wielded with such ferocity that the tip of the blade went through Ruth's body, pierced the carpet on which she lay and chipped the wood flooring beneath. Worst of all, it appeared Ruth Pelke survived the torturous assault for more than 30 minutes. The Post-Tribune called it \"possibly the most brutal killing in Gary history.\"\n\nIf all that wasn't bad enough, two of the girls had bragged about the killing at school. As defendants go, they were about as unsympathetic as they come. With guilt hardly in doubt, letters began appearing in the Gary newspaper debating the punishment. Some asked for mercy; others wanted severe justice. One letter directed at Paula appeared under the headline, \"She should pay.\"\n\nAll of it left Kevin Relphorde, Paula's lawyer, searching for a viable strategy to save Paula's life. The evidence was overwhelming, and the prosecutor was determined, which made a plea deal unimaginable. Paula's childhood had been bad, but it didn't seem to add up to an insanity plea. Her youth and relatively clean prior record were assets, but they looked meager compared to the brutality of the crime. Then there was the jury. Any panel drawn from across Lake County would be mostly white. And Paula was a black teenager who had killed an old white woman. All of it added up to a grim outlook.\n\nAs best as Relphorde could figure, the only thing Paula had going for her was the judge. Relphorde knew of Kimbrough's opposition to the death penalty. Ultimately, he suggested to Paula a stomach-churning strategy: Plead guilty.\n\nRelphorde was a part-time public defender who'd never handled a death penalty case. But he figured Paula's chances were better in the hands of a liberal judge than with 12 angry jurors.\n\nAs risky as it sounded, Relphorde wasn't the only person who sized things up the same way. David Olson, who was Karen Corder's attorney, came to a similar conclusion. He'd had a nightmare about Karen, he told the Post-Tribune in March 1986, and awoke fearful of \"losing her.\" His fears were amplified when he attended the trial of Denise Thomas, the first suspect to answer for the death of Ruth Pelke.\n\nJust before the case against Thomas went to trial, in November 1985, prosecutors withdrew the death penalty charge, concluding she'd been more of a bystander to the crime.\n\nBut that didn't stop the jurors from reacting strongly to the horrific details of Pelke's death. They quickly found Denise guilty. Olson didn't want to risk that with death on the line for his client. So in March, 10 months after the crime, Karen went before Kimbrough with a guilty plea. Her sentencing would follow two months later.\n\nHow well Paula understood the risks of her plea — and how much say she had in it — is now a matter of dispute. Relphorde said he met with Paula regularly to talk strategy and that the plea was ultimately her decision. Years later, Paula would recall only three brief meetings with her attorney, who she said assured her the judge opposed the death penalty and would be sympathetic to a black girl. If she pleaded guilty, she said she was told, she wouldn't get a death sentence.\n\nOn April 21, 1986, Paula appeared in court to plead guilty to murder.\n\nHerman Cooper came to the courtroom that day; so did Paula's sister, Rhonda. But Gloria Cooper, Paula's mother, was nowhere to be found. She had moved to Georgia and stopped answering the calls of Paula's attorney.\n\nWhen the hearing began, Kimbrough asked Paula more than once if she knew she could be sentenced to death. Each time, Paula answered yes. To the most important question — How do you plead? — she never hesitated: Guilty.\n\nFor the record, Paula retold the story of the crime — the scheme to get into the house; what she did to Ruth; how the girls took the car.\n\n\"We went to commit a robbery, you know,\" she told the judge.\n\nWas there any discussion in advance about what you'd do with Mrs. Pelke? he asked.\n\n\"No. It wasn't a discussion to go and kill anyone, you know.\"\n\nKimbrough accepted the plea. Paula's life was now in his hands. But she would have to wait months for an answer. Relphorde left convinced Paula had made her best play: \"We were basically throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court.\"\n\nPaula's strategy seemed to appear sound when, in May 1986, Kimbrough spared Karen Corder's life, giving her 60 years in prison. In fact, three of the girls had escaped with their lives. Denise Thomas, found guilty at trial, received a 35-year sentence. April Beverly, who conceived the robbery but waited outside during the killing, pleaded guilty in exchange for a 25-year prison term.\n\nOnly Paula's fate remained unresolved.\n\nLost in the news of Corder's reprieve, perhaps, was some language the judge used in reference to Paula. It seemed ominous. Kimbrough said it had been \"conceded by all that Paula Cooper was the leader of this group of four young ladies. That Paula Cooper was the dominant factor in the crime.\" He said Corder was \"operating under the substantial domination of Paula Cooper.\" Despite such words, the prevailing view in legal circles was that Kimbrough would spare Paula's life.\n\n—\n\nAs her judgment approached, there were hints that Paula Cooper's case was starting to resonate beyond Indiana. Jack Crawford's first clue came when his secretary stepped into his office with an unusual message: \"There's a man outside who says he's from the Vatican. He's dressed like a monk and wants to talk to you about Paula Cooper's case.\"\n\nCrawford took a look. Sure enough, in a brown tunic bound at the waist with a cord, there stood a Franciscan friar. He told Crawford he was from Rome. He offered a letter validating his credentials. And he brought a simple message: Pope John Paul II and the Vatican weren't pleased with Crawford's decision to seek the death penalty.\n\nCrawford was Roman Catholic. He'd gone to Notre Dame. He knew the church's opposition to the death penalty. But, as he explained to the friar, this was a legal decision, not a religious one. The friar left unsatisfied. He would not be the last Franciscan to stand with Paula.\n\nMore surprising than the friar's appearance was the visit Crawford received in June 1986 from Paula's attorney, Kevin Relphorde.\n\nIt was just weeks before Paula's sentencing, and Relphorde had few cards to play in Paula's defense. This time, though, it appeared he might have a game changer.\n\n\"You can't execute Paula Cooper,\" he said.\n\n\"Well, why is that, Kevin?\" Crawford asked.\n\n\"She's pregnant.\"\n\n—\n\nThe sex scandal at the Lake County Jail erupted in June 1986.\n\nFor months, corrections officers Vernard Rouster, 25, and Parmaley Rainge, 27, had been coming to see Paula for sex, officials discovered. So, too, had Michael Dean Lampley, a recreational therapist from a mental health center. Their encounters occurred even as a 40-year-old female corrections officer and a police patrolman were supposed to be maintaining security for the state's highest-profile murder suspect.\n\n—\n\nOne of the guards admitted the sex began when Paula was still a week shy of 16 — the age of consent in Indiana. That people working in the jail were having sex with a captive wasn't illegal in Indiana in 1986. After the revelation, the jail workers resigned their jobs and the therapist was fired, but no one was prosecuted. Supervisors on the jail floor were suspended — for 15 days.\n\nFor all of its tawdriness, the scandal had the potential to affect Paula's case. State law prohibited the execution of a pregnant woman; punishment would have to wait. And while a death penalty appeal was certain to outlast a pregnancy, the strange episode raised the possibility of a sentencing delay.\n\nKimbrough ordered a medical exam for Paula. Quickly, the matter was put to rest: She wasn't pregnant. But, in a sign of the times, public discussion about the scandal seemed to focus less on the culpability of the jailers than on the promiscuity of the 16-year-old girl in jail.\n\nJames McNew, a deputy in Crawford's office who prosecuted the case, told the Post-Tribune he suspected Paula Cooper tried to get pregnant to stir up sympathy and avoid death.\n\nHowever it came about, the sex scandal prompted a change in state law: It became a crime for jailers to have sex with their prisoners. Soon, though, the jailhouse sex scandal would become little more than a footnote before a judgment heard around the world.\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nBill Pelke sat on the wrong side of the courtroom.\n\nHis grandmother was the murder victim. Unwittingly, Bill took a seat on the side of the murderer. He was unfamiliar with the trappings of the courtroom. And unlike some in the community — in his own family — Bill carried no blood lust into the chamber. He thought people who committed murder should die. And Paula Cooper had killed his beloved Nana. But he wasn't fuming about it.\n\nBill had stayed away from the previous court hearings, but decided this was one he shouldn't miss. It was July 11, 1986. And for Paula Cooper, it was judgment day.\n\nCourtroom 3 of Lake Superior Court was a small space. The gallery, oriented outside a circle where the business of the court was conducted, had seats for just 43 onlookers. This day, it was packed to overflowing. People stood, straining to hear, just outside the public entrance. Lawyers and other court personnel did the same just outside the doors normally used by the judge and juries. All wanted to know the fate of a 16-year-old girl who faced a potential death sentence.\n\nInto this cauldron, Paula Cooper entered under the escort of a jail matron. She didn't need to look around to see she had few friends in the room. Her sister and her grandfather were there, but neither of her parents was present. Her mother had moved to Georgia, her father to Tennessee. As Paula entered, the matron said something that made the young defendant smile. The gesture surprised Bill Pelke; it struck him as unbefitting for the moment. When this day is done, he thought to himself, she's not going to be smiling.\n\nDeputy Prosecutor James McNew began the proceedings by calling Bill's father to testify. Robert Pelke hadn't missed a hearing — for Paula or any of the other girls. He had been the family spokesman, and he wanted a death sentence for Paula. He described going to Ruth Pelke's home when she hadn't answered the phone, finding her home in disarray and her body on the floor. He described her bloody dress and the towel wrapped around her head. When the attorneys finished questioning him, Robert asked to read a statement to the court.\n\nThis, Robert Pelke said, was a crime that deserved the maximum sentence the law would allow. He quoted the Bible about submitting to authorities and God's vengeance and punishing evildoers. He said Paula gave Ruth no second chance, and he saw no reason to give Paula one.\n\n\"Paula reveled in her doings and enjoyed it,\" he said. He spoke of ridding society of those who would prey upon the innocent. \"This is a tragedy that should never have happened,\" he said, \"and a tragedy that family and friends will never forget.\"\n\nNext, one of the girls from Lew Wallace High School testified about seeing Paula and the others on their joy ride and about finding the bloody knife on the floor of the car.\n\nA crime lab technician discussed grisly photos from the scene — pictures of Ruth Pelke, of the knife-torn carpet and the gouge marks in the hardwood floor.\n\nThe prosecution introduced into evidence the autopsy report, which expressed the damage done by the 33 stab wounds. There was also an anatomical diagram noting the points where Ruth had been wounded — so many it looked like a star chart.\n\nJailers who had been attacked and threatened by Paula detailed her bad behavior; they recounted her admission about stabbing \"an old lady.\"\n\nEntering into evidence the grisly details of the crime and the accounts of Paula's callous behavior was part of the prosecution's effort to build a case that the only just punishment was death.\n\nIn Paula's defense, only three witnesses spoke.\n\nRhonda Cooper gave a picture of how she and Paula grew up terrorized in the home of Herman Cooper. She testified to the beatings, to their father's raping their mother in front of them, to their mother's suicide attempt and to their attempts to run away.\n\nRonald Williams, Rhonda's biological father, testified that he wanted to take Paula away from the misery, but her mother refused. He spoke of Gloria's threats against Paula and of the suicide attempt.\n\nDr. Frank Brogno, a Gary psychologist who examined Paula, described how Paula's abuse left her angry and confused, depressed and hostile. He said she was prone to confusion and bizarre thinking, even drifting into fantasies. Still, he said, Paula knew right from wrong. There was still hope for her, but also a real danger she could become a sociopath.\n\nMcNew, on cross-examination, ripped into the doctor. He pointed out how Brogno had testified in Karen Corder's case that Paula was the \"prime mover\" in the crime.\n\n—\n\nRelphorde made a plea for Paula's life, saying she had gone to Ruth Pelke's home to rob, not kill. He said the other girls were intensely involved in the crime and their lives had been spared. The death penalty, he said, was applied at the whim of prosecutors. He said Ruth Pelke, a woman of faith, wouldn't want Paula to die. In the end, he said, Paula was the handiwork of an abusive home and a system that failed her.\n\n\"I don't think Paula was born violent,\" he said. \"I think Paula was a product of what was done to her.\"\n\nMcNew, closing the prosecution's case, checked all the boxes needed for a death sentence: Paula wasn't crazy. She wasn't doing someone else's bidding. She'd struck the death blows. She had a criminal record, as far as a juvenile goes, for skipping school and running away from home. And Paula's abusive childhood? To use that for an excuse, McNew said, was to insult everyone who has endured similar treatment and found a way to overcome the horrors. Giving Paula the death penalty, McNew said, would have a sobering effect on others who might be considering crime. But McNew said there was one reason, above all, for a death sentence.\n\n\"I am not seeking a deterrence to crime when I ask the death penalty on Paula Cooper. I seek justice for the family of Ruth Pelke.\"\n\n—\n\nWith the attorneys done, Kimbrough asked Paula if she had anything to say. And Paula did not shrink from the moment.\n\nShe hadn't wanted a trial, Paula began; she only wanted to tell the truth. \"Now my family life, it hasn't really been good. … Nobody understand how I feel.\"\n\n\"This man,\" she said, pointing to the prosecutor, \"sit here and say he want to take my life. Is that right? I didn't go to Mrs. Pelke's house to kill her. It wasn't planned. I didn't go there to take somebody's life. It happened. It just happened. Something. It wasn't planned. We didn't sit up and say we was going to go and kill this innocent old lady. I didn't even know the lady. But everybody put the blame on me.\"\n\nShe said Jack Crawford had described her in the newspaper as the ringleader. \"I wasn't the ringleader. I didn't make those girls go,\" she said. \"They went on their own.\"\n\nLooking around at the people in the courtroom, Paula seemed disgusted. \"Well, where was all these people at right here when I needed somebody? Where was they at? They turned their backs on me and took me through all this. All I can say is now, look where I am now, facing a possible death sentence.\"\n\nShe pointed at the Pelke family and repeated her plea that killing wasn't her intention. \"I hope you all could find some happiness in your hearts to forgive me. And I know your mother was a Christian lady, and she is in heaven right now. I read my Bible. How do you think I feel? I can't sit here and tell you I understand how you feel because I don't.\"\n\nShe acknowledged that \"sorry\" would never be good enough.\n\nPaula looked to Judge Kimbrough. But, as Bill Dolan would report in the Post-Tribune the next day, the judge \"didn't return her gaze.\" \"I don't know what the decision is going to be today, or whenever you make your decision. I know justice must be done. And whatever the circumstances, or whatever your decision is, I will accept it, even if it is death.\" She acknowledged she couldn't change what happened: She hoped to get out one day and start life over, maybe even finish school.\n\n\"Will I have a chance?\" she asked. \"Will I get a chance?\"\n\nFor a couple of minutes, Paula rambled. She repeated that she hadn't forced the other girls to act; she felt it important everyone know she wasn't a gang member. Then she reined it back in for one final thought: \"I am sorry for what I did. And I know my involvement in this case is very deep. But all I can ask you is not to take my life. That is all I can ask you. That is all I can ask is to spare my life.\"\n\nSuddenly, a commotion broke out in the courtroom. There was shouting in the gallery. \"My grandbaby, my grandbaby.\"\n\nBill Pelke looked at the wailing man near him and saw the tears run down his cheeks; the visage burned into Bill's memory. He watched the man as the bailiff escorted him out of the courtroom.\n\nIt was Paula's grandfather, making one final plea on Paula's behalf.\n\nNow it was up to the judge.\n\n—\n\nJudge James C. Kimbrough had been wading through the sordid details of Ruth Pelke's murder for more than a year. He'd parsed the depressing narrative, and people had speculated whether he had a death penalty in him, especially for a girl. Now they were about to get their answer.\n\nThere was no doubt about Paula Cooper's guilt. Kimbrough dispatched that with his first breath. The murder had been disturbing: Paula had inflicted the 33 stab wounds in the body of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke.\n\nThose were the strikes against her.\n\nBut the defendant had no prior criminal history, and she was 15 at the time of the crime.\n\nThose were factors to consider on her behalf.\n\nThe other requirements for the death penalty, Kimbrough said, didn't work in the defendant's favor. She acted of her own free will. She wasn't under the influence of drugs. Her mental problems didn't rise to the level of incompetence. But all those things, Kimbrough said, were legalities. Ultimately, he said, death penalty cases boil down to a \"political utterance.\"\n\n\"This case has received an unusual amount of publicity,\" Kimbrough said. \"There is worldwide interest in the outcome of these proceedings today. And the court is certainly aware of that interest.\"\n\nWhen he left law school in 1959, Kimbrough said, he had been \"totally against\" the death penalty — and most of the country shared the view.\n\nNearly 30 years later, he said, public sentiment had changed, perhaps because of the violent activities of people such as Paula Cooper. Now, the vast majority of the public favors the death penalty, Kimbrough said, Normally, he wrote out his sentences in advance. But this case had challenged him to the point he'd been unable to do so.\n\nKimbrough praised the deputy prosecutor for speaking \"eloquently\" — he said McNew brought the matters into focus \"better than all of the turmoil that I have been through in the last several months.\"\n\nHe criticized state law for being too general when it came to giving minors the death penalty. It left him unsure what to do on that fundamental question. \"I don't know what the right political answer to that question is.\"\n\nThen Kimbrough, in a moment of vulnerability judges don't always reveal, showed some insight into his restless mind. \"I don't believe I am ever going to be quite the same after these four cases. They have had a very profound effect on me. They have made me come to grips with the question of whether or not a judge can hold personal beliefs which are inconsistent at all with the law as they were sworn to uphold. And for those of you who have no appreciation of it, it is not a simple question. It is not a simple question for me.\"\n\nKimbrough interrupted his confessional to take issue with something Robert Pelke said: \"I do not believe the failure to impose the death penalty today would be unbiblical. … I don't profess to be an expert in religion. But I know the Bible has passages which are merciful, and do not demand or mandate an eye for an eye.\"\n\nReturning to his inner turmoil, Kimbrough said he'd concluded that a judge must decide a case based on facts, regardless of whether it satisfies him. \"I will tell you, very frankly now, on the record, that I do not believe in the death penalty.\"\n\nThis seemed to launch Kimbrough on a rant. \"Maybe in 20 years, after we have had our fill of executions, we will swing back the other way and think they are unconstitutional. Maybe.\"\n\nAt about this point, Jack Crawford, sitting at the prosecutor's table, was ready to give up hope for a death penalty. He turned to McNew, he remembered later, and whispered into his ear.\n\n\"He's not going to give it.\"\n\nThen Kimbrough directed his eyes to the girl awaiting his judgment.\n\n\"Stand up, Paula.\"\n\nShe had stabbed Ruth Pelke 33 times, he said. He was concerned about her background. She had been \"born into a household where your father abused you, and your mother either participated or allowed it to happen. And those seem to be explanations or some indication of why you may be this type of personality that you are.\"\n\n\"They are not excuses, however.\"\n\nHowever.\n\nThat word caught Crawford's attention. So did the fact that Kimbrough's shoulders seemed to slump, as if the weight of the moment was getting to the judge. Crawford leaned in and whispered again to McNew.\n\n\"I think he's going to give it. I think he's going to give it.\"\n\nKimbrough continued.\n\n\"You committed the act, and you must pay the penalty,\" Kimbrough said. Briefly, he trailed into some legalese about the charge. Then he gathered himself for the final judgment.\n\n\"The law requires me, and I do now impose, the death penalty.\"\n\n—\n\nThe courtroom erupted.\n\n\"What did he say?\"\n\nPaula Cooper looked at Kevin Relphorde for help; amid the chaos, she wasn't sure what had just happened. She looked back for the judge; he had already left the bench. She asked Relphorde what had happened. He delivered the verdict again: He gave you the death penalty.\n\nThe smile Paula wore into the courtroom was gone, indeed. Bill Pelke took note of that. Instead, he saw a river of tears streaming down her cheeks. As she was led from the courtroom, the tears soaked the top of her blouse.\n\nJust like that, Paula Cooper — at 16 years, 10 months and 16 days — became the youngest person ever sentenced to death in Indiana; she was now the youngest female on death row anywhere in the United States. In this age before the cellphone, news reporters from national outlets raced out of the courtroom to the nearest bank of pay telephones. It took a few hours, but the verdict soon circled the globe.\n\nIn the hallway outside the courtroom, Rhonda Cooper yelled in anguish at members of the Pelke family and the prosecutors nearby.\n\n\"Are you satisfied now?\"\n\nThey seemed satisfied.\n\nStrangely, one of the most unsatisfied people in the building was the source of the commotion: Judge Kimbrough.\n\nAfter delivering the verdict, he darted out of the courtroom and into the hallway leading to his chambers. There, between the two rooms, he spotted William Touchette, a public defender who handled appeals. Kimbrough told Touchette to follow him.\n\nTouchette (pronounced TOO-shay) had been among those outside the courtroom straining to hear the proceedings. Like so many local lawyers, he was friendly with the judge; they'd socialized outside of work. He followed Kimbrough into his chambers.\n\nThe judge was angry. As angry as Touchette had ever seen him. Angry that the defense hadn't given him enough to spare Paula Cooper's life. Then Kimbrough uttered seven words Touchette would never again hear from a judge.\n\n\"I want you to get me reversed.\"\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nPaula Cooper's death sentence was one of Indiana's biggest news stories in 1986. It garnered network television news coverage. Once it hit the international news wires, it was picked up by newspapers in Europe, where it inspired protests.\n\nBut Monica Foster, working for a nonprofit death penalty defense group in Downtown Indianapolis, somehow missed all that. To her, it was as if the Paula Cooper case had never happened.\n\nIt wasn't that Foster was uninterested in current events or that she was dull. In fact, Foster was a wunderkind. She'd graduated from high school at 16, college at 19 and law school at 22. She'd come to work for the Indiana Public Defender Council, researching and offering advice to lawyers with death penalty cases, even before finishing her law degree. But at 27, she had a tendency to get absorbed in her work. And when that happened, the outside world ceased to exist.\n\nSo when William Touchette, the Lake County attorney preparing Paula Cooper's appeal, called the council looking for some help, Foster knew nothing of the case. Without hesitation, Foster agreed to be Touchette's local connection to Paula, who was being held at the Indiana Women's Prison on the city's east side. Foster even said she'd donate her time, seeing the client on evenings and weekends, as a sideline.\n\nFoster didn't realize she'd just signed on to the case that would become the most noteworthy of her career.\n\nWhen the case file arrived in her office, Foster began reading about Paula Cooper. Right away, she was puzzled.\n\nHere was a black girl from Gary who had been sentenced to death by a black judge whom even Foster knew to be one of the most liberal, anti-death penalty jurists in the state. The girl had brutally murdered an elderly woman during a robbery, but Foster told the people in her office that to get a death sentence from this judge Paula Cooper had to be some kind of rabid animal.\n\n\"She must be frothing at the mouth.\"\n\nFoster decided to go to the prison and see Paula Cooper for herself.\n\n—\n\nPaula had arrived at the Indiana Women's Prison — America's oldest women's prison — five days after her sentencing.\n\nEstablished shortly after the Civil War, it was originally in the countryside east of Indianapolis. Over time, brick storefronts and wood-frame houses sprang up around the prison's series of boxy brick buildings — situated around a grassy courtyard — and now the prison was landlocked in the middle of an urban neighborhood.\n\nAwaiting Paula was a cell tucked away on the second floor of the segregation unit. It was stark: block walls and tile floor; aluminum sink and toilet; a desk and a chair; all of it packaged in a space slightly bigger than a walk-in closet.\n\nShe had one window to the outside world. Depending on which side of the hallway she was assigned at the time, it featured either a view of the courtyard or, just beyond a fence topped by razor wire, the backside of a row of decaying houses.\n\nPaula's cell had two metal doors. One was made of bars, the other was solid. Most of the time, the solid door remained open, allowing her to talk through the bars to passing guards and nearby prisoners. But when the solid door was closed, it was as if she was locked in a vault. Worse, the prison had no air conditioning. As summer temperatures outside climbed into the 90s, the only air moving through the wing was pushed by a floor fan at the end of the hall. Most of the time, the place felt like the inside of a cook stove.\n\nHere, Paula Cooper spent 23 hours a day. In the remaining hour, she had 30 minutes to shower and 30 minutes for recreation, which meant a short walk to a larger room where she could play Ping-Pong or cards with other prisoners. Meals were delivered to her cell.\n\nShe was 16 years old and, in the grand scheme of things, set apart from the rest of the human race.\n\nThe treatment was harsher than what Paula's three co-defendants in the murder of Ruth Pelke faced. They were housed elsewhere in the prison, with the general population. They had greater freedom of movement, time outdoors and an ongoing interaction with other people. Paula was allotted 10 hours of visits per month, but she wasn't sure who would fill the time. Her sister had moved to Minnesota. Her mother had moved to Georgia. Her father had moved to Tennessee. Paula was as alone as she could be.\n\nYet she faced a struggle greater than isolation and heat. She lived in fear that the executioner was coming for her any minute. Whatever she'd been told about the appeals process hadn't registered. She thought she was about to be taken away and killed. She existed moment to moment, in dread the guards were about to drag her away to the electric chair. In letters, she would describe her situation in the bleakest of terms — \"a mental hell.\" Paula needed hope. She needed a friend. But who?\n\n—\n\nMonica Foster entered the security checkpoint at the Indiana Women's Prison and was shown to the glass-walled consultation room. In short order, she watched as a guard escorted her client in to meet her.\n\nPaula Cooper was nothing like she expected. Monica came looking for the heartless killer who had murdered an old woman in cold blood, fought the guards at the county jail and been given a ticket to the chair by the most liberal judge in Lake County.\n\nInstead, Foster found a girl, sobbing uncontrollably, who had been on suicide watch. Foster tried to calm her. After some questioning, she gathered the reason for the emotional meltdown: Paula thought they were coming any time now. To kill her.\n\nFoster's blood boiled. She realized that, since the sentencing, no one had explained to Paula the years of appeals; the good chance for a reprieve; and, should all else fail, the notice she would receive well ahead of an execution. Foster felt sorry for Paula. She explained the process. Above all, she told Paula she'd never be ambushed by the executioner.\n\nPaula went back to her cell in a little better shape, but Foster left the prison rattled. She couldn't believe how she had misjudged her client. She realized that her role in this case was about more than legal counsel. She would need to offer her client a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen.\n\nFoster began going to the prison on weekends, sitting and talking with Paula for hours. She listened to Paula talk about being depressed, and she tried to buck her up. She listened to Paula's troubles with the prison administration and offered advice on ways to get along. She listened to Paula describe the abuses of her childhood, and Foster shared some of the tougher aspects of her own. The conversation wasn't always heavy. Sometimes they talked about places they dreamed of going and about men Foster was dating. Paula, in particular, was quick with a jab about Foster's romantic failures. Even in a maximum security prison, with one of them facing death, they spent a good deal of time laughing. And Foster found Paula's laugh to be infectious. That she could laugh at all impressed Foster. The girl seemed to have some kind of resiliency. After a while, Foster could deny it no longer: She liked Paula Cooper.\n\n—\n\nBill Pelke felt no such affection.\n\nIn the 18 months since Paula Cooper killed his grandmother, Bill had lost the ability to think of Ruth Pelke as the sweet person she'd been; he could only see the murder victim. He couldn't remember the warmth of Ruth's home; he could only think of it as a crime scene. When Paula Cooper received her sentence, Pelke felt justice had been served. His father, Robert Pelke, warned him that the justice wouldn't last. On a trip to Florida they took to get away from it all, Robert Pelke said Paula would probably never see the electric chair. \"Some do-gooder will probably come along and help get her off death row,\" he'd said. Bill struggled to imagine it; he just tried to get on with his life.\n\nBut moving on wasn't easy. And at 39, Bill already had other things on his mind that bothered him. He'd dropped out of college and wound up in Vietnam during the height of the war. As a radio operator, he was supposed to take cover during the fighting and call in air support. But he still carried shrapnel in his side from the wounds he suffered. Worse than that, he carried memories of the Army buddies who'd never come back. The experience left him sick of death. When he returned home, he'd married and started a family, but his marriage failed. So many things in his life hadn't gone as he'd planned. One afternoon in November 1986, all of this seemed to coalesce in Bill's mind.\n\nBill worked in a steel mill as a crane operator. He sat 50 feet above the manufacturing floor in the cab of his crane, moving heavy loads as the need arose. But on this Sunday night shift, things were slow; his mind began to drift. He wondered why life was so hard, why God had allowed Ruth to suffer such a horrendous death. He wondered why his family — his good family — was made to suffer in the wake of the crime. It was an unlikely perch for prayer, but Bill closed his eyes and began seeing images in his mind. He saw the courtroom where Paula had been sentenced to death. He remembered the outburst of her grandfather and the tears streaming down the man's face. He remembered Paula's reaction and the tears streaming down hers, how they soaked her blouse.\n\nA hard realization hit Bill: Ruth wouldn't have wanted these things. She had invited Paula and the girls into her home to help them find faith. It occurred to Bill that Ruth would be more interested in Paula's salvation than her execution. He was certain, too, that Ruth would have hated seeing Paula's grandfather in anguish.\n\nBill thought of the Bible stories Ruth had taught and the lessons he'd learned from a lifetime in church. He remembered Jesus taught that you shouldn't forgive someone just seven times, but 70 times seven — in other words, forgiveness should be a habit. He remembered being taught that the measure of forgiveness we show others is the measure by which we shall be judged. He remembered hearing about Jesus on the cross, offering salvation to the man dying next to him, offering grace to those who sought his death. \"Forgive them,\" Jesus had said, \"for they know not what they do.\"\n\nAnd then Bill realized something: Paula hadn't known what she was doing. Nobody in their right mind would take a 12-inch butcher knife and stab someone 33 times. It was crazy. Senseless.\n\nIn his mind, Bill began to see a new image: It was the picture of Ruth, the one published countless times since her death — silver hair, horn-rimmed glasses, sweet smile. Except now, he saw her face in the picture with tears running down her cheeks. Bill felt certain Ruth wanted someone from her family to show love to Paula and hers. Bill wasn't capable of it right then, but he thought he should try. He was a blue collar guy — a steelworker — and now he was at work crying a river of his own tears. From his seat in the cab of the crane, Bill prayed: \"God, give me love and compassion for Paula Cooper and her family.\" In return, he promised God two things. First, Bill would give credit to God for giving him the ability to forgive Paula whenever success came his way. Second, he'd walk through whatever door opened as a result of forgiving Paula.\n\nEventually, the sweet memories of Ruth would come back to Bill. He would be able to put aside the horror story. First, though, he felt he had to take a greater leap of faith. He had to get in touch with his grandmother's killer. He had to reach out to Paula Cooper.\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nThe next day, Bill phoned Paula's attorney. He wanted her prison address, and he was willing to do whatever it took to help save Paula's life. Kevin Relphorde's response wasn't encouraging: \"It's kind of late for that.\"\n\nUndeterred, Bill took the address and sat down at a desk in his Portage home to write perhaps the most intense letter of his life. He told Paula he had forgiven her; he wanted to visit her; there were Bible verses his grandmother would want him to share. He also wanted to meet her grandfather, he of the tearful courtroom outburst.\n\nBill dropped the letter in his mailbox and, at some level, thought that would be the end of it. But in the days following, he found himself checking his mailbox almost daily. Ten days after he sent his letter, an envelope showed up. The return address said: \"Ms. Paula Cooper.\"\n\nThe envelope was thick. Inside, he found a letter dated Nov. 10, 1986, six pages of a teenage girl's loopy cursive, written in pencil, on pink stationery. The contents were far from a schoolgirl's bubble gum dreams. It was a snapshot of Paula's mind on death row. Her thoughts darted back and forth — between apologies and self-pity, between empathy for those who hated her and preachiness about why they should forgive her. Much of the letter was frenetic. Sentences ran on and on like the transcriptions of a nervous talker. Her misspellings and limited punctuation seemed to reflect the erratic schooling of someone who'd been on the run since eighth grade. But it also bore the hallmarks of a mind in overdrive, overloaded with conflicting emotions. Here are some excerpts. Periods have been added for clarity.\n\nBill 11/10/86\n\nHello how are you? fine I truly hope. me I'll survive, I received your letter today & it was nice of you to write me. one of Ms Pelkes friends wrote me also, I answered it back also. Im not the mean type of person your family thinks I am but I can except that. I really do. your cousin Robert was something else & what he said about not knowing if Ms Pelke would forgiving me. Ive read my bible & I know it says the way you judge others the Lord will judge you the same way. Ive prayed for your family. a lady in a wheel chair use to visit me at the jail. she said God would be pleased if I prayed for all of you, I am doing fine. They treat me ok & I am always isolated 23 hrs a day. thats how it is on death row, it is a mental hell because no one cares except for themselves. I am thankful to the Lord for them letting the others have a little time, because I've had hell all my life. so it really doesnt matter if I live or die because Im ready any time they come …\n\nIn his initial letter, Bill expressed a desire to save Paula from her death sentence. But in her reply, Paula told Bill he need not write, travel or speak on her behalf; she just wanted his forgiveness. She seemed proud of her performance in court — how she looked his family in the face and apologized. She seemed to excuse her parents for missing her sentencing. Although they had beaten and neglected her, Paula said, her actions affected them, too.\n\nAt various times, her words ranged from fatalistic to self-pitying:\n\nI cant stay here like this & I don't want to be here, I deserve a chance one that Ive never had before. but one day Ill be free even if its when Im dead…\n\nI cry every time I think of your grand mom. the others think it's a joke because you all let them be free. Im not an evil person, or what ever you think of me to be, Im just some one who is real angry, angry with life & all the people around me …\n\nIve never done anything wrong before except ask for help, I was turned away & introduced into a life of drugs, sex & crime, but now its too late for help. Im dying inside because of this but I only hope for the best for others.\n\nIn closing, she made it clear she wanted more interaction with Bill, even if she was passive about it. She would put him on her list of allowable prison visitors; she would write him whenever he wrote her; she offered her grandfather's phone number and address. In a dark world, it was as if she had seen a flicker of light.\n\nWell, Ill go now, Ill continue to pray for all of you.\n\nTake care\n\nPaula\n\nTheir first exchange was the start of a surprising correspondence that would span years and delve into the core themes of Paula's life — searching for forgiveness; grappling with remorse; her closeness with death; her search for peace.\n\nThe letters also chart the course of a relationship that many people would struggle to understand, especially Bill Pelke's father.\n\n—\n\nAfter a second exchange of letters with Paula, Bill felt compelled to share with his parents the news of his surprising correspondence: His father had once warned of a do-gooder who would get Paula off death row. Now it appeared Bill wanted to be that do-gooder.\n\nAt first, his parents were speechless. \"We don't understand why you are doing this,\" his mother, Lola, said. Surprisingly, his father acquiesced.\n\n\"Do what you got to do,\" Robert said.\n\nBill wrote Clarence Trigg, the superintendent of the Indiana Women's Prison, a letter that spent most of a page describing Ruth Pelke's faith and her commitment to sharing it. He concluded with a request:\n\nClarence, if Ruth Pelke could speak with you right now, I am sure she would say, \"Please let Billy see Paula.\"\n\nThank you for your consideration\n\nIn the name of Jesus and His Love\n\nWilliam R. Pelke\n\nBut the prison doors weren't about to open to Bill anytime soon. Corrections officials didn't know what to make of his request — a murder victim's grandson seeking an audience with her killer. They suspected he had another motive, such as revenge.\n\n—\n\nThe aftermath of Paula's case was confounding in other ways. Since giving Paula a death sentence, Judge James C. Kimbrough had been very public about his discomfort with his own ruling. Based on the law and the case in court, he said Paula qualified for the death penalty. But he hadn't been able to square it with his own opposition to capital punishment. The decision was costing him sleep. In an interview with the (Gary) Post-Tribune, published Aug. 4, 1986, a reporter noted the judge's nervous appearance.\n\nHe fidgeted in his chair. His gaze varied — at times less steady and slanted toward the desktop. He removed his glasses, toying with them.\n\nFriends who knew Kimbrough said the judge was different than he'd been before the Paula Cooper sentencing. The man they knew as friendly and jovial, even gregarious, was more reclusive, less outgoing. \"It weighed heavily on his mind,\" said Earline Rogers, a state legislator and a friend. \"That was something he felt legally he had to do but, personally, he would not have taken that path.\"\n\nSome in the legal community began to think there was a good chance Paula's death sentence would be overturned. But Kimbrough wouldn't live to find out.\n\nOn April 30, 1987, less than a year after his judgment of Paula, Kimbrough drove his car into the back of a semi and was killed. He had been drinking. The tragedy cast a pall over the Lake County courts, but it also landed hard at the Indiana Women's Prison. When Monica Foster told Paula her judge was dead, Paula was inconsolable. Days later, in a letter to Bill Pelke, she shared her thoughts about the judge.\n\n\"all I could do was cry, even though Kimbrough sentenced me to die. I felt a closeness to him as if he were my father. I have been sentenced to die many times by a lot of people and it's only words. We are all on Death Row and the last day of April his death sentence was completed & it should teach a lot of people we all have a date that is already planned & the way it will happen.\"\n\nPaula's own father had been cruel; at least Kimbrough had agonized over the punishment he gave.\n\nThe letter about Kimbrough was the 20th she'd written to Bill Pelke in less than six months. She was surprising herself at her output: \"I didn't even know I had a good handwriting or a great vocabulary until I was locked up.\"\n\nBy then, she was 17 and a condemned killer with hours to contemplate her past, present and future. Several themes recurred in her writing.\n\nLife on death row. She struggled to sleep, to breathe, to deal with the noise. \"To be on death row is worst than when I was in a mental hospital. At least it was quiet.\" She had ailments from toothaches to a bad back. Mostly, she was confused and on edge. Life on the row made her feel like \"a walking time bomb.\"\n\nMemories of the murder. Her thoughts were plagued by it. She described what she did to Ruth Pelke as \"awful.\" She wished she could erase it. \"Every day,\" she said, \"I see my nightmare.\"\n\nDeath. It was constantly on her mind, whether by execution or by her own hand. She alternated between dread of the electric chair — \"I hope it never happens to me\" ­— and anticipation of it — \"sometimes I wish they would just go ahead & do it. They continue to put this death threat on my life and I'm tired of it.\"\n\nSuicide. She seemed to ponder the merits of killing herself. She wasn't sure what it would solve but, in words that seemed to echo from her mother, she said, \"there isn't anything here for me.\" She talked about hanging herself but acknowledged she couldn't follow through. \"I know that if I do that I might go to hell (and) I don't want that to happen.\"\n\nMeanwhile, people from across the country wrote her. Some, including a death row inmate in North Carolina, wanted a romantic relationship. Some wanted answers to the plague of juvenile crime. Others sent her Bibles and tried to save her soul. Yet her faith — another frequent topic — had grown cold. As a child, she read her Bible often, she said, but \"my faith started to shatter because of a lot of feelings, hopes and unanswered prayers. I love the Lord but we aren't rea", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/12/09"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_14", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/03/09/zombie-virus-frozen-permafrost-revived-after-50-000-years/11434218002/", "title": "'Zombie virus' frozen in permafrost revived after 50,000 years", "text": "Scientists have revived a \"zombie\" virus they say spent nearly 50,000 years frozen in permafrost, part of a new batch of research that identifies several newly discovered viruses that have been frozen underground for tens of thousands of years.\n\nTo better understand the risks posed by frozen viruses, Jean-Michel Claverie, a French professor of medicine and genomics, tested earth samples taken from Siberian permafrost – also called permanently frozen ground – in search of what he describes as \"zombie viruses.\"\n\nPermafrost can be found on land and below the ocean floor in areas where temperatures rarely rise above freezing. It's often found in the Arctic, Greenland, Alaska, Russia, China and Eastern Europe.\n\nThe Arctic's permafrost, a frozen layer of soil, is melting because of rising temperatures, scientists say, potentially awakening viruses that have been dormant for millennia.\n\nResearch published by Claverie, emeritus professor at the Aix-Marseille University School of Medicine in Marseille, and his team in February show ancient viruses from Siberian permafrost samples were collected in the study.\n\nThey found the oldest of the virus strains – collected from an earth sample at the bottom of an underground lake – was almost 48,500 years old.\n\nSamples taken from the stomach of woolly mammoth remains were 27,000 years old.\n\n'Zombie ant fungus' in humans? Climate change sparks fungi fears — some serious and some sill\n\nA reanimated virus\n\nIn 2014, Claverie and his team reanimated a virus from permafrost that had been dormant for 30,000 years by introducing it into cultured cells. He studied a virus that targeted only single-cell amoebas as a safety measure.\n\nThe next year, in 2015, repeated the experiment with a different virus type.\n\nIn his latest research, published on Feb. 18, Claverie and his team isolated several strains of ancient viruses from seven locations in Siberian permafrost.\n\nAccording to the study, the latest strains belonged to five virus families – pandoravirus, cedratvirus, megavirus and pacmanvirus, and the new pithovirus strain – in addition to the two he had revived earlier.\n\nCollagen is is the latest wellness craze:Are your vitamins causing climate change?\n\nCould unfrozen ancient viruses threaten public health?\n\nAccording to Claverie, viruses that remain infectious after being frozen for so long could pose a public health threat as the viruses that infect amoebas are stand-ins for all other viruses that could be in the permafrost.\n\n\"One can reasonably infer that many other eukaryotic viruses ... may also remain infectious in similar conditions,\" the study reads.\n\n“We see the traces of many, many, many other viruses,” he told CNN. “So we know they are there. We don’t know for sure that they are still alive. But our reasoning is that if the amoeba viruses are still alive, there is no reason why the other viruses will not be still alive and capable of infecting their own hosts.\"\n\nGo deeper\n\nNatalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/09"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/science-health/958679/the-tricky-science-behind-reviving-zombie-viruses", "title": "The tricky science behind reviving 'zombie viruses' | The Week UK", "text": "Scientists have revived a virus that has lain dormant in the Siberian permafrost for nearly 50,000 years, sparking fears that global warming could lead to ancient pathogens being released.\n\nThe cultivating of so-called “zombie viruses” by French researchers has “renewed fears of another pandemic”, reported The Sun, with the New York Post warning about the dangers of “potentially prying open Pandora’s box”.\n\nWhat have they done?\n\nResearchers led by microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic from the French National Centre for Scientific Research examined ancient samples collected from the Siberian permafrost and revived and characterised 13 new pathogens, which they termed “zombie viruses”.\n\nThe oldest had been trapped beneath a lake bed in Yakutia in eastern Siberia for 48,500 years, “a world record” said Professor Jean-Michel Claverie, of Aix-Marseille University in France, who co-authored the study which has yet to be peer-reviewed but was published in ScienceAlert.\n\nWhile posing no direct threat to humans, the virus remained infectious despite spending many millennia trapped in the frozen ground, researchers said.\n\nWhy are they doing this?\n\nUp to a fifth of the land in the northern hemisphere is underpinned by permanently frozen ground, known as permafrost. With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the global average, the permafrost is now thawing at an alarming rate, releasing organic matter that has been locked away for up to a million years.\n\nWhen this decomposes it releases carbon dioxide and methane, which contribute to global warming. It also contains viruses and other microbes that have remained dormant since prehistoric times.\n\n“Scientists have long warned that the thawing of permafrost due to atmospheric warming will worsen climate change by freeing previously trapped greenhouse gases like methane,” said Live Mint, “but its effect on dormant pathogens is less well understood.”\n\n“In order to study these awakening organisms, scientists have, perhaps paradoxically, revived some of these so-called ‘zombie viruses’ from the Siberian permafrost,” reported the New York Post.\n\nAfter studying the live cultures, scientists found that all the so-called “zombie viruses” are potentially infectious, and therefore present a “health threat”.\n\nThis means, said the New York Post, “that we could see more Covid-19-style pandemics in the future as ever-melting permafrost continues to release long-dormant viruses like a microbial Captain America”.\n\nAre they going to kill us all?\n\nKnown as a pandoravirus, the 48,500-year-old virus revived by the research team only infects single-cell organisms “and should pose no threat to humans,” said The Times.", "authors": ["The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2022/11/29"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_15", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230310_16", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2023/03/25/ncaa-tournament-elite-eight-winners-losers-march-madness/11544056002/", "title": "NCAA Tournament winners and losers from Saturday's Elite Eight", "text": "Hoot!\n\nNo. 9 Florida Atlantic beat No. 3 Kansas State 79-76 in the East Regional finals to book one of the craziest and most unexpected Final Four berths in NCAA men's basketball tournament history.\n\nMaking just the program's second tournament appearance, the Owls now lead Division I with 35 wins and are the first Conference USA team to reach the national semifinals since Memphis in 2008.\n\nDespite the loss, this has been a remarkable season for Kansas State. Picked last in the preseason Big 12 poll, the Wildcats laid the foundation for a long and successful run under first-year coach Jerome Tang.\n\nIn the second game Saturday, No. 4 Connecticut embarrassed Gonzaga 82-54 to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2014.\n\nThe Owls and Huskies lead the first round of winners and losers from Saturday's Elite Eight action:\n\nWinners\n\nConnecticut\n\nThe hottest team in the tournament has to be seen as the favorite to win it all regardless of which teams win Sunday to round out the Final Four. The 28-point win against Gonzaga marks a new high for the Huskies, who were very good during the regular season but have taken things to a different stratosphere the past two weeks. After dismantling the Bulldogs, Connecticut becomes the seventh team to win all four regional games before the Final Four by 15 or more points. Coincidentally, the last team to do that was Gonzaga in 2021.\n\nAdam Sanogo\n\nEven while struggling from the field, Sanogo continued to spark the Huskies' with his second double-double of the tournament. The junior forward scored 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting with 10 rebounds and a career-high six assists, taking advantage of Gonzaga's attention to find teammates Jordan Hawkins (20 points) and Alex Karaban (12 points). Stopping the Huskies entails stopping Sanogo — and the best of luck in that.\n\nFlorida Atlantic\n\nCoach Dusty May has pushed back against the Cinderella label, but the slipper fits. FAU has been one of the worst programs in the country since joining Division I in 1993, posting just one season with more than 19 wins and ranking near the bottom of three successive conferences — the Atlantic Sun, Sun Belt and then Conference USA. May has steadily built a winner, however, posting half of the 10 winning seasons in program annals and compiling a deep but very young roster full of overlooked and under-recruited prospects. While the Owls looked the part of a Top 25 team throughout the regular season, this still ranks among the most impressive postseason runs in modern tournament history.\n\nMarkquis Nowell\n\nEven in the loss, the Kansas State senior put on a show. With teammate Keyontae Johnson battling foul trouble — the All-America forward scored nine points in 18 minutes before fouling out with just over two minutes left — Nowell took on an even larger role as a scorer, putting up a season-high 21 attempts and finishing with 30 and 12 assists. The former Arkansas-Little Rock transfer averaged 23.5 points and 13.5 assists during these four games and is easily the tournament's breakout star.\n\nMAKING THEIR MARK:Everything you need to know about Florida Atlantic\n\nPOSTSEASON LINEUP:Complete NCAA men's tournament schedule, results\n\nConference USA\n\nEvery win by the Owls means more money for Conference USA, which is set to earn at least five “units” worth $337,000 each across the next five seasons, or more than $2 million overall. This is a very nice parting gift from Florida Atlantic, which will leave the league this summer for the American Athletic Conference.\n\nLosers\n\nKansas State\n\nThis loss won't overwrite what has been an outstanding debut season for Tang or diminish what seems like an incredibly bright future for the program. But while Kansas State has reached the regional finals three times since 2010 under three different coaches, there is a bitter finality to coming this close to the Final Four but coming up a possession short — leaving Tang and his staff responsible for building off this disappointment as the Wildcats head into next season as an established contender.\n\nTang knows what it takes to rebound from this moment: With him as an assistant under Baylor coach Scott Drew, the Bears reached the Elite Eight in 2010 and 2012 but did reach the Final Four until winning the national championship in 2021.\n\nGonzaga\n\nThe Bulldogs were run off the court and into oblivion by the Huskies. What did Gonzaga do well? Try nothing. The Bulldogs shot 33.3% from the field, including just 2 of 20 from deep, and made 12 of 22 free throws. The game went south quickly after the Bulldogs lost forward Drew Timme to foul trouble minutes into the second half; what was then a 12-point lead ballooned to 23 points after a 14-3 Connecticut run. The first national title in program history will again have to wait.\n\nMark Few\n\nGonzaga's longtime coach has won nearly 84% of his games overall but is now 2-3 in Elite Eight games, with no single March moment worse than this shellacking at the hands of the Huskies. With Few in charge, the Bulldogs recruit at a high level, develop NBA talent and memorable college scorers — Timme is just the latest — and play a fast-paced offensive style that can overwhelm the many less-talented teams on a typical regular-season schedule. So what is preventing this program from finally cashing in and winning a championship? If not already, at some point Few will be defined by his inability to get Gonzaga over this last hurdle.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/basketball/2023/03/13/fau-owls-play-memphis-tigers-in-ncaa-tournament-in-columbus-ohio/70002315007/", "title": "FAU Owls play Memphis Tigers in NCAA Tournament in Columbus ...", "text": "Zach Weinberger\n\nSpecial to The Post\n\nBOCA RATON — The brackets for March Madness are set and no team wants to prove the doubters wrong more than Florida Atlantic.The ninth-seeded Owls (31-3) will travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on the eighth-seeded Memphis Tigers (26-8 ) in their NCAA Tournament opener on Friday night.\n\nThe university held a watch party for the team and fans to witness the announcement live on CBS Sunday night and they were featured on-camera.\n\nDespite the facts that no team seeded lower than eighth has ever won the national championship and the Owls opened as 125-1 longshots to be cutting down the nets in Houston, the FAU sports community was very excited.FAU Vice President and Athletic Director Brian White said that what head coach Dusty May and his team has done for the university is unprecedented.\n\nFAU wins C-USA tourney:March Madness: FAU defeats Alabama-Birmingham in C-USA title game for NCAA tournament berth\n\nFAU makes finals:Florida Atlantic defeats Middle Tennessee, 68-65, advances to C-USA championship game\n\nHistoric season:Historic regular season means nothing unless FAU advances to NCAA Tournament\n\n\"We could not be prouder of our men's basketball program for this tremendous accomplishment. The leadership of Coach May and his staff as well as the competitiveness and relentlessness of our players is second to none,” White said. “This has been a historical season in so many ways for FAU men's basketball, and we can't wait to see the rest of this run.\"\n\nMay said that Sunday's announcement was \"really cool\" for the fans, the community and the university. But he also added that the work is far from done.\n\n“We are very, very excited for them,” May told The Palm Beach Post. “But our guys have such a workmanlike approach that they're already thinking about the game on Friday. They're not just happy with the admission ticket. They want to go make some noise.”From a player’s perspective, standout Alijah Martin said that he was speechless afterthe announcement.\n\n\"Last year, we planned on being here, where we're at right now,” Martin said. “Just to see it unfold, you can't really put words to it.\"\n\nFAU hopes its depth leads to upsets in NCAA Tournament\n\nMartin led the way in the Conference USA tournament, earning MVP after scoring 30 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in the win over Alabama-Birmingham Saturday night in Frisco, Texas.\n\nThe Mississippi-native is confident that FAU can turn heads, especially because of his teammates.\n\n\"Our depth scares a lot of teams because we have a good, solid team, a nine/10-man rotation,” Martin said. “Anybody can go off, not even just me; Nelly (Johnell Davis), Nick (Boyd), Mike (Michael Forrest), B.J. (Bryan Greenlee), Vlad (Goldin), 'G' (Giancarlo Rosado), it's just deep.\"\n\nEven though the suspense wasn’t truly present Sunday night since a conference title grants an automatic bid, it was still exciting for the team and fans to see FAU represented on the national stage.\n\nMay was most eager to know their opponent. Coincidentally, Memphis, which upset Houston for the AAC championship, is a member of the Owls' new conference so the teams will see a lot more of each other going forward.\n\n\"Obviously, Memphis is a great opponent, a storied program, well-coached,\" May said. \"We're excited to see how we stack up with our future AAC opponent.\"\n\nWhile a time for celebration was in order after making the tournament, May said that the players won’t enjoy the moment if they perform poorly in the first round. He also said that even with the stage as big as this that the Owls are going to execute what’s been working for them from the beginning.\n\n“We learned early on that there is no stage too bright or stage too big,\" he said. \"We were on a 20-game winning streak and they never deviated from their day-to-day approach. And that's a testament to their character and also the fact that they enjoy the work and the process that goes with being successful.”\n\nAs for all the history and odds stacked against FAU, May said the team has had “boulders on their back since day one.” He said he hopes the players “feel disrespected” if they are seen as the underdogs in this tournament because the Owls think they can take on anyone.\n\nFriday's gameFAU vs. MemphisColumbus, Ohio,. 9:20 p.m.TV: TNT.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/columnist/nicole-auerbach/2017/03/12/march-madness-10-questions-committee-selection-sunday/99079950/", "title": "March Madness: 10 questions for the committee on Selection Sunday", "text": "Nicole Auerbach\n\nUSA TODAY Sports\n\nNEW YORK — A visit with the Division I men’s basketball committee Saturday morning made one thing crystal clear: This year’s NCAA tournament field might not have too many surprises.\n\nA few prominent bubble teams, such as Vanderbilt and Xavier, played their way into the field of 68 during their conference tournaments.\n\nOthers played their way out. Clarity along the bubble is nice — and not always common — and means we can instead shift our attention to the top, where there’s more uncertainty.\n\nHere are 10 important questions to keep in mind as the countdown to the bracket unveiling continues on this Sunday, one of the most maddening days of the year in sports:\n\n1. Who will be the No. 1 overall seed?\n\nVillanova. For a while, it was neck-and-neck between the Wildcats and Kansas … until conference tournament results made this fairly straightforward. With its win vs. Creighton in the Big East tournament final, Villanova not only looked the part of a No. 1 overall seed, but it also secured its 11th win of the season against RPI top-50 opponents, which is three more wins of that caliber than Kansas has.\n\nIt’s kind of crazy how under the radar Villanova has been flying, despite being the defending national champion, winning the Big East regular-season title for the fourth consecutive year and having guys named Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Jalen Brunson on the roster.\n\nMORE COLLEGE BASKETBALL\n\nAdvice college basketball coaches would give their younger selves\n\nMarch Madness: When does the 2017 NCAA tournament start?\n\nBubble Watch: The nine teams sweating the most on Selection Sunday\n\nThe Wildcats have hit a couple of bumps along the way this season — most notably two losses to Butler and injuries that thinned the rotation — but remain better positioned than anyone since Billy Donovan’s Florida teams in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back national titles. And their run to the Big East tournament title, which happened while Kansas sat at home after being knocked out in the Big 12 quarterfinals, should have boosted their résumé enough to let them start their title defense with the best possible position: the No. 1 overall seed.\n\n2. Will Gonzaga end up on the top seed line?\n\nMoving past Villanova and Kansas — who are No. 1 seed locks — the Zags did all they could to put themselves in position to land a top seed. They scheduled and played a tough non-conference schedule, picking up wins against Florida, Iowa State and Arizona, and went unbeaten in non-league play for the first time.\n\nGonzaga’s only loss came to Brigham Young in its regular-season finale, which the team rebounded well from to win yet another West Coast Conference tournament title. It’s a strong résumé, which includes six RPI top-50 wins, which the committee will likely compare to that of North Carolina (27-7 overall, with 11 top-50 wins) and Duke (27-8, with 13 top-50 wins and three top-25 wins this week alone). You have to like Gonzaga’s chances in this scenario. (We think.)\n\n3. Should we trust the Zags?\n\nYes. There is an outdated perception that Gonzaga is a perennial underachiever in the NCAA tournament, a sentiment that seems to ignore a Sweet 16 appearance last season and the Elite Eight the year before that.\n\nBut, again, there are doubters, despite this being a talented, deep and balanced team. Five players average double figures in scoring. Washington transfer Nigel Williams-Goss has been one of the best players in college basketball all season. And Przemek Karnowski remains, quietly, one of the best bigs in the sport now that he’s healthy.\n\nSure, Gonzaga has never reached a Final Four. But that’s no reason to think it never will.\n\nWhy not this year, and this team?\n\n4. What will the selection committee do with Duke?\n\nThe Blue Devils are one of the most polarizing teams in the country, and it’s only partly because of Grayson Allen. You have a coaching absence — because of Mike Krzyzewski’s back surgery — during which time Duke went 4-3 under associate head coach Jeff Capel. You have a series of injuries that affected some outcomes (for example, Kansas) and overall player availability, which is something the selection committee takes into consideration when it is determining a team’s seeding.\n\nWill the committee give the Blue Devils a boost since they finally look dominant now that they’re as healthy as they’ve been, during their run to the ACC tournament title? Could Duke climb all the way up to the No. 1 seed line? It’s going to be fascinating to see how the committee answers these questions.\n\n5. Which league will get the most bids?\n\nThe Atlantic Coast Conference. But it will likely get only nine bids, down from the 10 or 11 the league had a shot to land before a few bubble teams fell out of consideration.\n\nAs many as 13 teams were considered at various points this season, but seven were on the bubble, meaning the league’s strength is not necessarily at the top but rather in the middle.\n\nYou’ll likely hear a lot about the depth of this conference as the NCAA tournament begins, but it will be very hard to replicate the ACC’s success a season ago: Seven teams made the Big Dance, with six advancing to the Sweet 16. No conference had ever sent so many through the first weekend before. So, sure, there likely will be nine dancing this year.\n\nBut does regular-season depth necessarily lead to deep runs?\n\nTime will tell.\n\nNCAA TOURNAMENT AUTOMATIC BIDS\n\n6. Which Pac-12 team will be the league’s highest seed?\n\nThe answer is Arizona, the Pac-12 tournament champion and co-champ of the regular season. But, in reality, the Wildcats are one of three legitimate Final Four contenders — along with Oregon and UCLA — and the only significant point regarding which team finishes with the best seed is because it affects which team gets assigned to the West regional (in San Jose).\n\nTravel always is a factor and potential issue in the NCAA tournament, and this could end up mattering quite a bit. Or it won't. It's too soon to know, especially since the Bruins still have Lonzo Ball, and Oregon (even in its first game since Chris Boucher's season-ending injury) still nearly knocked off the Allonzo Trier-led Wildcats, who are peaking at exactly the right time. Perhaps all three will end up in Phoenix after all.\n\n7. How low will the highest-seeded Big Ten team land?\n\nIt’s probably Purdue, and the absolute highest seed the Boilermakers could land looks like a No. 4. We got a glimpse of the selection committee’s disinterest in the top of the Big Ten last month with its bracket preview show — which had zero Big Ten teams among the top four seed lines with a month remaining in the regular season.\n\nWhat that means is the league is kind of the opposite of the ACC this year; there were few opportunities for top-25 wins in league play, and in some cases, fewer opportunities for top-50 wins than the Big Ten is used to. Purdue lost twice to Michigan in its last four games heading into Selection Sunday, and Maryland lost four of its last six games.\n\nWisconsin lost five of six to close out February and start March, though the Badgers appear to have righted the ship during their run to the Big Ten tournament final. Still, seeding is affected by all of those rough patches — and the Big Ten will feel that come Sunday evening.\n\n8. Northwestern will make its first-ever NCAA tournament. Now what?\n\nIt’s one of the great stories of the season — a team doing something it’s never done before. And that’s why Sunday will be extra special: Northwestern will hear its named called as an NCAA tournament participant for the first time in program history. The Wildcats are the lone power-conference team never to have made the NCAA tournament, a speck of infamy that will fall away Sunday evening.\n\nAnd while making the Big Dance certainly is an accomplishment to celebrate on its own, Northwestern coach Chris Collins and the players that carried the program to this point won’t be satisfied with just showing up. They believe they can win big games, and as evidenced by the memorable win vs. Michigan that likely clinched the bid and, later, the program’s first run to the Big Ten tournament semifinals, they’re capable of doing just that.\n\nUSA TODAY Sports college basketball All-American team\n\nUSA TODAY Sports college basketball coach of the year: Gonzaga's Mark Few\n\nUSA TODAY Sports freshman of the year: UCLA's Lonzo Ball\n\n9. Which mid-majors could become Cinderellas this year?\n\nPer usual, there was some carnage in the smaller conference tournaments, meaning we lost a few mid-majors who were dominant throughout league play but ran into a hot team in the league tournament, costing them the league’s automatic bid. So, unfortunately, we don’t have teams such as Belmont, Monmouth, Texas-Arlington and Oakland as potential tournament darlings.\n\nSo, of the teams who will be in the field … let’s go with Middle Tennessee State — you’ll recall the Blue Raiders pulled off a big 15-2 upset of Michigan State a year ago — as well as Vermont, Nevada and Iona as this year’s most likely double-digit seed Cinderellas.\n\n10. Is this the last year we’ll be hearing about the RPI?\n\nIt’s possible. There was a bit of fanfare over the NCAA hosting a metrics summit with some of college basketball’s most innovative information-sorters this season.\n\nAnd though nothing definitive came out of it, NCAA vice president for men’s basketball championships Dan Gavitt said there could be possible final recommendations presented and considered at the group’s summer meeting.\n\nThe idea — and it might not take effect in time for next season, especially since schools would be almost completely finished with scheduling by the time it could be adopted — is that there is some composite analytic tool or third-party analytic system that exists (KPI, KenPom, etc.) that could replace the Rating Percentage Index, which is how the selection committee sorts and ranks every team in college basketball.\n\nGavitt described the process of figuring out which way to go in the future, at this point, as “a work in progress.”\n\nHIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK IN COLLEGE HOOPS", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/03/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2023/03/06/college-basketball-winners-losers-michigan-purdue-houston-lead-way/11409150002/", "title": "College basketball winners, losers: Michigan, Purdue, Houston lead ...", "text": "The event officially known as March Madness won’t get underway until a little over a week from now. But Sunday’s array of wild finishes and buzzer beaters around men’s college basketball left little doubt that it is, in fact, March, and the madness just comes with the territory.\n\nTop-ranked Houston provided one of the day’s biggest highlights as Jamal Shead’s last-second jumper gave the Cougars a 69-67 victory at Memphis. Houston completed the regular-season sweep of the Tigers despite the best efforts of Kendric Davis, who scored 26 points including the bucket that had tied the game just seconds before Shead’s game-winner. Houston already had the top seed in the upcoming American Athletic Conference tournament locked up, but this high-end road triumph likely assures the Cougars of a No. 1 regional seed regardless of outcome in the league tourney. The only question is whether they could be the top team overall in tournament given losses by Alabama and Kansas during the weekend.\n\nSUPER SATURDAY:Big 12 headlines winners and losers from wild day\n\nBUBBLE WATCH:North Carolina in trouble after costly loss to Duke\n\nHere are some other winners and losers from Sunday.\n\nWinners\n\nPurdue\n\nHaving witnessed a number of failures to close out games, fans of the Boilermakers had to be nervous once again as they watched a 10-point lead against Illinois melt away in the final six minutes. But Zach Edey provided a go-ahead basket in the last minute, and a key steal by Ethan Morton enabled Purdue to seal the 76-71 win from the free-throw line. The win at least keeps the Boilermakers in the conversation for a No. 1 seed, as Saturday losses by Alabama and Kansas might have left the door ajar.\n\nPenn State\n\nTrailing Maryland at home by 16 points as the first-half clock ticked toward 0, the Nittany Lions’ bubble case appeared to be on life support. But a Jalen Pickett three-pointer from just inside the half-court line as the period expired was the spark Penn State needed. Cam Wynter’s last-second putback completed the second-half rally for the 65-64 win. The Nittany Lions still might need a win or two in the Big Ten tournament to feel secure, but with virtually no distinction between seeds 2 and 12, nothing can be ruled out.\n\nNorth Carolina-Asheville\n\nThree more NCAA bids were officially handed out Sunday, starting in the Big South. The top-seeded Bulldogs overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half to outlast Campbell 77-73. Drew Pember scored 29 and Tajeon Jones added 24 for UNCA, which will be making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.\n\nDrake\n\nThese Bulldogs didn’t need a comeback. Drake and Bradley had split their regular-season meetings and shared the top spot in the Missouri Valley Conference. But the Bulldogs took charge from the outset, building a 20-point halftime cushion and coasting to a 77-51 victory over the Braves to close out Arch Madness in St. Louis. Tucker DeVries led the way for Drake with 22 points.\n\nKennesaw State\n\nThe last of Terrell Burden’s team-high 19 points was the biggest, a go-ahead free throw with a second to go as the Owls defeated Liberty 67-66 to claim the Atlantic Sun title. It is the first trip to the Big Dance in program history for Kennesaw State.\n\nLosers\n\nMichigan\n\nIn the span of four days, the Wolverines played two games on the road that included three overtimes. First, they fell short in two extra periods Thursday at Illinois after blowing a lead in the first overtime. Then Indiana rallied in second half against Michigan to extend the game and the Hoosiers prevailed. The two near-misses of Quad 1 opportunities left the Wolverines with some serious work to do in the Big Ten tournament. At 17-14, at least a couple wins are likely needed in Chicago to reach the field of 68 and even that might not be enough.\n\nMemphis\n\nA two-point loss to the nation’s No.-1 team isn’t damaging to an NCAA at-large résumé on its face. But the Tigers entered the last day of the regular season with just two quadrant-one wins to their credit. Despite ice-cold perimeter shooting before intermission, they briefly held a five-point lead in the second half but couldn’t close the deal, representing a huge missed opportunity and possibly leaving some work to do in the AAC tournament.\n\nIowa\n\nYou’d be hard-pressed to find a more puzzling team than the Hawkeyes, who shot the lights out at Indiana’s Assembly Hall earlier in the week but were outscored by Nebraska at home on Sunday. It was a season sweep for the Cornhuskers against Iowa, which saw its eight-game winning streak at Carver-Hawkeye Arena snapped.\n\nMaryland\n\nThe loss at Penn State cost Maryland any shot at a top-four seed and accompanying bye to the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament. The Terrapins are not in bubble trouble by any stretch, but their lack of success away from College Park is a major concern heading into the postseason.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/hawk-zone/2023/03/11/kansas-basketball-vs-texas-jayhawks-go-for-big-12-tournament-title/69998089007/", "title": "Kansas basketball vs. Texas: Jayhawks went for Big 12 tournament ...", "text": "KANSAS CITY — Kansas men’s basketball competed for the Big 12 Conference tournament title Saturday against Texas.\n\nThe No. 1-seed Jayhawks (27-6) came in after a win against 5-seed Iowa State. The No. 2-seed Longhorns (25-8) came in after a win against 6-seed TCU. Kansas and Texas split the regular season series the two programs played.\n\nWere the Jayhawks able to sweep the Big 12’s regular season and tournament championships? Were the Longhorns be able to keep Kansas from doing that? The Jayhawks won the Big 12 tournament last season.\n\nRELATED:Here’s how to watch Kansas vs. Texas in Big 12 Conference tournament championship game\n\nRELATED:In the aftermath of KU basketball’s win vs. Iowa State, here are 3 things to consider\n\nHere's what happened inside the T-Mobile Center:\n\nFINAL: Texas 76, Kansas 56\n\nTexas leads 70-52 against Kansas with 3:47 left in 2nd half\n\nAt some point, Kansas needs to think about resting the starters it has in the game. Eighteen points, with the way this game has gone in the second half, is too much to overcome. And even if the Jayhawks do make a run, they'd likely run out of time.\n\nGetting healthy ahead of the NCAA tournament is the most important thing Kansas should focus on right now. Just because it lost this game, doesn't mean it can't win back-to-back NCAA championships. All in all, it's just one game.\n\nTexas leads 62-48 against Kansas with 7:57 left in 2nd half\n\nIt's just not Kansas' night at this point. The Jayhawks' scoring has been dominated by Jalen Wilson and Joseph Yesufu, and in the second half neither has been what they were in the first. Texas is up 14 points with a little less than eight minutes left in regulation.\n\nIt's evident, defensively, just how much Kansas is missing Kevin McCullar Jr. Of course, the officiating at times hasn't helped on either end. But this isn't all on the officiating, just like it never is all about the officiating.\n\nTexas leads 53-43 against Kansas with 11:27 left in 2nd half\n\nThe crowd is trying to do its part to will Kansas back into this game. At different points during this most recent stretch, they've risen to their feet and gotten loud. But at this break, the Jayhawks are still down 10 points with about 11 and a half minutes remaining in regulation.\n\nThere's still plenty of time for Kansas to make a comeback, but it's unclear if the Jayhawks are going to have what it takes to make that happen. Doing better from behind the arc would help. Right now, Kansas is 0-for-4 on 3s in the second half.\n\nTexas leads 49-41 against Kansas with 15:57 left in 2nd half\n\nDajuan Harris Jr. has yet to score. There's a little less than 16 minutes left in regulation, and Harris is 0-for-2 from the field. While Harris doesn't need to score to be an effective player, him doing so makes Kansas that much better and he also hasn't been the player elsewhere tonight that he normally is.\n\nIt's in part why Kansas trails by eight points right now. Texas appears to have all the momentum. The Jayhawks haven't led since they were up 28-25 in the first half.\n\nHALFTIME: Texas 39, Kansas 33\n\nTexas leads 30-28 against Texas with 3:34 left in 1st half\n\nNow it's Kansas that's having an issue scoring the ball. The Jayhawks haven't scored in a little more than two and a half minutes. They've missed their last six shots from the field.\n\nMore trips to the free-throw line could help Kansas ensure those kinds of stretches from the field don't have the effect they are right now, but the Jayhawks haven't been able to get those calls. They're only 2-for-2 from the free-throw line, while the Longhorns are 6-for-6. Texas has been called for five fouls, and Kansas five fouls.\n\nKansas leads 24-23 against Texas with 7:46 left in 1st half\n\nKansas has made its last three shots from the field. Texas has missed its last for, not making one from the field for almost four minutes. And that's helped the Jayhawks get back into this, and take a 24-23 lead into a break with 7:46 left in the first half.\n\nErnest Udeh Jr. just showcased his guarding skills on the perimeter, forcing Texas' Tyrese Hunter to turn the ball over with the two matched up one-on-one. The Longhorns have three turnovers so far, that Kansas has yet to score any points off of. The Jayhawks have four turnovers so far, that Texas has scored four points off of.\n\nTexas leads 19-16 against Kansas with 10:21 left in 1st half\n\nWithout Jalen Wilson and Joseph Yesufu offensively, Kansas would be in a rough position. The two each have seven points. Yesufu just recently hit a huge 3-pointer that ended what had become a 9-0 run for Texas.\n\nDajuan Harris Jr. and Gradey Dick each need to be more aggressive offensively for the Jayhawks. Harris is a great playmaker, and Dick a great shooter. Without them performing, it's going to be tough for Kansas to win.\n\nTexas leads 17-13 against Kansas with 12:34 left in 1st half\n\nKansas was able to retake the lead at 11-10 after a great play by Joseph Yesufu offensively, and then extend that lead to 13-10. However, Texas just went on a 7-0 run. At a timeout with 12:34 remaining in the first half, the Longhorns are up 17-13 against the Jayhawks.\n\nErnest Udeh Jr. and Bobby Pettiford Jr. are Kansas' first two substitutions off the bench. They came in just now, for KJ Adams Jr. and Gradey Dick. That means the Jayhawks are playing with three smaller guards on the floor, in Pettiford, Yesufu and Dajuan Harris Jr., alongside Jalen Wilson and Udeh.\n\nTexas leads 10-7 against Kansas with 15:49 left in 1st half\n\nThe Jayhawks are trailing early, but overall it hasn't been that bad of a start. With Kevin McCullar Jr. out, Joseph Yesufu has done well for himself on the offensive end. If that can continue, and Kansas can get some more stops defensively, things will trend in the Jayhawks' direction.\n\nSo far, Texas' Dylan Disu leads all scorers with six points. He's yet to miss a shot, from the field or from the free-throw line. The Longhorns haven't hit a 3-pointer yet, like Kansas, has, but haven't needed to.\n\nThe game is underway\n\nKansas won the opening tip-off.\n\nThis may feel a lot like a home game for Kansas\n\nThe crowd is leaning heavily toward Kansas as tip-off approaches. It's not Allen Fieldhouse, but it very well could feel like it at times for the Jayhawks tonight. There don't seem to be many Texas fans here, comparatively.\n\nBill Self is staying involved as he recovers\n\nIt doesn't look like Timmy Allen will play for Texas\n\nKevin McCullar Jr. is at the game, even though he won't play\n\nIt doesn't look like Kansas will have any surprises, with who's available\n\nWithout Kevin McCullar Jr., Kansas is turning to Joseph Yesufu\n\nJordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2014/03/20/bracket-briefing-is-michigan-state-louisville-championship-inevitable/6613291/", "title": "Bracket Briefing: Is Michigan State-Louisville championship ...", "text": "Scott Gleeson\n\nUSA TODAY Sports\n\nIn a year of parity among the best college basketball teams, it seems as though a No. 1 seed doesn't warrant favoritism.\n\nThat's the case for top seeds Virginia and Wichita State. Both squads were rewarded by the selection committee. but betting odds will tell you their likelihood to reach the Final Four isn't high. Meanwhile, many analysts consider No. 4 seeds Michigan State the East Region favorite and Louisville the Midwest Region favorite. Even President Obama picked the Spartans.\n\nMuch of the logic is based on skepticism of these two particular No. 1s.\n\nThe Cavaliers nabbed the final No. 1 seed but aren't a tournament regular, having missed the NCAA field last season. And despite an ACC regular-season and tournament title, coach Tony Bennett's slow-tempo offense and tough man-to-man defense are based on beating teams by grinding it out — meaning UVa won't be putting on an offensive spectacle.\n\nAnd Wichita State, of course, has been criticized for playing in a mid-major league and becoming 34-0 with a weak strength of schedule.\n\nThen factor in the fact that the Spartans and Cardinals are as hot as any teams in the country. Michigan State, riddled by injuries all season, has a championship team on paper. A Big Ten Conference Tournament title run signals that the chemistry coming together at the right time for Tom Izzo's group. Louisville, the defending national champion, failed to pick up a marquee win in non-conference play and never quite jumped into the national contender discussion in December-February. But the Cardinals put things together to win a share of the American Athletic Conference regular season before winning the AAC tourney title in a stretch in which they obliterate Rutgers by 61 points. Yes, 61.\n\nNow, the NCAA tournament is all about matchups. So here's a look at what it will take for the outcome that has almost become a formality:\n\nMichigan State's path to the title game\n\nSecond round: The Spartans start by facing a deceivingly tough Delaware. Expect a double-digit win.\n\nThe Spartans start by facing a deceivingly tough Delaware. Expect a double-digit win. Third round: Next up could either be defensively-sound Cincinnati or upset-favorite Harvard. An individual matchup between Gary Harris and Cincy's Sean Kilpatrick would be enticing, and a clash with the Bearcats could go down to the wire.\n\nNext up could either be defensively-sound Cincinnati or upset-favorite Harvard. An individual matchup between Gary Harris and Cincy's Sean Kilpatrick would be enticing, and a clash with the Bearcats could go down to the wire. Sweet 16: Assuming top-seeded Virginia doesn't falter, this will be the test everyone's waiting for. Can Michigan State avoid falling prey to Virginia's tempo-control style? The Cavaliers, led by Malcolm Brogdon and Joe Harris, practice patience in the slow-paced offense. How MSU reacts to the Cavaliers' turnover-inducing defense will be the difference maker.\n\nAssuming top-seeded Virginia doesn't falter, this will be the test everyone's waiting for. Can Michigan State avoid falling prey to Virginia's tempo-control style? The Cavaliers, led by Malcolm Brogdon and Joe Harris, practice patience in the slow-paced offense. How MSU reacts to the Cavaliers' turnover-inducing defense will be the difference maker. Elite Eight: Barring any surprise upsets (which are completely possible and almost likely), this will be Iowa State or Villanova. If it's the Cyclones, stopping Melvin Ejim and DeAndre Kane could be challenging. If it's Villanova, expect Jay Wright's group to use its dribble-drive offense to frustrate the Spartans.\n\nBarring any surprise upsets (which are completely possible and almost likely), this will be Iowa State or Villanova. If it's the Cyclones, stopping Melvin Ejim and DeAndre Kane could be challenging. If it's Villanova, expect Jay Wright's group to use its dribble-drive offense to frustrate the Spartans. Final Four: Hypothetically, this should be Florida. It could be Kansas, but for argument's sake let's say it's the favored Gators. One area MSU where is better than Florida? Getting a bucket down the stretch. As good as Casey Prather and Scottie Wilbekin are, they don't have the same type of clutch gene that Harris and Keith Appling have. If this is a Final Four matchup, though, it'll be as good as a title game given both teams' veterans.\n\nLouisville's path to the title game\n\nSecond round: Coach Rick Pitino doesn't like his second-round matchup one bit, and that's because it's against protege Steve Masiello, who runs a Louisville-esque system at Manhattan. Despite the reunion, this should be a double-digit win for Louisville.\n\nCoach Rick Pitino doesn't like his second-round matchup one bit, and that's because it's against protege Steve Masiello, who runs a Louisville-esque system at Manhattan. Despite the reunion, this should be a double-digit win for Louisville. Third round: This could either be against veteran-laden Saint Louis or surging North Carolina State riding the momentum of their NCAA tournament inclusion and a subsequent First Four victory. N.C. State, a team that beat Syracuse, could make it close if T.J. Warren puts on a T.J. Warren-type performance.\n\nThis could either be against veteran-laden Saint Louis or surging North Carolina State riding the momentum of their NCAA tournament inclusion and a subsequent First Four victory. N.C. State, a team that beat Syracuse, could make it close if T.J. Warren puts on a T.J. Warren-type performance. Sweet 16: Ah, the big one. Louisville would face either rival Kentucky or would-be undefeated Wichita State. If it's the Wildcats, a neutral floor would benefit because the Cardinals lost to the Wildcats earlier in the season. If it's the Shockers, well, refer to last year's Final Four showdown to get a taste of how intense this defensive war could be. Wichita State's much better than last year in all areas. Louisville might not be as great overall, but there's more offensive life and that could be the difference.\n\nAh, the big one. Louisville would face either rival Kentucky or would-be undefeated Wichita State. If it's the Wildcats, a neutral floor would benefit because the Cardinals lost to the Wildcats earlier in the season. If it's the Shockers, well, refer to last year's Final Four showdown to get a taste of how intense this defensive war could be. Wichita State's much better than last year in all areas. Louisville might not be as great overall, but there's more offensive life and that could be the difference. Elite Eight: It'll either be Duke or Michigan. Both teams can get hot offensively. Real hot. So this will be where Louisville's defense comes in to trump any Jabari Parker or Nik Stauskas breakout.\n\nIt'll either be Duke or Michigan. Both teams can get hot offensively. Real hot. So this will be where Louisville's defense comes in to trump any Jabari Parker or Nik Stauskas breakout. Final Four: Arizona is the top seed from the West Region, and Sean Miller's savvy team would make for a major challenge. But there's also a chance it could be defensively stout Wisconsin or Doug McDermott-led Creighton. This is where Russ Smith will have to stop his new facilitating role and tell Pitino and his teammates to give him the rock and let him transform back into Russdiculous.\n\nON DECK: A look at Thursday's busy game slate.\n\n12:15 (11) Dayton vs. (6) Ohio State, CBS (Buffalo)\n\n12:40 (15) American vs. (2) Wisconsin, truTV (Milwaukee)\n\n1:40 (9) Pittsburgh vs. (8) Colorado, TBS (Orlando)\n\n2:10 (12) Harvard vs. (5) Cincinnati, TNT (Spokane, Wash.)\n\n2:45 (14) Western Michigan vs. (3) Syracuse, CBS (Buffalo)\n\n3:10 (10) Brigham Young vs. (7) Oregon, truTV (Milwaukee)\n\n4:10 (16) Albany vs. (1) Florida, TBS (Orlando)\n\n4:40 (13) Delaware vs. (4) Michigan State, TNT (Spokane)\n\n6:55 (10) Saint Joseph's vs. (7) Connecticut, TBS (Buffalo)\n\n7:10 (15) Wofford vs. (2) Michigan, CBS (Milwaukee)\n\n7:20 (12) North Carolina State vs. (5) Saint Louis, TNT (Orlando)\n\n7:27 (12) North Dakota State vs. (5) Oklahoma, truTV (Spokane)\n\n9:25 (15) Milwaukee vs. (2) Villanova, TBS (Buffalo)\n\n9:40 (10) Arizona State vs. (7) Texas, CBS (Milwaukee)\n\n9:50 (13) Manhattan vs. (4) Louisville, TNT (Orlando)\n\n9:57 (13) New Mexico State vs. (4) San Diego State, truTV (Spokane)\n\nScott Gleeson, a national college basketball writer/digital producer for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/03/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2013/08/26/college-basketball-countdown-no-55-weber-state/2698687/", "title": "College basketball countdown: No. 55 Weber State", "text": "Scott Gleeson\n\nUSA TODAY Sports\n\nWeber State quiet had a record-setting 2012-13 %u2014 finishing with a 30-7 overall record\n\nEven though history was made%2C the Wildcats missed the NCAA tournament%2C as league foe Montana went\n\nWeber State is the Big Sky favorite%2C returning three starters%2C including do-everything player Davion Berry\n\nThe first word: Despite losing All-American and eventual NBA Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard, Weber State quietly had a record-setting 2012-13 — finishing 30-7 overall record, the most wins in Big Sky Conference history, after falling to East Carolina in the title game of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.\n\nEven though history was made, the Wildcats missed the NCAA tournament as league foe Montana ran through conference play — going 19-1 to win the regular season before clipping Weber State 67-64 for the Big Sky tournament championship.\n\nThe Wildcats' absence from the NCAA tournament surely will be a driving force for the team during the 2013-14 season, as coach Randy Rahe hopes to lift a team that has gone 32-4 in conference action for the past two years to a memorable run in the Big Dance. Weber State returns three starters, including do-everything player Davion Berry.\n\nCoach's corner: \"Usually you go 18-2, and you're winning a championship. Not last year. You have to be good enough to beat everybody. I think we are this year. I try to worry about the intangibles. Are we tough enough? Do we have enough leadership? If so, we can be pretty good. Without that, we'll get our ass kicked.\" — Rahe, in his eighth season with the Wildcats.\n\n2012-13 in review: 30-7 overall, 18-2 Big Sky (second place), lost in CIT championship.\n\nTournament projection: No. 13 seed. Potential second-round upset. Sweet 16 is a stretch.\n\nPath to the dance: Winning the Big Sky auto bid. Everything still goes through Montana, which lost its top players, Mathias Ward and Will Cherry. Still, the Grizzlies bring back a big catalyst in Kareem Jamar and should serve as the primary roadblock for Weber State, in the regular season and the ever-so-important conference tournament when any team can get hot and an auto bid to the tourney is on the line. North Dakota and Northern Colorado are also teams to watch.\n\nStar watch: Berry (15.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.8 apg) is one of, if not the best players in the Big Sky. His versatility is a big reason Weber State's offense flows efficiently. Kyle Tresnak also returns. Rahe expects the 6-10 big man to take another leap after averaging 11.8 points and 5.5 rebounds.\n\nRole players: Senior Jordan Richardson (7.2 ppg) and Gelaun Wheelwright (6.3 ppg) are steady guards who should take on bigger roles. Royce Williams and James Hajek are other players ready for bumps in minutes. Freshman Jeremy Senglin was a highly rated recruit whom Rahe expects to fit in nicely. Other freshmen Richaud Gittens and Kyndahl Hill have a chance to their way into the rotation.\n\nTeam strength/weakness: The Wildcats led the nation in field goal percentage and three-point shooting percentage last season. Much of that hot shooting came from long-range specialist Scott Bamforth, who graduated after eclipsing Lillard's school record for career triples. Scoring will be the team's bread and butter, as always, but it won't come as easily this season in the halfcourt setting. How does the team win on a cold shooting night? Rahe believes it comes with defensive intensity — forcing turnovers — and better rebounding.\n\nX-factor: 6-9 Joel Bolomboy (7.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg) blossomed last season — finishing third in the conference in rebounds and blocks — and is poised for a breakout season after a strong freshman year. If Bolomboy has a huge surge, so will the Wildcats.\n\nTournament history: Weber State has reached the NCAAs 14 times, with the last appearance coming in 2007 — a blowout loss to UCLA. The Wildcats played Cinderella briefly in 1999, ousting North Carolina in a 76-74 thriller.\n\nTrivia: Damian Lillard, Weber State's most notable former player, has a fear of statues, telling USA TODAY Sports last year that his trip to Washington, D.C., was \"nerve-wracking\" because of all the monuments.\n\nAbout this post:Every weekday, one of the 68 teams in USA TODAY Sports' projected NCAA tournament field will be dissected. The final bracket will be revealed in November.\n\nGlance at the dance: So far 14 teams, all auto-bids from mid-major conferences, have been selected to the USA TODAY Sports preseason NCAA tournament bracket. The seeding so far:\n\nNo. 16 seeds : No. 68 Robert Morris, No. 67 Charleston Southern, No. 66 Northwestern State, No. 65 Norfolk State.\n\nNo. 15 seeds : No. 64 Georgia State, No. 63 Boston U, No. 62 Vermont, No. 61 Texas Southern\n\nNo.14 seeds : No. 60 Elon, No. 59 Manhattan, No. 58 Toledo, No. 57 Towson\n\nNo. 13 seeds: No. 56 Florida Gulf Coast, No. 55 Weber State\n\n***\n\nScott Gleeson, a national college basketball writer/producer for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/08/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2023/03/15/ncaa-tournaments-upsets-five-most-likely-first-round-surprises/11471524002/", "title": "Five potential first-round upsets for the NCAA men's tournament that ...", "text": "You know they’re coming. The upsets happen every year. Heck, they’re the reason this event is called March Madness. Your mission, Mr. Phelps – or I guess it’s Mr. Hunt for you young kids – is to pick the right ones and dominate your bracket.\n\nImpossible? Well, we won’t lie – it’s often quite difficult. But some are more easy to spot than others.\n\nIt’s hard to pay attention to every team in college basketball throughout the long season that started way back in November when everybody was still focused on football. And, even when the gridiron action is done, the hardwood teams from big-name conferences snag most of the marquee TV slots. So a lot of you might not know about these so-called mid majors that are about to swoop in and grab their share of the spotlight, if only for a few days, or even the occasional power conference team that limps in as a double-digit seed but hits its stride at the right time. We’re here to help. Here are five candidates to consider strongly to pull off a first-round upset.\n\nNCAA TOURNAMENT LIVE UPDATES:Let the bracket busting begin as men's March Madness tips off\n\nNo. 12 Virginia Commonwealth over No. 5 Saint Mary’s\n\nStart with the fact that this is a return to the Big Dance two years in the making for the Rams, forced to withdraw from the 2021 tournament due to multiple positive COVID tests. Additionally, VCU is a program accustomed to tournament success, achieving the First Four to Final Four feat in 2011. But most important, the Rams are simply a tough matchup for Saint Mary’s. Led by the duo of Adrian “Ace” Baldwin and Jalen DeLoach, VCU is the kind of high-tempo, high-pressure team capable of getting the more deliberate Gaels out of their comfort zone. Saint Mary’s is worthy of its high seed, as it was a year ago, but this draw spells trouble if the Gaels can't match the athleticism of the Rams and are stretched out of their comfort zone.\n\nNo. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. No. 4 Tennessee\n\nEven before losing point guard Zakai Zeigler to a season-ending injury, the Volunteers struggled mightily at times to run their half-court sets. Their defensive continuity has also been affected, which showed in their SEC tournament quarterfinal loss to Missouri. Enter the Ragin’ Cajuns, the Sun Belt champs with a variety of weapons like big man Jordan Brown (19.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg) and sharpshooter Greg Williams, a 40% marksman from three-point range. This looks like another chapter in the unfortunate postseason history of Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, who has had more than his share of disappointing finishes, including just one Sweet 16 appearance in the past four tournaments despite the Volunteers being no worse than a No. 5 seed.\n\nREGIONAL BREAKDOWNS: East | South | Midwest | West\n\nMAJOR SURPRISES:10 bold predictions for March Madness\n\nFIRST-TIMERS:Nine teams with great opportunity to win their first title\n\nNo. 12 College of Charleston vs. No. 5 San Diego State\n\nThis will be a popular choice for those who look at team records first. It is not without merit to be sure, as the Cougars enter on a 10-game winning streak. Before embarking on their Colonial Athletic Association campaign, they picked up non-league wins against Kent State (more on them below) and Virginia Tech. They also beat another Mountain West squad, Colorado State. This date with the Aztecs isn’t a gimme by any means, as San Diego State will be eager to do its part to erase the memory of the MWC’s winless tourney performance from a year ago and also notch its first tournament win since 2015. Charleston isn’t a particularly big team, but it is deep and might be able to maintain constant ball pressure throughout the game.\n\nBRACKET TIPS:How to fill out your tournament projections and win your pool\n\nBRACKETS ARE BACK: The USA TODAY Sports Bracket Challenge is back. $1 MILLION grand prize for a perfect bracket.\n\nNo. 11 Providence vs. No. 6 Kentucky\n\nAdmittedly, the Friars were not playing their best ball as the season wound down, which is why they slid to an 11 seed and narrowly avoided the play-in round. They’ve dropped four of their last five, with the lone win in that stretch coming against Big East cellar-dweller Georgetown. But count on Bryce Hopkins to play with a little extra pep in his step as he leads Providence against the school where his collegiate career began. After struggling to earn minutes at Kentucky, the 6-7 winger has become a key cog for Ed Cooley’s team, leading the Friars in scoring (16.1) and rebounding (8.5). While the Wildcats appeared to figure some things out in the latter half of their SEC campaign, they can still struggle to create shots and make free throws, often a bad combination in March.\n\nNo. 13 Kent State vs. No. 4 Indiana\n\nThe Hoosiers didn’t handle the opposite side of the upset equation last year, surviving a First Four game before being trounced by Saint Mary’s. They have higher expectations this time around as Trayce Jackson-Davis is enjoying an All-America caliber season. But they, like most of their fellow Big Ten squads, have been inconsistent, particularly on the defensive end. The committee did them no favor matching them with the Golden Flashes. In addition to the aforementioned two-point loss to Charleston, Kent State also played Houston and Gonzaga to single-digit contests. Suffice to say then there will be no intimidation factor against Indiana. The driving force for the Flashes is former Duquesne transfer Sincere Carry, who returned to his native Ohio and is putting up 17.6 points and 4.9 assists a game and will be a tough matchup for the Indiana backcourt.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/tourney/2019/03/17/march-madness-ncaa-tournament-bracket-analysis-west-regional/3187095002/", "title": "March Madness: NCAA tournament bracket analysis, team capsules ...", "text": "USA TODAY Sports breaks down the NCAA West Regional.\n\nBest first-round matchup: Marquette-Murray State. Marquette and high-scoring junior guard Markus Howard (25.1 points per game) appeared to be headed for the Big East Conference regular-season title, but the Golden Eagles lost their last four regular-season games -- including at home against Georgetown and Creighton. They routed NCAA at-large selection St. John’s in the conference tournament, then lost to Seton Hall -- and Howard seemed affected by an injured wrist. Marquette now faces the dynamic sophomore guard Ja Morant and a Racers team that has won 11 in a row, including beating NCAA at-large team Belmont in the conference tournament final. Morant averages 24.6 points, 10 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 36.5 minutes per game. Murray State averages 83 points per game, Marquette 78.\n\nPotential upset: After Murray State over Marquette, look to the second round. If Syracuse beats Baylor, it’s exactly the kind of team that can take down Gonzaga – it plays a zone defense that’s tough to prepare for in a short amount of time, and it’s fine playing at a slower pace.\n\nREGIONAL BREAKDOWNS: East | Midwest | South | West\n\nTOO HIGH OR LOW?:Five seedings the selection committee got wrong\n\nBRACKET TIPS:Everything you need to dominate your office pool\n\nThe sleeper: Buffalo got a taste last year, when it routed fourth-seeded Arizona in the first round before running into Kentucky in the second. If the Bulls get past St. John’s or Arizona State – both intriguing sleepers – they would face a very tough task against Texas Tech, but they have the playing style to push the Red Raiders. Nevada has all of the components to give any team in this bracket a hard time, but if Jordan Caroline’s Achilles’ tendon – which kept him out of the Mountain West semifinals -- continues to be a big problem, the Wolf Pack won’t be the same.\n\nNCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET:See all 68 March Madness teams\n\nPRINTABLE BRACKET:Get yours to fill out here\n\nThe winner: The easy choice here is Gonzaga, especially now that Killian Tillie is back from a foot injury. But in addition to a potentially tough second-round matchup, Florida State lurks in the round of 16. The Seminoles eliminated the Bulldogs from the tournament last year, so Gonzaga would have plenty of motivation in a rematch. But Florida State is just like it was last season – tall, athletic and deep. So the pick is Texas Tech.\n\nMichigan is at least as good as it was last season, when it advanced to the championship game. And Michigan State – which has beaten the Wolverines three times -- is not in this regional. But with Jordan Culver, the Red Raiders have the kind of singular player who can be the difference-maker. Their loss to West Virginia in the Big 12 quarterfinals notwithstanding, the Red Raiders also just seem to have a certain toughness about them. And after losing to eventual national champion Villanova in the round of eight last year, they know they can take the next step.\n\nThe teams\n\n1. Gonzaga\n\nNickname: Bulldogs. Location: Spokane, Washington.\n\nRecord: 30-3, 16-0. Bid: West Coast at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Florida State in Sweet 16.\n\nCoach: Mark Few (28-19 in 19 appearances).\n\nOverview: Notwithstanding a lackluster performance in the WCC tournament finale that saw their 20-game win streak end, the Zags, Sweet 16 fixtures in recent years, are quite capable of a deep run. They defend relentlessly, generate fast-break points and space the floor well. This group gets the bulk of its points from the frontcourt, led by WCC player of the year Rui Hachimura. They have capable perimeter shooters, but they’re more effective when the ball goes inside first.\n\nProjected starters: F Rui Hachimura, 6-8, Jr. (20.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 61.3 FG%); F Brandon Clarke, 6-8, Jr. (16.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.2 bpg, 68.8 FG%); G Zach Norvell Jr., 6-5, So. (15.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 85.6 FT%); G Josh Perkins, 6-3, Sr. (11.0 ppg, 6.6 apg, 82.6 FT%); F Corey Kispert, 6-6, So. (8.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg).\n\n2. Michigan\n\nNickname: Wolverines. Location: Ann Arbor.\n\nRecord: 28-6, 15-5. Bid: Big Ten at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Villanova in national championship game.\n\nCoach: John Beilein (24-12 in 12 appearances).\n\nOverview: Carry-overs from last year’s national runners-up and the emergence of freshman Ignas Brazdeikis helped make up for key losses. This team started the season 17-0 but hit some stumbling blocks in a tough Big Ten schedule. Michigan’s defense is top-notch, third nationally in points allowed (58.8), but its offense can fall under cold spells. Still, this is a group that hammered Villanova by 27 and North Carolina by 17.\n\nProjected starters: G Jordan Poole, 6-5, So. (12.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 81.1 FT%); G Zavier Simpson, 6-0, Jr. (9.3 ppg, 6.3 apg, 5.0 rpg); Jon Teske, 7-1, Jr. (9.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg); F Isaiah Livers, 6-7, So. (8.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg); F Ignas Brazdeikis, 6-7, Fr. (14.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg).\n\n3. Texas Tech\n\nNickname: Red Raiders. Location: Lubbock.\n\nRecord: 26-6, 14-4. Bid: Big 12 at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Villanova in Elite Eight.\n\nCoach: Chris Beard (4-2 in two appearances).\n\nOverview: After losing the bulk of the team that made a run to the Elite Eight last season, the Red Raiders rebuilt with key transfers and the emergence of sophomore guard Jarrett Culver, Big 12 player of the year. The Red Raiders’ stifling defense – they lead the nation holding opponents to 36.8% shooting and rank second in scoring defense, holding opponents to 58.6 points a game – is the backbone.\n\nProjected starters: G Jarrett Culver, 6-6, So. (17.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.7 apg, 48.7 FG%); G Davide Moretti, 6-2, So. (11.6 ppg, 50.7 FG%, 48.1 3FG%); G Matt Mooney, 6-3, Sr. (10.9 ppg, 3.3 apg); F Tariq Owens, 6-10, Sr. (8.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.4 bpg); C Norense Odiase, 6-9, Sr. (4.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 56.1 FG%).\n\n4. Florida State\n\nNickname: Seminoles. Location: Tallahassee.\n\nRecord: 27-7, 13-5. Bid: ACC at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Michigan in Elite Eight.\n\nCoach: Leonard Hamilton (10-9 in nine appearances).\n\nOverview: Despite coming up short in the ACC title game, the Seminoles did themselves a world of good in the tournament. Their win against Virginia improved their seed as well as their confidence. Hamilton is not afraid to use his bench; leading scorer Mfiondu Kabengele (12.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg) hasn’t started a game all year. Opponents will have a hard time keying on a particular scoring threat, but on the flipside FSU sometimes struggles to find a take-over guy when the game gets close.\n\nProjected starters: G Terance Mann, 6-7, Sr. (11.2 ppg, 6-4 rpg, 2.5 apg, 78.5 FT%); G Trent Forrest, 6-4, Jr. (9.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.8 apg); G M.J. Walker, 6-5, So. (7.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg); F Phil Cofer, 6-8, Sr. (7.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg); C Christ Koumadje, 7-4, Sr. (6.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.5 bpg).\n\n5. Marquette\n\nNickname: Golden Eagles. Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.\n\nRecord: 24-9, 12-6. Bid: Big East at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2017, lost to South Carolina in first round.\n\nCoach: Steve Wojciechowski (0-1 in one appearance).\n\nOverview: It’s been a breakthrough season in the Steve Wojciechowski era at Marquette. The difference-maker is national player of the year candidate Markus Howard, an explosive guard who had 45 points against Buffalo and Kansas State in December and 53 vs. Creighton in January. But this team saw how too much reliance on Howard can hurt in a four-game losing streak to close the regular season.\n\nProjected starters: G Markus Howard, 5-11, Jr. (25.1 ppg, 4.0 apg, 90.7 FT%); G/F Sam Hauser, 6-8, Jr. (14.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 91.9 FT%); F Joey Hauser, 6-9, Fr. (9.7 ppg 5.3 rpg, 44.4 3FG%, 82.1 FT%); F Theo John, 6-9, So. (5.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.1 bpg, 60.9 FG%); G/F Sacar Anim, 6-5, Jr. (8.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg).\n\n6. Buffalo\n\nNickname: Bulls. Location: Buffalo, New York.\n\nRecord: 31-3, 16-2. Bid: Mid-American champ.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Kentucky in second round.\n\nCoach: Nate Oats (1-2 in two appearances).\n\nOverview: The tournament is becoming old hat for the Bulls. With four appearances in five seasons, they’re hoping to go farther after upsetting Arizona in the first round last year. This might be their best team in recent history as evidence by road wins at West Virginia and Syracuse. The bench is critical to their success.\n\nProjected starters: G CJ Massinburg, 6-3, Sr. (18.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 42.2 3FG%, 78.0 FT%); G Jeremy Harris, 6-7, Sr. (12.9 ppg, 6.2 ppg); G Jayvon Graves, 6-3, So. (9.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg); G Davonta Jordan, 6-2, Jr. (6.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.6 spg); F Montell McRae, 6-10, Sr. (6.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 57.4 FG%).\n\n7. Nevada\n\nNickname: Wolf Pack. Location: Reno.\n\nRecord: 29-4, 15-3. Bid: Mountain West at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Loyola-Chicago in Sweet 16.\n\nCoach: Eric Musselman (2-2 in two appearances).\n\nOverview: With most of the team back from last year’s deep tourney run and five seniors starting, the Wolf Pack spent much of the season ranked in the top 10. Their late-season slump, however, is concerning. Their ability to come back from big deficits on display last March is still there, but so is the alarming tendency to fall behind. They’re long, athletic and crash the boards well, though their collective shooting range is limited.\n\nProjected starters: G Caleb Martin, 6-7, Sr. (19.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.9 apg); G Jordan Caroline, 6-7, Sr. (17.7 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.0 apg); G Cody Martin, 6-7, Sr. (11.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 5.1 apg); F Tre’Shawn Thurman, 6-8, Sr. (7.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg); F Trey Porter, 6-11, Sr. (7.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg).\n\n8. Syracuse\n\nNickname: Orange. Location: Syracuse, New York.\n\nRecord: 20-13, 10-8. Bid: ACC at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Duke in the Sweet 16.\n\nCoach: Jim Boeheim (60-32 in 33 appearances).\n\nOverview: With its trademark zone defense, the Orange again will be a tough draw for any opponent that doesn’t play against it on a regular basis. This year’s squad will go as far as its occasionally spotty offense can take it. Top scorer Tyus Battle missed the ACC tournament with a bruised tailbone but should be ready for the opening round.\n\nProjected starters: G Tyus Battle, 6-6, Jr. (17.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 apg); F Elijah Hughes, 6-6, Jr. (13.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg); F Oshae Brissett, 6-8, So. (12.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg); (12.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg); G Frank Howard, 6-5, Sr. (7.9 ppg, 2.9 apg); C Paschal Chukwu, 7-2, Sr. (4.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 71.6 FG%).\n\n9. Baylor\n\nNickname: Bears. Location: Waco, Texas.\n\nRecord: 19-13, 10-8. Bid: Big 12 at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2017, lost to South Carolina in Sweet 16.\n\nCoach: Scott Drew (10-7 in seven appearances).\n\nOverview: The Bears, who enter on a four-game losing streak, lost big man Tristan Clark in January, forcing a radical shift toward a more guard-oriented attack. Makai Mason, a graduate transfer from Yale, has been the offensive catalyst. A nagging toe injury is a potential debilitating factor, though. If Mason can’t go, Jared Butler would likely start (10.1 ppg).\n\nProjected starters: G Makai Mason, 6-1, Sr. (14.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 35.7 3FG%); G Mario Kegler, 6-7, So. (10.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.2 apg); G Mark Vital, 6-5, So. (5.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg); G King McClure, 6-3, Sr. (8.7 ppg, 5.3 ppg); F Freddie Gillespie, 6-8, Jr. (5.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg).\n\n10. Florida\n\nNickname: Gators. Location: Gainesville.\n\nRecord: 19-15, 9-9. Bid: SEC at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Texas Tech in second round.\n\nCoach: Mike White (4-2 in four appearances).\n\nOverview: The Gators equaled the record for most losses by an at-large team in the tournament, proving their worthiness with two defeats of SEC regular-season champion LSU. If they are to advance, their defense is going to have be at an elite level. Florida does not shoot well and lacks a go-to scorer.\n\nProjected starters: G KeVaughn Allen, 6-2, Sr. (12.0 ppg, 89.2 FG%); G Andrew Nembhard, 6-5, Fr. (8.1 ppg, 5.3 apg); C Kevarrius Hayes, 6-9, Sr. (8.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.9 bpg, 66.2 FG%); G Jalen Hudson, 6-6, Sr. (9.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg); F Keyontae Johnson, 6-5, Fr. (8.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg).\n\n11. Arizona State\n\nNickname: Sun Devils. Location: Tempe.\n\nRecord: 22-10, 12-6. Bid: Pac-12 at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to Syracuse in First Four.\n\nCoach: Bobby Hurley (0-2 in two appearances).\n\nOverview: Talented but enigmatic, the Sun Devils own non-conference victories against Kansas, Mississippi State and Utah State, but also lost to Vanderbilt (which lost 20 consecutive games to end the season). Guard Luguentz Dort is Pac-12 freshman of the year. Sun Devils average 77.7 points and hold opponents to 41.1 percent shooting. At their best, they’re fierce on the boards, outrebounding opponents by 4.8 a game and playing smothering defense.\n\nProjected starters: G Remy Martin, 6-0, So. (13.4 ppg, 5.1 apg); G Luguentz Dort, 6-4, Fr. (16.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg); F Zylan Cheatham, 6-8, Sr. (11.8 ppg, 10.4 rpg); F Romello White, 6-8, So. (8.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg); G Rob Edwards, 6-4, Jr. (11.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 81.3 FT%).\n\n11. St. John’s\n\nNickname: Red Storm. Location: New York City.\n\nRecord: 21-12, 8-10. Bid: Big East at-large.\n\nLast appearance: 2015, lost to San Diego State in first round.\n\nCoach: Chris Mullin (first appearance).\n\nOverview: St. John’s seemed to be cruising into the NCAAs as the third-best team in the Big East before dropping three consecutive games to end the regular season and then suffering a 32-point loss to Marquette in the Big East tournament. This team doesn’t usually have any issue scoring, averaging more than 78 points a game thanks to Shamorie Ponds’ playmaking and an offense that features all starters averaging double figures. The downside to the Red Storm is teams with size can capitalize and the bench is short.\n\nProjected starters: G Shamorie Ponds, 6-1, Jr. (19.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 5.2 apg, 2.6 spg, 84.1 FT%); G Mustapha Heron, 6-5, Jr. (14.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 42.1 3FG%); G/F LJ Figueroa, 6-6, So. (14.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 51.3 FG%); F Marvin Clark II, 6-7, Sr. (10.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg); G Justin Simon, 6-5, Jr. (10.4 pp, 3.2 apg).\n\n12. Murray State\n\nNickname: Racers. Location: Murray, Kentucky.\n\nRecord: 27-4, 16-2. Bid: Ohio Valley champ.\n\nCoach: Matt McMahon (0-1 in one appearance).\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost to West Virginia in first round.\n\nOverview: The Racers have one of the top offenses in the country, ranking in the top 15 in scoring, assists and field-goal percentage. Ja Morant, projected as a high NBA draft pick, had 36 points in the Ohio Valley tournament title game. The Racers are no stranger to the NCAA field. This is their 17th appearance.\n\nProjected Starters: G Ja Morant, 6-3, So. (24.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg,10.0 apg, 50.3 FG%); G Shaq Buchanan, 6-3, Sr. (13.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.8 spg); G Tevin Brown, 6-5, Fr. (11.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 80.0 FT%); F Darnell Cowart, 6-8, Jr. (10.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 56.9 FG%); F KJ Williams, 6-9, Fr. (7.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 69.6 FG%).\n\n13. Vermont\n\nNickname: Catamounts. Location: Burlington.\n\nRecord: 27-6, 14-2. Bid: America East champ.\n\nLast appearance: 2017, lost to Purdue in first round.\n\nCoach: John Becker (1-2 in two appearances).\n\nOverview: Vermont has benefited from the ascent of Anthony Lamb, 21.1 ppg and 7.8 rpg in his junior year. The Catamounts have more than held their own on defense as well, leading the conference in points allowed per game (63.1). Sharpshooting Ernie Duncan can catch fire at the flip of a switch.\n\nProjected starters: F Anthony Lamb, 6-6, Jr. (21.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 52.1 FG%, 2.0 bpg); G Stef Smith, 6-1, So. (12.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 81.3 FT%); G Ernie Duncan, 6-3, Sr. (13.8 ppg, 42.5 3FG%, 83.2 FT%); G Ben Shungu, 6-2, So. (4.0 ppg, 50.0 FG%, 50.0 3FG%); F Samuel Dingba, 6-5, Sr. (2.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg).\n\n14. Northern Kentucky\n\nNickname: Norse. Location: Highland Heights.\n\nRecord: 26-8, 13-5. Bid: Horizon champ.\n\nLast appearance: 2017, lost to Kentucky in first round.\n\nCoach: John Brannen (0-1 in one appearance).\n\nOverview: Horizon player of the year Drew McDonald is the catalyst for the offense but gets help from three other double-figure scorers. Free-throw shooting is a major concern. The Norse make just 66.5% of their attempts, 312th in Division I.\n\nProjected starters: F/C Drew McDonald, 6-8, Sr. (19.1 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 40.9 3FG%); G Tyler Sharpe, 6-1, Jr. (14.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg); G/F Jalen Tate, 6-6, So. (14.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.1 apg, 55.5 FG%, 42.1 3FG%); F Dantez Walton, 6-7, Jr. (11.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg); G Trevon Faulkner, 6-4, Fr. (4.9 ppg, 59.1 FG%).\n\n15. Montana\n\nNickname: Grizzlies. Location: Missoula.\n\nRecord: 26-8, 16-4. Bid: Big Sky champ.\n\nLast appearance: 2018, lost in first round to Michigan.\n\nCoach: Travis DeCuire (0-1 in one appearance).\n\nOverview: Montana repeated as regular-season and conference champs, despite senior stalwart Jamar Akoh being limited to just 15 games. He has not played Feb. 7. The team gets by with great shooting: The Grizzlies have knocked down 49.6 percent of their shots, among the top 10 in the nation. That extends to three-point shooting: Montana hits 38 percent beyond the arc, around 30th in the nation.\n\nProjected starters: G Timmy Falls, 6-2, So. (4.5 ppg); G Bobby Moorehead, 6-7, Sr. (5.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg); G Michael Oguine, 6-2, Sr. (13.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 50.3 FG%); G Sayeed Pridgett, 6-5, Jr. (14.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 61 FG%, 47.4 3FG%); G Ahmaad Rorie, 6-1, Sr. (15.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4 apg, 80 FT%).\n\n16. Fairleigh Dickinson\n\nNickname: Knights. Location: Madison, New Jersey.\n\nRecord: 20-13, 12-6. Bid: Northeast champ.\n\nLast appearance: 2016, lost to Florida Gulf Coast in First Four.\n\nCoach: Greg Herenda (0-1 in one appearance).\n\nOverview: The Knights head to the tournament confident on all sides. Despite a turnover rate of 13.4 per game in their conference, they led the Northeast in steals and ranked among the top 30 in the country. One thing to look for as the tournament begins is how often the Knights shoot from the three-point line. They lead their conference with a 40.3% shooting from beyond the arc.\n\nProjected starters: G Darnell Edge, 6-2, Sr. (16.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 46.9 3FG%, 89.3 FT%); G Jahlil Jenkins, 5-10, So. (13.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 87.4 FT%); F Mike Holloway Jr., 6-8, Sr. (12.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 51.5 FG%); F Kaleb Bishop, 6-8, Jr. (10.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 43.9 3FG%); F Elyjah Williams, 6-7, Soph. (8.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 52.9 3FG%).\n\n16. Prairie View A&M\n\nNickname: Panthers. Location: Prairie View, Texas.\n\nRecord: 22-12, 17-1. Bid: Southwestern Athletic champ.\n\nLast appearance: 1998, lost to Kansas in first round.\n\nCoach: Byron Smith (first appearance).\n\nOverview: Prairie View on Jan. 2 was 1-11, thanks in part to a brutal non-conference slate that didn’t see the team play at home until the New Year. The Panthers have lost just once since. Their biggest skill is they maintain a top-five turnover margin, with a ratio over five.\n\nProjected starters: G Gerard Andrus, 6-5, Jr. (10 ppg, 5.7 rpg); G Gary Blackston, 6-2, Sr. (15.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.8 spg); F Iwin Ellis, 6-7, Sr. (3.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 75.0 FG%, 42.9 FT%); G Dennis Jones, 6-1, Sr. (8.6 ppg, 4.5 apg, 2.1 spg); F Devonte Patterson, 6-7, Jr. (13.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 17.9 3FG%).\n\nContributing: Jace Evans, Ben Soffer, Jay Cannon, Gabriella Novello, Erick Smith, Paul Myerberg, George Schroeder, Scott Gleeson, Eddie Timanus.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/03/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2020/03/07/ncaa-tournament-bubble-watch-rutgers-ucla-usc-tennessee-indiana/4986270002/", "title": "NCAA tournament bubble watch: Rutgers, USC help March ...", "text": "With Selection Sunday just a week away, NCAA tournament bubble teams are in the make-or-break phases of their seasons. Just one win or loss could be the difference between the NCAAs or NIT.\n\nWhile every team's profile is unique with its set of strengths and weaknesses, there are intriguing head-to-head matchups between borderline teams in power conference league play that help the NCAA selection committee separate which teams are worthy. Such was the case on Saturday when several bubble teams faced off (Rutgers vs. Purdue and UCLA vs. USC).\n\nHere's a look at all the teams that bolstered their credentials most and those that either stained theirs or didn't do enough to drift to the right side of the bubble Saturday before major conference tournaments begin next week.\n\nCollege basketball's winners and losers:San Diego State and Baylor stumble, Duke rises\n\nBolstered résumé\n\nRutgers: An overtime game on the road against a fellow bubble team that's equally win-hungry in the Big Ten regular-season finale is a perfect indicator for how the madness is already in motion this March. The Scarlet Knights (20-11) escaped Purdue 71-68 to likely lock their inclusion in the NCAAs — for the first time since 1991 if it stands. Saturday's victory follows a Quadrant 1 home win over Maryland earlier in the week that snapped a three-game losing streak for the Knights. Now, Rutgers has five Quad 1 wins, a top-35 NET score and top-50 strength of schedule to entice the selection committee. Meanwhile, Purdue (16-15) is still in the hunt — barely — thanks to a NET score in the 30s.\n\nUSC: The Trojans (22-9) likely earned a trip to the NCAA tournament with a 54-52 win over a surging UCLA team that had won seven in a row and also entered Saturday on the bubble. USC has a solid NET score in the 40s and owns five Quadrant 1 victories, and a three-game winning streak (beating Arizona and Arizona State before UCLA on Saturday) was the best way this team could've closed out the Pac-12 regular season. UCLA, meanwhile, might be on the outside looking in as a result of this loss. While they ascended up the Pac-12 standings thanks to a dominant February, the Bruins (19-12, 77 NET) also had an ugly November and December that the selection committee won't ignore.\n\nUtah State: The Aggies are officially off the bubble thanks to their Mountain West Conference tournament championship win over San Diego State. The upset was propelled by Sam Merrill's 27 points and game-winning 3-pointer. Now instead of waiting an entire week with a 50/50 shot of hearing its name called on Selection Sunday, USU has an auto bid to quell all that anxiety the rest of these teams are facing.\n\nCincinnati: The Bearcats (20-10) survived a scare to Temple 64-63 and after starting the day as one of the \"first four out\" in bracketology, this team is now extremely close to sneaking into the projected field. Overall, Cincinnati's credentials are right there with a top-25 strength of schedule and NET score in the 40s. The issue is there are only two Quadrant 1 victories and four Quadrant 3 losses on the résumé. Winning in the AAC tourney will be necessary.\n\nOklahoma: The Sooners (19-12) defeated TCU 78-76 to stay on the safer side of the bubble after entering the day as a projected No. 10 seed. OU has five Quad 1 wins, no bad losses and a top-25 strength of schedule that will bode well against other fringe teams on Selection Sunday. Avoiding a résumé stain in the Big 12 tournament will be a must.\n\nMississippi State: The Bulldogs (20-11) routed Ole Miss 69-44 to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. They've won three of their last four and are heading in the right direction but this profile still only showcases a NET score in the 50s and two Quad 1 wins. There's not enough quality to appease the committee at this time.\n\nRhode Island: The Rams survived a monstrous scare by beating UMass 64-63 on a night when Minutemen forward Tre Mitchell had 34 points. A loss, which would have been a third straight, would've all but sunk Rhode Island's at-large chances. The win doesn't necessarily put the Rams in the field, because this is still a borderline profile with a NET score in the 50s and just one Quad 1 win, but there's still hope heading into conference tournament week.\n\nEast Tennessee State: The Buccaneers (28-4, 39 NET score) are a likely No. 10 or No. 11 seed if they win the Southern Conference tournament. But if they don't secure their league's auto-bid then they'd fall into a similarly uncomfortable position that Northern Iowa finds itself in after exiting the Missouri Valley Conference tournament early. The Panthers were in the projected field before a 21-point loss to Drake on Friday and now find themselves on the outside looking in. Saturday's 70-57 win over VMI was necessary for ETSU to avoid major sweating until Selection Sunday.\n\nSaint Louis: The Billikens (23-8) crushed St. Bonaventure to continue their late pursuit at an at-large bid. Saint Louis has a NET score in the 70s and just recently got a Quadrant 1 victory at Rhode Island to jump-start this late push. It should also be noted that Dayton, a team that just went unbeaten in Atlantic 10 play, barely beat Saint Louis 78-76 in overtime on Jan. 17.\n\nHurt résumé\n\nTexas: The Longhorns (19-12) were a projected No. 11 seed prior to an ugly 81-59 loss to Big 12 doormat Oklahoma State. Now they're likely on the outside looking in as other borderline teams made significant pushes Saturday. Texas has five Quadrant 1 victories and no bad losses to go with a top-40 strength of schedule. But this team wasn't great in non-conference action and sports a poor NET score in the high-50s. Will the committee favor a power conference team with ample opportunity or a smaller school with less chances to bolster the profile?\n\nTennessee: The Volunteers (17-14) entered the day as one of the \"first four in\" before Saturday's 86-63 setback to Auburn. That's not a bad loss by any stretch but it's also not an outcome that pushes them into the projected field. Tennessee has a NET score in the 50s and just three Quad 1 victories, but a top-15 strength of schedule and no bad losses is helping its cause.\n\nFlorida: The Gators (19-12) lost to Kentucky 71-70 at home in an outcome that would've given them a tourney-securing Quad 1 win. Instead, Florida is still hanging around on the bubble as a No. 10 or No. 11 seed. Coach Mike White's team needs to win in the SEC tourney to put it fully in the safety zone ahead of Selection Sunday. A top-30 NET score and top-10 non-conference strength of schedule are huge positives on this profile.\n\nTexas Tech: The Red Raiders (18-13) had the tournament's likely top overall seed, Kansas, on the ropes in a 66-62 loss, so it's difficult to imagine them not making the field of 68. But last year's national title runner-up is making it too close for comfort heading into conference championship week, having lost four consecutive games. Despite a NET score in the 20s, Texas Tech has just 18 wins and a non-conference schedule that ranks 178th. This is not a done deal yet.\n\nIndiana: Coach Archie Miller criticized bracketologists after the Hoosiers' 60-56 loss to Wisconsin, and that's likely because his team finds itself squarely on the bubble as a projected No. 10 seed. Luckily this Indiana team (19-12) is better positioned than last year's that was one of the first four teams left out. The Hoosiers have five Quad 1 wins, no bad losses and a top-50 strength of schedule in 2019-20. But a NET score in the 50s is troublesome if other fringe teams climb.\n\nArkansas: The Razorbacks (19-12) fell to Texas A&M 77-69 and now enter the SEC tournament with work to do if they want to go to the Big Dance. That's two losses in three games that luckily were on the road against non-tourney teams so they won't qualify as bad losses. Arkansas has a lot to like with a NET score in the 40s and a non-conference strength of schedule of 13. But there isn't any signature win that could separate this team from other bubble foes.\n\nSouth Carolina: The Gamecocks (18-13) all but killed their slim chances of making the field by losing to SEC bottom-feeder Vanderbilt 83-74. It's a résumé-staining loss that removes South Carolina from consideration – for now. A NET score in the 60s and lack of a challenging non-conference schedule are key deal-breakers.\n\nXavier: The Musketeers (19-12) were sitting at a comfortable No. 9 seed before Saturday's 72-71 home loss to Butler. And even though that outcome doesn't necessarily push them to an unsafe part of the bubble, it does leave the door open for a collapse. Beating Butler at home would have qualified as a Qudrant 1 victory – an outcome that would have solidified Xavier's at-large inclusion.\n\nGeorgetown: The Hoyas (15-16) were hanging by a thread on life support before Saturday's 70-69 loss to Villanova but now it will take winning the Big East tourney to reach the NCAAs as this profile is just too bare to make a case to the committee. A NET score in the 60s and a sub-.500 record are glaring. The Big East was the country's toughest conference, yet Georgetown's 5-13 mark in the league surely won't be enough.\n\nStanford: The Cardinal started the day as one of the \"last four in\" but failed to get a statement victory at No. 13 Oregon, losing by double digits. As it stands, Stanford has a NET score in the 20s (good), four Quad 1 wins (decent) but a non-conference strength of schedule that ranks 208th (bad). A good showing by Stanford (20-11) in the Pac-12 tournament could go a long way.\n\nNCAA tourney explainer:\n\nQuadrant 1 wins: Home games vs. 1-30 NET teams; Neutral-site games vs. 1-50 NET; Away games vs. 1-75 NET\n\nQuadrant 2 wins: Home games vs. 31-75 NET; Neutral-site games vs. 51-100 NET; Away games vs. 76-135 NET\n\nQuadrant 3 wins, losses: Home games vs. 76-160 NET; Neutral-site games vs. 101-200 NET; Away games vs. 136-240 NET\n\nQuadrant 4 wins, losses: Home games vs. 161-plus NET; Neutral-site games vs. 201-plus NET; Away games vs. 241-plus NET\n\nNote: Nearly all statistical data used is from USA TODAY Sports veteran bracketologist Shelby Mast. WarrenNolan.com and the NCAA's NET rankings are also a reference point.\n\nFollow college basketball reporter Scott Gleeson on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/03/07"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_17", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/29/us/safeway-shooting-bend-oregon/index.html", "title": "Bend, Oregon shooting: Victim fought to disarm gunman during ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nOne of the victims fought to disarm the suspected gunman during Sunday’s fatal shooting at a Safeway grocery store in Bend, Oregon, according to police spokeswoman Sheila Miller.\n\nTwo people were killed, police said. They were identified as Glenn Edward Bennett, 84, a customer who was shot in front of the store, and Safeway employee Donald Ray Surrett Jr., 66, who fought the shooter in the produce section, Miller said.\n\n“This is the Safeway employee who engaged with the shooter, which is to say he attempted to disarm the shooter and attacked this person, and we believe he prevented further deaths in addition to the quick police response,” Miller said. “Mr. Surrett acted heroically during this terrible incident.”\n\nGov. Kate Brown released a statement on Facebook Monday honoring Surrett.\n\n“While we are still gathering the facts about last night’s shooting, it’s clear that far more people could have been killed if not for the heroism of Donald Ray Surrett, Jr., who intervened to help stop the shooter, and the officers who entered while shots were still being fired,” Brown’s statement said. “In the face of senseless violence, they acted with selfless bravery. Their courage saved lives.”\n\nThe gunman – identified by police as Ethan Blair Miller, 20 – was found dead at the scene and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the police spokeswoman said.\n\nPolice found an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun close to Miller’s body, according to Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz.\n\nThe shooting unfolded shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday at a shopping center, Krantz said. Police initially received reports there may have been more than one shooter, Sheila Miller said, but there is no evidence of a second shooter. There were reports of at least two other people who had injuries that were not life threatening, as well, she said.\n\nThe motive remains unclear, but police are aware of online posts that might be relevant, Sheila Miller said.\n\n“We are aware that the shooter may have posted information online regarding his plan. We are investigating this. We have no evidence of previous threats or prior knowledge of the shooter. We received information about the shooter’s writings after the incident had taken place and the shooter has no criminal history in the area,” Miller said.\n\nSafeway said in a statement the company was saddened by the “senseless violence.”\n\n“Our thoughts and actions now are directed toward supporting our associates, customers, and the community affected by this tragedy. We thank the officers at the Bend Police Department for their response and will continue to support the department’s investigation over the coming days,” the company’s statement said.\n\nSunday’s shooting follows a spate of other grocery store shootings across the country in the past year and amid an overall surge in “active shooter” incidents, according to an FBI report.\n\nIn May, 10 people were killed in what authorities say was a racially motivated attack in Buffalo, New York. A “hero” security guard and a beloved teacher were among those gunned down.\n\nIn March, another 10 people were gunned down at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. A veteran police officer with seven children was among those killed.\n\nLast September, a gunman shot 15 people – including one fatally – at a Kroger in Collierville, Tennessee. Some people hid in freezers to survive.\n\nHow the shooting unfolded\n\nMiller said police received multiple calls of shots fired around 7 p.m. at the Forum shopping center in northeast Bend.\n\nThe gunman entered from an apartment complex behind the shopping center, Miller said. He moved through the parking lot while firing rounds from an AR-15-style rifle before entering the Safeway.\n\nOnce inside, he shot a customer – Glenn Edward Bennett – who died while being taken to the hospital, Miller said.\n\nEmergency personnel respond to a shooting at the Forum shopping center in east Bend, Oregon, Sunday, August 28, 2022. Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin/AP\n\nThe gunman continued to make his way through the store before having an altercation with and fatally shooting Donald Ray Surrett Jr., Miller said.\n\n“As our officers responded, they entered Safeway while shots were still being fired. They found the apparent shooter dead inside Safeway,” Miller said.\n\nAn AR-15 and shotgun were found near the gunman’s body, Miller said. Bend police did not fire any shots, she said.\n\nHow the gunman obtained firearms is under investigation. Because of online postings, Bend police also contacted the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad, who cleared the grocery store and the apartment complex, Miller said.\n\nPolice said it’s unclear how many people were in the store at the time of the shooting.\n\nOfficers were on scene within three minutes of the first 911 call, Miller said. It took four minutes from the time officers were dispatched to the time the shooter’s body was found, police said.\n\nPlans appeared to be posted online\n\nA search warrant was served on the gunman’s vehicle and home, Miller said. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails in his car along with a sawed-off shotgun. Police are working with the ATF to learn if the firearms were legal.\n\nIn his apartment, authorities found additional ammunition and digital devices that are currently being reviewed.\n\nCNN has identified several blog entries appearing to belong to Ethan Miller which were published on the blogging site “Wattpad” detailing a plan and reasons for the shooting. The posts were made public on the evening of August 28 by an anonymous account and viewable for 12 hours, according to Wattpad. The posts have since been removed.\n\nThe first blog entry was headlined June 29 and signed with the name Ethan. The writer of the post blamed Covid-19 and quarantine for worsening their mental health.\n\nInitially, this person planned a shooting inside a high school on September 8, according to the posts.\n\nMore than 35 posts were made by this same account on the blogging site. Most of the posts indicated a desire to commit violence.\n\nOne post referenced being “partially inspired” by the Columbine High School shooting.\n\nIn other posts signed with the name Ethan, several reasons were cited for the writer turning into a “ticking time bomb,” which included their family and their love life, which was detailed in a post headlined July 8.\n\nThe writer mentioned buying a shotgun and an AR-15 for the shooting, and said they hoped to kill over 40 people.\n\nThroughout the posts, other mass shootings were also referenced.\n\n“I immediately turned to my children and said, ‘Run!’”\n\nCustomers and employees described a chaotic scene at Safeway, saying they scrambled for safety as bullets flew.\n\nJosh Caba told CNN affiliate KTVZ he and his four children were shopping in the store when the shots broke out.\n\n“We started heading to the front. Then we heard I don’t know how many shots out front – six or seven. I immediately turned to my children and said, ‘Run!’ People were screaming. … it was a horrifying experience,” Caba told KTVZ.\n\nCaba said he was worried about his wife, who stayed in the car because she wasn’t feeling well. But as he and three of his children fled through exit doors by the produce department, he found that his wife had driven to the back of the store and was “sitting in the car, saying ‘Get in the car! Get in the car!’” KTVZ reported.\n\nThe father was able to rush back into the store and find their fourth child, he told KTVZ.\n\nAn employee who identified himself only as Robert told the Central Oregon Daily News that he and other employees were working a closing shift in the deli when they heard loud gunfire.\n\n“Me and three other employees ran into a walk-in refrigerator and closed the door and stayed there and stayed hidden until authorities arrived,” he said.\n\nA third person was struck and was in good condition at St. Charles Medical Center, spokesperson Lisa Goodman said.\n\nResidents in the central Oregon city were stunned by the shooting.\n\n“I heard anywhere from five to eight shots. I thought it sounded like backfire,” Heather Thompson, who lives across the street, told Central Oregon Daily News.\n\n“Less than a minute later, there were 10 to 20 shots, and then another 10 to 20 shots,” she said. “And by that time, I went inside and told my dad to get away from the window. And people were running out of Safeway.”\n\nClarification: This story has been updated to clarify when the Wattpad posts were made public.", "authors": ["Amir Vera Tina Burnside Caroll Alvarado Hannah Sarisohn", "Amir Vera", "Tina Burnside", "Caroll Alvarado", "Hannah Sarisohn"], "publish_date": "2022/08/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/17/us/inside-texas-synagogue-hostage-standoff/index.html", "title": "What it was like inside the Colleyville, Texas, synagogue during the ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIt started like most any Saturday for members of Congregation Beth Israel.\n\nFamilies of the Reform Jewish synagogue just outside Dallas-Fort Worth had gathered – in person and online – to participate in the Sabbath service, even amid the twin perils of a fresh pandemic wave and a swelling tide of attacks on Jewish people in the United States.\n\nBy day’s end, the community of faith in Colleyville, Texas, would be at the center of a global drama involving a livestreamed hostage-taking, an imprisoned terrorist icon, an elite FBI rescue team, a rabbi’s quick thinking and a final, frantic sprint to freedom.\n\nMore details may yet offer a deeper understanding of why it happened. But already, the tale is one of searing trauma, with the broader American Jewish community now again forced to be resilient as it’s reminded of the ever-present potential for disaster.\n\nA rabbi welcomes a stranger\n\nA stranger arrived that morning at the synagogue.\n\nRabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker welcomed in the man and made him a cup of tea, the rabbi told CBS on Monday.\n\nCytron-Walker may not have known immediately that Malik Faisal Akram, 44, was a British national. Akram had arrived in the US via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in late December, a US law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.\n\nIn the two weeks before he met Cytron-Walker, Akram had spent three nights – January 6, 11 and 13 – at a Dallas homeless shelter, according to Union Gospel Mission Dallas CEO Bruce Butler. He was very quiet and wasn’t there long enough to build any relationships, Butler said.\n\nOver their shared tea, Cytron-Walker and Akram talked, the rabbi said.\n\n“Some of his story didn’t quite add up, so I was a little bit curious, but that’s not necessarily an uncommon thing,” said the rabbi, who soon that day would lead a religious service for the 157 membership families of his congregation, established in 1999.\n\nThe rabbi pointed Jeffrey Cohen, the vice president on the synagogue’s board of trustees, to their guest that day. Cohen went over and introduced himself, he wrote in a Facebook post describing his experience.\n\n“He was on the phone, but briefly stopped his conversation,” Cohen said. “He said hello, smiled, and after we introduced ourselves, I let him go back to his call. He seemed calm and happy to be in from the frigid 20 degree morning. His eyes weren’t darting around; his hands were open and calm, he said hello, he smiled.”\n\nBecause of the recent coronavirus surge, many of Congregation Beth Israel’s members had stayed home on Saturday to watch the weekly prayers via Facebook or Zoom. Services began at 10 a.m.\n\nAs the rabbi led the prayers – his back turned as he faced toward Jerusalem – he heard a click. It came from the stranger.\n\n“And it turned out, that it was his gun,” Cytron-Walker said.\n\nCohen said he heard that same click, the “unmistakable sound of an automatic slide engaging a round.” The mysterious guest then began yelling something. Cohen dialed 911 on his phone, put the screen side down and moved as commanded, he wrote.\n\nAkram took four people hostage, including the rabbi, authorities said.\n\n‘I’m going to die at the end of this’\n\nPolice got an emergency call at 10:41 a.m.\n\nThey rushed to the synagogue and set up a perimeter, evacuating residents nearby, police said. Soon, nearly 200 members of local, state and federal law enforcement, including the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were on hand, FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno said.\n\nMeanwhile, the livestream – intended for the faithful who’d stayed home to be safe from Covid-19 – appeared to capture some of what Akram was saying.\n\n“I’m gunned up. I’m ammo-ed up,” he told someone he called nephew. “Guess what, I will die.”\n\nThe audio can be difficult to understand, and it’s not clear whom Akram is talking to. But it’s clear he planned to die during the standoff, he repeatedly told people.\n\n“OK, are you listening? I don’t want you to cry. Listen! I’m going to release these four guys … but then I’m going to go in the yard, yeah? … And they’re going to take me, alright? I’m going to die at the end of this, alright? Are you listening? I am going to die! OK? So, don’t cry over me,” the man said to someone else.\n\nCongregation member Stacey Silverman watched the livestream for more than an hour. She heard the suspect ranting, sometimes switching between saying, “I’m not a criminal,” to apologies, she said.\n\nThe man vacillated among languages and was “screaming hysterically,” she said. He claimed to have a bomb.\n\nAkram also “spoke repeatedly about a convicted terrorist who is serving an 86-year prison sentence in the United States,” the FBI said in a statement. The convict is believed to be Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani with a PhD in neuroscience who is serving a federal prison sentence in Fort Worth after being found guilty of attempted murder and other charges in an assault on US officers in Afghanistan.\n\nShe was not involved in the Colleyville attack, her attorney said Saturday.\n\n“He wanted this woman released and he wanted to talk to her and he thought – well, he said point-blank – he chose this synagogue because ‘Jews control the world. Jews control the media. Jews control the banks. I want to talk to chief rabbi of the United States,’” Cohen told CNN, adding there is no chief rabbi in the US.\n\nInside the synagogue, Cohen resisted following exactly as Akram commanded, he wrote in his Facebook post. Rather than go to the back of the room as ordered, Cohen stayed in line with one of the exits. When a police officer came to the door and the hostage-taker became more agitated, Cohen moved closer to the exit door, he wrote.\n\nAkram let them call their families, and Cohen called his wife, daughter and son and even posted on Facebook. He also slowly moved a few chairs in front of him – “anything to slow or divert a bullet or shrapnel,” he wrote.\n\nAt one point – at the suspect’s request – the rabbi being held hostage called a well-known rabbi in New York City so the suspect could say Siddiqi was framed and he wanted her released, two officials briefed on investigation said.\n\nAs hours ticked on, law enforcement negotiators had a “high frequency and duration of contact” with the suspect, DeSarno said. The FBI called out its Hostage Rescue Team from Quantico, Virginia, and some 60 to 70 people came to the site, Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller said.\n\nOne hostage – a man – was released unharmed around 5 p.m., Colleyville Police Sgt. Dara Nelson said. The hostage-taker did not harm the hostages, the rabbi told CBS.\n\nBut, he added, they were threatened the entire time.\n\nA thrown chair activates a bold escape\n\nPolice speak out after synagogue hostages were rescued 02:12 - Source: CNN\n\nWith threats and attacks targeting Jewish people growing more common in recent years, Cytron-Walker and his congregation had participated in security courses with law enforcement agencies, he said.\n\nAs Saturday afternoon rolled to the night – and the hostage-taker’s demeanor began to change – that training helped the rabbi and the two others who were still held against their will.\n\n“In the last hour of our hostage crisis, the gunman became increasingly belligerent and threatening,” Cytron-Walker said Sunday in a statement. “Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself.”\n\nCohen helped another hostage move closer to that exit, and whispered to him about the door, he wrote. The third hostage later joined them when they received pizza to eat, putting them all within 20 feet of the exit door.\n\nThey spoke with Akram and asked him questions, trying to buy the FBI time to move into position, he wrote.\n\nYet the situation began to devolve. “At one point, our attacker instructed us to get on our knees. I reared up in my chair, stared at him sternly. I think I slowly moved my head and mouthed NO. He stared at me, then moved back to sit down. It was this moment when Rabbi Charlie yelled run,” he wrote.\n\nCytron-Walker saw his opening when he got the gunman a drink in a glass, he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Tuesday.\n\n“As he was drinking, the gun wasn’t in the best position and I thought this was our best chance, I needed to make sure the people who were still with me that they were ready to go,” the rabbi said.\n\n“And so there was a chair that was right in front of me. I told the guys to go, I picked it up and I threw it at him with all the adrenaline,” Cytron-Walker said. “It was absolutely terrifying and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be shot, and I did not hear a shot fired as I made it out the door. I was the last one out.”\n\nThe three hostages burst through the exit door and sprinted away from the building, video taken from outside the synagogue by CNN affiliate WFAA shows. Seconds later, a man in black holding what appears to be a gun stepped halfway through the exit to look outside. He then returned inside the building without shooting, the video shows.\n\nA group of heavily armed law enforcement personnel moved toward another part of the building, the video shows. About 30 seconds later, a series of four bangs erupted, followed by a louder explosive boom that set a number of car alarms to begin wailing. Other armed law enforcement personnel moved into a different position by the building, and another three loud bangs then went off, the video shows.\n\nThe loud boom, heard by a CNN team near the synagogue at about 9:12 p.m., was the result of entry tools used by the hostage rescue team, an ATF spokesperson said.\n\nThe rescue team breached the synagogue, Miller said. The suspect was killed.\n\nNone of the four hostages was harmed, DeSarno said.\n\nMore booms echoed as the tactical team disposed of leftover entry explosives brought by the rescue team. Crime scene investigators recovered one firearm they believe belonged to the suspect, the ATF spokesperson said. An ATF dog found no more explosives, the spokesperson said.\n\nOn Facebook, Cohen credited active shooter training he received for his survival and escape.\n\n“We weren’t released or freed,” he said. “We escaped because we had training from the Secure Community Network on what to do in the event of an active shooter.”\n\nThe Secure Community Network describes itself as the “official safety and security organization of the Jewish community in North America.”\n\n“Those courses, that instruction, helped me to understand that you need to act in moments where your life is threatened. I would not have had the courage, I would not have had the knowhow or what to do without that instruction,” Cytron-Walker said. “I want people to understand, it doesn’t matter if you are in a synagogue, if you’re Jewish, if you’re Muslim, if you’re Christian, if you’re religious at all, it can happen in a shopping mall. Unfortunately this is the world that we’re living in.”\n\n‘The time to heal our community has begun’\n\nOn Sunday morning, Cytron-Walker took to Facebook, this time to express his gratitude to those who supported him throughout Saturday’s ordeal.\n\n“I am thankful and filled with appreciation for all of the vigils and prayers and love and support, all of the law enforcement and first responders who cared for us, all of the security training that helped save us,” he wrote in the Facebook post.\n\n“I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for the CBI Community, the Jewish Community, the Human Community. I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive,” Cytron-Walker said in the post.\n\nNothing suggests the threat posed by Akram is continuing, officials said. The investigation into the case and its motive is likely to be global, DeSarno added, including contacts with Tel Aviv and London.\n\nInitially, the FBI, based on its exchanges, found the suspect to be “singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community, but we’ll continue to work to find motive,” DeSarno said.\n\nOn Monday, the agency called Saturday’s attack “a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted,” according to a statement. The case “is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”\n\nCongregation Beth Israel held a special service Monday night at which the rabbi spoke about the need to heal after the incident.\n\n“Thank God, thank God,” Cytron-Walker said. “It could’ve been so much worse, and I am overflowing, truly overflowing, with gratitude.”", "authors": ["Eric Levenson"], "publish_date": "2022/01/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/31/us/five-things-august-31-trnd/index.html", "title": "5 things to know for August 31: Mar-a-Lago, Flooding, Heat waves ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nGet '5 Things' in your inbox If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the ‘5 Things’ newsletter.\n\nTwo of California’s many wildfires are threatening Sequoia National Park and the massive, iconic trees that grow there. And in Louisiana, Tropical Depression Nicholas could slow down recovery from Hurricane Ida, which just blew through two weeks ago.\n\nHere’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.\n\n(You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)\n\n1. California recall\n\nA flood watch is currently in place for millions of people across the southwestern US after a weekend of rain and thunderstorms drenched the region. In Las Vegas, at least two people have died in flooding since last week in what has become the wettest monsoon season in a decade. In Texas, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring a disturbance that will bring thunderstorms and up to 6 inches of rain over the next few days, leading to potential flash flooding. While the rain has brought relief to some drought-stricken areas, experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme flooding and catastrophic disasters. Separately, a new study indicates a disastrous megaflood is coming to California in the next four decades – and experts say it would be unlike anything anyone alive today has ever experienced.\n\n2. Coronavirus\n\nCNN meteorologist explains cause of water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi 02:27 - Source: CNN\n\n3. Gen. Mark Milley\n\n5. Haiti\n\nNASA scrubs Artemis I rocket launch due to engine issues. CNN reporter explains why 02:39 - Source: CNN\n\n5. UK deportations\n\nBREAKFAST BROWSE\n\nMan vs. Emu\n\nA woman used her smartwatch to call 911 after getting stuck in an interesting position at the gym. Watch the video here.\n\nNASA releases stunning new image of the Phantom Galaxy\n\nIn a galaxy far, far away – 32 million light-years from Earth – there is a remarkable spiral of solar systems. Take a look at the new image here.\n\nHow Princess Diana’s style legacy remains relevant\n\nToday marks 25 years since the death of Princess Diana, but her legacy and wardrobe continue to inspire new generations.\n\nDC Comics featured stereotypical Latino foods on Hispanic Heritage Month covers\n\nThe publisher attempted to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month by adding Latino foods to its comic covers… but fans found it offensive and cliché.\n\nKohl’s and Gap have a surprising plan for this season’s unsold clothing\n\nSome retailers are holding onto their unsold inventory in the hope of selling it next summer. And yes, they’re confident these items will stay in style.\n\nIN MEMORIAM\n\nMikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, has died at the age of 91 after a long illness, Russian state news agencies reported on Tuesday. Gorbachev is credited with introducing key political and economic reforms to the USSR and helping to end the Cold War. Several world leaders paid tribute to Gorbachev Tuesday, with President Joe Biden calling him “a man of remarkable vision” in a statement.\n\nTODAY’S NUMBER\n\n17\n\nThat’s how many people in Pakistan have been recently impacted by devastating floods. Some areas have seen five times their normal levels of rain, largely due to the climate crisis, experts say. Torrential rainfall and extreme flooding have killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than 3,500 others in the country since mid-June.\n\nTODAY’S QUOTE\n\n“This is merely an attempt to stop a man that is leading in every poll, against both Republicans and Democrats by wide margins, from running again for the Presidency.”\n\n– Alberto Flores, a port director for the US Customs and Border Protection, after a large shipment of baby wipes at the US-Mexico border turned out to be $11.8 million worth of cocaine. Officers seized the narcotics Friday at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge just north of Laredo, Texas, according to a news release. An inspection revealed 1,935 baby wipe packages were stuffed with around 1,533 pounds of alleged cocaine.\n\nTODAY’S WEATHER\n\nHeat builds for the west as tropical systems in the Atlantic intensify 02:21 - Source: CNN\n\nCheck your local forecast here>>>\n\nAND FINALLY\n\nMy Dog Gets Annoyed by New Puppy From Day One\n\nHear the Otherworldly Sounds of Skating on Thin Ice\n\nWatch this dog’s reaction when an energetic puppy becomes the newest addition to the family. (Click here to view)", "authors": ["Alexandra Meeks"], "publish_date": "2022/08/31"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/20/business/biden-charging-gabe-klein/index.html", "title": "Biden administration picks former Chicago, DC transportation leader ...", "text": "Washington, DC CNN Business —\n\nGabe Klein, who has led transportation departments in Washington, DC and Chicago, will head the Biden administration’s $7.5 billion program to build out the country’s electric vehicle charging network.\n\nKlein will serve as executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which was established by the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and coordinates between the US Departments of Energy and Transportation. The departments announced the news Tuesday morning.\n\n“We look forward to working with Gabe to help deliver on President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the American people and ensure that every community—from the largest cities to the most rural areas—can reap the benefits of the electric vehicle revolution,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.\n\nKlein was previously a partner at the consulting firm Cityfi, which focuses on urban transportation and planning. He also served on the Biden-Harris transition team for the Department of Transportation. His leadership in DC and Chicago was marked by being among the first transportation departments to embrace emerging transportation trends like car-sharing, bikeshare and bike lanes.\n\nKlein has long been outspoken about climate change and transportation’s role in it. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\n\n“I will seize the opportunity to steward a critical shift in our transportation economy from fossil fuels to clean, electric energy systems, as there has never been a more important mission in our recent history than solving the climate crisis,” Klein said in a statement.\n\nGabe Klein, shown in 2015 in Washington, DC, will lead the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post/Getty Images\n\nUS President Joe Biden has called for a network of 500,000 chargers to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and fight the climate crisis. Electric vehicles have much smaller carbon footprints than gas-powered vehicles over the typical lifetime of a vehicle.\n\nGovernments are increasingly embracing electric vehicles. Biden has called for the federal government to shift its fleet to electric vehicles, and for half of all new vehicles to be electric by 2030. California has passed regulations that essentially require vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be electric, hydrogen-fueled or plug-in hybrids. The federal government passed new tax credits for electric vehicles last month.\n\nBut many consumers have concerns about if they’ll be able to charge an electric vehicle. The nation’s charging network is nascent compared to the long-established network of gas pumps. Last week the Biden administration announced that it had approved EV charging plans from 35 states. Many stations will be built along highway corridors to facilitate long trips.\n\nThe Joint Office of Energy and Transportation has already advised states on their EV charging plans and worked with the Federal Highway Administration on minimal standards for chargers.\n\nThe Biden administration has called for 40% of its climate change and clean energy investments to flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.\n\nKlein, who has previously called for the country to reckon with its racial history when it comes to urban planning, owns an electric car and an electric bike, both of which he charges with solar, according to the departments.\n\n“We couldn’t be more excited to have him working for more electric cars and trucks on our roadways,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement.", "authors": ["Matt Mcfarland"], "publish_date": "2022/09/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/history/2020/03/13/black-history-2020-people-making-kentucky-and-louisville-great/5036285002/", "title": "Black History 2020: The people making Kentucky and Louisville great", "text": "The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage\n\nEditor's note: The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage will provide The Courier Journal with history maker features biweekly for the remainder of the year. The center’s goals are to enhance the public’s knowledge about the history, heritage and cultural contributions of African Americans in Kentucky and in the African Diaspora. The center is also a vital, contemporary institution, providing space for exhibitions and performances of all types.\n\nMerv Aubespin\n\nMerv Aubespin (1937-) was born in Opelousas, Louisiana, and is a graduate of Tuskegee University. He credits a visit to Montgomery, Alabama, during college as the inspiration for his lifelong involvement in the civil rights movement. In 1967 he became the first African American to hold the post of news artist at The Courier Journal newspaper. He joined the newsroom staff during the 1968 civil rights unrest in Louisville and later retired after 35 years with The Courier Journal. He is the co-author of a book, \"Two Centuries of Black Louisville: A Photographic History.\"\n\nA Gold Medal winner in the Best Regional Non-Fiction Category of 2012’s Independent Publisher Book Awards, \"Two Centuries of Black Louisville\" spotlights Louisville’s 234-year history through the vibrant lens of the black community. With rare photographs spanning Louisville's history, the book highlights the struggles, heritage and culture of the region's African American activists and the evolution of race relations. Aubespin is a past president of the National Association of Black Journalists and also the founder of the Louisville Association of Black Communicators.\n\nHe was awarded the Distinguished Service to Journalism Award in 1991, given by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications. He received the Ida B. Wells Award for his dedication to bringing minorities into the field of journalism.\n\nCheck out:See inside Louisville's newest African American museum\n\nSadiqa Reynolds\n\nSadiqa Reynolds (1972- ) was raised in New York City and came to Louisville to earn her bachelor's in psychology from the University of Louisville and her law degree from the University of Kentucky. Reynolds is the president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League. Her appointment made her the first woman to hold this title in the organization's history.\n\nReynolds has a vision for revitalizing Louisville’s West End through her leadership to develop a $35 million indoor track and sports complex at the corner of 30th Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. She was the first African American woman to clerk for the Kentucky Supreme Court and served as the chief law clerk for Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens. She previously served as chief for community building under Mayor Greg Fischer.\n\nIn January 2008, Reynolds was named inspector general with Louisville Metro Government. In August 2009, Reynolds was sworn in as Jefferson County district judge of the 30th Judicial District, Division 11. Prior to entering the public sector, Reynolds owned and managed a private legal practice. She was a formidable attorney who has argued successfully before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Reynolds has been recognized by the Louisville Bar Association for work with domestic violence victims and other disadvantaged citizens. She has also been recognized for her advocacy for mental health awareness and restorative justice.\n\nLooking back:Honoring 29 African American history makers from Kentucky\n\nElmer Lucille Allen\n\nElmer Lucille Allen (1931- ) was born during the Depression era in a segregated Louisville. Despite facing economic and social barriers, Allen attended Madison Street Junior High School, where she took an interest in the arts. She learned many functional crafts in junior high, such as shoe repair, printing, sewing and carpentry. She graduated from Central High School in 1949 and from Nazareth College (now Spalding University) in 1953.\n\nAllen has broken countless racial and gender barriers. In 1966, she became the first African American chemist at Brown-Forman. After she retired as a chemist in 1997, Allen turned her focus from science to the arts. While working as a chemist, Allen began studying art at the University of Louisville, receiving her Master of Creative Arts with a focus on ceramics and fiber in 2002.\n\nHer talent, hard work and social commitments to equal opportunity are reflected in her work as a chemist and her artwork. Since 2005, Allen has been largely responsible for the art gallery at Wayside Christian Mission, now Hotel Louisville, which offers accessible exhibition space for community artists. In 2019, Detroit artist Brandon Marshall was commissioned by the Imagine 2020 Mural Festival to create a mural celebrating the life of Elmer Lucille Allen. The mural is at South Jackson and Caldwell streets in Louisville’s Smoketown neighborhood, known as one of the first black-founded communities in the city.\n\nEd Hamilton\n\nEd Hamilton (1947- ) was born in Cincinnati and raised in Louisville by Amy Jane (Camp) and Edward Norton Hamilton Sr. Hamilton specializes in public art, with his most famous sculpture being \"The Spirit of Freedom.\" Hamilton graduated from Shawnee High School and continued his education at the Louisville School of Art. He also attended the University of Louisville and Spalding College in the early 1970s.\n\nWhile working on his certification to teach in the public school system, Hamilton met the late sculptor Barney Bright, whom he worked for as an apprentice and built a lasting friendship with while he continued his quest to eventually open his own sculpting studio. Hamilton has created monuments dedicated to Booker T. Washington, Joe Louis, York (Lewis and Clark Expedition) and the La Amistad revolt by enslaved Africans. But his public work “The Spirit of Freedom” is a national memorial that has achieved worldwide acclaim. The statue is a tribute to the colored soldiers and sailors of the Civil War and stands at 10th and U streets NW in Washington, D.C.\n\nHamilton tells the story about his journey as an artist in his book, “The Birth of an Artist, A Journey of Discovery.” The book outlines his journey from growing up in Louisville and becoming a sculptor.\n\nBeverly Chester-Burton\n\nBeverly Chester-Burton (1963- ), born to Cozy and Linnes Chester Sr., started her journey as a sharecropper’s daughter from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She attended the University of Louisville, Spalding University and Western Kentucky University. She holds an education specialist degree, a master's in teaching K-12, a master's in counseling and psychology, and a bachelor's in communication.\n\nChester-Burton was elected as the first African American to serve on the Shively City Council. During her 10 years in the City Council, Chester-Burton was dedicated to changing the past perceptions of Shively after she lost her first mayoral campaign in 2008. In 2018, she broke down a major barrier in a city known for its racist past by being elected as the first African-American to lead Shively in its 80-year history. With Chester-Burton being elected with 97.8% of the vote, her election created a new legacy.\n\nChester-Burton is also a teacher in Jefferson County Public Schools and an equity and inclusion facilitator for the National Education Association. Chester-Burton is a role model for many people in Shively, including her daughter, Tiffany Burton. Tiffany watched her mom walk through different political positions, which eventually motivated her to follow in her mother’s footsteps by running and winning a position on Shively City Council. Her civic, community involvements, and recognitions are numerous.\n\nCharles 'Bud' Ford Dorsey Jr\n\nCharles “Bud” Ford Dorsey Jr. (1941- ) was born to Charles Sr. and Anna Lewis Dorsey in Louisville. Bud, as he is affectionately called, started following his passion for photography at an early age when he carried around his Kodak Hawkeye Brownie camera taking pictures of friends and events in his neighborhood. Bud volunteered at the studio of Louisville photographer Arthur Evans, in exchange for photographic and film development lessons.\n\nIn the 1960s, Bud continued his photography when he joined the Navy, where he shot pictures of far-away places such as Italy, France, Africa and South America. After leaving the Navy, he enrolled at the East Los Angeles College for photography classes. While working full time at the American Synthetic Rubber Company in Louisville, Bud freelanced for the Louisville Defender for 25 years documenting Louisville's African American communities. He also freelanced for Ebony, Jive, JET and Soul Confession magazines.\n\nHis 2017 book, “Available Light: Through the Lens of Bud Dorsey,” resulted in lectures and photographic exhibitions at the Muhammad Ali Center and the Louisville public libraries. Photographs he took while in Senegal, West Africa, became a 2019 public library exhibition. Bud’s most recent exhibition, “Women Hold Up Half the Sky: Women of West Africa,” a two-man photo exhibition by Bud Dorsey and Aukram Burton featuring women from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, is on display at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage.\n\nMattie Jones\n\nMattie Jones (1934- ), a native of Memphis, Tennessee, moved with her family to Louisville as a child. Jones’ public activism began not long after she graduated from Central High School in 1951. She attended Indiana University but says she quickly decided it was not safe or welcoming for African American students, so she transferred to the University of Louisville, which had recently desegregated its main campus. While attending U of L, she was denied a work-study position because white students would not work with her.\n\nJones left U of L to join the Black Workers Coalition to fight for equality in employment. Jones has worked for over six decades as a formidable advocate for equity and social justice. She has organized countless demonstrations and boycotts focused on anti-racism, women’s and workers' rights, environmental justice, peace and police brutality. In 1973, she was a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and has helped lead numerous local and national justice operations. In the 1960s she marched against segregation in public schools and for open housing. She worked on a local level with the Kentucky Alliance against Racist and Political Repression, alongside the late Rev. Louis Coleman, Anne Braden and countless others.\n\nShe was not only a committed activist, she was a committed wife and mother. Jones and her husband, Turner Harris Jones, had nine children and raised 120 foster children. Jones describes herself as “just another soldier in the army for peace, justice, and equality.\"\n\nRobert ‘Bob’ Cunningham\n\nRobert \"Bob\" Cunningham, (1934-), is a native of Cadiz, Kentucky. His aunt raised him in Paducah, Kentucky, where he grew up in a white neighborhood with all white playmates until he started school. He moved to Louisville in the early 1940s, graduated from Central High School in the early '50s, and worked briefly for International Harvester before he was drafted into the United States Army in 1957.\n\nWhile stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, he experienced racist signs like “whites only,” promoting segregation. Bob returned to Louisville after the Army and was swept into the Black freedom movement for social and political change in the 1960s. He joined a local grassroots organization, the Black Workers Coalition, which launched his lifelong involvement in fighting for justice in the workplace, housing, public accommodations and access to finances for African Americans.\n\nDuring the 1970s, Bob helped form the Black Workers Coalition to challenge racism in the workplace and access to jobs that were denied to Black people. Later, he became the first chairperson of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and he remains a board member today. Some of Cunningham’s accomplishments include receiving the LIFT award from the Community Development Corporation for Youth, being inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame, receiving the Peace and Justice Award from the Archdiocese of Louisville and receiving the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Justice Resource Center.\n\nClestine 'Clest' Lanier\n\nClestine \"Clest\" Lanier (1947- ) is a lifelong resident of Louisville and a longtime community activist. She graduated from Shawnee High School and earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisville in political science, and received certification in museum management from the Museum Management Institute in Boulder, Colorado. She is a graduate of the Overseas Studies Program in London, the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute in Minneapolis, and Leadership Louisville.\n\nClest is the founder of the African American Heritage Foundation, or AAHF, established in 1994 to promote the preservation of African American communities, history and culture in Kentucky. Under her leadership, the organization placed 13 historic markers at sites throughout the community, created an Underground Railroad Tour, and promoted African American artists through the Public Art Sculptures project. The initial work of AAHF led to one of the largest preservation projects in the United States, the renovation of the former trolley maintenance complex into the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in the historic Russell neighborhood.\n\nIn 2019, Clest was inducted into the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Civil Rights Hall of Fame for her exemplary contributions to human rights. She was also the recipient of Preservation Kentucky's 2019 Christy and Owsley Brown II Excellence in Public Service to Preservation Award for her outstanding dedication, exceptional contributions and exemplary efforts to preserve Kentucky's African American heritage, culture, stories, historic buildings and achievements.\n\nSen. Gerald Neal\n\nSen. Gerald Neal (1945- ) graduated from Shawnee High School in 1963 and Kentucky State University in 1967 with a bachelor's in history and political science. He received a J.D. in 1972 from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. Neal was elected to represent District 33 in Jefferson County, is the second African American to serve and the first African American man elected to the Kentucky Senate.\n\nNeal was first elected in 1989 and has since been reelected consecutively in the last 31 years. He was elected Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman in 2014, becoming the first African American elected to a leadership position in the history of Kentucky. With 31 years and counting under his belt as a state senator, Neal is the longest-serving member of the Kentucky legislature.\n\nNeal is a strong voice for African Americans, senior citizens, youth and the disadvantaged, and is a staunch supporter of education, economic development, health care and criminal justice reform. He is the founder of The African American Community Agenda Initiative, which focuses on policy research, development and community education.\n\nNeal has received many honors and commendations for his distinguished service to the community, the legal profession, and as a Kentucky legislator.\n\nAlice K. Houston\n\nAlice K. Houston (1947- ) graduated from the Louisville public school system in 1964. She attended Baldwin College, where she graduated cum laude, and she holds a master's degree in education from the University of Louisville. In 1969 she married Wade Houston. The two lived in France, where Wade played and coached basketball in Strasbourg. They became a business power couple, launching their first family business as a joint venture that eventually became the largest minority-owned transportation company in North America.\n\nAlice Houston is the president and CEO of Houston-Johnson Inc., a logistics, distribution, material management and order fulfillment company that has been in business since 1994. HJI was nominated by the Ford Motor Company and won the 2011 TriState Minority Supplier Development Council Supplier of the Year Award.\n\nHouston is a tireless supporter of many community initiatives and serves on several boards, including the 55,000 Degrees and 15K Degree Initiative, Simmons College of Kentucky, the James Graham Brown Foundation, the Jefferson County Public Education Foundation, TARC and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. The next installment of Black History Makers will feature Wade Houston.\n\nWade Houston\n\nWade Houston (1944- ) was born in Alcoa, Tennessee. In 1962, Houston became the first African American to sign a basketball scholarship at the University of Louisville, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees and was inducted into the Louisville Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.\n\nIn 1970-71, Houston played and coached professional basketball in France. In 1975, Houston became head coach of the Louisville Male High School men's basketball team, where he compiled a 90-12 record while guiding the team to a state championship. He returned to the University of Louisville in 1976 to become the first African American assistant men's basketball coach. In 1989, he became the head coach at the University of Tennessee, the first African American head coach in the Southeastern Conference.\n\nIn 1994, Houston and his wife, Alice, created Houston-Johnson Inc., a logistic, distribution, material management and order fulfillment company, the largest minority-owned transportation company in North America. The former basketball player and coach became the president of Dry Ice Blasting Technologies, a division of HJI. Wade and Alice Houston have three adult children: Allan, Lynn and Natalie. Allan followed in his father’s footsteps, playing basketball in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks.\n\nDawne Gee\n\nDawne Gee (1963- ) is a native of Louisville. She attended Virginia Avenue Elementary School, now the West End School, where Gee serves on the board of directors. She graduated from Pleasure Ridge Park High School in 1984 and went on to study at the University of Louisville, where she earned degrees in communications and biology.\n\nGee joined WAVE 3 News in 1994, where she now anchors the evening news. When she is not delivering the news, Gee spends most of her time giving back to the community through numerous charitable causes. She operates her own nonprofit, A Recipe to End Hunger, a volunteer organization that provides 100% of its proceeds to feeding children through Backpack Buddies and Blessings in a Backpack.\n\nAfter she met a boy who said he ate paper when his stomach hurt, she published the book \"A Recipe to End Hunger,\" which was a bestseller on Amazon in 2014. The book features 66 recipes from local and national celebrities. Gee's goal is to raise awareness and funds to benefit the hundreds of children in Louisville and Southern Indiana who go without food on nights and weekends.\n\nJohn J. Johnson\n\nJohn J. Johnson (1945- ) grew up in Franklin, Kentucky, where he experienced segregation and racism. While in high school, Johnson was involved in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Youth Council and as a member of the student government. At the age of 17, he became the youngest president of any Kentucky chapter of the NAACP.\n\nJohnson worked in a factory after his high school graduation. He then went on to work in the area of community development, marketing and research, and human relations. In 1984, he became the director of the Louisville and Jefferson County Community Action Agency until he joined the staff of the NAACP in Baltimore. While in Baltimore, Johnson received his bachelor's degree in community development and public administration from Sojourner-Douglass College.\n\nJohnson held the position of chief programs officer for many years while working for the NAACP. He also directed a wide variety of programs, including Armed Services and Veterans Affairs; Voter Empowerment; Economic Outreach; Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics; the Prison Project; and the NAACP library. He returned to Kentucky to continue his life’s work fighting for social justice. After working for 12 years as executive director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, Johnson retired in 2019.\n\nRenee Campbell\n\nRenee Campbell (1955- ) is from Adairville, Kentucky, where she graduated from Franklin County High School in the Class of 1973. Renee holds a bachelor’s degree from Kentucky State University, a master’s from the University of Louisville, and a doctorate of education from Spalding University.\n\nFor over 40 years, Campbell practiced in the areas of education and social work. She has a rich background in community building, working for 20 years as president/CEO of Wesley House Community Services, a 116-year-old social services agency and one of the first transitional programs in the United States. Her life’s work extends beyond our borders to Africa, where in 2005 she was installed as a chief by the Tolon Traditional Council in the village of Tolon, Ghana, West Africa. In Tolon she created, directed and facilitated life-changing programs for women and families. During the summer of 2019, she launched a scholarship program in Tolon that provides 18 educational scholarships for boys and girls, from kindergarten through eighth grade.\n\nCampbell was honored as a ”Woman of Distinction” from the Center for Women and Families, and is a \"Muhammad Ali Daughter of Greatness.\" Also, Campbell has been featured in “100 Fascinating Louisville Women,” and an “Enterprising Women — Making a Difference” by Business First Magazine.\n\nEric Curtis Williams\n\nEric Curtis Williams (1950- ) was born in Louisville. He attended Male High School and finished his postsecondary education at the University of Kentucky's School of Architecture. As a licensed architect, Williams has followed in the footsteps of Samuel Plato (1882-1957), an African American architect and building contractor noted for his work on federal housing projects and for building at least 38 post offices across the country.\n\nWilliams has 30 years of experience working on architectural design, engineering and on-site construction projects. He has served as a senior project manager, project construction manager, architect of record, general contractor and commercial investment real estate broker. Williams has worked on projects including the development of a prototype KFC store and landscaping, Kentucky International Convention Center, Muhammad Ali Center, and KFC Yum restaurant facilities in 17 states.\n\nAs the chief international officer at JC Worldwide Connections, Williams has managed projects in Doha, Qatar; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Kuwait; and Iraq. Williams' affiliations include the American Institute of Architects, National Trust History Preservation, Project Management Institute, Kentucky State Board of Examiners and Registration of Architects, and the City of Louisville Kentucky Building Code Appeals Board.\n\nV. Faye Jones\n\nDr. V. Faye Jones (1959- ) is a native of Kentucky. She received her bachelor's in biology from Western Kentucky University before graduating from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1985. Jones went on to complete her pediatric residency in the U of L-affiliated Kosair (now Norton) Children’s Hospital.\n\nIn 1990, Jones joined the University of Louisville, where she is a tenured professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine. In 2001, she earned a master's in public health, followed by a doctorate in epidemiology in 2006, both from the University of Louisville. Jones serves as the associate vice president for health affairs/diversity initiatives, vice chair for the Department of Pediatrics and Inclusive Excellence, and the interim senior associate vice president for the U of L Office of Diversity and Equity.\n\nWith more than 30 years of medical experience, Jones’ passion lies in creating a community where health equity is a reality. She is responsible for training future pediatric providers as well as overseeing the integration of equitable and diverse health care standards throughout the U of L campus. Her focus is on attempting to infuse an integrative framework for diversity throughout the four fundamental areas of education: research, workforce development, community engagement, and campus climate.\n\nRaoul Cunningham\n\nRaoul Cunningham (1943- ) was born in Louisville and is a graduate of Male High School and Howard University. Since the age of 14, Cunningham has dedicated his life to civil rights activism. While in high school, he led his first direct nonviolent action campaign with the Youth Council on Christmas Day 1959, when the Brown Theatre would not admit African Americans with mail-ordered tickets to see \"Porgy and Bess,\" a movie that had a Black cast.\n\nCunningham continued his activism along with other students from Male and Central High School when they bravely defied the law to demand full access to the stores and lunch counters along Fourth Street. As a Howard University student, Cunningham continued his activism by organizing a Young Democrats chapter and became the president of the District of Columbia Federation of College Young Democrats.\n\nHe returned to Louisville to manage the successful campaign to elect Georgia Davis Powers to the Kentucky Senate, and has been involved in government and politics ever since. Cunningham was elected president of the Louisville Branch NAACP in 2004, president of the Kentucky State Conference NAACP in 2014, and to the NAACP board of directors in 2016. He has been inducted into the Kentucky Civil Rights Hall of Fame and is the recipient of the Martin Luther King Freedom Award by the city of Louisville.\n\nNikki R. Lanier\n\nNikki R. Lanier (1970- ) is the senior vice president and regional executive of the Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, serving Louisville, Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky. Lanier earned a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law and a bachelor's in journalism from Hampton University.\n\nAs a Louisville Branch leader, she is responsible for connecting the public, business leaders, community bankers, community development organizations and educators to the Fed. Lanier is committed to supporting marginalized communities in traditionally redlined neighborhoods by providing free resources to learn and teach financial literacy. Lanier is deeply rooted in the Louisville community and serves on many boards, including OneWest, where she is the board's chair. She also serves as executive board vice president for the Louisville-based Global Economic Diversity Development Initiative, whose mission is \"to establish a fund that serves as a worldwide giving choice for racial equity and economic justice initiatives to create generational wealth that meets present and future needs through creative and well-thought-out grant-making perpetually.\"\n\nIn 2018, Lanier was on the national list of notable financial executives. In 2019, she received the Robert C. Burks Distinguished Business and Leadership Award, and she has received recognition as a \"Woman of Influence\" by Louisville Business First, one of \"20 People to Know in Banking and Finance,\" \"Forty Under 40,\" and as one of the \"10 Most Influential Women of Louisville.\"\n\nNat Irvin II\n\nNat Irvin II (1951- ) grew up in North Augusta, South Carolina, where he graduated from North Augusta High School in 1969. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a master's degree in media arts. Irvin is an accomplished composer who also holds a doctorate in music composition from the University of North Texas. Irvin is also a graduate of the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education.\n\nHe is the Woodrow M. Strickler executive in residence, professor of management practice at the University of Louisville's College of Business, where he has taught change management, leadership, future studies and team dynamics since 2007. Irvin is an author, innovator, futurist, teacher, commentator and founder of \"Thrivals @IdeaFestival.\" His Thrivals programming began in 2010 and continues to develop thought leaders through programming that attracts global innovators to discuss and develop new perspectives and transformational ideas with the next generation.\n\nIrvin has worked with leadership and management teams of Fortune 100 companies and organizations in strategic conversations on future trends. He has been a commentator for National Public Radio's \"Weekend Edition\" and an adviser to the TED Challenge.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/03/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/opinions/serena-williams-retirement-evolving-from-tennis-jones/index.html", "title": "Opinion: Serena Williams is rewriting retirement, just as she has ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has been a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones is co-author of “Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete.” She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia’s 900AM WURD. The views expressed here are solely hers. Read more opinion on CNN.\n\nCNN —\n\nGrandpop retired from his job as a submarine pipe fitter after 45 years. A generation later, Mom retired as a prison warden after 25 years.\n\nBack then, retirement meant collecting full pensions and full benefits. Their wish was to do little else than rest and recover from decades of body- and soul-crushing work that had zapped their mental and physical strength.\n\nRoxanne Jones CNN\n\nGrandpop, a war veteran, packed his bags and migrated back down South when he retired. And there he sat on his porch, enjoying my grandmom’s peach cobbler and listening to crickets until the day God called him home – just a decade later.\n\nCancer awaited Mom the day she retired. And she spent a decade battling before she, thankfully, won her body back and took flight. Today, she’s an adventure-seeking globetrotter.\n\nThat was retirement life for generations past. Sacrifice all for one job, not out of passion but out of a necessity to provide. Then, retire and pray for enough sunsets left to find joy.\n\nSerena Williams was right to reject the word “retirement” in her recent essay in Vogue that revealed she would be moving on, or “evolving,” from tennis after competition in the US Open.\n\nShe called it her evolution and she was right.\n\nIn this America, retirement – from pro sports or any other job – is not what it used to be.\n\nSerena Williams is congratulated by Venus Williams after winning the Women's Singles Final match at the Australian Open on January 28, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. Scott Barbour/Getty Images\n\nWilliams’ words resonated deeply for many, including myself, a woman and mother who walked away from a highly successful (though hardly Serena-level) corporate career in my early 40s.\n\n“I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” Williams wrote. “A few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after that, I started a family. I want to grow that family.”\n\nNever one to stick to just tennis, throughout her career Serena (and her sister Venus) were encouraged by their parents to explore their passions outside the game. That lesson has put Serena in a powerful position now as she begins to re-center her life.\n\nSerena Ventures, which the tennis champion launched in 2013, is her one of her passions now. According to Williams, the six-person firm (five women and one recently-hired man) has invested in 16 ventures (including MasterClass, Tonal and Impossible Foods to name a few) that are today valued at more then $1 billion.\n\n“Seventy-eight percent of our portfolio happens to be companies started by women and people of color, because that’s who we are.”\n\nIf Williams did all that while chasing tennis trophies, imagine what she will accomplish now.\n\nIt would be a mistake to scoff at her rejection of the word retirement. Though immediately after her announcement Monday, many women, and men, debated whether Serena – hands down one of the greatest athletes in the world – was conveniently playing semantics. Some said she was just another woman bowing out to have a baby.\n\nThe eye-rolling around Serena’s word choice is no surprise.\n\nOur culture struggles to validate powerful, iconic women like Williams, let alone other women who have excelled in their chosen fields. And society continues to view our ability to bear children as a weakness instead of the amazing superpower, that I’ve always believed it to be.\n\nSerena Williams posted this photo to Instagram of her and her daughter playing tennis, with the message, 'Caption this.' Serena Williams/Instagram\n\nBy using the word “evolve,” Serena has done what society has failed to do when it comes to framing talented women who excel early in a chosen career, then leave on their own terms and lean instead into themselves. Embracing our full humanity, many women shift their focus to other goals they can transcend in life, be it motherhood, launching a business or exploring other life passions.\n\nWatching women realize their limitless capacity for greatness is a beautiful thing. Williams’ life has been an inspiration for millions of women with less power and prestige. And her latest evolution is no different.\n\nMany women of all economic backgrounds, including those in my own peer group, are reimagining and expanding, what success looks like in our lives.\n\nIt isn’t an easy choice to make. Williams, who calls herself a “savage” competitor, knows her evolution will be painful. Despite breaking numerous records, winning four Olympic gold medals and 23 Grand Slam championships – surpassing tennis greats like Billie Jean King, Martina Hingis, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova – Williams is not yet rejoicing at this new turn in her life.\n\nNo, this phenomenal woman still only sees areas where she could have been greater: the wins she didn’t get to surpass Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles. (It should be noted that Court won before the modern-day “open era” that began back in 1968.)\n\n“The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus grand slams. I had my chances after coming back from giving birth. I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually it’s extraordinary,” Williams said in her essay, adding that she had no regrets about having a family over building her tennis resume.\n\nIt is this unabashed pursuit of excellence and warrior spirit – on the court and off – that have endeared Williams to so many.\n\nHer childbirth story is a familiar one among the Black women I know, who often cite inadequate medical care by health care professionals who ignored early warning signs during pregnancy.\n\nThe US maternal morbidity rates are among the worst the world among wealthy nations, especially for Black, Native American and rural women. So much so that recently, President Joe Biden launched a federal initiative to examine how racism, housing policy, policing, climate change and pollution affect maternal mortality rates.\n\nWilliams opined that were she a man, she would have had a longer career, free to pursue more championships. She could have been a Tom Brady, she said. It is a painful reckoning when women admit their professional goals will be cut short solely because of their gender.\n\nGet our free weekly newsletter Sign up for CNN Opinion’s newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook\n\nMy dream was to become president of ESPN or run a sports media company. Mid-career after a rapid rise, countless awards and recording a lot of “firsts,” I had to face that my goal was far-fetched. In fact, no woman at the company – no matter her leadership skills, motherhood status or experience – was going to become president at the sports media giant. Not back then, not today.\n\nI remain hopeful for that day, but leaving is a move I’ve never regretted.\n\nWilliams and women who dare to step out into the world on their own terms are my superheroes.\n\nShe has grown the game of tennis immeasurably. She has redefined the women’s power game, attracted record-breaking TV audiences and revenue growth, won equal pay (along with her sister Venus), a battle that began with King. Williams has ushered in a new generation of fierce power hitters – and made it safer for them to show up as their authentic selves.\n\nSerena Williams came, she saw and she conquered.\n\nAnd I cannot wait to see what she does next.", "authors": ["Roxanne Jones"], "publish_date": "2022/08/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/politics/liz-cheney-donald-trump-2022-election/index.html", "title": "Liz Cheney is already looking beyond 2022 | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nLiz Cheney didn’t come right out and say she expects to lose her primary next month. But in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday, it was pretty easy to read between the lines of the Wyoming Republican’s answers.\n\n“I am working hard here in Wyoming to earn every vote,” Cheney said at one point. “But I will also say this. I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to say things that aren’t true about the election. My opponents are doing that, certainly simply for the purpose of getting elected.\n\n“If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day,” she said at another.\n\nAsked by Tapper whether her service as vice chair of the House select committee investigating January 6 will have been worth it even if she loses next month, Cheney responded that it was “the single most important thing I have ever done professionally.”\n\nIf it sounds to you like Cheney is framing her August 16 primary for Wyoming’s at-large House seat as a sort of fait accompli, and as not the end of the story but as a part of a broader narrative, well, then, you are right.\n\nThe simple fact is that Cheney is very unlikely to beat Harriet Hageman in next month’s primary. Hageman has the support of former President Donald Trump, as well as a number of top Republicans including, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.\n\nWhile Cheney has tried to recruit Democrats to cross party lines and support her – and some undoubtedly will – it’s hard to see that making a real difference in the outcome of the race in such an overwhelmingly Republican state.\n\nSimply put: Cheney looks likely to lose – and she knows it.\n\nWhat she also knows is that, at least in her mind, this isn’t the end of her political career.\n\nHere’s how Cheney answered a question from Tapper on whether she is interested in running for president in 2024:\n\n“I haven’t really – at this point, I have not made a decision about 2024. …\n\n“… But I do think, as we look towards the next presidential election, as I said, I believe that our nation stands on the edge of an abyss. And I do believe that we all have to really think very seriously about the dangers we face and the threats we face. And we have to elect serious candidates.”\n\nWhich tells you everything you need to know about Cheney and 2024. She isn’t an announced candidate. But when you hear a politician talking about the country “standing on the edge of an abyss” and the need to elect “serious candidates,” well, it doesn’t take an astrophysicist to figure out what’s going on there.\n\nThe real question seems to be then not whether Cheney runs – she sounded to all the world like that decision is mostly made – but rather whether she would have any sort of impact on the 2024 race.\n\nIf Cheney runs as a Republican, it will, undoubtedly, be a very tough road for her.\n\nTrump is the clear frontrunner in all polling conducted on the Republican presidential primary and seems very likely to run. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the only serious alternative to Trump at the moment – and he has positioned himself as a representative of Trumpism without Trump.\n\nThere is no potential candidate garnering any serious support in hypothetical 2024 primary polls who is running expressly against Trump and his four years in office. The Republicans, aside from Cheney, who are signaling an interest in running that sort of campaign – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan being perhaps the most prominent – barely register in polls.\n\nCould Cheney somehow coalesce the anti-Trump vote within the Republican Party? Sure. But even if she was to do so, there’s scant evidence that bloc of voters comprise anything close to a majority of likely Republican primary voters.\n\nThe other – and perhaps more plausible – path for Cheney is to run as an independent in 2024. Assuming Trump is the Republican nominee, such a candidacy could skim off enough votes to potentially hamstring the former President’s chances of winning. (Presumably Cheney, who is conservative on most issues, would appeal more to Republicans than Democrats.)\n\nEven under that scenario, however, Cheney would function as a spoiler – trying to keep Trump from the White House – rather than as a viable candidate to be president. Which, given what she told Tapper Sunday, might be enough for her.\n\n“I’m fighting hard, no matter what happens on August 16, I’m going to wake up on August 17 and continue to fight hard to ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again,” said Cheney.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/07/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/19/us/pete-arredondo-uvalde-school-police-chief/index.html", "title": "Pete Arredondo: Uvalde school police chief's termination may be ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nUvalde Consolidated Independent School District officials have informed district police chief Pete Arredondo that the school board intends to meet Saturday to decide on his fate, according to a source close to the discussions.\n\nThe source told CNN Tuesday the board is expected to vote to terminate Arredondo, who was placed on administrative leave last month for his role in the botched response to the Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.\n\nEarlier, two sources close to the process told CNN Uvalde officials were in discussions on the process to remove Arredondo over his role in the response to the shooting.\n\nThe discussions follow a heated school board meeting Monday night where parents demanded the board fire Arredondo by Tuesday.\n\nCNN has reached out to Arredondo’s attorney and has not received a response.\n\nArredondo, who has been the school district police chief since March 2020, was one of the nearly 400 law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting in which a gunman entered adjoining classrooms inside the Texas school on May 24.\n\nOfficers began arriving at the school within minutes but allowed the gunman to remain in the classrooms for 77 minutes until they entered and killed him, according to a timeline from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). By the time police forced their way inside, 19 children and two teachers were dead.\n\nIn a hearing before the Texas Senate last month, DPS Director Col. Steven McCraw called the police response an “abject failure.” He placed sole blame for the failure on Arredondo, who officials have identified as the on-scene commander, saying he “decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children.”\n\nBut Arredondo did not consider himself incident commander, according to a Texas House investigative committee’s preliminary report. “My approach and thought was responding as a police officer. And so I didn’t title myself,” Arredondo said in the investigative report.\n\nThe report instead placed blame more broadly, saying, “The entirety of law enforcement and its training, preparation, and response shares systemic responsibility for many missed opportunities.”\n\nIt also noted others could have assumed command.\n\nAdvanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training “teaches that any law enforcement officer can assume command, that somebody must assume command, and that an incident commander can transfer responsibility as an incident develops,” the report said. “That did not happen at Robb Elementary, and the lack of effective incident command is a major factor that caused other vital measures to be left undone.”\n\nIn the wake of sharp criticism, Uvalde school district Superintendent Hal Harrell placed Arredondo on leave from his position as school police chief on June 22.\n\n“Because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations, I have made the decision to place Chief Arredondo on administrative leave effective on this date,” Harrell wrote in the announcement.\n\nArredondo, who has worked in law enforcement for nearly 30 years, has not spoken substantively to the public about his decision-making the day of the massacre, but he told the Texas Tribune and the House Committee he did not consider himself the on-scene commander.\n\nHowever, at least one of the responding officers expressed the belief that Arredondo was leading the law enforcement response inside the school, telling others, “the chief is in charge,” according to the DPS timeline.\n\nArredondo also told the Tribune he did not instruct officers to refrain from breaching the classrooms.\n\nSeparately, Arredondo resigned his position on the Uvalde City Council in early July, according to a resignation letter he sent to the city.\n\n“After much consideration, it is in the best interest of the community to step down as a member of the City Council for District 3 to minimize further distractions,” Arredondo said in the letter. “The Mayor, the City Council, and the City Staff must continue to move forward to unite our community, once again.”", "authors": ["Shimon Prokupecz Eric Levenson", "Shimon Prokupecz", "Eric Levenson"], "publish_date": "2022/07/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/politics/liz-cheney-donald-trump-warning-january-6-committee/index.html", "title": "Liz Cheney sent a very clear warning to Donald Trump on Thursday ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIt was often said during the Trump administration that Cabinet officials and Republican allies were playing to an audience of one: The president of the United States.\n\nWhile Donald Trump may no longer be the president, it was clear on Thursday night that Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the House select committee investigating January 6, was speaking to that same audience of one.\n\n“Doors have opened,” Cheney said. “New subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break.”\n\nThe message to Trump was simple: We’re coming for you.\n\nOf course, it remains to be seen whether a) the January 6 committee will make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice about Trump, or b) the Department of Justice decides to criminally charge Trump (or anyone else) in connection with the riot at the US Capitol.\n\nWhile that is, quite clearly, an open question, Cheney seemed intent on ratcheting up the pressure on Trump (and his innermost circle) as the hearings are set to take a hiatus while the committee continues to gather evidence and talk to witnesses.\n\nWe’ve seen this tactic from Cheney work before. Following a committee hearing in late June, Cheney publicly urged former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to come forward and testify on the record.\n\n“Any concerns he has about the institutional interests of his prior office are outweighed by the need for his testimony,” she tweeted at the time.\n\nLess than two weeks later, Cipollone testified in a closed-door meeting with the committee. His video testimony has been used extensively by the committee in its two most recent hearings.\n\nCheney used that same bully pulpit to get Trump’s attention on Thursday night. And again, it worked.\n\n“Liz Cheney is a sanctimonious loser,” the former President posted on his Truth Social site. “The Great State of Wyoming is wise to her.” (That was one of more than 10 posts by Trump last night.)\n\nCheney’s hope here is that Trump, feeling the pressure of the committee’s ongoing investigation, slips up in some way that further exposes him – either criminally or otherwise.\n\nWe already know, thanks to CNN reporting, that Trump tried to call a member of the White House support staff who was talking to the January 6 committee. According to CNN, the staffer was in a position to corroborate part of what Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, had testified before the committee. The staffer did not answer the call and instead alerted their lawyer.\n\nWe also know that Trump is getting antsy to declare his 2024 presidential candidacy as the drip-drip-drip of the committee’s findings take their toll, and as other would-be Republican contenders – namely Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – move up in polling.\n\nThe more cornered Trump feels, the more likely he is to make a mistake. That’s what Cheney is banking on.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/07/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/21/health/monkeypox-under-18-new-york-state/index.html", "title": "For the first time, monkeypox has been reported in a minor in New ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nA minor in New York state has reportedly contracted monkeypox – a first among children in the state and at least the third reported case of the disease among children in the US.\n\nThe child lives in New York but not in New York City, according to state health department data released last week. The data does not list the child’s gender, city of residence nor how the minor became infected.\n\nNew York Department of Health spokesperson Monica Pomeroy said she was not able to disclose the minor’s age.\n\n“In instances where the number of cases is small, patient confidentiality prohibits the Department from disclosing this information,” Pomeroy said.\n\nPreviously, at least two other children in the US have had cases of monkeypox, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nOne case involved a California toddler, and the other involved an infant who is not a US resident.\n\nThe two cases are unrelated and probably the result of household transmission, the CDC said. Public health officials are investigating how the children got infected.\n\nSince the monkeypox outbreak began in May, most cases have occurred among men who have sex with men. But anyone can catch the virus through close skin-to-skin contact.\n\nIn the case of children, the CDC said, this could include “holding, cuddling, feeding, as well as through shared items such as towels, bedding, cups, and utensils.”\n\nThe CDC said the Jynneos vaccine is being made available for children through special expanded use protocols.\n\nThe agency has also developed new guidance for health care providers about identifying, treating and preventing monkeypox in children and teens.", "authors": ["Samantha Beech Isa Kaufman Geballe", "Samantha Beech", "Isa Kaufman Geballe"], "publish_date": "2022/08/21"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_18", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/09/cartel-turns-over-5-men-apologizes-after-americans-kidnapped-killed/11435887002/", "title": "Cartel turns over 5 men, apologizes after Americans kidnapped, killed", "text": "A Mexican drug cartel claiming its members were behind the brazen kidnapping of four Americans last week handed over five of the members and left a note of apology, Mexican media outlets and The Associated Press reported Thursday.\n\nPhotos circulating on social media show five men on the pavement with their hands tied – four of them shirtless – in front of a pickup truck, which has a handwritten letter of apology on the windshield.\n\nThe AP reported obtaining a copy of the letter from a law enforcement source in Tamaulipas, the Mexican state where the American travelers were attacked. Two of them were killed and another one wounded in a shooting Friday shortly after arriving in the border city of Matamoros for cosmetic surgery.\n\nAuthorities have said cartel members probably mistook them for drug smugglers and abducted them after shooting their van.\n\nIn the letter, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros, a Mexican woman who was killed by a stray bullet and the four Americans and their families.\n\n“We have decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible in the events, who at all times acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline,” the letter reads, adding that those people had gone against the cartel’s rules.\n\nIs Mexico travel safe? What to know about visiting Cabo, Cancun, Playa del Carmen and more\n\nTwo Americans killed in Mexico:Two survivors have returned to the US; victims identified: Updates\n\nThe AP also obtained the photo of the men face-down on the ground and reported that they had been found tied up inside one of the vehicles authorities had been seeking, along with the letter, according to an official not authorized to speak about the case.\n\nBodies returned to US authorities\n\nTamaulipas officials have not publicly confirmed having new suspects in custody, but earlier Thursday the attorney general’s office said it had seized an ambulance and medical clinic in Matamoros that were used to provide first aid to the injured Americans.\n\nAuthorities located them Tuesday morning on the outskirts of the city, guarded by a man who was arrested. Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard died in the attack; Eric Williams survived with a leg wound and Latavia McGee was physically unharmed.\n\nThe two survivors were returned to the U.S. and are receiving medical care. The remains of Woodard and Brown were handed over to U.S. authorities Thursday after undergoing autopsies.\n\nApology won't take away the suffering\n\nJerry Wallace, a cousin of Williams, told the AP the family's happy he's alive but does not accept the cartel's apology.\n\n“It ain’t going to change nothing about the suffering that we went through,” said Wallace, 62, who called for the American and Mexican governments to better address cartel violence.\n\nJerry Robinette, a former special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio, said he wasn’t surprised the cartel handed to Mexican authorities the five men it claims were involved in the attack.\n\n“Many times we’ve seen the cartel will police themselves,” he said. “It’s not good for their business. They’ll clean up their own mess.”\n\nNext, there will be warrants for their extradition to the U.S. to face criminal charges, Robinette said. Federal investigators will still try to determine what role, if any, the men played in the shooting. And U.S. authorities may not be satisfied by the men’s capture, he said.\n\n“It’s one thing to identify the individuals most directly involved with the violence, but that’s only part of it,” Robinette said. “It’s imperative the investigation goes above and beyond the individuals who actually pulled the trigger.”\n\nFifth member of group stayed behind and grew concerned\n\nPolice in Brownsville, Texas, where the travelers crossed into Mexico, said they were aware of developments in Matamoros.\n\nPolice spokesman Martin Sandoval said the FBI was attempting to confirm whether the men in the photo were the actual suspects. The FBI did not immediately comment Thursday.\n\nSandoval confirmed police had located a fifth member of the traveling party, Cheryl Orange, who stayed behind in Brownsville because she had forgotten required travel documents. The group had driven from South Carolina to Mexico for one of the members, Latavia McGee, to undergo what was initially reported as a tummy tuck, although Orange told police it was actually for \"gluteal augmentation.''\n\nOrange first alerted authorities to concerns about their safety when she called police Saturday, the day after the other four had crossed the border. Orange told police she had last seen the group at 8 a.m. Friday, when they left a Brownsville motel for Matamoros in a rented white minivan bearing North Carolina plates.\n\nThe group had planned to return in time to check out of the motel Saturday, according to the police report.\n\n\"(Orange) stated that she has not heard from them since (Friday),\" the report said.\n\nEx-Mexican intelligence official on cartel: 'Bunch of unsophisticated thugs'\n\nAlejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence official, told USA TODAY that various factions of the Gulf cartel are at war with each other in Matamoros due to arrests and splintering into competing groups vying for control of the lucrative northbound plazas used to traffic drugs into the U.S.\n\nIn recent years, the warring factions have also made a lot of their money from extortion, robberies and other violent crime, he said, operating with impunity because of the ineffectiveness and corruption of local authorities in Mexico.\n\nHope speculated the attack on the Americans may have started as a robbery before escalating into an international incident, prompting cartel leaders to offer the five men as scapegoats.\n\n“They call themselves a cartel, but they’re just a bunch of unsophisticated thugs,” said Hope, a security consultant and partner at GEA Grupo de Economistas y Asociados in Mexico.\n\nHe added that front-line law enforcement officials on both sides of the border work closely together and would likely continue to do so.\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/11/mexico-kidnapping-lets-be-clear-black-women-questions-bbl/11436350002/", "title": "Americans kidnapped in Mexico went for a BBL? There's a bigger ...", "text": "When two Americans ended up dead, and two others kidnapped, amid a shootout just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, the initial questions were myriad: What happened? Who killed them? And what was the group of four people from South Carolina doing in a minivan in Matamoros?\n\nOn the last point, an explanation from relatives quickly emerged. One woman in the group, Latavia McGee, was going to Mexico for cosmetic surgery, and the other friends had joined her for a road trip.\n\nThat surgery was first described as a tummy tuck. Later, relatives and friends said the procedure was a \"gluteal augmentation.\"\n\nAnd even though more than a million Americans annually seek medical care on the other side of the border, getting a \"gluteal augmentation\" – in a place where the State Department warns Americans not to travel at all – certainly struck a lot of people as strange.\n\nIf you know, though, you know.\n\nFirst, let us call this whole popular-empowering-controversial-notorious procedure what people call it in real life: the Brazilian butt lift, or BBL.\n\nNext, let me tell you the same thing I told some of my colleagues this week. Whether or not you like this, whether or not you understand this, people do this, and especially, a lot of Black people do it.\n\nIf you are a woman, and especially if you're Black, and if you are on, say, Instagram, I'm going to go out on a limb not very far at all and guess that you've had this targeted at you in your social media feed. Especially if you follow beauty and pop culture influencers. You don't have to scroll too long to see it; it simply becomes a part of your algorithm.\n\nThe BBL is a thing.\n\nIt's also very expensive. And that's the next thing you learn if you are having this idea pushed at you in your social feeds week after week: It's a whole lot less expensive in Mexico.\n\nSo the idea that someone – it could be anyone, but for sake of discussion, let's say it's a Black woman and her Black friends from Lake City, South Carolina – would drive across six states to the tip of Texas to have this surgery? If true, it is not shocking. At all.\n\nBut that doesn't address the underlying question bandied about on social media: Is it worth it?\n\nMore:With 2 Americans dead in Matamoros, a cartel-scarred Mexican border town wonders what's next\n\nMore:Mexican cartel apologizes for kidnapping, killing Americans, turns over 5 it says responsible\n\nWhat is this surgery?\n\nA BBL involves harvesting fat from other areas of the body and injecting it into the buttocks and hips. (Often, that fat is removed from the belly in the process through liposuction. So those early reports that the group went to Matamoros for a tummy tuck may also be essentially correct.)\n\nResults often mean a tiny, or snatched waist, and a curvier, fuller behind. It's the extreme hourglass aesthetic. Slim-thick.\n\nUsually, it requires general anesthesia. Initial recovery can take weeks.\n\nI've watched for years on social media as these clinics target Black women in ads that show before and after pictures, while touting prices that are usually half of what the cost would be in America – around $10,000-$15,000 and not covered by insurance.\n\nIt's called medical tourism. Popular destinations for a discounted procedure include Turkey, South America and Mexico. So-called recovery houses also offer patients post-op care and a place to heal.\n\nThe New York Times reported this week about the Matamoros clinic that had been expecting McGee. The clinic \"reaches out to potential American clients with targeted ads on Instagram,\" according to an employee who spoke to a reporter, and posts before-and-after pictures of clients online. She said about half the clinic's patients are American.\n\nSo whether or not we fully understand the story of how Latavia McGee and three friends came to be in a white minivan in Matamoros in a hail of gunfire, we can accept that the idea of such a trip makes sense in a world where people travel the world – in sometimes questionable locales – for affordable cosmetic surgery.\n\nIt turned out there was a fifth person on the trip, Cheryl Orange, who later told police she had forgotten her travel documents and couldn't cross the border that day. She had stayed behind in Brownsville, Texas, when the rest of the group left on Friday morning to cross into Matamoros.\n\nThe group had planned to return in time to check out of the motel Saturday, according to the police report, though I wonder how McGee could have made such a quick turnaround after an invasive procedure. Instead, one came back wounded and two are dead.\n\n“She simply went for a cosmetic surgery, and that’s it,\" Orange told the Associated Press. \"That’s all, and this happened to them.”\n\nWhatever truly happened to McGee and her friends that day, let us agree that any broader discussion about the risks or problems with BBLs is not so much about possible cartel violence.\n\nBut let's also be clear: There is a discussion.\n\nMore:Retracing the steps of a violent kidnapping after 2 Americans found dead in Mexico\n\nSo how should we feel about this surgery?\n\nEven if you think you don't know anything about BBLs, you have seen BBLs.\n\nI know, I'm out on a limb there, but not very far. The look has become increasingly popular among celebrities. Think the Kardashians (though they have denied undergoing the procedure), or Nicki Minaj.\n\nSo yes, Black women do it, white women do it, Kardashian women (maybe) do it.\n\nWhoever they are, more women are doing it. According to a 2021 survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of buttock augmentations performed globally increased by 41% from 2017 to 2021, and buttock lifts increased by 46%.\n\nA quick search for \"BBL\" on TikTok will tell you a lot about what's going on.\n\nSome women will chronicle their journeys to bigger, perkier butts, explaining the process, recovery time, cost and what doctors they would recommend.\n\nIt's a mainstream conversation if you know where to look.\n\nRapper Cardi B. is another one of those women you've seen with a BBL. But she has since warned women of the dangers and had most of her augmentation – she also had silicone injected in her buttocks – removed.\n\nWhat's \"dangerous\" may be up to each person to decide. A 2017 report, published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, noted that BBLs have the highest mortality rate compared to any other cosmetic surgery.\n\nThese kinds of surgeries also raise all kinds of risks, including at clinics in Florida investigated by our newsroom several years ago.\n\nSo the procedure is widely discussed and widely debated on Instagram.\n\nSome women defend their decision or desire to make a change. (\"Treat yourself, sis! Get a snatched waist and a fat booty.\") Others condemn the trend as dangerous and a slap to body positivity. (\"Fake curves aren't worth the time, money or endangering your life. Love the body God blessed you with.\")\n\nThis discussion goes on particularly in Black corners of the platform.\n\nBut let me be clear one more time: women of all races and ethnicities are seeking this surgery. So some of this discourse is about non-Black women culturally appropriating the often-natural body shape of Black women with curves and larger derrières. Bootylicious.\n\nThese are Black women, like Beyoncé, who were once shunned when \"thin\" was in. Now, people will pay money to take on the same physique that was once part of Black women's identity. (By the way, the \"Brazilian\" part isn't about Brazilian culture, just the doctor who first did the procedure.)\n\nThen there's the long-term question. Any trend comes an end. Many on social media have already declared that the BBL craze is dead after speculating that the Kardashians have, ahem, downsized.\n\nThat means women may have put themselves at risk to take on a shape they only thought they wanted.\n\nI don't profess to know what McGee wanted. And we still don't know everything about how she came to be on that street in Mexico. More than anything, I'm saddened that McGee was in harm's way if it was for a BBL. I'm saddened to think that she now knows two of her friends are dead.\n\nAuthorities say they're still investigating in Matamoros. Yes, perhaps the group would never have been there if not for a BBL. No, it also may not be fair to blame anything on that.\n\nBut put aside what happened in Mexico.\n\nWhoever you are, if you are white or Black – but maybe especially if you are a Black woman, scrolling through your social media feed and seeing BBL posts yet again – there are plenty of other reasons to ask. Is it worth it?\n\nSuzette Hackney is a national columnist. Reach her on Twitter: @suzyscribe.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/phoenix-best-reads/2016/09/02/summer-fear-when-serial-shooter-and-baseline-killer-terrorized-phoenix/89557694/", "title": "Serial Shooter and Baseline Killer in Phoenix: Summer of Fear", "text": "Michael Kiefer\n\nThe Republic | azcentral.com\n\nPaul Patrick wanted a pack of cigarettes.\n\nHe knew there were two different serial killers criss-crossing the Phoenix area, one of them a sniper prowling Patrick's neighborhood at night, shooting people out of car windows. But the mini-mart was just blocks away, within sight of his house. He was craving a smoke.\n\nSo at 11:30 on that hot evening, June 8, 2006, the 45-year-old Army veteran who worked as a supermarket stocker ventured out on Indian School Road in west Phoenix.\n\nHe didn’t hear the shotgun blast so much as feel it slam into him.\n\nBefore he fell to the ground, he stood for a moment frantically trying to hold his entrails in his hands to keep them from spilling onto the street.\n\nHe screamed for help.\n\nWhen he looked up, he saw a Hispanic man standing over him holding a pistol. He expected the gunman to finish him off.\n\nPatrick thought, “Please make it fast.”\n\nInstead the man said, “No one’s going to hurt you.”\n\nThe man was Saúl Guerrero, an Army National Guard, a combat veteran of the Iraq war. He worked as an MP at the Phoenix Armory and lived in the neighborhood.\n\nWhen he heard the shot, Guerrero thought, “It’s Maryvale,” a tough west Phoenix neighborhood where shots are heard frequently.\n\nSummer of Fear: A timeline of events\n\nThen his mother asked him to come outside. A man was screaming on the sidewalk across the street.\n\nGuerrero called 911.\n\nBut when he saw that people were only walking up to look at the screaming man, then walking away, he told the 911 operator, “You’re going to have to talk to my mom. She only speaks Spanish.”\n\nGuerrero ran into his apartment, got his gun and a simple first-aid kit. Then he ran, barefoot and bare-chested through the traffic on Indian School Road.\n\nHe identified himself to Patrick and used what he could from his first-aid kit. He held Patrick’s guts in to stanch the bleeding until the ambulance and police showed up.\n\nThe police took Guerrero's gun from him until they were sure he was not a threat; then they took his name and told him they would contact him if they needed him.\n\nThey never did.\n\nTen years later, another killer is stalking victims in Phoenix, several of them in the Maryvale area where Paul Patrick was shot.\n\nPolice are baffled, much as they were in the summer of 2006.\n\nTwo separate sets of serial killings had plagued the Valley for more than a year. Over 16 months in 2005 and 2006, at least 17 people were killed, and dozens more were assaulted and injured before police arrested suspects in August and September.\n\nOne of the killers was referred to as the \"Serial Shooter,\" though eventually two men were convicted in the killings, and a third was convicted of crimes related to the carnage. They were sniping out of cars at transients, prostitutes, immigrants or people they mistook for any of the above.\n\nThe other was called the \"Baseline Killer.\" He snatched women off the street, often in broad daylight. If they didn’t give in to his sexual demands, he shot them in the head and left them tauntingly near to where he had taken them in the first place, then disappeared like a wraith.\n\nGuerrero had never heard of the Serial Shooter, who cut down Paul Patrick that summer night.\n\nHe learned only months later, when Patrick’s family came looking for him to thank him.\n\nBy the end of the summer of 2006, nearly everyone in metropolitan Phoenix knew about the murders.\n\nIt was a summer of fear.\n\nI covered the killings as a reporter for this newspaper, from the shootings to the eventual arrests, the murder trials and sentences, the appeals, even the death of one of the killers.\n\nI knew the judges, the prosecutors, the defense attorneys, the police officers, the victims, the bad guys, the families of the victims as well as the families of the accused. I visited the sites where the crimes took place, searching for clues.\n\nAnd now, a decade later, I still drive the streets of the Valley thinking: “Someone was shot on that bench, in front of that store,” or “Someone was abducted at that ATM,” or “They found a body there by that building.”\n\nThere are stories about victims and survivors that I still cannot tell out loud without my voice cracking.\n\nAnd this summer, I find the same reactions — in many cases stronger — from the police officers who cracked the cases, the judges who tried them, the lawyers who defended and prosecuted them.\n\nAnd from the victims, whether the family members left behind, or those who weren’t killed, who all remain permanently scarred.\n\nPaul Patrick survived — barely.\n\nThe shooting took his legs and his livelihood from him. For years he rode a scooter-wheelchair to get around.\n\nHe attended every day he could of the trials and waited patiently for the testimony of the man who shot him.\n\nWhen he finally heard it, the realization came over him: There was no reason.\n\nNear the end of the first trial, Patrick had a massive stroke that nearly killed him. Doctors could not measure the extent of the brain damage by MRI because the magnetic force would have pulled the buckshot pellets that remained in his body and sliced him to pieces.\n\nI remember visiting him in the hospital then. A piece of his skull had been removed to ease the swelling. Just a flap of skin covered his brain.\n\nHe had several more strokes over the years and came so close to dying that his family was called to come see him for a last time before he died.\n\nEach time he pulled through.\n\nRecently, I visited him in the nursing home where he is confined to a hospital bed, able to move only his left arm and leg.\n\nI was surprised he remembered me, and he smiled, and I realized I was part of the life he used to have.\n\nWe talked about the day he went out to buy a pack of cigarettes against his better judgment.\n\nHe grinned.\n\n“Smoking can kill you,” he said.\n\nThe first ominous signs were dogs, horses and other animals found shot to death in West Valley yards in mid-2005.\n\nThen there were immigrants on bicycles, transients sleeping on benches in west Phoenix or panhandling under an overpass in Tolleson, all of them shot dead with .22-caliber slugs.\n\nIn August 2005, the sexual assaults started along Baseline Road, from Tempe to Laveen. A group of teenagers. A mother assaulted in front of her daughter then forced to drive while the daughter was molested.\n\nThe events seemed isolated at first. They spanned multiple jurisdictions, so police departments would not immediately see a pattern.\n\nThere was no Twitter, no Instagram, fewer Facebook users. Information — and fear — took longer to take hold in those days.\n\nBut the bodies added up.\n\nGeorgia Thompson was 19, an exotic dancer from Idaho. On Sept. 9, 2005, she was found on her back in the parking lot of a Tempe apartment complex with a bullet in her head.\n\nHer keys were still clutched in her hand. She wore an orange T-shirt that said, \"Better luck next time.\"\n\nHer pants were unbuttoned, but she had not been sexually assaulted. The only evidence found at the scene was a spent .380-caliber cartridge casing.\n\nBallistics experts needed months to link that casing to other murders.\n\nAt about 7:30 in the evening of Dec. 29, 2005, someone started shooting from a car at a Tempe bartending school.\n\nOver the next five hours, the car meandered through central Phoenix. The shooting continued: A dog was killed as it was being walked by its owner; then a man named Jose Ortis was murdered; then a second man, Marco Carillo, was shot to death.\n\nA block and a moment later, Timmy Tordai had just gotten off the bus after working a shift at the post office. He was walking home when he felt a pop under his collarbone and fell to the ground, paralyzed.\n\n\"I thought I was having a heart attack,\" he said later in court. \"And then I saw the blood.\"\n\nBefore the night ended, three more dogs were shot dead in central Phoenix.\n\nSometime after 1 a.m., now Dec. 30, a woman was turning tricks on Van Buren Street.\n\nShe had just gotten out of one john's car and was scanning the street for her next when a light-blue, four-door car passed her and made a U-turn. She thought it might be her next john until she saw the gun barrel come out the driver's side window.\n\nShe lived; a passerby stopped his car and drove her to a hospital.\n\nJust as police realized that the car-sniper incidents were linked to a “serial shooter,” they stopped for five months.\n\nPolice had not yet connected any murders to the rapes along Baseline Road.\n\nIn February 2006, Romelia Vargas and Mirna Palma Roman were found dead in a lunch wagon in southwest Phoenix with gunshots to the head, their pants unbuttoned and pulled down slightly. At first police thought it was a drug deal gone bad.\n\nThen in March, Chao Chou and Liliana Sanchez Cabrera were abducted at gunpoint as they got into a car behind the restaurant where they worked at 24th Street and Indian School Road. Both were found dead within a mile of each other.\n\nPolice now knew they had two serial killers on the streets and began sounding the alarm in the media. One killer was shooting out of cars. The other was on foot, appearing out of nowhere to assault women, and shooting them in the head if they resisted.\n\n“The police chief and the city manager asked to see me, and they closed the door,” said Phil Gordon, who was mayor of Phoenix at the time.\n\n“We made a public-policy decision,” Gordon said. “Nothing was going to be spared.\"\n\nMore attacks, more bodies: A dead prostitute, Kristina Nicole Gibbons, was found stuffed between a building and a shed on 24th Street in Phoenix.\n\nA woman was abducted at gunpoint at 32nd Street and Thomas Road by a black man wearing a fright mask and pushing a shopping cart.\n\nShe was forced to drive to a secluded area nearby and strip naked. When she refused to perform oral sex on her abductor, he put the gun to her head and told her that her parents would read about her in the newspaper the next day. He pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired.\n\nAs soon as she heard the click, she leaned on the door handle and fled naked to the nearest house.\n\nThen the shootings from cars picked back up in central Phoenix, in South Scottsdale, in Maryvale and near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.\n\nBut now the shooter was using a shotgun instead of a .22 rifle, which cannot be traced as easily as a rifle's bullets. Investigators wondered at first if it was yet another assailant.\n\nThe police came up with nicknames for the killers.\n\nThey named the car-window sniper the \"Serial Shooter.” They had no descriptions of the driver/shooter, they knew he drove a light-colored sedan.\n\nThe other suspect was first known as the \"Baseline Rapist,” because of his early victims near Baseline Road. Then when police connected the rapes to the murders, they changed his handle to the \"Baseline Killer,” even though many of his targets were in the square-mile area between Indian School and Thomas Road and 24th and 32nd Streets.\n\nPolice circulated a sketch of a suspect: A light-skinned black man who wore a Gilligan-style fishing hat and a dreadlocks wig.\n\nOn June 29, 2006, the Baseline Killer struck again, in a terrifying lightning-quick attack that was caught on video and rocked the city of Phoenix.\n\nAt around 9:30 p.m., a woman named Carmen Miranda was talking on the phone to her boyfriend as she vacuumed her car at a car wash on Thomas Road at 29th Street. She told the boyfriend that a panhandler was approaching her. She screamed and the phone went dead.\n\nThe boyfriend called police. He called Miranda’s sons. They all raced to the car wash. Miranda was gone.\n\nHours later, Miranda was found dead in her car behind a building next door to the car wash: a bullet between her eyes and her pants unbuttoned.\n\nBut there was a surveillance camera at the car wash. Police woke the owner late at night to get at it. They shared the video with the media the next day.\n\nBlurrily onscreen, a man wearing a Gilligan hat and a dreadlocks wig shuffles up to Miranda. He abruptly grabs her and throws her into the back seat of the car. Then he gets in and drives off.\n\nWhen TV stations broadcast the video, people realized the sudden ferocity of the attacks, and it fueled the city's terror.\n\nOver the next days, I walked the streets of the neighborhood where Miranda had been snatched. I talked to women waiting for buses or tending shops along what should have been a peaceful neighborhood.\n\nThere had been robberies at the stores and restaurants and an ATM at 32nd Street and Thomas, murders up and down 24th Street, rapes along 32nd Street.\n\nAnd the people I spoke to could recite every incident and every rumor that seemed to fit the pattern, but the police could not or would not confirm the information.\n\nThat made them only more worried. The neighborhood was working-class. The women, especially those who worked at night, were watching over their shoulders.\n\nMeanwhile, the rest of the Valley wondered if that car coming down the street while they were walking the dog was going to slow down so someone could shoot. And if so, where would they run?\n\nPolice held meetings to talk to neighborhoods affected by the killings.\n\n“We were speaking to a community of people who were so fearful for their families that it felt like an epidemic,” former Phoenix police Officer Paul Penzone said.\n\nPolice held regular press conferences to share information with the media.\n\nStill, the public remained confused about the two killers.\n\n“I spent months trying to explain the differences between the two cases,” said Andy Hill, a retired Phoenix police sergeant, who became the public face of the investigation.\n\nPhoenix Detective Clark Schwartzkopf added, “You couldn’t have two more different dynamics in these two murderers, but the public was mixed up.”\n\nCamille Kimball, who wrote the book \"A Sudden Shot\" about the Serial Shooter case, summed it up\n\n“That was part of the terror,” she said. “We didn’t know one from the other. The cops didn’t know one from the other.\"\n\nTo keep the cases straight, law enforcement came together across the Valley and created not one, but two task forces.\n\n“There were 375 people involved in the Serial Shooter case,” Schwartzkopf said, and 100 on the street for the Baseline Killer.\n\nOfficers were working double shifts and overtime.\n\nThe Republic, like most media outlets, had its own task force. At least six reporters covered the cases full time. Others would be called in as things happened.\n\nBut neither the police nor the media knew enough. The public was terrified, because the killers struck in every kind of neighborhood, good and bad, rich and poor.\n\nThe Serial Shooters worked from Tolleson and Avondale to Mesa and Chandler.\n\nThe Baseline Killer even assaulted people in a parking lot used by patrons of a wine bar in the tiny Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix.\n\nAnd they struck without warning.\n\n“There was an acknowledged crises,” Phil Gordon recalled. “Should we take our children to school? Should we go out at night? Should we cancel the Fourth of July?”\n\nBillboards bearing the police sketch of the Baseline Killer went up all over the metro area. A reward of $100,000 was offered for information leading to either suspect.\n\nBut he remained at large.\n\nCarmen Miranda would be the last of the Baseline Killer victims. After June 29, the killer went into hiding.\n\nBut the Serial Shooter amped up in July 2006, wounding eight more people and killing the last victim on July 30, a young woman talking on the phone while walking to a friend’s house in Mesa. She felt so safe that she was wearing pajamas.\n\nBy then, the Baseline Killer had forced himself on at least 33 victims over 13 attacks and killed eight women and one man.\n\nThe Serial Shooter case had eight dead — though police still suspect at least four more murders that they could never conclusively prove were related. Eighteen more had been wounded, and at least 10 animals had also been killed.\n\nPolice worked around the clock. The public waited fearfully.\n\nBy the end of the month, there had been no arrests.\n\nFive hundred to a thousand people a day called in to the Silent Witness hotline with tips on the Serial Shooter and the Baseline Killer.\n\n“We got calls from every part of society, and we took it seriously,” said former Phoenix police Officer Paul Penzone, who ran Silent Witness at the time.\n\nHe called the $100,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of either “two lottery tickets.\"\n\nIn the case of the Serial Shooter, the lottery paid out.\n\nA man named Sam Dieteman was a regular at a northwest Phoenix tavern called the Star Dust Inn. And once when he was drunk — and he was always drunk — he became remorseful, and he confessed to some of the shootings to his friend Ron Horton.\n\nOn July 30, 2006, a young woman named Robin Blasnek was shot and killed as she walked in her Mesa neighborhood. Horton felt responsible and realized he might have been able to prevent her death if he had called police.\n\nHorton dropped a dime. He gave police Dieteman’s cellphone number, which they traced. And he also provided them with the name of a man with whom Dieteman had once lived: Jeff Hausner. Police put Hausner's apartment under surveillance.\n\nAnd they asked Horton to arrange to meet Dieteman for drinks.\n\nOn Aug. 1, 2006, the task force staked out the Star Dust Inn, with undercover officers inside and out. Phoenix police Detective Clark Schwartzkopf was sitting in an unmarked car in the parking lot when a light-blue Toyota Camry pulled in.\n\n“That’s our car,” he recalled thinking. “It was an enormous relief. I’ve got the car. I’ve got the guys.”\n\nThe officers ran the plates. The number came back to Dale Hausner.\n\nThey had already heard of Jeff Hausner, but it was the first police became aware of his younger brother Dale.\n\nHausner dropped off Dieteman at the bar, then drove away. Officers followed Hausner as he drove to the Metrocenter mall. When Hausner went into the mall, the officers put a GPS device on his car.\n\nThen Hausner drove to Mesa, where he and Dieteman shared an apartment, taking the long way down Van Buren, as if casing out future victims, Schwartzkopf said.\n\nHorton stayed behind at the bar with Dieteman, calling police detectives when Dieteman went to the bathroom, according to Camille Kimball's book \"A Sudden Shot.\"\n\nThen Horton drove Dieteman to Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino on Interstate 10. Horton tactfully asked Dieteman if he could find another way home. Dieteman told him Dale Hausner was coming to pick him up. Horton left.\n\nUndercover police were there to watch Dieteman and Hausner as they talked inside the casino. Then they left for Hausner's car in the parking lot, stopping to open the trunk and take out a bag that was about the length of a shotgun.\n\nInstead of heading directly for the apartment in Mesa, the Camry wandered into Chandler.\n\nThere were nine surveillance vehicles following, including from the air. The police officers in them realized with shock that Hausner and Dieteman were on the hunt, looking for victims, slowing down when someone passed on a bike.\n\nThey would make U-turns and wander into neighborhoods that were not on the way to anywhere.\n\n“For an hour and a half we followed them as they cruised,” Schwartzkopf said. “It was the worst night of my law-enforcement career.”\n\nSchwartzkopf and the other officers worried that the gun could come out of the window at any moment, and they would would not be able to intervene.\n\nHausner and Dieteman could kill someone right in front of them.\n\nThe undercover cars strategically passed one another, switching positions to avoid detection and also to foil the shooters.\n\nAfter the Camry would pass by, one of the officers would shout out the window at people on the street and tell them to go home and take cover, he later told author Kimball.\n\n“We were hoping and praying to God they wouldn’t shoot anybody,” Schwartzkopf said.\n\nDieteman and Hausner never got off a shot that night. The Camry drove back to the apartment in Mesa under the watchful eye of undercover officers.\n\nThe task force needed to act fast.\n\nThe next day, Aug. 2, 2006, Phoenix police investigators met with County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his executive staff. Thomas approved their request for an emergency wiretap through a process that allows law enforcement to begin surveillance before a judge has signed off.\n\n\"The sun was starting to go down, and I did not want to take that chance of another loss of life,\" Thomas later testified in court when the legality of the wiretap was challenged.\n\nAt 11 p.m., detectives drove to the home of then-presiding criminal judge James Keppel to sign off on the emergency wiretap warrant and bugged Dieteman and Dale Hausner through a next-door apartment and recorded their conversation.\n\nThe officers couldn’t believe what they heard.\n\nOn the recording, according to transcripts, Dieteman tells Hausner, \"On the 5 a.m. news, it was when they first said .... Phoenix and Mesa police have now officially linked the shooting death of a young Mesa woman to the serial killer, which now brings their total to six.\"\n\nHausner says, \"It's higher than that. What about the guy I (expletive) shot on 27th Avenue ... ?\"\n\nDieteman continues to tell Hausner that the police are working with the feds in other states looking for similar crimes and evidence.\n\nHausner: \"So we're being copy-catted, Sam? We're pioneers, Sam? We're leading the way for a better life for everybody, Sam?\"\n\nAs police listened to the wiretap, Hausner talked about wanting to be the best serial killer ever. The two joked about the most recent murder, that of Robin Blasnek, and made cartoonish, mocking voices as he described her reaction.\n\nOfficers could hear the movie \"The Jungle Book\" in the background, playing for Hausner's toddler daughter.\n\nHausner says, \"I love shooting people in the back. That's so much fun. That (expletive) old man I shot in the back.\"\n\nDietman says, \"My favorite thing is, you know, when somebody is walking away ... it gives me... an extra couple seconds to aim. I don't have to worry about them looking.\"\n\nThat night, Aug. 3, police made their move.\n\nDieteman and Hausner were inside the apartment.\n\nBecause the child was there, too, police did not rush the building. They waited for an opportunity.\n\nFinally, near midnight, Dieteman came outside to throw out the trash, carrying a garbage bag that contained a shotgun shell and a map of the shootings. SWAT team officers in helmets and body armor confronted him. When Dieteman saw the guns, he surrendered. He gave them a key to the apartment.\n\nThe police entered quietly. Hausner was preoccupied with something on the counter, and didn't notice. But when the police announced their presence, he was startled and shouted, \"Jesus Christ!\"\n\nThen he fell to the floor.\n\nPolice bound his wrist with zip ties.\n\nAt 5 p.m. Aug. 4, 2006, I sat on a bench in the Initial Appearance Court in the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix, waiting for a first glimpse of the Serial Shooters.\n\nMaricopa County sheriff’s deputies led Dale Hausner, short, blond and scruffy-bearded, into the initial appearance courtroom inside the jail.\n\nHe was wearing only a pair of green gym shorts and a pair of pink handcuffs. His hair was mussed. His love handles hung over the elastic waistband of his shorts as he shivered from the air-conditioned cold. His eyes were red-rimmed from weeping and sleeplessness and police questioning.\n\nThe hearing was short and sweet. Hausner was charged with murder.\n\nAn hour later, deputies led Dieteman in. He was tall and dark-haired, and he wore a rugby shirt and a worried expression. There was a large skull tattoo on his arm.\n\nHis attorney Maria Schaffer said he was “hungover out of his mind.”\n\nHausner never admitted a thing, though he was clearly the mastermind.\n\nBut Dieteman let it all spill out the day he was arrested. He and Dale Hausner, he told police, were engaged in what they called “random, recreational violence.”\n\nThere were muggings, stabbings, palm trees lit, stores set on fire, tires slashed.\n\nAnd the shootings: Essentially they were playing video games in real time while smoking meth.\n\n“Everything they did was about creating havoc,” Phoenix police Detective Schwartzkopf said.\n\nOnce they even shot a man, then parked the car and went to look at the damage they had done. Police were already on the scene. They questioned Dieteman and Dale Hausner, who gave their names and made up stories about what they had seen and heard.\n\nThen the officers let them go.\n\nDale Hausner was glib. He was a janitor at Sky Harbor Airport and had clearance to secure areas at the facility.\n\nHe was so arrogant and so certain he would not be caught that in April 2006, in the midst of the hunt for the Serial Shooter, he did an interview with The Arizona Republic about his job. In the interview, he gushed about the old Terminal 2 where he worked, saying he hoped to retire there.\n\nHausner also freelanced as a photographer and was involved in the Phoenix boxing scene as a promoter and a photographer. He had a public-access TV show and had done a TV commercial for a law firm that specialized in personal-injury cases.\n\nAnd he ran a lucrative steal-to-order shoplifting service. He would take orders from fellow workers on the types of alcohol or music or movies they wanted, go out and steal it and then sell it to them at a discount.\n\n“He was Jekyll and Hyde,” said Roland Steinle, the Maricopa County Superior Court judge who presided over his trial. He noted that Hausner was dating a woman who holds a doctorate, then going out to kill people after seeing her.\n\nAnd unexpectedly, he was a ladies man who kept journals about his dates with multiple women, as he said later in court, so that he could keep his stories straight.\n\nHe used many of them as alibis, saying he had been with them on nights he was supposed to have committed crimes, stories that fell apart when the women took the witness stand.\n\n“He was always pleasuring some lucky woman,” or so he told his defense attorney, Tim Agan.\n\n“He was easy to get along with,” Agan said.\n\nBut Hausner had dark secrets and came from a troubled and abusive family background, which Agan could not share because Hausner had not allowed it to be used as mitigation during his trial.\n\nHe was also a doting father, but a heartbroken one.\n\nIn 1994, Hausner was married and living in Texas with his wife and two young sons. One night, while the family was on a road trip, Hausner’s wife fell asleep at the wheel and their car catapulted into a river.\n\nHausner was sleeping in the passenger seat, but awoke and managed to get out of the sinking car. Then he repeatedly dived down to the submerged vehicle to try to rescue his sons, who were trapped in car seats in the back seat. Both died.\n\nThe wife survived, and the two divorced.\n\nHausner fathered another child, whom he also doted on. On the night police bugged his apartment, they heard Hausner talking to the child, and then heard her telling Dieteman good night.\n\n“Don’t kill anybody,” she said in a tiny voice.\n\n\"Oh, all right,\" Dieteman replied. \"Since you asked.\"\n\nSam Dieteman was an electrician by trade, but unable to hold down a job because of his substance-abuse problems.\n\nHe grew up in Minnesota, married young, fathered a child, and then drifted off into entropy, amassing a long record of petty criminal arrests.\n\nHe was unemployed and homeless and ended up living with Dale Hausner’s older brother Jeff in west Phoenix. The two would go out and shoplift bottles of booze so that they could get drunk, testimony later revealed.\n\nJeff introduced Dieteman to Dale Hausner, telling him that Dieteman was as good a shoplifter as Dale was.\n\nDieteman and Dale Hausner became fast friends and partners in crime, shoplifting at first, earning hundreds of dollars from the enterprise.\n\nBut they also reveled in vandalism.\n\nThey drove to local casinos to gamble, and when they left the parking lots, they often slashed the tires of cars parked near them. They set fire to palm trees or garbage piles. And, before they were caught, they were photographed on surveillance video as they set fires in two separate Walmarts. Dieteman was even arrested once for shoplifting at a Walmart.\n\n“Sam was looking for a place to stay and booze to drink and drugs to take,” said his attorney Maria Schaffer. He needed “someplace to lay his head after the drugs and booze.”\n\nThey did meth all night, and then Dieteman would be dropped off at the bars that opened early in the morning so he could drink some more.\n\nMost of what police and prosecutors know about the early stages of the Serial Shooters came from Dieteman. As he drank and did drugs with Jeff and Dale Hausner, they would regale him with their exploits. He later related those stories to police.\n\nAt first, he told them, Dale and Jeff Hausner drove together shooting animals and people.\n\nOnce, for example, in November 2005, Dieteman said, Jeff was drawing a bead on a dog in an alley near 20th and Monroe streets, when a transient cussed them out. His name was Nathaniel Schoffner. He threw a beer can to keep them from shooting and called Dale Hausner a “Bill-Clinton-looking mother-f---er.”\n\nDale Hausner grabbed his .22 rifle and pulled the trigger, but it misfired. Then he grabbed a .410 shotgun and, according to Dieteman, he and Jeff argued over whether you could kill anyone with such a small gauge. Dale Hausner fired anyway, killing Shoffner.\n\nBut after an overnight shooting spree in late December, 2005, they shut down.\n\nJeff Hausner got a job. And the brothers likely destroyed the .22 rifle.\n\nFive months later on May 2, 2006, Dale Hausner was driving down Van Buren Street with his new bestie, Sam Dieteman. He turned left on 44th Street, powered down the passenger window and told Dieteman to lean back.\n\nThen Hausner pulled a sawed-off shotgun out from between the car seats and pointed it across Dieteman's body, aiming out Dieteman's window.\n\nA teenager named Kibili Tamadul was on his way to a convenience store to pick up milk for his mother. Hausner fired, striking him, but not knocking him down. Tamadul jumped and shouted, and Dieteman and Hausner laughed like they were watching a Warner Bros. cartoon.\n\nFifteen minutes later, they turned onto Thomas Road. Hausner handed the shotgun to Dieteman and said, “Your turn.”\n\nA young woman named Claudia Gutierrez Cruz was walking on the sidewalk near 61st Street; she had just missed her bus connection as she tried to get home from work. Hausner did a U-turn to give Dieteman a good shot. He fired and blew her off the sidewalk.\n\nThey passed by again to see where she was. She was found by a passerby; in the 911 call, Gutierrez Cruz could be heard pleading for someone to call her sister. She died at the hospital.\n\nAs Dieteman would later testify in trial, the next day, Dale Hausner put the morning newspaper on the kitchen table.\n\n\"Hey, dude, you got the first murder of the year in Scottsdale,” he said. “I’m jealous.”\n\nHe probably was.\n\nHausner later told detectives about his fascination with Charles Starkweather, a teen from Hausner’s native Nebraska, who killed 11 people in 1958.\n\nAnd after Dale Hausner's arrest Aug. 3, police found scrapbooks filled with newspaper articles about the Serial Shooters, and about the Baseline Killer, and they realized that Hausner was actually competing with his rival murderer.\n\nThe Baseline Killer hadn’t struck in nearly two months, but he was still on the loose.\n\nThe Serial Shooters were caught because one of them confessed to a friend and the friend had a guilty conscience.\n\nThere was no such tip to catch the Baseline Killer, so the police had to depend on old-fashioned legwork.\n\nPolice had a video of him, a composite sketch, and they were canvassing the neighborhoods where the killer had struck. They had suspects under surveillance. They were searching for DNA matches. And though they had calls to Silent Witness — and a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture — none was enough to make an arrest.\n\nOne woman, who is still afraid to give her name, remembers an encounter in her print shop on Thomas Road near 24th Street.\n\nA man who fit the killer’s description walked into the shop and started to come over the counter toward her.\n\nHe had a very strange voice, she said. He was wearing a black, long-sleeved T-shirt and khaki pants. The rubber edge of his sneakers was so white that it looked bleached.\n\n“He was so clean. There was no wrinkle in his clothes,” she said, and although it was a hot day in Phoenix, there was no smell to him and not a trace of sweat.\"\n\n“I was terrified,” she said. “This is 10 years later, and I am shivering just bringing it up.”\n\nShe was able to scare the man away when the phone rang and she pretended it was workmen in the back of the shop.\n\nThe man ran out the door and disappeared. She called police, but the information was of little use.\n\nThe sexual attacks began in August 2005, the first of the murders that September. They were attempted rapes that turned fatal if the women refused to comply.\n\nEven if the women did comply, the Baseline Killer never completed sexual intercourse with any of his victims, which made it more difficult for police to track him with DNA.\n\nNone of the women he murdered had been raped. Instead, they were posed, as retired Phoenix police Detective Benny Piña told The Republic. Their pants were pulled down slightly, the zippers undone.\n\n“It’s not about the act,” Piña said. “It’s about remembering the act later with mementos in quiet time back home.”\n\nAmong the suspects was an ex-con construction worker named Mark Goudeau, who lived with his wife in a house on Pinchot Avenue near 28th Street in Phoenix, at the epicenter of one of the neighborhoods that was preyed on.\n\nGoudeau had a past: He had been accused of rape as a teenager, but was not charged when the woman refused to press charges.\n\nIn 1989, Goudeau was arrested in the same neighborhood for raping and beating a woman senseless with a shotgun and a barbell, then chasing two witnesses and threatening them with the gun.\n\nHe entered into a plea agreement, but a year after the assault, before he was even sentenced, he robbed a supermarket at Thomas Road and 30th Street to get money to buy crack cocaine. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.\n\nBut in 2004, after 13 years, however, he was granted clemency and released. Among the people testifying on his behalf was Wendy Carr, who had married him while he was in prison.\n\nGoudeau went home to live an outwardly quiet and lawful life.\n\nWhen he came under suspicion in 2006, police put him under surveillance, Piña said. They watched him meet with women in the park. But as the police moved in, he would disappear, perhaps up a tree, maybe down an alley.\n\n“That whole surveillance was a nightmare for us,” Piña said.\n\nDetectives finally broke the case with DNA, though not from semen.\n\nIn September 2005, a man matching the description of the Baseline Killer jumped two sisters in their 20s as they walked from a water-play fountain in a city park near Baseline Road in south Phoenix. They were forced into the bushes at gunpoint, ordered to the ground and forced to disrobe. One of sisters was six months pregnant.\n\nThe assailant tried several times to have intercourse with the younger sister, who was not pregnant, but he could not stay erect. He fumbled with a condom.\n\nHe told the women not to look at his face. One sister noticed that he had put the gun down. She grabbed it and tried to shoot but could not figure out how to fire it. The attacker wrestled with her and the other sister seized the gun. She could not figure out how to shoot it either.\n\nThe attacker got the gun back and touched it between the pregnant sister’s legs. He ordered her to beg for her own life and the life of her unborn baby, according to testimony.\n\nThen he decided to let them live.\n\nBut first, he made both women spit into his hand. Then he stirred in mud and rubbed the mess on the breasts of the sister he tried to rape in an attempt to cover the DNA he had left there in saliva.\n\nThe ploy almost worked.\n\nTechnicians at the Phoenix police lab were unable to pull a DNA profile out of the gumbo. Detectives then sent the remaining sample swabs to the state Department of Public Safety lab for a new DNA test that isolated the Y chromosome, or male hereditary genes.\n\nIt took nearly a year but they came back with a hit: Mark Goudeau.\n\nPolice wasted no time. On Sept. 6, 2006, they arrested him in front of his house as he got out of his pickup truck on the way home from work.\n\nIt was his 42nd birthday.\n\nSept. 6 was my daughter’s birthday, too, and we had celebrated at a restaurant in Scottsdale. I had only been asleep for a half hour when the phone rang.\n\nIt was my editor, and she asked if I could go down to 28th Street and Thomas Road because the police had just arrested a man they thought was the Baseline Killer.\n\nIt was about 11 p.m. I took a shower and went to work for the next straight 48 hours.\n\nMy colleague Judi Villa was already there, in front of a little house in a neighborhood that would have been quiet, if not for the TV trucks and the police evidence vans and squad cars.\n\nWe quickly figured out the name of the suspect.\n\nThe neighbors were shocked. At least one of them recounted that Goudeau told him that he was under police suspicion. The next afternoon, I was back in the Initial Appearance Court at the jail when they led him in.\n\nHe wore a black long-sleeve T-shirt and khaki pants, the same blend-in-with-the-background outfit that his surviving victims described, except that it was flecked with cement dust.\n\nHe bore a strong resemblance to the composite sketch that police had circulated, a light-skinned and muscular black man with a mustache, except he was not wearing the dreadlocks wig or the fishing hat he wore during some of his attacks.\n\nGoudeau gave his name and address and no more. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts each of sexual abuse and sexual assault, and two counts of kidnapping, stemming from the sexual attack on the two sisters walking home from the water park near Baseline Road the year before.\n\nPolice suspected Goudeau of all the Baseline Killer crimes, but at the time, they had DNA from only that single incident. They didn’t have enough evidence to charge him with any of the murders.\n\nBut the sexual-assault charges would make sure Goudeau stayed in jail as police continued to work the case.\n\nWhat was perhaps most frightening about Dale Hausner, the mastermind of the Serial Shooters, and Mark Goudeau, the Baseline Killer, was that they did not seem frightening.\n\nIf either one sat down next to you at a bar or coffee shop, you might end up in conversation with him, even buy him a drink.\n\n“That’s how psychopaths live among us,” said Phoenix police Detective Schwartzkopf, who first identified Hausner as a killer.\n\nBy coincidence, Schwartzkopf had arrested Goudeau 13 years earlier after he committed the 1989 assault and robbery that sent him to prison for 13 years.\n\nGoudeau was handsome, with an athlete’s figure and an upright carriage.\n\nAt the time of his arrest in 2006, his neighbors called him “sweet” and \"hard-working.” They saw him with his wife, or out tending his yard on the little house they shared.\n\nGoudeau’s wife, Wendy Carr, still professes her husband’s innocence. She said over and over that her husband wasn’t evil or violent, that he was kind and funny and hardworking.\n\n“The guy I saw, he never came off as a jackass,” said one of his defense attorneys, Corwin Townsend. “He always was cordial to everyone on our team.”\n\nGoudeau worked as a concrete finisher for a company that set foundations, and it took him to construction sites all over the Valley — including several near to where his attacks took place, the two women killed in the lunch truck, for instance.\n\nDetectives remember that Goudeau would go there to buy breakfast for his crew, and that in itself points out the yin and yang of his being.\n\nWhen police finally searched Goudeau’s home, they found mementos of his crimes, like jewelry taken from his dead victims. And they found traces of blood.\n\nBut they didn’t have enough to charge him with murder.\n\nThe break came accidentally from a murder that seemed unrelated to the Baseline Killer attacks.\n\nOn April 10, 2006, Sophia Nuñez was found dead in the bath tub of her west Phoenix home by her 7-year-old son. She had taken the day off from work, and she and her family attended a giant march through downtown Phoenix, which was part of a national day of protest in favor of immigration reform.\n\nWhen she failed to pick up her son at school, he walked home and crawled under the garage door, which had been left open about a foot.\n\nThe water was running in his mother’s bathroom, so he assumed she was in the shower. But she didn’t come out, and he saw that water was running under the bathroom door and soaking the bedroom carpet.\n\nHe walked in and found her half-dressed and under the water, with a bullet in her cheek under one eye, which was open.\n\nThe boy valiantly tried to administer CPR, and then ran to a neighbor’s house to call police.\n\nAt first, police suspected Nuñez’s ex-husband, but they cleared him. They took DNA swabs, collected the bullet, but had no leads.\n\nThe connection came when they went through Goudeau’s phone records and checked a number he had called repeatedly: Nuñez's.\n\nNuñez's aunt and best friend, Alicia Bell, said that Nuñez and Goudeau met at a bar in northwest Phoenix.\n\nHe told her he was a professional baseball player on the disabled list, but she didn’t believe him, partly because of the old truck he drove. He called her repeatedly, then apparently gave up on her.\n\n“She just thought he was weird and married,” Bell told me some months after Nuñez' death.\n\nHe called her over and over, but she was not interested.\n\nOne afternoon, Nuñez was with her teenage daughter, Unique Martinez, at Arizona Mills mall and they ran into Goudeau at an arcade.\n\n“He seemed like a friendly guy,” Martinez remembers. “I wasn’t skeptical of him.”\n\nThey all chatted and Nuñez remembered that Goudeau said he did odd jobs, so she asked if he could install a security door at her house.\n\nWhen he came to the house, she didn’t want to be there with him to hit on her, but she didn’t think he was a threat, and left her children as he worked. He never finished the job.\n\nOn April 10, 2006, he came back to the house uninvited and killed her.\n\nAfter Goudeau was arrested for the rape of the two sisters in south Phoenix, Unique Martinez saw him on TV. “Hey, that’s my mom’s friend,” she thought.\n\nShe called the detective on her mother’s case.\n\nInvestigators realized they had lifted Goudeau’s DNA from saliva on her breast. The bullet in her head matched the ballistics of the other murders.\n\nOn Jan. 16, 2007, Phoenix police called Sophia Nuñez’s mother, Maria, and asked her to come to police headquarters on East Washington Street, and they broke the news. Families of other victims were there too.\n\nGoudeau was already charged with 19 counts including sexual assault, sexual abuse, kidnapping and aggravated assault for the attack on the two sisters, and one charge of possessing cocaine when he was arrested.\n\nNow he was indicted on 74 more counts including nine murders, which would go forward as a second case.\n\nMaria Nuñez came out of police headquarters and handed a photo of Sophia to a television cameraman, who taped it to the side of a TV live truck to photograph it.\n\nI took my cellphone out of my pocket and snapped a photograph of Sophia’s image and e-mailed it to the newspaper’s photo editor.\n\nIt ran on the front page of The Arizona Republic the next day.\n\nHow does a jury respond in a case where a rapist presses a gun to a pregnant woman’s private parts and asks her to beg for the life of her unborn baby?\n\nPredictably, with horror.\n\nAt first, Mark Goudeau was charged in the only attack for which police and prosecutors had sufficient evidence, the sexual assaults on two sisters in south Phoenix in September 2005.\n\nThey had been playing with friends and family at a water feature in a public park just north of Baseline Road, and because it was a nice evening and a good neighborhood, they decided to walk home instead of drive with their companions.\n\nGoudeau dragged them into the bushes and repeatedly assaulted them sexually, then uncharacteristically let them go free.\n\nBut investigators were able to lift Goudeau’s DNA from saliva on one woman’s breast, and he was charged with 19 counts including sexual assault, sexual abuse, kidnapping and aggravated assault.\n\nHe was charged with the murders under a different case number that would be tried separately.\n\nThe rape case went to trial fairly quickly, July 23, 2007, a little more than 10 months after he was arrested. The jury knew nothing about the murders.\n\nIn fact, the words “Baseline Killer” were never mentioned in the entire trial, so as not to prejudice the jury. It may well have been the last super-high-profile case in Maricopa County in which the jury was not already knowledgeable about the defendant. Social media has changed that.\n\nCorwin Townsend and his co-counsel, Cary Lackey, fought with prosecutors Suzanne Cohen and Bill Clayton over how the DNA was obtained and whether it was a true match.\n\nGoudeau had made the women spit in his hand and rubbed it on the woman’s breast in an attempt to foil DNA testing. And it almost worked. Phoenix police, however, sent the sample out for a new sort of testing that was able to isolate a profile they said matched Goudeau.\n\nThe defense attorneys objected.\n\nFor one thing, the police labs had consumed all of the sample swabs, leaving nothing for the defense to test independently. For another, Townsend and Lackey argued that because the experimental DNA testing focused only on the Y chromosome, which is passed genetically among males in a family, the DNA could have been from any one of Goudeau’s male relatives, including brothers and nephews, some of whom had criminal records.\n\nThe sisters bravely took the stand, though one of them mistakenly identified the attorney, Lackey, also a light-skinned African-American, as her attacker.\n\nBut the testimony was horrid, and in the end, the jury found Goudeau guilty.\n\nOn the day the verdict came in, I had pre-written my story and needed only to text the decision to my editor. The story was posted online before the jury had even left the courtroom to gather their thoughts in the jury room before coming back out to talk to the media.\n\nWhile in the jury room, one juror took out his phone and called up azcentral.com and learned for the first time that Goudeau was also suspected of being the Baseline Killer.\n\nGoudeau had tried numerous times to sexually penetrate the sisters, and in many different ways. Each of those attempts was considered a separate crime with a separate sentence that could be run consecutively with all the others. And that is what happened.\n\nOn Dec. 14, 2007, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Andrew Klein sentenced Goudeau to 438 years in prison.\n\nAnd he still had to stand trial for 74 more crimes, including the nine murders.\n\nOne week earlier, Dale Hausner, the accused mastermind of the Serial Shooters, attempted suicide in jail by hoarding over-the-counter medications and taking them all at once. He was revived so that the authorities could try to get a death sentence against him and kill him with different drugs.\n\nHis attorneys, Tim Agan and Ken Everett, tried to exclude the damning tapes from police wiretaps, in which they were overheard bragging about their prowess as serial killers. They lost the bid, and the case lumbered on toward trial.\n\nIn April 2008, Sam Dieteman, who had already confessed everything, pleaded straight up to the two murders he took part in. He killed Claudia Gutierrez Cruz on his first night shooting with Dale Hausner. And he was in the car when Hausner shot and killed Robin Blasnek.\n\nDieteman testified that he deliberately missed other times he was handed the shotgun.\n\nBut Dieteman’s plea agreement did not include an exemption from the death penalty. He still needed to stand trial so that a jury could decide whether to sentence him to death or to life in prison.\n\nThe next month, Jeff Hausner, Dale’s older brother, was finally publicly identified as a participant in the Serial Shooter crimes.\n\nHe was indicted for two incidents that occurred while all three were joy-riding in Dale’s car. Dale Hausner would create a distraction and Jeff would sneak up behind the victim and stab him. He pleaded guilty to one stabbing and faced trial for the second. Police believed he had taken part in some of the shootings, but could never come up with enough evidence to charge him with murder.\n\nBy then, I had received the first letter from Dale Hausner, though it came signed, “A Loyal Reader; (Name withheld for fear of ridicule by co-workers and family members for not jumping on the ‘guilty’ bandwagon.)”\n\nIn it, he accused Dieteman and his brother of the crimes. The letter painted Dieteman as a violent criminal with a long rap sheet. It ridiculed County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ assertion that the shootings had stopped since Dieteman and Hausner had been arrested.\n\nDale Hausner claimed that Dieteman bragged to friends: “They’ll never pin that retarded bitch (Robin Blasnek) on me. Can’t do ballistics on shotguns.” That's the reason Dale Hausner stopped using .22-caliber rifles.\n\nIn the letter, Hausner tried to say that police had misunderstood his statement on the wiretap tapes — “It feels good doesn’t it?” — as referring to scratching an itch. And the letter writer knew all this because, he wrote, he had written to Hausner, who told him he was being framed.\n\nThe next letter was dated May 22, 2008.\n\nHausner continued to place blame on Dieteman. And though the letter was signed only with the letter “D,” he wrote about inaccuracies in my coverage.\n\n“Last, could you possibly put a worse photo of me in the paper?” he wrote. “Maybe you should photo-shop one of me with devil horns. That would sell a lot of papers!!”\n\nA day later, I received a letter from Dieteman to clear up the general perception that he had been present at all of the Serial Shooter crimes, which most media outlets assumed, not yet knowing precisely how the attacks had played out.\n\n“I did not even know Dale Hausner until April of 2006,” he wrote.\n\nHe denied ever using the phrase “random recreation violence.”\n\n“I am in no way trying to play ‘Mr. Innocent,’ as Dale Hausner is,” Dieteman wrote. “I have taken responsibility for my crimes. I signed a plea agreement to where I’m still going to death row, the only benefits I get out of that deal are avoiding an unnecessary trial and being able to put Hausner away.”\n\nDale Hausner’s trial started in September 2008 in front of Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle.\n\nA jury panel of 20 was seated with the expectation that some would drop out along the way, and by the time it came to trial, the charges had been winnowed to eight counts of first-degree murder, 25 counts of drive-by shooting, 17 counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of attempted first-degree murder, nine counts of cruelty to animals, three firearms violations, two conspiracy charges and one for arson.\n\nThe trial would last seven months.\n\n\"This is going to be a long painful, bloody road,\" Deputy County Attorney Vince Imbordino told the jury as he showed them photographs of the victims. \"This is not a crime show. People were actually killed. The bullets were real, the blood was real. The fear was real. The pain was real.\"\n\nMuch of the case was built on Dieteman’s statements, but he was present with Dale Hausner only after April of 2006; many of the crimes were committed before that time. So investigators had to establish Hausner’s presence, using cellphone records to show he was in the area of a crime, surveillance cameras, shell casings found in his car and other evidence.\n\nImbordino and his co-prosecutor, Laura Reckart, laid out their proof.\n\nHausner’s attorneys, Ken Everett and Tim Agan, countered with Hausner’s side of the story, basically that he had an alibi, usually involving a woman, disputing each and every charge.\n\nBut over the next seven months, those alibis melted away.\n\nThe surviving victims testified, and the prosecutors played the wiretap tape for the jury. Ron Horton, who had initially called police on Dieteman, had died of a bacterial infection eight months before the trial began.\n\nThen Dieteman took the stand for three days. He admitted killing Claudia Gutierrez Cruz and being present when Hausner shot Robin Blasnek.\n\nBut he didn’t know the names of their other victims.\n\nThis one was shot point-blank in the neck while talking on his cellphone; that one fell back against the wall of a building and slowly slid down to a sitting position; another turned around and screamed at them; yet another kept walking as if nothing happened.\n\nThe trial droned on. At Christmastime I received a Christmas card from Hausner.\n\nHe wrote a message inside: “My wishes for you is that the lord bless you in all you do.”\n\nHe signed it “Dale.”\n\nIn February 2009, Dale Hausner took the witness stand and denied any involvement in the shootings. When he and Dieteman were arrested, he said, he thought police were coming to arrest them for possessing methamphetamine.\n\nBut Dale Hausner said enough on the stand to “open doors,” that is, to bring up issues that had been judged off-limits to prosecutors. His girlfriends and an ex-wife were all brought to testify to refute his alibis.\n\nThe ex-wife told of an enraged Hausner taking her to the desert near Wickenburg. While she shivered in the cold wearing only a T-shirt and panties, Hausner threatened to shoot her with a shotgun. He paused when people passed nearby. They drove back to Phoenix.\n\nOn another occasion, the ex-wife said, Hausner stopped her in her car, made her get out and ripped her skirt from her right in the street because he was angry that she had worn it on a date with another man.\n\nIn his closing statement, on the last day of the trial, Vince Imbordino, the lead prosecutor, drew in the jury in a soft voice.\n\n\"He doesn't look like much,\" Imbordino said as he pointed at Hausner. \"You might have passed him on the street and not noticed him. He doesn't look like a killer. Evil doesn't have a face.\"\n\nImbordino asked the jury the same question Paul Patrick, one of Hausner's victims, had asked over and over: What could be the reason for the shooting spree?\n\n\"Unfortunately, there's not always a reason,\" the prosecutor said.\n\nHe held up the box of newspaper clippings that Hausner kept of the crimes.\n\nImbordino recalled his own childhood growing up on a ranch in Texas and wondered who could ever shoot a horse, or a dog.\n\n\"Ever have a puppy lick your face?\" he asked. \"You couldn't kill one.\"\n\nThen he pointed to a stack of pink folders, one for each of the victims.\n\n\"This is what their lives have been reduced to,\" he said.\n\n\"When this trial is over, whatever the result, I hope people will remember (Dale Hausner) for what he is,\" he said. \"A coward. An ordinary coward committed an extraordinary series of crimes.\"\n\nThe jury found Hausner guilty — but not of everything he was charged with. The jurors felt there was not enough evidence to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of two of the murders and five of the other crimes.\n\nThe jury also found Hausner eligible for the death penalty. During the final sentencing stage, Hausner waived mitigating testimony his attorneys hoped would dissuade the jurors from death sentences.\n\nTwo weeks after the conviction, the families of the victims made their statements.\n\nAdriana Cruz, whose sister Claudia had been killed by Dieteman, read an impassioned speech about having to call her parents in Mexico to tell them Claudia was dead.\n\n“I wanted to tell them Claudia had left Arizona and I didn’t know where she was. But losing a daughter is worse than losing a sister,” she said in Spanish.\n\nHer father’s response to her was, “You come home, and bring your sister with you.”\n\nThen Claudia raised her voice and her eyes to the ceiling and said, \"I wonder if I will ever again be able to tell her that I love her and I need her. If you can hear me, please forgive me for not being able to defend you.\"\n\nThe entire courtroom was in tears.\n\nI went out in the hallway and found Tony Long, one of the shooting victims. On better days, Long would lift up his shirt to show the buckshot still embedded in his torso.\n\nOn that day he was looking ashen, and I asked if he were all right.\n\n\"They're gone, I'm still here,\" he answered. \"I couldn't stay there. I had to come out of there.\"\n\nThen he added: “But I still don’t believe in the death penalty.”\n\nHausner also addressed the jury, and, still harboring illusions of serial-killer fame, he compared himself to 1960s cult leader and murderer Charles Manson.\n\n\"When you think of Manson, 50 years from now you'll think of Hausner,\" he said.\n\nBut he did not try to talk anyone out of a death sentence.\n\n\"I died Nov. 12, 1994, when my children died,\" he said, referring to the traffic accident that killed his two sons.\n\n\"I've been waiting to die since then, so if you want to kill me, go ahead,\" he said.\n\nAnd though he apologized to the families of the people he killed, he did not confess.\n\n\"I'm willing to accept the punishment,\" he said. \"And I firmly believe, to help the victims heal, that it should be the death penalty.\"\n\nHe got his wish.\n\nAfter the jury foreman read the death verdicts, Hausner gave a thumbs-up to the media in the back of the court room. And he said “thank you” to the jurors as he walked past them on the way to death row.\n\nOne of them answered, “You’re welcome.”\n\nDale Hausner’s trial was drawn out and exhausting. The rest of the Serial Shooter trials were short and anti-climactic by comparison.\n\nJeff Hausner went on trial next, and in June 2009, he was found guilty of attempted murder and aggravated assault for one of the stabbings. He was given 11- and 18-year sentences to be served simultaneously, and he was already serving 7½ years for the other stabbing. He was never charged in any of the shootings.\n\nDieteman had his sentencing trial a month later. The jury considered his testimony against Dale Hausner and spared his life. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release.\n\nThe final and most dramatic trial from the Summer of Fear did not start until June 2011, nearly five years after Mark Goudeau was arrested.\n\nGoudeau had been cordial and seemed sincere in the first trial; in his second he was a simmering ex-con already facing five lifetimes in prison.\n\nSuzanne Cohen, one of the prosecutors who had tried him in his rape trial, invoked the Bible in her opening statements.\n\n“Beware of the predator who comes to you dressed in sheep's clothing but inside is a ravenous wolf with an appetite to rape,\" she said, paraphrasing a verse from the Book of Matthew. \"You shall know him by his deeds.\"\n\nShe showed photos of the raped women to the jurors.\n\nThen she showed photos of those who died, smiling and alive — then dead and bleeding on the ground or in the backseat of cars. Sophia Nuñez was shown where her son found her, blood dripping down the side of the bathtub.\n\n\"He took what he wanted,\" Cohen said.\n\nThe trial lasted four months. Cohen and her co-prosecutor, Patricia Stevens, deftly organized the case into 13 chapters, each one focusing on a scene or a murder.\n\nA woman testified as to how she and her 12-year-old daughter were taken in her car at gunpoint from the parking lot of a south Phoenix taco stand. Goudeau made her strip naked and sexually assaulted her, then made her drive around while he assaulted the daughter. Then he jumped out of the car and ran.\n\n\"His voice always stuck in my head,\" the mother said on the witness stand. \"It's something I hear over and over. That's been my nightmare.\"\n\nIndeed, Goudeau does have a distinctive voice, creaky, almost twangy, and in a pitch that defies description as high or low, but sort of modulated in between.\n\nThe woman who had been ordered to strip naked in her Volkswagen but refused to perform oral sex on Goudeau took the stand. She told of the terror of having a gun pushed to her head and being told she would die, then hearing the click of a misfire and bolting from the car and running to safety.\n\nThe two sisters from Goudeau’s first trial also testified. So did another rape victim who said she was hysterical and called her brother instead of police. The brother told her to calm down and he came to her, and together they called police.\n\nThen, as she told the court, when the reporting officer arrived he told her, “You don’t look like you just got raped.”\n\nAt that moment in testimony, the case agent, Alex Femenia, a former Phoenix police detective who helped spearhead the Baseline investigation, sat up in his chair at the prosecutors’ table.\n\nHis eyes got big and he took his phone out of his pocket and started dialing as he stormed out of the courtroom to find out who that officer was.\n\nIn August 2011, a dairy worker told how he found the bodies of Romelia Vargas and Mirna Palma Roman in the lunch wagon where they cooked and sold breakfast burritos to workers at a west Phoenix housing development under construction.\n\nHe had arrived before dawn and saw that the lights were on in the truck, but he didn’t see the ladies who worked in it. When he finally went in and found them dead, he tried to administer CPR, but it was too late. They had been posed like the other female murder victims, their pants unbuttoned and pulled down slightly; they had bullets in their heads.\n\nWhen the dairy worker finished and left the court room, I saw Vargas’ husband, Alvin Hogue, get up and follow him out. I followed Hogue.\n\nOutside the two men stood awkwardly in the courthouse hallway. They were both enormous. Hogue extended a hand and said, “I want to thank you for what you tried to do for my wife.”\n\nHogue’s voice cracked as he explained that he had been told that someone had tried to save her, but he didn’t know who it was.\n\n“I wish I could have done more,” the dairyman said.\n\nThe two giant men embraced.\n\nAt the end of October 2011, the jury found Goudeau guilty of 67 crimes, including nine murders.\n\nHe refused to cooperate with his lead attorney, Randall Craig, and when a mitigation expert began testifying about Goudeau’s impotence during the sentencing phase of the trial, Goudeau pulled the plug and would go no further.\n\nStill he asked the jury to spare his life.\n\n\"The only reason I'm standing here in front of you is because of my past,\" Goudeau said, referring to his 1989 convictions.\n\n\"People can change,\" he said. \"I changed. ... I got out of prison and never looked back.\"\n\nHe criticized his attorneys for not representing him adequately.\n\n\"You know I can't talk about the crimes you found me guilty of,” he said. Defendants are not allowed to claim innocence after being convicted.\n\n“But I can look you in the eyes and say, 'Mark Goudeau is no wolf in sheep's clothing.' And I can't blame you for the decision you made,” he continued. “But I pray that one day you learn the truth about this case and the crimes I have been accused of.\n\n\"They assassinated my character. They painted me as a monster. I am no monster. Mark Goudeau is no monster. I am no monster.\"\n\nThe families of Goudeau's victims got to speak, too.\n\nLiliana Sanchez's mother, Juana, a quiet woman who had attended every day of the trial, spoke to the jurors in Spanish. A court translator repeated her words in English.\n\n\"For a moment I thought that if I could pull out my heart with my hand, I could show you my pain,\" she said.\n\nOn Nov. 30, 2011, the jury sentenced Goudeau to death nine times.\n\nIn late July 2012, Dale Hausner wrote me a letter from death row.\n\nThe Arizona Supreme Court had just upheld his death sentences and he wanted to give up and die. He had asked the high court to waive further appeals and speed up his execution.\n\nIronically, such requests make authorities question the sanity of the prisoner asking to die, and so Hausner was assigned an attorney to represent him against himself.\n\n\"The state of Arizona wanted me to get the death penalty before and during my trial,\" he wrote. \"I was found guilty and given six death sentences. Now that I want to get executed, suddenly my mental state is in question. So, if I am found incompetent to waive my appeals, does that mean I was also incompetent to stand trial? That's something to think about, isn't it? I am not insane. I am of sound mind. I simply wish to get the punishment handed down to me, but more quickly.\n\n“I mean really, what's a guy got to do to get snuffed out?\"\n\nHe figured it out.\n\nNearly a year later, on June 19, 2013, Hausner was found in his cell at the Eyman Prison in Florence. He had overdosed on the antidepressant amitriptyline, also known by the brand name Elavil, which he had obtained from another prisoner.\n\nAt the time, Arizona Department of Corrections officials said that Hausner died at a hospital in Florence after he was found unresponsive in his cell. They asked The Arizona Republic to write a correction saying Hausner had not died in his cell.\n\nThen it took a year before they released details requested under the Arizona Public Records Act.\n\nAmong the items released was a 30-minute-long video of correctional officers putting Hausner’s inert body, blood dripping from a corner of his mouth, on a gurney and administering CPR as they wheeled him to a first-aid room where paramedics took over. Then they rolled him out of the building to an ambulance.\n\nOne of Hausner’s cell-block neighbors wrote me a letter saying that he had tried for hours to get someone to investigate the snoring and choking coming from Hausner’s cell.\n\nSam Dieteman and Jeff Hausner are both serving their prison sentences. Neither would agree to be interviewed.\n\nNor would Mark Goudeau, whose nine death sentences were just affirmed by the Arizona Supreme Court on June 17 of this year.\n\nEven after 10 years, the emotion has not subsided.\n\nWhen reached by phone, Goudeau’s wife, Wendy Carr, said she did not want to talk about “the summer they railroaded my husband.”\n\nDale Hausner’s brother Randy, who had been a family spokesman during the trial, also declined an interview. I ran into him by chance at Sky Harbor Airport and he looked at me sideways, lowered his voice and said, “Why do you want to bring that up again?”\n\nProsecutors Suzanne Cohen and Laura Reckart are now Maricopa County Superior Court judges and felt they could not talk about those or any other cases. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery would not allow prosecutor Vince Imbordino or investigator Alex Femenia to talk to me.\n\nJudge Warren Granville, who tried the second Goudeau case, also declined because he will likely get it back in his courtroom for an appeals process called post-conviction relief.\n\nJudge Roland Steinle has since retired from the bench, and he recently posted on Facebook that he turned to yoga for healing and eventually became an instructor.\n\nDemetris Coachman, who was a juror during Mark Goudeau’s death-sentence trial, told The Republic, “I think about it on a day-to-day basis.”\n\nWhen he goes by a car wash, Coachman thinks of Carmen Miranda. When he goes by a charity donation box, he thinks of a woman abducted at 32nd Street and Indian School Road. When he goes by bushes, he thinks of the two sisters raped in south Phoenix.\n\n“I think about the girl in the Volkswagen who heard the gun click and ran; she testified and could hardly talk,” he said.\n\nPaul Patrick, who was going to buy a pack of cigarettes when he was shot by Sam Dieteman, waits out the days in his hospital bed on the west side of Phoenix.\n\nSaúl Guerrero, the combat veteran who saved Patrick's life by holding in his guts after he was shot, was inspired to become a paramedic.\n\nI honestly still start crying every time I try to repeat aloud Adriana Gutierrez Cruz’ plaint to her sister Claudia, who was killed by Dieteman, calling to her in heaven to please forgive for not being there to protect her.\n\nSophia Nuñez’s daughter, Unique Martinez, posted a rap video called “Last Words” on You Tube to commemorate her mother.\n\nSuzanne Cohen, who prosecuted the Goudeau case and is now a judge, let her film part of the video in her courtroom.\n\nThe video is cut in with news footage of the time, plus tender home movies of the attractive and charismatic woman her mother was.\n\nSophia’s mother, Maria, lives in a house in south Phoenix. Inside the living room, the walls are covered with framed photographs of Sophia.\n\n“The life sentence isn’t just for Mark,” she said. “All of us, our lives changed. He might be sitting in a 6-by-6 cell, but we don’t have Sophia anymore, and the kids don’t have their mom.\"\n\nFormer Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill, who was the public face of both investigations, handed me a copy of an email he sent out about the two cases in 2011 when Mark Goudeau was still on trial.\n\nThe last words of this tale are his:\n\n“A city, a metropolitan area in fear. Two serial-killer cases at the same time in the same city; one a lone predator and the other with two suspects arrested and possible third investigated.\n\n“Seventeen murder victims ...\n\n“A child raped.\n\n“Women raped, sodomized, shot and killed; men shot and killed or paralyzed or permanently injured.\n\n“A child came home to find his mother brutally raped and murdered, a mother watched her daughter raped, a woman forced to undress and when she refused her attacker’s attempted rape, had the gun pointed to her head and the trigger pulled. It clicked and she ran.\n\n“Finally arrests.\n\n“But years of suffering still lay ahead for the victims and the families. One child raped still remains institutionalized. … Many other children of victims have endured years of loneliness, without help, trying to grow up, live, provide for themselves. ...\n\n“Then the trials: rehashing the horrible events, hoping for justice, knowing nothing can change what happened. ...\n\n“Except for a few, the media has long forgotten the victims. …\n\n“Surely the victims who survived and all the family members and loved ones don’t forget. Even a conviction will not stem the tide of the torture of the memories of the evil acts. But a loving and caring community can help comfort.\n\n“Don’t forget them, don’t forget them, don’t forget them.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/09/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2022/10/19/animal-rescue-flesh-eating-bacteria-child-marriage-news-around-states/50853381/", "title": "Animal rescue, flesh-eating bacteria, child marriage: News from ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nBirmingham: A judicial panel convicted a judge of violating ethics rules by failing to return to work and serve without pay following her conviction in an earlier ethics case, court documents show. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd was given a 120-day suspension without pay in an order filed Monday following a trial that lasted five days over three months before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. Todd was convicted last year of violating orders of an appellate court and, as punishment, ordered to work for 90 days without pay beginning last Dec. 6, news outlets reported. Rather than reporting for duty at the courthouse in Birmingham, Todd remained for most of the period in Chicago, where her husband and children live, evidence showed. Todd, who testified in her own defense, claimed she worked remotely while in Chicago and couldn’t return to Alabama because of illness and COVID-19 quarantines that restricted her from travel. The court could have permanently removed Todd, and one of her lawyers, Edward J. Ungvarsky, said the decision to only suspend her for four months represented a vindication. “Judges, lawyers, and court personnel consistently testified that Judge Todd displays the greatest of integrity, honesty, and compassion,” Ungvarsky said. The Court of the Judiciary convicted Todd in December 2021 of violating judicial ethics by disregarding decisions by higher courts and inserting her own opinions into rulings, including one that declared Alabama’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court overturned the decision.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: The Anchorage Assembly leadership is condemning remarks made by a member of the public during last week’s Assembly meeting, Alaska Public Media reports. When testifying on an ordinance about designating a former hotel as a temporary emergency shelter, a man made racist and derogatory comments about Alaska Native people, according to the news outlet. East Anchorage Assembly member Forrest Dunbar swiftly rebuked the comments. In a statement Tuesday, Assembly chair Suzanne LaFrance and vice-chair Chris Constant said they wanted to “speak out against the racist and offensive statements made by the member of the public. Unfortunately, this is not the first time racist views have been expressed in the Assembly Chambers.”\n\nArizona\n\nTucson: A man convicted last month in the first of two murder cases is seeking a new trial, according to authorities. Christopher Clements was convicted Sept. 30 of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez. He was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in Pima County Superior Court, but the date has been moved to Nov. 14. Court officials also said Clements’ attorneys have filed a motion for a new trial and a motion for judgment of acquittal not withstanding the verdict. A Nov. 7 hearing is set for both motions. A judge also will hear testimony Nov. 14 for a possible change of venue for Clements’ other murder trial, scheduled for Feb. 2 involving the death of 6-year-old Isabel Celis. Clements, a 40-year-old convicted sex offender with a long criminal record, is facing life in prison when he’s sentenced in the Gonzalez case. Clements was arrested in 2018 and indicted on 22 felony counts including two counts each of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the girls’ deaths.\n\nArkansas\n\nFort Smith: Fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that is often mixed with illegal drugs such as methamphetamine or heroin, is continuing to cause more overdoses and deaths in Fort Smith and the state. Fort Smith emergency responders have saved the lives of 66 people who overdosed on fentanyl this year with the life-saving Narcan drug that can counter the deadly effects of fentanyl and opiates. Fort Smith police report that paramedics, firefighters and others have given 194 doses of Narcan that could have resulted in deadly overdoses. Of those lives that have have been saved, 66 people were confirmed to have fentanyl in their system with an additional 31 people overdosing on unconfirmed substances and pills possibly with fentanyl.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSan Diego: A motorcyclist and Navy veteran who lost a leg in a 2019 chain-reaction crash started by a Navy sailor driving a military van near San Diego has won a $10.8 million settlement against the United States. Attorneys for the motorcyclist, Peter Arthur, said the settlement is one of the largest against the federal government in the San Diego area for a suit involving a vehicle collision, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. Arthur, a 49-year-old who served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, underwent multiple surgeries following the Sept. 13, 2019, crash. Arthur was thrown from his motorcycle, causing the femur, tibia and fibula in his right leg to shatter, according to his civil lawsuit. Doctors eventually had to amputate the leg above the knee. Navy sailor Michael Stanley Reynolds was driving a large passenger van on Interstate 5 when he “suddenly and without warning” swerved into the next lane to his left, causing several vehicles to crash, according to the lawsuit. Reynolds did not face criminal charges in connection with the crash. A Navy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by the Union-Tribune. Arthur’s civil lawsuit against the federal government alleges his injuries were “permanent, disfiguring, and disabling” and “will require extensive future medical care, life care, and vocational rehabilitation.”\n\nColorado\n\nFort Collins: Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences recently announced a $278million upgrade and expansion of its current vet school facilities on the university’s south campus. The new veterinary health complex, which is scheduled to break ground in early 2023 and be completed in 2028, will include an expansion of more than 300,000 square feet. The complex will have a veterinary education center and primary care clinic, and there will be renovations or expansions of current facilities, including a livestock teaching hospital and an animal specialty hospital. The school’s current teaching hospital off of Drake Road and College Avenue will be remodeled to become the animal specialty hospital. All work will be done in phases, so some elements will be completed prior to 2028. “Our college ranks among the world’s top institutions in veterinary and biomedical education and research,” said Sue VandeWoude, dean of the college, in the university’s release. “Our expansion plan for the south campus … will help us continue our tradition of excellence in the academic mission of teaching; the assessment of novel methods for training clinical students; and our research and service to the community.” With the new buildings come curricula changes, too. The new facilities will give CSU what it needs to implement a new curriculum focused on educating “day one-ready” veterinarians using medical training along with training in “problem-solving, conflict resolution, decision-making and mental, physical and financial wellbeing,” according to a release from the university.\n\nConnecticut\n\nWaterbury: Less than a week after two police officers were killed in an ambush, U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes called for a national ban on assault weapons, while her Republican challenger, George Logan, stressed that more needs to be done to support law enforcement. The two are locked in a closely watched race for the state’s 5th Congressional District that has attracted more than $5 million in outside money. Appearing in their first televised debate, the pair was asked about a shooting that left two officers dead in Bristol, about 20 minutes away from where the debate was held. Hayes said officers like her husband, a 25-year-veteran of the Waterbury Police Department, can be outgunned. Noting that the state already has an assault weapons ban, Logan criticized Hayes for voting in favor of what he called an “anti-police bill.” He was referring to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, which banned chokeholds and “qualified immunity” for law enforcement while creating national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability. The bill was later blocked in the Senate.\n\nDelaware\n\nNew Castle: A state trooper indicted last year for a fraudulent traffic warning scheme pleaded guilty to falsifying business records and official misconduct in New Castle County Superior Court on Monday, the Delaware Department of Justice said. Cpl. Edwin Ramirez, who was stationed at Troop 9 before his suspension in May 2021, was sentenced to a year of probation and 33 hours of community service – one hour for every false e-warning he filed. He also had to surrender his Council on Police Training certifications. Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings called Ramirez’s traffic warning scheme an “abuse of power” and said it “victimized innocent motorists,” some of whom did not even know they had received an e-warning. Others weren’t even driving when the fraudulent traffic stop supposedly occurred. Ramirez was officially sentenced to two concurrent yearlong prison sentences. It was suspended for a year of probation. Delaware State Police Superintendent Colonel Melissa Zebley noted in a written statement that Ramirez is no longer employed by the statewide police department.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Metro Transit Police investigators are looking into an incident captured on video in which a woman was attacked and thrown off a bus, WUSA-TV reports. The woman said she was on the bus, which was headed to Deanwood on Monday afternoon, with her two children when a group of kids got on the bus and started cursing and acting rowdy, according to the news outlet. Things escalated and eventually turned physical when the woman asked the kids to stop cursing, according to the person who filmed the footage. At least three people can be seen grabbing the woman and pushing her out the door when the bus came to a stop, the news outlet reports.\n\nFlorida\n\nFort Myers: The state has seen an increase in cases of flesh-eating bacteria this year driven largely by a surge in the county hit hardest by Hurricane Ian. The state Department of Health reports that as of Friday there have been 65 cases of vibrio vulnificus infections and 11 deaths in Florida this year. That compares with 34 cases and 10 deaths reported during all of 2021. In Lee County, where Ian stormed ashore last month, the health department reports 29 cases this year and four deaths. Health officials didn’t give a breakdown of how many of the cases were before or after Ian struck. Lee County health officials earlier this month warned people that the post-hurricane environment – including warm, standing water – could pose a danger from the potentially deadly bacteria. “Flood waters and standing waters following a hurricane pose many risks, including infectious diseases such as vibrio vulnificus,” the county health department said in a news release Oct. 3 that urged the public to take precautions. The advisory said that people with open wounds, cuts, or scratches can be exposed to the bacteria through contact with sea water or brackish water. People with open wounds should avoid such water and seek medical care immediately if an infection is apparent.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: Two former jail detainees testified that deputies of a sheriff charged with violating their civil rights kept them in restraint chairs for hours, causing them to urinate on themselves while they were bound. Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill is standing trial on federal charges that he violated the rights of seven detainees. Prosecutors say their placement in restraint chairs was unnecessary, was improperly used as punishment and caused pain and bodily injury. Hill is widely known as one of metro Atlanta’s most flamboyant lawmen. He calls himself “The Crime Fighter” and uses Batman imagery to promote himself on social media and in campaign ads. This is his second trial on criminal charges. Clayton County voters reelected Hill in 2012 while he was under indictment the first time, accused of using his office for personal gain. He beat those charges. Hill has pleaded not guilty to the civil rights charges, which his attorneys say are politically motivated. Drew Findling, one of Hill’s lawyers, cross-examined both men Tuesday about what he said where inconsistencies between their trial testimony and what they had previously told investigators.\n\nHawaii\n\nPearl Harbor: The Navy said Tuesday it was still fixing an underground water pipe that ruptured last week and interrupted the supply of water to about 93,000 people at Pearl Harbor. The bursting of the 36-inch water main has also forced the Navy to postpone plans to remove 1 gallon of fuel from three pipelines at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, the tank farm that leaked petroleum into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year. Navy Capt. Mark Sohaney, the commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, said crews were on schedule to finish fixing the broken water main in about one week. When the water main burst last Friday, officials had to divert water to the west side of the base. That increased pressure in smaller water lines there, leading to additional pipe breaks in Pearl City Peninsula and West Loch. These two smaller breaks have since been repaired. The Navy issued a boil water advisory for affected areas last Friday, and gyms and child care centers have been closed.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: A legal loophole in the state that allows parents of teens to nullify child custody agreements by arranging child marriages will remain in effect, under a ruling from the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. In a split decision, the high court declined to decide whether Idaho’s child marriage law – which allows 16- and 17-year-olds to marry if one parent agrees to the union – is unconstitutional. Instead, the justices said that once a child is emancipated by marriage, the family court loses jurisdiction over custody matters. The case arose from a custody battle between a Boise woman and her ex-husband, who planned to move to Florida and wanted to take their 16-year-old daughter along. The ex-husband was accused of setting up a “sham marriage” between his daughter and another teen as a way to end the custody fight.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker and Republican challenger Darren Bailey traded barbs at the final gubernatorial debate Tuesday. The debate held at the WGN-TV studios featured many of the same topics as the prior debate at Illinois State University including crime, abortion and the SAFE-T Act. However, new wrinkles were added in the hourlong back and forth such as school curriculum and the possibility of a new stadium for the Chicago Bears. While questions primarily focused on the issues, both candidates landed punches with Pritzker calling Bailey a “threat to democracy” and Bailey labeling Chicago “Pritzkerville” because of crime in the city. It was the last scheduled televised debate between the candidates and possibly the last time they shared venues, giving Bailey perhaps his last chance to cut into Pritzker’s lead in the polls. Recent polling conducted by The Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ found the Democrat with 49% of voters supporting him compared to 34% for Bailey.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: A man has been convicted of reckless homicide in the fatal 2020 shooting of a young Black man during unrest sparked by outrage over George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police. Prosecutors had charged Tyler Newby, 32, with murder, but after a one-day bench trial a Marion County judge found Newby, who is white, guilty Monday of the lesser crime of reckless homicide in Dorian Murrell’s death. His sentencing was set for Nov. 10. Murrell, 18, died from a single gunshot wound to the heart after being shot in downtown Indianapolis on May 31, 2020, during violence that followed protests over the death of Floyd, a Black man. Newby’s first trial in Murrell’s killing ended in a mistrial last year after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict following several hours of deliberation. Newby turned himself in shortly after the shooting. He claimed self defense, saying the shooting took place after he was approached by a group of people and shoved to the ground. Newby said he saw someone standing over him and fired. Prosecutors argued that being shoved to the ground wasn’t justification to take someone’s life. Three people who had been with Murrell when he was shot have been charged in connection with the robbery and killing of Chris Beaty, a businessman and a former Indiana University football player. Beaty, 38, was fatally shot in downtown Indianapolis hours before Murrell was slain.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Gov. Kim Reynolds now has the support of a majority of likely Iowa voters – and a sizable lead over her competitors with just over three weeks until Election Day. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds Reynolds at 52% support, holding a 17-percentage point advantage over Democrat Deidre DeJear, who has 35%. Libertarian Rick Stewart trails at 4%. Another 4% of likely voters say they are not sure for whom they would vote, 3% say they would vote for “someone else,” and 1% say they would not vote. Reynolds is holding her large lead even as more Iowans solidify their support behind one of the two major-party candidates. Reynolds also enjoyed a 17-point margin in the previous Iowa Poll in July, even though her overall support was lower in that poll, at 48%, versus 31% for DeJear. Fewer Iowans now say they’re undecided or would vote for “someone else,” but support for both Reynolds and DeJear increased equally – by 4 percentage points – since the July poll. And Reynolds maintains a significant advantage over DeJear in name recognition: Among all Iowans, more than half, 51%, still don’t know enough about DeJear to form an opinion about her, versus only 3% for Reynolds, the poll found. Reynolds also enjoys her highest approval rating since fall of 2021, at 53%.\n\nKansas\n\nLawrence: The University of Kansas has begun the process of returning Native American remains and other sacred objects that were recently discovered in its museum collections, the university said. University officials said in a statement posted online that “culturally unidentified individual remains,” funeral objects and other sacred objects were found in Spooner Hall and Lippincott Hall Annex on the Lawrence campus. The university is verifying its inventory of Indigenous artifacts it holds across campus. A spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to questions about the number of artifacts, specifically how and when they were found, or to which tribes they belong. The announcement comes 32 years after the passage of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which sets out criteria for tribal nations to reclaim human remains and other objects related to burials. Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod initially announced the discovery in a message to the campus Sept. 20. The university had begun efforts to repatriate some items in the past, but the process was not completed, he said. The university said its repatriation efforts will include forming an advisory committee, consulting with tribal nations, auditing all university collections, securing space for the Indigenous Studies Program, supporting gathering opportunities for the university’s Native American community, and instituting repatriation policies and procedures. “The intent in sharing this announcement is to publicly apologize to Native communities and peoples, past, present, and future, and to apologize to the tribal nations across North America,” the university’s statement said.\n\nKentucky\n\nBurkesville: The state’s 26th Trail Town has been certified, and it is in Cumberland County, the Department of Parks said. “Trail Towns are ideal destinations for outdoor recreation lovers,” Parks Commissioner Russ Meyer said in a news release Tuesday. “The program helps drive local and state economies and is an ever-increasing component of the nation’s economic impact. It also brings about more healthy activities and vibrant communities and parks.” The program is designed to provide a strategic plan that communities can use to capitalize on travel opportunities, the agency said. It also works to create healthy physical activities with access to trails and recreational areas. The Burkesville Trail Town offerings feature the Cumberland River and the connection to the downtown area. The river offers boating, fishing, and paddling. Burkesville is also home to Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: An outage involving a Coast Guard marine warning system and “data gaps” in radar systems were factors in last year’s deadly capsize of an oil industry vessel during severe storms off of Louisiana’s coast, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued Tuesday. Thirteen of the 19 people aboard the Seacor Power died after the offshore vessel capsized in the Gulf after leaving Port Fourchon. Known as a lift boat, the vessel had three legs that could be lowered to the sea floor, converting the ship to an offshore platform for servicing oil and gas facilities. It had been chartered by Talos Energy LLC for work on a Gulf platform when it was hit by high winds in rough seas and capsized on April 13, 2021. An NTSB preliminary report had said the Seacor Power had begun to lower its stabilizing legs and was trying to turn to face heavy winds when it flipped in the Gulf of Mexico. Six people were rescued. The NTSB said in Tuesday’s report that the captain of the Seacor Power made a “reasonable” decision to get underway the day of the disaster. But he didn’t have sufficient weather information from the lift boat company. “Additionally, due to a Coast Guard broadcasting station outage, the SEACOR Power crew did not receive a National Weather Service Special Marine Warning notifying mariners of a severe thunderstorm that was approaching,” the report said.\n\nMaine\n\nMachias: A longtime law enforcement officer and former candidate for sheriff in Washington County has been sentenced to four years in prison for drug- and gun-related charges. The case against Jeffrey Bishop, 55, unfolded with his arrest for providing opioid pills to a teenage girl last year in a high school parking lot. Prosecutors said the drugs were meant for the girl’s mother. He told the judge Monday that he was “very humble” and a “very broken man” but said he wasn’t fully satisfied with the plea agreement, the Bangor Daily News reported. He also said he was “baffled” that his police background was considered an aggravating factor when it came to his sentencing. He was arrested less than a week after he retired from the Calais Police Department last year. In his resignation letter, Bishop said he “decided to go out on top,” after a long career in law enforcement.\n\nMaryland\n\nHagerstown: Gov. Larry Hogan and other political and business leaders Tuesday toured the Hitachi Rail factory being built in Washington County. “The job creation potential and associated economic benefits are an absolute game-changer for this region and for the entire state,” the Republican governor said in remarks before the tour. “This project is further proof that the Hagerstown region is a major logistical center for transportation with unparalleled connections to the northeastern United States.” Hitachi also unveiled the final design of the $70 million factory, which will employ about 460 people and help sustain a total of 1,300 jobs in the region. The 307,000-square-foot facility is being build at the west end of Halfway Boulevard, which the county plans to extend to Greencastle Pike (Md. 63). The 41-acre site also will include an 800-foot test track. Hogan called it a “transformative project.” Construction is slated to be finished in the first quarter of 2024.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nSalem: A Hindu rights activist is calling on a museum to stop selling children’s plush toys representing three Hindu deities. Toys depicting Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesh and Lord Hanuman were available on the Peabody Essex Museum’s online shop last week but had been removed by Tuesday, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a statement. The deities are “greatly revered in Hinduism and were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be thrown around loosely on the floor, bathrooms, cars, etc.” Zed said. He also called for a formal apology from the museum. The Peabody Essex Museum halted sales of the toys while it reviewed the complaint, spokesperson Whitney Van Dyke said in an email. “These items will be back on sale shortly,” she said. The museum pointed out that the toys are widely available and are manufactured by New Jersey-based Modi Toys, founded by an Indian American family. They are intended to spark curiosity in Hindu culture and heritage, company co-founder Avani Modi Sarkar said in a statement.\n\nMichigan\n\nMount Pleasant: A man who got out of his car after striking a deer was killed by another vehicle, authorities said. The 33-year-old Shepherd man was hit Monday when the driver of the second car swerved to avoid a crash on U.S. 127, near Mount Pleasant, investigators said. Conditions were dark and misty. The lights on Joshua Davis’ Ford Focus “had been disabled from the deer accident and were not working,” the Isabella County sheriff’s office said. The driver of the other vehicle, a 77-year-old woman from Lansing, was taken to an emergency room for an evaluation, the sheriff’s office said.\n\nMinnesota\n\nBloomington: The Mall of America is testing metal detectors at one entrance following two incidents of gunfire and an armed robbery within the last year. Mall spokeswoman Laura Utecht said Tuesday the trial is taking place over the next month at the mall’s north doors, although that could change as testing continues. She declined to say what shoppers should avoid trying to carry through the metal detectors, the Star Tribune reported. “With Mall of America being such a unique property, it is important to thoroughly evaluate this technology onsite to ensure its accuracy, effectiveness and efficiency,” Utecht said in a statement, adding that the mall is testing a variety of security options. The Mall of America bans guns, according to its website, but the shopping center has never had metal detectors or searched bags. The mall, which opened in 1992, is the largest in the U.S. and is a tourist destination and community gathering spot. Two gun incidents took place in August. In one, a man robbed two stores and was apprehended with a loaded rifle. About three weeks earlier, a man fired shots in the midst of a fight among four other people. There were no injuries in either case. A shooting last New Year’s Eve left two people wounded following a dispute on the mall’s third floor.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: An employee of a wastewater hauling company pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday for his part in illegally discharging industrial waste into the capital city’s sewer system. William Roberts, an employee of Partridge-Sibley Industrial Services, admitted to supervising the improper disposal of industrial waste at a commercial entity in Jackson. As a result of Roberts’s negligence, the waste was trucked and hauled to a facility that was not a legal discharge point designated to receive the waste, federal prosecutors said. “The defendant’s negligent conduct contributed to the discharge of millions of gallons of untreated industrial waste into the Jackson water system,” said Chuck Carfagno, a special agent for the Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal investigations division. Jackson’s water and sewer system has been beset by troubles dating back years. The water system was recently engulfed in a crisis that forced people in the city of 150,000 to go days without running water in late August and early September. An attorney for Roberts did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He will be sentenced on December 14, 2022.\n\nMissouri\n\nKansas City: Six students and two adults were taken to a hospital for evaluation after a carbon monoxide leak was detected Wednesday at an elementary school, officials said. The eight people taken to hospitals from Longfellow Elementary School suffered nausea and dizziness but none suffered life-threatening issues, Assistant Fire Chief Jimmy Walker said. Emergency responders went to the school after several students reporting feeling ill. Firefighters found “extremely high” levels of the lethal gas inside the building, Walker said. The level of carbon monoxide reached 2,000 parts per million, which was the maximum for monitors used by firefighters at the scene, Walker said. The cause of the leak is under investigation. Firefighters were ventilating the building but it was unclear when students could return to Longfellow. School district spokesperson Elle Moxley said the district had contractors check its heating systems last week, including at Longfellow, in anticipation of colder weather. No problems were detected, she said. Moxley said every child was checked and the district will work with the fire department before determining where Longfellow students will attend school this week.\n\nMontana\n\nGreat Falls: A suspect who is accused of leading law enforcement on a vehicle chase through two counties on Monday has been charged with five felonies in Cascade County District Court. He is being held on a $500,000 bond. Santana Ledeau is charged with two counts of robbery, two counts of assault on a peace officer and one count of criminal endangerment. Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki said on Monday that Ledeau will likely face more charges as the investigation continues. That investigation, Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said, will be conducted by the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation due to the many agencies involved.\n\nNebraska\n\nLincoln: Officials say improperly discarded cigarettes led to a fire in a home’s garage and caused $75,000 worth of damage, the Lincoln Journal Star reports. Lincoln Fire and Rescue Capt. Nancy Crist said the fire started after the resident emptied an ashtray into a garbage can. The blaze was contained to the garage and no one was injured, according to the news outlet.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: Republican Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant is the only statewide candidate who has yet to file his campaign finance report, having missed Monday’s deadline. A central duty of the secretary of state’s office is administering elections, handling campaign finance reports and enforcing reporting deadlines for contribution and expenditure reports. The secretary of state also registers corporations and limited liability companies and represents the third highest ranking state official behind the governor and lieutenant governor. Marchant’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email request for comment Tuesday. The secretary of state’s office declined to comment. Campaign reporting deadlines normally fall on the 15th of the month for April, July, October and January. But since it fell on a Saturday this month, the deadline was moved to Monday at 5 p.m. Marchant had not filed by late afternoon Tuesday. If the report is filed one to seven days late, the candidate must pay a $25 daily fee. For eight to 15 days late, the penalty is $50 a day. And if the report is filed more than 15 days late, it is $100 a day the up to a maximum of $10,000. Marchant is among the America First Secretary of State Coalition candidates who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election and vow to scrap early voting and vote-counting tabulators.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nLondonderry: The publisher of a weekly newspaper has waived her arraignment, pleading not guilty to charges that she published advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising, the state attorney general’s office said. The six misdemeanor charges allege that Debra Paul, publisher of The Londonderry Times, failed to identify the ads with “appropriate language” indicating that they were ads and saying who paid for them as required by state law, the attorney general’s office said in August after reviewing cases that go back to 2019. Paul, who’s also a member of the town council in Londonderry, said in a statement at the time, “This is clearly a case of a small business needing to defend itself against overreaching government.” A police affidavit said altogether, nearly 60 violations in the Times and a related publication were counted between 2020 and this year. Paul, who along with her husband are the only two employees at the paper, said she originally believed the state’s complaint involved advertising rates, the affidavit said. Her attorney did not return a message seeking comment.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nMadison: A former federal prosecutor-turned-producer and a media production company who used Drew University as their backdrop to film a movie about a prestigious college littered with hazing and prejudice is being sued by the school, who claims they filmed and dashed without paying their bill. Executive producer Traci Bransford and her production company Meadowcrest Films and Think Global Media, a company with studios across the nation, used the Morris County private school earlier this year to film “The Choices We Make.” But when it was time to remit payment of over $130,000, Bransford apparently had plenty of excuses why the money was being delayed, according to the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Morris County earlier this month. The university names Think Global Media owner Nathan Scinto in the suit due to his partnership with Bransford, but Scinto’s attorney Richard Roth said Tuesday it was “aggressive lawyering” and that there is “absolutely no basis” to go after his client or his company. The facilities and services agreement, which Roth said he obtained, was with Meadowcrest Films. Roth said he plans to file a motion to remove his client from the suit if the university’s attorney does not agree to remove him prior. He also noted that he does not believe there is jurisdiction in New Jersey since his client’s company is not connected to the state. A number listed for Bransford was disconnected and there was no response to an email request for comment. No attorney is listed for her.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nWinston: Environmentalists are pushing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do more to protect Mexican gray wolves after one of the endangered predators was found dead in southwestern New Mexico. The Western Watersheds Project is among the groups that have been critical of the agency’s management of wolves in New Mexico and Arizona, saying illegal killings continue to hamper the population. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service says there have been fewer wolves found dead this year than in previous years. The agency also pointed to a revised recovery plan for the wolf that was released in early October. The agency was under a court order to revamp the plan to address the threat of human-caused mortality as one of the ways to increase survivability for wolves in the wild. Federal officials said they could not provide any details about the circumstances of the latest death since it was an ongoing investigation. It’s rare that such investigations are ever closed. Environmentalists described the male wolf recently found dead near Winston as one of the most genetically-valuable Mexican wolves in the wild. It had been released in 2018 after being born in captivity and then cross-fostered into a wild wolf den as part of an effort to increase genetic diversity.\n\nNew York\n\nMiller Place: Authorities rescued nearly 300 rabbits, birds and other animals from a filthy home and charged a self-help book author with cruel confinement of animals, prosecutors announced. “Operation Open Cage” started Oct. 1 when investigators were contacted by animal control officers who reported a hoarding situation in the hamlet of Miller Place on Long Island, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office said. Officers wearing hazardous material suits found a total of 118 rabbits, 150 birds, 15 cats, seven tortoises, three snakes and several mice living among filth, many surrounded by their own feces and urine and covered with cockroaches, the district attorney said. The owner of the home, Karin Keyes, 51, was charged with multiple counts of cruel confinement of animals. She’s a social worker and the author of a self-published book titled “Journey Into Awareness: Reclaiming Your Life.” Information on Keyes’ attorney wasn’t available. A phone message was left at a number listed for her. Teams from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals helped the district attorney’s Biological, Environmental and Animal Safety Team and local officers in removing and transporting the animals to animal welfare organizations around New York for medical care.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: Democratic legislators pleaded with the General Assembly’s Republican majority on Tuesday to consider gun safety and mental health measures, citing last week’s shootings in Raleigh that left five people dead. Democratic lawmakers, one a resident of the east Raleigh subdivision where the shooting rampage began last Thursday, said the public expects elected officials to work together to pass laws designed to make them safer. “This is an issue that transcends party. It’s an issue about our safety, the safety of our children, the safety of our state,” Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue said at a news conference. Blue has lived in the Hedingham community where the shootings occurred for over 30 years “and never felt that I would be unsafe in the community where we raised our kids until last week.” Previous Democratic requests for Republicans to permit debate and votes on gun-control measures and others to keep weapons out of the hands of people at extreme risk of becoming violent have been unsuccessful. “My question today is now the time for a discussion of gun reform, or do we have to wait yet for another mass shooting?” said Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, a Wake County Democrat. House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican, said in a statement later Tuesday that lawmakers for now “should remain focused on praying for the victims’ families and supporting law enforcement rather than seizing the moment for a political debate.” “We need to allow law enforcement to complete their investigation before jumping to any conclusions about policy changes,” Moore added.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The state health department stored thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses at incorrect temperatures or without temperature data over the past two years, according to a state audit Tuesday that said some of the vaccine was administered to patients. The health department disputed the findings. Tim Wiedrich, who heads the agency’s virus response, said “no non-viable vaccine” was given to patients. In responses that accompanied the audit, the department said clerical errors or other errors of documentation erroneously suggested that expired or bad doses were given. “DoH uses redundant systems to ensure proper monitoring and distribution of vaccines prior to end of shelf life,” the agency said. A spokeswoman for the auditor’s office said it wasn’t recommending revaccinations. “We simply report on what we found,” auditor’s office spokeswoman Emily Dalzell said. “It would be up to the individual and their doctor to decide if revaccination is needed.” The state analysis said nearly 2,000 Moderna doses were stored at incorrect temperatures and were administered to patients. The audit also found that nearly 13,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccines were issued from storage with missing temperature data. The audit covered a two-year span that ended June 30. An inventory of the vaccines was conducted on Aug. 8, 2021, the audit said.\n\nOhio\n\nCleveland: The state Supreme Court on Tuesday removed from the bench a Cleveland municipal judge for misconduct and conducting court business “in a manner befitting a game show host,” investigators said. Judge Pinkey S. Carr was indefinitely suspended, and she agreed to undergo evaluations for her mental and physical health. The court said that Carr’s bench was littered with junk, dolls, cups and novelty items - her own attorney described it as “resembling a flea market.” She wore tank tops, T-shirts, spandex shorts and sneakers to court. And she discussed with staff and defendants a television show called “P-Valley” about a fictional Mississippi strip club. Carr joked about accepting kickbacks for lenient sentences if defendants gave her food, beverages, carpeting or storage space. She referred to her bailiff as “Miss Puddin from P-Valley.” In addition to a lack of decorum, Carr was found to have violated a long list of other rules.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday set a statewide election for March 7 for voters to decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, a question Democrats had hoped would be on the November ballot to help energize liberal voters. Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws gathered enough signatures to qualify the question for a statewide vote and thought the proposal would be on the ballot in November. But because it took longer than usual to count the signatures and for courts to consider legal challenges, there wasn’t enough time to print the ballots ahead of the November election. If approved by voters, the question would legalize the use of marijuana for any adult over the age of 21. Marijuana sales would be subjected to a 15% excise tax on top of the standard sales tax, and the revenue it generates would be used to help fund local municipalities, the court system, public schools, substance abuse treatment and the state’s general revenue fund. The proposal also outlines a judicial process for people to seek expungement or dismissal of prior marijuana-related convictions. Oklahoma already has one of the most robust medical marijuana programs in the country, with roughly 10% of the state’s residents having state-issued medical cards that allow them to purchase, grow and consume marijuana. Stitt said that while he supports the federal legalization of marijuana, he opposes the state question, saying the country’s patchwork of state laws on marijuana has become problematic.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: State Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters said she’ll retire at the end of the year. Walters, who became the first woman to serve as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 2018, is the second justice this month to announce a retirement, giving Democrat Gov. Kate Brown two appointments to the state’s high court before she leaves office, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. “I have loved the job of advocating for our courts and the critical need for access to the services we provide,” Walters said during remarks at a judicial conference where she made the announcement. Walters’ plan to retire comes amid an uncertain political future for the state because of the November gubernatorial election. With unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson likely to draw votes, polls have indicated that Republican candidate Christine Drazan and Democratic Tina Kotek are locked in a tight race. By retiring, Walters has ensured Brown will name a replacement who is likely to be aligned with Walters’ jurisprudence.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPittsburgh: Newsroom workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have gone on strike demanding that the company reinstate the terms of its previous contract and return to the bargaining table. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh said its members began picketing Tuesday outside the newsroom on the city’s North Shore and planned to continue the action Wednesday. Guild members have been working without a contract since 2017 and Monday voted to authorize an unfair labor practice strike against the company. On Oct. 6, workers from unions that are responsible for production, distribution and advertising at the Post-Gazette walked off the job. The Post-Gazette said in a statement that it would “continue to serve the Pittsburgh community, our readers and advertisers, despite any work stoppage.” Officials said they were confident the company would prevail when the National Labor Relations Board rules on the unfair labor practice accusation. The walkout is the first major newspaper strike in the city in three decades. In 1992, WESA reports, about 600 members of a Teamsters local representing truck drivers and circulation route managers went on strike against the Pittsburgh Press, which ended up being sold and merged with the Post-Gazette.\n\nRhode Island\n\nNorth Kingstown: An orphaned bobcat found in the kitchen of a Glocester camp will soon return to the wild, said Arianna Mouradjian, director of operations at the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island, in North Kingstown. With an increase in the bobcat population in the state over the last two decades, the Saunderstown clinic has in recent years received several bobcats in need of its rehabilitative services, Mouradjian said. Still, she said, “Bobcats are one of those species we don’t see a lot of.” The most recent guest was rescued July 23 from Aldersgate Camp and Retreat Center in Glocester at about six weeks old. Bobcat kittens typically stay with their mothers 9 to 12 months. Through the end of summer and beginning of fall, she has lived in her own outdoor pen as the clinic staff give her time to grow big enough to fend for herself in the wild.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nGreer: BMW will invest $1 billion in its sprawling factory near Spartanburg, South Carolina, to start building electric vehicles and an additional $700 million to build a electric-battery plant nearby. The German automaker’s announcement Wednesday reflects its commitment to transitioning to electric-vehicle production in North America, in line with similarly ambitious plans by other major automakers. The investment in the 7-million-square-foot vehicle factory in Greer, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, would add an unspecified number of jobs to the more than 11,000 workers there. The battery plant, to be built in nearby Woodruff, will employ 300, the company said, with hiring to begin within a few years. In addition, BMW said it has signed a deal with Envision AESC of Japan to supply battery cells for a new class of at least six electric SUVs that will be built at BMW’s plant in Greer by 2030. Envision will build its new factory at an unspecified site in South Carolina. The companies wouldn’t say how many people will be hired. But the number of jobs could be significant: Battery cell plants being built by other companies will employ between 1,100 and 2,200 workers.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: A monkey with the Great Plains Zoo is recovering after facing recent surgery because of an injury sustained after the animal picked up a bottle cap someone threw in its enclosure. Kai, the Japanese macaque, had surgery Tuesday, according to a social media post by the zoo. He picked up a bottle top that had been tossed into the snow monkey exhibit, and tucked it into his cheek pouch. Eventually, the bottle cap wore its way through the cheek and needed to be removed. Despite the carefulness of the zoo’s veterinary team, he will have a scar, according to the post. The zoo posted details’s about Kai’s experience as a PSA for visitors to avoid future incidents. Objects the animal care team place in exhibits as enrichment are chosen with species-specific requirements in mind, according to the post. The zoo asked visitors if they drop something in by mistake, tell a zoo employee immediately.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Early voting kicked off Wednesday for the November midterm general election. The 14-day period of voting ahead of the Nov. 8 Election Day runs Mondays through Saturdays until Thursday, Nov. 3. The ballot features Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s reelection bid against Democrat Jason Martin, four constitutional amendments, U.S. House contests and state legislative races. Additionally, Tennessee’s deadline to request an absentee ballot to vote by mail is Nov. 1. Those ballots must be returned by mail in time for the county election commission to receive it no later than the close of polls on Election Day. The deadline to register to vote in the general election has passed. Voters can get more info at GoVoteTN.gov. Tennessee heads into the election with 4.55 million registered voters, an increase of about 127,800 since December 2021, according to the Tennessee secretary of state’s office.\n\nTexas\n\nRobstown: Former President Donald Trump plans a rally in what is shaping up as competitive South Texas on Saturday, just two days before the start of early voting ahead of the Nov. 8 elections. Trump, who in May was in Houston for a gathering of the National Rifle Association and two weeks earlier was in Austin as part of his “Save America Tour,” will be at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, about 20 miles west of Corpus Christi. In an advisory, Trump said he wants to “energize voters” by reminding them of the number of Republican candidates he has endorsed who have gone on to win elections, or at least their GOP primaries. During the March primaries, Trump endorsed Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, all of whom face competitive races from Democrats this cycle.\n\nUtah\n\nZion National Park: Thirty-three immigrants gathered beneath Zion’s iconic 1,000-foot sandstone cliffs for the park’s first-ever naturalization ceremony on Tuesday. It was an unusual setting for a ceremony typically confined to courtrooms or office space run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in Salt Lake City. For residents of southwestern Utah, the locale meant they could avoid the four-hour trip north. “I’m so grateful for this moment, for my family,” said St. George resident Brenda Corsi, originally from Huacho, Peru. “I know that we have an amazing future.”\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: The Vermont Supreme Court has rejected a request for bail from a man considered a person of interest in the shooting deaths of a couple in Concord, New Hampshire. In its Tuesday decision, the court unanimously rejected an appeal filed by attorneys for Logan Clegg, who was arrested last week in Vermont as a fugitive from justice from Utah. Clegg’s attorneys had argued he could not be held without bail prior to trial because the charge he is facing does not carry a potential sentence of life in prison. But the Vermont Supreme Court rejected that argument, saying that under Vermont law Clegg is not being held prior to trial, but as a fugitive from justice. When Clegg, 26, and homeless, was arrested by local police after being spotted detectives from Concord, South Burlington described him as a person of interest in an unsolved April homicide in Concord. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office said police made contact in Vermont with a person of interest the April killings of Stephen and Djeswende Reid, but they didn’t name the person. No arrests have been made or charges filed in the killings. Clegg’s arrest on a fugitive from justice charge included a probation violation.\n\nVirginia\n\nWaynesboro: Police arrested a man over the weekend, charging him with attempted murder in Waynesboro, a press release said. Gage W. Mayne, 26, no fixed address, is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, use of a firearm while attempting to commit murder, aggravated malicious wounding and four counts of obstruction of justice, the Waynesboro Police Department said. On Sunday morning shortly after midnight, Waynesboro officers responded to an address in the 2500 block of Village Drive. When police arrived, they encountered a 27-year-old man with what appeared to be a gunshot wound, the release said. During a preliminary investigation, officers identified Mayne as a suspect. He had already fled the scene in a vehicle. The vehicle Mayne was reportedly driving was found on the northeast side of Waynesboro. Police said Mayne was inside. He was placed into police custody without incident. Mayne is being held without bond at Middle River Regional Jail.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: The air quality west of the Cascades has deteriorated again as wildfires continue to burn. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency sent out an alert Tuesday afternoon saying the smoke around Seattle was causing unhealthy air and that people should close windows and limit time outdoors. Other areas around Puget Sound were experiencing air considered unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse, the agency said. The smoke-laden air gave the Pacific Northwest the designation of worst air quality in the U.S. on Tuesday, KGW Meteorologist Joe Raineri said. Nine fires were burning in Washington and Oregon before a red flag warning for critical fire conditions was issued over the weekend. Some new fires started while the Nakia Creek Fire in southwest Washington took off, causing much of the smoky air seen around southwest Washington and Portland, officials said. In the Pacific Northwest, relief should come Friday. “Friday through Saturday will be cooler and more seasonable and we’ll finally get that rain. I think everyone’s excited about that,” National Weather Service meteorologist Kayla Mazurkiewicz told The Seattle Times. “We should have had a couple of inches by now.”\n\nWest Virginia\n\nHuntington: A man has been charged in a woman’s 1993 slaying in the state, police said. Ricky Louie Woody, 59, of Billings, Montana, was charged earlier this month in the March 1993 death of Melissa Martinez in Huntington. She had a gunshot wound to the torso, lacerations to the head and died at a hospital, police said in a news release Tuesday. Witnesses initially provided information that led detectives to Woody, but there was insufficient evidence to charge him. Woody moved from Huntington to Billings within a year of Martinez’s death, the statement said. Billings detectives contacted Huntington police in May 2021 and indicated Woody told them he knew the person responsible for killing a woman known to him as “Lisa” in the early 1990s. Woody ultimately admitted he participated in her death, the statement said. Huntington detectives determined Woody was referring to the death of Martinez and interviewed him in September 2021 at a Billings jail, leading to the charges. Woody has waived extradition and will be returned to Huntington upon the resolution of the case in Montana, police said.\n\nWisconsin\n\nAshland County: A man whose 5-year-old daughter and her mother were killed in a car crash involving the state Senate’s minority leader has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the lawmaker. Brandon Fink, whose daughter Khaleesi Fink and the girl’s mother, Alyssa Ortman, were killed in the July crash, filed the lawsuit Friday in Ashland County (Wisconsin) Circuit Court, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Court documents show that the family lived in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley, another driver and three insurance companies as defendants. Bewley, who represents a state Senate district that covers northwestern Wisconsin, pulled out of a Lake Superior beach entrance in Ashland on July 22 and into the path of a car driven by Ortman, according to police. When Ortman’s car collided with Bewley’s, it spun across Highway 2 and was hit by a vehicle driven by Jodi Munson, 45, of Washburn. Ortman’s 5-year-old daughter was pronounced dead at the crash scene. Ortman later died at a hospital, according to police. The Ashland police report, obtained by The Associated Press, says Bewley was distracted by her hands-free mobile phone at the time of the crash. The lawsuit alleges that all three drivers acted negligently. Bewley’s spokesperson, Joey Huey, said the state senator would have no comment.\n\nWyoming\n\nCody: A college wrestler helped his teammate survive a grizzly mauling over the weekend by trying to wrestle the massive bear off his friend, eventually drawing a more brutal attack to himself. The men are crediting their bonds as wrestling teammates at Northwest College in Cody, Wyoming, with helping them survive the attack Saturday evening southeast of Yellowstone National Park. Brady Lowry of Cedar City, Utah, suffered a broken arm and puncture wounds in the initial attack after they surprised the bear while searching for antlers shed by elk and deer in the Shoshone National Forest. “It shook me around and I didn’t know what to do,” Lowry told KSL-TV Monday in an interview from a hospital in Billings, Montana. “I curled up in a ball and it got me a few more times.” His teammate – Kendell Cummings of Evanston, Wyoming – tried to stop the attack on Lowry by yelling, kicking and hitting the bear and pulling on its fur. Wyoming wildlife officials said they will not try to capture and relocate or kill the bear because it was a surprise attack and because there are many other bears in the area, making it difficult for them to determine which bear was involved.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/19"}, {"url": "http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/09/paula-cooper-executioner-within/93650408/", "title": "Indiana killer Paula Cooper: The Executioner Within", "text": "Robert King\n\nrobert.king@indystar.com\n\nThis 13-chapter story, told as a real-life novel, raises questions about race, justice, poverty and abuse. But it is also the story about the human capacity for forgiveness and a young woman’s struggle to find peace.\n\nStill shrouded in darkness, she sat alone in her car, parked between night and day, between this world and the next.\n\nBehind her, a family of teddy bears sat strapped in by a seat belt. In the front seat next to her was a digital recorder. And a gun.\n\nShe picked up the recorder and clicked it on.\n\n\"This is Paula Cooper.\"\n\nA short introduction, a simple statement. Even though nothing had been simple about being Paula Cooper.\n\n\"I believe today is the 26th; 5:15 will be my death.\"\n\nShe saw it clearly now, even in the pre-dawn gloom. She'd spent so much of her life searching for peace. But early on the morning of May 26, 2015, the end was in sight. She would reach it before sunrise.\n\nShe just had a few things left to say.\n\n—\n\n\"My sister. My queen. My everything.\"\n\nEvery morning she spoke to Rhonda. Why should this morning be different?\n\n—\n\n\"My mother, I felt like you didn't love me. You didn't care about me. You cut me off. You judged me. You didn't want me at your church. You hurt me about the man I loved. But I still love you.\"\n\nOthers had forgiven Paula. Yet she never felt it from the woman who mattered most.\n\n—\n\n\"To Monica, I'm so sorry. This pain that I feel every day. I walk around. I'm so miserable inside. I can't deal with this reality.\"\n\nMonica had been like a godmother in the fairy tales — someone to fill the void in the absence of a mother's love.\n\n—\n\n\"LeShon, I love you. … You showed me how to love.You showed me how to be a woman.\"\n\nLeShon looked beyond Paula's past. As if it had never occurred.\n\n—\n\n\"Michael, I'm so proud of you. And thank you for apologizing.\"\n\nMichael was her first love. She wanted a life with him; he wanted something else.\n\n—\n\n\"Meshia … you helped me when I was down, but I explained to you better than anybody how I feel.\"\n\nMeshia knew Paula's pain; she'd just been unable to stop it.\n\n—\n\nThese were the people Paula loved most. And to each one she had revealed part of herself, but never the whole. It was a select list from a life populated by characters: Her brutal father and her innocent victim; the judge who condemned her and the man who forgave her. There were friars and a bishop and a pope; jailers and journalists; people who were zealous to save her life and people eager to end it. There were too many to consider, really. And the sun would be up soon. She could wait no longer.\n\n\"Forgive me,\" she said in a recording that would soon become part of a police investigation. \"I must go now.\"\n\nHer coda finished, Paula stepped out of the car and into the shadows. She took a seat against a blighted tree. She felt the breeze in her hair. She felt the gun in her hand.\n\nShe was familiar with death. She'd seen it up close. She'd been condemned to it, resigned to it and reprieved from it. She had debated its merits and come to terms with it. Never had she stopped thinking of it.\n\nBut the question that would vex those she was leaving behind was maddeningly simple.\n\nWhy, after all she had endured and all she had survived, after all she had done and seemed capable of doing, had she chosen to die now?\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nThe garden spot in the woods — where her father grew vegetables and beat his daughters — was only an occasional venue of torture.\n\nMore often, for Paula Cooper, it happened at home.\n\nAs a child, Paula went to bed night after night next to her sister, listening to their parents argue, listening to her father make threats to come after them. Sometimes her mother would talk him out of it. Sometimes the man's wrath ebbed and they fell asleep. Sometimes they would be jarred awake at 3 o'clock in the morning, her father standing over them, ready to beat them.\n\nPaula believed there were other kinds of families out there. She watched the people on \"The Cosby Show,\" and they seemed to have such a nice family. But that was television. This was real. This was her family. And it looked as if there was no escaping it.\n\n—\n\nPaula was born in Chicago to Herman and Gloria Cooper on Aug. 25, 1969. Her sister, Rhonda, was three years older. Early on, the family lived in Michigan City, but by the time Paula was old enough for school they had moved to Gary.\n\nThe girls attended Bethune Grade School, a stone's throw from home. They went to nearby New Testament Baptist Church, where Paula sang in the choir and helped with the little children's Bible classes.\n\nBy the late 1970s, Gary's downward spiral from a midcentury boomtown was picking up speed. Manufacturing jobs were disappearing. White families were fleeing to the suburbs. Crime was rising. Like many black families still in the city, the Coopers were left in the wake of all this.\n\nGloria worked as a lab tech at a hospital. She had an assortment of health problems, none of them helped by the drugs and booze she added to the mixture.\n\n\"One day my mother be nice, the next day she be angry,\" Paula would tell Woman's Day, years later, when her story was national news. \"And the next day she be real strange-acting.\"\n\nHerman worked for U.S. Steel and worked construction, but his employment was sporadic. He had a girlfriend on the side and would be gone for long stretches. When he returned, chaos followed. Herman and Gloria were a volatile pair, drinking hard and arguing often, creating an atmosphere that was not just unstable, but dangerous.\n\nThe result, as Paula would say later, was that the girls had to \"fend for themselves.\" Sometimes, on evenings when Herman was gone and Gloria worked late, Paula took meals with the next-door neighbors, who allowed her to stick around and watch TV. Most of the time the girls had food and nice clothing. But, as Rhonda would say later, \"we hardly ever had any love.\"\n\nExcept from each other.\n\nIn the middle of all the darkness, Paula and Rhonda clung tightly to each other. They found moments to giggle together, play pranks together and share secrets.\n\nMore than just a sister, Rhonda became Paula's caregiver. Yet, through their early years, they were unaware of an important family secret: Rhonda was the child of a different father. It was a secret Gloria took great pains to hide, even though she allowed Rhonda's father, Ronald Williams, to visit occasionally. She said he was her uncle.\n\nBefore Herman came along, Ronald and Gloria were engaged. They broke it off, as Williams would later tell a courtroom, because he felt Gloria had a \"split personality.\" In short, he thought she was crazy.\n\nLiving with Herman Cooper didn't help.\n\nHerman beat everyone in the house. He beat Gloria in front of the girls. He beat the girls together. He beat them separately, sometimes in front of their mother. Sometimes Gloria seemed to egg on the violence.\n\n\"We did everything we was supposed to do, but it just wasn't never good enough for her,\" Paula told Woman's Day many years later. \"… She get mad at us and he'd beat us. 'Be a man,' she'd tell him. 'Take care of it,' she'd say. And he'd take care of it.\"\n\nThe girls grew up unable to remember a time before the abuse. When they were little, Paula would later say, Herman beat them \"for the things little kids do.\" When they were older, Rhonda remembered, he beat them for forgetting to take out the trash, for not doing the dishes and for skipping school.\n\nHerman employed an assortment of tools for punishment, whatever he could get his hands on — shoes, straps, sticks, a broom. Sometimes he used an electrical cord from an air conditioner.\n\n\"He'd triple it up and go to work,\" Paula would say later. \"It got to the point I was so used to it I didn't cry anymore.\"\n\nTo heighten the pain, Herman sometimes ordered the girls to remove their clothes before a beating. Questioned later, he denied that he ever abused the girls at all.\n\n—\n\nThis stark picture of Paula Cooper's childhood emerges from several sources; the courtroom testimony from Rhonda and her father; testimony from Dr. Frank Brogno, a clinical psychologist who discussed what he learned from examining Paula. Some of the glimpses into the darkness come from now-yellowed news clippings. Others come from anecdotes Paula shared with friends and loved ones and the few journalists she favored. Finally, there's the freshest source of insight into Paula's world — more than 100 personal letters she wrote to a treasured friend that were reviewed by IndyStar.\n\nTaken together, they amount to a catalog of horrors. Her father's beatings, Paula said, left her \"close to death so many times.\" With no apparent means of escape, she seemed to stop fearing death at all. \"I just cried,\" she wrote, \"until all my tears were gone away.\"\n\n—\n\nIn 1978, when Paula was 9, the tears were still flowing. Her parents separated, but it was often fuzzy as to when they were back together and when they were apart. Once, when Herman returned home to find the doors locked, he forced his way in. According to testimony Rhonda gave in court, Herman entered their home, beat up their mother and raped her in front of the two girls.\n\nThe incident seems to have been a tipping point. Not long after, Gloria began telling her daughters the world had nothing to offer them. Instead, she said, they'd all be better off going to heaven. On this point, Rhonda would say later, Gloria began pressuring her daughters. Eventually, the girls came to believe, like their mother, they had nothing to live for.\n\nGloria phoned Ronald Williams, Rhonda's father and steady friend. It was late. She'd been drinking and taking pills. She was crying. Herman had been giving her problems, she said, and things weren't good at work.\n\nShe was thinking of killing herself.\n\nWilliams had heard this kind of talk from Gloria before. Always, he had been able to console her, to talk her back from the precipice. He reminded her that she had Paula and Rhonda to think about. What would happen to them? His question made Gloria think. But only for an hour.\n\nShe called Williams back. Between her tears and her wailing, Gloria said: \"I finally found out what I'm going to do with the kids.\"\n\nWilliams was alarmed. He demanded to know what she meant.\n\n\"I'm going to take them with me,\" she replied. \"I'm going to let you speak to your daughter and Paula for the last time.\"\n\nThe girls took the phone in turns. They were crying, too. Rhonda said they were going to heaven with their mother.\n\n\"Don't do nothing drastic,\" Williams told them. \"Let me speak to your mother, OK.\"\n\nThe phone went dead.\n\nWilliams panicked. Gloria and the girls had recently moved. She hadn't shared their new address. He didn't know where to find them, how to stop her.\n\nHe called the operator and asked for his last call to be traced; it was no good. He called Gary police. Without an address, they could do nothing.\n\nThere was nothing anyone could do. Williams waited. For three weeks, he waited. He feared what had become of them.\n\nHad Gloria killed them all?\n\n—\n\nAfter she hung up the phone, Gloria decided not to act right away; she'd wait until morning. When she awoke, Gloria took the girls out to the car in the garage. She put them in the back seat and started the engine. The garage door remained closed.\n\nFrom there, accounts differ. Williams testified that a friend told him neighbors noticed something and called the fire department. Rhonda testified that, as the fumes gathered, the girls drifted off to sleep. They thought they were going to heaven; instead, they woke up in bed. How they got there isn't clear. Rhonda said Gloria had changed her mind. When the girls awoke, she said, their mother was coughing on the lawn.\n\nFrom then on, Williams tried to coax Gloria into letting him have the girls. Rhonda was his daughter, and he was fond of Paula, too. Gloria would have none of it.\n\n\"I'd rather see them both dead,\" she said.\n\n—\n\nThe girls survived their first brush with death. But Paula and her sister were being shaped in a world without hope. And now their mother had planted a seed: The ultimate escape was death.\n\nRhonda looked around at this nihilist world and began seeking a way out. Several times she tried to run. Soon, she began taking Paula with her. \"I couldn't take it no more in that house,\" she would say, \"and I didn't want her to, either.\"\n\nBy 1982, when both girls were teenagers, they made an unsuccessful attempt to run and were sent — together — to the Thelma Marshall Children's Home in Gary. Within a short time, they were returned to the Coopers. For Paula, it was the beginning of a cycle — of running and being returned home. For Rhonda, that cycle ended only when she learned Ronald Williams was her biological father. At her first opportunity, she left the Coopers to live with him.\n\nIf the move helped Rhonda, it had grievous consequences for Paula, then 13. Her sister had been the most stable person in her home. Now she was gone. Paula came to believe her parents blamed her for Rhonda's departure. Now that her father's anger had one less target, Paula's beatings grew more frequent and more brutal. Even as her parents divorced, Herman never quite left the picture. And his handiwork began to show.\n\nAt school, Paula revealed to an administrator a rash of injuries — a bruise on her thigh, a welt on her arm, a rug burn on her elbow.\n\nWhen a welfare caseworker visited the Cooper home, Herman and Gloria cursed at her. They blamed Paula's problems on interference from the courts, from the school psychologist and from the welfare department itself. When the caseworker recommended family counseling, Gloria said she'd rather go to jail.\n\nAt various times, Gloria and Herman seemed to vacillate between wanting Paula and considering her a curse. Paula began running away on her own. After one attempt, welfare officials wanted to send Paula home, but her mother objected. If Paula returned, Gloria vowed to leave.\n\nOn another occasion, when Rhonda made a rare visit to spend a weekend with Paula and her mother, arguments ensued and Williams returned for Rhonda. He couldn't find her there, but he found Paula. She was crying so loudly he heard her without going in. Gloria, who stood in front of the house fuming about Paula, simply said: \"I'm going to kill that bitch.\"\n\nPaula emerged and, seeing Williams, ran to him and jumped into his arms. He asked her if her mother would really hurt her.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nWilliams told her to get in the car. Gloria charged out toward them and began to threaten Paula. \"I'm going to kill you and if I don't (Herman) will.\"\n\nWilliams considered it serious business to take Paula. He lived in Illinois and assumed it would be a crime to take a child across the state line without permission of the parents. He took her anyway. Gloria and other family members threatened to phone the police.\n\nAt his home, Williams asked Paula what she wanted to do. They talked about the logistics of her staying with him without her mother's permission. It would be impossible for her to go to school. Then there was the trouble Williams might face. With tears, Paula looked at Williams and said, \"It's best for me to go home … I don't want to get you in no trouble.\" Paula's respite lasted only a few hours.\n\nEven though he wasn't keeping Paula, Williams couldn't fathom returning her home. Instead, he just let her walk away. She was young, no more than 13, but Williams believed she was safer on the streets of Chicago than at home. Under scrutiny for making such a choice, Williams later told a courtroom he thought Paula was in danger there. \"I would rather see her in the street as a slut than for her mother to blow her brains out.\"\n\nFor several days, Paula survived on her own. Inevitably, she wound up back home.\n\n—\n\nBy 1983, when Paula turned 14, she stayed away from home as much as possible. She was smoking cigarettes and drinking. She smoked marijuana almost daily. Tall, but heavy, she took speed to lose weight. She tried cocaine. She skipped school routinely. She was sexually active. Years later, she would warn others against making similar choices. But for the moment, it was her life.\n\nAnd it was a rootless life. She spent six months at a children's home in Mishawaka and three months in a juvenile detention center. She was removed from one home after only six days after she threatened a staff member and another resident — with a knife.\n\nWith each new address, Paula changed schools. She attended four high schools without ever finishing the 10th grade. Her schoolwork, decent at first, nosedived. She called a teacher \"crazy,\" resulting in a suspension. She struggled to keep friends. She developed a reputation as a bully. All the while, Paula struggled to wake up in the mornings. When she was evaluated for the problem, a doctor at a local hospital asked if she ever thought of killing herself.\n\n\"Yes,\" she replied.\n\nFor that answer, she was sent to a mental hospital. Released four days later, she returned home.\n\n\"I told people I needed help and to talk, but all they did was move me from home to home,\" Paula would write a few years later. \"I didn't care about life or trouble or consequences at all.\"\n\n—\n\nPerhaps the pinnacle of Paula's abuse came, ironically, after her father visited Gary police seeking advice on how to deal with a wayward child. Paula was 14, and Herman Cooper couldn't keep her reined in. Frustrated, he asked the police what he should do with her. It was a family matter, they said; he should do what he thought was right.\n\nFor Herman Cooper, that meant one thing: another beating. But for what he had in mind this time, he'd need some privacy. He took Paula to a woody patch near a spot where he kept a garden. Paula had been there before; so had Rhonda.\n\n\"If you scream where I take you,\" he told Paula, \"no one will hear you.\"\n\nSeveral times in her life, Paula thought her father was going to beat her to death. This was one of them. \"He just kept beating me and beating me,\" she would tell the clinical psychologist, for what seemed like half an hour. Instead of the cord or a broom or a stick, this time Herman beat her with his bare hands.\n\nWhen he was done, Herman put Paula in the car to take her home. But as they drove through the darkening streets of Gary, Paula knew she couldn't go back there. Not when the possibility of more punishment lay ahead in the Cooper house of horrors.\n\nAs Herman pulled the car up to the house, Paula jumped out and took off running into the night. Running and screaming. Herman gave chase, but porch lights began to click on. Up and down the street, neighbors stepped out to investigate the commotion. The neighbors had seen this show before; it never seemed to end. This time, though, Herman retreated.\n\nPaula ran until she wound up where the night had begun — at the police station. She told officers there about the beating, told them she couldn't go home. At least not while Herman was around. The state pulled her away from the Coopers. It isn't clear from the record where she was placed. But soon, she was sent back home.\n\n—\n\nIn the summer of 1984, when Paula turned 15, she felt as lonely as ever.\n\nAdrift, Paula briefly took up with a guy she hoped might offer her a haven. Later, she would tell others he was a rough character who dealt drugs and treated her poorly. The one thing he did for Paula was leave her pregnant.\n\nMany teenage girls would consider pregnancy a tragedy; Paula saw it as a blessing. She had almost forgotten how to care about anyone. She wanted a family, wanted someone to belong to. The child growing inside her represented someone she could love, someone who would love her in return.\n\nAnd then it was gone.\n\nGloria had been dead set against the pregnancy; she wanted Paula to end it. Paula refused and ran off — perhaps to seek help from a woman she knew in Chicago. Her mother tracked her down and, as Paula would write years later in a letter and tell friends, forced her to have an abortion.\n\nPaula was several months into the pregnancy; the procedure nearly killed her. \"She took something that would have completed my life,\" Paula would write later, \"and after that I felt I had no one.\"\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nRuth Pelke was gentle, an old woman with silvery hair and horn-rimmed glasses. As her stepson Robert and his wife pleaded for her to leave Gary, she listened.\n\nRobert pledged to do everything necessary to make her house ready for sale — the legal stuff, the touch-up jobs, whatever. She listened as they talked to her about how dangerous her neighborhood had become.\n\nBut Ruth didn't really need reminding. Her Glen Park neighborhood was still one of the better places to live in Gary, although that wasn't saying much, given the city's downward lurch. There were abandoned houses now. There were burglaries. Her own home had been hit five times in recent years, including when her husband, Oscar, was still alive. Now, at 78, she was widowed and alone, and things were only getting worse. But Ruth had been in Glen Park for 41 years; it was home. She still had some good neighbors. Just as important, she had a mission.\n\nFor decades, she'd opened her home and heart to the neighborhood children. She'd taught them the Bible using felt cutouts of Bible characters that she stuck to a flannel board. She'd given the kids candy when they memorized Scripture. She'd driven them to church. She believed these were children who needed hope, and they could find it in Jesus. No, she finally said that night after her stepson's plea — she wouldn't be leaving the home in her neighborhood.\n\n\"I'll stay here until I go there,\" she said.\n\nRuth Pelke was pointing a finger to heaven.\n\n—\n\nThe next day, Tuesday, May 14, 1985, Ruth's doorbell rang.\n\nShe answered it and found three teenage girls standing on her porch. She didn't recognize them, but she opened her door. One of the girls said, \"My auntie would like to know about Bible classes. When do y'all hold them?\"\n\nRuth wasn't up to teaching anymore, but she wanted to help the girls. \"Come back on Saturday,\" she said. And closed the door.\n\n—\n\nThe girls — Karen Corder, Denise Thomas and Paula Cooper — walked back across the alley. Sitting on a porch, April Beverly was waiting.\n\nThe foursome — all ninth- and 10th-graders at Lew Wallace High School — left school at lunchtime that afternoon with no intention of going back. The girls walked the 10 blocks or so to an arcade near 45th and Broadway where they spent what little money they had on games and candy. When their money was gone, they headed back to the house where April was staying with her sister.\n\nThey were a ragtag bunch.\n\nAt 16, Karen Corder — known to her friends as \"Pooky\" — was the oldest. More than two years earlier, she'd given birth to a baby boy whom she'd delivered in a toilet. She'd managed to keep the pregnancy secret from her parents until the child was born, according to court records.\n\nAt 15, April Beverly was seven months pregnant. She was part of a divided family with 11 children, and she bounced between two homes, her father's and her sister's. Her mother was dead, her father had remarried. On occasion, April benefited from the kindness of the old lady across the alley. She'd listened to Ruth Pelke's Bible lessons. And the old woman had brought food over to April and her siblings when she was concerned they might be hungry.\n\nAt 14, Denise Thomas was the youngest of the four and the smallest. The others were mature young women — at different places on the spectrum of teen motherhood. Denise still looked very much like a little girl. In the context of this group, some would later describe her as a tag-along.\n\nAnd, of course, there was Paula Cooper. At 15, she was only months removed from an unwanted abortion that had nearly killed her. She was tall, somewhat heavy and had the bearing of a girl beyond her years. She would be described as the \"prime mover\" of the quartet — the ringleader. But it was a label she'd never cop to.\n\n—\n\nTo date, the sum total of their illicit behavior was strictly small-time. Karen had tried her hand at shoplifting. Paula, Karen and April had pulled off a burglary a few days before that netted them $90. Mostly, the girls were truants. And on this Tuesday afternoon away from school, their immediate priority was to raise some money so they could go back to the arcade.\n\nTheir first attempt was a harebrained scheme April cooked up to get some cash from a woman up the street. All four girls had gone to the woman's door. April introduced Denise, the small one, as her daughter. April claimed the woman's husband had taken $20 from Denise and they'd come to collect it. For added zest, April threw in this detail: The woman's husband had been naked when he stepped into the street to take Denise's money.\n\nThe woman didn't go for it.\n\nAfter that failure, April turned her focus to Ruth Pelke. She seemed to recall the lady keeping a jar of $2 bills. She thought the woman might even have some jewelry. The question was how to get to it all.\n\nAs they sat on the porch at her sister's house, April asked Paula to come inside — she might know where there was a gun. For the girls, a gun crime would be a considerable step up the criminal ladder. But the gun wasn't where April thought it was; she couldn't find it. Then it occurred to April: Something else might do.\n\n\"I have a knife you could scare the lady with,\" she said.\n\nSoon, April produced a 12-inch butcher knife. It was sharp and had a curving blade that graduated to a fine point. It was a cooking tool, but also a potentially lethal instrument. Paula took the knife and hid it in her light jacket. Out on the porch, she and April explained to the other girls: This was their new weapon of choice. And Karen came up with another approach to getting inside the old lady's home: They would ask her to write down the time and place where the Bible classes would be.\n\nIn all this planning, Paula and the other girls would forever swear, the subject of killing the old woman never came up. The most they would admit, according to Corder, was that they'd knock out the woman and rob her. Still, the reality of what they were planning — to con their way into her house, pull a knife and take the old woman's valuables — was fraught with danger.\n\nAs their scheme unfolded, April stayed back again, resting on her sister's porch; she didn't want the old woman to recognize her. Karen, Paula and Denise crossed the alley.\n\nThey rang the bell, and soon Ruth Pelke appeared at the door. This time, when she answered, Karen said: \"My auntie wants to know where the Bible classes are held at. Could you write it down for me?\"\n\nRuth said she no longer taught the classes, but she knew of a lady. \"I'll look up her telephone number for you.\" She invited the girls to come in. And she turned to walk to the desk on the far side of the room.\n\n—\n\nRuth Pelke looked for all the world like the kindly grandmother drawn up in children's books. She was also a woman whose Christian faith was essential to who she was. She went to church on Wednesday nights and twice on Sundays. She visited church members who were too old or too sick to get out. She sang in the choir. She hosted missionaries in her home on their trips back from foreign lands. She took her own missionary journeys, going deeper into the heart of Gary to share her faith with children.\n\nWhat followed — recorded in statements to police, testified to in court, reported in newspaper accounts and, in brief instances, described in letters Paula would write years later — was a scene that would shock Northwest Indiana and the rest of the state.\n\nAs Ruth Pelke crossed her living room to the desk where she kept phone numbers, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck.\n\nPaula had put her jacket on the couch and run up on Ruth, grabbing her from behind. For a moment, the teenager and the old woman struggled. Ruth still tended a garden and did a little work outside the house to keep fit, but she was in no shape for a chunky 15-year-old girl who now had her in a headlock.\n\nPaula threw Ruth to the floor.\n\nOn a table nearby sat an item some would describe as a vase but others likened more to a triangular snow globe. One of the girls picked it up and hit Ruth Pelke over the head. Prosecutors would allege it was Denise Thomas; Paula took the blame.\n\nPaula demanded to know where Ruth kept her valuables. She threatened to cut her with the knife. \"Give me the money, bitch,\" she said.\n\nRuth looked up and said simply: \"You aren't going to kill me.\" She began hollering for help. Paula's anger rose now. Then she looked at Ruth's head. Blood was streaming from the place where she'd been hit with the vase. Paula saw the blood and reacted in a way she would struggle to explain for the rest of her life.\n\nTo police investigators, she would say she entered \"a blackout stage.\"\n\nTo a judge, she would say, \"Something clicked in on me.\"\n\nTo a psychologist, she said the sight of the blood altered her perception of whom she was attacking: \"I saw somebody else inside of that body.\"\n\nSeveral friends and supporters who heard similar explanations from Paula concluded that, in this moment, Paula no longer saw the meek and mild Bible teacher in front of her. They believed Paula saw the woman who watched her suffer so many beatings and did nothing to stop them, the woman who took away the baby she'd wanted to love. They were convinced that, in the defenseless woman pinned to the floor, Paula saw her mother.\n\nWhatever she saw, Paula reached for the knife. She grabbed it by the handle and began slashing. She sliced open the old woman's cheek. She stabbed at her head, without deep penetration. Ruth fell back, flat on the floor. And Paula went to work, cutting her arms and legs.\n\nThe other girls stood by in disbelief.\n\nKaren Corder, the oldest, told Paula to stop.\n\nDenise Thomas, the youngest, cried and screamed for Paula to quit. Later, she would claim she yelled, \"I'm getting out of here,\" only to be met with a withering threat from Paula: \"Leave and you're dead.\"\n\nPaula's barrage was relentless. She stabbed the old woman in the belly and, finally, thrust the blade deep into the side of Ruth's chest. With that, Paula stopped; she pulled back from the carnage.\n\n\"I can't take it no more,\" she said.\n\nPaula looked at Denise; she told her to come hold the knife. But Denise refused. She looked at Karen, communicating the same message. Karen knelt beside the wounded woman. The blade remained lodged in her chest. And Karen held it in place.\n\nApril Beverly, who concocted the robbery scheme, initially held back. After the others went inside, she had come up to Ruth's porch and acted as lookout. Now she entered the house. The old woman was lying on her back, her dress covered in blood, her arms and legs still moving. Karen, she noticed, held the knife as it protruded from the woman's side. To April, it appeared that Karen wasn't just holding it: She was wiggling the knife back and forth. Out of some morbid curiosity, she would tell police later, Karen pushed the blade farther into the hole to see how deep it would go. At one point, she concluded, \"The bitch won't die.\"\n\nKaren estimated she held the knife in Ruth Pelke's side for upwards of 15 minutes; Paula thought it closer to 30.\n\nRuth Pelke moaned through most of this. The old woman's torn and tortured face was too much for the girls to bear. One of them went to the bathroom and got a towel to cover Ruth's face — and try to smother the last breaths of life from her. Paula and Denise said it was Karen; Karen said it was Paula.\n\nIn her dying moments, Ruth Pelke managed to share a few last words. Denise heard her saying the Lord's Prayer.\n\n\"Our Father, which art in heaven …\"\n\nPaula had stalked in and out of the room, and the last words she heard from Ruth were something else. Words that would haunt her the rest of her life.\n\n\"If you kill me,\" she heard Ruth say, \"you will be sorry.\"\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nPaula and Denise began tearing the house apart, rifling through drawers, ripping items off shelves and upending furniture.\n\nFor Paula, it was a mad search for some reward for the awful business she'd just concluded. There had to be some money somewhere. Maybe some jewelry. But as she continued her desperate search, a nervousness began to grow inside her. Whether it was regret for the killing or the chilling final words of her victim, she felt uneasy. And she didn't like it. As they were going through the upstairs rooms, Paula tried to pull herself away. But the only place to go was back downstairs, where the source of her angst lay dead on the floor. She resumed the treasure hunt and soon managed to turn up some cash — all of $10. She came across a key and thought it might start the old woman's Plymouth in the garage. She ran out to give it a try. Nothing.\n\nApril joined in the search and quickly turned up another key. This time when Paula tried it, the engine stirred to life. April went inside to fetch the other girls.\n\nBy then, Karen and Denise were alone with Ruth Pelke's body. Karen had watched the rise and fall of the old woman's chest until it grew shallower. Finally, it stopped. Maybe April sensed some new panic; she sternly warned the other girls: \"If you tell anyone, I'll kill you.\"\n\nThe girls had spent roughly an hour in the old woman's house. They hadn't found a jar of $2 bills. They hadn't found a trove of jewelry. But it was time to go. Someone might come looking. Before they could leave, Karen grabbed one last item.\n\nShe knelt down again beside Ruth. The butcher knife was planted firmly in the left side of her chest, just below her breast. Karen grabbed the handle. She pulled it out. As they headed out to the car, Karen carried the knife at her side. She climbed into the back of the car and dropped it to the floor. The blade was still coated in blood.\n\n—\n\nPaula Cooper was 15. She was too young to drive. But with her three accomplices as passengers, she managed to steer Ruth's car out of the neighborhood and onto 45th Avenue. They were just down the street from Lew Wallace High School. School was out now and, almost immediately, they saw a classmate walking along the street. Almost reflexively, they waved to Beverly Byndum. And Beverly waved back.\n\nThis was the paradox they now faced. They were teenagers in possession of a car, the apex of adolescence. Yet they had acquired it in the most horrific way imaginable. Years later, Paula would say things just \"got out of control.\" But here she was — a killer. Now that the deed was done, now that they had a few bucks, Paula and the others seemed in no mood to enjoy it.\n\nBefore they arrived at the video arcade, Karen asked Paula to let her out of the car; she wanted to go back to April's house. Paula let her go, but not before asking her to perform a little task: Go back to the old lady's house and get the jacket Paula had left inside.\n\nNext, Denise said she wanted to go home. She asked Paula to let her out at a convenience store and she would make her way from there.\n\nWhen Paula and April pulled up to Candyland Arcade, they were alone. For a few minutes, they just sat there, talking about what they'd done. April hadn't witnessed everything that went on inside the house. It's not clear how many of the missing details Paula shared.\n\nPaula said she needed to use the restroom, and she ventured into the arcade. When she returned, five girls from school were standing around the car. One of them was Beverly Byndum, whom they had passed on the street. Her sister, Latesha, asked where they had come by the car. Paula said it was her sister's.\n\nWithin minutes, Karen walked up to the arcade out of breath, as if she had been running to catch up with the crew. Wherever she had been, she hadn't stayed long. Paula pulled her aside and asked if she'd gone back to the house, if she'd picked up the jacket. No, Karen replied. It was probably the last place on Earth she wanted to go. And she didn't hang around long enough to talk further about it. In a few minutes, she caught a bus for home.\n\nWhether Paula remembered it or not, she had left more than her jacket in the house. Inside one of its pockets was a newly filled prescription for birth control pills — her pills. She had picked them up earlier that morning before school. It was just one of the clues she had left for investigators to find.\n\nPaula and April looked around at the girls and asked if anyone wanted a ride home. Eagerly, their friends piled into the Plymouth. Latesha Byndum was among those who jumped into the back. As she did, she felt her foot brush across something on the floor. She reached down to pick it up. It was a knife. And there was blood on it. There was also blood on her shoe. Latesha looked at Paula and April in the front seat and asked, \"What you all do? Just kill somebody?\"\n\nThe girls looked back at Latesha.\n\nNo, they replied.\n\nAnd, in a response that would reverberate across the community, Paula and April laughed.\n\n—\n\nPaula and April dropped off their passengers at various addresses around Gary. But details about where and how they spent their next two days are choppy and imprecise.\n\nProsecutors would characterize their time in the car as a joy ride. But from this point on, Paula and April seemed to have a different sense of what to do next.\n\nApril wanted to go to a park in Hammond; she wanted to see her brother Tony; she wanted to see her boyfriend. When she found $40 in Ruth Pelke's glove box, she wanted to spend it. When they picked up April's boyfriend and he brought some alcohol, she drank it.\n\nPaula wanted to go to a girl's home where she had lived for a time; she wanted to pick up some friends there. But she quickly decided she and April needed some time to focus on what to do next. When April found the money, Paula thought they should save it for gas. While April got drunk, Paula wanted nothing to drink. She was too nervous.\n\nMost symbolic of their division, perhaps, is what happened to the money from Ruth's glove box. The girls wrestled over it, and one of the $20 bills was torn. Paula gave up the fight. April could keep the money and do with it what she wanted.\n\n—\n\nOn Wednesday morning, the day after the crime, Robert Pelke phoned Ruth's house to check up on her. She didn't pick up the phone, and he decided to check on her in person. Just three days before, he and a large portion of the extended Pelke family had taken Ruth out for a Mother's Day dinner. Just two days earlier, Robert and his wife had pushed Ruth to think about selling her house and leaving Gary. Robert rang the doorbell, with no idea how prescient that conversation had been.\n\nThere was no answer, so Robert opened the mail slot on the door and called inside. There was only silence. But through the mail slot, something caught Robert's eye: The dining room was torn apart. He went to fetch a spare key Ruth kept hidden outside. Looking around the place, he noticed Ruth's car was missing from the garage, and he assumed Ruth must be gone, too.\n\nHe found the key, unlocked the door and stepped into the house. The place appeared to have been ransacked. Pictures that had adorned the walls were now scattered about the floor. Cushions from the couch had been pulled up and cast about. And then his eyes turned to the dining room floor.\n\nThe cloaked figure of a woman lay there motionless. Her dress was caked in blood. Her arms were slashed. A towel masked her face.\n\nRobert knelt down next to her. He pulled the towel away and called her name. Still, there was no movement. He touched her, and the body was cold. He knew she was dead.\n\nRobert got up and went for the phone. In an age when every phone was a landline, Ruth's had been ripped from its place on the wall. He stepped outside and began going door to door, looking for someone who would let him use their phone. But at house after house, he found nobody. Finally, Robert looked farther up the street and saw a man and a woman getting out of a car. He approached them and asked them to call the police.\n\nHis stepmother had been murdered.\n\n—\n\nRobert's son, Bill Pelke, arrived home just after 3 o'clock from his shift at Bethlehem Steel and soon received a phone call. It was one of his uncles. Nana, he said, was dead.\n\nNana was the term of endearment everyone in the family used for Ruth. Bill had grown up listening to her Bible stories. He'd loved her flannel board tales of the three men in the fiery furnace, of Noah and the ark and his favorite — Joseph and the coat of many colors.\n\nEven as a 37-year-old man, he still loved to go to Nana's house for the holidays, to warm himself beside her fireplace and congregate there with the rest of the family. His grandfather had passed almost two years before, but Nana was still a magnet. She could still bring the family together. And now, suddenly, she was gone.\n\nAt such moments of shock, the brain's processor goes into hyperdrive. And some key facts rushed through Bill's head: Nana had been 78; she was the oldest Pelke; she'd had a good life; it must have been her time. But that instant of comfort evaporated quickly. He sensed something else in his uncle's voice that was borne out in his next words: There'd been a break-in at Nana's house. He didn't know if there was a connection.\n\nBill hung up and turned on the television, wondering if there might be some news about it. Sure enough, his father appeared on camera. He was saying something about it being a terrible murder. For Bill, everything else was a blur; he had to go. He had to be with his family.\n\nAs it turned out, Ruth Pelke had been dead for a full day.\n\n—\n\nBy that spring of 1985, crime was a painful reality in Gary. Its murder rate was among the highest in the country. It was on its way to becoming the murder capital of the United States.\n\nGary was a city in decline; poverty was growing like a cancer. But the violence was being spread through an influx of gangs with names such as The Family and the Black Gangster Disciples.\n\nYet as accustomed to crime as the city had become, the murder of Ruth Pelke shocked and angered people in a whole new way. There was the innocence of Ruth herself — the elderly Bible teacher. As one observer put it, she was a grandma to the neighborhood. The killing's effect also might have been amplified because it happened in Glen Park, which a prosecutor later described as a \"last bastion\" of the white population in a city from which white residents had disappeared.\n\nOn the day after the discovery of Ruth's body, The Post-Tribune in Gary devoted two front-page columns to the story: \"Bible teacher, 77, murdered in her home.\" It had her age wrong, but the dominant image on the page was a picture of Ruth — silver-haired and smiling behind her horn-rimmed glasses from another era.\n\nThe newspaper reported that neighborhood children \"were visibly upset and shaken by the murder.\" They spoke of Pelke as \"meek and mild,\" serving cookies during summer Bible classes and giving out boxes of candy to the children who memorized Scripture.\n\nAs for who might be responsible, the initial story carried some important nuggets: Police were searching for a 15-year-old girl who'd been seen driving Pelke's blue Plymouth. They weren't releasing her name, but the girl was a student at Lew Wallace High and lived in Gary's Marshalltown neighborhood.\n\n—\n\nPaula Cooper lived in Marshalltown.\n\nAs they combed through Ruth's house, police found the jacket with the prescription in the pocket. Eyewitnesses had seen Paula and the other girls in a car that matched the description of Ruth's missing Plymouth. And on the day Ruth's body was discovered, Gloria Cooper phoned police to report her 15-year-old daughter missing; she'd been missing since the day before.\n\nThe ink was barely dry on the newspaper stories when Karen Corder, walking around school on Thursday, two days after the crime, began looking for someone on whom she could unload her conscience. She had opted out of the joy ride and gone home and had a couple of restless nights' sleep. She found a gym teacher who'd been nice to her and said they needed to talk; she'd witnessed a murder. Soon, police were at the school. They took Karen and Denise into custody. And Karen was telling her story about the crime.\n\nIn the two days since the killing, Paula and April — with April's brother, Tony — had driven aimlessly from Gary to Hammond and to various parts of Chicago's South Side. They'd had no real sense of direction.\n\nTony pressed on in Ruth's Plymouth until the gas needle dropped well below empty. Then he pushed it some more. Finally, the car died. Their money gone, they found a phone and called April's sister. Thursday night, with the police dragnet closing around them, she took the girls to see the Gary police.\n\n—\n\nDetective William Kennedy Jr. had been looking for Paula Cooper and April Beverly for the better part of two days. When his phone rang around midnight, the news was good: They'd turned themselves in.\n\nIn addition to being a cop, Kennedy worked security at Lew Wallace High School. He'd seen Paula Cooper walking the halls. He never knew her name, but they'd exchanged hellos. Now, he was tidying up the loose ends of a case for murder against her.\n\nWhen he arrived at the station, Paula's parents were waiting. Kennedy asked Herman and Gloria Cooper if Paula could make a formal statement about the crime. Herman, speaking for everyone, declined. They were interested in talking to a lawyer, and he seemed annoyed at the article in the morning paper, which he felt pointed a finger at Paula even if it didn't name her.\n\nThe Coopers met briefly with Paula, then returned to the waiting room. Soon, Rhonda arrived at the station. She'd read the papers. She knew Paula was in jail. And she was upset. She wanted to see her sister.\n\nGloria was OK with that but urged her to persuade Paula to talk about what she'd done. When the police wouldn't let Rhonda see her sister without a parent, Gloria agreed to go with Rhonda.\n\nAfter so many years of turmoil and strife, Gloria and her two daughters were together again — for a moment alone in a police interrogation room. What they said isn't clear. But when Kennedy, the detective, rejoined them, Gloria gave Paula a nudge.\n\n\"Say something,\" she said.\n\nPaula hesitated. She said she didn't want anyone looking at her. So Kennedy turned 45 degrees and looked at a wall. Paula began to speak. She kept speaking for 15 minutes. She laid out the essential elements of Ruth Pelke's murder, described the girls' desire for money and a car, described how they came up with the Bible class as their way in. She described how she got the knife and stabbed the old woman more times than she could remember. She talked about the aftermath, when they took the car and gave rides to their friends. At one point, according to the account the detective would later make from his \"mental notes,\" Gloria Cooper asked Paula in front of the detective: Were you and Karen basically responsible for the lady's death?\n\nPaula's answer: \"Yeah, you could say that.\"\n\nWhen Paula was done, Kennedy left the room. Her mother and her sister left, too. As Paula stood alone in the interrogation room, April Beverly was giving a statement in a room nearby. When Kennedy returned to Paula, she was newly animated. She began unloading a rapid-fire addendum to her confession to the detective.\n\n\"April is lying. She's lying on me, so I'm going to tell you where the murder weapon is. It's at the McDonald's in Hammond on Calumet Avenue, next to the police station. Her brother threw it out the car right by the drive-thru window side. It was by a tree right there.\"\n\nFor Paula, this was the start of one of the great grievances of her life — her claim that the other girls lied. A few details aside, their stories largely matched up. But in the discrepancies, Paula saw injustice. And correcting the narrative to fit her exact version of the truth would become an obsession.\n\nThe legal ramifications of what she'd shared, in her two statements, were that Paula had essentially confessed to the key elements of the murder. She had gift-wrapped a case for the authorities. She also had put herself in the cross hairs of a zealous prosecutor. She had no idea just how precarious her own life had become.\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nJack Crawford — with a swooping, blow-dried haircut that gave him an appearance not unlike the televangelists of the era — came before a bank of reporters with material certain to make a splash.\n\nA rising star in Indiana's Democratic Party, Crawford had swept into the Lake County prosecutor's job years before, having pledged to get tough on crime. Since then, he had pursued the death penalty more than any other prosecutor in the state. In the first five months of 1985, he'd already won four death penalty convictions.\n\nNow, flanked by a pair of cops, Crawford came before the gathered media with an announcement sure to make headlines: For the first time in Lake County, his office was charging four girls with murder. He would seek the death penalty against the oldest — 16-year-old Karen Corder — and if the other girls were moved out of juvenile court, he'd likely seek death for them, too.\n\n\"I've been a prosecutor for seven years,\" Crawford told the media, \"and we've never had a case like this before.\"\n\nAs zealous as he was, Crawford privately acknowledged that same day that his chance for death sentences had already taken a big hit. That's because the clerk's office announced that the judge handling the Ruth Pelke cases was Superior Court Judge James C. Kimbrough Jr.\n\nKimbrough was a former public defender and NAACP lawyer who'd grown up in the civil rights heartland of Selma, Ala. More important than all of that, everyone around the courts — from prosecutors and public defenders to reporters and clerks — knew Kimbrough hated the death penalty. Hated it for its unfairness. Hated it for its inability to deter crime. And in a county where other judges had shown themselves willing to brandish the ultimate weapon, Kimbrough hadn't sent anyone to the electric chair during 12 years on the bench. Only once had he come close: Kimbrough sentenced a man to death who had been convicted of a double murder. Soon, though, the judge reversed himself and gave the man a new trial. Eventually, he was set free.\n\nSo, at word of Kimbrough's assignment, Jack Crawford and his team murmured that the path to a death sentence was a steep one. \"We certainly thought we had an uphill climb,\" he would say later.\n\n—\n\nIn the Lake County Juvenile Detention Center, Paula Cooper's life behind bars was getting off to a rough start.\n\nShe was no stranger to jail, having spent three months in the same detention center two years earlier after she ran away from home. She was a bit weepy then, even tender, the guards remembered. But this 15-year-old version of Paula Cooper was angrier, explosive and cocky. She acted as if she owned the place. She was a handful.\n\nTwo weeks after the crime, Paula took a seat next to two of her friends in the jail during \"quiet hour.\" Soon they grew noisy. A guard told them to shut up and disperse; Paula refused. The guard ordered her back to her cell. But as she stepped into the hall, Paula struck the guard across the bridge of the nose. She fought until reinforcements arrived to pull Paula off. As they were dragging her away, Paula issued a warning: They'd better transfer the guard or she would get a knife and come after her.\n\nThe dust-up prompted a transfer for the girls — from the juvenile center to the Lake County Jail. It also made the local papers, which didn't help the cause of saving their lives.\n\nBy the end of July 1985, the cases against all four girls were formally moved to adult court. Crawford, after sifting through the ample evidence, made his purpose clear: He would seek the death penalty against all four.\n\nThe case had pricked the public's consciousness of crime at a new level.\n\nCrawford's decision made news on the Chicago television stations; it made headlines across Indiana. The public defender assigned to represent Paula, Kevin Relphorde, was incredulous. \"They must be the youngest females in the country facing the death penalty,\" he told reporters.\n\nBy then, Paula and Karen, sharing a cell in the Lake County Jail, had been locked up two months. They began telling jail staff they were considering suicide. On cards they were given to report health problems, they wrote things such as \"Give me the electric chair\" and \"Give me that shock. I want to die.\"\n\nAs a precaution, jail officers took their personal belongings and stripped them to their underwear; they were on suicide watch.\n\nPaula and Karen responded by banging on the bars and making noise. To calm them, a nurse broke out the oral sedatives. Karen took hers; Paula refused. The guards teamed up to hold down Paula so the nurse could give her a shot. But as they tried to restrain her, Paula jumped up and hit one guard in the shoulder.\n\n\"Oh you tough, huh?\" the guard replied. \"You stabbed an old lady.\" It was less than professional, but it was a gut reaction.\n\n\"Yeah, I stabbed an old lady,\" Paula replied. \"And I'd stab that bitch again. I'd stab your fucking grandmother.\"\n\nThe jail incidents were part of a pattern to be repeated in years to come. Paula didn't respond well to restraints; she bucked authority. In such instances, she could be aggressive and hostile. A psychologist noted her tendencies and something else plain to see: Battered and badgered as a girl, she was now mistrustful and suspicious.\n\nSoon, Paula's interaction with the jail staff would grow more complicated. By August 1985, about the time she turned 16, Paula began receiving a series of private visitors. Two were male corrections officers. Another was a male recreational therapist. They weren't visiting just because of their jobs.\n\nThey were coming for sex.\n\n—\n\nOutside the jail, the stories about the angry young prisoners seemed only to add to the public's contempt. And as the details of their crime emerged, they were already easy to hate. Especially the girl who had wielded the knife — Paula Cooper.\n\nPaula had not just killed Ruth Pelke; she had stabbed her 33 times, according to the coroner. Some of the cuts on her arms looked like saw marks, as if the knife had been pulled back and forth. In other instances, the 12-inch knife had been wielded with such ferocity that the tip of the blade went through Ruth's body, pierced the carpet on which she lay and chipped the wood flooring beneath. Worst of all, it appeared Ruth Pelke survived the torturous assault for more than 30 minutes. The Post-Tribune called it \"possibly the most brutal killing in Gary history.\"\n\nIf all that wasn't bad enough, two of the girls had bragged about the killing at school. As defendants go, they were about as unsympathetic as they come. With guilt hardly in doubt, letters began appearing in the Gary newspaper debating the punishment. Some asked for mercy; others wanted severe justice. One letter directed at Paula appeared under the headline, \"She should pay.\"\n\nAll of it left Kevin Relphorde, Paula's lawyer, searching for a viable strategy to save Paula's life. The evidence was overwhelming, and the prosecutor was determined, which made a plea deal unimaginable. Paula's childhood had been bad, but it didn't seem to add up to an insanity plea. Her youth and relatively clean prior record were assets, but they looked meager compared to the brutality of the crime. Then there was the jury. Any panel drawn from across Lake County would be mostly white. And Paula was a black teenager who had killed an old white woman. All of it added up to a grim outlook.\n\nAs best as Relphorde could figure, the only thing Paula had going for her was the judge. Relphorde knew of Kimbrough's opposition to the death penalty. Ultimately, he suggested to Paula a stomach-churning strategy: Plead guilty.\n\nRelphorde was a part-time public defender who'd never handled a death penalty case. But he figured Paula's chances were better in the hands of a liberal judge than with 12 angry jurors.\n\nAs risky as it sounded, Relphorde wasn't the only person who sized things up the same way. David Olson, who was Karen Corder's attorney, came to a similar conclusion. He'd had a nightmare about Karen, he told the Post-Tribune in March 1986, and awoke fearful of \"losing her.\" His fears were amplified when he attended the trial of Denise Thomas, the first suspect to answer for the death of Ruth Pelke.\n\nJust before the case against Thomas went to trial, in November 1985, prosecutors withdrew the death penalty charge, concluding she'd been more of a bystander to the crime.\n\nBut that didn't stop the jurors from reacting strongly to the horrific details of Pelke's death. They quickly found Denise guilty. Olson didn't want to risk that with death on the line for his client. So in March, 10 months after the crime, Karen went before Kimbrough with a guilty plea. Her sentencing would follow two months later.\n\nHow well Paula understood the risks of her plea — and how much say she had in it — is now a matter of dispute. Relphorde said he met with Paula regularly to talk strategy and that the plea was ultimately her decision. Years later, Paula would recall only three brief meetings with her attorney, who she said assured her the judge opposed the death penalty and would be sympathetic to a black girl. If she pleaded guilty, she said she was told, she wouldn't get a death sentence.\n\nOn April 21, 1986, Paula appeared in court to plead guilty to murder.\n\nHerman Cooper came to the courtroom that day; so did Paula's sister, Rhonda. But Gloria Cooper, Paula's mother, was nowhere to be found. She had moved to Georgia and stopped answering the calls of Paula's attorney.\n\nWhen the hearing began, Kimbrough asked Paula more than once if she knew she could be sentenced to death. Each time, Paula answered yes. To the most important question — How do you plead? — she never hesitated: Guilty.\n\nFor the record, Paula retold the story of the crime — the scheme to get into the house; what she did to Ruth; how the girls took the car.\n\n\"We went to commit a robbery, you know,\" she told the judge.\n\nWas there any discussion in advance about what you'd do with Mrs. Pelke? he asked.\n\n\"No. It wasn't a discussion to go and kill anyone, you know.\"\n\nKimbrough accepted the plea. Paula's life was now in his hands. But she would have to wait months for an answer. Relphorde left convinced Paula had made her best play: \"We were basically throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court.\"\n\nPaula's strategy seemed to appear sound when, in May 1986, Kimbrough spared Karen Corder's life, giving her 60 years in prison. In fact, three of the girls had escaped with their lives. Denise Thomas, found guilty at trial, received a 35-year sentence. April Beverly, who conceived the robbery but waited outside during the killing, pleaded guilty in exchange for a 25-year prison term.\n\nOnly Paula's fate remained unresolved.\n\nLost in the news of Corder's reprieve, perhaps, was some language the judge used in reference to Paula. It seemed ominous. Kimbrough said it had been \"conceded by all that Paula Cooper was the leader of this group of four young ladies. That Paula Cooper was the dominant factor in the crime.\" He said Corder was \"operating under the substantial domination of Paula Cooper.\" Despite such words, the prevailing view in legal circles was that Kimbrough would spare Paula's life.\n\n—\n\nAs her judgment approached, there were hints that Paula Cooper's case was starting to resonate beyond Indiana. Jack Crawford's first clue came when his secretary stepped into his office with an unusual message: \"There's a man outside who says he's from the Vatican. He's dressed like a monk and wants to talk to you about Paula Cooper's case.\"\n\nCrawford took a look. Sure enough, in a brown tunic bound at the waist with a cord, there stood a Franciscan friar. He told Crawford he was from Rome. He offered a letter validating his credentials. And he brought a simple message: Pope John Paul II and the Vatican weren't pleased with Crawford's decision to seek the death penalty.\n\nCrawford was Roman Catholic. He'd gone to Notre Dame. He knew the church's opposition to the death penalty. But, as he explained to the friar, this was a legal decision, not a religious one. The friar left unsatisfied. He would not be the last Franciscan to stand with Paula.\n\nMore surprising than the friar's appearance was the visit Crawford received in June 1986 from Paula's attorney, Kevin Relphorde.\n\nIt was just weeks before Paula's sentencing, and Relphorde had few cards to play in Paula's defense. This time, though, it appeared he might have a game changer.\n\n\"You can't execute Paula Cooper,\" he said.\n\n\"Well, why is that, Kevin?\" Crawford asked.\n\n\"She's pregnant.\"\n\n—\n\nThe sex scandal at the Lake County Jail erupted in June 1986.\n\nFor months, corrections officers Vernard Rouster, 25, and Parmaley Rainge, 27, had been coming to see Paula for sex, officials discovered. So, too, had Michael Dean Lampley, a recreational therapist from a mental health center. Their encounters occurred even as a 40-year-old female corrections officer and a police patrolman were supposed to be maintaining security for the state's highest-profile murder suspect.\n\n—\n\nOne of the guards admitted the sex began when Paula was still a week shy of 16 — the age of consent in Indiana. That people working in the jail were having sex with a captive wasn't illegal in Indiana in 1986. After the revelation, the jail workers resigned their jobs and the therapist was fired, but no one was prosecuted. Supervisors on the jail floor were suspended — for 15 days.\n\nFor all of its tawdriness, the scandal had the potential to affect Paula's case. State law prohibited the execution of a pregnant woman; punishment would have to wait. And while a death penalty appeal was certain to outlast a pregnancy, the strange episode raised the possibility of a sentencing delay.\n\nKimbrough ordered a medical exam for Paula. Quickly, the matter was put to rest: She wasn't pregnant. But, in a sign of the times, public discussion about the scandal seemed to focus less on the culpability of the jailers than on the promiscuity of the 16-year-old girl in jail.\n\nJames McNew, a deputy in Crawford's office who prosecuted the case, told the Post-Tribune he suspected Paula Cooper tried to get pregnant to stir up sympathy and avoid death.\n\nHowever it came about, the sex scandal prompted a change in state law: It became a crime for jailers to have sex with their prisoners. Soon, though, the jailhouse sex scandal would become little more than a footnote before a judgment heard around the world.\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nBill Pelke sat on the wrong side of the courtroom.\n\nHis grandmother was the murder victim. Unwittingly, Bill took a seat on the side of the murderer. He was unfamiliar with the trappings of the courtroom. And unlike some in the community — in his own family — Bill carried no blood lust into the chamber. He thought people who committed murder should die. And Paula Cooper had killed his beloved Nana. But he wasn't fuming about it.\n\nBill had stayed away from the previous court hearings, but decided this was one he shouldn't miss. It was July 11, 1986. And for Paula Cooper, it was judgment day.\n\nCourtroom 3 of Lake Superior Court was a small space. The gallery, oriented outside a circle where the business of the court was conducted, had seats for just 43 onlookers. This day, it was packed to overflowing. People stood, straining to hear, just outside the public entrance. Lawyers and other court personnel did the same just outside the doors normally used by the judge and juries. All wanted to know the fate of a 16-year-old girl who faced a potential death sentence.\n\nInto this cauldron, Paula Cooper entered under the escort of a jail matron. She didn't need to look around to see she had few friends in the room. Her sister and her grandfather were there, but neither of her parents was present. Her mother had moved to Georgia, her father to Tennessee. As Paula entered, the matron said something that made the young defendant smile. The gesture surprised Bill Pelke; it struck him as unbefitting for the moment. When this day is done, he thought to himself, she's not going to be smiling.\n\nDeputy Prosecutor James McNew began the proceedings by calling Bill's father to testify. Robert Pelke hadn't missed a hearing — for Paula or any of the other girls. He had been the family spokesman, and he wanted a death sentence for Paula. He described going to Ruth Pelke's home when she hadn't answered the phone, finding her home in disarray and her body on the floor. He described her bloody dress and the towel wrapped around her head. When the attorneys finished questioning him, Robert asked to read a statement to the court.\n\nThis, Robert Pelke said, was a crime that deserved the maximum sentence the law would allow. He quoted the Bible about submitting to authorities and God's vengeance and punishing evildoers. He said Paula gave Ruth no second chance, and he saw no reason to give Paula one.\n\n\"Paula reveled in her doings and enjoyed it,\" he said. He spoke of ridding society of those who would prey upon the innocent. \"This is a tragedy that should never have happened,\" he said, \"and a tragedy that family and friends will never forget.\"\n\nNext, one of the girls from Lew Wallace High School testified about seeing Paula and the others on their joy ride and about finding the bloody knife on the floor of the car.\n\nA crime lab technician discussed grisly photos from the scene — pictures of Ruth Pelke, of the knife-torn carpet and the gouge marks in the hardwood floor.\n\nThe prosecution introduced into evidence the autopsy report, which expressed the damage done by the 33 stab wounds. There was also an anatomical diagram noting the points where Ruth had been wounded — so many it looked like a star chart.\n\nJailers who had been attacked and threatened by Paula detailed her bad behavior; they recounted her admission about stabbing \"an old lady.\"\n\nEntering into evidence the grisly details of the crime and the accounts of Paula's callous behavior was part of the prosecution's effort to build a case that the only just punishment was death.\n\nIn Paula's defense, only three witnesses spoke.\n\nRhonda Cooper gave a picture of how she and Paula grew up terrorized in the home of Herman Cooper. She testified to the beatings, to their father's raping their mother in front of them, to their mother's suicide attempt and to their attempts to run away.\n\nRonald Williams, Rhonda's biological father, testified that he wanted to take Paula away from the misery, but her mother refused. He spoke of Gloria's threats against Paula and of the suicide attempt.\n\nDr. Frank Brogno, a Gary psychologist who examined Paula, described how Paula's abuse left her angry and confused, depressed and hostile. He said she was prone to confusion and bizarre thinking, even drifting into fantasies. Still, he said, Paula knew right from wrong. There was still hope for her, but also a real danger she could become a sociopath.\n\nMcNew, on cross-examination, ripped into the doctor. He pointed out how Brogno had testified in Karen Corder's case that Paula was the \"prime mover\" in the crime.\n\n—\n\nRelphorde made a plea for Paula's life, saying she had gone to Ruth Pelke's home to rob, not kill. He said the other girls were intensely involved in the crime and their lives had been spared. The death penalty, he said, was applied at the whim of prosecutors. He said Ruth Pelke, a woman of faith, wouldn't want Paula to die. In the end, he said, Paula was the handiwork of an abusive home and a system that failed her.\n\n\"I don't think Paula was born violent,\" he said. \"I think Paula was a product of what was done to her.\"\n\nMcNew, closing the prosecution's case, checked all the boxes needed for a death sentence: Paula wasn't crazy. She wasn't doing someone else's bidding. She'd struck the death blows. She had a criminal record, as far as a juvenile goes, for skipping school and running away from home. And Paula's abusive childhood? To use that for an excuse, McNew said, was to insult everyone who has endured similar treatment and found a way to overcome the horrors. Giving Paula the death penalty, McNew said, would have a sobering effect on others who might be considering crime. But McNew said there was one reason, above all, for a death sentence.\n\n\"I am not seeking a deterrence to crime when I ask the death penalty on Paula Cooper. I seek justice for the family of Ruth Pelke.\"\n\n—\n\nWith the attorneys done, Kimbrough asked Paula if she had anything to say. And Paula did not shrink from the moment.\n\nShe hadn't wanted a trial, Paula began; she only wanted to tell the truth. \"Now my family life, it hasn't really been good. … Nobody understand how I feel.\"\n\n\"This man,\" she said, pointing to the prosecutor, \"sit here and say he want to take my life. Is that right? I didn't go to Mrs. Pelke's house to kill her. It wasn't planned. I didn't go there to take somebody's life. It happened. It just happened. Something. It wasn't planned. We didn't sit up and say we was going to go and kill this innocent old lady. I didn't even know the lady. But everybody put the blame on me.\"\n\nShe said Jack Crawford had described her in the newspaper as the ringleader. \"I wasn't the ringleader. I didn't make those girls go,\" she said. \"They went on their own.\"\n\nLooking around at the people in the courtroom, Paula seemed disgusted. \"Well, where was all these people at right here when I needed somebody? Where was they at? They turned their backs on me and took me through all this. All I can say is now, look where I am now, facing a possible death sentence.\"\n\nShe pointed at the Pelke family and repeated her plea that killing wasn't her intention. \"I hope you all could find some happiness in your hearts to forgive me. And I know your mother was a Christian lady, and she is in heaven right now. I read my Bible. How do you think I feel? I can't sit here and tell you I understand how you feel because I don't.\"\n\nShe acknowledged that \"sorry\" would never be good enough.\n\nPaula looked to Judge Kimbrough. But, as Bill Dolan would report in the Post-Tribune the next day, the judge \"didn't return her gaze.\" \"I don't know what the decision is going to be today, or whenever you make your decision. I know justice must be done. And whatever the circumstances, or whatever your decision is, I will accept it, even if it is death.\" She acknowledged she couldn't change what happened: She hoped to get out one day and start life over, maybe even finish school.\n\n\"Will I have a chance?\" she asked. \"Will I get a chance?\"\n\nFor a couple of minutes, Paula rambled. She repeated that she hadn't forced the other girls to act; she felt it important everyone know she wasn't a gang member. Then she reined it back in for one final thought: \"I am sorry for what I did. And I know my involvement in this case is very deep. But all I can ask you is not to take my life. That is all I can ask you. That is all I can ask is to spare my life.\"\n\nSuddenly, a commotion broke out in the courtroom. There was shouting in the gallery. \"My grandbaby, my grandbaby.\"\n\nBill Pelke looked at the wailing man near him and saw the tears run down his cheeks; the visage burned into Bill's memory. He watched the man as the bailiff escorted him out of the courtroom.\n\nIt was Paula's grandfather, making one final plea on Paula's behalf.\n\nNow it was up to the judge.\n\n—\n\nJudge James C. Kimbrough had been wading through the sordid details of Ruth Pelke's murder for more than a year. He'd parsed the depressing narrative, and people had speculated whether he had a death penalty in him, especially for a girl. Now they were about to get their answer.\n\nThere was no doubt about Paula Cooper's guilt. Kimbrough dispatched that with his first breath. The murder had been disturbing: Paula had inflicted the 33 stab wounds in the body of 78-year-old Ruth Pelke.\n\nThose were the strikes against her.\n\nBut the defendant had no prior criminal history, and she was 15 at the time of the crime.\n\nThose were factors to consider on her behalf.\n\nThe other requirements for the death penalty, Kimbrough said, didn't work in the defendant's favor. She acted of her own free will. She wasn't under the influence of drugs. Her mental problems didn't rise to the level of incompetence. But all those things, Kimbrough said, were legalities. Ultimately, he said, death penalty cases boil down to a \"political utterance.\"\n\n\"This case has received an unusual amount of publicity,\" Kimbrough said. \"There is worldwide interest in the outcome of these proceedings today. And the court is certainly aware of that interest.\"\n\nWhen he left law school in 1959, Kimbrough said, he had been \"totally against\" the death penalty — and most of the country shared the view.\n\nNearly 30 years later, he said, public sentiment had changed, perhaps because of the violent activities of people such as Paula Cooper. Now, the vast majority of the public favors the death penalty, Kimbrough said, Normally, he wrote out his sentences in advance. But this case had challenged him to the point he'd been unable to do so.\n\nKimbrough praised the deputy prosecutor for speaking \"eloquently\" — he said McNew brought the matters into focus \"better than all of the turmoil that I have been through in the last several months.\"\n\nHe criticized state law for being too general when it came to giving minors the death penalty. It left him unsure what to do on that fundamental question. \"I don't know what the right political answer to that question is.\"\n\nThen Kimbrough, in a moment of vulnerability judges don't always reveal, showed some insight into his restless mind. \"I don't believe I am ever going to be quite the same after these four cases. They have had a very profound effect on me. They have made me come to grips with the question of whether or not a judge can hold personal beliefs which are inconsistent at all with the law as they were sworn to uphold. And for those of you who have no appreciation of it, it is not a simple question. It is not a simple question for me.\"\n\nKimbrough interrupted his confessional to take issue with something Robert Pelke said: \"I do not believe the failure to impose the death penalty today would be unbiblical. … I don't profess to be an expert in religion. But I know the Bible has passages which are merciful, and do not demand or mandate an eye for an eye.\"\n\nReturning to his inner turmoil, Kimbrough said he'd concluded that a judge must decide a case based on facts, regardless of whether it satisfies him. \"I will tell you, very frankly now, on the record, that I do not believe in the death penalty.\"\n\nThis seemed to launch Kimbrough on a rant. \"Maybe in 20 years, after we have had our fill of executions, we will swing back the other way and think they are unconstitutional. Maybe.\"\n\nAt about this point, Jack Crawford, sitting at the prosecutor's table, was ready to give up hope for a death penalty. He turned to McNew, he remembered later, and whispered into his ear.\n\n\"He's not going to give it.\"\n\nThen Kimbrough directed his eyes to the girl awaiting his judgment.\n\n\"Stand up, Paula.\"\n\nShe had stabbed Ruth Pelke 33 times, he said. He was concerned about her background. She had been \"born into a household where your father abused you, and your mother either participated or allowed it to happen. And those seem to be explanations or some indication of why you may be this type of personality that you are.\"\n\n\"They are not excuses, however.\"\n\nHowever.\n\nThat word caught Crawford's attention. So did the fact that Kimbrough's shoulders seemed to slump, as if the weight of the moment was getting to the judge. Crawford leaned in and whispered again to McNew.\n\n\"I think he's going to give it. I think he's going to give it.\"\n\nKimbrough continued.\n\n\"You committed the act, and you must pay the penalty,\" Kimbrough said. Briefly, he trailed into some legalese about the charge. Then he gathered himself for the final judgment.\n\n\"The law requires me, and I do now impose, the death penalty.\"\n\n—\n\nThe courtroom erupted.\n\n\"What did he say?\"\n\nPaula Cooper looked at Kevin Relphorde for help; amid the chaos, she wasn't sure what had just happened. She looked back for the judge; he had already left the bench. She asked Relphorde what had happened. He delivered the verdict again: He gave you the death penalty.\n\nThe smile Paula wore into the courtroom was gone, indeed. Bill Pelke took note of that. Instead, he saw a river of tears streaming down her cheeks. As she was led from the courtroom, the tears soaked the top of her blouse.\n\nJust like that, Paula Cooper — at 16 years, 10 months and 16 days — became the youngest person ever sentenced to death in Indiana; she was now the youngest female on death row anywhere in the United States. In this age before the cellphone, news reporters from national outlets raced out of the courtroom to the nearest bank of pay telephones. It took a few hours, but the verdict soon circled the globe.\n\nIn the hallway outside the courtroom, Rhonda Cooper yelled in anguish at members of the Pelke family and the prosecutors nearby.\n\n\"Are you satisfied now?\"\n\nThey seemed satisfied.\n\nStrangely, one of the most unsatisfied people in the building was the source of the commotion: Judge Kimbrough.\n\nAfter delivering the verdict, he darted out of the courtroom and into the hallway leading to his chambers. There, between the two rooms, he spotted William Touchette, a public defender who handled appeals. Kimbrough told Touchette to follow him.\n\nTouchette (pronounced TOO-shay) had been among those outside the courtroom straining to hear the proceedings. Like so many local lawyers, he was friendly with the judge; they'd socialized outside of work. He followed Kimbrough into his chambers.\n\nThe judge was angry. As angry as Touchette had ever seen him. Angry that the defense hadn't given him enough to spare Paula Cooper's life. Then Kimbrough uttered seven words Touchette would never again hear from a judge.\n\n\"I want you to get me reversed.\"\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nPaula Cooper's death sentence was one of Indiana's biggest news stories in 1986. It garnered network television news coverage. Once it hit the international news wires, it was picked up by newspapers in Europe, where it inspired protests.\n\nBut Monica Foster, working for a nonprofit death penalty defense group in Downtown Indianapolis, somehow missed all that. To her, it was as if the Paula Cooper case had never happened.\n\nIt wasn't that Foster was uninterested in current events or that she was dull. In fact, Foster was a wunderkind. She'd graduated from high school at 16, college at 19 and law school at 22. She'd come to work for the Indiana Public Defender Council, researching and offering advice to lawyers with death penalty cases, even before finishing her law degree. But at 27, she had a tendency to get absorbed in her work. And when that happened, the outside world ceased to exist.\n\nSo when William Touchette, the Lake County attorney preparing Paula Cooper's appeal, called the council looking for some help, Foster knew nothing of the case. Without hesitation, Foster agreed to be Touchette's local connection to Paula, who was being held at the Indiana Women's Prison on the city's east side. Foster even said she'd donate her time, seeing the client on evenings and weekends, as a sideline.\n\nFoster didn't realize she'd just signed on to the case that would become the most noteworthy of her career.\n\nWhen the case file arrived in her office, Foster began reading about Paula Cooper. Right away, she was puzzled.\n\nHere was a black girl from Gary who had been sentenced to death by a black judge whom even Foster knew to be one of the most liberal, anti-death penalty jurists in the state. The girl had brutally murdered an elderly woman during a robbery, but Foster told the people in her office that to get a death sentence from this judge Paula Cooper had to be some kind of rabid animal.\n\n\"She must be frothing at the mouth.\"\n\nFoster decided to go to the prison and see Paula Cooper for herself.\n\n—\n\nPaula had arrived at the Indiana Women's Prison — America's oldest women's prison — five days after her sentencing.\n\nEstablished shortly after the Civil War, it was originally in the countryside east of Indianapolis. Over time, brick storefronts and wood-frame houses sprang up around the prison's series of boxy brick buildings — situated around a grassy courtyard — and now the prison was landlocked in the middle of an urban neighborhood.\n\nAwaiting Paula was a cell tucked away on the second floor of the segregation unit. It was stark: block walls and tile floor; aluminum sink and toilet; a desk and a chair; all of it packaged in a space slightly bigger than a walk-in closet.\n\nShe had one window to the outside world. Depending on which side of the hallway she was assigned at the time, it featured either a view of the courtyard or, just beyond a fence topped by razor wire, the backside of a row of decaying houses.\n\nPaula's cell had two metal doors. One was made of bars, the other was solid. Most of the time, the solid door remained open, allowing her to talk through the bars to passing guards and nearby prisoners. But when the solid door was closed, it was as if she was locked in a vault. Worse, the prison had no air conditioning. As summer temperatures outside climbed into the 90s, the only air moving through the wing was pushed by a floor fan at the end of the hall. Most of the time, the place felt like the inside of a cook stove.\n\nHere, Paula Cooper spent 23 hours a day. In the remaining hour, she had 30 minutes to shower and 30 minutes for recreation, which meant a short walk to a larger room where she could play Ping-Pong or cards with other prisoners. Meals were delivered to her cell.\n\nShe was 16 years old and, in the grand scheme of things, set apart from the rest of the human race.\n\nThe treatment was harsher than what Paula's three co-defendants in the murder of Ruth Pelke faced. They were housed elsewhere in the prison, with the general population. They had greater freedom of movement, time outdoors and an ongoing interaction with other people. Paula was allotted 10 hours of visits per month, but she wasn't sure who would fill the time. Her sister had moved to Minnesota. Her mother had moved to Georgia. Her father had moved to Tennessee. Paula was as alone as she could be.\n\nYet she faced a struggle greater than isolation and heat. She lived in fear that the executioner was coming for her any minute. Whatever she'd been told about the appeals process hadn't registered. She thought she was about to be taken away and killed. She existed moment to moment, in dread the guards were about to drag her away to the electric chair. In letters, she would describe her situation in the bleakest of terms — \"a mental hell.\" Paula needed hope. She needed a friend. But who?\n\n—\n\nMonica Foster entered the security checkpoint at the Indiana Women's Prison and was shown to the glass-walled consultation room. In short order, she watched as a guard escorted her client in to meet her.\n\nPaula Cooper was nothing like she expected. Monica came looking for the heartless killer who had murdered an old woman in cold blood, fought the guards at the county jail and been given a ticket to the chair by the most liberal judge in Lake County.\n\nInstead, Foster found a girl, sobbing uncontrollably, who had been on suicide watch. Foster tried to calm her. After some questioning, she gathered the reason for the emotional meltdown: Paula thought they were coming any time now. To kill her.\n\nFoster's blood boiled. She realized that, since the sentencing, no one had explained to Paula the years of appeals; the good chance for a reprieve; and, should all else fail, the notice she would receive well ahead of an execution. Foster felt sorry for Paula. She explained the process. Above all, she told Paula she'd never be ambushed by the executioner.\n\nPaula went back to her cell in a little better shape, but Foster left the prison rattled. She couldn't believe how she had misjudged her client. She realized that her role in this case was about more than legal counsel. She would need to offer her client a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen.\n\nFoster began going to the prison on weekends, sitting and talking with Paula for hours. She listened to Paula talk about being depressed, and she tried to buck her up. She listened to Paula's troubles with the prison administration and offered advice on ways to get along. She listened to Paula describe the abuses of her childhood, and Foster shared some of the tougher aspects of her own. The conversation wasn't always heavy. Sometimes they talked about places they dreamed of going and about men Foster was dating. Paula, in particular, was quick with a jab about Foster's romantic failures. Even in a maximum security prison, with one of them facing death, they spent a good deal of time laughing. And Foster found Paula's laugh to be infectious. That she could laugh at all impressed Foster. The girl seemed to have some kind of resiliency. After a while, Foster could deny it no longer: She liked Paula Cooper.\n\n—\n\nBill Pelke felt no such affection.\n\nIn the 18 months since Paula Cooper killed his grandmother, Bill had lost the ability to think of Ruth Pelke as the sweet person she'd been; he could only see the murder victim. He couldn't remember the warmth of Ruth's home; he could only think of it as a crime scene. When Paula Cooper received her sentence, Pelke felt justice had been served. His father, Robert Pelke, warned him that the justice wouldn't last. On a trip to Florida they took to get away from it all, Robert Pelke said Paula would probably never see the electric chair. \"Some do-gooder will probably come along and help get her off death row,\" he'd said. Bill struggled to imagine it; he just tried to get on with his life.\n\nBut moving on wasn't easy. And at 39, Bill already had other things on his mind that bothered him. He'd dropped out of college and wound up in Vietnam during the height of the war. As a radio operator, he was supposed to take cover during the fighting and call in air support. But he still carried shrapnel in his side from the wounds he suffered. Worse than that, he carried memories of the Army buddies who'd never come back. The experience left him sick of death. When he returned home, he'd married and started a family, but his marriage failed. So many things in his life hadn't gone as he'd planned. One afternoon in November 1986, all of this seemed to coalesce in Bill's mind.\n\nBill worked in a steel mill as a crane operator. He sat 50 feet above the manufacturing floor in the cab of his crane, moving heavy loads as the need arose. But on this Sunday night shift, things were slow; his mind began to drift. He wondered why life was so hard, why God had allowed Ruth to suffer such a horrendous death. He wondered why his family — his good family — was made to suffer in the wake of the crime. It was an unlikely perch for prayer, but Bill closed his eyes and began seeing images in his mind. He saw the courtroom where Paula had been sentenced to death. He remembered the outburst of her grandfather and the tears streaming down the man's face. He remembered Paula's reaction and the tears streaming down hers, how they soaked her blouse.\n\nA hard realization hit Bill: Ruth wouldn't have wanted these things. She had invited Paula and the girls into her home to help them find faith. It occurred to Bill that Ruth would be more interested in Paula's salvation than her execution. He was certain, too, that Ruth would have hated seeing Paula's grandfather in anguish.\n\nBill thought of the Bible stories Ruth had taught and the lessons he'd learned from a lifetime in church. He remembered Jesus taught that you shouldn't forgive someone just seven times, but 70 times seven — in other words, forgiveness should be a habit. He remembered being taught that the measure of forgiveness we show others is the measure by which we shall be judged. He remembered hearing about Jesus on the cross, offering salvation to the man dying next to him, offering grace to those who sought his death. \"Forgive them,\" Jesus had said, \"for they know not what they do.\"\n\nAnd then Bill realized something: Paula hadn't known what she was doing. Nobody in their right mind would take a 12-inch butcher knife and stab someone 33 times. It was crazy. Senseless.\n\nIn his mind, Bill began to see a new image: It was the picture of Ruth, the one published countless times since her death — silver hair, horn-rimmed glasses, sweet smile. Except now, he saw her face in the picture with tears running down her cheeks. Bill felt certain Ruth wanted someone from her family to show love to Paula and hers. Bill wasn't capable of it right then, but he thought he should try. He was a blue collar guy — a steelworker — and now he was at work crying a river of his own tears. From his seat in the cab of the crane, Bill prayed: \"God, give me love and compassion for Paula Cooper and her family.\" In return, he promised God two things. First, Bill would give credit to God for giving him the ability to forgive Paula whenever success came his way. Second, he'd walk through whatever door opened as a result of forgiving Paula.\n\nEventually, the sweet memories of Ruth would come back to Bill. He would be able to put aside the horror story. First, though, he felt he had to take a greater leap of faith. He had to get in touch with his grandmother's killer. He had to reach out to Paula Cooper.\n\nTo empower the journalism behind IndyStar, please consider a subscription.\n\nThe next day, Bill phoned Paula's attorney. He wanted her prison address, and he was willing to do whatever it took to help save Paula's life. Kevin Relphorde's response wasn't encouraging: \"It's kind of late for that.\"\n\nUndeterred, Bill took the address and sat down at a desk in his Portage home to write perhaps the most intense letter of his life. He told Paula he had forgiven her; he wanted to visit her; there were Bible verses his grandmother would want him to share. He also wanted to meet her grandfather, he of the tearful courtroom outburst.\n\nBill dropped the letter in his mailbox and, at some level, thought that would be the end of it. But in the days following, he found himself checking his mailbox almost daily. Ten days after he sent his letter, an envelope showed up. The return address said: \"Ms. Paula Cooper.\"\n\nThe envelope was thick. Inside, he found a letter dated Nov. 10, 1986, six pages of a teenage girl's loopy cursive, written in pencil, on pink stationery. The contents were far from a schoolgirl's bubble gum dreams. It was a snapshot of Paula's mind on death row. Her thoughts darted back and forth — between apologies and self-pity, between empathy for those who hated her and preachiness about why they should forgive her. Much of the letter was frenetic. Sentences ran on and on like the transcriptions of a nervous talker. Her misspellings and limited punctuation seemed to reflect the erratic schooling of someone who'd been on the run since eighth grade. But it also bore the hallmarks of a mind in overdrive, overloaded with conflicting emotions. Here are some excerpts. Periods have been added for clarity.\n\nBill 11/10/86\n\nHello how are you? fine I truly hope. me I'll survive, I received your letter today & it was nice of you to write me. one of Ms Pelkes friends wrote me also, I answered it back also. Im not the mean type of person your family thinks I am but I can except that. I really do. your cousin Robert was something else & what he said about not knowing if Ms Pelke would forgiving me. Ive read my bible & I know it says the way you judge others the Lord will judge you the same way. Ive prayed for your family. a lady in a wheel chair use to visit me at the jail. she said God would be pleased if I prayed for all of you, I am doing fine. They treat me ok & I am always isolated 23 hrs a day. thats how it is on death row, it is a mental hell because no one cares except for themselves. I am thankful to the Lord for them letting the others have a little time, because I've had hell all my life. so it really doesnt matter if I live or die because Im ready any time they come …\n\nIn his initial letter, Bill expressed a desire to save Paula from her death sentence. But in her reply, Paula told Bill he need not write, travel or speak on her behalf; she just wanted his forgiveness. She seemed proud of her performance in court — how she looked his family in the face and apologized. She seemed to excuse her parents for missing her sentencing. Although they had beaten and neglected her, Paula said, her actions affected them, too.\n\nAt various times, her words ranged from fatalistic to self-pitying:\n\nI cant stay here like this & I don't want to be here, I deserve a chance one that Ive never had before. but one day Ill be free even if its when Im dead…\n\nI cry every time I think of your grand mom. the others think it's a joke because you all let them be free. Im not an evil person, or what ever you think of me to be, Im just some one who is real angry, angry with life & all the people around me …\n\nIve never done anything wrong before except ask for help, I was turned away & introduced into a life of drugs, sex & crime, but now its too late for help. Im dying inside because of this but I only hope for the best for others.\n\nIn closing, she made it clear she wanted more interaction with Bill, even if she was passive about it. She would put him on her list of allowable prison visitors; she would write him whenever he wrote her; she offered her grandfather's phone number and address. In a dark world, it was as if she had seen a flicker of light.\n\nWell, Ill go now, Ill continue to pray for all of you.\n\nTake care\n\nPaula\n\nTheir first exchange was the start of a surprising correspondence that would span years and delve into the core themes of Paula's life — searching for forgiveness; grappling with remorse; her closeness with death; her search for peace.\n\nThe letters also chart the course of a relationship that many people would struggle to understand, especially Bill Pelke's father.\n\n—\n\nAfter a second exchange of letters with Paula, Bill felt compelled to share with his parents the news of his surprising correspondence: His father had once warned of a do-gooder who would get Paula off death row. Now it appeared Bill wanted to be that do-gooder.\n\nAt first, his parents were speechless. \"We don't understand why you are doing this,\" his mother, Lola, said. Surprisingly, his father acquiesced.\n\n\"Do what you got to do,\" Robert said.\n\nBill wrote Clarence Trigg, the superintendent of the Indiana Women's Prison, a letter that spent most of a page describing Ruth Pelke's faith and her commitment to sharing it. He concluded with a request:\n\nClarence, if Ruth Pelke could speak with you right now, I am sure she would say, \"Please let Billy see Paula.\"\n\nThank you for your consideration\n\nIn the name of Jesus and His Love\n\nWilliam R. Pelke\n\nBut the prison doors weren't about to open to Bill anytime soon. Corrections officials didn't know what to make of his request — a murder victim's grandson seeking an audience with her killer. They suspected he had another motive, such as revenge.\n\n—\n\nThe aftermath of Paula's case was confounding in other ways. Since giving Paula a death sentence, Judge James C. Kimbrough had been very public about his discomfort with his own ruling. Based on the law and the case in court, he said Paula qualified for the death penalty. But he hadn't been able to square it with his own opposition to capital punishment. The decision was costing him sleep. In an interview with the (Gary) Post-Tribune, published Aug. 4, 1986, a reporter noted the judge's nervous appearance.\n\nHe fidgeted in his chair. His gaze varied — at times less steady and slanted toward the desktop. He removed his glasses, toying with them.\n\nFriends who knew Kimbrough said the judge was different than he'd been before the Paula Cooper sentencing. The man they knew as friendly and jovial, even gregarious, was more reclusive, less outgoing. \"It weighed heavily on his mind,\" said Earline Rogers, a state legislator and a friend. \"That was something he felt legally he had to do but, personally, he would not have taken that path.\"\n\nSome in the legal community began to think there was a good chance Paula's death sentence would be overturned. But Kimbrough wouldn't live to find out.\n\nOn April 30, 1987, less than a year after his judgment of Paula, Kimbrough drove his car into the back of a semi and was killed. He had been drinking. The tragedy cast a pall over the Lake County courts, but it also landed hard at the Indiana Women's Prison. When Monica Foster told Paula her judge was dead, Paula was inconsolable. Days later, in a letter to Bill Pelke, she shared her thoughts about the judge.\n\n\"all I could do was cry, even though Kimbrough sentenced me to die. I felt a closeness to him as if he were my father. I have been sentenced to die many times by a lot of people and it's only words. We are all on Death Row and the last day of April his death sentence was completed & it should teach a lot of people we all have a date that is already planned & the way it will happen.\"\n\nPaula's own father had been cruel; at least Kimbrough had agonized over the punishment he gave.\n\nThe letter about Kimbrough was the 20th she'd written to Bill Pelke in less than six months. She was surprising herself at her output: \"I didn't even know I had a good handwriting or a great vocabulary until I was locked up.\"\n\nBy then, she was 17 and a condemned killer with hours to contemplate her past, present and future. Several themes recurred in her writing.\n\nLife on death row. She struggled to sleep, to breathe, to deal with the noise. \"To be on death row is worst than when I was in a mental hospital. At least it was quiet.\" She had ailments from toothaches to a bad back. Mostly, she was confused and on edge. Life on the row made her feel like \"a walking time bomb.\"\n\nMemories of the murder. Her thoughts were plagued by it. She described what she did to Ruth Pelke as \"awful.\" She wished she could erase it. \"Every day,\" she said, \"I see my nightmare.\"\n\nDeath. It was constantly on her mind, whether by execution or by her own hand. She alternated between dread of the electric chair — \"I hope it never happens to me\" ­— and anticipation of it — \"sometimes I wish they would just go ahead & do it. They continue to put this death threat on my life and I'm tired of it.\"\n\nSuicide. She seemed to ponder the merits of killing herself. She wasn't sure what it would solve but, in words that seemed to echo from her mother, she said, \"there isn't anything here for me.\" She talked about hanging herself but acknowledged she couldn't follow through. \"I know that if I do that I might go to hell (and) I don't want that to happen.\"\n\nMeanwhile, people from across the country wrote her. Some, including a death row inmate in North Carolina, wanted a romantic relationship. Some wanted answers to the plague of juvenile crime. Others sent her Bibles and tried to save her soul. Yet her faith — another frequent topic — had grown cold. As a child, she read her Bible often, she said, but \"my faith started to shatter because of a lot of feelings, hopes and unanswered prayers. I love the Lord but we aren't rea", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/12/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/20/who-did-trump-pardon-heres-full-list-73-people-pardoned-70-sentences-commuted/4226626001/", "title": "Who did Trump pardon? Here's the full list of 143 pardons and ...", "text": "Early in the morning of Jan. 20, President Donald Trump's last day in office, he granted pardons to 73 individuals and commuted the sentences of an additional 70 individuals. Here's the list, as released by the White House:\n\nDig deeper:Donald Trump grants clemency to 143 people, but not himself or family members, in one of final acts of his presidency\n\nTodd Boulanger\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Todd Boulanger. Mr. Boulanger’s pardon is supported by numerous friends, as well as by past and present business associates. In 2008, Mr. Boulanger pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. He has taken full responsibility for his conduct. Mr. Boulanger is a veteran of the United States Army Reserves and was honorably discharged. He has also received an award from the City of the District of Columbia for heroism for stopping and apprehending an individual who assaulted an elderly woman with a deadly weapon on Capitol Hill. Mr. Boulanger is known as a model member of his community. In addition, he is remorseful for his actions and would like to leave his mistakes behind him.\n\nAbel Holtz\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Abel Holtz. This pardon is supported by Representative Mario Diaz-Balart and friends and business colleagues in his community. Mr. Holtz is currently 86 years old. In 1995, he pled guilty to one count of impeding a grand jury investigation and was sentenced to 45 days in prison. Before his conviction, Mr. Holtz, who was the Chairman of a local bank, never had any legal issues and has had no other legal issues since his conviction. Mr. Holtz has devoted extensive time and resources to supporting charitable causes in South Florida, including substantial donations to the City of Miami Beach.\n\nRepresentative Rick Renzi\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona. Mr. Renzi’s pardon is supported by Representative Paul Gosar, Representative Tom Cole, former Representative Tom DeLay, former Representative Jack Kingston, former Representative Todd Tiahrt, former Representative John Doolittle, former Representative Duncan Hunter Sr., former Representative Richard Pombo, former Representative Charles Taylor, former Representative Dan Burton, Larry Weitzner, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, and numerous other members of his community. In 2013, Mr. Renzi was convicted of extortion, bribery, insurance fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. He was sentenced to 2 years in Federal prison, 2 years of supervised release, and paid a $25,000 fine. Before his conviction, Mr. Renzi served three terms in the House of Representatives. His constituents considered him a strong advocate for better housing, quality education, and improved healthcare—especially for the underprivileged and Native Americans. He is the father of 12 children and a loving and devoted husband.\n\nIn-depth: Trump's pardons, including controversial allies, increase in final days of presidency\n\nKenneth Kurson\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Kenneth Kurson. Prosecutors have charged Mr. Kurson with cyberstalking related to his divorce from his ex-wife in 2015. In a powerful letter to the prosecutors, Mr. Kurson’s ex-wife wrote on his behalf that she never wanted this investigation or arrest and, “repeatedly asked for the FBI to drop it… I hired a lawyer to protect me from being forced into yet another round of questioning. My disgust with this arrest and the subsequent articles is bottomless…” This investigation only began because Mr. Kurson was nominated to a role within the Trump Administration. He has been a community leader in New York and New Jersey for decades. In addition, Mr. Kurson is a certified foster parent, a successful business owner, and is passionate about various charitable causes. Mr. Kurson is an upstanding citizen and father to five beautiful children.\n\nCasey Urlacher\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Casey Urlacher. This pardon is supported by his friends and family, and countless members of his community. Mr. Urlacher has been charged with conspiracy to engage in illegal gambling. Throughout his life, Mr. Urlacher has been committed to public service and has consistently given back to his community. Currently, Mr. Urlacher serves as the unpaid Mayor of Mettawa, Illinois. He is a devoted husband to his wife and a loving father to his 17-month old daughter.\n\nCarl Andrews Boggs\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Carl Andrews Boggs. This pardon is supported by the Honorable David Lee and South Carolina Department of Transportation Chairman Tony Cox. In 2013, Mr. Boggs pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy. Since his release, Mr. Boggs has rebuilt his company, has employed hundreds of people, and has dedicated countless hours and financial resources to his community.\n\nJaime A. Davidson\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Jaime A. Davidson. This commutation is supported by Mr. Davidson’s family and friends, Alice Johnson, and numerous others. In 1993, Mr. Davidson was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in relation to the murder of an undercover officer. Notably, witnesses who testified against Mr. Davidson later recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits and further attested that Mr. Davidson had no involvement. Although Mr. Davidson has been incarcerated for nearly 29 years, the admitted shooter has already been released from prison. Following the commutation of his sentence, Mr. Davidson will continue legal efforts to clear his name. In addition, while incarcerated, Mr. Davidson mentored and tutored over 1,000 prisoners to help them achieve their GED certificates. Mr. Davidson has earned praise from prison officials for his dedication to helping others.\n\nJames E. Johnson, Jr.\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to James E. Johnson, Jr. In 2008, Mr. Johnson pled guilty to charges related to migratory birds. Mr. Johnson received 1 year probation, was barred from hunting during that period, and a $7,500 fine was imposed. Throughout his life, Mr. Johnson has made numerous contributions for the conservation of wildlife.\n\nTommaso Buti\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Tommaso Buti. Mr. Buti is an Italian citizen and a respected businessman. He is the Chief Operating Officer of a large Italian company and has started a successful charitable initiative to raise funds for UNICEF. More than 20 years ago, Mr. Buti was charged with financial fraud involving a chain of restaurants. He has not, however, been convicted in the United States.\n\nBill K. Kapri\n\nPresident Trump granted a commutation to Bill Kapri, more commonly known as Kodak Black. Kodak Black is a prominent artist and community leader. This commutation is supported by numerous religious leaders, including Pastor Darrell Scott and Rabbi Schneur Kaplan. Additional supporters include Bernie Kerik, Hunter Pollack, Gucci Mane, Lil Pump, Lil Yachty, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Jack Brewer formerly of the National Football League, and numerous other notable community leaders. Kodak Black was sentenced to 46 months in prison for making a false statement on a Federal document. He has served nearly half of his sentence. Before his conviction and after reaching success as a recording artist, Kodak Black became deeply involved in numerous philanthropic efforts. In fact, he has committed to supporting a variety of charitable efforts, such as providing educational resources to students and families of fallen law enforcement officers and the underprivileged. In addition to these efforts, he has paid for the notebooks of school children, provided funding and supplies to daycare centers, provided food for the hungry, and annually provides for underprivileged children during Christmas. Most recently while still incarcerated, Kodak Black donated $50,000 to David Portnoy’s Barstool Fund, which provides funds to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kodak Black’s only request was that his donation go toward restaurants in his hometown.\n\nMore:President Trump pardons rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black hours before Joe Biden's inauguration\n\nJawad A. Musa\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Jawad A. Musa. In 1991, Mr. Musa was sentence to life imprisonment for a non-violent, drug-related offense. Mr. Musa’s sentencing judge and the prosecutor on the case have both requested clemency on his behalf. He is currently 56-years old. During his time in prison, Mr. Musa has strengthened his faith and taken dozens of educational courses. Mr. Musa is blessed with a strong supportive network in Baltimore, Maryland and has numerous offers of employment.\n\nAdriana Shayota\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Adriana Shayota. Ms. Shayota has served more than half of her 24 month sentence. The Deputy Mayor of Chula Vista, California, John McCann, supports this commutation, among other community leaders. Ms. Shayota is a mother and a deeply religious woman who had no prior convictions. She was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods, commit copyright infringement, and introduce misbranded food into interstate commerce. During her time in prison, Ms. Shayota mentored those who wanted to improve their lives and demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to rehabilitation.\n\nGlen Moss\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Glen Moss. After pleading guilty in 1998, Mr. Moss has been a vital member of his community. Mr. Moss has been committed to numerous philanthropic efforts at the national level, including St Jude’s Hospital for Children, Breast Cancer Awareness, and the Colon Cancer Foundation. Within his community, he has contributed to Danbury Hospital and Ann’s Place, a community-based cancer support center.\n\nAnthony Levandowski\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Anthony Levandowski. This pardon is strongly supported by James Ramsey, Peter Thiel, Miles Ehrlich, Amy Craig, Michael Ovitz, Palmer Luckey, Ryan Petersen, Ken Goldberg, Mike Jensen, Nate Schimmel, Trae Stephens, Blake Masters, and James Proud, among others. Mr. Levandowski is an American entrepreneur who led Google’s efforts to create self-driving technology. Mr. Levandowski pled guilty to a single criminal count arising from civil litigation. Notably, his sentencing judge called him a “brilliant, groundbreaking engineer that our country needs.” Mr. Levandowski has paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good.\n\nAviem Sella\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Aviem Sella. Mr. Sella is an Israeli citizen who was indicted in 1986 for espionage in relation to the Jonathan Pollard case. Mr. Sella’s request for clemency is supported by the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, the United States Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and Miriam Adelson. The State of Israel has issued a full and unequivocal apology, and has requested the pardon in order to close this unfortunate chapter in U.S.-Israel relations.\n\nMichael Liberty\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Michael Liberty. Mr. Liberty’s request for clemency is supported by Representative Susan Austin, Matthew E. Sturgis, and Anthony Fratianne. In 2016 Mr. Liberty was convicted for campaign finance violations and later was indicted for related offenses. Mr. Liberty is the father of 7 children and has been involved in numerous philanthropic efforts.\n\nGreg Reyes\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Greg Reyes. This pardon is supported by Shon Hopwood, former United States Attorney Brett Tolman, and numerous others. Mr. Reyes was the former CEO of Brocade Communications. Mr. Reyes was convicted of securities fraud. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, threw out his convictions, finding prosecutorial misconduct. He was later retried, convicted, and sentenced to 18 months in Federal prison. Mr. Reyes has accepted full responsibility for his actions and has been out of prison for more than 8 years.\n\nFerrell Damon Scott\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Ferrell Damon Scott. This commutation is supported by former Acting United States Attorney Sam Sheldon, who prosecuted his case and wrote that he “… strongly does not believe that [Mr. Scott] deserves a mandatory life sentence.” Ms. Alice Johnson, the CAN-DO Foundation, and numerous others also support clemency for Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott has served nearly 9 years of a life imprisonment sentence for possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Under today’s sentencing guidelines, it is likely that Mr. Scott would not have received such a harsh sentence.\n\nJerry Donnell Walden\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Jerry Donnell Walden. Mr. Walden has served 23 years of a 40-year prison sentence. He is known as a model inmate who completed his GED while incarcerated, as well as various other education classes.\n\nJeffrey Alan Conway\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Jeffrey Alan Conway. Mr. Conway’s pardon is strongly supported by his business partners Gary N. Solomon and Ely Hurwitz, members of law enforcement, and numerous other members of the community. Since his release from prison, Mr. Conway has led a successful life and currently runs 10 restaurant businesses that employ nearly 500 people. Mr. Conway is active in his community and in various philanthropic efforts.\n\nBenedict Olberding\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Benedict Olberding. Mr. Olberding was convicted on one count of bank fraud. Mr. Olberding is an upstanding member of the community who has paid his debt to society. After completing his sentence, he purchased two aquarium stores, as well as a consulting business to train prospective mortgage brokers.\n\nSyrita Steib-Martin\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Syrita Steib-Martin. This clemency is supported by Ben Watson formerly of the National Football League, Judge Sandra Jenkins of the Louisiana state courts, and Sister Marjorie Herbert, who serves as President and CEO of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, among many others. Ms. Steib-Martin was convicted at the age of 19 and sentenced to 10 years in prison and nearly $2 million in restitution for the use of fire to commit a felony. After her release from prison, she became an advocate for criminal justice reform and founded Operation Restoration, which helps transition women prisoners after incarceration by providing education opportunities and job placement. With today’s pardon, Ms. Steib-Martin is relieved of the crushing restitution she incurred at such a young age.\n\nMichael Ashley\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Michael Ashley. This commutation is supported by Professor Alan Dershowitz, Pastor Darrel Scott, Rabbi Zvi Boyarski, The Aleph Institute, Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi, Gary Apfel, and Bradford Cohen. Mr. Ashley was convicted and sentenced to 3 years in prison for bank fraud. Notably, Mr. Ashley’s sentencing judge said, “I don’t have any concern that you are not truly remorseful. I know that you are a changed man.” Since his conviction, Mr. Ashley has spent time caring for his ailing mother and paying his debt back to society.\n\nLou Hobbs\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Lou Hobbs. Mr. Hobbs has served 24 years of his life sentence. While incarcerated, Mr. Hobbs completed his GED as well as various other education classes. Mr. Hobbs is dedicated to improving his life and is focused on his family and friends who have assisted him during difficult times.\n\nMatthew Antoine Canady\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Matthew Antoine Canady. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Canady had an unstable childhood and all of his prior drug-related convictions occurred during his teenage years. Mr. Canady worked hard to move beyond his challenging circumstances and has demonstrated extraordinary rehabilitation while in custody. He has maintained clear conduct while incarcerated and has notably taken advantage of significant vocational programs, including an electrical apprenticeship. He receives “outstanding” work reports and is described as “hardworking” and “respectful” by the Bureau of Prisons staff. Mr. Canady takes full responsibility for his criminal actions and would like to find gainful employment to help support his children.\n\nMario Claiborne\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Mario Claiborne. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Claiborne is serving life imprisonment and has already served more than 28 years in prison. For more than 20 years, Mr. Claiborne has maintained clear conduct. Mr. Claiborne currently works for a UNICOR facility and has completed rehabilitative programming, including drug education.\n\nRodney Nakia Gibson\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Rodney Nakia Gibson. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. In 2009, Mr. Gibson was convicted of trafficking drugs. Mr. Gibson is a first time, non-violent offender who has been a “model inmate” for more than 11 years in custody. In addition, he has maintained clear conduct and works with other inmates to help them obtain the important benefits of a GED. He has an impressive list of programming accomplishments, including apprenticeships and professional certifications which will readily translate into employable skills upon release. Mr. Gibson accepts responsibility for his actions.\n\nTom Leroy Whitehurst\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Tom Leroy Whitehurst from life to 30 years. This clemency is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Whitehurst led a conspiracy to manufacture at least 16.7 kilograms of methamphetamine and possessed numerous firearms during the course of the conspiracy. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment under the then-mandatory Sentencing Guidelines. Mr. Whitehurst has served nearly 24 years in prison. While incarcerated, he has demonstrated exemplary prison conduct by incurring just a single disciplinary infraction over two decades ago and holding a UNICOR position for much of his incarceration.\n\nMonstsho Eugene Vernon\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Monstsho Eugene Vernon. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Vernon has served over 19 years in prison for committing a string of armed bank robberies in Greenville, South Carolina. Evidence showed that numerous of these offenses involved him carrying BB guns rather than genuine firearms. While incarcerated, Mr. Vernon has worked steadily, programmed well, and recovered from a bout of cancer.\n\nLuis Fernando Sicard\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Luis Fernando Sicard. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Sicard was sentenced in 2000 for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He has served 20 years with clear conduct. Mr. Sicard has participated in substantial programming, including a number of vocational courses. Currently, Mr. Sicard works in the camp vehicular factory and previously worked in UNICOR earning “outstanding” work reports, and he also volunteers in the inmate puppy program. Importantly, Mr. Sicard takes full responsibility for his criminal actions. Mr. Sicard is a former Marine and father of two girls.\n\nDeWayne Phelps\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of DeWayne Phelps. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Phelps has served 11 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He has served over a decade in prison with clear conduct, has trained as a dental apprentice, participated in UNICOR, and is noted as being a reliable inmate capable of being assigned additional responsibilities. Most notably, Mr. Phelps’s sentence would unquestionably be lower today under the First Step Act.\n\nIsaac Nelson\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Isaac Nelson. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Nelson is serving a mandatory 20 year sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 50 grams or more of crack cocaine. Following the First Step Act’s changes to the definition of serious drug felony, Mr. Nelson would no longer receive a mandatory minimum term of 20 years’ imprisonment. Instead, he would likely face a 10-year sentence. He has already served more than 11 years in prison. Throughout his incarceration, he appears to have demonstrated commendable adjustment to custody.\n\nTraie Tavares Kelly\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Traie Tavares Kelly. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Kelly was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. He has served over 14 years in prison, but if he were sentenced today, he would likely be subject only to 10-year mandatory minimum. Moreover, Mr. Kelly has substantial work history while incarcerated and his notable accomplishments in education and programming demonstrate that he has used his time to maximize his chance at being a productive citizen upon release.\n\nJavier Gonzales\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Javier Gonzales. This commutation is supported by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Gonzales was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine in 2005. He has served over 14 years in prison, which is 4 years longer than the 10-year sentence he would likely receive today. He has a demonstrated record of rehabilitation during his incarceration, including steady employment, with substantial UNCIOR experience, and participation in vocational programming and training to facilitate his successful reintegration into the workforce upon release. He also has no history of violent conduct. Mr. Gonzales has actively addressed his admitted substance abuse issues with nonresidential drug treatment and participation in the residential program.\n\nEric Wesley Patton\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Eric Wesley Patton. This pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Patton was convicted of making a false statement on a mortgage application in 1999. In the 20 years since his conviction, Mr. Patton has worked hard to build a sterling reputation, been a devoted parent, and made solid contributions to his community by quietly performing good deeds for friends, neighbors, and members of his church.\n\nRobert William Cawthon\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Robert William Cawthon. His pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Cawthon was convicted in 1992 for making a false statement on a bank loan application and was sentenced to 3 years’ probation, conditioned upon 180 days’ home confinement. Mr. Cawthon has accepted responsibility for his offense, served his sentence without incident, and fulfilled his restitution obligation. His atonement has been exceptional, and since his conviction he has led an unblemished life while engaging in extensive, praiseworthy community service.\n\nHal Knudson Mergler\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Hal Knudson Mergler. This pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Mergler was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1992. He received 1 month imprisonment, 3 years supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution. Since his conviction, Mr. Mergler has lived a productive and law-abiding life, including by earning a college degree, creating a successful business career, and starting a family. He has made significant contributions to his community and has helped to build a new school for a non-profit charitable organization. He is uniformly praised as a hardworking and ethical businessman and a caring father.\n\nGary Evan Hendler\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Gary Evan Hendler. This pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. In 1984, Mr. Hendler was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and dispense controlled substances and served 3 years’ probation for his crime. He is remorseful and has taken full responsibility for his criminal actions. In the 40 years since his conviction, Mr. Hendler has lived a law-abiding life and has positively contributed to his community. He is financially stable and owns a successful real estate business. Most notably, he has helped others recover from addiction. Since 1982, he has organized and led weekly AA meetings. He also has mentored many individuals on their journey to sobriety with his radio broadcasts. His former probation officer noted that Mr. Hendler had become “integral” in the lives of many members of the community who were dealing with substance abuse issues. Further, his efforts in addiction and recovery have been recognized by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, who recently appointed him to a state advisory council on drug and alcohol abuse.\n\nJohn Harold Wall\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to John Harold Wall. This pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the former United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota Andrew M. Luger, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Wall was convicted of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in 1992. He completed a 60 month prison sentence with 4 years’ supervised release.\n\nSteven Samuel Grantham\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Steven Samuel Grantham. This pardon is supported by Mr. Grantham’s friends and family who praise his moral character, Acting Attorney Jeffrey Rosen, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Grantham was convicted in 1967 for stealing a vehicle. He received 18-months imprisonment, and 2 years’ probation. Since his conviction and release from prison, he has demonstrated remorse and accepted responsibility for his crime, which he committed approximately 50 years ago when he was just 19 years old. Mr. Grantham has lived a law-abiding and stable life. Most notably, he stepped in and assumed custody of his grandchild when the child’s parents were unable to care for him. He now seeks a pardon for forgiveness and to restore his gun rights.\n\nClarence Olin Freeman\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Clarence Olin Freeman. This pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Freeman was convicted in 1965 for operating an illegal whiskey still. He received 9 months imprisonment and 5 years’ probation. Since his conviction and release from prison, Mr. Freeman has led a law-abiding life. He has expressed sincere remorse for his illegal activity and remains mindful of the valuable lesson his conviction taught him. In the approximately 55 years since his conviction, he has built a stable marriage, founded a thriving business, and contributed positively to his community. He has earned a reputation for honesty, hard work, and generosity.\n\nFred Keith Alford\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Fred Keith Alford. This pardon is supported by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Mr. Alford was convicted in 1977 for a firearm violation and served 1 year’s unsupervised probation. Since his conviction, he has established a stable and law-abiding life and earned a commendable reputation in his small town as a man of great skill, dedication, and integrity.\n\nJohn Knock\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of John Knock. This commutation is supported by his family. Mr. Knock is a 73 year-old man, a first-time, non-violent marijuana only offender, who has served 24 years of a life sentence. Mr. Knock has an exemplary prison history, during which he completed college accounting classes and has had zero incident reports.\n\nKenneth Charles Fragoso\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Kenneth Charles Fragoso. Mr. Fragoso is a 66 year-old United States Navy veteran who has served more than 30 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. Mr. Fragoso has an exemplary prison history and has worked for UNICOR for over 20 years, learned new trades, and has mentored fellow inmates.\n\nLuis Gonzalez\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Luis Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez is a 78 year-old non-violent drug offender who has served more than 27 years of a life sentence. Under the First Step Act, Mr. Fragoso would not have been subject to a mandatory life sentence. Mr. Gonzalez has an upstanding prison record and has worked for UNICOR for over 20 years producing military uniforms.\n\nAnthony DeJohn\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Anthony DeJohn. Mr. DeJohn has served more than 13 years of a life sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Mr. DeJohn has maintained a clear disciplinary record and has been recognized for his outstanding work ethic while incarcerated. Mr. DeJohn has employment and housing available to him upon release.\n\nCorvain Cooper\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Mr. Corvain Cooper. Mr. Cooper is a 41 year-old father of two girls who has served more than 7 years of a life sentence for his non-violent participation in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana.\n\nWay Quoe Long\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Way Quoe Long. Mr. Long is a 58 year-old who has served nearly half of a 50-year sentence for a non-violent conviction for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Mr. Long has spent his incarceration striving to better himself through English proficiency classes and by obtaining his GED. Upon release, Mr. Long will reunite with his family and will be strongly supported as he integrates back into the community.\n\nMichael Pelletier\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Michael Pelletier. Mr. Pelletier is a 64 year-old who has served 12 years of a 30 year sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Mr. Pelletier has maintained a clear disciplinary record, has thrived as an artist working with oil paints on canvas, and has taken several courses to perfect his skill while incarcerated. Upon his release, Mr. Pelletier will have a meaningful place of employment and housing with his brother.\n\nCraig Cesal\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Craig Cesal. Mr. Cesal is a father of two, one of whom unfortunately passed away while he was serving his life sentence for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Mr. Cesal has had an exemplary disciplinary record and has become a paralegal assistant and a Eucharistic Minister in the Catholic Church to assist and guide other prisoners. Upon his release, Mr. Cesal looks forward to reintegrating back into society and to contributing to his community while living with his daughter with whom he has remained close. Mr. Cesal hopes to be a part of her upcoming wedding.\n\nDarrell Frazier\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Darrell Frazier. Mr. Frazier is a 60 year-old who has served 29 years of a life sentence for non-violent conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Mr. Frazier has had an exemplary disciplinary record in prison and has spent his time creating the Joe Johnson Tennis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that provides free tennis lessons to hundreds of children in underserved communities. Upon his release, Mr. Frazier will have a meaningful place of employment and housing with his mother.\n\nLavonne Roach\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Lavonne Roach. Ms. Roach has served 23 years of a 30-year sentence for non-violent drug charges. She has had an exemplary prison record and has tutored and mentored other prisoners. Ms. Roach has a strong family support system to help her transition back into the community.\n\nBlanca Virgen\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Blanca Virgen. Ms. Virgen has served 12 years of a 30 year sentence. Rather than accept a plea offer of 10 years, Ms. Virgen exercised her constitutional right to trial and received triple the amount of time the government offered her to plead. She has received countless achievement awards from her educational programming in prison. Upon her release, Ms. Virgen will return home to Mexico to care for her four children.\n\nRobert Francis\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Robert Francis. Mr. Francis has served 18 years of a life sentence for non-violent drug conspiracy charges. Mr. Francis has a spotless disciplinary record in prison and has been active in his efforts toward rehabilitation. Upon release, Mr. Francis, a father of 3, will live with his sister in Houston, Texas.\n\nBrian Simmons\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Brian Simmons. Mr. Simmons has served 5 years of a 15 year sentence for a non-violent conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Mr. Simmons has had an exemplary prison record and upon release will have strong support from his fiancée and his community.\n\nDerrick Smith\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Derrick Smith. Mr. Smith is a 53 year-old who has served more than 20 years of a nearly 30 year sentence for distribution of drugs to a companion who passed away. Mr. Smith is deeply remorseful for his role in this tragic death and has had an exemplary record while incarcerated. Mr. Smith intends to secure a construction job, care for his mother and his son, and rebuild his relationship with his two other children.\n\nRaymond Hersman\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Raymond Hersman. Mr. Hersman is a 55 year-old father of two who has served more than 9 years of a 20 year sentence. While incarcerated, Mr. Hersman has maintained a spotless disciplinary record, worked steadily, and participated in several programming and educational opportunities. Upon release, he looks forward to transitioning back into the community and leading a productive life with strong family support.\n\nDavid Barren\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of David Barren. Mr. Barren is a father of 6 children. He has served 13 years of his life sentence in addition to 20 years for a non-violent drug conspiracy charge. Mr. Barren has maintained an exemplary prison record. Upon release, Mr. Barren looks forward to returning home to his family.\n\nJames Romans\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of James Romans. Mr. Romans is a father and a grandfather who received a life sentence without parole for his involvement in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Mr. Romans has had an exemplary disciplinary record for the more than 10 years he has served, and has completed a long list of courses. He has already secured job opportunities that will help him successfully re-enter society.\n\nJonathon Braun\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Jonathan Braun. Mr. Braun has served 5 years of a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to import marijuana and to commit money laundering. Upon his release, Mr. Braun will seek employment to support his wife and children.\n\nMichael Harris\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Michael Harris. Mr. Harris is a 59 year old who has served 30 years of a 25 year to life sentence for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Mr. Harris has had an exemplary prison record for three decades. He is a former entrepreneur and has mentored and taught fellow prisoners how to start and run businesses. He has completed courses towards business and journalism degrees. Upon his release, Mr. Harris will have a meaningful place of employment and housing with the support of his family.\n\nKyle Kimoto\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Kyle Kimoto. Mr. Kimoto is a father of six who has served 12 years of his 29 year sentence for a non-violent telemarketing fraud scheme. Mr. Kimoto has been an exemplary prisoner, has held numerous jobs, shown remorse, and mentored other inmates in faith. Upon his release, he has a job offer and will help care for his six children and three grandchildren.\n\nChalana McFarland\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Chalana McFarland. Ms. McFarland has served 15 years of a 30-year sentence. Though she went to trial, Ms. McFarland actually cooperated with authorities by informing them of a potential attack on the United States Attorney. Her co-defendants who pled guilty, however, received lesser sentences ranging from 5 to 87 months. Ms. McFarland was a model inmate and is now under home confinement.\n\nEliyahu Weinstein\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Eliyahu Weinstein. This commutation is supported by former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman, former Representative Bob Barr, former U.S. Attorney Joseph Whittle, Professor Alan Dershowitz, Representative Mark Walker, Representative Scott Perry, Representative Jeff Van Drew, Jessica Jackson of the Reform Alliance, The Tzedek Association, Dr. Danny Feuer, and numerous victims who have written in support. Mr. Weinstein is the father of seven children and a loving husband. He is currently serving his eighth year of a 24-year sentence for a real estate investment fraud and has maintained an exemplary prison history. Upon his release, he will have strong support from his community and members of his faith.\n\nJohn Estin Davis\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of John Estin Davis. This commutation is supported by Caroline Bryan, Luke Bryan, Ellen Boyer, Amy Davis, Kim Davis, Brandon McWherter, Sheila McWherter, Dr. Jeff Hall, Dr. Brad Maltz, Brent Ford, Mark Lotito, Keri Rowland, Mark Rowland, and Stephen Stock. Mr. Davis has spent the last 4 months incarcerated for serving as Chief Executive Office of a healthcare company with a financial conflict of interest. Notably, no one suffered financially as a result of his crime and he has no other criminal record. Prior to his conviction, Mr. Davis was well known in his community as an active supporter of local charities. He is described as hardworking and deeply committed to his family and country. Mr. Davis and his wife have been married for 15 years, and he is the father of three young children.\n\nAlex Adjmi\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Alex Adjmi. This pardon is supported by Haim Chera on behalf of his late father Stanley, Robert Cayre, the Sitt family and numerous other community leaders. In 1996, Mr. Adjmi was convicted of a financial crime and served 5 years in prison. Following his release, he has dedicated himself to his community and has supported numerous charitable causes, including support for children with special needs and substance recovery centers.\n\nElliott Broidy\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Elliott Broidy. Mr. Broidy is the former Deputy National Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee. This pardon is supported by Representative Devin Nunes, Representative Ken Calvert, Representative Jack Bergman, Representative George Holding, Ambassador Ric Grenell, Bernie Marcus, Malcolm Hoenlein, Eric Branstad, Tom Hicks, Saul Fox, Lee Samson, Rabbi Steven Leder, Dr. Alveda King, Father Frank Pavone, Major General Clayton Hutmacher, Lieutenant General Bennet Sacolick, Mr. Bruce Brereton, Rabbi Steven Burg, Rabbi Pini Dunner, Rabbi Meyer May, and Rabbi Mordechai Suchard. Mr. Broidy was convicted on one count of conspiracy to serve as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal. Mr. Broidy is well known for his numerous philanthropic efforts, including on behalf of law enforcement, the military and veterans programs, and the Jewish community.\n\nStephen K. Bannon\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Stephen Bannon. Prosecutors pursued Mr. Bannon with charges related to fraud stemming from his involvement in a political project. Mr. Bannon has been an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen.\n\nMore:Trump pardons former adviser Stephen Bannon\n\nMore:Trump issues pardon for Bannon, his former adviser, but leaves out Sarasota County man\n\nDouglas Jemal\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Douglas Jemal. Mr. Jemal is an American businessman and philanthropist credited with rebuilding many urban inner cities in the United States. In 2008, Mr. Jemal was convicted of fraud. In addition, Mr. Jemal was instrumental to various other charitable causes, including the rebuilding of churches prior to his conviction. Notably, at his trial the presiding judge told prosecutors that he thought it “inconceivable” to send Mr. Jemal to prison.\n\nNoah Kleinman\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Noah Kleinman. Mr. Kleinman is a 45-year old father of two children. The mother of his children unfortunately passed away during Mr. Kleinman’s incarceration. Mr. Kleinman has served 6 years of a nearly 20 year sentence for a non-violent crime to distribute marijuana. Mr. Kleinman has had an exemplary prison history and has worked to remain close to his children and his father. Upon release, he looks forward to living with his father, working for the family business, and caring for his children.\n\nDr. Scott Harkonen\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon Dr. Scott Harkonen. Dr. Harkonen was convicted of fraud based on a misleading caption in a press release with respect to a treatment for a disease. Dr. Harkonen is world renowned for his discovery of a new kidney disease, as well as its cause and treatment. Dr. Harkonen looks forward to returning to medicine.\n\nJohnny D. Phillips, Jr.\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Johnny D. Phillips, Jr. This pardon is supported by Senator Rand Paul, the former United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, and numerous members of his community. In 2016, Mr. Phillips was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud. Mr. Phillips is known as an upstanding citizen and is a valued member of his community. He dedicates his time to his three young children and is an advocate for Type 1 diabetes research.\n\nDr. Mahmoud Reza Banki\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Dr. Mahmoud Reza Banki. This pardon is supported by many elected officials of stature, including the late Representative John Lewis, Senator Diane Feinstein, and other Members of Congress. Dr. Banki is an Iranian American citizen who came to the United States when he was 18 years old. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, before obtaining a PhD from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2010 Dr. Banki was charged with monetary violations of Iranian sanctions and making false statements. The charges related to sanctions violations were subsequently overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. However, the felony charges for making false statements have prevented Dr. Banki from resuming a full life. In the years since his conviction, Dr. Banki has dedicated himself to his community and maintained a sincere love and respect for the United States.\n\nTena Logan\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Tena Logan. Ms. Logan has served 8 years of a 14-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. She had an exemplary prison record with extensive work and programming, and has assumed several leadership positions. In addition, Ms. Logan was authorized to work outside the perimeter of the prison, and was granted home confinement under the CARES Act last summer. Today, Ms. Logan lives with her husband and works fulltime at a major retail store.\n\nMaryAnne Locke\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of MaryAnne Locke. Ms. Locke has served roughly 11 years of a nearly 20 year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Despite the difficulties of beginning her sentence just 6 weeks after having a Caesarean section, her prison record has been exemplary, with extensive programming and work. Ms. Locke was authorized to work outside the perimeter of the prison, and was granted home confinement under the CARES Act last summer. Today, she lives with her father, is building a relationship with her children, and works fulltime at a major retail store.\n\nApril Coots\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of April Coots. Ms. Coots has served more than 10 years of her 20-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Throughout her incarceration, she has been an exemplary inmate, obtained an HVAC license, and completed the PAWS apprenticeship program. During the 18 months before the trial, Ms. Coots started a business, completed her GED, and took two semesters of community college classes. Importantly, Ms. Coots has a supportive family and church community that will help her transition and create a stable network for her post-incarceration.\n\nCaroline Yeats\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Caroline Yeats. Ms. Yeats was a first-time, non-violent drug offender who has served nearly 7 years of a 20-year sentence. She has been an exemplary inmate who spends her time training service dogs as part of the PAWS program, mentoring other inmates, and she has been a committed member of her faith community. Upon her release, she plans on spending time with her husband of 30 years who suffers from multiple sclerosis.\n\nJodi Lynn Richter\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Jodi Lynn Richter. Ms. Richter has served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Ms. Richter has an exemplary prison record, and spends her time training service dogs in the PAWS program, tutoring other inmates in pursuit of their GED, and learning to operate a range of heavy machinery. Her parents have continued to support her and she has various employment opportunities available.\n\nKristina Bohnenkamp\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Kristina Bohnenkamp. Notably, her warden recommended her for home confinement under the CARES Act. Ms. Bohnenkamp has served more than 10 years of a 24 year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. Ms. Bohnenkamp has been an exemplary inmate, with an excellent record of programming and UNICOR work, and she is authorized to work outside the prison perimeter. Upon her release, she is planning on spending time with her sister and brother-in-law and she has various employment opportunities available.\n\nMary Roberts\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Mary Roberts. Ms. Roberts has served 10 years of a 19-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. She has maintained an exemplary disciplinary record, and a strong programming and work history, including as a part of the PAWS program, UNICOR and food service, and she is authorized to work outside the prison perimeter. Upon her release, Ms. Roberts plans to spend time with her daughter and enjoys strong support from her family. In addition, she has various employment opportunities available.\n\nCassandra Ann Kasowski\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Cassandra Ann Kasowski. Notably, her warden recommended her for home confinement under the CARES Act. Ms. Kasowski has served more than7 years of a 17 year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. She has been an exemplary inmate and has worked extensively, including as a part of the PAWS program and in UNICOR. Upon her release, she plans to spend time with her son and seek employment.\n\nLerna Lea Paulson\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Lerna Lea Paulson. Notably, Ms. Paulson’s warden recommended her for home confinement under the CARES Act. Ms. Paulson has served nearly 7 years of a 17-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. During her time in prison, she has maintained an exemplary disciplinary record, has worked full-time in UNICOR, and served as a mental health counselor. In addition, she has served an inmate companion as well as a suicide watch companion. She is also authorized to work outside the prison perimeter. Upon her release, she plans on spending time with her family and seek employment.\n\nAnn Butler\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Ann Butler. Ms. Butler has served more than 10 years of a nearly 20-year sentence for a non-violent offense. She has an exemplary prison record, with extensive programming and work history and has garnered outstanding evaluations. In addition, she is extraordinarily devoted to her faith. At the time of her arrest, Ms. Butler was caring for five children and held two minimum-wage jobs. Upon her release, Ms. Butler wishes to reunite with her family and seek employment.\n\nSydney Navarro\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Sydney Navarro. Ms. Navarro has served nearly 8 years of a 27-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. She has an exemplary prison record. In addition, Ms. Navarro obtained her GED, participated in extensive program work, and earned excellent work evaluations. Notably, Ms. Navarro was chosen to speak to at-risk youth in the community through the SHARE program. Upon her release, Ms. Navarro wishes to reunite with her daughter and seek employment.\n\nTara Perry\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Tara Perry. Ms. Perry has served nearly 7 years of a 16-year sentence for a non-violent drug offense. She has maintained an exemplary prison record and has obtained her nursing certification. Ms. Perry also enjoys singing during the prison religious services. Upon her release, Ms. Perry plans to spend time with her mother and seek employment.\n\nJohn Nystrom\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to John Nystrom, who, other than this conviction, was described by his sentencing judge as a “model citizen.” His clemency is supported by Governor Kristi Noem and Senator Michael Rounds. Over 10 years ago, while working as a contractor on a school reconstruction project, Mr. Nystrom failed to alert the proper authorities when he learned that a subcontractor was receiving double payments for work performed. Mr. Nystrom took full responsibility for this oversight and even tried to pay the Crowe Creek Tribe, who was paying for the work, restitution before he pled guilty. Mr. Nystrom has since paid his restitution in full. Mr. Nystrom teaches Sunday school and volunteers for the Knights of Columbus and Habitat for Humanity, among other organizations, and has previously served as County Commissioner.\n\nGregory Jorgensen, Deborah Jorgensen, Martin Jorgensen\n\nPresident Trump granted full pardons to Gregory and Deborah Jorgensen, and a posthumous pardon to Martin Jorgensen. Governor Kristi Noem and Senator Mike Rounds support clemency for this family, which has an exemplary record of service to their community. In the 1980’s, Gregory and his father, Martin, gathered a group of South Dakota cattle producers to market and sold processed beef. The Jorgensen’s marketed their beef under the Dakota Lean brand and sold the premium product as heart-healthy and antibiotic- and hormone-free. When demand outstripped supply, Gregory, Deborah, and Martin mixed in inferior, commercial beef trim and knowingly sold misbranded beef. Since their convictions in 1996, the Jorgensen’s have served their community devotedly. Gregory was elected twice to the Tripp County Board of Commissioners and spearheaded infrastructure projects to improve access for Native American communities. Deborah is a lifelong member of a non-profit dedicated to promoting educational opportunities for women. And Martin was named National Beef Cattleman’s Association Businessman of the Year. The Jorgensens have shown remorse for their previous action, and in light of decades of exemplary public service, they are well deserving of these pardons.\n\nJessica Frease\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Jessica Frease. This pardon is supported by Governor Kristi Noem, South Dakota State Senator Lynne Hix-DiSanto, the United States Probation Officer responsible for Ms. Frease’s supervision, and many in her community. Ms. Frease was 20 years old when she was convicted after converting stolen checks and negotiating them through the bank where she worked as a teller. Upon her arrest, however, she immediately relinquished the stolen funds to the authorities. After serving her two year sentence, she was granted early termination of her supervised release due to her commendable conduct. Currently, Ms. Frease is studying to become an Emergency Medical Technician and devotes her time and energy to raising funds for cancer patients.\n\nRobert Cannon “Robin” Hayes\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Cannon “Robin” Hayes. The former North Carolina Congressman is serving a 1-year term of probation for making a false statement in the course of a Federal investigation. In addition to his years in Congress, Mr. Hayes has served as Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and Chair of the National Council of Republican Party Chairs. Senator Thom Tillis and several members of the North Carolina Congressional delegation strongly support clemency for Mr. Hayes.\n\nThomas Kenton “Ken” Ford\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Ken Ford, a 38-year veteran of the coal industry and currently the General Manager of a coal company. Mr. Ford’s pardon is supported by members of the coal mining community, including those with extensive experience in mining operations, safety, and engineering, who describe Mr. Ford as a “model manager” who conducts himself with the utmost professionalism and integrity. Twenty years ago, Mr. Ford made a material misstatement to Federal mining officials. Mr. Ford pled guilty and served a sentence of 3 years’ probation. In the decades since, Mr. Ford has been an upstanding member of his community and has used this experience and his decades of expertise to keep miners safe, including promoting truthfulness and integrity with Federal mining officials, for whom Mr. Ford states that he has the “utmost respect.”\n\nJon Harder\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Jon Harder, former President and CEO of Sunwest Management Inc., who has served nearly 5 years of a 15-year prison sentence. Notable figures, including the Honorable Michael Hogan who served as the Federal judge overseeing Sunwest’s bankruptcy and receivership, Ford Elsaesser who served as counsel to Sunwest’s creditors in receivership, and multiple other individuals involved in the litigation support Mr. Harder’s commutation. Mr. Harder was serving as president and CEO of Sunwest Management Inc., a large management company overseeing residential senior care facilities, when he misused investment funds during the real estate crisis. Mr. Harder fully accepted responsibility, pled guilty, and cooperated with the government’s civil and criminal actions against him at great personal cost. According to former Chief Judge Hogan, Mr. Harder’s full cooperation “against his substantial financial and penal interests” helped secure the sale of the company’s assets, ensuring that Sunwest’s investors recovered more of their investment, seniors could continue living in their facilities, and employees could retain their livelihoods. Mr. Elsaesser stated that “of all the financial wrongdoers that [the court and the Government] dealt with during the real estate crash of 2008, Mr. Harder acted more responsibly than any of his ‘peers.’” President Trump commends Mr. Harder for choosing to put his employees, investors, and the senior citizens residing in Sunwest’s homes above himself.\n\nScott Conor Crosby\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Scott Conor Crosby. Mr. Crosby is supported by Senator Martha McSally, the Mayor and Vice Mayor of Mesa, Arizona, and the Bishop of his church, all of whom attest to Mr. Crosby’s service to his community and upstanding character. In 1992, Mr. Crosby made a “‘spur of the moment’ poor decision” to participate in a co-worker’s plan to commit a bank robbery. Mr. Crosby was arrested the same day and cooperated with the authorities. Since his release from prison, he has spent significant time volunteering at his church, mentoring youth, and has earned a certification as an Emergency Medical Technician. Mr. Crosby’s civil rights were restored by the State of Arizona in 2003, and this action restores his Federal civil rights.\n\nChris Young\n\nPresident Trump commuted the remaining sentence of Chris Young. This commutation is supported by the Honorable Kevin H. Sharp, Mr. Young’s sentencing judge, former law enforcement officials and Federal prosecutors, and multitudes of criminal justice reform advocates, including Alice Johnson, Kevin Ring, Jessica Jackson Sloan, Topeka Sam, Amy Povah, the Aleph Institute, Mark Holden, Doug Deason, and David Safavian, among others. Mr. Young, who is 32 years old, has served over 10 years of a 14 year sentence for his role in a drug conspiracy. Although initially sentenced to a mandatory life sentence that Judge Sharp called “not appropriate in any way, shape, or form,” Mr. Young has made productive use of his time in prison by taking courses and learning coding skills. He also has maintained a spotless disciplinary record. Mr. Young’s many supporters describe him as an intelligent, positive person who takes full responsibility for his actions and who lacked a meaningful first chance in life due to what another Federal judge called an “undeniably tragic childhood.” With this commutation, President Trump provides Mr. Young with a second chance.\n\nAdrianne Miller\n\nPresident Trump commuted the remaining sentence of Adrianne Miller. This commutation is supported by former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman and the Clemency for All Non-Violent Drug Offenders (CAN-DO) Foundation. Ms. Miller has served 6 years of a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a list I chemical. Ms. Miller, who has struggled with drug addiction, has fully committed to rehabilitation while in prison. In addition, she has taken numerous courses including drug education, life management, and has participated in the Life Connections Program, an intensive, multi-phase re-entry program offered by the Bureau of Prisons. She is extremely remorseful, regrets her “destructive choices” and has taken full responsibility for her actions.\n\nLynn Barney\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Lynn Barney. This pardon is supported by Senator Mike Lee, as well as numerous notable members of the Utah business community. Mr. Barney was sentenced to 35 months in prison for possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon, after having previously been convicted for distributing a small amount of marijuana. Since his release from prison, Mr. Barney has been a model citizen and has devoted himself to his work and children. He is described by his employer as an exceedingly hard worker and a role model to other employees.\n\nJoshua J. Smith\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Joshua J. Smith. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Representative Tim Burchett, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections Tony Parker, Director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation David Rausch, and numerous other community and faith leaders support the pardon of Mr. Smith. Since his release from prison in 2003 for conspiracy to possess drugs with intent to distribute, Mr. Smith has dedicated his life to his faith and to his community. He is now a successful businessman and has used his financial success to establish Fourth Purpose, a non-profit organization devoted to making prison “a place of transformation.” He has mentored incarcerated individuals and taught business classes to those in prison—including at the prison where he was incarcerated. Mr. Smith has also been heavily involved in mission trips throughout Latin America.\n\nAmy Povah\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Amy Povah, the founder of the CAN-DO (Clemency for All Non-violent Drug Offenders) Foundation. In the 1990s, Ms. Povah served 9 years of a 24 year sentence for a drug offense before President Clinton commuted her remaining prison sentence in 2000. Since her release, she has become a voice for the incarcerated, a champion for criminal justice reform, and was a strong advocate for the passage of the First Step Act. Those assisted by Ms. Povah’s organization include Ms. Adrianne Miller, whose remaining prison sentence the President commuted.\n\nDr. Frederick Nahas\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Frederick Nahas. This pardon is supported by Representative Jeff Van Drew. Dr. Nahas is a talented surgeon with a practice in New Jersey. In the 1990s, Dr. Nahas became aware of a Federal investigation into his billing practices. Although the 6-year investigation uncovered no underlying billing fraud, Dr. Nahas did not fully cooperate and ultimately pled guilty to one count of obstructing justice in a health care investigation. Dr. Nahas spent 1 month in prison in 2003 and has spent the subsequent 18 years working tirelessly to regain the trust and admiration of his patients, colleagues, and community.\n\nDavid Tamman\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to David Tamman. Mr. Tamman’s pardon is supported by the Aleph Institute, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh, and former United States Attorney Kendall Coffey. Mr. Tamman was a partner at a major American law firm when he doctored financial documents that were the subject of a Federal investigation. These actions were done at the behest of a client who was perpetrating a Ponzi scheme upon unsuspecting investors. Mr. Tamman was convicted of his crimes following a bench trial and completed his seven-year sentence in 2019. Mr. Tamman accepts full responsibility for his actions and numerous friends and colleagues have attested that he is a decent man who experienced a terrible lapse in judgment for which he has already paid a significant price.\n\nDr. Faustino Bernadett\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Dr. Faustino Bernadett. In approximately early 2008, Dr. Bernadett failed to report a hospital kickback scheme of which he became aware. Notably, he was not part of the underlying scheme itself, and unaffiliated himself with the hospital shortly thereafter. This conviction is the only major blemish on Dr. Bernadett’s record. Although now retired, Dr. Bernadett has spent the past year devoted to helping protect his community from COVID-19, including by: procuring PPE and medical supplies for nurses; advising hospitals on expanding patient capacity and continuing prenatal services; identifying care facilities for first responders and the homeless; providing meals and books to underprivileged students; funding online educational resources for a distressed Catholic elementary school in Dr. Bernadett’s neighborhood; and helping to ensure that senior citizens maintain social connections by training volunteer callers to speak with nursing home residents. In addition, Dr. Bernadett has been deeply involved in philanthropic efforts in his community and he has supported numerous non-profits that provide help to underprivileged communities, support medical research, and promote youth education programs. President Trump determined that it is in the interests of justice and Dr. Bernadett’s community that he may continue his volunteer and charitable work.\n\nPaul Erickson\n\nPresident Trump has issued a full pardon to Paul Erikson. This pardon is supported by Kellyanne Conway. Mr. Erickson’s conviction was based off the Russian collusion hoax. After finding no grounds to charge him with any crimes with respect to connections with Russia, he was charged with a minor financial crime. Although the Department of Justice sought a lesser sentence, Mr. Erickson was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment—nearly double the Department of Justice’s recommended maximum sentence. This pardon helps right the wrongs of what has been revealed to be perhaps the greatest witch hunt in American History.\n\nKwame Kilpatrick\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of the former Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Malik Kilpatrick. This commutation is strongly supported by prominent members of the Detroit community, Alveda King, Alice Johnson, Diamond and Silk, Pastor Paula White, Peter Karmanos, Representative Sherry Gay-Dagnogo of the Michigan House of Representatives, Representative Karen Whitsett of the Michigan House of Representatives, and more than 30 faith leaders. Mr. Kilpatrick has served approximately 7 years in prison for his role in a racketeering and bribery scheme while he held public office. During his incarceration, Mr. Kilpatrick has taught public speaking classes and has led Bible Study groups with his fellow inmates.\n\nMore:Donald Trump commutes sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick\n\nFred “Dave” Clark\n\nPresident Trump commuted Dave Clark’s remaining term of incarceration after serving over 6 years in Federal prison for a first-time, non-violent offense. Mr. Clark’s commutation is supported by Professor Alan Dershowitz, Ken Starr, the Aleph Institute, his family of seven children, and former business colleagues and investors, among others. While in prison, Mr. Clark has lead Bible Study and developed a “Promising People” program to teach inmates technical skills and connect them with faith-based support.\n\nTodd Farha, Thaddeus Bereday, William Kale, Paul Behrens, Peter Clay\n\nPresident Trump granted full pardons to Todd Farha, Thaddeus Bereday, William Kale, Paul Behrens, and Peter Clay, former executives of a healthcare maintenance organization. Widely cited as a case study in overcriminalization, these men have attracted a broad range of support, including from the CATO Institute, the Reason Foundation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and various scholars and law professors. In 2008, Messrs. Farha, Bereday, Kale, Behrens, and Clay were criminally prosecuted for a state regulatory matter involving the reporting of expenditures to a state health agency. The expenditures reported were based on actual monies spent, and the reporting methodology was reviewed and endorsed by those with expertise in the state regulatory scheme. Notably, there was no evidence that any of the individuals were motivated by greed. And in fact, the sentencing judge called the likelihood that there was any personal financial motivation “infinitesimal.” The judge imposed a range of sentences from probation to 3 years’ imprisonment, reflecting the conduct as an aberration from these individuals’ otherwise law-abiding lives. Messrs. Farha, Bereday, Kale, Behrens, and Clay are described as devoted to their family and their communities, and have weathered their convictions without complaint.\n\nDavid Rowland\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to David Rowland. This pardon is supported by Senator Lindsey Graham. Mr. Rowland’s asbestos removal license had lapsed when he agreed to remove asbestos found in an elementary school. He completed the work in compliance with all other regulations, but received 2 years’ probation for a violation of the Clean Air Act. Mr. Rowland accepts responsibility and is remorseful. In addition, he has given back to his community by continuing to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation after the completion of his mandatory community service.\n\nRandall “Duke” Cunningham\n\nPresident Trump granted a conditional pardon to Randall “Duke” Cunningham who was released from prison in 2013. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich strongly supports this pardon. Mr. Cunningham, a former California Congressman, was sentenced to over 8 years’ imprisonment for accepting bribes while he held public office. During his time in prison, Mr. Cunningham tutored other inmates to help them achieve their GED. Mr. Cunningham is a combat veteran, an ace fighter pilot, and a member of the Military Order of Purple Hearts. Although combat-disabled, he continues to serve his community by volunteering with a local fire department and is active in Bible Study.\n\nWilliam Walters\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of William Walters. This commutation is supported by former Majority Leader Harry Reid, former Governor Jim Gibbons, former Representative Shelley Berkley, former Clark County Sheriff William Young, former Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, numerous professional golfers including Butch Harmon, David Feherty, Peter Jacobsen, and Phil Mickelson, and former 60 minutes correspondent Lara Logan. Mr. Walters was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for insider trading. Since his conviction, Mr. Walters has served nearly 4 years of his prison sentence and has paid $44 million in fines, forfeitures, and restitution. In addition to his established reputation in the sports and gaming industry, Mr. Walters is well known for his philanthropic efforts and was previously named Las Vegas’ Philanthropist of the Year.\n\nDwayne Michael Carter Jr.\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., also known as “Lil Wayne.” Mr. Carter pled guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, owing to a conviction over 10 years ago. Brett Berish of Sovereign Brands, who supports a pardon for Mr. Carter, describes him as “trustworthy, kind-hearted and generous.” Mr. Carter has exhibited this generosity through commitment to a variety of charities, including donations to research hospitals and a host of foodbanks. Deion Sanders, who also wrote in support of this pardon, calls Mr. Wayne “a provider for his family, a friend to many, a man of faith, a natural giver to the less fortunate, a waymaker, [and] a game changer.”\n\nMore:President Trump pardons rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black hours before Joe Biden's inauguration\n\nStephen Odzer\n\nPresident Trump granted a conditional pardon to Stephen Odzer. This pardon is supported by former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Sigmund “Sig” Rogich, Jason Greenblatt, Michael Steinhardt, Wayne Allyn Root, Salvador Moran, the Aleph Institute, and numerous members of Mr. Odzer’s religious community. Mr. Odzer pled guilty to conspiracy and bank fraud, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Numerous individuals testify to his substantial philanthropic and volunteer activities. His philanthropic endeavors include providing personal protective equipment to front-line workers in New York City hospitals; visiting sick children in hospitals; and donating religious materials to prison inmates and U.S. Service Members around the world. He has also dedicated resources to support and build synagogues in memory of his late cousin who was kidnapped and killed by Muslim terrorists while in Israel. The pardon requires Mr. Odzer to pay the remainder of his restitution order.\n\nJames Brian Cruz\n\nPresident Trump commuted the remaining sentence of James Brian Cruz. Mr. Cruz’s many supporters include Alice Johnson, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, Kelly Shackelford of the First Liberty Institute, several former inmates who Mr. Cruz mentored or ministered, Mr. Cruz’s work supervisor, and several business owners and managers. Mr. Cruz, who has served approximately half of a 40-year sentence for a drug crime, has truly reformed and has worked to better his life and the lives of other inmates while in prison. Several former inmates credit Mr. Cruz, whom they met while incarcerated, as someone who helped changed their life, as “a great source of comfort” for many, and one who helps others without looking for anything in return. Mr. Cruz’s work supervisor describes him as a dependable and hard-working employee, who has “gained the respect of many staff workers and inmates alike” and who helps arguing inmates “make peace.” Mr. Cruz writes that he recognizes the effect drugs have on people, families, and the community, and desires a second chance to “live life as one who upholds the law, and lives to help others.”\n\nSteven Benjamin Floyd\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Steven Benjamin Floyd. This pardon is supported by Representative Mark Green. Mr. Floyd joined the United States Marines Corps at age 17 and earned a combat action ribbon in Iraq. He pled guilty to one count of bank robbery by extortion. Since his release from prison in 2009, Mr. Floyd has exemplified the power of second chances, and is raising a family and owns a successful car repair business. Mr. Floyd’s dedication to service includes helping extinguish fires set during the recent unrest and repairing widows and disabled veterans’ cars free of charge. President Trump thanks Mr. Floyd for his past military service and for his commitment to his community.\n\nJoey Hancock\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Joey Hancock. Senator Roger Wicker, and Mr. Hancock’s employer, pastor, and other members of his community all support this pardon. Mr. Hancock was convicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Following his release from prison, Mr. Hancock has been a hard-working employee and active in his church and community.\n\nDavid E. Miller\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to David E. Miller. Governor Bill Lee, Mr. Miller’s employer, and numerous colleagues support this pardon. In 2015, Mr. Miller pled guilty to one count of making a false statement to a bank. Today, Mr. Miller is the development director for the charitable organization Men of Valor, where he helps previously incarcerated men rebuild relationships with their faith, family, and society. Governor Lee describes Mr. Miller as having “embraced the ministry’s work and [has] committed himself to doing right and serving others.”\n\nJames Austin Hayes\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to James Austin Hayes. Mr. Hayes’s pardon is supported by Paula White, Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, and NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon. Nearly 10 years ago, Mr. Hayes was convicted of conspiracy to commit insider trading. Mr. Hayes cooperated immediately and extensively and disgorged all profits he earned in a related civil action. Since his conviction, Mr. Hayes has been active in his church and his community.\n\nDrew Brownstein\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Drew Brownstein, who, other than this conviction, was described by his sentencing judge as someone who “goes out of his way to help people that are less fortunate.” This pardon is supported by the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, and several of Mr. Brownstein’s friends and family. Mr. Brownstein was convicted of insider trading and has since paid his fines and forfeitures in full. Both before and after his conviction, Mr. Brownstein has volunteered extensively as a youth coach with the Boys & Girls club in Denver and the Jewish Family Services of Colorado.\n\nRobert Bowker\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Bowker. Mr. Bowker’s pardon is supported by Ann Marie Pallan, Sherriff Butch Anderson, and the late Robert Trump. Nearly 30 years ago, Mr. Bowker pled guilty to a violation the Lacey Act, which prohibits trafficking in wildlife, when he arranged for 22 snakes owned by Rudy “Cobra King” Komarek to be transported to the Miami Serpentarium. Although he did not ask for any animals in return, he was offered 22 American alligators. After pleading guilty, Mr. Bowker was sentenced to probation. Mr. Bowker has dedicated resources to animal conservation efforts in the intervening decades, including as a member of the Humane Society of the United States, World Wildlife Fund, and Wildlife Conservation Society.\n\nAmir Khan\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Amir Khan. This pardon is supported by his adult children and members of the community. Mr. Khan pled guilty to wire fraud. Notably, he immediately paid back the victim more than in full and has demonstrated remorse for his conduct. Prior to the pandemic, Mr. Khan volunteered at the organization 3 Square Meals, and has regularly donated to charities including St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Boys Town, Covenant House, Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and the Salvation Army.\n\nShalom Weiss\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Shalom Weiss. This commutation is supported by former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, former Solicitors General Ken Starr and Seth Waxman, former United States Representative Bob Barr, numerous members of the New York legislature, notable legal figures such as Professor Alan Dershowitz and Jay Sekulow, former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman, and various other former elected officials. Mr. Weiss was convicted of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, for which he has already served over 18 years and paid substantial restitution. He is 66 years old and suffers from chronic health conditions.\n\nSalomon Melgen\n\nPresident Trump commuted the sentence of Salomon Melgen. This commutation is supported by Senator Bob Menendez, Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, numerous members of Brigade 2506, Col. Mark D. Holten, as well as his friends, family, and former employees. Dr. Melgen was convicted of healthcare fraud and false statements. Numerous patients and friends testify to his generosity in treating all patients, especially those unable to pay or unable to afford healthcare insurance.\n\nMore:Trump reportedly to pardon Dr. Salomon Melgen, local Medicare fraudster\n\nPatrick Lee Swisher\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Patrick Lee Swisher. This pardon is supported by Representative Dan Bishop, Rick Hendrick, and numerous business associates. Mr. Swisher was convicted of tax fraud and false statements. After his release from prison, Mr. Swisher started a successful business that employs over 1000 individuals. He also is involved in a religious non-profit organization that provides college scholarships to those in his community. In addition, he has mentored former felons and helped them re-integrate into society.\n\nRobert Sherrill\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Sherrill. Mr. Sherrill was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Mr. Sherrill has taken full responsibility for his criminal past and received treatment for his drug addiction. He started a commercial cleaning business as well as a non-profit organization that mentors at-risk youth.\n\nDr. Robert S. Corkern\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Robert S. Corkern. This pardon is supported by Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, Governor Phil Bryant, and Dr. Michael Mansour. Dr. Corkern was convicted of Federal program bribery. This pardon will help Dr. Corkern practice medicine in his community, which is in dire need of more doctors as it has struggled to keep up with demand for emergency services. Dr. Corkern served in the Mississippi Army National Guard and has generously provided his services to low-income patients.\n\nDavid Lamar Clanton\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to David Lamar Clanton. This pardon is supported by Senator Roger Wicker, Alton Shaw, Mark Galtelli, and Terri Rielley. Mr. Clanton was convicted of false statements and related charges. Mr. Clanton’s supporters testify to his contributions to the community, especially with respect to issues surrounding rural healthcare. Mr. Clanton has been active with 4-H Clubs and other organizations in his community.\n\nGeorge Gilmore\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to George Gilmore. This pardon is supported by Bill Stepien, former Governor Chris Christie, James McGreevey, James Florio, Donald DiFrancesco, John Bennett, Kimberly Guadagno, Thomas MacArthur, Gerald Cardinale, Michael Testa, Jr., David Avella, Joseph Buckelew, Lawrence Bathgate II, Larry Weitzner, and Adam Geller. Mr. Gilmore was convicted for failure to pay payroll taxes and false statements. Mr. Gilmore has made important civic contributions over his career in New Jersey.\n\nDesiree Perez\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Desiree Perez. Ms. Perez was involved in a conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Since her conviction, Ms. Perez has taken full accountability for her actions and has turned her life around. She has been gainfully employed and has been an advocate for criminal justice reform in her community.\n\nRobert “Bob” Zangrillo\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Robert Zangrillo. This pardon is supported by Len Blavatnik, Geoff Palmer, Tom Barrack, Sean Parker, Walid Abu-Zalaf, Medo Alsaloussi, and Kevin Downing. Mr. Zangrillo was charged in connection with the Varsity Blues investigation. However, his daughter did not have others take standardized tests for her and she is currently earning a 3.9 GPA at the University of Southern California. Mr. Zangrillo is a well-respected business leader and philanthropist.\n\nHillel Nahmad\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to Hillel Nahmad. This pardon is supported by members of his community. Mr. Nahmad was convicted of a sports gambling offense. Since his conviction, he has lived an exemplary life and has been dedicated to the well-being of his community.\n\nBrian McSwain\n\nThe President granted a full pardon to Brian McSwain. This pardon is supported by Senator Lindsey Graham, two former United States Attorneys for the District of South Carolina, and other former law enforcement officers. Since serving his 18 month sentence for a drug crime committed in the early 1990s, Mr. McSwain has been gainfully employed and has been passed over for several promotion opportunities due to his felony conviction.\n\nJohn Duncan Fordham\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to John Duncan Fordham. Mr. Fordham was convicted on one count of health care fraud. A judge later dismissed the conspiracy charge against him.\n\nWilliam “Ed” Henry\n\nPresident Trump granted a full pardon to William “Ed” Henry of Alabama. This pardon is supported by Senator Tommy Tuberville. Mr. Henry was sentenced to 2 years’ probation for aiding and abetting the theft of government property and paid a $4,000 fine.\n\nIn addition, President Trump commuted the sentences to time served for the following individuals: Jeff Cheney, Marquis Dargon, Jennings Gilbert, Dwayne L. Harrison, Reginald Dinez Johnson, Sharon King, and Hector Madrigal, Sr.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/08/14/pa-grand-jury-report-catholic-clergy-sexual-abuse-names-details-catholic-dioceses/948937002/", "title": "Pa. priest abuse: List of 301 names, with details, from grand jury", "text": "On Aug. 14, Pennsylvania released a statewide grand jury report on what the state attorney general's office called an \"honest and comprehensive accounting of widespread sexual abuse by more than 300 priests.\"\n\nThe report, more than 800 pages long, lists the name of 301 priests and provides details into specific accusations. The investigation included six dioceses in the state - Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.\n\nBelow are the names listed in the grand jury report, along with where clergy members served and details of allegations.\n\nDiocese of Allentown\n\nThomas J. Bender\n\nWhere served:\n\n5/1961-6/1962 : St. Joseph, Ashland, PA\n\n6/1962-6/1965: St. Joseph, Girardville, PA\n\n6/1965-6/1966: Holy Family, New Philadelphia, PA\n\n6/1965-6/1966 : Marian High School, Tamaqua, PA\n\n6/1966-6/1971 : Nativity High School, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/1966-1/1970 : St. Kiern, Heckscherville, PA\n\n1/1970-6/1970 : St. Mary, St. Clair, PA\n\n6/1970-6/1971 : St. John the Baptist, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/1971-10/1971: Bethlehem Catholic HS, Bethlehem, PA\n\n10/1971- 12/1972: St. Francis Orphanage, Orwigsburg, PA\n\n12/1972-2/1982 Our Lady of Good Counsel, Gordon, PA\n\n6/1973-2/1982: Diocese of Tribunal, Allentown, PA\n\n2/1982-6/1986 Most Blessed Sacrament, Bally\n\n6/1983-6/1987: Liturgical Commission, Diocese of Allentown\n\n6/1986-6/1987: St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown, PA\n\n6/1987- 7/1987: St. Anthony of Padua, Easton, PA\n\n6/1987- 7/1987: Northampton Deanery, Ministry to Aging\n\n7/1987: Regional Director, Council of Catholic Nurses\n\n7/24/1987: Leave of Absence\n\n3/01/2002: Retired\n\n5/06/2005: Dismissed from priesthood\n\nSummary: A review of information received from the Diocese of Allentown indicates that the church was aware of Father Thomas J. Bender's predatory behavior as early as 1972, when Bender was caught in a car with a male student from Nativity High School, where Bender was assigned.\n\nIn 1984, a known victim reported that Bender abused him in 1981, while the victim was in seventh grade. The victim reported that he was abused in Bender's bed, where oral and anal sex occured. Bender admitted to abusing the victim. He was sent to psychotherapy but again continued to serve as a priest.\n\nIn 1987, Bender was put on a leave of absence. He was eventually arrested, convicted and sentenced to probation. In 2006, while collecting retirement benefits from the church, Bender was arrested in Long Island, New York, while traveling to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old boy for sex. The \"boy\" was an undercover detective.\n\nThomas J. Benestad\n\nWhere he served:\n\n1970: St. Bernard, Easton, PA\n\nLafayete College Newman Center\n\nNotre Dame High School\n\n1973 St. Thomas More\n\n1978 Leave of Absence\n\nHoly Rosary\n\n1980 St. Bernard\n\n1988 Our Lady of Perpetual Help\n\nPapal Foundation\n\n2001 Sabbatical\n\n2002 St. Francis of Assisi\n\n2005 Notre Dame of Bethlehem\n\n2006 Leave of Absence\n\n6/2007 Resigned as Pastor\n\nLeave of Absence\n\n9/2007 Ascension, Boca Raton, FL\n\n6/2009 Retired- Pastor Emeritus, Notre Dame of Bethlehem\n\nSummary: Records including email exchanges between the victim and the Diocese of Allentown indicate that in 2001, a known victim reported to the Diocese that Benestad sexually abused him from 1981 through 1983.\n\nThe victim was 9 years old when the abuse began. Correspondence demonstrated that the Diocese reported the allegation to the Northampton County District Attorney's Office, which conducted an investigation and found the victim's allegations to be credible.\n\nRobert G. Cofenas\n\nWhere he served:\n\n1/1973 - 6/1979: Newman Center, Bethlehem, PA\n\n6/1973 - 6/1975: Assistant Superintendent, Secondary Education, Diocese of Allentown, PA\n\n6/1975 - 2/1979: Catholic Students Advisor, Newman Apostolate, Lehigh University, PA\n\n6/1975 - 2/1979: Catholic Students Advisor, Newman Apostolate, Moravian College, PA\n\n6/1975 - 2/1979: Guidance Counsellor, Norte Dame High School, Easton, PA\n\n6/1975 - 2/1979: Director, Newman Apostolate, Diocese of Allentown\n\n2/1979 - 7/1980: Assistant Superintendent of Education, Diocese of Allentown\n\n2/1979 - 7/1980: St. Simon and Jude, Bethlehem, PA\n\n7/1980 - 5/1981: St. Mary's College, Emmitsburg, Maryland\n\n5/1981 - 6/1988: St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring, PA\n\n9/1981: Regional Director, American Catholic Overseas Aid Fund\n\n11/1983 - 11/1986: Council of Priests, Diocese of Allentown\n\n6/1988 - 9/1988: St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring, PA\n\n6/1988 - 10/1989: Diocesan Newspaper\n\n9/1988 - 10/1989: Our Lady of Help of Christians, Allentown, PA\n\n10/1989 - 8/1990: Sabbatical (The Servants of the Paraclete, Jemez Springs, New Mexico)\n\n8/1990 - 6/1997: Our Lady of Help of Christians, Allentown, PA\n\n2/24/1992: Special Advocate, Diocesan Tribunal\n\n6/1997 - 10/2000: St. Catharine of Siena, Reading, PA\n\n2/2000 - 3/2000: Sabbatical (St. John Vianney Treatment Facility, Downingtown)\n\n4/11/2000: Decree of Suspension\n\n2/11/2005: Dismissed from Priesthood\n\nSummary: Records received from the Diocese of Allentown indicate the church was aware of Father Robert G. Cofenas' sexual attraction to young males as early as 1979. While assigned to St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, Cofenas wrote a letter to Bishop McShea dated April 6, 1981. Cofenas wrote: \"Yes, I have failed again, but my problem is not so totally out of hand that I cannot with God's help and Dr. Zanni, work to master my situation. Incidentally, prior to now, I had experienced no failure in this matter since 1978.\"\n\nCofenas went on to write: \"I am deeply sorry for letting you down again. You can imagine how hard it is for me to write this letter-especially when you trusted me and released me to the Mount.\" Before ending the letter, Cofenas wrote, \"I know you want to protect me and I appreciate your concern for me, but I ask you to consider the possibility of my staying at the Mount.\"\n\nFrancis J. Fromholzer\n\nWhere he served:\n\n05/1958-09/1959: Holy Ghost, Bethlehem\n\n06/1959-06/1965: Allentown Central Catholic High School\n\n06/1962-09/1962: Holy Ghost (summer assignment)\n\n03/1963-06/1965: Mary, Queen of Peace, Pottsville\n\n06/1965-10/1970: St. Paul, Reading\n\n10/1970-08/1975: St. Mary, Hamburg\n\n08/1975-04/1980: St. Paul, Reading\n\n04/1980-07/1980: Sick leave\n\n07/1980-09/1980: Holy Family Manner, Bethlehem\n\n11/1982-06/1992: St. Paul, Allentown\n\n06/1992-06/1995: St. Peter, Coplay\n\n06/1995-09/2002: St. Paul, Allentown\n\n10/2002: Retired\n\nSummary: Fromholzer sexually abused at least two students while serving as a religion teacher at Allentown Central Catholic High School. On June 12, 2016, the victims testified under oath before the grand jury that they were sexually abused by Fromholzer in 1965 when they were approximately 13 or 14 years old.\n\nOne victim was a female, now 68 years old. She recalled that, during a trip to the Poconos in 1964, Fromholzer took her and at least one other girl for a ride in his car. The trip was unsupervised and Julianne' s family was comfortable with the trip since Fromholzer was a trusted priest. Fromholzer groped the girls as he encouraged them to take turns sitting next to him.\n\nJames Gaffney\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/1985 - 6/1987: St. Ursula, Fountain Hill, PA\n\n6/1987 - 6/1991: Reading Central Catholic High School\n\n6/1987 - 1/1992: St. Catherine of Siena, Mt. Penn, PA\n\n1/1992 - 6/1992: Sick Leave (The Servants of the Paraclete, New Mexico)\n\n6/1992 - 1/1995: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton, PA\n\n4/1994 - 1/1995: Sick Leave (The Servants of the Paraclete)\n\n1/1995 - 2/1995: Notre Dame of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA\n\n2/1995 - 6/1995: St. Mary of the Assumption, Coaldale, PA\n\n6/1995 - 6/1999: Assisted with six parishes in Shenandoah\n\n6/1999 - 4/2002: St. Patrick, Pottsville\n\n4/2002: Abandoned ministry\n\n6/26/2015: Dismissed from Priesthood\n\nSummary: Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Gaffney was reported to have been involved in inappropriate and even sexual relations with adult women, one of which had a learning disability and whom he was counseling.\n\nAnother victim reported that Gaffney was giving her counseling for depression and he took advantage of her. He eventually had her submit to intercourse with him.\n\nA third victim also came forward.\n\nJoseph Galko\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/1980 - 6/1982: St. Paul, Reading, PA\n\n6/1982 - 1/1983: St. Anne, Bethlehem, PA\n\n1/1983 - 6/1986: St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA\n\n6/1986 - 7/1987: St. Bernard, Easton, PA\n\n2/12/1988: Placed on Administrative leave\n\n6/2010: Dismissed from the Priesthood\n\nSummary: Father Joseph Galko was ordained and began work in the Diocese in 1980. Records received from the Diocese indicate that, as early as 1984, the Diocese was aware of inappropriate sexual conduct by Galko.\n\nGalko admitted to the Diocesan Chancellor in 1984 to having sexual contact with a male parishioner who was eighteen at the time. Galko also admitted that, while at St. Ambrose in Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill County, he inappropriately touched a male while they were in the rectory. Galko performed oral sex on the male and had the male perform oral sex on him. Galko further admitted to \"occasional occurrences\" over a span of many years.\n\nEdward George Ganster\n\nWhere he served:\n\n4/13/1971 - 8/19/1975: Assistant Pastor, Notre Dame, Bethlehem, PA\n\n4/13/1971 - 2/4/1972: Associate Professor, Bethlehem Catholic High School, PA\n\n7/9/1973 - 10/10/1978: Regional Director, C.Y. 0., Bethlehem District\n\n8/19/1975 - 9/9/1976: Assistant, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Bethlehem, PA\n\n9/9/1976 - 10/10/1978: St. Joseph, Easton, PA\n\n10/10/1978 - 6/15/1981: Assistant, St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring, PA\n\n10/10/1978 - 6/15/1981: American Catholic Overseas Aid Fund\n\n6/15/1981 - 5/4/1982: Pastor, St. Joseph, Frackville, PA\n\n9/18/1981 - 4/2919/1986: Catholic Daughters of the Americas Court St. James\n\n10/08/1981 - 2/1/1982: Sick Leave\n\n2/1/1982 - 5/4/1982: Returned as Pastor, St. Joseph, Frackville, PA\n\n5/4/1982 - 9/7/1982: Sick Leave\n\n9/7/1982 - 1/18/1983: Assistant, St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA\n\n10/01/1982 - 7/25/1983: Catholic Student Advisor, Penn State University Campus Ministry\n\n1/18/1983 - 4/29/1986: Pastor, SS. Peter and Paul, Tower City, PA\n\n1/13/1984: Member, Diocesan Building Committee\n\n2/10/1984 - 4/29/1986: Member, Budget Board, Cardinal Brennan High School\n\n4/29/1986 - 3/3/1988: Holy Ghost, Bethlehem, PA\n\n7/10/1986 - 6/13/1988: Regional Director, Pro -Life, Northampton Deanery, PA\n\n12/27/1987: Sick Leave\n\n8/8/1990: Laicized\n\n7/3/2014: Deceased\n\nSummary: A male reported that when he was when he was 14 years old and an altar boy at St. Joseph in Frackville, he was fondled and groped by Father Edward George Ganster. On one occasion, Ganster dragged the boy across a living room floor, pulling him by the underwear. Ganster also beat the victim repeatedly, once using a metal cross. The abuse at the hands of Ganster lasted for over one and a half years and all happened in St. Joseph's Rectory. The victim made a second report to the Diocese in March 2004.\n\nGanster eventually left the priesthood to get married, but there were other victims who came forward.\n\nThe Diocese later wrote Ganster a reference letter while he was seeking employment at Walt Disney World. With the positive reference from the diocese, Ganster was hired by Walt Disney World and worked there for 18 years.\n\nFrancis T. Gilespie\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/1959 - 5/1963: St. Joseph's, Girardville, PA\n\n5/1963 - 10/1965: Nativity HS, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/1963 - 9/1963: St. Patrick's, Pottsville, PA (Asst. Pro Tem)\n\n6/1965 - 3/1969: Notre Dame of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA\n\n3/1966 - 5/1972: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton, PA / Moravian College (student advisor)\n\n5/1972 - 11/1974: Our lady of Mount Carmel, Minersville, PA\n\n11/1974 - 9/1994: St. Joseph's, Girardville, PA\n\n9/1994 - 11/1996: St. Margaret, Reading, PA\n\n11/1996 - 12/2002: Annunciation of B.V.M., Catasauqua, PA\n\n12/13/2002: Retired\n\nSummary: In September 2002, a victim wrote a letter reporting sexual abuse by Father Francis T. Gillespie. The victim reported that, while he was an altar boy at about the age of ten at St. Joseph's in Girardville, Gillespie began grooming him for future abuse.\n\nThe victim reported that he stayed the night at Gillespie's residence on several occasions. The victim reported that Gillespie would drink alcohol during the sleepovers. The victim recalled an occasion when Gillespie gave him cold medication and in addition had him drink alcohol. The victim described this night as a \"blackout\" and \"confusing.\" The victim recalls waking up naked in bed with Gillespie who had his arm around the victim. In three separate documents regarding the victim, all provided by the Diocese, the victim reported that Gillespie performed oral sex on him.\n\nEdward R. Graff\n\nWhere he served:\n\n06/1955 - 04/1957: Annunciation B.V.M., Shenandoah\n\n04/1957 - 05/1958: St. Anthony of Padua, Easton\n\n05/1958 - 09/1958: St. Elizabeth's, Pen Argyl\n\n09/1958 - 09/1959: Pius X High School, Roseto\n\n09/1959 - 06/1962: Residence, St. Anthony, Easton\n\n06/1962 - 09/1963: University of Notre Dame\n\n09/1963 - 03/1964: Our Lady Help of Christians, Allentown\n\n03/1964 - 07/1964: St. Elizabeth, Pen Argyl\n\n07/1964 - 02/1965: Pius X High School, Roseto\n\n02/1965 - 11/1966: Holy Rosary, Reading;\n\nCentral Catholic High School, Reading\n\n11/1966- 08/1968: Holy Name High School, Reading\n\n08/1968- 10/1969: St. Margaret, Reading\n\n10/1969- 04/1971: St Peter, Coplay\n\n04/1971- 04/1974: Annunciation B.V.M., Catasauqua\n\n04/1974 - 11/1979: Director, Thanksgiving Clothing Drive\n\n11/1979 - 07/1980: Sick Leave\n\n07/1980 - 06/1983: St. Margaret, Reading\n\n06/1983 - 02/1992: Holy Guardian Angels, Reading\n\n02/1992: Departed Diocese of Allentown\n\n1992 - 2002: Served in various capacities in Dioceses in New Mexico and Texas\n\nSummary: During his years in ministry, Graff raped scores of children. The grand jury investigated not only Graff's conduct but the knowledge of the relevant Dioceses. The case of Graff is an example of dioceses that minimized the criminal conduct of one of their priests, while secretly noting the significant danger the priest posed to the public.\n\nThe grand jury notes that the use of euphemisms was constant throughout the Dioceses of Pennsylvania, but particularly apparent in the case of Graff. Terms such as \"sick leave\" or \"health leave\" were often used to reference an absence from ministry related to child sexual abuse.\n\nRichard J. Guiliani\n\nWhere he served:\n\n3/1968 - 5/1968: Assistant, St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n5/1968 - 6/1969: Regional Director, Thanksgiving Clothing Drive, Berks Co.\n\n6/1969 - 9/1969: Assistant, St. Canicus, Mahanoy City, PA\n\n9/1969 - 6/1970: Assistant, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Bethlehem, PA\n\n6/1970 - 6/1970: Professor, Notre Dame High School, Easton, PA\n\n6/1970 - 6/1973: Resident, Sacred Heart, Miller Heights, PA\n\n6/1973 - 6/1974: Vice Principal, Notre Dame High School, Easton, PA\n\n6/1974 - 6/1974: Principal, Cardinal Brennan High School, Fount Springs\n\n6/1974 - 6/1974: Resident, St. Vincent de Paul, Girardville, PA.\n\n1977: Absent without leave from the Allentown Diocese\n\n2011: Last known address: St. Augustine, Florida\n\nSummary:\n\nIn October 2003, a victim wrote to Bishop Edward Cullen stating that she had been sexually abused by Father Richard Guiliani. The victim was abused from the ages of 14 to 18.\n\nGuiliani began with hugging and kissing the victim. He then began to fondle the victim's genitals through her clothing.\n\nThe victim recalled Guiliani telling her that he would protect her, that she could trust him, and that she should keep coming to him for help. Guiliani told the victim she deserved to be \"cared for and loved.\"\n\nThe victim recalled the last time she had contact with Guiliani was when she was a freshman in college. He wanted to have sex with the victim and asked her to marry him. The victim refused to have further sexual involvement with Guiliani and declined his marriage proposal. He never contacted her again.\n\nJoseph D. Hulko\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/1/1967 - 8/24/1970: Priest Professor, Reading Central Catholic High School\n\n6/1/1967 - 8/17/1970: Resident, SS Cyril and Methodius, Reading, PA\n\n7/9/1969: Advocate, Diocesan Tribunal\n\n7/6/1970 - 8/17/1970: Newman Center, Bethlehem, PA\n\n8/17/1970 - 8/24/1970: Resident, St. Catharine of Siena, Reading, PA\n\n8/24/1970 - 6/20/1977: Principal, Nativity High School, Pottsville, PA\n\n8/24/1970 - 6/18/1971: Resident, Mary Queen of Peace, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/18/1971 - 10/18/1971: Chaplain, St. Francis Orphanage, Orwigsburg, PA\n\n10/18/1971 - 6/20/1977: Resident, St. John the Baptist, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/20/1977 - 1/6/1978: Assistant, St. John the Baptist, Pottsville, PA\n\n1/6/1978 - 8/16/1982: Pastor, St. Michael, Lansford, PA\n\n6/20/1978 - 10/1/1982: Regional Director, Family Life Center, Berks, Carbon and East Schuylkill Counties, PA\n\n9/4/1981 - 2/15/1982: Sick Leave\n\n8/16/1982 - 6/20/1985: Sick Leave\n\n6/20/1985 - 6/16/1987: Assistant Pastor, St. Margaret, Reading, PA\n\n11/1/1986 - 11/1/1989: Assistant Pastor Representative, Council of Priests\n\n6/16/1987 - 9/27/1988:Assistant Pastor, St. John Baptist de LaSalle, Shillington, PA\n\n9/27/1988 - 6/14/1990: Assistant Pastor, St. Bernard, Easton, PA\n\n11/1/1989 - 10/31/1992: Pastor Representative, Council of Priests\n\n6/14/1990 - 9/2/1994:Assistant Professor, St. Joseph, Limeport, PA\n\n8/3/1992: Assistant Pastor Representative, Advisory Committee, Priestly Life and Ministry\n\n11/1/1992 - 10/31/1995: Assistant Pastor Representative, Council of Priests\n\n9/2/1994 - 1/01/1995: Assistant Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Bethlehem, PA\n\n1/1/1995 - 6/15/1995: Resident, Holy Family Villa,\n\n6/15/1995 - 6/13/2000: Assistant Pastor, St. Anthony of Padua, Easton, PA\n\n6/13/2000 - 8/31/2003:Assistant Pastor, Notre Dame of Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA\n\n9/1/2003: Retired\n\nSummary: In September 2003, Father Joseph Hulko admitted to the Diocese that he sexually abused a minor female while he was the Chaplain at St. Francis Orphanage in Orwigsburg, between June 1971 and October 1971. Hulko expressed that he had been troubled by it for a number of years, which prompted him to admit the abuse.\n\nHulko described himself as a “sex addict.”\n\nPrior to Hulko admitting to the sexual abuse of a minor, he was sent for \"treatment\" six different times between 1982 and 2003.\n\nIn a memorandum dated January 15, 2015, a monsignor wrote to administrative personnel that Hulko had moved to Robertsville, Missouri, and \"please send his pension checks directly to him.\"\n\nJoseph H. Kean\n\nWhere he served:\n\n3/1964 - 8/1964: St. Joseph, Ashland, PA\n\n8/1964 - 6/1965: St. Mary, St. Clair, PA\n\n6/1965 - 11/1967: St. Paul, Allentown, PA\n\n1/1967 - 8/1970: St. Paul, Reading, PA\n\n8/1970 - 2/1971: Annunciation, Shenandoah, PA\n\n2/1971 - 12/1973: Marian HS, Tamaqua, PA\n\n2/1971 - 12/1973: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Nesquehoning, PA\n\n6/1973 - 6/1975: St. Simon and Jude, Bethlehem, PA\n\n6/1975 - 1/1977: St. Jane, Easton, PA\n\n1/1977 - 1/1983: SS Peter and Paul, Tower City, PA\n\n1/1983 - 9/1987: SS Peter and Paul, Lehighton, PA\n\n9/1987 - 3/1993: St. Joseph, Ashland, PA\n\n2/1/2002: Retired\n\n6/26/2007: Dismissed from Priesthood\n\nSummary: On December 22, 1992, Reverend Francis J. Shuster wrote a letter to Bishop Thomas J. Welsh. Shuster related that he had been in contact with a parishioner who told him that her son was molested by Father Joseph H. Kean, then Pastor in Tower City. The sexual abuse was reported to have occurred when the victim was twelve years old and continued for several years.\n\nThomas J. Kerestus\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/11/1969 - 10/27/1969: Assistant, Annunciation B.V.M., Shenandoah, PA\n\n10/27/1969 - 1/6/1970: Regional Director, C.Y.O., Mid -Schuylkill County\n\n1/6/1970 - 8/24/1970: Area Chaplain, Appalachian Trail Scouting Council\n\n8/24/1970 - 6/18/1970: Regional Director, Bishop's Overseas Aid, East Schuylkill\n\nCounty, PA\n\n6/18/1970 - 7/8/1971: Assistant, St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n7/8/1971 - 11/4/1974: Assistant, Our Lady of Hungary, Northampton, PA\n\n11/4/1974 - 9/9/1976: Regional Director, C.Y.O., Northampton County, PA\n\n9/9/1976 - 12/15/1977: Assistant, Sacred Heart, W. Reading, PA\n\n12/15/1977 - 2/25/1982: Assistant, St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA; Regional Director, C.Y.O. West Schuylkill County, PA;\n\n2/25/1982 - 5/29/1986: Pastor, St. John Capistrano, Bethlehem, PA\n\n5/29/1986 - 6/19/1986: Leave of absence\n\n6/19/1986 - 6/14/1990: Assistant Pastor, Sacred Heart, Allentown, PA\n\n6/14/1990 - 7/27/1993: Chaplain, Sacred Heart Hospital, Allentown, PA\n\n7/27/1993 - 3/1/2002: Resident, Holy Family Villa\n\n3/1/2002 - 9/17/2014: Retired\n\nSummary: Records of the Diocese of Allentown revealed that parishioners of St. John Capistrano in Bethlehem wrote multiple letters to Bishop Welsh between March 1985 and April 1986 informing him of their concern about Father Thomas Kerestus' relationship with a 16 -year-old boy.\n\nAt least three victims came forward reporting sexual abuse by Kerestus.\n\nFrancis Joseph McNelis\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/1/1965 - 6/1/1966: Annunciation B.V.M., Shenandoah, PA\n\n6/1/1966 - 11/1/1966: St. Joseph, Girardville, PA\n\n11/1/1966 - 8/4/1967: Regional Director, C.Y.O., East Schuylkill County, PA\n\n8/4/1967 - 6/11/1969: Regional Director, Thanksgiving Clothing Drive, East Schuylkill County, PA\n\n6/11/1969 - 6/3/1970: St. Jerome, Tamaqua, PA\n\n6/3/1970 - 6/9/1970: St. Theresa, Hellertown, PA\n\n6/9/1970 - 9/25/1970: Regional Director, C.Y.O., Northampton County, PA\n\n9/25/1970 - 4/4/1972: St. John the Baptist, Shillington, PA\n\n4/4/1972 - 9/19/1972: St. Francis, Easton, PA\n\n9/19/1972 - 8/30/1974: Regional Director, Thanksgiving Clothing Drive, Northampton County, PA\n\n8/30/1974 - 6/17/1975: St. Ann, Emmaus, PA\n\n6/17/1975 - 6/16/1980: St. Mary, and St. Boniface, St. Clair, Schuylkill County, PA\n\n6/16/1980 - 6/20/1985: St. Mary, St. Clair, Schuylkill County, PA\n\n6/20/1985 - 6/4/1993: St. Mary, Hamburg, PA\n\n6/4/1993 - 1/14/1994: Sick Leave (Jemez Springs, New Mexico)\n\n1/14/1994 - 3/1/2002: St. Ignatius, Loyola, Sinking Spring, PA\n\n3/1/2002: Retired\n\nSummary: In December 1992, a known victim reported that, between 1966 and 1968, Father Francis McNelis sexually abused him when he was between the ages of 10 and 13. McNelis told the victim he wanted to have anal sex with him, but that did not occur.\n\nOther victims came forward and said McNeils forcibly performed oral sex on them.\n\nGabriel Patil\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/3/1974: Permission to exercise mission within Diocese\n\nSummary: Father Gabriel Patil, a priest of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, known as the Barnabites, was given permission to exercise his ministry within the Diocese of Allentown. The Diocese provided no other assignment history.\n\nCorrespondence between the Diocese and the Barnabites shows that, in 2003, a victim reported to the Diocese that he and four of his friends were abused by Patil. The abuse occurred on the property of the Bethlehem Catholic High School during the late 1970's and early 1980's, when the victims were seven to nine years old.\n\nThe victim reported that he and the four other known victims were living near the high school at the time. Patil would invite the boys into his residence at the high school and play hide and seek with the boys. While playing hide and seek Patil would have the boys sit on his lap. He would open the boys' pants and fondle their genitals. It is important for you to note the following.\n\nThe reported noted that Father Patil is not a priest of the Diocese of Allentown. He is a member of the Barnabite Fathers religious order, not under the supervision of the Diocese of Allentown.\n\nPatil went on to serve as a priest in Buffalo, New York, Youngstown, Ohio, and then with a delegation in the country of India. In 2010, Patil requested that he be allowed to return to the Diocese and exercise his public ministry. The Diocese did not permit Patil to return.\n\nHenry Paul\n\nNo assignment history was noted.\n\nSummary: Father Henry Paul was ordained in 1941 as a religious priest from an Order known as the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. He worked in various positions in the Pennsylvania Dioceses of Erie, Philadelphia, and Allentown, the New York Dioceses of Buffalo and New York City, and Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware.\n\nAn individual reported that Paul took the little girls to the rectory and kissed them. One girl went home and told her mother that she knew how to \"French kiss.\" When the mother asked how the little girl knew that, she responded that Father Paul had showed her.\n\nThree or four other children reported that they had kissed Paul and, while they did not use the term, they described a French kiss. None of the children were over the age of 12.\n\nPaul G. Puza\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/1975 - 6/1976: St. Bernard, Easton, PA\n\n6/1975 - 6/1976: Lafayette college, Easton, PA\n\n6/1976 - 6/1977: Northampton County Regional Director of Vocations\n\n6/1976 - 6/1977: St. Anne, Bethlehem, PA\n\n6/1977 - 6/1978: Central Catholic High School, Reading, PA\n\n6/1977 - 6/1978: St. Joseph, Reading, PA\n\n6/1978 - 6/1981: St. Casimir, Shenandoah, PA\n\n6/1978 - 6/1981: Catholic Scouting, Schuylkill County, PA\n\n6/1981 - 11/1981: St. Anthony, Easton, PA\n\n11/1985 - 8/1983: St. Stanislaus Kostka, Minersville, PA\n\n8/1983 - 6/1989: St. Anthony of Padua, Cumbola\n\n8/1983 - 6/1989: Nativity B.V.M. High School, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/1989 - 2/2002: St. Richard, Barnesville, PA\n\n6/1989 - 3/2002: Marian High School, Tamaqua, PA\n\n2002: Resigned and ordered to refrain from public ministry\n\n6/2010: Dismissed from Priesthood\n\nSummary: On September 9, 1991, a former seminarian from the Diocese met with Bishop Welsh and told him that he was molested three times, involving oral sex, by Father Paul Puza when he was in the eighth grade.\n\nDennis A. Rigney\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/21/1966-6/01/1966: Ordained in Cathedral of St. Cathedral of Siena, Allentown, PA. by Bishop McShea\n\n6/1/1966 - 6/1/1966: St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n6/1/1966 - 3/27/1969: Secretary Tribunal, Diocese of Allentown\n\n3/27/1969 - 7/9/1969: Spanish Apostolate\n\n7/9/1969 - 7/9/1969: Diocesan Tribunal\n\n7/9/1969 - 11/1/1969: Regional Director, Spanish Apostolate, Berks County, PA\n\n11/1/1969 - 1/1/1970: Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors\n\n1/1/1970 - 10/12/1971: Executive Dire. And Moderator, Social Action Bureau\n\n10/12/1971 - 6/14/1974: Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors\n\n6/14/1974 - 6/14/1974: Executive Secretary and Coordinator Council of Social Services\n\n6/14/1974 - 6/14/1974: Director, Family Life Bureau\n\n6/14/1974 - 6/14/1974: Director, Catholic Charities & Catholic Social Agency\n\n6/14/1974 - 6/14/1974: St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n6/14/1974 - 8/19/1975: Pastoral Council, Diocese of Allentown\n\n8/19/1975 - 9/26/1975: Our Lady Help of Christians, Allentown, PA\n\n9/26/1975 - 11/1/1975: Director of Marriage Encounter, Allentown, PA\n\n11/1/1975 - 8/1/1977: Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors\n\n8/1/1977 - 11/1/1978: St. Paul, Allentown, PA\n\n11/1/1978 - 6/1/1981: Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors\n\n6/1/1981 - 11/1/1981: Diocesan Consultor\n\n11/1/1981 - 1/26/1982: Council of Priests\n\n1/26/1982 - 9/26/1983: St. Vincent de Paul Society\n\n9/26/1983 - 9/26/1983: Holy Family Manor, Bethlehem, PA\n\n9/26/1983 - 11/15/1983: Holy Family Villa, Bethlehem, PA\n\n11/15/1983 - 11/15/1983: Diocesan director, Holy Family Health Care Agency, Schuylkill County, PA\n\n11/15/1983 - 1/1/1984: Diocesan Director; Project H.E.A.D.\n\n1/1/1984 - 12/31/1985: PCC Administrative Board\n\n6/16/1987 - 6/16/1987: St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown, PA\n\n6/16/1987 - 6/8/1995: Bethlehem Priest Director, Holy Family Manor, (President and CEO)\n\n6/8/1995 - 10/29/1997: Board of Directors Catholic Social Agency\n\n10/29/1997 - 12/3/2000: Board of Seton Manor, Inc.\n\n12/3/2000 - 5/1/2002: Board of Covenant Home Care, Inc.\n\nSummary: A parishioner claimed she was \"fondled in the area of the vagina \"when she was about 12 or 13\" by Rigney. On April 4, 1988, Rigney wrote a 23 page document to Welsh after allegations were made that Rigney \"stroked a female minor's vagina.\" The letter denied any inappropriate touching or actions and painted both the victim and her family as highly dysfunctional and not credible, trying to convince the bishop of the same. Rigney's letter was in response to a letter sent to the Allentown Diocese from a relative of the victim.\n\nOn April 9, 2002, a woman telephoned the Chancery stating she had been touched inappropriately by a priest when she was about age nine or 10. The touching occurred over a one-year period from 1966 to 1967. Later that year, Rigney requested early retirement citing medical reasons.\n\nJoseph A. Rock\n\nWhere he served:\n\n2/1972 - 9/1972: Sacred Heart of Jesus, Allentown, PA\n\n5/1972 - 5/1975: Catholic Scouting, Allentown Area\n\n6/1972 - 2/1975: Catholic Youth Organization, Lehigh County, PA\n\n9/1972 - 2/1975: St. Catherine of Siena, Allentown, PA\n\n2/1975 - 9/1976: St. Ignatius Loyola, Reading, PA\n\n3/1975 - 9/1976: Scouts, Hawk Mountain, Berks County, PA\n\n6/1975 - 9/1976: Catholic Youth Organization, Berks County, PA\n\n9/1976 - 8/1977: St. Simon and Jude, Bethlehem, PA\n\n9/1976 - 4/1982: Scouts, Minsi Trails Council, Lehigh County, PA\n\n9/1976 - 6/1982: Catholic Youth Organization, Bethlehem, PA\n\n8/1977 - 3/1982: Our Lady Help of Christians, Allentown, PA\n\n3/1982 - 2/1986: St. Francis de Sales, Mount Carbon, PA\n\n6/1983 - 2/1986: Catholic Scouting, Diocese of Allentown\n\n9/1983 - 9/1986: Social Action Bureau Advisory Board, West Schuylkill County\n\n6/1985 - 2/1986: Youth Ministry\n\n2/1986 - 9/1986: Sick Leave\n\n9/1986 - 10/2001: Holy Family Manor\n\n10/1999 - 10/2001: Retired\n\n5/2005: Dismissed from Priesthood\n\nSummary: In 1986, two reports were made to the Diocese of Allentown indicating sexual contact with three boys by Father Joseph Rock. One incident occurred in 1983 when the victim was nine years old. The victim stated that Rock touched him by fondling and masturbation. In addition, two brothers came forward claiming that, in the early 1980's while they were still minors, Rock sexually touched them through their clothes.\n\nIn February 1986, Rock was placed on \"sick leave.” He was sent to a Chancery for evaluation and the staff later reported back to the diocese, “He…is no longer capable of functioning in a responsible work situation, and his life is unmanageable.”\n\nSeveral other victim testimonies against Chancery were noted.\n\nGerald Royer\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/1947 - 1/1948: St. Bartholomew, Brockton\n\n1/1948 - 6/1948: St. Simon and Jude, Bethlehem\n\n6/1948 - 12/1948: St. Bartholomew, Brockton\n\n12/1948 - 6/1950: St. Catherine of Siena, Reading\n\n6/1950 - 5/1952: St. Joseph, Girardsville\n\n5/1952 - 1/1953: Annunciation, Shenandoah\n\n1/1953 - 3/1954: Chaplain, Convent of Divine Love\n\n3/1954 - 11/1955: St. Mary of the Assumption, Philadelphia\n\n11/1955 - 2/1956: Leave of Absence\n\n2/1956 - 5/1956: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton\n\n5/1956 - 4/1960: St. Paul, Reading\n\n4/1960 - 7/1961: Leave of Absence\n\n7/1961 - 8/1964: Chaplain, St. Joseph's Manor\n\n8/1964 - 2/1965: Left active ministry (laicized)\n\nSummary: Held in the secret archives of the Diocese of Allentown was a folder titled by a victim's name. Inside the folder was information describing the sexual abuse of a minor that occurred in 1948. The abuser was Father Gerald Royer. At the time of the abuse in 1948, the Diocese of Allentown did not exist and the location was under the control of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.\n\nIn January 2003, the victim, then in his sixties, made a report of sexual abuse to the Diocese against Royer. Because Royer was under the authority of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia at the time of the sexual abuse, the Diocese referred this victim to Monsignor William Lynn, Vicar for Clergy of the Archdiocese.\n\nThe Diocese of Allentown began paying for counseling then referred the costs to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in June 2003.He was a fatherless, 12 -year -old boy. His mother was happy that a priest took interest in her son. Royer would kiss the victim and the kissing progressed to molestation. Royer would abuse the child behind the airport in Allentown, in his home, and in the rectory.The child told a friend who did not believe him. During one abuse, the friend hid in the closet and watched Royer molest the victim. The child who witnessed the abuse could not fathom what had just occurred.\n\nThe victim never told his wife why he could not hug or kiss his own children, who were boys. He was unable to be affectionate with his grandchildren. To this day, he cannot shake hands with men. He cannot be seen by male doctors or dentists.\n\nCharles J. Ruffenach\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/11/1930 - 6/8/1931: Holy Ghost, Bethlehem, PA\n\n608/1931 - 9/20/1934: St. Mary of the Assumption, Philadelphia, PA\n\n9/20/1934 - 7/2/1979: St. John the Baptist, Stiles\n\n7/02/1979 - 7/4/1980: St. John the Baptist, Stiles Holy Family Villa\n\n7/04/1980: Deceased\n\nSummary:\n\nOn August 29, 2001, an adult victim contacted the Diocese to report physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Father Charles Ruffenach beginning in approximately 1945, when the victim was in first grade, and continuing through the eighth grade.\n\nThe victim stated that Ruffenach beat, paddled, and sexually abused him when he attended St. John the Baptist school. The abuse took place on the premises of the parish, specifically in the boiler room. The victim also reported at the time of abuse Ruffenach referred to it as \"washing his penis.\" In the late 1980's, the victim confronted Ruffenach regarding the abuse. Ruffenach denied the allegations. However, during the confrontation, Ruffenach claimed that during the time of incident the victim wanted him to \"wash his penis.\"\n\nAt the time of the report by the victim, the Diocese responded by stating that Ruffenach was deceased and therefore it could not pursue the victim's claims any further but offered the victim counseling.\n\nJ. Pascal Sabas\n\nWhere he served:\n\n10/1955 - 10/1957: Vocation Director, New York\n\n10/1957 - 10/1958: House Discretus and Purser, New York\n\n10/1958 - 10/1960: Administrator, St. Vincent de Paul, Pittsburgh, PA\n\n10/1960 - 10/1962: Assistant, Sacred Heart, Yarmouth, Maine\n\n10/1962 - 5/21/1963: Assistant, St. Joseph, Portland, Maine\n\n5/21/1963 - 5/20/1964: Assistant, St. Francis of Assisi, Minersville, PA\n\n5/20/1964 - 9/1/1965: Assistant, St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown, PA\n\n9/1/1965 - 11/1/1966: Assistant, St. Patrick, Pottsville, PA\n\n11/1/1966 - 4/4/1967: Regional Director, Bishop's Relief Agency, West Schuylkill, PA\n\n4/4/1967 - 1/18/1971: Administrator, St. Vincent de Paul, Girardville, PA\n\n1/18/1971 - 8/1/1977: Pastor, St. Vincent de Paul, Girardville, PA\n\n8/1/1977 - 10/1/1977: Administrator, St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring, PA\n\n10/1/1977 - 3/4/1980: Pastor, St. Ignatius Loyola, Sinking Spring, PA\n\n3/4/1980 - 6/1/1983: Pro -Synodal Examiner\n\n6/1/1983 - 8/16/1983: Priest Representative Diocesan Board of Education, Berks County, PA\n\n8/16/1983 - 10/1/1985: Pastor, St. George, Shenandoah, PA\n\n10/1/1985 - 12/16/1986: Returning to Religious Life\n\n12/16/1986 - 3/19/1987: Assistant, St. Anthony, Easton, PA\n\n3/19/1987 - 6/14/1988: Chaplain, Catholic Daughters of the Americas\n\n6/14/1988 - 6/1989: Assistant Pastor, St. John the Baptist, Shillington, PA\n\n6/1989 - 11/1/1991: Sick Leave\n\n11/1/1991 - 1996: Retired\n\nSummary: At the age of 14, a boy was sexually abused by Father J. Pascal Sabas beginning in 1964. Sabas would come over to the house to play with toy cars, and then abuse the victim while they were alone in the basement. Sabas also abused the victim while in the corridor of his school and after the victim served Mass as an altar boy.\n\nSabas also threatened the victim, telling him, \"Don't tell your parents. They would be very hurt if they knew what you were doing.\"\n\nThe abuse only ended when Sabas was transferred out of the victim's parish.\n\nWilliam J. Shields\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/29/1958 - 5/27/1960: Assistant, St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA\n\n5/27/1960 - 2/23/1962: Assistant, St. John Baptist de la Salle, Shillington, PA\n\n2/23/1962 - 9/4/1962: Assistant, St. Mary, Hamburg, PA\n\n9/4/1962 - 10/30/1964: Assistant, Annunciation B.V.M., Shenandoah, PA\n\n10/30/1964 - 12/9/1966: Regional Director, Bishop's Relief, Upper Schuylkill County, PA\n\n12/9/1966 - 11/29/1967: Bishop's Relief Agency, East Schuylkill County, PA\n\n11/29/1967 - 8/30/1968: Assistant, St. Paul, Allentown, PA\n\n8/30/1968 - 3/27/1969: Assistant, St. Lawrence, Catasauqua, PA\n\n3/27/1969 - 3/8/1972: Administrator, St. Ann, Lansford, PA\n\n3/8/1972 - 1/11/1974: Assistant, St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n1/11/1974 - 6/15/1995: Pastor, St. Nicholas, Weatherly, PA\n\n6/15/1995 - 8/28/2000: Pastor Emeritus, St. Nicholas, Weatherly, PA\n\nSummary: At the time of the abuse, the victim revered priests and the Catholic Church and \"did not know how to say no to a priest or nun.\" Shields asked the victim to sit in the television room of the rectory so Shields could give him a massage. He began by massaging the victim's shoulders and working his way down to the victim's waistline. Shields unbuttoned the victim's pants and began fondling the victim's genitals. Shields then made the victim stand up as Shields knelt in front of the victim and began removing the victim's pants and underwear. At this point, the victim stopped Shields. And as the victim was getting ready to leave, Shields told him, \"Let this be our little secret.\"\n\nThe victim went home and told his mother what had happened. The victim's mother advised him not to tell anyone of the incident and to stay away from Shields. The victim told a deacon in the Diocese, and Shields was transferred.\n\nStephen F. Shigo\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/20/1978 - 6/15/1981: Holy Guardian Angels, Hyde Park, PA\n\n6/15/1981 - 9/1/1981: St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA\n\n9/1/1981 - 7/11/1983: Area Chaplain Catholic Scouting, West Schuylkill County, PA\n\n7/11/1983 - 8/31/1984: Regional Director, CYO West Schuylkill County, PA\n\n8/31/1984 - 12/4/1985: Regional Director, Youth Ministry, South Schuylkill County, PA\n\n12/4/1985 - 11/2/1991: Regional Director, Family Life Bureau, South Schuylkill County, PA\n\nSummary: The victim told the Diocese he was sexually abused by Shigo when he was an altar boy during eighth and ninth grades and at St. Ambrose church. The Diocese offered six months of counseling. However, records indicate the victim was participating in counseling at least through June 2016, for which the Diocese paid. Shigo died in 1991.\n\nDavid A. Soderlund\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/1965 - 12/1966: St. Peter, Coplay, PA\n\n12/1966 - 4/1971: Sacred Heart, West Reading, PA\n\n4/1971 - 6/1973: St. Catharine of Siena, Reading, PA\n\n4/1971 - 6/1974: Holy Name High School, Reading, PA\n\n6/1971 - 11/1971: St. Catharine of Siena, Reading, PA\n\n10/1971 - 11/1978: Adult Religious Education, Berks County, PA\n\n6/1973 - 1/1974: St. John the Baptist, Shillington, PA\n\n1/1974 - 11/1978: St. Benedict, Reading, PA\n\n6/1974 - 11/1978: Holy Name High School, Reading, PA\n\n11/1978 - 7/1980: St. Joseph, Summit Hill, PA\n\n7/1980 - 9/1980: Sick Leave (Villa St. John Vianney Hospital)\n\n9/1980 - 6/1981: Our Lady of Hungary, Northampton, PA\n\n6/1981: St. Catharine of Siena, Reading, PA\n\n10/1986-1/1989: Good Samaritan Hospital, Pottsville, PA\n\n2/1989: Administrative Leave (faculties withdrawn)\n\n5/2005: Dismissed from Priesthood\n\n2009: Arrested\n\nSummary: As early as August 5, 1961, while in Seminary, Father David Soderlund expressed a desire to work with children. In 1980, three separate complaints were made against him. The complaints asserted that Soderlund had engaged in sexual acts with three different children. The children were aged 12 to 13 years old. The Diocesan record, a \"summary of case\" relating to Soderlund, generalized the sexual conduct without referencing specific acts or crimes.\n\nOn June 11, 1980, a meeting was held at the Chancery during which photo albums were examined depicting nude photographs of a young boy engaged in sex acts with Soderlund. Soderlund admitted to Chancery officials that he engaged in sexual activity with the three young boys. While documents created at the time of the admission minimized the conduct, the facts became available through a detailed account of the abuse obtained from a victim in 1997 by the Diocese. The victim reported that: he was not a willing participant, but Soderlund threatened to harm or kill him.\n\nSoderlund also took pictures of the victim engaged in sexual acts and threatened to use them to embarrass him. Soderlund offered to leave the priesthood if the victim would go away with him. The victim then indicated that he knew of many other boys who were victimized by Soderlund.\n\nIn 2009, Soderlund, now living in Dubois, Wyoming, within the Diocese of Cheyenne was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to incarceration for two to five years for sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography on his computer. He is a registered sex offender in Wyoming.\n\nHenry E. Strassner\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/14/1947-9/2/1947:Assistant Pastor, St. Charles Borromeo, Cornwell Heights, PA\n\n9/2/1947-5/16/1961: Allentown Central Catholic High School, Professor (Res. Notre Dame, Bethlehem, 09/08/1954)\n\n5/16/1961 - 6/19/1962: Regional Director, Holy Name Society, Lehigh County, PA\n\n6/19/1962 - 5/21/1963: Assistant, Notre Dame, Bethlehem (Summer Assignment)\n\n5/21/1963 - 3/20/1964: Principal, Notre Dame High School, Green Pond, PA\n\n3/20/1964 - 12/16/1964: St. Michael, Easton, In Residence\n\n12/16/1964 - 11/9/1966: St. Bernard, Easton, In Residence\n\n11/9/1966 - 8/30/1968: Member, Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors\n\n8/30/1968 - 11/27/1968: Administrator, St. Paul, Allentown, PA\n\n11/27/1968 - 10/6/1968: Member, Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultor\n\n10/6/1968 - 11/1/1969: Director, Family Life Bureau, Lehigh County, PA\n\n11/1/1969 - 11/1/1972: Member, Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors\n\n11/1/1972 - 1/17/1974: Council of Priests -Diocesan Consultors, Ex Officio Member\n\n1/17/1974 - 12/1/1974: Pastor, St. Paul, Allentown\n\n12/1/1974 - 12/9/1983: Regional Director, Family Life Bureau, Lehigh County, PA\n\n12/9/1983 - 11/1/1984: Member, Diocesan Development and Endowment Committee\n\n11/1/1984 - 6/22/1988: Dean, Lehigh County Diocese of Allentown\n\n6/22/1988 - 8/1/1993: Member, Advisory Board, Allentown Central Catholic High School, PA\n\n8/1/1993 - 2/18/1994: Sick Leave\n\n2/18/1994 - 3/16/2000: Senior Priest/Assistant Pastor, St. Jerome, Tamaqua, PA\n\n3/16/2000 - 6/17/2003: Council of Priests Rep. Parochial Vicars\n\n6/17/2003 - 11/20/2009: Retired; Pastor Emeritus of St. Paul Church, Allentown, PA\n\nSummary: The victim reported that Father Henry Strassner kissed him four times on the lips, \"in the same way a woman would kiss,\" within the first hour and a half of a counseling session. Strassner, after being confronted and initially denying even knowing the victim, admitted to the conduct but claimed he \"did not intend anything sexual.\" Strassner claimed the victim \"was essentially parent less and I wanted to simply affirm his sense of self-worth.\"\n\nStrassner was sent to see a counselor who, after meeting with Strassner, advised the Diocese that there was \"a lot more going on here than Father Strassner has admitted.\"\n\nBruno M. Tucci\n\nWhere he served:\n\n4/1971 - 4/1972: St. Margaret, Reading, PA\n\n10/1971 - 4/1972: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Berks County, PA\n\n4/1972 - 6/1972: Cardinal Brennan High School, Fountain Spring, PA\n\n4/1972 - 6/1972: Annunciation, Shenandoah, PA\n\n6/1972 - 9/1972: St. Canicus, Mahanoy City, PA\n\n6/1972 - 6/1977: Marian High School, Tamaqua, PA\n\n9/1972 - 6/1974: St. Canicus, Mahanoy City, PA\n\n6/1974 - 2/1975: St. Peter and Paul, Lehighton, PA\n\n2/1975 - 6/1977: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Nesquehoning, PA\n\n6/1975 - 8/1975: Marian High School, Tamaqua, PA\n\n6/1977 - 6/1979: Holy Name High School, Reading, PA\n\n6/1977 - 9/1977: St, Columbkill, Boyertown, PA\n\n9/1977 - 6/1978: Most Blessed Sacrament, Bally, PA\n\n6/1978 - 4/1981: St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n6/1979 - 4/1981: Central Catholic High School, Reading, PA\n\n4/1981 - 6/1986: Immaculate Conception, Kelayres, PA\n\n6/1986 - 3/2002: Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Immaculate Conception, Nesquehoning, PA\n\n3/1/2002: Retired\n\n2/9/2007: Dismissed from priesthood\n\nSummary: The Diocese of Allentown became aware of Father Bruno Tucci's abuse of children in 1991. A victim called the Chancery and stated he was sexually molested by Tucci when he was 14 years old. Tucci tickled him and put his hands down the back of the victim's pants. On another occasion, Tucci unbuttoned his pants and the victim's pants. Tucci pulled them both down and made skin to skin contact. Tucci normalized the conduct by tickling the victim in front of the victim's parents.\n\nWhen questioned, Tucci stated that the incidents occurred \"exactly as the victim reported.\" Tucci said it was \"just touching\" and clarified he had not engaged in \"sodomy.\"\n\nSimilar events took place in other parishes years later.\n\nIn March 2002, Tucci retired. His retirement came just weeks after the Boston Globe garnered national attention after publishing articles detailing child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Boston.\n\nGregory Uhrig\n\nWhere he served:\n\n1974: Secretary, Diocesan Tribunal; Assistant, St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown, PA\n\n8/30/1974-6/17/1975: Professor, Allentown Central Catholic High School, PA; Resident, St. Elizabeth, Whitehall, PA\n\n6/17/1975-9/29/1975: Resident and Assistant, Immaculate Conception, Allentown, PA\n\n9/29/1975-6/15/1976: Member, Liturgical Commission\n\n6/15/1976-10/4/1976: Secretary, Diocesan Tribunal\n\n10/4/1976-6/20/1976: Defender of the Bond, Diocesan Tribunal\n\n6/20/1976 - 6/20/1978: Professor, Reading Central High School, PA; Resident, Holy Rosary, Reading, PA\n\n6/20/1978-6/16/1980: Assistant, St. Anthony, Easton, PA\n\n6/16/1980-10/1/1981: Coordinator, CCD Adult Regular Education, Northampton, PA\n\n10/1/1981-2/25/1982: Regional Director, Family Life Bureau, Northampton, PA\n\n2/25/1982-6/20/1983: Assistant Pastor, St. Ursula, Fountain Hill, Bethlehem, PA\n\n6/20/1983-12/8/1985: Assistant Pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Bernardsville, PA\n\n12/8/1985-6/19/1986: Assistant, St. Francis Cathedral, Metuchen, New Jersey\n\n6/19/1986-12/1/1986: Resident, Holy Trinity, Egypt; Chaplain, Muhlenberg/Cedar Crest Colleges\n\n10/1/1986 - 6/14/1988: Resident, St. Thomas More, Allentown, PA\n\n6/14/1988 - 6/15/1989: Assistant Pastor, St. Thomas More, Allentown, PA\n\n6/15/1989 - 9/6/1989: Pastor, John the Baptist, Whitehall, PA\n\n9/6/1989 - 7/15/1993: Regional Director, CCD Lehigh County, PA\n\n7/15/1993 - 1/19/1995: Assigned to ministry in New Jersey\n\n1/19/1995: Excardinated from Diocese of Allentown; Diocese of Metuchen\n\n10/2010: Placed on leave due to allegations stemming from incidents in 1978-1980\n\nSummary: The Diocese of Allentown became aware of Father A. Gregory Uhrig's sexual abuse of children by 2010. On May 5, 2010, a 44-year-old female victim made a complaint to the Diocese of sexual abuse at the hands of Uhrig when she was 13 years old and attended the seventh grade at St. Anthony school in Easton.\n\nIn 1995, Uhrig left the Diocese and was incardinated to the Diocese of Metuchen in New Jersey. Following a report to that Diocese, he was placed on leave. The Diocese appears to have reported the complaint to local law enforcement upon receipt of the complaint. However, no prosecution was initiated because the statute of limitations had expired.\n\nAndrew Aloysius Ulincy\n\nWhere we served:\n\n6/1/1966 - 9/2/1967: Professor, Marian High School, Hometown, PA\n\n6/1/1966 - 3/27/1969: Resident, St. Joseph, Jim Thorpe, PA\n\n11/1/1966 - 3/27/1969: Regional Director of Vocations, Carbon County, PA\n\n12/9/1966 - 11/1/1970: Secretary, Committee on Ecumenism\n\n3/27/1969 - 10/30/1979: Pastor, St. Mary, Mahanoy City, PA\n\n11/1/1970: Member, Committee on Ecumenism\n\n12/1/1974 - 10/30/1979: Regional Director, Family Life Bureau, E. Schuylkill, PA\n\n10/30/1979 - 12/1/1981: Pastor, St. Simon and Jude, Bethlehem, PA\n\n3/4/1980 - 12/1/1981: Parish Priest Consultor\n\n12/1/1981 - 2/15/1982: Sick leave\n\n2/15/1982 - 5/4/1982: Assistant Pastor, St. Michael, Lansford, PA\n\n5/4/1982 - 1/3/1995: Pastor, St. Joseph, Frackville, PA\n\n12/21/1992 - 12/21/1995: Advisory Board Member, Cardinal Brennan High School\n\n1/3/1995 - 8/21/1996: Assistant Pastor, Holy Rosary, Reading, PA\n\n8/21/1996 - 6/5/1997: Administrator Pro Tempore, Immaculate Conception, Birdsboro, PA\n\n6/5/1997 - 9/11/1997: Administrator, St. Paul, Reading, PA\n\n9/11/1997 - 9/21/2010: Pastor Pro Tempore, St. Paul, Reading, PA\n\n8/28/2001 - 9/21/2010: Spiritual Director, Holy Name Society for Berks Deanery\n\n12/1/2009 - 9/21/2010: Pastors of Berks Deanery, Council of Priests, Representative\n\n3/1/2011: Retired\n\nSummary: The Diocese of Allentown became aware of Father Andrew Ulincy's sexual abuse of children in 1981. On November 16, 1981, a 17 -year-old victim reported to the Bethlehem Police that Ulincy had sexually propositioned him. Ulincy was contacted by the police and admitted that the victim's complaint was true. There is no evidence that the solicitation resulted in any criminal charges.\n\nRonald Yarrosh\n\nWhere he served:\n\n11/1974 - 12/1975: Assistant Promotion Director P.I.M.E. (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions), Detroit, MI\n\n2/1976- 6/1976: Language Student, P.I.M.E., Rome, Italy\n\n8/1976- 11/1976: Missionary, P.I.M.E., Hong Kong\n\n2/1977- 11/1981: Mission Appeal, P.I.M.E., Detroit, MI\n\n2/1982- 6/1982: Assistant Pastor, St. Anthony, Easton, PA\n\n6/1982- 10/1985: Assistant Pastor, Holy Rosary, Reading, PA\n\n6/1986- 6/1988: Assistant Pastor, St. Patrick, Pottsville, PA\n\n6/1988- 11/1991: Assistant Pastor, St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown, PA\n\n5/1990: Incardination into the Diocese of Allentown\n\n11/1991-6/1996: Assistant Pastor, St. Anne, Bethlehem, PA\n\n6/1996-6/1998: Assistant Pastor, St. Margaret, Reading, PA\n\n6/1996-6/1997: Campus Minister, Albright College, Reading, PA\n\n6/1997-7/1997: Assistant Pastor Pro Tempore, St. Peter, Reading, PA\n\n6/1998-6/1999: Assistant Pastor, St. Jane Frances de Chantel, Easton, PA\n\n6/1999-6/2001: Pastor, Holy Family, Sacred Heart Churches,\n\nNew Philadelphia, PA\n\n6/1999-6/2001: Pastor, St. Anthony, Cumbola,\n\n6/2001-6/2003: Assistant Pastor, St. Bernard, Easton, PA\n\n6/2003-4/2004: Assistant Pastor, St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA\n\nSummary: On April 22, 2004, Pennsylvania State Police searched the rooms of Father Ronald Yarrosh and found a \"tremendous amount\" of child pornography. On April 29, 2004, Yarrosh was removed from priestly ministry and entered St. John Vianney Hospital for evaluation and treatment. 2004, the Pennsylvania State Police filed charges against Yarrosh, specifically, 110 counts of sexual abuse of children after discovering hundreds of child pornography photos, books, magazines, videos, and DVD's in his possession. As law enforcement began its prosecution, Diocesan Support Services conducted an audit and determined that Yarrosh embezzled approximately $23,000.00 from the parish.\n\nCharges were filed related to this theft. On April 27, 2005, Yarrosh entered a plea of guilty to charges of theft and possession of child pornography. Yarrosh was sentenced pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement to imprisonment for three to 23 months, $250.00 in fines, and restitution to the parish.\n\nOn July 21, 2005, Yarrosh left St. Francis Villa and moved into a motel. Yarrosh continued in residence at the motel until August 8, 2005, at which time he was incarcerated in Schuylkill County Prison in Pottsville. Upon his release on November 31, 2005,\n\nYarrosh registered with the Pennsylvania State Police as a sexual offender. Upon his release from prison, Yarrosh was still a priest. On December 6, 2005, Yarrosh was released from prison as a convicted and registered sex offender. The Diocese granted him residence at St. Francis Villa in Orwigsburg. The Diocese's own designation of Yarrosh noted he was a \"moderate to high risk to again use pornography and/or consort with prostitutes.\"\n\nIn November 2006, it was discovered that Father Yarrosh had taken trips to New York City with a seven-year-old child. Yarrosh was also found to be in possession of pornography in violation of his court supervision. The Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas subsequently sentenced Yarrosh to four to ten years in state prison for violating the terms of his supervision.\n\nFinally, in June 2007, the Diocese dismissed Yarrosh from the priesthood.\n\nJoseph A. Zmijewski\n\nWhere he served:\n\n8/18/1938 - 7/8/1942: Assistant, St. Ladislaus, Philadelphia, PA\n\n7/8/1942 - 5/8/1961: Chaplain, Bernardine Sisters, Reading, PA\n\n5/8/1961 - 10/27/1961: Defender of the Bond\n\n10/27/1961 - 1/27/1964: Administrator Pro Tempore, St. Mary's, Reading, PA\n\n1/27/1964 - 8/4/1967: Member, Diocesan Liturgical Commission\n\n8/4/1967: Promoter of Justice, The Tribunal\n\nSummary: On October 26, 2004, an adult woman reported to the Diocese of Allentown that she was a victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of a Diocesan priest. While in the ninth grade, the victim met Father Joseph A. Zmijewski. She was in a new school and was experiencing unhappiness. The victim began regular counseling sessions with Zmijewski.\n\nZmijewski proposed a course of alternative treatment. He directed the victim to come to his personal residence where he could help the victim through hypnosis. The victim complied and attended four hypnosis sessions with Zmijewski at his residence. After the first three attempts were unsuccessful by Zmijewski to hypnotize her, she agreed to a fourth session. In an effort to expedite her \"treatment,\" she faked hypnosis during her fourth session. While she pretended to be hypnotized, Zmijewski instructed her to take off one piece of clothing after another. The victim was scared and complied until she was nude. Zmijewski then left the room for a short period of time and upon his return, he instructed the victim to get dressed. The victim never returned for any further \"treatment\" and kept the incident to herself into adulthood.\n\nDavid Connell, Timothy Johnson, and Jim Gross\n\nNo further details of their employment history were listed.\n\nSummary: David Connell and Timothy Johnson were Carmelite priests and Jim Gross was a lay person. in September 2007, a known victim reported he had been sexually abused by Gross, a basketball coach at St. Patrick's in Pottsville. He reported that the abuse began in the 1970's while he was in sixth grade. In the summer of 1984, Gross resigned from teaching at St. Francis School in Minersville, Schuylkill County.\n\nIn the narrative of his last evaluation from June 1984, the victim also reported that he was sexually abused by a Carmelite priest named Father David Connell and physically abused by a Carmelite brother named Timothy Johnson while attending Nativity High School. The abuse was reported to the Provincial of the Carmelites, Father Michael Kissane, in October 2007. The victim stated that his family's house had burned down and the Carmelites took him and his brother in and had them live in a priory. During the time he was living in the priory, the victim was sexually abused by Connell. The victim remembered drinking juice that Connell gave him and the next memory the victim had was waking up in his own bed naked, with Connell in the room. The victim had no memory of the prior evening but, on waking, he was bleeding from his rectum.\n\nThe victim told Johnson he was going to also report the abuse to the police. Johnson told the victim not to report the abuse to the police but the victim insisted on reporting. At this point Johnson began to severely beat the victim with a big leather belt and told the victim that, if he reported the abuse to the police, he would beat him even worse.\n\nMichael S. Lawrence\n\nWhere he served:\n\n06/1973 - 06/1974: St. Catharine of Siena, Reading\n\n06/1974 - 11/1974: Notre Dame High School, Easton;\n\nSacred Heart, Miller Heights\n\n11/1974 - 12/1974: Coordinator of Adult Religious Education, North Hampton\n\n12/1974 - 06/1975: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton\n\n06/1975 - 12/1975: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton\n\n12/1975 - 06/1977: St. Anne, Bethlehem\n\n06/1977 - 06/1978: Central Catholic High School, Allentown; St. Lawrence, Catasauqua\n\n06/1978-08/1978: Diocesan Tribunal\n\n08/1978- 03/1980: Holy Trinity, Whitehall\n\n03/1980- 11/1982: St. Catharine of Siena, Reading\n\n11/1982-03/1984: St. Anthony, Easton\n\n03/1984-06/1984: Notre Dame High School, Easton;\n\nSt. Anthony, Easton\n\n06/1984 - 08/1984: St. Joseph, Easton; Notre Dame High School, Easton\n\n08/1984 - 01/1987: Immaculate Conception, Jim Thorpe\n\n01/1987 - 06/1987: Sick Leave\n\n06/1987 - 03/1994:St. Paul, Allentown; Diocesan Tribunal;\n\nMinistry to the Aging\n\n03/1994 - 06/1998: Diocesan Tribunal\n\n06/1998 - 01/2000: Catholic University of America; Divine Word College\n\n01/2000 - 03/2002: Courage\n\n03/2002 - 04/2015: Retired\n\nSummary: Suspicions of Lawrence's pedophilic behavior were brought to the attention of the Church as early as 1970 while Lawrence was attending St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. A student evaluation found within the records of the Diocese and obtained by the grand jury indicate that Lawrence was \"a mysterious type who craves the attention of younger students\" and that Lawrence showed \"a little too much interest in younger students.\" Regardless of these observations, in 1981, Bishop Joseph McShea wished Lawrence well.\n\nThe father of the victim reported details of the incident. The victim told his father that he ha been in Lawrence's room for a tutoring session. At the end of the session, the talk between Lawrence and the victim turned to sex. Lawrence then began to touch his genitals, had the victim take down his pants, and began to fondle the victim's genitals. The victim's father reported that his son had told him there had been \"a lot of fondling, so much that he felt pain.\" Additionally, Lawrence made the victim urinate.\n\nWilliam E. Jones\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/27/1960 - 3/12/1963: Annunciation B.V.M., Shenandoah, PA\n\n3/12/1963 - 3/26/1968: St. Ambrose, Schuylkill Haven, PA\n\n3/26/1968 - 12/119/69: St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown, PA\n\n12/1/1969 - 8/24/1970: St. Jane Frances, Easton, PA\n\n8/24/1970 - 4/4/1972: Notre Dame High School, Easton, PA\n\n4/4/1972 - 6/20/1972: St. Jane Frances, Easton, PA;\n\nNotre Dame High School, Easton, PA\n\n6/20/1972 - 6/11/1973: St. Jane Frances, Easton, PA\n\n6/11/1973 - 6/14/1974: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton, PA\n\n6/14/1974 - 6/17/1975: St. Mary, St. Clair, PA\n\n6/17/1975 - 7/1/1978: Nativity B.V.M. High School, Pottsville, PA\n\n7/1/1978 - 11/7/1978: St. Joseph, Summit Hill, PA\n\n11/7/1978 - 3/10/1981: St. Vincent de Paul, Minersville, PA\n\n3/1019/81 - 11/7/1983: Representative, Diocesan Board of Education, West Schuylkill County, PA\n\n11/7/1983 - 5/24/1984: St. Patrick's, Pottsville, PA\n\n5/24/1984 - 11/1/1984: South Schuylkill Deanery, Council of Priests, PA\n\n11/1/1984 - 3/13/1985: South Schuylkill Deanery, PA\n\n3/13/1985 - 8/20/1991: Budget Board Nativity B.V.M. High School\n\n8/20/1991 - 11/1/1993: Honorary Prelate of His Holiness, John Paul II\n\n11/1/1993 - 11/26/1996: South Schuylkill Deanery\n\n11/26/1996 - 5/3/1996: Dean of South Schuylkill Deanery (post was held until 11/26/99 in conjunction with the following duties/dates)\n\n5/03/1996 - 10/29/1997: Diocesan Negotiating Team\n\n10/29/1997 - 4/04/1998: Board of Seton Manor, Inc.\n\n4/4/1998 - 3/25/1999: Nativity B.V.M. High School Budget/Audit Board. (held until 09/2001)\n\n3/25/1999 - 10/1/1999: South Schuylkill Deanery, Diocesan Negotiating Team\n\n10/1/1999 - 2/1/2000: President of the Catholic Housing Corporation, Queen of Peace Apartments, Pottsville, PA\n\n2/1/2000 - 9/20/2000: Vicar Forane of South Schuylkill Deanery (held until 1/31/03)\n\n9/20/2000 - 4/11/2002: Pastor designated to consult on removal/transfer\n\n4/11/2002: Resigned as pastor of St. Patrick's, Pottsville, PA\n\nDiocese of Erie\n\nMichael J. Amy\n\n6/23/1978 - 7/05/1979: Asst. Pastor, Our Lady of Peace, Erie, PA\n\n7/05/1979 - 8/28/1981: Faculty, Cathedral Preparatory. Residence at\n\nBlessed Sacrament, Erie, PA\n\n8/28/1981 - 6/14/1985: Faculty, Cathedral Preparatory, Residence at\n\nHoly Trinity Rectory, Erie, PA\n\n4/23/1983: Chaplin, Catholic Scouting Committee\n\n6/14/1985 -1/20/1986: Faculty, Elk Co. Christian, Residing at Holy Rosary\n\nJohnsonburg PA. Weekend Asst. St. Callistus, Kane, PA\n\n1/20/1986: Weekend Asst. Holy Rosary, Johnsonburg, PA\n\n6/14/1985 – 6/17/1988: Faculty, Elk Co. Catholic. Residing at\n\nHoly Rosary, St. Mary's, PA\n\n6/17/1988-1/31/1990: Faculty, Bradford Central Christian HS. Residing at St. Bernard, Bradford, PA\n\n4/19/1989 -12/15/1989: Administration, St. Callistus, Kane, PA\n\nResiding at St. Callistus Rectory, Kane, PA\n\n12/15/1989-12/22/1991: Pastor, St. Callistus. Residing at\n\nSt. Callistus Rectory, Kane, PA\n\n12/22/1991-2/05/1992: Sick leave\n\n1/05/1992 - 3/01/1993: Sick leave\n\n11/1993: Living in private residence\n\nSummary: In a 1993 letter, Amy wrote “I took the opportunity to touch the genitals of several boys at night. In 1974, one of them ran away because of my molesting him.” Amy said he was originally brought into custody by state police, but was not arrested or charged. He later admitted that he was involved with male prostitutes in the Erie area, as well as Pittsburgh and Baltimore. In 1993, the diocese acted to remove Amy.\n\nAfter the laicization process, an additional allegation was made against him by a victim who was a student at Erie Cathedral Prep in the early 1980s. In an email in 2002, the victim said Amy got him alone in a confessional booth and questioned him about touching himself. Amy went on to fondle the victim on more than one occasion.\n\nMichael G. Barletta\n\n6/04/1966 - 5/30/1975: Secondary Education Kennedy Catholic\n\nHigh School, Hermitage, PA\n\n6/04/1966 - 6/03/1970: Weekend Asst. Sacred Heart, Sharon, PA\n\n6/03/1970 - 6/30/1975: Weekend Asst. St. Joseph, Sharon, PA\n\n1975 Teen Action Club at Cathedral Preparatory, Erie, PA\n\n5/30/1975 - 9/07/1994: Secondary Education Erie Cathedral Preparatory HS\n\n5/30/1975 - 9/07/1994: Weekend Assistant, St Luke's, Erie, PA\n\n9/07/1994 - 8/01/1995: Sabbatical, Other\n\nSabbatical at Southdown Treatment Center Toronto, Canada for\n\nPsychological Treatment\n\n8/01/1995 - 2/28/2002: Dioceses Office, Catholic Charities, Erie, PA\n\n8/01/1995 - 2/28/2002: Dioceses Office, Office of Matrimonial Concerns, Erie, PA\n\n8/01/1995 - 2/28/2002: Resident St. Patrick's Resident, Erie, PA\n\n2/28/2002 Retired\n\nSummary: The grand jury received several documents describing Barletta’s behavior and heard testimony from a retired priest who saw Barletta with his genitalia exposed in the presence of a child under 18 between 1969 and 1970. Father John Fischer testified that he walked in on Barletta and a young high school student in private chambers, and that the student was naked from the waist down, trying to pull up his underwear and pants as Barletta watched. Fischer recalled that Monsignor Hastings dismissed the report, and that fellow priests laughed it off.\n\nLater on, Bishop Trautman recorded details of a conversation that he had with Sister Donna Markham about Barletta. Trautman wrote that Barletta abused 5 children. Barletta was confronted with allegations of oral sex, naked messages, digital anal penetration and masturbation against a victim in 1994. When confronted, Barletta admitted his guilt to Trautman. The diocese paid for the victim’s counseling, but once the victim shared the story of abuse with a newspaper, Trautman advised that the victim should seek payment directly from Barletta.\n\nFrom 1975 though 1994 when he was dismissed from Erie Cathedral Prep, Barletta admitted abusing 25 children and young men. After 1994, there are documents that proved Barletta was still allowed to minister in the Diocese of Erie.\n\nDonald C. Bolton\n\n1952 -1954: Mt. St. Alphonsus, Esopus, NY\n\n1954 -1959: Bela Vista, Mato Grosso, Brazil\n\n1959 – 1962: Campo Grande, Mato Grosso, Brazil\n\n1962 – 1967: Bela Vista, Mato Grosso, Brazil\n\n1967 – 1969: Monte Alegre, Parana, Brazil\n\n1969 – 1970: Rocio, Parana, Brazil\n\n1970 – 1974: Notre Dame Retreat House, Canadaigua, NY\n\n1974 – 1984: St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, North East, PA\n\n1984 – 1987: Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, Brooklyn, NY\n\n1987 – 1990: Holy Family Retreat House, Hampton, VA\n\n1990 – 2003: St. Alphonsus Villa, Redemptorist Fathers and Brothers, New\n\nSmyrna Beach, FL\n\n2003 – 2006: St. John Neumann Residence, Sarasota Springs, FL\n\n10/27/2006: Death\n\nSummary: In 1986, parents of a 7-year-old girl came to Erie County District Attorney’s office with a complaint that Bolton molested their daughter. As a result, Bolton was charged with indecent assault and corruption of minors. He pled guilty in 1987 and was sentenced to three years probation.\n\nOne of Bolton’s victim would file a lawsuit and received a settlement of $100,000. Her abuse began when she was 7 and continued until she was 11. Bolton came to her house to console the family over the death of a grandparent. The victim said held her on his lap and rubbed her back, legs, bottom and rear. Other instances of assault occurred when the victim was in confession, at ski resort and at a cottage in New York. At different times, Bolton fondled her, rubbed his penis against her and put his fingers in her vagina.\n\nIn another file, a mother of five children alleged that Bolton may have sexually assaulted four of them. No details were provided to the grand jury as the diocese’s representatives were corresponding with the family to offer them assistance with counseling.\n\nAnother documented victim was a fourth-grade boy who reported he was sexually assaulted between 1976 and 1977. The diocese made arrangements to counsel the victim and arranged for various agencies to assist him and his family financially.\n\nRobert F. Bower\n\n5/23/1959 - 8/29/1964: Gannon University, Erie, PA\n\n8/29/1964 - 6/03/1970: Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of the Lake, Edinboro, PA\n\n6/03/1970 - 8/20/1993: Faculty, Newman Center, Edinboro University\n\n8/29/1992 - 3/11/1999: Pastor, St Anthony, Cambridge Springs, PA\n\n8/29/1992 - N/A: Resident, other, Private Residence, Edinboro, PA\n\n8/31/1993 - 8/29/1998: Weekend Asst., Our Lady of the Lake. Edinboro, PA\n\n3/11/1999 - 3/01/2001: Leave of Absence.\n\n3/01/2001 - N/A: Special ministry, Weekend Asst. Johnsonburg, nursing home,\n\nMeadville, PA\n\nSummary: In 1981, Bower was found collecting child pornography. Seventh graders found the images while they served as janitors at Edinboro University. One of these kids, now an adult, testified the images to the grand jury. He testified that photos in Bower’s office depicted children having sex with adults.\n\nThe witness’s mother began working for the diocese in 1977. In 1981, she was fired two days and she and thee coworkers reported that Bower’s had a problem with pornography.\n\nBowers retired from active ministry in the early 2000’s but still lives on the Edinboro campus.\n\nDennis Chludzinski\n\n6/05/1976 - 6/02/1977: Sacred Heart, Sharon, PA\n\n6/03/1977 - 1/23/1978: Holy Rosary, Erie, PA\n\n1/24/1978 - 6/30/1979: Leave of Absence\n\n7/01/1979 - 8/24/1980: Unassigned / Under Father Kelly's Supervision\n\n8/25/1980 - 6/00/1984: Faculty at Villa Maria High School Erie, PA\n\nSt. Benedict's Academy Erie, PA\n\nMercyhurst Preparatory Erie, PA\n\n6/00/1984 - 10/08/1984: Attending Gannon University, Our Lady of Mercy\n\n10/09/1985 - 8/31/1986: No Information provided by the Diocese of Erie\n\n9/01/1986 - 8/02/1987: Chaplain, Sisters Community at Mercyhurst College, Hamot\n\nMedical Center\n\nSummary: In testimony to the diocese, Chludzinski admitted that in 1984 he has inappropriate sexual conduct with an 18-year-old boy. In a letter dated 1991 detailing his progress in therapy, Chludzinski admitted that he and a friend engaged in sexual contact with an 18-year-old male. This included masturbation and oral sex and occurred approximately four times. Chludzinski also noted that after being granted a leave, he became sexually involved with a 14-year-old boy for about nine months.\n\nIn 2004, it was reported that a father discovered that Chludzinski had molested his young son years ago during a camping trip. The victim stated he met Chludzinski as an altar boy and that the abuse happened approximately six times over about six months. When informed of the allegation, Chludzinski replied, “sorry.”\n\nDonald Cooper\n\n6/1963-5/1964: Bradford Central High Christian High School, Bradford, PA\n\n5/1964-6/1971: St. Titus, Titusville, PA\n\n6/1971-6/1975: St. George, Erie, PA\n\n6/1975-11/1984: St. Charles, New Bethlehem, PA\n\n11/1984-6/1987: Mount Calvary, Erie, PA\n\n6/1987-3/1988: Assumption, Oil City, PA\n\n3/1988-6/1989: St. Catherine, DuBois, PA\n\n3/1988-4/1989: St. Anthony, Walston, PA\n\n6/1989-7/2002: St. Joseph, Force, PA\n\n7/2002-6/2005: Christ the King, Houtzdale, PA\n\n10/2002-6/2005: Holy Trinity, Ramey, PA\n\n6/2005: Retired\n\nSummary: In 2005, a man sent an email to the diocese reporting he had been subject to inappropriate sexual contact by Copper between 1981 and 1982. The victim state Cooper abused him multiple times and left him with years of emotional trauma. Cooper would convince the young victim to take a shower with him and would massage the victim and fondle him genitals, as well as masturbate in front of him.\n\nWhen confronted about the abuse in 2005, Cooper admitted his did shower with and massage the victim. He did not admit to the masturbation. Copper agreed to retire, and the church and the victim came to an agreement where the Diocese would pay for the victim's past and future therapy and medication and also pay off $19,530 of the victim's personal debt.\n\nMichael R. Freeman\n\n6/10/1972: St. Margaret, Buffalo, NY\n\n2/15/1975: St. Lawrence, Buffalo Part-time teacher, Bishop Turner High School\n\n7/31/1976: Sacred Heart, Niagara Falls, NY\n\n7/01/1980: Chaplain, United States Army\n\n11/09/1981: Ecclesiastical Endorsement revoked\n\n9/11/1982: St. Christopher, Tonawanda, PA\n\n9/01/1984: St. Mary, Lancaster, PA\n\n3/21/1989: Faculties Revoked\n\nSummary: The grand jury learned that Freeman had some contact with the Diocese of Erie but he was not incardinated into the Diocese as a priest. He was a priest in Buffalo, and in five of his six subsequent assignments he admitted to inappropriate sexual behavior with young men. The abuse occurred while he was a priest in Buffalo but also ministered in Pennsylvania. Freeman admitted sexual misconduct at both St. Margaret and St. Lawrence Parishes in New York, and the Diocese of Buffalo first became aware of Freeman's criminal activity in November 1981.\n\nThe grand jury found no evidence that the Dioceses of Buffalo or Erie ever notified law enforcement officials, despite the fact that Freeman admitted to sexually violating children in at least five of his six ministry assignments.\n\nGregory P. Furjanic\n\n1985: Staff, Kennedy Catholic High School\n\n1985 – Unknown: Unknown duties, St. Anthony of Padua Sharon, PA\n\n1987 – Unknown: Residing in a Convent at 1039 East 27th Street., Erie PA\n\n7/08/1996: Faculties removed\n\n2003 – Unknown: Croatian Franciscan Friars, Chicago, IL.\n\n2005 – Unknown: Lutheran Social Services, St. Petersburg, FL\n\nSummary: In 2005, there was an accusation made against Furjanic related to an incident in the early 1970s. Another incident occurred in the mid-1980s. Records show that in the 1990s another accusation came against Furjanic. The diocese sent him for counseling and then advanced counseling. In 1996, the Congregation for Institutions of Consecrated Life and of Societies of Apostolic Life removed Furjanic’s priestly authority.\n\nThe grand jury later learned one of the victim’s later died by suicide.\n\nChester Ggawronski\n\nMore information not available.\n\nHerbert G. Gloeker\n\n6/1949-9/1967: Sacred Heart, Erie, PA\n\n9/1967-10/1974: St. Bibiana, Galeton, PA\n\n10/1974-1/1985: Mount Calvary, Erie, PA\n\n1/1985: Died, St. Mary's Home\n\nSummary: Gloekler was accused of sexually abusing young females during the 1950s at Sacred Heart. Most of the allegations involved girls who helped sort paperwork in the rectory. One victim described her abuse in an article for the Erie Times-News because she wanted to bring to light the abuse in the Catholic Church. Other victims wrote letters to Bishop Trautman supporting the claims in the newspaper. One victim said Gloekler would fondle her breasts. Another reported that he pulled her into an empty room and kissed her, and instructed her to keep the interaction private. Two other woman contacted Trautman and said they weren’t victims but had witnessed sexual abuse by Gloekler.\n\nRobert E. Hannon\n\n6/03/1954 - 2/03/1955: Assistant Pastor, Holy Rosary, Erie, PA,\n\n2/03/1955 - 3/27/1957: Assistant Pastor, Sacred Heart, Sharon, PA\n\n3/27/1957 - 2/03/1958: Assistant Pastor, St. Boniface, Kersey, PA\n\nResident Pastor (Hacherl) asked to have Hannon Removed\n\n2/03/1958- 5/31/1958: Assistant Pastor, St Luke's, Erie, PA\n\nResident Pastor (Goodill) asked to have Hannon Removed\n\n5/31/1958 - 6/12/1965: Administrator, Sacred Heart, Genesee, PA\n\n9/01/1959 - N/A: Appointed Assistant Director of Lay Retreats for the Diocese\n\n6/12/1965 - 6/4/1966: Holy Cross, Brandy Camp, PA\n\n6/04/1966 - N/A: Administrator, St. Mathew, Erie, PA\n\n6/06/1966 - 6/16/1967: Administrator, St. Cyprian, Waterford, PA\n\n6/16/1967 - 6/01/1979: Pastor, St. Mathew in the Wood, Erie, PA\n\n4/13/1978: Requests transfer to Diocese of Hawaii\n\n6/01/1979: Released to Diocese of Hawaii\n\n9/19/1979 - 7/18/1980: Asst. Pastor, St. John the Apostle, HI\n\n7/18/1980 - 6/1/1981: Associate Pastor, St. Cattistus, Kane, PA\n\n6/01/1981: Associate Pastor, St. Elizabeth, Aiea, HI\n\n4/26/1984: Holy Trinity Church, Honolulu, HI\n\n7/17/1984: Incardinated into Diocese of Hawaii\n\n10/20/2003 - 1/16/2006: Residence at Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Diocese of\n\nHawaii, Honolulu, HI\n\n1/16/2006: Death Announcement\n\nSummary: In 2003, in response to the John Jay College study on clergy sexual abuse, the Diocese of Erie acknowledged the existence of eight known victims of Hannon' s sexual assaults. The grand jury has found documents that the Diocese of Hawaii and possibly the Diocese of Erie knew Father Hannon had admittedly abused at least twenty youths between ages 12 and 19.\n\nOf the eight victims acknowledged by the Diocese of Erie, one is categorized as \"claim denied, not verified\" based upon a denial by Hannon. This victim was abused in Hawaii and occurred when Hannon was visiting the victim’s parents. While tucking her into bed, he allegedly fondled her under her underpants.\n\nWhen the victim was interviewed in 2004, the Diocese of Hawaii found her “extremely credible.” But the Diocese of Erie sided with Hannan, as he had previously admitted to abusing only boys. Hannon denied abusing females stating, “they do not have a penis.”\n\nThere are eight known victims within the Diocese of Erie. It is unknown if the Diocese ever informed law enforcement officials about Hannon's conduct.\n\nJames P. Hopkins\n\nUnknown Dates: Pastor St. Titus Church in Titusville, PA\n\n1920s: Pastor at unknown church in East Brady, PA\n\nSummary: In 1993, a victim wrote a letter to Bishop Trautman at the Diocese of Erie where she stated in in 1945, when she was 13, she experienced abuse at the hands of Hopkins in the rectory of St. Titus. She stated that Hopkins would, \"grab our face in his hands, force us to look up, and then plant a sloppy kiss on our mouths … and fondle us wherever he pleased.\"\n\nIn 1994, the victim wrote another letter to Trautman. The bishop wrote back that \"Since Monsignor Hopkins died in July of 1957, there is no possible way to investigate your accusation.\"\n\nBarry M. Hudock\n\n8/01/1997 - N/A Catholic University, Faculty, Washington, DC\n\nSummary: Hudock was 27 in 1996 when he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a girl in her junior year of high school. Bishop Trautman detailed that the victim was a junior at Mercyhurst Preparatory when she was targeted by Hudock. This sexual abuse occurred in several different locations within the victim's parish community. Trautman documented that Hudock and the victim had engaged in kissing prior to a trip to Wasington, D.C. Records revealed that Hudock groped and kissed the victim on numerous occasions, and it was reported he showed he pornography.\n\nIn 2008, the victim was having a difficult time dealing with the psychological issues from being victimized by Hudock. The Diocese agreed to pay for her medical bills and provided her with airfare to be seen at St. Luke's Institute in Suitland, Maryland.\n\nHudock' s current employment status is not known, but he operates his own religious website titled, \"Faith Meets World\" and has written religious books for Liturgical Press under his given name, as well as the pen name \"Barry Michaels.\"\n\nJoseph W. Jerge\n\n5/18/1951 -6/30/1952: Parochial Vicar, St. Boniface, Erie, PA\n\n6/30/1952- 5/23/1959: Parochial Vicar, St. John the Baptist, Erie, PA\n\n5/23/1959 - 8/29/1964: Parochial Vicars, St. Joseph, Oil City, PA\n\n8/29/1964 – 6/03/1970: Pastor, St. Hippolyte, Guys Mills, PA\n\n6/30/1970 - 12/04/1989: Pastor, St. Callistus, Kane, PA\n\n4/19/1989 - 11/22/1989: Sick Leave\n\n12/04/1989 - 6/14/1991: Parochial Vicar, St. John the Evangelist, Girard, PA\n\n6/14/1991 - 9/01/1992: Parochial Vicar, St. Francis Xavier, McKean, PA\n\n9/01/1992 – 2006: St. Patrick's Retirement Resident, Erie, PA\n\nSummary: The Diocese of Erie was first made aware of sexual abuse allegations against Joseph W. Jerge in early 1989. That year, he was sent for psychological therapy. In the fall of 1989, he was released and signed an aftercare contract that restricted his contact with young boys. He was placed back into ministry at St. John the Evangelist.\n\nIn 1991, Jerge had a meeting with several members of the clergy where concern was voiced about him violating his post-care contract. Bishop Trautman re -assigned Jerge to St. Francis Xavier parish.\n\nOne victim is well-documented by the ministry. He was a high school sophomore when Jerge took him on trips along and fondled him on multiple occasions. Later in the victim’s life, he was blackballed from employment and blocked from attempts to be admitted to seminary. The grand jury found documentation that Bishop Trautman personally instructed school administrators not to hire the victim, noting that he might be homosexual and might have attempted suicide. It is also noted that the Diocese paid at least $1,200 of the victim’s counseling fees.\n\nAnother victim stated that he was sexually abused by Jerge between approximately 1981 and 1985. He stated that all of the assaults took place in Jerge’s car. The victim made his history of abuse known to Trautman in 2003 and obtained an attorney. A letter stated Trautman advised Jerge to consider both legal and canonical counsel. According to the letter, Trautman called the District Attorney of Erie County to tell him of the situation and assure him of their compliance with the applicable standards and guidelines.\n\nStephen E. Jeselnick\n\n5/01/1976: Associate, Our Lady of the Americas, Conneaut, PA\n\n6/03/1977: Granted full faculties of the Diocese of Erie\n\n9/06/1977: Faculty, Venango Christian HIGH SCHOOL w/residence at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Oil City, PA\n\n2/09/1987: Requests new assignment/residence. Wanted campus ministry\n\n6/23/1978: Associate, St. Brigid and Campus Minister, Allegheny College w/Father William Karg\n\n1/12/1980: Requests to be assigned to Notre Dame, IN (Holy Cross)\n\n6/19/1980: Associate, St. Michael, Greenville, PA\n\n7/31/1980: Appointed Defender of the Bond/Advocate for the Tribunal\n\n3/31/1981: Bishop Watson agrees/recommends to release to\n\nNotre Dame, IN\n\n6/02/1981: Accepted into Graduate Candidate Program at Notre Dame\n\n11/06/1982: Withdraws voluntarily from Holy Cross, IN (Novitiate)\n\n12/03/1982: Permitted to minister in Denver, CO, for a six-month assignment by Bishop Murphy\n\n12/10/1982\n\n12/18/1982: Accepted by Archbishop Casey, Denver, CO\n\nSpring 1983: Assigned to St. Mary's, Littleton, CO\n\n3/18/1983: Re -assigned to Shrine of St. Anne, Arvada, CO\n\n4/08/1983: Requests to enter/serve as Military Chaplain\n\n5/13/1983: Bishop Murphy approves appointment to Military\n\n9/12/1985: Requests incardination into Diocese of Colorado Springs, CO\n\n10/10/1985: Incardination denied; Requests Leave of Absence\n\n11/5/1985: Colorado Springs withdraws their faculties\n\n4/1/1986: Requests permission to enter Air Force to be Chaplain and Additional Leave of Absence\n\n8/11/1986: Requests to enter Archdiocese of Military\n\n10/03/1986: Residence at Ecclesia Center, Erie, PA\n\n4/21/1987: Parochial Vicar, St. Catherine, DuBois, PA; Chaplain, DuBois\n\nMedical Center; and Father Brugger's weekend assistant at Sigel\n\nand Corsica, PA\n\n11/18/1996: Military Archdiocese to facilitate the change from active to reserve; the following month the Military endorses for inactive reserve duty\n\n7/14/1997: Veterans Administration Hospital, Baltimore, MD\n\n5/01/2014: Faculties revoked\n\nSummary: Jeselnick’s file listed only two known victims who were both over the age of legal adulthood. Three other victims not included in the diocese files testified in person about the abuse. Their accounts include genital fondling, oral and anal sex, occurring in the late 1970s when Jeselnick was stationed in Meadville. All three men and several of their sisters testified that Jeselnick and a previously unidentified deacon would come to their house and get intoxicated. Once the adults were drunk, Jeselnick would find the boys and pray on them.\n\nIn 2014, Jeselnick sent a letter seeking suitability for ministry. After reviewing his file, Bishop Lawrence Persico denied the request.\n\nThomas C. Kelley\n\n7/25/1968 - 7/16/1972: Parochial Vicar, St. Peter Cathedral, Erie, PA\n\n7/16/1972 - 3/17/1978: Special Ministry, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n7/16/1972 - 5/05/1979: Weekend Asst., Our Lady of Mercy, Harborcreek, PA\n\n3/17/1979 - 5/05/1979: Special Ministry, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n5/05/1979 - 9/01/1985: Special Ministry, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n9/01/1985 - 6/30/1989: Dean, North American College, Rome, Italy\n\n8/28/1989 - 3/27/1990: Administrator, St. Michael, Greenville, PA\n\n3/27/1990 - 6/15/1994: Pastor, St. Michael, Greenville, PA\n\n3/01/1992 - 6/15/1994: Diocesan Review Board\n\n6/15/1994 - 12/31/1995: Leave of Absence, Odessa, TX/Erie, PA\n\n9/18/1995 - 9/22/1995: Psychological Assessment, Southdown Treatment Center, Canada\n\n4/1996 - 9/1996: Residential Treatment, Southdown Center, Aurora, Ontario, Canada\n\n9/06/1994 - 12/31/1995: Pastor, St. Agnes, Ft. Stockton, TX\n\n3/31/1996 - 11/25/1996: Chaplain, Holy Faith Monastery\n\n2/21/2005: Death\n\nSummary: Kelley served in two different dioceses in two states as well as in Europe over the course of his 30 year career. He was accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with at least five victims. His victims of choice were 18 to 25 year old men in high school or in seminary. Kelley engaged in mutual masturbation, oral and anal sex with his victims.\n\nGary L. Ketcham\n\n9/10/1977 - 1/23/1984: St. Bonaventure University, Faculty Franciscan Friars, NY\n\n5/1983-1/23/1984: St. Patrick's, Buffalo, NY\n\n1/23/1984 - 9/11/1985: Parochial Vicar, St. John the Baptist, Erie, PA\n\n9/11/1985 - 8/01/1989: Parochial Vicar, St. George, Erie, PA\n\n3/05/1989 - 6/14/1989: Health Leave, Guest House, Rochester, MN\n\n6/14/1989 - 6/08/1990: Health Leave, St. Luke's Institute, Suitland, MD\n\n6/08/1990 - 7/16/1990: Health Leave, St. Patrick's/St. Hedwig Cluster, Erie, PA\n\n11/13/1998 – 2004: Suspended/Other\n\n2004- Present: Privately employed; not functioning as a Priest\n\nSummary: Sometime prior to March 1989, allegations of sexual misconduct came to light. He was accused of molesting two boys while in a drunken state while visiting friends in Mobile, Alabama. Ketcham was officially charged with two counts of sexual abuse of minors. He was sent to therapy after the incident and housed in a diocese-owned treatment facility.\n\nKetcham pled guilty to both counts and was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. In 2002, Bishop Trautman initiated the laicization process to formerly remove Ketcham from the church. Ketcham cooperated with this process.\n\nThaddeus Kondzielski\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/16/1967-8/31/1986: Secondary Education, Cathedral Preparatory., Erie Facility\n\n6/16/1967-6/03/1970: Weekend Asst., St. Stanislaus, Erie, PA\n\n6/03/1970-8/31/1986: Weekend Asst., St. Hedwig, Erie, PA\n\n8/31/1986-10/01/1988: Health Leave, Other\n\n10/01/1988-6/30/1994: Administrator, St. Philip (Crossingville) Edinboro, PA\n\n6/30/1994-5/04/2000: Pastor, St. Philip (Crossingville) Edinboro, PA\n\n5/04/2000-6/29/2006: Pastor, St. Philip (Crossingville) Edinboro, PA (Reappointed 2nd 6 yr. term)\n\n6/30/2006-8/31/2012: Pastor, St. Philip (Crossingville) Edinboro, PA (Reassigned 3rd 6 yr. term)\n\n9/01/2012-4/28/2013: Pastor, St. Philip Crossingville) Edinboro, PA (Reappointed 4th 6 Yr. term)\n\n4/29/2013: Retired\n\nSummary: Father Thaddeus Kondzielski was assigned as a teacher at Erie Cathedral Preparatory for January 2013, a victim contacted the Diocese to advise that 30 years earlier, when he was a sophomore at Cathedral Preparatory, Kondzielski would ask him to assist with grading papers in the rectory.\n\nOn one occasion, Kondzielski asked him to stay and lift weights. When he said he did not have the proper clothes, Kondzielski suggested that they lift weights naked. They then proceeded to lift weights together while they were naked. When he told his parents about the naked weight lifting incident, they were shocked and told him to stay away from Kondzielski.\n\nWhen confronted with this allegations, Kondzielski claimed he did not remember the incident, but did not deny it because it could have happened.\n\nGerard Krebs\n\nWhere he served:\n\n7/26/1964 - 6/3/1970: Secondary Education Venango Christian, High School, Oil City, PA\n\n7/26/1964 - 6/3/1970: Weekend Assistant, St. Stephen's, Oil City, PA\n\n6/3/1970 - 9/8/1970: Parochial Vicar, Our Lady Queen of the Americas, Conneaut Lake, PA\n\n6/3/1970 - 9/8/1970: Resident, St. Stephen's Rectory, Oil City, PA\n\n9/8/1970 - 12/6/1978: Parochial Vicar, Erie, St. John the Baptist\n\n12/6/1978 - 1/27/1983: Pastor, Holy Cross Church, Brandy Camp, PA\n\n1/27/1983 - 6/30/1990: Pastor, St. Patrick, Erie, PA\n\n3/1/1990 - 5/4/1990: Health Leave, Guest House, Rochester, MN\n\n6/30/1990 - 1/6/1992: Pastor, St. Patrick, Erie, PA\n\n1/6/1992 - 12/31/2003: Director of RCIA, Diocesan Office, Erie, PA\n\n1/6/1992 - 2/4/1994: Resident, Blessed Sacrament, Erie, PA\n\n2/4/1994 - 3/27/2004: Resident, St. Joseph/Bread of Life, Erie, PA\n\n4/10/1996 - 10/1/1996: Chaplain, Soldiers & Sailors Home\n\n11/17/1996 - 5/8/1997: Weekend Assistant, St. Patrick, Erie, PA\n\n11/22/1996 - 12/31/2003: Director of Activities/Coming Millennium, Diocesan Office, Erie, PA\n\n1/1/04 - 5/25/2005: Retired, Priest Retirement Residence, Erie, PA\n\nSummary: Three known victims came forward indicating that they were sexually abused by Father Gerard Krebs.\n\nOne victim alleged that Krebs led him through \"a series of sexual rituals to both prove my faith and the fact that I was not a homosexual.\n\nThe grand jury found no documentation indicating that law enforcement was ever notified about any of Krebs interactions with his victims.\n\nJerry (John) Kucan\n\nWhere he served:\n\n1952-1954: St. Anthony's, Sharon, PA\n\n1954-1961: St. Joseph's, Bethlehem, PA\n\n1961-1972: St. Mary's, Steelton, PA\n\n1972-1973: Our Lady of Peace Friary, Beaver Falls, PA\n\n1973-1977: St. Anthony's, Sharon, PA\n\n1977-1978: Sacred Heart, Milwaukee, WI\n\n1978-1979: Beaver Falls Friary, Beaver Falls, PA\n\n1979-1982: St. Mary's, Steelton, PA\n\n1982-1985: St. Jerome' s, Chicago, IL\n\n1985-1986: Sacred Heart, Milwaukee, WI\n\n1986-1988: St. Anthony's, Chicago, IL\n\n1988-1994: St. Augustine' s, West Allis, WI\n\n1994-1995: Sacred Heart, Chicago, IL\n\n1995-2005: St. Anthony's Friary, Chicago, IL\n\nSummary: In February of 2005, a 29 year old man wrote a letter to the Diocese of Erie in which he stated that he had attended St. Anthony's School in Sharon, Pennsylvania and that in\n\n1974 he began serving midnight mass. Victim #1 stated that \"Father Jerry\" began an inappropriate relationship with him at that time. They would have special meetings together. Kucan told the victim that if he ever told anyone about their relationship, his mother would lose her job in the school kitchen and he would be kicked out of school. The victim wrote in the letter that he would go to confession weekly to confess his sins and that Kucan would tell him that the slate was wiped clean.\n\nKucan would perform oral sex on the-then eight year old. The letter also alleged that Kucan would have a brother in a brown robe present on some occasions and that this brother would also perform oral sex on the victim.\n\nFather Kucan was taken out of the ministry in March 2005, when the Order received its first complaint against him. The Order settled with the victim filing the complaint. The file note also indicated that Kucan was then in his mid- eighties and in the early stages of dementia.\n\nThere is nothing contained in this file that shows that any actual correspondence between the Church and the District Attorney occurred.\n\nLouis Lorei\n\nWhere he served:\n\n9/1981 - 9/1985: Pastor, Our Lady of Peace, Erie, PA\n\nUnknown: Possibly Gannon University\n\nSummary: In December 2009, Father Mark Hoffman called the Bishop's office to report an allegation involving child sexual abuse by Monsignor Louis Lorei. The parents of a boy had approached him to report that their son stated he \"was touched by Monsignor Lorei\" in the early 1980's. Bishop Trautman later met with the victim.\n\nThe victim stated that about 1980 or 1981, he was a student, roughly age 11 to 13, at Our Lady of Peace school. He was also an altar server during early mass with Lorei. On one occasion, Lorei invited him into the rectory and into his bedroom. Lorei had the victim sit on the bed while Lorei sat next to him and hugged and kissed him on the lips. This would occur several days in a row, stop, and then begin again. The victim eventually refused to serve mass with Lorei.\n\nLorei was soon removed by then -Bishop Murphy. In his own handwritten words, Trautman expressed the personal belief that Lorei' s sudden departure may likely have been indicative of some kind of significant event. Trautman offered the victim counseling services. Financial assistance was also discussed. In a memorandum dated March 30, 2007, Hoffman also documented an additional victim of Lorei. Hoffman found out through the father of the second victim that his son was allegedly abused by Lorei. The victim reportedly described the incident during a United Methodist retreat in 2000.\n\nA small note in the file states \"Review Board found no merit in processing since supposed victim did not come forth even after requests.\"\n\nIt is unknown who the request refers to.\n\nSalvatore P. Luzzi\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/09/1962 - 8/29/1968: Faculty, Venango Christian High. Residence at St. Joseph, Oil City, PA\n\n8/28/1968 - 8/28/1969: Sp. Ministry, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n8/28/1968 - 7/16/1972: Dean/Collegians, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n7/16/1972 - 5/05/1979: Sp. Ministry, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n5/05/1979 - 7/19/1994: Pastor, St. Joseph, Warren, PA\n\n3/19/1991 - 8/01/1994: Sp. Ministry, Dean/Warren Co. Deanery, St Joseph, Warren, PA\n\n7/19/1994 - 2/10/1995: Sick Leave\n\n5/05/1979 - 9/15/1995: Resided at St. Joseph\n\n9/15/1995 - currently: Faculties removed\n\nSummary: After several years teaching at Venango Christian High School, Reverend Salvatore P. Luzzi was moved to St. Mark's Seminary, where he filled several roles. Over the course of his 30 year ministry, he was accused of sexual misconduct by eight male victims ranging in age from early teens to early twenties. Some of these victims were groped, inappropriately kissed, hugged, and/or fondled. He also faced allegations of responsibility for the suicide of a former student/victim.\n\nLuzzi worked extensively with young would-be priests at St. Mark's where he and fellow priest Leon Muroski served as Spiritual Directors to the seminarians. Luzzi's inappropriate touching and fondling of at least two seminarians prompted the Diocese to settle with those seminarians for large sums of money. The first former Seminarian's case was settled in civil court for $34,500 and this individual received several thousand dollars over the course of the many years that the Diocese paid for his counseling and medication costs.\n\nSeveral other former juvenile victims of Luzzi received letters or phone calls of apology from the Diocese. These victims were counseled by the Diocese through correspondence or in person interviews wherein Luzzi's behavior was dismissed as \"Sal's way of expressing himself and his \"touching approach\" to ministry was attributed to his Italian upbringing.\n\nIn 1994, Bishop Trautman sent both Luzzi and Muroski to St. Luke's Institute for therapy. The Diocese publicly announced that Luzzi was going on an extended sabbatical for \"personal, spiritual and academic growth.\" Once Luzzi was discharged, the Bishop welcomed him back into pastoral ministry by letter on February 14, 1995. However, the welcome also came with several conditions and a Penial Precept, a formal notification in the church that restricts ministry.\n\nTrautman directed Luzzi to refrain from all contact with youth under 19 years of age and to avoid travel and social interaction with such parishioners. Later that same year, in September 1995, Trautman had Luzzi' s faculties as a priest removed and Luzzi began residing in a private residence, where he remains today.\n\nRicahrd D. Lynch\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/01/1963 - 5/26/1972: Secondary Education Bradford Central Christian High School, Bradford, PA\n\n5/26/1972 - 2/18/1983: Headmaster, Secondary Education Bradford Central Christian High School, Bradford, PA\n\n2/18/1983 - 8/30/1999: Pastor, Erie Holy Rosary, Erie, PA\n\n1984-1994:Dean, East Erie Deanery, Erie, PA\n\n8/31/1999 - Death: Pastor, St. Mark's the Evangelist, Erie, PA\n\nSummary: The victim claims Lynch slammed him into the wall and this resulted in a trauma to his head.\n\nIn a letter dated June 3, 2016, the victim stated that he wanted to write the Bishop to get some things off his chest. He alleged that Father Richard Lynch was responsible for the sexual abuse that he went through while attending Bradford Central Catholic Christian High School 1978-1979. He said he told Bishop Trautman about some physical abuse, but was too ashamed to talk about the sexual abuse.\n\nDaniel Martin\n\nWhere he served:\n\n1943 - 1945: Parochial Vicar, Sacred Heart, Sharon, PA\n\n1945 - 1962: Faculty, Erie Cathedral Preparatory High School, Erie, PA\n\n1948 - 1962: Assistant Headmaster, Erie Cathedral Preparatory, Erie, PA\n\n1950-1962: Chaplain, Mercyhurst College\n\n1962-1970: Pastor, St. Boniface, Kersey, PA\n\n1962-1970: Headmaster, Elk Co. Christian High School, St. Mary's, PA\n\n1970-1974: Pastor, St. Joseph, Oil City, PA\n\n1974- 1986: Pastor, St. George, Erie, PA\n\n1984: Prelate of Honor, titled Monsignor\n\n1986-1987: Retired, Residence at Mt. Calvary, Erie, PA\n\n1987: Chaplain, Mercyhurst College for Religious women\n\n2003: Blessed Sacrament, Residence\n\nSummary: Monsignor Daniel Martin was a priest the in the Diocese of Erie for 43 -three years who faced two known allegations of sexual abuse. The grand jury's review of his files found very little documented evidence of his abuse of a teenager who was an alter server in his parish. That victim would go on to become a priest himself and appeared in front of the grand jury to tell his story.\n\nHe reported that when he was upset over the troubles of his life, he would seek Martin's counsel. He testified that Martin sexually fondled him on at least sixteen occasions between the ages of sixteen and nineteen.\n\nOther victims came forward with similar encounters.\n\nRedacted – pending litigation\n\nThe name of the priest, where he served and the exact incident was entirely redacted in the grand jury report.\n\nLeon T. Muroski\n\nWhere he served:\n\n6/11/1960 - 9/01/1967: Parochial Vicar, St. Luke, Erie, PA\n\n3/30/1961 - N/A: Chaplain, Erie County T.B. Hospital\n\n9/01/1960 - 6/16/1967: Special Ministry, Faculty, St. Mark's, Erie, PA\n\n6/16/1967 - 10/12/1982: Diocese Office, St. Mark's Seminary, Erie, PA\n\n10/12/1982 - 9/01/1995: Pastor, Our Lady of the Lake, Edinboro, PA\n\n5/1994: Sent to St. Luke's Institute for Psychological Treatment\n\n9/01/1995-6/01/1997: Retired, St. Casimirs, Rectory, Erie, PA\n\n6/01/1997-4/01/2001: The Christophers, Unknown duties, New York, NY,\n\n5/03/2001: Resident, St. Patrick's, Erie, PA\n\n9/01/2001 - 3/11/2002: Chaplain, Pleasant Ridge Manor West, Girard, PA\n\n1/2320/03 - N/A: St. Patrick's, Unassigned\n\n12/10/2015 - Present: Diocese Retirement Home, Erie, PA\n\nSummary: After 20 years of administrative duties, Muroski finally got his own parish. This ministry lasted from 1982 until1995, but was abruptly halted when in the early 1990s Muroski was accused of sexual misconduct while he was a Spiritual Director at the seminary. Muroski was sent to St. Luke's Institute in Suitland, Maryland, for individual psychotherapy in 1994 after he admitted to inappropriate contact with the seminarians under his watch. These seminarians were all male, eighteen to twenty-three-year olds, when Muroski would counsel them. This counselling included allegations of full body massages, kissing, masturbation and fondling of the seminarians' buttocks and genitals. Muroski would eventually be placed back into ministry after therapy at St. Luke's and served in the Diocese of Erie and in The Christophers program in New York City.\n\nIn 2001, Muroski returned to the Diocese of Erie from The Christophers and was retired. Muroski was permitted to move into the retired priest home in 2002, which is where he still resides. In 2016, the Diocese rostered a list of all the retired clergy living in the home and made it public. Muroski was not listed as a resident. It was at this residence that the grand jury found him living in 2017, however.\n\nEdmundus Murphy\n\nNo further details regarding where he served were provided.\n\nSummary: On December 21, 2007 an e-mail communication was sent to Monsignor Robert Smith, Vicar General of the Diocese of Erie from the Society of the Divine Word in Techny, Ilinois. The purpose of the e-mail was to inform Smith that a victim was sexually abused by a staff member while he was a minor at Sacred Heart High School in 1964. This school was operated by the Society of the Divine Word Missionaries in Girard.\n\nThe victim claimed that during the summer between his freshman and sophomore years of high school, Brother Edmundus Murphy, who was 33 years of age at this time, was the wrestling coach at the school. Murphy encouraged the victim to join the team and, under the pretense of teaching him some wrestling moves, the two wrestled naked \"as the ancient Greeks and Romans did.\" The victim alleged that during these \"wrestling\" sessions he was sodomized by Murphy.\n\nImmediately after the incident, the victim asked Murphy what he was doing and, according to the victim, Murphy sat on the floor and began to cry.\n\nThe grand jury investigation found no documentation that the Diocese notified local law enforcement or the District Attorney's Office about Murphy's behavior. The only note in the file was a handwritten notation on top of the printed out e-mail which read; \"not responsible-Priest/Deacon only.\"\n\nJohn L. Murray\n\nWhere he served:\n\n5/31/1947 - 5/28/1955: Sacred Heart, Parochial Vicar with Residence, Sharon, PA\n\n5/28/1955 - 6/11/1960: St. Paul, Parochial Vicar with Residence, Erie, PA\n\n8/25/1959 - 6/11/1960: St. Paul, Parochial Vicar with Residence. Special Duties, Part-Time Faculty, Erie Cathedral Preparatory, Erie, PA\n\n6/11/1960 - 8/01/1966: Special Ministry, Erie Cathedral Preparatory, Erie, PA\n\n8/27/1966 - 1/31/1969: Special Ministry, DuBois Central Catholic HS, Special Duties, Headmaster, DuBois, PA\n\n6/16/1967 - 10/15/1968: St. Bernard, Administration with Reside", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/08/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/09/10/time-capsule-eyes-texas-pebble-mine-news-around-states/118805644/", "title": "Time capsule, 'Eyes of Texas': News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: The state said it will allow a death row inmate’s pastor to hold his hand during a lethal injection next month, a decision that was made to end litigation over the issue. Lawyers for Alabama wrote in a June court document that inmates can now have a personal spiritual adviser present with them in the execution chamber, and the adviser will be allowed to touch them. The agreement settled litigation over Willie Smith’s request to have his personal pastor with him as he is put to death. Smith was convicted of the 1991 kidnapping and murder of 22-year-old Sharma Ruth Johnson in Birmingham. Alabama has rescheduled Smith’s execution for next month. According to court documents, his spiritual adviser can anoint the inmate’s head with oil; pray with the inmate and hold his hand as the execution begins, as long as the adviser steps away before the consciousness assessment is performed; and remain in the execution chamber until the curtains to the witness rooms are drawn. The description was included in a footnote in a joint filing in June by the state and Smith’s attorneys in which the two sides announced they had reached an agreement over the spiritual adviser issue.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it would seek to restart a process that could restrict mining in the Bristol Bay region, renowned for its salmon runs. The announcement is the latest in a long-running dispute over a proposed copper-and-gold mine in the southwest Alaska region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in November 2020, under the Trump administration, denied key authorization for the proposed Pebble Mine following an environmental review from the agency months earlier that the developer had viewed as a favorable to the project. In the rejection decision, a Corps official concluded the project would “result in significant degradation of the aquatic ecosystem” and was “contrary to the public interest.” The Pebble Limited Partnership, the mine developer owned by Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., is appealing that determination. “As the Biden Administration seeks lower carbon emissions for energy production, they should recognize that such change will require significantly more mineral production – notably copper,” Mike Heatwole, a Pebble partnership spokesperson, said in an email. “The Pebble Project remains an important domestic source for the minerals necessary for the administration to reach its green energy goals.”\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: A program announced by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey last month to give private school vouchers to parents who object to campus mask requirements has seen applications surge, with twice as many either started or completed as can be funded with the $10 million in federal coronavirus relief earmarked for the plan. And GOP lawmakers who back expansion of the state’s existing voucher program doubt any students who receive the grants will be forced back into public schools when the federal cash is exhausted. Opponents of the school voucher program suspect that is highly likely. The program Ducey created will give $7,000 per school year to each student who enrolled in a public school that either has mask requirements or requires unvaccinated children exposed to the coronavirus to quarantine or isolate differently from vaccinated children. Applicants can earn up to 350% of the federal poverty level, which equals $92,750 for a family of four. They can use the money for private school tuition, tutoring or other costs. The governor’s education policy adviser said last week that applications for 454 children had been completed and another 2,255 started in the first 13 days the application window was open, with 69 approved.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The state is easing rules for its rental relief program to prioritize the funds for tenants at immediate risk of being evicted. Little of the state’s share of the federal money has been spent so far. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the changes to the Arkansas Rent Relief Program on Wednesday after asking the state Department of Human Services to review its processes surrounding the program. Arkansas set aside $173 million in federal funds for the program for people who have lost jobs or are struggling financially because of the pandemic. So far, though, only $9.8 million in assistance has been paid out. DHS said nearly 2,800 applicants are at immediate risk of eviction, and 51% of those will be prioritized under the changes. The remainder have been paid or are expected to be paid by next week. The other changes will also allow funds to be paid to eligible tenant applicants if a landlord does not submit the required information within 10 days. DHS said the contractor handling the program is also adding 70 staffers to handle calls and process cases, and a new case management team has been added to focus on previously submitted applications in which the landlord did not submit the required information.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: Lawmakers on Wednesday sent Gov. Gavin Newsom legislation to end the careers of bad law enforcement officers, a year after an earlier effort died without a final vote. The measure aims to keep troubled officers from jumping from one job to another by creating a mandatory new state license, or certification, that could be permanently revoked. “This bill allows them to rid the bad apples that we know exist, bad apples that we know exist in every profession,” Democratic Sen. Steven Bradford said. “Just because you put on a uniform and a badge doesn’t absolve you or make you immune to being a bad person.” California licenses more than 200 professions, he noted – “we’re just adding law enforcement to that category.” The final, softened version of the legislation also allows for suspending the license as a lesser punishment and includes other safeguards like requiring a two-thirds vote for decertification. Senators gave final approval on a 28-9 vote, with Republicans opposed. California is one of just four states without a way of decertifying officers, alongside Hawaii, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Bradford named his bill the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act, after a 25-year-old Black man killed in Los Angeles County in 2018 by an officer who had previously been involved in three other shootings.\n\nColorado\n\nLoveland: The city announced Wednesday that it has agreed to pay $3 million to a woman with dementia who was roughly arrested by police last year after being suspected of shoplifting. Her family said the money will pay for the around-the-clock care she has needed after her condition deteriorated following her arrest. Then-Officer Austin Hopp arrested Karen Garner, 73, after she left a store without paying for $13.88 worth of items in Loveland, about 50 miles north of Denver, in June 2020. Police body camera video shows that after she turned away from him, he grabbed her arm and pushed her to the ground, with her still holding the wildflowers she had been picking as she walked through a field. A federal lawsuit that Garner filed claimed he dislocated her shoulder by shoving her handcuffed left arm forward onto the hood of a patrol car. Police station surveillance video also showed Hopp and others officers talking about the arrest and the “pop” sound her arm made, laughing and joking at times as Garner sat in a holding cell. Officials in Loveland apologized to Garner and her family in the announcement of the proposed settlement and listed the steps they have taken in response to her arrest, including a pending independent investigation and changes to how cases are reviewed when police use force.\n\nConnecticut\n\nMontville: Gov. Ned Lamont announced Wednesday that his administration plans to close the Radgowski Correctional Center at the end of this year. The prison, part of the two-building Corrigan-Radgowski complex, is the second of three closures that were planned as part of budget cuts for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The move is expected to save the state $7.3 million, the governor’s office said. The state shuttered the maximum-security Northern Correctional Institution in June, a move expected to save about $11.75 million annually. The governor’s office has not announced the name of the third facility it plans to close or when that will happen. “Spending millions of dollars in annual operating costs on buildings that have historically low numbers of incarcerated individuals inside is just not a good use of resources,” Lamont, a Democrat, said in a statement. “By relocating them to other facilities that have available capacity, we can deliver on our administration’s goal of reducing the cost structure of state government.” The closures come during a steady decline in the inmate population, which has decreased by more than 3,200 over the past 17 months. The state currently houses about 9,200 prisoners, down from the all-time high of 19,894 in February 2008.\n\nDelaware\n\nMillsboro: About 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled at NRG Energy’s power plant on the Indian River near Millsboro overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday. The spill, discovered Wednesday morning, occurred after a pressurized hose detached and was contained to NRG property, according to a statement from the company. Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control spokeswoman Nikki Lavoie said the hose detached from an above-ground storage tank, and the fuel was released into “a contained outside area.” Lavoie said Tri-State Bird Rescue was contacted “to assist with the wildlife impacts from the spill,” including “affected geese on the property and seagulls that had flown into the area.” No waterways or public lands were affected by the spill, according to NRG spokesman Dave Schrader. He said the spill was contained to “the coal pile.” “NRG takes protection of the environment and compliance with all environmental regulations seriously,” Schrader said. DNREC, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continue to monitor cleanup. NRG announced earlier this year that the coal-fired Millsboro plant will close in June 2022.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Georgetown could soon be getting a Metro station, WUSA-TV reports. A two-year study commissioned by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to address overcrowding on the Blue, Orange and Silver lines presented six options for extended rail service on the lines, which have exceeded capacity limits during peak hours for years, according to Metro. The study, launched in 2019, identified a preferred Blue line route that would extend the line to National Harbor by way of a second Rosslyn station, a new Potomac River tunnel and a new station at Georgetown. The study predicts cities and counties along Metro rail lines will add 37% more people and 30% more jobs by 2040, noting that large rail projects can take up to 20 years to complete. Metro said in its report that the expansion would cost between $20 billion and $25 billion to build and between $175 million and $200 million annually to operate, but of the six options, the National Harbor expansion would create the biggest ridership growth – one of the main goals of the study. Metro board members planned to meet Thursday to discuss the results of the study.\n\nFlorida\n\nSt. Petersburg: A chance encounter with a former Marine beset by delusions of child sex trafficking ultimately led to the massacre of four members of a family, including a mother holding her baby boy, a sheriff said Thursday. Bryan Riley, who faces murder and other charges in Sunday’s killings, stopped by the slain family’s Lakeland home briefly the day before after going to a nearby friend’s house to pick up a first aid kit, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference. Riley had told acquaintances he was headed for Hurricane Ida relief work. A short distance from the friend’s home, Riley saw Justice Gleason mowing his lawn with his 11-year-old daughter in the yard, Judd said. That provided the trigger that led to the slayings, Judd said: Riley believed she was an imaginary child named Amber who was suicidal and being held by a supposed sex trafficking ring that God had told him to confront. No one named Amber lived at the home, as Gleason repeatedly told Riley before asking him to leave their initial encounter. “This was all fiction, all made up by him,” Judd said. Riley, wearing body armor, had three weapons with him and fired at least 100 shots in the main home and a smaller one in back. An 11-year-old girl who played dead survived the attack despite being shot multiple times and has undergone four surgeries so far, Judd said.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: The city’s public safety net hospital became the latest to temporarily cancel elective surgeries Wednesday, saying it’s being overrun with COVID-19 patients. Grady Memorial Hospital CEO John Haupert made the announcement, saying the hospital was “inundated” with patients over the Labor Day weekend even though it was officially diverting ambulances. “Because of the strain this is putting on the health system, our patients, and our staff, we must make some changes to the way we operate,” Haupert wrote. “As of today, we are canceling non-essential outpatient surgery and procedures. We will regularly review patient volumes to determine when we can resume those services.” More than 5,900 people sickened by the respiratory illness were in Georgia hospitals Wednesday. COVID-19 patient numbers have been hovering around 6,000, a record high, for more than a week. Across the state, 97% of intensive care beds were in use Wednesday, an all-time high. Some other Georgia hospitals were already postponing elective surgeries, as more than 50 hospitals statewide Wednesday reported they were turning away ambulances bringing emergency or ICU patients.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: The state is launching a program that will allow people to use their smartphones to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The Hawaii Smart Health Card comes shortly before Honolulu and Maui begin instituting vaccine requirements for patrons of restaurants and other businesses. State officials say that starting Friday, people who have been vaccinated in Hawaii will be able to upload a photo of their vaccination card to the Safe Travels Hawaii website to create a digital vaccination record. The website will cross-check this information with data stored in the state’s vaccination database. Gov. David Ige said this should help prevent the use of fake vaccination cards. The verification process should only take a few seconds. Customers may show restaurants, museums and other establishments their verified Hawaii Smart Health Card in lieu of their paper vaccination card to gain admittance. Businesses will have the option to use a validator app to scan a QR code on the digital vaccination records to verify their legitimacy. “Participation in the Hawaii Smart Health Card is voluntary. It is strictly a convenience for those residents who have been vaccinated here in the state of Hawaii,” Ige said at a news conference.\n\nIdaho\n\nIdaho Falls: Scientists studying pack rat middens at the City of Rocks National Reserve have determined that the area’s iconic pinyon pine trees first arrived about 2,800 years ago and became prevalent about 700 years ago. That’s just one example of what scientists have learned by studying the middens – piles of seeds, bones, leaves and waste – in the area that date back 45,000 years. Julio Betancourt of the U.S. Geological Survey has studied pack rat middens in the U.S. West and South America. “They’re hard as a rock, kind of black, big chunks, sometimes huge chunks of pack rat deposits that have been consolidated, cemented by the crystalized urine of pack rats,” Betancourt told the Post Register. “The pack rats are just collecting tons of stuff and don’t go very far to collect it – mostly within 50 meters . The spatial resolution is really high. We’ve studied all kinds of things in these deposits. The principal thing is plant remains.” The middens can be dated, giving a snapshot of the local ecology over time. The U.S. Geological Survey keeps a database of pack rat middens for western North America. One midden from the area dated to about 10,000 years ago is on display at the City of Rocks visitor center in Almo. Betancourt said the middens have allowed scientists to track climate and vegetation changes at the City of Rocks.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: A federal judge has granted class-action status in a lawsuit filed six years ago that alleged the Chicago Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy targeted Black and Hispanic people who hadn’t committed any crime. Attorneys involved in the lawsuit announced Tuesday that the case’s six original plaintiffs are now part of a class of more than 1 million people. The plaintiffs’ lawyers say some 2 million unconstitutional stops occurred in Chicago between 2010 and 2017 in which officers allegedly had no “reasonable suspicion” that a crime had been or was about to be committed. The decision was handed down by U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood on Aug. 31. The ruling, which could lead to a trial, comes at a difficult time for a police department that has long been plagued by a legacy of excessive force and racism and has scrambled to restore public trust. “This practice has to stop – and elevating this issue to a class action provides a way to make significant change and make our community better,” Antonio Romanucci, an attorney who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. In fact, the judge limited her ruling only to the possibility of a change in policy, according to Jennifer McGuffin, a spokeswoman for Romanucci’s firm.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: The state’s ban on telemedicine consultations between doctors and women seeking abortions and several other abortion restrictions are back in force after a federal appeals court set aside a judge’s ruling that they were unconstitutional. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued a 2-1 ruling Wednesday that allows Indiana to continue enforcing those laws while the court considers a full appeal of the case. It said District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker’s ruling last month was inconsistent with previous Supreme Court decisions and reinstated Indiana’s telemedicine ban, along with state laws requiring in-person examinations by a doctor before medication-induced abortions can be performed and a prohibition on second-trimester abortions outside hospitals or surgery centers. “Plaintiffs contend, and the district court found, that developments in videoconferencing make it possible to dispense with in-person meetings, that improvements in medicine make the use of hospitals or surgical centers unnecessary, and that nurses are competent to approve and monitor medication-induced abortions,” the ruling said. “The district court concluded that these findings permit it to depart from the holdings of earlier cases. Yet the Supreme Court insists that it alone has the authority to modify its precedents.”\n\nIowa\n\nWinterset: More than 100 students walked out of Winterset Junior High and Winterset High School this week in protest over the school district placing seventh grade literacy teacher Lucas Kaufmann on leave after a presentation about himself to his class featured the LGBT pride flag, according to a change.org petition. When asked by students, Kaufmann said he was bisexual. More than 2,500 people had signed the online petition as of Thursday afternoon. Winterset Community School District Superintendent Justin Gross confirmed Kaufmann was placed on leave after concerns were raised following the presentation but declined further comment. State law prohibits employers from firing employees based on sexual orientation and gender identification, which Gross acknowledged. Kaufmann did not respond to a request for comment. His presentation and personnel status were the subject of a report by the Iowa Standard, a conservative website. Students standing outside the school building during the protest said having teachers who share similar experiences can help them navigate their own identities. And they worried what the district’s decision would mean for LGBTQ students, especially those who are not publically out.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: A plan to allocate up to $50 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to retention incentives for nurses and front-line workers has stalled because of top Republican legislators’ concerns about which hospitals would receive the money and how the funds would be spent. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s bipartisan pandemic response advisory task force delayed approving the proposal after a top Republican legislator argued that it should allow hospitals to use the funds to address other pandemic-related issues including mental health. And another Republican leader on the task force on Wednesday proposed excluding hospitals that require all of their employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The task force expects to meet again by early next week to consider a revised version of the plan. It would have to sign off on the details before the funds could be spent. The retention incentives would be capped at $13 an hour and $25,000 a year to comply with federal requirements. Workers would need to have been hired at a hospital as of September to qualify for the retention pay. Senate President Ty Masterson’s proposal to make hospitals with vaccine mandates ineligible for retention incentives failed on a 5-2 vote.\n\nKentucky\n\nRichmond: Officials say they’ve reached a milestone at a chemical weapons depot with the destruction of all projectiles containing mustard agent. The last projectiles containing mustard agent were destroyed Saturday at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Madison County, the facility said in a statement this week. The U.S. is destroying its chemical weapons stockpile under an international treaty. Mustard and nerve agent are being destroyed at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, while mustard agent is being destroyed at a Colorado facility. The chemical weapons stockpile at the Kentucky site originally contained 523 tons of chemical agent configured in 155 mm projectiles containing mustard and VX nerve agent, 8-inch projectiles containing GB nerve agent, and M55 rockets containing GB and VX nerve agent. The last of Kentucky’s projectiles containing VX nerve agent were destroyed in May. Now that the mustard agent projectiles are gone, only rockets are left to destroy.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: A young giraffe named for a Louisiana football star has died at the Baton Rouge Zoo, officials said Thursday. In a news release, the zoo said the 20-month-old giraffe named Burreaux – after Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and former LSU star Joe Burrow – died early Wednesday. The zoo said Burreaux fell ill Tuesday with a sudden onset of symptoms including a severe cough and overall agitation. “The Zoo’s veterinary staff took immediate measures to help, including swiftly administering medications to stabilize,” the statement said. “As well, he underwent constant staff evaluation to optimize his chances of recovery. The Zoo’s team reached out to numerous zoological veterinarians throughout the nation – none of which had experienced a giraffe with comparable symptoms.” The zoo said an LSU veterinary team has performed a necropsy to determine the possible cause of death. The official results are expected in about 30 days.\n\nMaine\n\nAugusta: Opponents of a proposal to replace the state’s private utility companies with a consumer-owned utility have crafted a referendum that could create a hurdle to issuing bonds to fund the effort. The referendum proposal submitted to the secretary of state’s office Tuesday would require voter approval for any quasi-government entity, including a consumer-owned utility, to take on $1 billion or more in debt. It also requires voters to be presented with the full accounting of the cost. “The principle is straightforward: You should know how much something is going to cost before you commit to borrowing billions of dollars to buy it,” said Willy Ritch from Maine Affordable Energy. Groups that want to buy out Central Maine Power and Versant power and create a consumer utility called Pine Tree Power also are pressing for a referendum after Gov. Janet Mills vetoed their bill. The effort came at a time of frustration with CMP, the state’s largest electric utility, over a botched rollout of a billing system, slow response to storm damage and power outages, and a controversial utility corridor that would serve as a conduit for Canadian hydropower. It’s possible both the proposals could appear on the ballot at the same time next year. Both petitions are pending with the secretary of state’s office.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: The state is authorizing COVID-19 booster shots for all residents 65 and older who live in congregate care settings, Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday. Residents in nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, residential drug treatment centers and developmentally disabled group homes are eligible for boosters, the governor said. “To be clear, these facilities in Maryland will not have to wait to begin offering boosters,” Hogan, a Republican, said at a news conference. “Boosters can now be immediately administered.” While the federal government has yet to say when most people should get booster shots, Hogan said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has approved them for people who are immunocompromised, and a Maryland study indicates many in those facilities are immunocompromised. “So we’re following CDC guidance but broadening the definition,” Hogan said. The governor also announced that the state’s health department is issuing new guidance for pharmacies and other vaccine providers across the state to administer boosters without any need of a prescription or doctor’s order to anyone who considers themselves to be immunocompromised.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nWorcester: A strike by nurses at St. Vincent Hospital hit the six-month mark Wednesday, an anniversary the nurses called “sad” and hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson called “unbelievable,” as the sides traded blame. “The fact that we are still outside this hospital, the hospital we love and have served, some of us for 10, 20, even 40 years is a travesty and serves as an indictment of (hospital owners) Tenet Healthcare and their unyielding desire for profit and power at the expense of the suffering of our patients and our community,” Marlena Pellegrino, a longtime nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said in a statement Tuesday. Jackson blamed the nurses union. “It’s truly unbelievable that the MNA has prolonged a strike that was based on false pretenses for six months,” she said in an interview Wednesday. While the strike initially focused primarily on staffing – with nurses alleging unsafe levels and the hospital saying such charges are false – the hospital and nurses are now stymied by a return-to-work agreement. Nurses want a provision that would enable them to return to their old jobs and proposed a $2,000 bonus for striking and nonstriking nurses in recognition of their work during the pandemic.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: Ten sexual assault victims sued the University of Michigan on Thursday over a policy that limits the number of people who can offer public comment at meetings of the school’s governing board. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of nine men and a woman who said they were molested by Dr. Robert Anderson during his decades as a campus physician. They said they were denied an opportunity to address the Board of Regents in July, in violation of Michigan’s open meetings law. The university caps the number of speakers and limits the number of people who can talk about a specific topic at five. Regents have been meeting by video conference during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, The number of speakers was increased to as many as 17, under certain conditions, from 10. Five people who said they were assaulted by Anderson spoke in July, spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said. Regents have the “authority to establish rules by which members of the public may address a meeting of the board, and the process in place at U-M is consistent with those at other Michigan public universities,” Fitzgerald said. Hundreds of men say they were molested by Anderson, who died in 2008, while he served for decades as a university doctor. The university has acknowledged assaults occurred and is in mediation to settle lawsuits.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Paul: Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Wednesday that he will no longer prosecute felony charges stemming from most low-level traffic stops, saying it’s time to change a practice that has disproportionately affected generations of minority communities. “Recognizing the role we play as prosecutors in perpetuating racial inequities that often result from these types of stops is an important first step in charting a new, less harmful course,” Choi said in a statement. Choi said his office will not prosecute crimes that are discovered solely because of a low-level traffic stop, such as broken taillight or expired license tabs. He said the new policy does not apply to situations that create a public safety hazard or when a vehicle is stopped because of a dangerous condition. Choi said during a news conference that he used to believe that pretextual stops – in which police use a minor violation as a reason to pull someone over and search for a more serious crime – amounted to good policing. “I no longer believe that,” he said, adding that such stops seldom result in seized contraband. And sometimes the consequences can be fatal, as seen in a series of encounters in recent years in Ramsey County and elsewhere.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The state is closing its only remaining parking garage field hospital set up to treat coronavirus patients during the delta variant surge, but it is still relying on out-of-state workers to help increase intensive care unit capacity in state hospitals, officials said Wednesday. Health officials also reported the state’s seventh child death from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and raised alarms about a string of deaths in unvaccinated pregnant women. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said eight pregnant women with the coronavirus have died over the past four weeks. “We do know that COVID is especially problematic and dangerous for pregnant women,” he said. Dobbs said COVID-19 can be deadly for babies in the womb, too. Very preliminary data collected by the Department of Health indicates babies are twice as likely to die in the womb after 20 weeks in coronavirus-infected pregnant women than in women without the virus, he said. “It’s been a real tragedy,” he said. Jim Craig, senior deputy for the Mississippi Department of Health and Director of Health Protection, said the state is seeing a small improvement in hospital bed availability, but ICU capacity continues to be “very scarce ... effectively zero.”\n\nMissouri\n\nNeosho: A teacher said he resigned from Neosho Junior High School after he was told to remove a gay pride flag from his classroom and to sign a letter saying he would not discuss human sexuality or gender with his students. John Wallis, 22, said he hung the flag and a sign that said “everyone is welcome” in his classroom so his students would know they could come to him for help, The Kansas City Star reports. Superintendent Jim Cummins said in a statement that he could not discuss personnel matters. He said Wallis, a theater, world mythology and speech and debate teacher, was hired Aug. 13 and resigned Sept. 1. Wallis said he took down the flag and sign after being told a parent complained. He said he was told more parents complained after he told students they should consider finding another classroom if they were uncomfortable with him or LGBTQ students. He said he was then asked to sign a letter saying he would be fired if he could not teach his curriculum without keeping his “personal agenda on sexuality” out of the classroom. Wallis said he’s filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.\n\nMontana\n\nBillings: An area of the city contaminated with dry cleaning chemicals that emit toxic vapors has been added to the federal government’s Superfund list of cleanup sites. The move makes the Billings PCE site eligible for federal money for permanent cleanup. Solvents from old dry cleanings businesses in Billings created an underground plume that stretches for miles, the Billings Gazette reports. Employees of businesses near one of the dry cleaners have complained of feeling sick because of exposure to PCE, a solvent used to remove stains that’s been linked to liver and some other cancers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The area was declared a state Superfund site in 1992. Over the next year, workers from the EPA and Montana Department of Environmental Quality will investigate which buildings have been contaminated and outline cleanup options.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Police have announced the procession route through the city for a Marine who died in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan. The body of 23-year-old Cpl. Daegan Page will be transported starting at 1:30 p.m. Friday from Eppley Airfield in Omaha to Braman Mortuary in southwest Omaha, police said. The procession will begin at Abbott Drive, then head south on 10th Street before traveling over I-480 west and I-80 west. The procession will exit I-80 at L Street and head south on 132nd Street and Millard Avenue South before continuing to Millard Avenue and 144th Street south to the funeral home. Officials have encouraged the public to line the streets of the route to pay their respects to the fallen Marine. Page was one of 13 U.S. service members killed Aug. 26 in the bombing at the Kabul airport, which also killed at least 169 Afghans. A memorial service will be held the morning of Sept. 17 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Millard. Page will be buried in Omaha National Cemetery.\n\nNevada\n\nCarson City: All 17 counties in the state were expected to be subject to an indoor mask mandate by Friday, health officials said. An emergency directive from Gov. Steve Sisolak requires counties to adopt mask requirements for indoor public spaces and crowded outdoor spaces in line with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention if they surpass thresholds for COVID-19 transmission. Rural Eureka County is the state’s only jurisdiction currently not subject to a mask requirement but reported high transmission for the second week in a row, triggering the mandate. The reintroduction of masks and the debut of vaccine requirements in venues like sporting events, conventions and some schools have been met with resistance throughout the state. In the Las Vegas area, the president of the school board said she has received death threats since the district approved a requirement for employees to get COVID-19 shots. Clark County School District Board of Trustees President Linda Cavazos said on Twitter that the threats had “very disturbing images” but that she and her colleagues were continuing to do their jobs, KVVU-TV reports. “We have no time for hate,” she said. The board’s plan includes a process for requesting accommodations for medical conditions or for sincerely held religious beliefs.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: St. Paul’s School now has an advocate who provides confidential support to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and a new software system to keep track of campus misconduct reports, according to a compliance monitor hired to oversee the handling of sexual abuse claims at the school. The report from Donald Sullivan was released Thursday through the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, which mandated the position as part of an agreement that subjected the Concord boarding school to as much as five years of government oversight in lieu of criminal charges. The 2018 agreement followed an investigation that found credible evidence of abuse involving 20 former faculty members over several decades. Sullivan started his job Jan. 18. His report was completed in July. Just like other schools, St. Paul’s was affected by COVID-19 protocols that resulted in a smaller campus population and additional quarantine time, Sullivan wrote. “There is no way to tell how much the diminished on-campus time or other COVID-19 protocols affected the number of reportable incidents, but it is reasonable to assume that there was some reduction,” he said.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nLower Alloways Creek: State and federal officials broke ground Thursday on a facility designed to help the state take a leadership position in the burgeoning offshore wind energy industry on the East Coast. Gov. Phil Murphy and U.S. Labor Secretary Martin Walsh were among those who spoke at the ceremony for the New Jersey Wind Port in Lower Alloways Creek Township, in Salem County. The facility is designed to provide a place to manufacture giant blades and other components for offshore wind energy projects, which are increasingly being proposed – and approved – off the New Jersey coastline. Its cost is estimated at $300 million to $400 million. “What we are doing is not only going to create good jobs, but it is going to be our greatest stand against climate change,” said Murphy, a Democrat. Walsh, the former Boston mayor, noted that President Joe Biden in March set a goal of having 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy operating by 2030, enough to power about 10 million homes. Walsh said he hopes similar projects will be approved elsewhere along the nation’s shorelines. “Other states can follow suit, right here, with what is happening in New Jersey,” he said. Major construction is due to begin in December and should be completed by the end of 2023.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: A police officer who adopted a child from a pregnant woman he found using heroin in what has been held up as an alternative to abortion is pictured in uniform on an anti-abortion billboard without his permission, his superiors say. Albuquerque Police Officer Ryan Holets appears on a billboard along an interstate that runs through the city, along with the words “My favorite right is life.” The images include two of him holding his daughters, including one daughter he adopted from a couple he found shooting heroin while on patrol in 2017. Holets also helped raise money to find housing for girl’s biological parents while they completed a drug rehabilitation program in 2018. The heroin-using woman was pregnant at the time Holets found her, and she agreed to give up the girl for adoption after the birth. Anti-abortion activists who have held up Holets’ adoption of the girl as an alternative to abortion include the grandmother of his other daughter, Ethel Maharg, who is the executive director of Right to Life New Mexico, the anti-abortion group that used his image on the billboard. The Albuquerque Police Department said Holets declined the group permission to use the image of him in uniform because it would violate policy. “That’s not true,” Maharg told local TV station KRQE in an edited interview.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: A former nurse who co-founded and once ran the cultlike NXIVM group – in which prosecutors say some women were brainwashed, branded like animals and coerced into sex – was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in prison but won’t be locked up until January. Nancy Salzman, the former president and co-founder of NXIVM, must also pay a $150,000 fine, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said. She has agreed to forfeit more than $500,000 in cash, several properties and a Steinway grand piano. Salzman must report to prison by Jan. 19, Garaufis said. Her lawyers said she has been caring for her ailing mother. Speaking in Brooklyn federal court, Salzman, 67, said that she fell under NXIVM leader Keith Raniere’s spell when they started working together 20 years ago and that she started rationalizing and overlooking the wrongdoing she saw around her. She offered an apology to everyone she’s hurt. “I don’t know that I can ever forgive myself,” she said. Salzman, known within the Albany-based group as “Prefect,” pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges of racketeering conspiracy that involved conspiracy to commit identity theft and conspiracy to obstruct justice. She was one of the first in the group’s leadership to plead guilty to criminal charges.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nAsheville: Unvaccinated Buncombe County workers might lose paid COVID-19 quarantine leave under a proposal put forward by local government leaders, with one elected official calling those who have not gotten the shot “irresponsible” and questioning whether they should face deeper benefit cuts. “I think we’ve had a very generous policy around these kinds of issues throughout the pandemics, as well we should. But for staff who make the irresponsible decision to not get vaccinated, I question whether we can continue to provide these kind of policies,” Buncombe Board of Commissioners Chair Brownie Newman said. The board will hold a Sept. 21 public hearing on the potential change to emergency sick leave policy that would affect some members of the approximately 1,800-person county workforce, including sheriff’s staff. The county started the paid quarantine leave before “vaccines came into play,” Buncombe Human Resources Director Sharon Burke told commissioners at a Tuesday meeting. It was given to select employees who could not work from home, such as detention facility officers, patrol deputies, emergency medical technicians and staff administering vaccines.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nKeene: State regulators are investigating a spill that released nearly 48,000 gallons of produced water and more than 1,000 gallons of oil. The state Oil and Gas Division said the incident happened Wednesday at a Slawson Exploration well about 14 miles northwest of Keene. The spill was due an equipment failure or malfunction, officials said. Authorities said Thursday that the water and oil was contained to the site and was recovered and hauled away. Produced water is a byproduct of oil extraction and is typically taken from the well to a disposal site. A state inspector has been to the location and will monitor any additional cleanup that’s required.\n\nOhio\n\nCleveland: Lawmakers in the Republican-dominated Legislature violated the state constitution when they added and approved a last-minute provision that eliminated gun owners’ duty to retreat when facing threats, according to two Democratic lawmakers, the Ohio branch of the NAACP and a grassroots organizing group that filed a lawsuit Thursday. The lawsuit filed in state court in Columbus seeks to repeal the law signed by GOP Gov. Mike DeWine in January. The amendment was improperly added during the final hours of the Legislature’s two-year session in December to what had been a largely bipartisan bill giving nonprofits and other organizations civil immunity when someone with a concealed carry license causes injury or death on their property or at events, the lawsuit said. The “stand-your-ground” provision is unconstitutional, the lawsuit said, because lawmakers voted on it without three days of hearings and violated a law that says legislation should be limited to similar subjects. The NAACP said eliminating the duty to retreat makes it “easier to kill human beings without the perpetrators facing any legal consequences,” a problem that would especially imperil “human beings” who are Black Ohioans.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon will require proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of the race in order to participate in the annual event this year. “This marathon stands for the same resilience of our community we saw (following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing) and we can see now,” Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum Director Kari Watkins said Wednesday. “We believe we can honor those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by running this race and honoring so many who have bravely battled this worldwide pandemic.” The race will also be capped at 12,000 runners, half the number for the last live race in 2019, and will start in waves to allow for social distancing. Like last year’s race, which was run virtually because of the pandemic, the 2021 race has been rescheduled for October from the traditional date in April to coincide with the anniversary of the bombing. Also Wednesday, Oklahoma County District Judge Natalie Mai formalized her temporary injunction blocking a state law that bans schools from implementing mask mandates. Mai’s order said exemptions must be granted for medical reasons or personal objections.\n\nOregon\n\nRoseburg: An infant has died from COVID-19 complications, officials said. The News-Review in Roseburg reports the baby less than a year old was diagnosed with COVID-19-related symptoms Aug. 20 and died Monday, according to the Douglas County COVID-19 Recovery Team. The baby was one of 13 deaths listed in the county’s Wednesday report. Children under age 12 are not eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. All but one of the others who died and were mentioned in the Wednesday report were not fully vaccinated, officials said. “The significant number of deaths over the past month have been so incredibly tragic and heartbreaking,” Douglas County Public Health Officer Bob Dannenhoffer said. He said officials have chosen not to provide detailed case information out of respect for patient privacy and because of ethical responsibility to medical records laws. “We can say that some of those who died were perfectly well before they contracted COVID and died,” Dannenhoffer said. The health team thoroughly investigates all deaths and reviews all medical records to make sure everyone meets the requirements for a COVID-19-related death per the Oregon Investigative Guidelines, he said.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: An apparent loophole in the state’s mask mandate for schools is making it easier for some students to go to class without having to cover their faces, even as education regulators sought to make an example of one openly defiant school board. The state health secretary’s order requiring masks to be worn inside K-12 school and child care facilities, which took effect Tuesday, includes an exemption for students who claim it would cause or worsen a medical condition. But there’s no obligation in the masking order for a student to produce a doctor’s note or other supporting medical documentation. Now some school boards that oppose the statewide mandate or have gotten an earful from parents are allowing students to go unmasked with just a parent’s signature. Spot checks by the Associated Press of about 50 school districts Thursday revealed at least a dozen around the state – from huge suburban school systems outside Philadelphia to rural districts in the west – are using exemption forms that don’t require a medical professional’s signature, making it easy for parents to opt out on behalf of their children. And while most districts are complying with the letter of the mask mandate, the Tamaqua Area School Board in Schuylkill County is openly flouting it by keeping face coverings optional.\n\nRhode Island\n\nCentral Falls: The state’s smallest city has a new slogan. Central Falls Mayor Maria Rivera announced Thursday that her city will now carry the tagline “Diversity that Inspires.” Rivera said the new slogan honors the city’s distinction as the most ethnically diverse in Rhode Island. It’s intended to replace Central Falls’ unofficial nickname as the “Comeback City,” which it earned after filing for bankruptcy in 2011. It emerged from bankruptcy the following year. The new slogan was selected by an all-volunteer branding committee. Located north of Providence, Central Falls is a city of 20,000 that occupies a little more than 1 square mile.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nSummerton: Three new historical markers unveiled in the community commemorate its role in two legal battles that helped end racial segregation in U.S. schools. One of the markers stands outside the home where the Rev. J.A. De Laine asked Levi Pearson to file an NAACP-backed lawsuit demanding equal access to busing for Black schoolchildren. The 1948 case Levi Pearson v. County Board of Education was dismissed because of a technicality. But it set the stage for a second challenge from the Summerton community, WIS-TV reports. In 1950, the NAACP again sued over unequal busing by the Clarendon County school board. Though initially unsuccessful, the case Briggs vs. Elliott became one of five lawsuits appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court that formed the basis of its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954. A marker was placed outside the St. Mark AME Church in Summerton where the NAACP held fundraisers and public meetings to recruit parents willing to demand equal school transportation. Another marks the home where Harry Briggs Sr. signed a petition against Clarendon County School Board President R.W. Elliott, who refused to supply Black schools with buses. The Summerton Community Action Group said it hopes the markers inspire others to keep pursuing equality.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: Sanford Health said Wednesday that it is giving $350 million to a clinical initiative that aims to create a virtual care center to treat people in rural and underserved areas of the Midwest. The center will serve people from across Sanford Health’s network of hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities. It will also house innovation, education and research initiatives to work on digital healthcare solutions for the future. Sanford bills itself as one of the largest rural health care systems in the country. It has 46 hospitals, 1,500 physicians and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and 10 countries. It is based in Sioux Falls and also has major medical centers in Fargo and Bismarck, North Dakota, and Bemidji, Minnesota. The gift comes on the heels of a $300 million donation announced in March that included a significant expansion of graduate medical education and the addition of 18 new sports fields at the Sanford Sports Complex in Sioux Falls.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: The state’s forestry office is now taking orders for tree seedlings for planting throughout the state. The Department of Agriculture’s Division of Forestry said it is offering tree and shrub seedlings for reforestation and conservation projects through the East Tennessee Nursery in Delano. It is accepting orders until April 15, while supplies last. Officials said landowners may apply for free seedlings under three different programs. “Trees for Tennessee” seeks to increase pine regeneration on recently harvested land or fallow fields. “Play, Plant, Preserve” works to make sure wood used for making drumsticks and mallets in Tennessee is sustainable. For both programs, the landowner must have a reforestation prescription plan prepared by a professional forester, officials said. The Duck and Elk River Watershed Buffer Initiative seeks to enhance riparian zone or wetland buffers for wildlife with primarily nut-producing hardwoods. The land must be in one of the following counties: Bedford, Coffee, Dickson, Franklin, Giles, Hickman, Humphreys, Lewis, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore or Williamson.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: The Texas chapter of the NAACP and a group of students have filed a federal civil rights complaint against the University of Texas for its continued use of school song “The Eyes of Texas,” which has racist elements in its past. The complaint filed Sept. 3 with the U.S. Department of Education alleges that Black students, athletes, band members, faculty and alumni are being subjected to violations of the Civil Rights Act and a hostile campus environment over the “offensive,” “disrespectful” and “aggressive” use of the song. The NAACP and the students want the federal government to withhold funding from the university. Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP and a Texas law school graduate, sharply criticized the state Wednesday for requiring the Longhorn Band to play the song at athletic events and expecting athletes to stand and sing it after games. “It’s like slave owners making slaves buck dance for their entertainment,” Bledsoe said. The complaint, which includes statements from several anonymous students, alleges that those who oppose the song on campus are being harassed and that Black students feel “humiliated” whenever it is played or sung. “The Eyes of Texas” was written in 1903 and has a history of performances in minstrel shows with musicians often in blackface.\n\nUtah\n\nSt. George: A nearly 5-month-old California condor has made its maiden flight, becoming Zion National Park’s second wild-hatched nestling to successfully fledge. The California condor is an ancient but critically endangered species, meaning this young bird is now a crucial part of Utah and Arizona’s 103-bird strong population, the park said in a press release. “We are elated to see the continued success of this condor pair in Zion National Park. It is certainly an occasion for celebration in the recovery effort, yet again demonstrating the resiliency of the California condor. What a spectacular site, to see wild-hatched condors soaring amongst the towering rock formations of Zion National Park.” Tim Hauck, condor program manager for the Peregrine Fund, said in the release. Condor #1111 made the flight early, as most condors take their first leap into the air at about 6 months old, though it will continue to be dependent on its parents for the next 12-24 months. Young #1111’s parents, both bred in captivity and released into Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in the late aughts, have been together for four years, and this is their fourth nestling. “Because the adults spend so much time caring for their young, wild condor pairs normally produce one egg every other year,” the release said.\n\nVermont\n\nBurlington: A new museum dedicated to the state’s musical heritage is opening in the city. The Tiny Museum of Vermont Music History opens Friday evening during the first day of the annual South End Art Hop. The museum on Howard Street will become a permanent addition to the headquarters of the nonprofit group Big Heavy World, which promotes and preserves Vermont-made music. The museum will feature photographs, posters, instruments and even menus from old venues. The collection “reflects how music is an art form, a catalyst for community-building, and also a contributor to the state’s economy,” James Lockridge, executive director of Big Heavy World, wrote in a news release. “People are – and have been – making music of all kinds across the state, deserving to be heard and celebrated.”\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Work crews searching for a time capsule they believed was buried inside the pedestal under a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that had towered over the city hit a snag Thursday. Crews were having difficulty finding the capsule’s precise location. Then late Thursday morning, a crane they were using to lift heavy pieces of a cornerstone broke down, stalling work until another crane was brought in a few hours later. State officials were scheduled to remove the 134-year-old time capsule from the cornerstone a day after the large Confederate statue was taken down. But after removing a 2,500-pound capstone and a 500-pound lid, crews were unable to pinpoint the capsule’s precise location. Workers had been using ground-penetrating radar devices to try to find the capsule in a third piece of the cornerstone. Gov. Ralph Northam’s chief of staff, Clark Mercer, said crews would keep looking for it in the cornerstone and adjoining stones. They also decided to dig into the lid of the cornerstone to insert a new time capsule, and state officials ceremonially placed it Thursday. The new capsule contains items reflective of current times, including an expired vial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a Black Lives Matter sticker, and a photograph of a Black ballerina with her fist raised near the Lee statue amid racial justice protests last year.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: King County is working to set up a COVID-19 vaccine verification system that could go into effect next month at certain nonessential, high-risk settings. The Seattle Times reports this would make it easier for places like clubs, theaters and stadiums to check the vaccination status of their patrons. King County’s announcement came as nearly all major spectator sports in the Seattle area said they would require vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test for admission to their games. The county said it is gathering feedback from community organizations, labor unions, businesses and cities. “COVID-19 vaccines are safe, highly effective and readily available, and verifying vaccination in certain nonessential, high-risk settings can make those places safer for the public, workers and our community, including children who are not currently eligible for vaccination,” said Dr. Jeff Duchin, King County’s health officer. Vaccines are free, and health insurance is not required. Other jurisdictions including Hawaii, New York, San Francisco and British Columbia have begun to implement vaccine verification systems.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: Some hospitals in rural parts of the state have reached their critical bed capacities as coronavirus cases and deaths continue to surge statewide, health officials said Wednesday. Health officials are pleading with the public to avoid unnecessary emergency room visits to allow hospitals to focus their resources on treating COVID-19 patients. There were 813 patients hospitalized for the virus statewide Wednesday, just below the record 818 on Jan. 5, when vaccination efforts were starting. There were a record 252 virus patients in hospital ICUs and a record 132 patients on ventilators, according to state data. “Our hospitals are being stressed in ways that they haven’t been stressed before,” Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s coronavirus expert, said at a news conference. In southern West Virginia, Princeton Community Hospital had no ICU beds available due to an increase in COVID-19-related patients, hospital President and CEO Karen Bowling said Wednesday. In Lewisburg in the southeastern corner of the state, the 122-bed Greenbrier Valley Medical Center also was at capacity, according to a Facebook post from Dr. Bridgett Morrison, Greenbrier County’s health officer.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: State Sen. Steve Nass has officially asked the Legislature’s Republican leaders to sue the University of Wisconsin System after system officials refused to submit their COVID-19 protocols to his committee for approval. Nass sent a letter to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu demanding they file a lawsuit forcing system leaders to submit their policies to the Legislature’s rules committee. Nass, a Republican and longtime UW critic, co-chairs the committee. UW System President Tommy Thompson has called for UW campuses to hold at least 75% of classes in person this semester. The schools have implemented a range of protocols to meet that goal, including mask and coronavirus testing mandates. Nass had been threatening to sue for weeks unless system leaders hand over the policies to the rules committee for approval. Thompson has maintained the system has the legal authority to manage itself and doesn’t need legislators’ approval to adopt policies to protect students and faculty. He has said he would win any lawsuit. The squabble has caused a rift between Republicans who vehemently oppose any mandates to mitigate COVID-19 and those who still see Thompson, who served four terms as governor, as a GOP icon.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: For a second year in a row, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch will not visit the University of Wyoming due to the coronavirus pandemic. Gorsuch had been scheduled to visit the law school and campus Sept. 16, giving a talk alongside Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Lynne Boomgaarden in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall. The virus postponed a 2020 visit planned in recognition of the law school’s 100th anniversary. Rising rates of COVID-19 generally, not cases at the university specifically, were the reason for cancellation, university spokesman Chad Baldwin said Tuesday. There were no plans to reschedule, university officials said in a statement.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/crime/2017/04/02/lillelid-murders-haunt-east-tennessee-20-years-later/99876020/", "title": "Lillelid murders still haunt East Tennessee, 25 years later", "text": "Matt Lakin, USA TODAY NETWORK -- Tennessee\n\nOn April 6, 1997, a Knoxville family crossed paths with six young people from Kentucky at an Interstate 81 rest area in East Tennessee. The chance encounter led to the murder of three members of the Lillelid family - parents Vidar and Delfina and their 6 year-old daughter, Tabitha. Peter Lillelid, 2, was shot in the head and back but survived. The Kentuckians, three young men and three young women - all teenagers except for one 20-year-old - were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.\n\nKnox News originally published this story in 2017 to mark the 20th anniversary of the killings.\n\nBAILEYTON, Tenn. — The van rolled through the twilight, gravel crunching beneath its wheels and a few quiet sobs escaping from inside.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/04/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2013/09/30/contemporary-romance-romantic-suspense-new-releases/2893703/", "title": "If you've got the time, we've got the new contemporaries", "text": "Joyce Lamb\n\nUSATODAY\n\nHere are some new contemporaries and romantic suspense, compiled for you and HEA by some of our favorite authors (info provided by publishers and/or their websites):\n\nSnowbound With the Soldier by Jennifer Faye (Harlequin). It has been seven long years since Kara Jameson last saw Jason Greene. Returning home as a wounded war hero, Jason looks a shell of the man she once knew. Yet her heart still skips a beat as if it was yesterday… Stepping back into civilian life, Jason looks to Kara for help. But there's too much water under the bridge—not to mention too much lingering attraction. But it seems that the mountain weather has other ideas, and when Kara and Jason end up snowbound together they are forced to confront the ghosts of Christmas past.\n\nCowboy Justice by Melissa Cutler (Zebra). The second in Melissa Cutler's sexy contemporary Catcher Creek series brings readers back to the small Texas town for more romance and cowboys… When Rachel Sorentino gets into a gunfight protecting her family's land against four drugged out punks, she lands in hot water because one she seriously injures is the son of a local police chief. Sheriff Vaughn Cooper knows she's in the right and promises to clear her of any possible charges. However, their short-lived but sizzling affair has left him in a precarious legal position—and with a broken heart…\n\nBabycakes by Donna Kauffman (Kensington mass market reissue). USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author Donna Kauffman combines the pleasures of small-town life, cupcakes, and falling in love in the third romance of her whimsical, irresistible Cupcake Club series.\n\nHard To Handle by Jessica Lemmon (Forever Yours). Sadie Howard never dates a guy more than once—but Fate has other plans for her when it comes to Aiden Downey, the one who loved her, left her, and broke her heart. Aiden's determined to win back the woman he's always wanted, and Sadie can't resist finishing what they started—as long as there are no strings attached. Can Aiden convince her to take a second chance on a once-in-a-lifetime love?\n\nThe Wager by Rachel Van Dyken (Forever Yours). Jake Titus is too rich, too handsome, too arrogant: a trifecta that once lured Char into the best night—and worst morning after—of her life. When they're thrown together in a wedding party, it's awkward but survivable…until Jake stops acting like a jerk, and starts acting like the man she'd always hoped he could be. Jake is falling for Char—now all he has to do is make her believe it.\n\nUndeniable by Shannon Richard (Forever Yours). Grace King has been in love with the hunky town sheriff since they were kids. But whenever she thinks she's finally getting somewhere, he finds an excuse to escape. Jax can't deny that his Grace is the sexiest woman in town. He tries to keep the sassy blonde at arm's length—but one heated kiss crumbles all his defenses. When a town secret surfaces, threatening to destroy everything, can the man who defended Grace from bullies as a child protect her now?\n\nNearest Thing to Heaven by Lynnette Austin (Forever Yours). Ty Rawlins, the widowed father of rambunctious triplets, is at odds with Sophie London when she returns to Maverick Junction at Thanksgiving for her cousin's wedding. Sophie is a fish out of water in Texas. (The cows freak her out!) But Ty's triplets are enough to make her run all the way back to Illinois in her Jimmy Choos. What will it take for Ty to convince Sophie that Maverick Junction is where she belongs, right beside him and his boys?\n\nA Beauty Uncovered by Andrea Laurence (Harlequin Desire). CEO Brody Eden is a loner. The brooding billionaire has secrets that he refuses to unveil to anyone…until he meets his new assistant, Samantha Davis. She's temptation personified, and she's sitting right outside his door. Samantha's never met a man as guarded—and gorgeous—as Brody. She doesn't want to fall for her boss, but there's something about Brody….\n\nThe following new releases were compiled for HEA by Sara Humphreys, author of Tall, Dark, and Vampire. Her website is sarahumphreys.com.\n\nStuck on You by Rhonda Gibson (McConnell Books). Morgan Frost meets the woman of his dreams but how can he get to know her better without admitting his feelings? So when Sheila, a children's book author offers him a business partnership whereby she'll write stories using the small creatures he's designed, he goes one step further to ensure she'll have to keep in touch with him after the venture is over. He doesn't tell her why he wants to get to know her better and she assumes he wants to stifle her creativity by keeping creative control. Does she want to work with someone like him? Can she even trust him with her stories.\n\nMen Can Be Mean by Sue Brown (Sue Brown). Julie Randolph, a writer for an independent newspaper, makes the enlightening journey back into the \"real world,\" through single motherhood and not letting life's tests get the best of her. A strong believer that, \"We are not products of what has been done to us, rather we are products of what we choose to do for ourselves.\" The statistical realism is that more than one-half of all marriages and relationships end in divorce and the obvious realism is that modern technology is as responsible for marital infidelity as it is for bringing couples together. Love is as necessary to humans as sun and water are to flowers. Life must be filled with love, but it has to be the right love or it doesn't grow and thrive. Flowers that receive either too much or too little water and sun do not survive. Humans are like that as well. With each failed love, perhaps we lose a petal or two! However, the beauty of the creation remains the same.\n\nBrowse. Click. Love. by Cherie Kay (Lucky Lady Press). Cady has everything a young professional could want — a condo in Florida, fantastic friends, a job she doesn't hate, and an eye for fashion. Still bruised after a surprise break-up, she is looking for love and the meaning of life, disguised as an assignment for work. Her adventure into online dating is full of outrageous situations, epic embarrassment, heartwarming friendships, and a surprise insight or two along the way. Cady discovers that the dating world is as confusing as we are. This is her story of love, life and the pursuit of a decent date, fake or otherwise.\n\nThe Wedding by Cheryl Holt (Cheryl Holt). Linda Bennett has lived a charmed life. With her husband being a rich tycoon, she's been showered for decades with wealth and privilege. While the bad economy has ruined many of their acquaintances, they've been extremely lucky, both in their marriage and their finances. Or so she thinks. When her daughter decides to marry—too young and too fast for Linda's liking—Linda's husband claims he doesn't want to flaunt the family's good fortune. He convinces the bride to skip the expensive, ostentatious ceremony and instead host a small, intimate affair at his members-only private club located on the Mexican coast. But from the moment the guests begin to arrive, the entire event seems cursed. Linda's husband keeps disappearing for hours on end, the groom's divorced parents are certifiable, and the groomsmen drunken idiots. And when one of the bridesmaids sets her sights on the sexy groom, all bets are off. Will the bride make it to the altar?\n\nFacebook Jeanie by Addison Westlake (Addison Westlake). It's Bridget Jones meets Groundhog Day ... Ever wonder if you made the right choice? What if you could go back and find out? 31-year-old Clara is in a steady relationship—with Facebook. Every night after her depressing bureaucratic job (so much for saving the world), Clara comes home to her empty apartment (yes, she was dumped) and settles down with a pint of ice cream for some good, old-fashioned Facebook stalking. It's her college boyfriend, The One Who Got Away. With the bod of a God and a net worth of umpteen bamillion, he now has the perfect life—everything she could have had if she hadn't been so, so stupid. But, wait. Jeanie from Facebook shows up at Clara's job. There's a new app they're beta-testing and Clara's perfect for it. The next morning when Clara wakes up at noon, hung over, listening to her roommate blow-drying her hair and singing Gettin' Jiggy Wit It, she realizes she's back in college. With the chance to do it all over again.\n\nHotter by Jorja Tabu (Jorja Tabu). Marjie has struggled with her Christian faith throughout college, but it's never been this hard to keep believing. She's still reeling from a bad break-up with an evil ex, worrying about her grades, and regretting the loss of Ahmed--the handsome teacher's assistant that helped her pass Bio 101--when her room-mate demands she have some fun. It's Halloween! If you're going to sin, do it on All Hallow's Eve, right? Seduced by the prize money for a raunchy contest held at the college's dirtiest frat party, Marjie begins to give way to the devil inside. When she realizes Ahmed is the man on her arm for the night, all bets are off, and this good girl suddenly feels very, very bad.\n\nOperation: Date Escape by Lindsey Brooks (Lindsey Brooks). Since her divorce two years before, Kelsie Collins has been determined to guard her heart and steer clear of seemingly 'perfect' men. An easy task considering the kind of men her matchmaking mother and her best friend, Nanci, keeps setting her up with. She allows them to set her up, knowing their hearts are in the right place and that there is no risk of her letting any man close enough to hurt her again. Her growing experience in ways to slip out of those 'dates from hell' prompts her to start writing a bad date survival guide. One aptly titled — Operation: Date Escape. And it's during one of those escapes that sexier than sin firefighter Cole Maxwell comes to her rescue.\n\nWith This Ring by Allison Hobbs (Strebor Books). Harlow's dreams of happily ever after are shattered when a muffled gunshot forces her to question her new husband's character. Is Drake Morgan the determined entrepreneur she thought he was or a gangster and ruthless killer? After a bout with alcoholism and an emotional breakdown, Nivea is trying to rebuild her life, but the explosive result of her child's paternity test threatens to destroy her fragile family ties. Desperate for her new man to put a ring on it, Vangie sacrifices her morals and puts a lifelong friendship to the test.\n\nWicked and Dangerous by Shayla Black an Rhyannon Byrd (Penguin). There are men—and then there are MEN. Ones who protect and pursue…who demand and desire…who know what they want and unapologetically take it—in life and in love. Now, Shayla Black and Rhyannon Byrd team up to deliver sizzling stories of suspense and seduction, as two women let their longings loose—and go head-to-head and body-to-body with the men who ignite their passion…\n\nTaking the Cake by Kate Davies (Samhain). Mollie Mason is sure her night can't get any worse. Stuck in an inflatable rubber cake, she overhears her fiancé slamming her to the entire guest list of his bachelor party—and then she catches him cheating! But discovering her high school crush has witnessed her humiliation is the icing on the cake. Cade Gallagher has wanted Mollie for years. And when she asks him to help her prove to the world—and herself—that she's not just a good girl, he knows he'd be a fool to say no. But she wants a temporary fling. Will two weeks be enough time to convince her to take a chance on him—forever?\n\nThe Rosie Project by Graeme Simison (Simon & Schuster). Meet Don Tillman, a brilliant yet socially challenged professor of genetics, who's decided it's time he found a wife. And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he designs the Wife Project to find his perfect partner: a 16-page, scientifically valid survey to filter out the drinkers, the smokers, the late arrivers. Rosie Jarman is all these things. She also is strangely beguiling, fiery, and intelligent. And while Don quickly disqualifies her as a candidate for the Wife Project, as a DNA expert Don is particularly suited to help Rosie on her own quest: identifying her biological father. When an unlikely relationship develops as they collaborate on the Father Project, Don is forced to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie.\n\nThe following new releases were compiled for HEA by R.T. Wolfe, author of the Black Creek Series. Her website is www.RTWolfe.com.\n\nRaising Connor by Loree Lough (Harlequin Heartwarming). When Brooke O'Toole's sister and brother-in-law die in a tragic accident, her only priority is the emotional well-being of her one-year-old nephew, Connor. Unfortunately, that means making nice with the man she holds responsible for her mother's murder: Hunter Stone. Allowing Hunter into her life is the opposite of easy. Brooke's never understood why her sister forgave him—and worse, became his neighbor and friend. But even she can't deny the bond between the man and child, or how much she's come to rely on both of them. Despite her instinct to fight this ex-cop who's challenging her right to custody, Brooke suspects the best thing for Connor is a life with both of them in it.\n\nDandelion Wishes by Melinda Curtis (Harlequin Heartwarming). Will Jackson was a control freak and a killjoy. He had been since they were kids. He'd made it his mission to come between Emma Willoughby and her best friend—his little sister—all their lives. But why? Until the day of the accident, Emma had always thought of herself as adventurous, not dangerous…. And then her friend had almost died. She desperately needed to apologize, to try to explain, if she could. Will had managed to keep the two apart while Tracy was in the hospital, but now that she was home in Harmony Valley, the winemaker wannabe had to understand that getting past this was the only way they could heal. And yet even if Tracy was able to, Emma wasn't sure she could forgive herself. And Will had made it abundantly clear: he wouldn't sleep until he'd found retribution.\n\nFootprints in the Sand by Eleanor James (Harlequin Heartwarming). Elsa May Malone was only five when the sea took away her beloved father. Traumatized, angry and forced to leave her home on the Cumbrian coast, she became hostile and withdrawn. Then she met Bryn Evans, a kindhearted boy who'd experienced loss, too. Slowly, Elsa began to let down her barriers—until she and Bryn were torn apart. Alone again, Elsa was sure of one thing: everyone she loved would eventually leave her. When Bryn and Elsa finally reunite, Elsa's determined not to let her true feelings show. But they're grown up now, and Bryn clearly hopes their childhood friendship can become something more. Elsa is painfully aware that love can be as serene and yet as terrifying as the sea. But can she let Bryn into her heart before she loses him a second time?\n\nBlue Ridge Hideaway by Cynthia Thomason (Harlequin Heartwarming). Armed with a can of pepper spray and fuming mad, Dorie Howe is determined to get what's hers from the old con man who fleeced her. Even if she has to cut a deal with his ex-cop son, Bret Donovan. With her brother in jail and no way to pay his lawyer, she's desperate enough to agree to Bret's terms. Desperate- and intrigued. Helping Bret get his mountain retreat in order wouldn't be the worst job she's ever had. The spring air is fresh and the scenery is gorgeous. As long as Bret can keep his policeman's instinct to snoop in check, she just might get away unscathed. All she has to do is keep him, and her feelings, at bay for a few more days….\n\nThe Redemption of Rico D'Angelo by Michelle Douglas (Harlequin Romance). Gorgeous Rico D'Angelo is single-handedly saving the world, one disadvantaged teen at a time. The opening of his charity café should be enough for him to finally put the regrets of his childhood behind him…but even as the ribbon is cut on opening day it's not enough. Until new hire Neen Cuthbert walks through the door and offers an unexpected blast of sunshine! She's had her fill of misguided do-gooders, but something tells her Rico is different. Neen won't let him push her away—especially now she's discovering that Rico might just need her most of all.\n\nThe following new releases were compiled for HEA by Beth Yarnall, author of Wake Up Maggie. Her website is www.bethyarnall.com.\n\nHis Brown-Eyed Girl by Liz Talley (Harlequin Superromance). Lucas Finlay is used to calling the shots. But looking after his two nephews and niece in New Orleans, he's entirely out of his league. Luckily help is next door. With almost no effort Addy Toussant manages to make order from the kid chaos. Lucas is beyond grateful…he's also very attracted to her. Images of an adults-only playdate are soon dancing in his head. Yet something in Addy's golden-brown eyes tells him not to rush her. If this romance is to go anywhere, he needs to let her take the lead. Given the sizzling potential of what they have together, Lucas is okay with that.\n\nA Texas Family by Linda Warren (Harlequin Superromance). Nine years ago, Jena Brooks fled Willow Creek, Texas, as a frightened teenager. Now she's finally found the courage to come home, and this time she's not leaving without her baby. Memories of Asa Corbett stealing her newborn child still haunt Jena to this day. Unfortunately, her best chance at finding her baby is Asa's eldest son, local cop Carson Corbett. Trusting a Corbett again isn't easy, but they'll need to rely on each other completely to face their pasts and discover the truth. Together, Jena and Carson have a chance to heal old wounds and unite their families for good…if the truth doesn't first tear them apart.\n\nIn This Together by Kara Lennox (Harlequin Superromance). And Travis Riggs is way past desperate. With time running out to overturn his brother's wrongful murder conviction and stop his niece's adoption, Project Justice is Travis's last hope. But when his request for an interview is denied, he resorts to drastic measures—kidnapping the founder's personal assistant, Elena Marquez. Travis hadn't planned for any of this to happen, least of all the chemistry between him and Elena. Under different circumstances, they may have had a chance at a relationship. However, the last thing he wants is to drag her down with him, which is exactly what will happen if he accepts her help. Not that Elena is giving him much of a choice.\n\nFor the First Time by Stephanie Doyle (Harlequin Superromance). There's not a lot former CIA agent Mark Sharpe hasn't done. Yet suddenly he's in a world of firsts—first time being a father, first time being self-employed…and first time being attracted to his employee. JoJo Hatcher, with her attitude, her tattoos and her investigative talents, tempts him in ways he can't explain. With each day she becomes more irresistible. How is he supposed to function in this messed-up situation? Then his teenage daughter, Sophie, is threatened. There's only one person he trusts to help him: JoJo. As they work to untangle the mystery, Mark imagines a future together that includes another first—family.\n\nNot Another Wedding by Jennifer McKenzie (Harlequin Superromance). Sure, Poppy Sullivan believes in love…but love at first sight? Not likely. That's why she's determined to stop her good friend from marrying the wrong woman. So she sets to work immediately and walks right into the very impressive chest of Beck Lefebvre. Not a good omen, considering how things ended up the last time he was in town. She isn't surprised to see Beck at his cousin's wedding, but she's appalled at his assumption that he deserves a second chance. She's equally appalled at her inclination to give it to him. No way is she falling for his charm again! Although her vow to resist him may be too late…\n\nBecause of Audrey by Mary Sullivan (Harlequin Superromance). Audrey Stone and her floral shop are thorns in Gray Turner's side! He's in Accord, Colorado, trying to focus on wrapping up his family's business affairs. Instead, thoughts of Audrey and her tempting Hollywood beauty keep filling his head. How can he be this preoccupied with someone whose goals conflict with his? Then suddenly, he needs Audrey's support. Digging into his family affairs has revealed secrets that could ruin everything. With her help, he might be able to stop that. Funny how he once thought she stood in the way of his plans. Now he thinks Audrey could be the answer to his future!\n\nGAY CONTEMPORARIES\n\nThe following new releases were compiled for HEA by Sylvie Fox, author of the L.A. Nights Series. Her website is www.sylviefox.com.\n\nLove Lessons by Heidi Cullinan (Samhain). When Kelly Davidson escapes his small town and arrives at Hope University, he realizes finding his Prince Charming isn't easy. In fact, Kelly could be the only virgin on campus. Worst of all, he's landed the gay campus Casanova as a roommate. Walter Lucas doesn't believe in storybook love. Everyone is better off having as much fun as possible with as many people as possible. As Walter sets out to lure Kelly out of his shell, staying just friends is harder than he anticipated. He discovers love is a crash course in determination. To make the grade, he'll have to finally show up for class…and overcome his own private fear that love was never meant to last.\n\nSibling Rivals by Summer Devon (Samhain). Peter Stevens is overshadowed by his older brother, Mark. But Mark turns out to be the black sheep. Even more surreal are the unmistakable sparks with his brother's boyfriend, Colin. One encounter shakes his confirmed heterosexuality. Years later, when they meet again as student and professor, bone-deep attraction is still there. Thanks to the emotional scars Mark left behind, Colin is done with Stevens men. Having Peter at his university shouldn't be a problem, because Peter is straight. But when Colin realizes the electricity sizzles both ways, he can't resist indulging in a passionate affair. This time, Peter refuses to step aside—and when an emergency brings the family together again, Colin must decide if it's worth the risk to trust another Stevens brother with his heart.\n\nThe Broken H by JL Langley (Loose Id). Sheriff Grayson Hunter once he loved The Broken H, his ancestral home and Shane Cortez. Now he tries to stay as far away from the ranch and the man as possible until an accident brings them together. Shane Cortez has been the Broken H's foreman for going on twenty years. He's lived on the ranch for even longer. Because of a rocky past, he's kept himself from the one thing that has always been dear to him…Grayson. Now Shane has let go of the demons that haunted him for so long. And he wants Gray. They'll have to mend what's broken to make a life together.\n\nEthan in Gold by Amy Lane (Dreamspinner). Evan Costa believes there is no such thing as unconditional love. As Ethan, porn model for Johnnies, he gets exactly what he wants—comradeship and physical contact on trade. Jonah Stevens has spent most of his adult life caring for his family. He's had very little time to work on his confidence or his body for that matter. When Jonah meets Ethan, he doesn't see the porn star. He sees a funny, sexy, confident man who—against the odds—seems to like Jonah. Ethan thinks a platonic friendship with Jonah won't violate his fair trade rules, but Jonah has different ideas. Ethan's pretty sure his choice of jobs has stripped away all hope of a real relationship, but Jonah wants the whole package.\n\nThe Stars that Tremble by Kate McMurray (Dreamspinner). Giovanni Boca was destined to go down in history as an opera legend until a vocal cord injury abruptly ended his career. Now he teaches voice lessons at a prestigious New York City music school. During auditions for his summer opera workshop, he finds his protégé in fourteen-year-old Emma McPhee. Just as intriguing to Gio is Emma's father Mike, a blue-collar guy who runs a business renovating the kitchens and bathrooms of New York's elite to finance his daughter's dream. Their initial physical attraction quickly grows to something more as each hopes to fill the gap that loss and grief has left in his life. Although Mike wonders if he can truly fit into Gio's upper-class world, their bond grows stronger. Then, trouble strikes from outside when the machinations of an unscrupulous stage mother threaten to tear Gio and Mike apart—and ruin Emma's bright future.\n\nArriba Aruba! by Jonathan Treadway (Dreamspinner). Jilted at the altar when his best man ran off with his fiancée, Cray Wright trades in his Mexico honeymoon for a vacation in Aruba. When Stone Ferris walks onto the plane, and makes his interest known, Cray decides to act on desires he's felt since high school but ignored. What starts as fun-filled and casual turns earth-shattering for Cray. When his time in Aruba ends, Cray realizes his feelings for Stone have grown beyond fun, but he worries that it might not translate to real life in LA. Can he convince himself and Stone their love can be paradise at home?\n\nMy Only Sunshine by Rowan McAllister (Dreamspinner). Recently out of the hospital after he and his boyfriend were brutally beaten, Tanner Wallis is jobless, homeless, and almost penniless. His desperate hope is that Mason will give him a place to heal, both physically and emotionally, until he can get on his feet again. But Mason's only been back on the ranch a few months, ten years after his father kicked him out for being gay, and only because his sister begged him to come help after the man's disabling stroke. With all his responsibilities—running the struggling ranch and keeping his sister and father off his back—Mason can't really afford the distraction Tanner represents. But he can't just abandon the attractive young man either. There's trouble in spades on the ranch, but if they face it together, Mason and Tanner might find a future with a little sunshine.\n\nROMANTIC SUSPENSE\n\nThe Dream by Kat Martin (Zebra mass market reissue). In the bestselling tradition of Robyn Carr and Linda Lael Miller, New York Times best-selling author Kat Martin's red-hot repackaged classic combines pulse-pounding suspense with her trademark sensuality and a one-of-a-kind hero.\n\nThe following new releases were compiled for HEA by Susan Vaughan, author of Never Surrender, Once Burned and Twice a Target. Her website is www.susanvaughan.com.\n\nLove Is in the Air by Anji Nolan (Crimson Romance). When RCMP sergeant Jim Cromwell and pilot Sophie Berg are shot in a drive-by shooting, their bond is instant. Jim is investigating drug smugglers, and realizes he may have been the target. However, Sophie works for Granola Aviation, a charter airline carrying alleged drug kingpins about the world, and his focus shifts. Sophie subsequently reveals her own concerns about Granola Aviation, and Jim suspects she is being used. As their friendship morphs into romance, Sophie helps Jim with his investigation. And when she is kidnapped, he realizes how important she has become in his life.\n\nTargeted by Katie Reus (Signet). Former Marine sniper and current NSA agent Jack Stone has a new face to go with his new identity. But he still has the same tortured memories—which include the woman he let get away years ago, when they were teenagers. Now his new assignment in Miami will put him so close to the woman he's never been able to forget, he could reach out and touch her—if only she weren't under suspicion. When Sophie Moreno uncovers evidence linking the medical supply company she works for with arms smuggling—and worse—she doesn't know who to turn to. After a shocking betrayal, she realizes the only person she can trust is a mysterious new person in the company—a man with hauntingly familiar eyes. As Sophie questions her intense attraction to this man and Jack struggles not to blow his cover, the two of them must race against the clock to stop terrorists from killing scores of people—starting with them.\n\nWinters Heat by Cristin Harber (Mill Creek Press). Titan Group operative Colby Winters and military psychologist Mia Kensington must partner to survive an obsessed cartel kingpin and recover a document important to national security. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out mission. But by any means necessary becomes a survival mantra as Colby races through a firestorm of bullets to save the woman he can't live without.\n\nCold Day in Hell by Jerrie Alexander (Jerrie Alexander). Ex-Army Ranger Tyrell Castillo's first mission for Lost and Found, Inc. goes awry when his contact is kidnapped, and he's left scrambling for weapons. He'll have to blow up a drug cartel's compound, rescue the woman, and keep her safe while they cross the sweltering Colombian jungle. Ana Maria Vega Cisneros doesn't want to be rescued. She wants revenge. She'll risk her life to ensure the drug lord who killed her family is dead.\n\nRescue Me by Allie K. Adams (Allie K. Adams). As a TREX Special Agent, it's Spencer Allen's job with the covert agency to tell lies to keep the people around him safe. When a mission goes south, he has no choice but to call in the help of K-SAR, a search and rescue group led by the only woman with the power to destroy his control. Kat Davis has a gift for finding people. When she finds a man not meant to be found and overhears details of a murder, and the plotting of another, she turns to the one man she swore she'd never trust again. One touch detonates the inferno burning between Kat and Spencer. When a mysterious explosion nearly kills them both, Spencer vows to protect her at any cost, even if it means revealing a secret that could tear them apart—forever.\n\nThe Road to You by Marilyn Brant (Marilyn Brant). Two years after Aurora's brother and his best friend disappeared, she finds her brother's journal and sees it's been written in again. Recently. By him. There are secret messages coded within the pages. Determined to follow where they lead, she confides in the only person she feels can help—Donovan—the best friend's older brother. Reluctantly, he agrees to go with her and, together, they set out on a road trip of discovery and danger.\n\nGrave Secrets by Shay Lacy (Lyrical Press). Analise Angelotti can't explain to Detective Rick Ziffkin how she knows more about his friend's murder than she should. Rick needs Analise to share everything she knows. He must solve the murder for more than the sake of his friend. With murderers searching new graves for buried evidence, the dead are on the uprise, as Rick and Analise fight the sizzling attraction growing between them. Can each overcome the secrets haunting them?\n\nThe following new releases were compiled for HEA by Gail Barrett, author of A Kiss to Die For. Her website is gailbarrett.com.\n\nReady, Aim…I Do! by Debra Webb (Harlequin Intrigue). He awoke with a ring on his finger. Only problem was Specialist Jason Grant couldn't remember a wedding. But he did recognize the beautiful woman in his Vegas hotel suite as CIA operative Ginger Olin. Being newlyweds was the perfect cover to expose whoever was targeting Jason. Then Gin laid down ground rules. Passion and affection were for the public only. In private, it was hands off. But as Jason's hunger for his make-believe wife battled with his professional dedication, their \"just for show\" behavior had him yearning to make Gin his wife for real.\n\nTrap, Secure by Carol Ericson (Harlequin Intrigue). The last thing Miranda Lewis remembers is being shot…then tumbling over the balcony. When a sexy, blue-eyed stranger finds her, she has no memory of who she is or what she's doing in the jungles of Colombia. Gage Booker risked his life in the raid on the compound, only to discover his quarry gone and an injured woman left for dead, a woman the covert operative would be a fool to trust. But her amnesia seems real—and so does the passion exploding between them.\n\nCowboy Resurrected by Elle James (Harlequin Intrigue). Thorn Drennan stares death in the face when he's nearly shot by a ranch trespasser. But this is no ordinary trespasser. Pregnant and running for her life, Sophia Carranza has crossed the Mexican border, leaving a trail of ruthless enemies behind. Sophia's protection is Thorn's first assignment as an undercover agent and he senses trouble. Inexplicably drawn to Sophia's beauty and fighting spirit, Thorn fears his growing desire for Sophia could jeopardize the mission. And when Sophia's captors finally catch up to them, will Thorn trade his own life for another?\n\nThe Reunion by Jana DeLeon (Harlequin Intrigue). Bodyguard to an heiress is Tyler Duhon's idea of hell. The steely, sexy ex-marine has heard—and dismissed—the gossip about the haunted old LeBeau mansion and its \"cursed\" heiresses. Now the middle sibling—headstrong Joelle—has arrived to comply with her mother's will and reunite with her long-lost sisters. But no sooner does she move into the house, than Joelle falls prey to terrifying threats and mysterious visions. Tyler, though he's sworn off femme fatales, can't deny his feelings for the Creole beauty. Nor can he let passion distract him. Because falling for Joelle could be a fatal mistake—for them both.\n\nMy Spy by Dana Marton (Harlequin Intrigue). A mission gone wrong forced injured soldier Jamie Cassidy to start anew…and run right into the path of deputy sheriff Bree Tridle. The sassy, sexy Texan was as determined to uncover a local money-laundering scheme as Jamie was to keep her safe from the stalker hot on her trail. But Jamie, now an undercover operative, was also on a covert mission of his own: track smugglers threatening to bring terrorists into the U.S. Could Jamie's and Bree's cases be related? When a deadly attack on Bree's home escalates the danger and their attraction, Jamie and Bree must face their enemies together to save not only their country, but their one chance at love.\n\nMountain Heiress by Cassie Miles (Harlequin Intrigue). Since quitting the rodeo circuit, Zach Sheffield hadn't much time for people, never mind city folk. A stranger had inherited a famous ranch in their Colorado town, and worse than not knowing one end of a horse from the other, he pegged Gabby Rousseau as a mustang, for sure. Local legend said that Gabby's estate hid the Frenchman's treasure, making it a frequent target for thieves. After the first break-in, Zach knew Gabby would need protection, but the beauty from the big city was putting up a fight. He knew he was better off tending to his horses than praying for a breakthrough …but then again, Zach had never met a mustang he couldn't tame.\n\nHOLIDAY ROMANCE\n\nPeter's Christmas by M.L. Buchman (Buchman Bookworks). In this latest installment in M.L. Buchman's \"The Night Stalkers\" series, President Peter Matthews (who lost his wife in NS#1, The Night is Mine) finds true love. Genevieve Beauchamp is a UNESCO World Heritage Chief of Unit for Southeast Asia. Her exotic French-Vietnamese heritage, and her intense brilliance dazzle the President. Little do they know that not only their hearts, but their very lives will be on the line this Christmas season.\n\nThe Christmas Baby Surprise by Shirley Jump (Harlequin Romance). With an aching heart, Emily Watson knows her marriage is in trouble. She wants it to work more than anything in the world, so walking away from Cole is the hardest thing she'll ever do. But one last night together is set to change her life and her marriage forever. Needing time to think, Emily returns to the one place that always feels like home: the Gingerbread Inn. It is the perfect setting to work out what to do with her little secret. And when Cole finds her, and her growing bump, he realizes that this Christmas, some things are worth fighting for.\n\nSingle Dad's Christmas Miracle by Susan Meier (Harlequin Romance). He needs a helping hand. Having recently lost his wife, Clark Beaumont is trying to make it through the holidays for the sake of his kids. But with his son failing at school and his little girl talking only in whispers, he needs nothing short of a miracle ... when one arrives on his doorstep! Althea Johnson is only meant to tutor Clark's son. But with her help the Beaumont family begins to come alive again, and against the odds Althea hopes that when Christmas morning arrives there will be four stockings hanging over the fireplace.\n\nA Second Chance for Christmas by Nashin Sadeer (Metador Press). Nathan is a single father with a son named Stefan. He was married to a woman named Emily, but she unfortunately died when Stefan was three years old. Torn apart by grief, Nathan was full of remorse, shut himself away and became a work alcoholic. Emily was everything for Nathan, and his life has still not got better. He has been living his life in sadness, and not realising that he was hurting the most precious thing to him: Stefan. But this Christmas things are about to change. A young woman, Kate, has come into Nathan's life and he has fallen in love with her. She's the first woman he's dated since Emily's death. Kate has an important mission that she has to achieve before Christmas. However, she is hiding something from Nathan, and he doesn't realise who Kate actually is until she reveals her true identity on Christmas Day ...\n\nSingle Dad's Christmas Miracle by Susan Meier (Harlequin Romance) . He needs a helping hand… Having recently lost his wife, Clark Beaumont is trying to make it through the holidays for the sake of his kids. Althea Johnson is only meant to tutor Clark's son. But with her help the Beaumont family begins to come alive again, and against the odds Althea hopes that when Christmas morning arrives there will be four stockings hanging over the fireplace….\n\nA Family for Christmas by Winnie Griggs (Harlequin Love Inspired Historical). Eve Pickering knows what it's like to be judged for your past. So she's not about to leave the orphaned boy she's befriended alone in this unfamiliar Texas town. Since Chance Dawson's offer of shelter is the only way to look after Leo, Eve is determined they'll have a warm, welcoming home for the holidays. Chance came from the big city to make it on his own despite a painful secret. But Eve's strength is giving him a confidence he never expected—and a new direction for his dream. With a little Christmas blessing, he'll dare to win her heart—and make their family one for a lifetime.\n\nA Puppy for Christmas Carole Mortimer, Myrna Mackenzie, Nikki Logan (Harlequin). Three heart-warming holiday novellas. On the Secretary's Christmas List by Carole Mortimer : Bree has landed an amazing job, but her new boss is a difficult, unreliable playboy—who is also infuriatingly gorgeous… When Bree looks after Jackson's son and energetic puppy, she realizes what she really wants this Christmas. The Soldier, the Puppy and Me by Myrna Mackenzie: Christmas is a difficult time for war hero Trey McFadden and it doesn't help that his neighbor, Ella Delancey, and her adorable puppy, Fizz, seem determined on spreading festive cheer. The Patter of Paws at Christmas by Nikki Logan: Ingrid has to spend Christmas with gorgeous zookeeper Gabriel Marque. They're keeping watch for the zoo's first litter of wild dogs. Will the patter of tiny paws bring them together, this time forever?\n\nBig Sky Christmas by C.J. Carmichael (Harlequin American Romance). Jackson Stone will always be grateful to the Lamberts, who took him in when he was just a kid. But since the accident that killed his foster brother, Brock, he stays away from the family at Coffee Creek Ranch. Especially now that Brock's former fiancée, Winnie Hays, is back in town with her little boy. The simmering attraction between them may surprise Winnie, but Jackson fell for her at first sight years ago.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/09/30"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_19", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:01", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2023/03/09/donald-trump-new-book-letters/11435238002/", "title": "Trump is selling a book of letters celebrities wrote him. You can get a ...", "text": "Former President Donald Trump is releasing a new book that is a compilation of letters from other famous people.\n\nHis second book since his presidency, \"Letters to Trump\" will arrive April 25 and promises 320 pages of more than 150 letters from celebrities and politicians, including Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Queen Elizabeth II and Richard Nixon.\n\nAccording to a press release, Trump \"hand picked\" each letter sent within a 40-year time span and will provide his own commentary for each entry.\n\n\"What do presidents, royals, celebrities, and business titans have in common? They all love Donald Trump. Long before entering politics, Donald Trump lived an extraordinary life,\" founder of Winning Team Publishing Sergio Gor said in a statement. \"No book highlights his iconic relationships like 'Letters to Trump,' and we are thrilled to be able to share it with our readers.\"\n\nMary Trump’s book:A bizarre White House dinner with Donald Trump and more cringeworthy moments\n\nTrump's first book post-presidency, \"Our Journey Together,\" was a 320-page photo book released December 2021 and included his commentary alongside pictures taken of him during his time in the White House.\n\nWinning Team Publishing is a conservative publishing house founded in 2021 by Gor and Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr.\n\n\"Letters\" is priced at $99 with an option for readers to pay $399 for a signed copy.\n\nOther books Winning Team has published include Donald Trump Jr.'s \"Liberal Privilege\" and Charlie Kirk's \"The College Scam.\"\n\nTrump has put his hat in the 2024 presidential race and remains the Republican front-runner, despite the prospect of indictments.\n\n'I won't even think about leaving':Trump at CPAC says indictment wouldn't push him out of 2024 race\n\nDuring his visit to this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump made clear he would stay in the 2024 race even if prosecutors in Atlanta and/or Washington, D.C., bring charges against him over efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss.\n\n\"I won’t even think about leaving,” Trump told reporters before a CPAC speech.\n\nContributing: David Jackson", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/politics/donald-trump-coffee-table-book/index.html", "title": "Donald Trump quietly making millions from coffee table book | CNN ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nA few months ago, former President Donald Trump signed a book deal.\n\nThere wasn’t the huge fanfare most former presidents receive when they ink deals for a memoir; news of the book, a coffee table tome with pictures detailing Trump’s presidency – retailing about $75 and $230 if signed – made barely a blip in the media. But the deal, which CNN can confirm included a multimillion dollar advance for Trump, has quickly and significantly plumped the pockets of the former President.\n\nSales of the book, “Our Journey Together,” grossed $20 million in less than two months since it went on sale in late November, two people familiar with the publishing of the book told CNN. Part of the book’s popularity among Trump’s base is the captions, all of which he wrote himself, and most of which feature unbridled hot takes on his political enemies.\n\n“We did an initial print run of 200,000 copies,” said Sergio Gor, a longtime Republican operative who founded Winning Team Publishing to publish the book last fall. Gor’s partner in the company is Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s oldest son. To date, this is the only book they have published, but Gor says he has signed two more conservative authors, whom he declined to name.\n\nThe idea behind “Our Journey Together” was simple: Trump’s fan base was hungry for more of the signature firebrand former President. So, give them what they want, said Gor. In less than two days on sale, via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and 45books.com, operated by Winning Team Publishing, the autographed copies of the book were selling into the thousands. Unsigned copies were selling quickly as well.\n\nTrump's coffee table book is called \"Our Journey Together.\" Winning Team Publishing\n\n“We still can’t keep up with the customers,” said Gor, who says they are now out of books and have issued requests for 300,000 more copies to be printed in three locations in the United States. Those printings are in the works, but people ordering “Our Journey Together” now likely won’t see copies arrive until late February or early March, said Gor. A current search for available books on the internet turns up nothing, save for copies being peddled by third parties. A signed copy on Amazon being sold as a “collectible” is listed at $1,749. Other signed copies on the auction website eBay range between $950 and $1,300.\n\nSwear words and memories\n\nWhile hardly a traditional memoir, “Our Journey Together,” is, as Gor said, “pure Trump.” The revelations Trump extends in the book are not deep analysis of his time in the White House, but rather his unedited interpretations of events or people, with zero in the way of different perspectives or the opportunity for comment from his hit parade of targets.\n\nWithout a Twitter feed (Trump remains banned by the social media platform), the former President seems to be using the coffee table book to extend his post-White House kiss-offs. Next to or below each of the 300 or so photographs is a Trump-authored caption, some even written in his tell-tale handwriting – a thick, black scrawl of marker, mostly uppercase but with dotted lowercase i’s and lots of exclamation points.\n\n“Attempting to listen to crazy Nancy Pelosi in the Oval Office – such natural disagreement,” writes Trump next to one photo. For another image of the House speaker, Trump drops a hand-scrawled, semi f-bomb: “She was screaming and shaking like a leaf, she’s f***ing crazy, hence the name ‘Crazy Nancy.’”\n\nThe book includes captions written by Trump, including this one about his meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Winning Team Publishing\n\nAdjacent to a picture of the late GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, one of his noted adversaries, Trump notes, “Asking for a job for his wife and I am smiling but I didn’t like him even a little bit.”\n\nNot all in Trump’s crosshairs are political. Of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Trump writes, “Mark Zuckerberg would come to the White House and kiss my ass. His censorship is terrible for America. His ‘campaign contributions’ even worse.”\n\nSome photos are of Cabinet members Trump appointed himself, like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. “General Mark Milley looks like he’s praying, and ‘Yesper’ (who said ‘yes’ to everything,) doesn’t know if he’s alive,” Trump wrote.\n\n“I’ve never seen a presidential book that’s really a hatchet job of other people,” said John Reznikoff, founder of University Archives, who has dealt with the buying and selling of hundreds of presidential collectibles over his more than four decades in the auction business. After learning of the book’s popularity among collectors late last fall, Reznikoff said he purchased several copies of “Our Journey Together,” as he has with every other presidential memoir or book.\n\n‘The closest thing to printing money’\n\nThe reason a presidential book can range into the high hundreds and thousands of dollars is the autograph.\n\nReznikoff said books, especially those that are signed, will undoubtedly increase in value exponentially over time. He pointed to former President Barack Obama’s 2020 presidential memoir, “A Promised Land,” signed copies of which are selling on auction sites for around $600. “It’s hard to find a presidential signature at all on anything that goes for less than $100,” said Reznikoff.\n\nHe said if Trump is a fast signer, using a bookplate of his signature – a common practice for authors that Gor confirmed Trump did – then he could get through several hundred books a day. “It’s the closest thing to printing money I can come up with,” said Reznikoff of the lucrativeness of Trump’s signature.\n\nTrump’s fan base is big into merchandise, and Trump himself has used his name on everything from steaks and bottled water to ties, perfume, alcohol and mattresses. “Sometimes a book with a signature can become de-valued if that signature is easy to find,” said Reznikoff, who cited the ubiquity of books from former President Jimmy Carter, who wrote more than 20.\n\nAnother photo from the book shows Ivanka Trump, the former President's daughter who also served as an adviser. Winning Team Publishing\n\nBut for Trump, who has never had a high bar for what, when and why he signs his name to something, a coffee table book with fiery captions tracks with the size of the lift the former President was willing to undertake. Whereas most presidential memoirs would devote a chapter or two to describing a meeting with a world leader, Trump doles out the experience in a few sentences.\n\n“Boris is one of a kind!” Trump wrote in a caption with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, letting the big color pictures tell the story. A cerebral diagnosis of the moment – a picture of the two men greeting each other at a global summit – and its effect on modern history it is not.\n\nThe photos in the book are images taken during his presidency, culled from several hundred thousand, said Gor. About 90% of the images were taken by official White House photographers, which are archived and considered public domain, as they were taken on behalf of the government to document Trump’s tenure. Trump’s chief official White House photographer, Shealah Craighead, shot most of the book’s images. A person with knowledge of Craighead’s interest in striking a deal in recent months to create her own book of Trump images – similar to the one Obama’s former chief official photographer Pete Souza published – said Craighead’s idea couldn’t find traction via traditional publishers.\n\n“The appetite for Trump-related books these days is pretty low,” said the person, who has worked with several politically connected authors. “The market has been saturated.” Still, the person noted it’s not a surprise Trump fans would be drawn to this book, which is basically Trump personified in glossy, oversized photos.\n\nIt’s a sentiment echoed by Gor, whose impetus was to start a conservative publishing house solely to sign the former President and capitalize off of his base – then add other Trump-friendly authors in time. “(Trump) wants to do another book after seeing the success of this one,” said Gor, who added that Trump spent several evenings at Mar-a-Lago going through the 8,000-9,000 photos Gor and his assistants had narrowed down for him, and even more nights signing the book when it came out.\n\nThe only thing preventing Trump right now from adding his signature to tens of thousands more copies of “Our Journey Together” is, ironically, the supply chain issues for which Republicans have tried to blame his successor. There isn’t enough paper available.", "authors": ["Kate Bennett"], "publish_date": "2022/02/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/politics/trump-book-of-letters-2023/index.html", "title": "Trump to release 'book of letters' next year amid 2024 campaign ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump is planning to release a book next year showcasing his private correspondence with past and present celebrities and international icons, CNN has learned.\n\nSources familiar with the matter said the project will mirror Trump’s first post-White House book, a collection of 300-plus photographs from Trump’s time in office that were accompanied by captions he wrote himself. His newest book will contain reproductions of letters written to, or by, Trump over the last few decades, providing readers with a more intimate view into his private life and past social circles.\n\nTrump’s correspondence with singer-songwriter Elton John, the late entertainer Michael Jackson and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, are expected to be included, sources said. In a lewd 1997 interview with shock jock Howard Stern that was unearthed during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, Trump claimed that he received a “really nice” letter from the late Princess of Wales thanking him for an undisclosed favor.\n\n“She wrote me a letter about a couple of months before she died thanking me ‘cause I did her a favor for something,” Trump told Stern. “She wrote me a really nice letter.”\n\nIt is unclear if the “book of letters,” as multiple sources described it, will feature any of the letters Trump exchanged with Kim Jong Un during his pursuit of North Korea’s denuclearization. Trump has previously boasted of his “love letters” with the foreign dictator, once declaring at a campaign rally that he and Kim Jong Un “fell in love” through their written correspondence.\n\nThe letters were among a trove of government documents, including ones that contained classified markings, kept at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office, prompting the National Archives and Records Administration to seek their return. A special counsel appointed by the Justice Department is currently investigating Trump for his possible mishandling of classified documents and presidential records.\n\nTrump’s second book since leaving office is due to be published by Winning Team Publishing, an imprint launched by his eldest son Don Jr. and former campaign adviser Sergio Gor, who declined to comment on the project.\n\n“We don’t have anything to announce yet,” Gor said.\n\nThe same publishing house was behind “Our Journey Together,” the $75 hardcover collection of photographs that Trump released last December. CNN previously reported that the book grossed $20 million in less than two months after it went on sale.\n\nTrump aides said they expect his next book to be just as lucrative, particularly due to its overlap with his third presidential campaign.\n\n“Sounds like a money-maker for sure,” said one person close to Trump.\n\nA second person close to the former president said he is unlikely to publish a memoir about his presidency in the near future, particularly because he wants to wait for the 2024 cycle to play out. In May, however, Winning Team Publishing appeared to suggest that Trump was working on a book about the 2020 election, which the former president has falsely insisted was stolen.\n\n“NEW BOOK ALERT: CRIME OF THE CENTURY by President Donald J. Trump! More details coming soon,” the publishing house wrote in a tweet.\n\nNumerous other rumored 2024 Republican hopefuls have recently released books or plan to publish in the coming months. Among them are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has an autobiography coming in late February; Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, whose third book, “Decades of Decadence” is due out in June 2023; and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who will release a book in January and has publicly acknowledge he is mulling a primary challenge against Trump.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/12/12"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/mike-pence-book-trump-january-6/index.html", "title": "Pence details fracture with Trump over his refusal to overturn 2020 ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer Vice President Mike Pence wrote in his new memoir that former President Donald Trump warned him days before the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol that he would inspire the hatred of hundreds of thousands of people because he was “too honest” to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.\n\nThe comments are part of the vivid ending of Pence’s new memoir, “So Help Me God.” It’s being released as Trump prepares what an aide has said will be the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago.\n\nPence has also hinted at his own potential 2024 run, recently telling ABC News he thinks “we’ll have better choices in the future” than Trump. But in his memoir, he largely defends Trump – touting the former president’s achievements, downplaying controversies and excusing Trump’s personal vendettas, including against the late Arizona Sen. John McCain.\n\nStill, Pence – who said Trump was “reckless” with his tweet attacking his vice president that day – was critical of Trump over the events surrounding the insurrection, writing that he told Trump directly afterward that he was angry and that what he’d seen that day infuriated him.\n\n“The truth was, as reckless as the president’s tweet was, I really didn’t have time for it. Rioters were ransacking the Capitol,” Pence wrote. “Some of them, I was later told, were chanting, ‘Hang Mike Pence!’ The president had decided to be part of the problem. I was determined to be part of the solution. I ignored the tweet and got back to work.”\n\nThe conversations between Trump and Pence have been one of the key themes of the House’s January 6 committee hearings, and the book gives Pence, who has not testified before the committee, the chance to weigh in on his exchanges with Trump.\n\nPence said that he’d begun election night in 2020 confident, but things changed later in the evening, he wrote, when results in states with large shares of mail-in ballots “began to shift” and the Trump-Pence ticket’s lead “started to vanish.”\n\n“The mood in the White House, initially ebullient, began to sour,” Pence wrote.\n\nHe described watching Trump claim in an early Wednesday morning speech that the election process had been “a fraud on the American public” and said the days that followed the election were “a little like the twilight zone,” as Trump’s team challenged states’ results.\n\nThe Saturday after the election, Pence wrote, Trump’s son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner called him to ask whether he thought there had been fraud in the election. He told Kushner there likely was some fraud, but he doubted it was why they’d lost, according to the book.\n\nHere are other key moments Pence described in his memoir:\n\n‘What if we hadn’t had the rally?’\n\nWhile Pence acknowledges the reality of the electoral vote count, he does not describe Joe Biden as having won the 2020 race fairly, or take issue with the Trump campaign’s strategy of fighting swing states’ results in court. He discusses turning the Texas effort to challenge some states’ electoral votes into an applause line while campaigning in Georgia for two Republican senators in runoff elections.\n\nPence wrote that he asked his general counsel for a briefing on the procedures of the Electoral Count Act after Trump in a December 5 phone call “mentioned challenging the election results in the House of Representatives for the first time.”\n\nOver lunch on December 21, Pence wrote, he tried to steer Trump to listen to the White House counsel’s team’s advice, rather than outside lawyers.\n\n“I said, ‘You’ve got a good team at the White House,’ to which he grumbled, ‘No, I don’t,’” Pence wrote. “If the president had chosen to listen to those good men and not the gaggle of outside lawyers who took over the election challenges from the campaign, things would have been very different.”\n\nPence wrote that Trump told him in a New Year’s Day phone call: “You’re too honest,” he chided, predicting that “hundreds of thousands are gonna hate your guts” and “people are gonna think you’re stupid.”\n\n“Mr. President, I don’t question there were irregularities and fraud,” Pence wrote that he told Trump. “It’s just a question of who decides, and under the law that is Congress.”\n\n“With that, the president said that he guessed it probably just ‘takes courage,’ implying that was what I lacked,” Pence continued. “I paused before replying and, facing him from my seat in front of the Resolute Desk, said firmly, ‘Mr. President, I have courage, and you know that.’”\n\nPence wrote that Trump relented and “said with more than a little sadness, ‘Well, I’m gonna have to say you did a great disservice.’”\n\nPence, who said he refused to leave the Capitol on January 6, also wrote about his meeting with Trump in the days after January 6. Trump asked Pence, “Were you scared?” the former vice president wrote. “‘No,’ I replied, ‘I was angry. You and I had our differences that day, Mr. President, and seeing those people tearing up the Capitol infuriated me.’”\n\nPence wrote that he told Trump he was praying for him and encouraged him to pray. Trump didn’t say anything initially, Pence said, and then responded with “genuine sadness” in his voice: “What if we hadn’t had the rally? What if they hadn’t gone to the Capitol?”\n\nA personal warning to Putin\n\nPence wrote that in 2018, when he was representing the United States at the ASEAN conference in Singapore – the type of meeting he says Trump “was never big on” – he was approached at a plenary session with a tap on the shoulder by Russian President Vladimir Putin.\n\n“I noticed that Putin projected a familiarity toward me. It came, I concluded, from his friendly meeting with Trump earlier in the year. It was as if we were old acquaintances,” Pence wrote. “I didn’t return the favor. I kept my expression firm and fixed, and the photo of me looking down at him with a furrowed brow and a grim expression was published around the world, just as I’d hoped it would be.”\n\nAt the end of the session, during a brief meeting requested by the Russians, Pence said Putin “was just inches from me, expecting a friendly chat.”\n\nWhen Putin wrapped up his comments about restarting nuclear nonproliferation negotiations, Pence said he told the Russian leader: “Mr. President, we know what happened in 2016, and it can’t happen again.”\n\n“Though Putin speaks English, he listened as his translator leaned in, relaying my message. His expression grew incredulous. He turned with a question to his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, presumably asking what I was talking about. The only word I recognized was ‘elections,’” Pence wrote. “Then he spoke through his translator, saying Russia had nothing to do with the election. To which I responded, ‘Mr. President, I’m very aware of what you’ve said about that, but I’m telling you we know what happened in 2016, and it can’t happen again.’ Putin seemed taken aback. Then he shrugged and changed the subject back to his upcoming summit in Argentina.”\n\nPence wrote that it was “absolutely right” for the FBI to investigate claims of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, but pushed back on the idea “the investigation was into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia and into Trump himself.”\n\nPence acknowledged that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election but insisted “its mischief had not elected Trump president” and called it an “attempt to sow discord, to destabilize US democracy, to spread false information across both left-wing and right-wing platforms so as to turn Americans against one another.”\n\n“I always had the impression that the president felt that acknowledging Russian meddling would somehow cheapen our victory,” he wrote. “But in my view, there was no reason for Trump not to call out Russia’s bad behavior; it wasn’t an admission of collusion but a declaration that our intelligence services knew what Putin’s regime had been up to. I had no problem calling Russia out.”\n\nMeeting with North Koreans at 2018 Olympics scrapped\n\nPence confirmed that he had been set to meet with North Korean officials during the 2018 Olympic Games, but the meeting was pulled down hours beforehand by Pyongyang.\n\nThe North Koreans had been the ones pushing for engagement in Pyeongchang, Pence said, also noting that former South Korean President Moon Jae-in had “wanted to politely force a meeting.”\n\nThe former vice president said that while the Olympics began, “the North Korean government was making back-channel overtures to me about having a meeting.”\n\n“I relayed the information to Trump. See what they have to say, he told me. If the meeting can be arranged, take it,” Pence recounted.\n\nThe meeting “appeared to be a go” and was arranged to take place on Pence’s last day in South Korea, at the Blue House. However, “two hours before the meeting was set to begin, we got word that the North Koreans were no longer willing to participate and we were told that the order ‘came from Pyongyang,’ leading to speculation that Kim Jong Un was irritated by my refusal to engage with his sister while the cameras clicked and the world watched.”\n\nPence had been seated in the same box with Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, at the Olympic Stadium, but as Pence put it: “I ignored her.”\n\nThe former vice president also described what he said were efforts by the former South Korean leader to get him to engage with the North Korean leaders.\n\n“Before the opening ceremony, there was a large reception and dinner for the two hundred national leaders in attendance,” he recalled, noting that Moon had arranged for he and the North Koreans to be seated at the head table, and that “a group photograph was arranged at the outset of the banquet.” Pence and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intentionally arrived late to the banquet and did not participate in the group photo.\n\n“That would have been a huge symbolic victory for North Korea. No chance,” Pence said.\n\nTrump’s relationship with Fauci\n\nPence delves into his role in the Trump administration’s battle against the coronavirus pandemic, and details the relationship between Trump and Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert.\n\nPence praised Fauci, writing, “I was glad he was there. He was a reassuring voice to the public; Mitch McConnell had advised me, correctly, that Fauci would be a valuable member of the team because of his stature.”\n\nHowever, Pence expressed how he didn’t understand why Fauci “was so insistent that Covid-19 had not emerged from a Chinese lab,” adding that he believed Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during most of the Trump administration, held a correct assessment in the lab leak theory.\n\n“Dr. Robert Redfield of the CDC always held that it had, and the more we have learned, the more I believe that Bob was right,” Pence wrote.\n\nPence commented on Trump and Fauci’s relationship, writing that it was “very good” initially.\n\n“Trump is from Queens, Fauci from Brooklyn, and Fauci was not put off by Trump’s New York brashness. He had grown up around it. He is a brash New Yorker, too,” Pence wrote.\n\nFrustration with McCain over Obamacare vote\n\nPence detailed the personal angst between Trump and McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who died in 2018. Trump had attacked McCain during the 2016 presidential campaign, saying he didn’t consider the man who had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam to be a hero.\n\n“They were both sharp-elbowed men who punched back hard when attacked. But I always believed that had McCain lived, they would eventually have become friends,” Pence wrote.\n\nHe also made clear that he still resents the terminally ill McCain’s return to the Senate floor to cast the vote that would doom the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.\n\nPence wrote that he had put Trump and McCain on the phone together. McCain, in Pence’s retelling of the call, told Trump he was honored by the call, and gave no indication he would vote against the GOP bill.\n\n“Then he walked out of the office, onto the Senate floor, caught the eye of the Senate clerk, gave a thumbs-down, walked over to his desk, and sat down,” Pence wrote. “There was an audible gasp. The effort to repeal and replace Obamacare was dead. The Trump administration had just been knocked back on its heels. Trump was irate. I was, too.”\n\nPence wrote that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close friend of McCain, “deserved better” on the Obamacare repeal effort from his friend.\n\n“In a fitting twist, immediately after McCain voted down Obamacare repeal, Rand Paul blocked consideration of the fiscal-year spending for the Departments of Defense, Energy, and State, which was nicknamed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act,” Pence wrote. “Trump was delighted. McCain was incensed. He actually said, ‘It is unfortunate that one senator chose to block consideration of a bill our nation needs right now.’ Takes one to know one.”", "authors": ["Eric Bradner Jeremy Herb Jennifer Hansler Maegan Vazquez Nikki Carvajal Veronica Stracqualursi Kit Maher", "Eric Bradner", "Jeremy Herb", "Jennifer Hansler", "Maegan Vazquez", "Nikki Carvajal", "Veronica Stracqualursi", "Kit Maher"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/politics/takeaways-mike-pence-cnn-town-hall/index.html", "title": "6 takeaways from former Vice President Mike Pence's CNN town hall", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer Vice President Mike Pence in a CNN town hall on Wednesday refused to commit his support to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and left the door open to seeking the Republican nomination himself.\n\nSpeaking a day after the release of his memoir, “So Help Me God,” Pence was mostly coy when discussing his own plans while touting the Trump administration’s policy agenda.\n\nBut Pence was more direct when asked about the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. The former vice president called it “the most difficult day of my public life.”\n\nPence also revealed more about his personal feelings about that day and his views on the state of American politics in the aftermath of a presidency that he said did not end well.\n\nHere are takeaways from the town hall:\n\n‘Better choices’: Pence reacts to Trump’s 2024 announcement\n\nAsked about Trump’s new campaign for president, which he announced Tuesday, Pence said he believed that there would be “better choices” on the ballot in two years.\n\nPence left open the possibility that one of those preferable options, as he saw it, might be him.\n\n“I’ll keep you posted,” Pence told CNN’s Jake Tapper, who moderated the event.\n\nMoments earlier, as he grappled with the Trump question, Pence said, “I think it’s time for new leadership in this country that will bring us together around our highest ideals.”\n\nPressed by Tapper about his future, Pence replied, “There may be someone else in that contest I’d prefer more.”\n\nWatch Pence's response when asked if he'll support Trump in 2024 03:30 - Source: CNN\n\nPence calls January 6 ‘most difficult day’ but won’t testify to House panel\n\nIt was, Pence said, the “most difficult day of my public life.”\n\n“I thought it was important, as vice president, that I offer my advice and my counsel to the president confidentially. And we did,” Pence said of his role that day, when Trump and others allied with the then-president tried to convince him to launch an unconstitutional bid to block or overturn the election results.\n\nPence said his decision to ignore Trump’s entreaties was rooted in something deeper than their relationship.\n\n“I had one higher loyalty, and that was to God and the Constitution. And that’s what set in motion the confrontation that would come to pass on January 6 because I had taken an oath to the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said.\n\nBreaking with the man who selected him as a runningmate ahead of the 2016 election and elevated him to within a whisper of the Oval Office “was difficult,” Pence said.\n\n“But I’ll always believe,” he added, “that we did our duty that day upholding the Constitution of the United States and the laws of this country and the peaceful transfer of power.”\n\nIn the days that followed, Pence said, he was upset with Trump over the then-president’s role in the deadly insurrection.\n\n“The president’s words and tweet that day were reckless,” Pence said. “They endangered my family and all the people at the Capitol.”\n\nBut Pence also shut down any speculation as to whether he would testify before the House select committee investigating January 6, saying that “Congress has no right to my testimony.” He said it would set a “terrible precedent” for a congressional committee to summon a vice president to discuss deliberations held at the White House, arguing that it would violate the separation of powers and “erode the dynamic” between a president and vice president.\n\nMike Pence reacts to video showing his family fleeing to safety 02:50 - Source: CNN\n\nDeciding to break with Trump\n\nAfter CNN played footage of January 6 rioters chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” the former vice president said he was saddened to see the images again, but that in the moment, “it angered me.”\n\nPence, who moved to a secure location as the Capitol was breached, said he told Secret Service that he would not leave, insisting he remain at his post, in part because he did not want the mob to see his motorcade speeding away.\n\n“But frankly, when I saw those images, and when I read a tweet that President Trump issued, saying that I lacked courage in that moment, It angered me greatly,” Pence said. But, he added, “I didn’t have time for it.”\n\nAfter years standing by Trump’s side through assorted scandals and crises – and also benefiting from the former president’s political rise – Pence said he had decided that, in this fight, they would take opposite sides.\n\n“The President had decided in that moment to be a part of the problem,” said Pence, who told Tapper he “was determined to be part of the solution.”\n\nPence then discussed gathering the Republican and Democratic leadership of the House and Senate on a conference call, reaching out to Pentagon brass and Justice Department officials “to surge additional resources” to assist Capitol Hill police officers.\n\nCongress ultimately reconvened on the same day and, after Republican challenges to the count, finally confirmed Biden as the next president.\n\n“We demonstrated to the American people and the world the strength of our institutions (and) the resilience of our democracy,” Pence said. “But those memories, those images will always be with me.”\n\n‘Don’t ever change’: Pence recalls difficult meetings with Trump in the aftermath\n\nPence described in vivid detail his meetings with Trump in the days after the riot at the Capitol. When he first saw Trump at the White House days after January 6, he said the then-president immediately asked about his family and whether they were OK.\n\nThough it was at odds with the public perceptions of Trump, Pence said, he believed that Trump was “deeply remorseful in that moment.”\n\n“I could tell he was saddened by what had happened,” Pence said. “I encouraged him to pray. He told me many times that he was a believer, and I told him to turn to Jesus hoping that he would find the comfort there – and that I was finding in that moment.”\n\nIn the days that followed, Pence said he saw Trump for another meeting and that the president was still “downcast.” After they finished talking through administration business, Pence said, “I reminded him that I was praying for him” and Trump was “dismissive about it.”\n\n“As our meeting came to a close, I stood up,” Pence said. “I looked at him and I said, I guess there’s just two things we’ll probably never agree on. And he looked up and said, ‘What?’”\n\n“I referred to my role on January 6,” Pence said. “And then I said, ‘Never gonna stop praying for you.’”\n\n“He smiled faintly and said, ‘That’s right. Don’t ever change.’ And we parted amicably as much as we could in the aftermath of those events.”\n\nPence suggests 2020 election denial is a political loser, but campaigned with deniers anyway\n\nIn lamenting Republicans’ underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterms, Pence observed that candidates who talked about the future outshone those who focused more on “relitigating the past.”\n\n“And I expect that’s going to be taken to heart by Republicans,” Pence said.\n\nAsked why, then, he chose to campaign alongside election deniers – including GOP Senate nominees Don Bolduc in New Hampshire and Blake Masters in Arizona, both of whom lost last week – Pence said party loyalty trumped other concerns.\n\n“I’ve often said, ‘I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican – in that order. But I am a Republican,” Pence said, “and once Republican primary voters had chosen their nominees I went out and traveled to 35 states over the last year and a half to see if we could elect a Republican majority in the House, Senate, elect Republican governors all across the country.”\n\nPence added that his appearance on the stump with a candidate “didn’t mean, as it hasn’t meant in the past, that I agreed with every statement or every position candidates that I’m supporting in the Republican Party have taken.”\n\nHe also tried to make a false equivalence between Trump’s lies about election fraud in 2020 and Hillary Clinton’s comments after 2016, noting that she said “Donald Trump was not a legitimate president, for years.”\n\n“I think there’s been far too much questioning of elections, not just in 2020 but in 2016,” he said.\n\nSticking to a carefully crafted message\n\nPence has very carefully crafted his explanation of the events leading up to January 6, during that day’s attack on the Capitol and in his conversations with Trump afterward – and isn’t deviating from that explanation.\n\nAs he has unspooled those events, Pence’s comments have been virtually identical in his book, in CNN’s town hall and in interviews with other news networks in recent days.\n\nHe’d made clear what he is willing to say. Among the key points: That Trump listened to the wrong lawyers in the lead-up to January 6; that he was “angry” watching the attack on the Capitol; that he left Trump with a commitment to continue to pray for him; and that the two no longer talk.\n\nBut it’s just as clear where Pence won’t go: He won’t reveal any simmering resentment with Trump, saying his faith commands forgiveness. He won’t place blame fully on Republicans for agitating the party’s base with falsehoods about election fraud. He won’t legitimize the work of the House committee investigating the events surrounding that day.\n\nPence’s slow, measured delivery of a consistent message is a characteristic that traces back to his days as a self-styled “Rush Limbaugh on decaf” conservative talk radio host in Indiana.\n\nIt’s an approach that has remained consistent through his entire political career, including 12 years in the House and four years as Indiana governor. Pence often repeats virtually the same message – line by line, paragraph by paragraph – even when that message doesn’t directly answer the question he was asked.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments.", "authors": ["Gregory Krieg Eric Bradner Maeve Reston", "Gregory Krieg", "Eric Bradner", "Maeve Reston"], "publish_date": "2022/11/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/11/politics/trump-legal-risk-explainer/index.html", "title": "Donald Trump's risk if he mishandled White House documents ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in February and has been updated following the FBI’s search of Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022.\n\nCNN —\n\nReports of former President Donald Trump’s possible mishandling of federal documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort have prompted legal experts to handicap: Could Trump be charged with a crime?\n\nSome were quick to speculate yes, though it’s not clear a former president could be charged by the Justice Department for mishandling documents, even classified information.\n\nOne former Trump adviser said it was highly possible that no criminal case would ever materialize, but added, “If I was Trump, I would be taking it seriously.”\n\nThe FBI searched Mar-a-Lago on August 8.\n\nThere are clear laws that protect federal records – with varying degrees of likelihood in their application.\n\nHere’s what legal experts tell CNN:\n\nCan Trump keep or destroy government records after leaving the White House?\n\nThe Presidential Records Act of 1978 outlines the ways official records should be maintained during a presidency and turned over at the end of an administration.\n\nBased on CNN’s and others’ reporting, it appears some of the requirements of the act may not have been followed during the Trump presidency. Instead, official White House records were ripped apart or flushed down toilets, and at least 15 boxes of records made their way to Mar-a-Lago. Some of the documents recovered in February from Mar-a-Lago contained records the National Archives believed were classified, according to The New York Times.\n\nRELATED: Outgoing chief archivist at center of ERA fight and Trump documents controversy\n\nLegal experts tell CNN that any unauthorized retention or destruction of White House documents raises a red flag under a criminal law that prohibits the removal or destruction of official government records.\n\nBut for a charge like this to fly, prosecutors would need to show that Trump had “willfully” violated the law – a high bar, though one that prosecutors could potentially meet given the frequent efforts within the White House to try to preserve records Trump would habitually mutilate.\n\nFurthermore, other criminal laws could come into play as well, if an investigation by the Justice Department progresses.\n\n“If the intent was ‘Let me get these documents taken out of the way because they could look bad, they could be damning for me in an investigation, in a lawsuit,’ then you’re talking about potential obstruction of justice. So the devil will be in the details here,” said CNN legal analyst Elie Honig.\n\nAre there other laws with teeth?\n\nMaybe.\n\nOne criminal law prohibits destroying government property – provided the person charged intentionally violated the law.\n\nAs a former officer of the United States, Trump also has an ongoing obligation to protect classified information he received as president.\n\nWhile in office, he had the ability to declassify, making his own decisions. But that power ended when he left the presidency, and it’s unclear whether he declassified any records held at Mar-a-Lago while he was still in office.\n\n“If there was intentional, knowing destruction of classified documents, that’s a federal crime,” Honig said on CNN.\n\nA national security adviser to President Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, was prosecuted for removing classified documents from the National Archives by stuffing them into his pants during the 9/11 Commission investigation.\n\nEven so, a case over the mishandling of national security secrets can get complicated quickly. That’s because there’s no central system in the federal government that standardizes what’s classified, and different agencies may have different views and make judgment calls on classification.\n\nA Justice Department investigation would likely look into various agencies’ determinations on the records. Trump’s defense would be that he’s president, and governed them all, according to one legal expert who previously handled classification issues in the government.\n\nWhat would Trump have to do to declassify documents?\n\nThis issue arose in court during Trump’s presidency, when news organizations pursued classified records related to the Russia investigation after the White House or Trump had publicly talked about declassifying them.\n\nIn one of the cases, Justice Department official Brad Weinsheimer said no order had materialized to declassify the Carter Page Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications, which were the sought-after documents, even after official statements had suggested they could be released.\n\nIn another, then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Trump’s tweets about declassifying documents weren’t “self-executing declassification orders,” and instead the decision-making stayed with a federal agency under Trump, according to a court filing.\n\nBrad Moss, a lawyer who unsuccessfully sought declassification of the Page FISA warrant in court, said the President declassifying information requires his decision in writing. That could be as simple as crossing out the “classified” markings at the tops of pages or as formal as submitting documents to the White House Counsel’s Office, Moss said.\n\nThe questions that remain about classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Moss says, are “Did he know? When did he decide to put those documents there? And did he take any action to declassify them before he left office?”\n\nCould the Presidential Records Act prompt charges?\n\nNo.\n\nThe law has no criminal enforcement mechanism, so in effect the act is “toothless,” said George Clarke, a Washington-based attorney who brought two lawsuits over the Trump White House’s records retention practices in recent years.\n\nIn his lawsuits, which were jointly pursued by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, historians and archivists complained that notes and translations of Trump meetings with foreign powers, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, didn’t exist or hadn’t been preserved, and that White House staff used encrypted messaging systems for official business. But the courts threw out the cases, finding that judges had no authority to micromanage the presidency.\n\n“It’s so frustrating,” Clarke said, looking back at his lawsuits. “All the cases we brought were pointing out how bad the record-keeping was and how many times they violated it. The courts didn’t bite.”", "authors": ["Katelyn Polantz Laura Jarrett", "Katelyn Polantz", "Laura Jarrett"], "publish_date": "2022/02/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/donald-trump-book/index.html", "title": "New book reveals Melania Trump criticized her husband's handling ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump’s top general feared he would authorize a strike on Iran as his presidency ended. His intelligence chief wondered what Russia had on him. A billionaire friend convinced him to try buying Greenland. A half-dozen top officials considered resigning en masse.\n\nEven his wife, first lady Melania Trump, was “rattled by the coronavirus and convinced that Trump was screwing up,” according to a forthcoming book from New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and New Yorker staff writer and CNN global affairs analyst Susan Glasser set to publish on Tuesday.\n\nIn a phone call with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who maintained ties to the White House despite occasional criticism of Trump, Melania Trump sought help convincing her husband to take the pandemic more seriously.\n\n“‘You’re blowing this,” she recalled telling her husband,” the authors write. “’This is serious. It’s going to be really bad, and you need to take it more seriously than you’re taking it.’ He had just dismissed her. ‘You worry too much,’ she remembered him saying. ‘Forget it.’ “\n\nThe razor’s-edge instability clouding Trump’s four-year tenure in the White House led many of his senior-most advisers to worry about the fate of the country. The volatility is laid bare in new detail in “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021.” The reporting for the book included two interviews with the former President at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.\n\nBaker and Glasser write that many of the well-known fears about Trump’s presidency were in fact closer to reality than previously reported, leading to widespread attempts among those who worked for him to head off disaster.\n\nThe revelations could also foretell the presidency Trump might oversee should he return to the White House in 2025. Trump’s associates have told CNN he could announce a presidential bid after November’s midterm elections. But, as Trump told Baker and Glasser, he won’t invite former Vice President Mike Pence to join his ticket after Pence refused to interfere in the certification of the 2020 election.\n\n“It would be totally inappropriate,” Trump said. “Mike committed political suicide by not taking votes that he knew were wrong.”\n\nThe book describes deep concerns among Trump’s national security team, led by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and others, that the then-President would ignite a conflict with Iran in the waning days of his presidency or that he could stumble into nuclear war with North Korea.\n\nOne administration official told Trump before the 2020 election that if he lost, he should strike Iran’s nuclear program, the authors report. “Milley at the time told his staff it was a ‘What the f— are these guys talking about?’ moment,” they write. “Now, it seemed frighteningly possible.”\n\nThe tensions with Iran even permeated the walls of Mar-a-Lago. Trump told guests at a cocktail party over the holidays in 2020 that he was leaving early to return to Washington because of fears Iran may be trying to assassinate him to avenge the US killing of the country’s top general a year earlier.\n\nConcerns over Trump’s behavior on the world stage began nearly as soon as he took office. More than simply a passing grudge, Trump’s desire to withdraw the United States from NATO was in fact a sustained effort that was “much more serious than people realized,” one senior White House official said – an outcome that could have dramatically altered the current war in Ukraine.\n\nFollowing a 2018 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland – after which Trump sided with Putin over US intelligence agencies who had determined Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election – the top US intelligence official was left wondering what Trump’s real motives were.\n\n“I never could come to a conclusion. It raised the question in everybody’s mind: What does Putin have on him that causes him to do something that undermines his credibility?” Dan Coats, the then-director of national intelligence, reflected to associates afterward, according to the book.\n\nAnd a months-long fixation with purchasing Greenland from Denmark went far deeper than previously disclosed, inspired in the early days of Trump’s presidency by a wealthy friend from New York, the cosmetics heir Ron Lauder.\n\n“I said, ‘Why don’t we have that?’ You take a look at a map. I’m a real estate developer, I look at a corner, I say, ‘I’ve got to get that store for the building that I’m building,’ etc. It’s not that different,” Trump told the reporters for their book.\n\nLauder proposed to Trump’s then-national security adviser John Bolton that he act as a “back channel” to the Danish government. Instead, top National Security Council aides engaged for months in secret talks with Denmark’s ambassador to the United States about Greenland.\n\nEventually, however, public revelations about Trump’s plans to buy the island prompted indignation in both Greenland and Denmark, scuttling any effort to enhance the US role in an increasingly strategic area. Trump called the Danish leader “nasty” for rejecting his idea and canceled a trip to Copenhagen.\n\nTrump enjoyed friendlier relations with other world leaders, but often imposed his own brand of chaos.\n\nBaker and Glasser report Trump once abruptly phoned Jordan’s King Abdullah II to inform him he was “going to give you the West Bank,” prompting the monarch to tell a friend he thought he was having a heart attack.\n\n“I couldn’t breathe. I was bent doubled over,” he said.\n\nAnd while Trump liked to frequently tout that then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – who was assassinated in July – had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize, Trump had actually explicitly made the request to Abe during dinner in New York.\n\n“The President asked Abe over dinner to nominate him,” a senior Trump national security official says in the book.\n\nBaker and Glasser describe previously unreported plans by members of Trump’s Cabinet to collectively resign amid the chaos, only to remain in their posts out of concern for whohe might select to replace them.\n\nIn encrypted text messages, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a top aide that five senior officials in the Trump administration – including the secretaries of Defense, Education and Interior – were on the verge of quitting amid a particularly chaotic period ahead of the 2018 midterms.\n\n“Ok for the first time I am actually scared for the country. The insanity has been loosed,” she wrote in the messages.\n\nTrump’s demands on his team included outlandish requests like abolishing the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after it blocked one of his immigration policies.\n\n“Let’s just cancel it,” he told Nielsen, according to the book. He told Nielsen if such a move required legislation, “then draft a bill to ‘get rid of the f–king judges’ and have it sent to Congress as soon as possible.”\n\nWhen it came to responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, however, it was his most trusted advisers who were encouraging him to do more, particularly in the early days when Trump appeared nonchalant about the severity of the crisis.", "authors": ["Kevin Liptak"], "publish_date": "2022/09/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/politics/trump-business-practices-maggie-haberman-book/index.html", "title": "Exclusive: New book reveals Trump's business practices included ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump’s business practices included some eyebrow-raising moments, such as once being paid with gold bars that were wheeled into his Trump Tower apartment, according to reporting obtained by CNN from a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.\n\nHaberman reveals new details about Trump’s business dealings in the New York City real estate world and beyond, from a veiled threat to the owner of a magazine preparing to report on his inflated net worth to an acknowledgment that his businesses had to sometimes interact with the mob, according to the reporting obtained by CNN.\n\nSeparately, Trump’s other business practices are now under renewed and intense scrutiny in the wake of the New York attorney general’s sweeping lawsuit, announced Wednesday, against Trump, some of his children and his company alleging scores of fraudulent financial activities that the former President used to enrich himself.\n\nIn one striking episode, Haberman writes that Trump would occasionally receive portions of lease payments in cash, including when a leaseholder once sent Trump a box of dozens of gold bricks to cover the cash portion of the lease on the parking garage in the General Motors building in Manhattan, which Trump purchased in 1998.\n\nTrump told aides he didn’t know what to do with the gold bars, according to Haberman. He ultimately directed Matt Calamari, a onetime security guard who became chief operating officer in the Trump Organization, to wheel the bars up to his apartment in Trump Tower. It’s not clear what happened to the gold bricks. A lawyer for Calamari declined to comment, and Haberman writes that Trump called it “a fantasy question.”\n\nHaberman’s book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” is being released on October 4. It includes an examination of Trump’s journey through the New York business world as well as his presidency and the aftermath of his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. Haberman, a CNN political analyst, is a longtime New York-based reporter who has worked for both of the city’s tabloid newspapers, and she covered Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns and the Trump White House for the New York Times.\n\nHaberman writes that Trump’s financial situation at his company was often more precarious than people realized, according to former officials.\n\nAt one point, Trump was said to have borrowed several million dollars from Trump Organization executive George Ross, according to Haberman. Ross acknowledged to the author that he loaned Trump money, but insisted it was to “cover a situation that was disposed of very quickly” and not for payroll expenses.\n\nIn another episode, Haberman writes that Trump was said to have threatened to go public with rumors that Malcolm Forbes, the deceased owner of Forbes magazine, was gay, when the magazine was preparing to report that Trump’s net worth was far less than what he was claiming publicly.\n\nHaberman writes that officials at the Trump Organization operated in silos, and they often were unaware of what was happening elsewhere in the business.\n\nWhen Trump’s hotel and casino company was rebuked by the Securities and Exchange Commission over a misleading earnings statement, Haberman writes that Trump was more involved than the company let on.\n\nTrump’s lawyer at the time, Jay Goldberg, blamed company officials for the misleading projections in 1999 and insisted Trump was not involved, Haberman writes. News stories at the time of the SEC action three years later also stated that Trump did not have a role in the financial statement that overstated the company’s earnings.\n\nBut Haberman reports that a former company consultant, Alan Marcus, said that Trump personally marked up a draft of the release in question and made existing projections rosier.\n\nTrump denied that account, according to Haberman.\n\nIn an interview with Haberman, Trump acknowledged that his business dealings in New York City meant he would sometimes have to interact with the mob, though he downplayed how aware he was of it.\n\n“Well, anybody that built in New York City, whether you dealt with them indirectly, or didn’t even know they existed, they did exist,” Trump said. “Well, you dealt, you had contractors and you don’t know if they were mob or controlled or maybe not controlled, but I will tell you getting bids sometimes is very tough. You’d get one bid, it’d be a high end disappointing bid. And then there was nobody else to bid.”", "authors": ["Jeremy Herb"], "publish_date": "2022/09/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/trump-white-house-notes-toilet-photos-cnntv/index.html", "title": "Photos show handwritten notes that Trump apparently ripped up and ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nNewly revealed photographs reveal two occasions on which former President Donald Trump apparently flushed documents down the toilet.\n\nMaggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter and CNN contributor, is publishing the new images in her forthcoming book, “Confidence Man,” and the images were earlier posted by Axios. CNN has previously reported how Trump flouted presidential record-keeping laws and would often tear up documents, drafts and memos after reading them.\n\nHe periodically flushed papers down the toilet in the White House residence – only to be discovered later on when repairmen were summoned to fix the clogged toilets. Trump has denied the allegations, and in a statement given to Axios on Monday, a spokesman claimed that reporting about the practice was fabricated.\n\nThis picture shows notes that former President Donald Trump apparently ripped up and attempted to flush down the toilet. Courtesy Maggie Haberman/White House\n\nIn the images revealed on Monday, it’s unclear what the documents are in reference to – and who authored them – but they appear to be written in Trump’s handwriting in black marker. Haberman said one image is from a White House toilet and the other one is from an overseas trip that was provided to her by a Trump White House source.\n\n“Who knows what this paper was? Only he would know and presumably whoever was dealing with it, but the important point is about the records,” Haberman told CNN’s John Berman and Brianna Keilar on “New Day” Monday morning.\n\nTrump had a pattern of disregarding normal record preservation procedures. In one occasion, Trump asked if anyone wanted to put a copy of a speech he just delivered up for auction on eBay, during a mid-flight visit to the press cabin Air Force One.\n\nIn other instances, Trump would task aides with carrying boxes of unread memos, articles and tweet drafts aboard the presidential aircraft for him to review and then tear to shreds.\n\nA former senior Trump administration official said a deputy from the Office of Staff Secretary would usually come in to pull things out of the trash and take them off Trump’s desk after he left a room.\n\nA former White House official recalled that while document preservation was a key responsibility of the staff secretary, the rest of Trump’s senior staffers lacked the sense of their obligation to maintain records of papers that moved through the West Wing.\n\nTrump’s haphazard record-keeping was the subject of a drawn-out fight earlier this year between him and the National Archives, and the Justice Department has been investigating the matter.", "authors": ["Shania Shelton"], "publish_date": "2022/08/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/politics/trump-2024-bid/index.html", "title": "Trump fields calls from Republican allies to speed up 2024 bid after ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nTop Republicans who have spent months trying to dissuade Donald Trump from announcing another presidential campaign before the midterms are coming around to the idea, after an unprecedented search of the former President’s Mar-a-Lago property by federal investigators on Monday lit up the GOP base.\n\nTrump has received a fresh wave of encouragement to jump start his next presidential campaign in the 24 hours since his primary residence became the target of an FBI search warrant, several sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The former President, who is widely expected to run again, had previously eyed Labor Day as his target launch date, but is now being advised to accelerate his timeline to capitalize on what Republicans have described as extraordinary overreach and political persecution by Justice Department officials, including by advisers who previously counseled him to take his time with a 2024 announcement.\n\n“My advice that we should wait until after the midterms was based upon a rather standard landscape. [The Justice Department] set off a nuclear bomb on that landscape yesterday. This is no longer a business-as-usual campaign. Not even close,” said Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump confidant, who previously urged the former President to wait for the 2022 election outcome before diving into a presidential primary.\n\nOne senior House Republican personally encouraged Trump on Tuesday to launch a bid before November, a source familiar tells CNN, dismissing concerns among fellow GOP lawmakers that a pre-midterm announcement could galvanize Democratic voters in a political environment that is otherwise considered favorable for Republicans.\n\nSen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s Capitol Hill allies, told reporters he spoke to the former President twice on Tuesday and “the one thing I can tell you is that I believed he was gonna run before [and] I am stronger in my belief now.”\n\n“I think President Trump is determined now more than ever to straighten this country out,” Graham added.\n\nThe thinking inside Trump’s orbit and among some of his top allies on Capitol Hill has undergone a notable shift since the search was executed at his waterfront estate, said three well-placed sources. Advisers who initially worried Trump would steal the spotlight from vulnerable Democrats if he announced before November have largely abandoned those concerns, while those who fear the FBI search was prompted by compelling evidence against Trump – and he thus shouldn’t rush into another presidential campaign – become a minority in his orbit. The former President, who previously told aides he was concerned about not being able to tap into the $121 million war chest he’s amassed once he declares his candidacy, is now shrugging off those concerns in the last 12 hours, according to a person close to him.\n\n“Where others see criminal jeopardy, Donald Trump sees dollar signs,” said one person close to the former President.\n\n“Most of the downsides of announcing early are regulatory or financial but the Democrats just guaranteed that Trump will raise three times the money he was going to and probably in the immediate future,” Caputo added.\n\nA second person close to Trump said the episode has injected unity into the GOP, whose leaders were welcoming a contested presidential primary just weeks ago amid frustrations with Trump. This person said they had not seen Republicans “this unified behind something in a long time,” pointing to comments by two of Trump’s potential 2024 rivals – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence – condemning the FBI search.\n\n“When do you see DeSantis and Pence on the same page defending Trump?” said one of the people close to Trump.\n\n‘On the phone since daybreak’\n\nAfter revealing the FBI had conducted a “raid” of his Palm Beach residence in a statement Monday evening, Trump became inundated with calls from allies wanting him to dive into the 2024 race sooner rather than later, according to a person familiar with the matter. He spent most of Tuesday hopping “from one phone call to the next,” this person said, adding that the former President “has been on the phone since daybreak.”\n\nThose conversations were expected to continue well into Tuesday evening, with Trump huddling with Republican Study Committee members for a private dinner at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. RSC Chairman Jim Banks of Indiana wrote in a tweet hours before the event that Republicans “have a moral duty to fight back” following the search of Trump’s home.\n\nAccording to Banks, Trump used the Bedminster meeting to inform the group of 12 Republicans that he’s “made up his mind” about launching a 2024 presidential bid, it’s just a matter of “when” he announces it.\n\nThe group encouraged Trump to run “sooner than later,” Banks said, who described Trump as being “upbeat,” “fired up,” and “not fazed at all” by the FBI search on his Florida property.\n\n“My sense is he is fired up and ready to go. And he received a lot of encouragement in the room to get out sooner than later,” Banks said.\n\nMeanwhile, Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have already initiated discussions about the party’s oversight response to the FBI search, according to GOP sources familiar with the situation, though these talks remain in the early stages. During a House GOP conference call on Tuesday morning, which had been previously scheduled, top Republicans – including Reps. Jim Jordan and Mike Turner of Ohio – made clear they intend to seek a full accounting from the DOJ about the FBI’s actions, according to sources on the call.\n\nOne of the more immediate steps likely to be taken is sending preservation letters to top DOJ officials – likely including Attorney General Merrick Garland. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy hinted at the party’s investigative plans Monday evening, tweeting: “Attorney General Garland: preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”\n\nThere’s also the possibility that Republicans create a select committee to investigate the agency if the GOP retakes the lower chamber in November. However, a source familiar with his thinking said McCarthy is more inclined to let existing committees take the lead, and the decision is not one House GOP leaders would need to make for several more months.\n\nAcross Trump world, Republicans’ widespread condemnation of the FBI search appeared to dismantle a divide among his advisers over the timing of his 2024 campaign launch that had long been simmering beneath the surface. While many of Trump’s political advisers have warned him to wait until after the midterms to announce his plans, fearing it would harm some GOP candidates on the ballot in November to launch a campaign early this fall, others believe an early announcement could help the former President sell the argument that a federal investigation into Trump – or even a potential indictment – is strictly motivated by politics.\n\n“There are some people making arguments that an indictment is an endorsement” for Trump, said Caputo, suggesting that Trump wouldn’t “present himself as a victim but as the leader of the victims” if he ran in 2024, harkening back to Trump’s use of Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” gaffe as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016 to cultivate an anti-elitist bond with his base.\n\nIt’s a message Trump has already leaned into. During a rally in Arizona last month, Trump told the audience, “If I renounced my beliefs and… agreed to stay silent, and if I stayed home and took it easy… the persecution of Donald Trump would immediately stop. They would go onto the next victim.”\n\n“But that’s not what I do. I can’t do that,” Trump said.\n\nStill, while many of Trump’s allies are publicly slamming the unprecedented FBI activity at his home, some of the former President’s most loyal supporters are concerned that the search could have only happened because it was provoked by real evidence – noting that federal investigators would be unlikely to take such a drastic step without something tangible to back up their actions.\n\n“They better have the goods or they just went a long way in resurrecting [Trump],” said one former Trump adviser.\n\nA longtime Republican operative who disagreed with that sentiment said the search warrant that was executed at Mar-a-Lago might prove to be politically detrimental for Trump if it becomes “just another reason to pick someone else” for Republican voters in a presidential primary.\n\n“Trump may eventually become too heavy a lift for voters. Now we have better, less draining options,” this person said.\n\nMeanwhile, one top Republican continued to urge Trump on Tuesday to pump the brakes on a presidential announcement until after the midterms, despite the growing outrage over the FBI search among grassroots activists and other potential 2024 candidates.\n\n“You don’t talk about the Super Bowl until you win the playoffs,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox News Tuesday morning.\n\nRepublican response\n\nNearly all of Trump’s potential rivals for the GOP nomination in 2024 have spoken up – a reflection of how the former President remains the central figure around which others in the Republican Party revolve.\n\nSince the news of the search broke, possible White House hopefuls have expressed everything from measured skepticism of the Justice Department’s actions to full-blown accusations of a political witch hunt against Trump.\n\nSeveral have adopted the language of Trump’s allies, accusing the Biden administration of “weaponizing” the Justice Department and targeting a political rival.\n\nTrump spokesman Taylor Budowich condemned the raid as “brazen” and “completely unnecessary” in a statement.\n\n“These disgusting actions by Joe Biden’s administration would make a third-world dictator blush. However, in the Democrats’ desperate attempt to retain power, they have unified and grown the entire conservative movement,” Budowich said.\n\nDeSantis – widely considered Trump’s chief competition in 2024 – responded quickly on Twitter Monday night, calling the search a “raid” and “another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves.”\n\nOthers who may run for president in 2024 echoed those sentiments with similarly strident language and proposals.\n\nSen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote on Twitter that the Justice Department had been “weaponized” and called the search “corrupt & an abuse of power.” Also referring to a “weaponization” of the department was Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who vowed “consequences” against Garland for the search. And Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said the event was an “unprecedented assault on democratic norms and the rule of law,” calling on Garland to resign or be impeached, FBI Director Christopher Wray to be “removed” and for the FBI to be “reformed top to bottom.”\n\nOthers have responded less bombastically but with carefully worded outrage about the FBI’s search. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called it a “stunning move” and suggested it was a “selective, politically motivated” search. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tempered his criticism by saying it demonstrated “apparent political weaponization” of federal law enforcement.\n\nStill other Republicans are framing their response even more guardedly, expressing a desire for the Justice Department to answer questions about the search warrant.\n\nOn Twitter, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley called on the Justice Department and the FBI to comment, saying, “If they won’t comment, then Biden owes it to the American people to answer for his agencies.” Pence, who has spent months trying to find an independent political identity from Trump, tweeted a lengthy response to the search.\n\nPence said he has “deep concern” about what he called an “unprecedented search” of Trump’s home and said the event “undermines public confidence” in the justice system.\n\n“Attorney General Garland must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this action was taken and he must do so immediately,” Pence concluded.\n\nMaryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who has been talked about as a potential anti-Trump Republican contender in 2024, said the FBI search will “undermine faith in democracy and the rule of law” if the Justice Department “cannot ultimately provide overwhelming evidence that action was absolutely necessary.”\n\nThe Republicans’ collective defensive posture appears to reflect how the party’s leaders remain distrustful of federal law enforcement by default – a development borne out of Trump’s own attacks on the FBI ever since its investigation into his 2016 campaign.\n\nDuring an appearance on CBS Tuesday morning to promote his new book, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said there have long been concerns among Republicans about whether the FBI is “doing their job apolitical[ly].” He also said the search will “raise more questions” and urged people to “let this play out and see what happens.”\n\nAnd when pressed about whether Trump remains the best representative of the GOP, Scott provided a clue about why even those who may run against him in the 2024 primary may feel compelled to accept Trump’s narrative about the search.\n\n“Certainly he is the largest voice in American politics, period,” said Scott. “The more focus you put on him, the more likely his supporters will rally around him.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.", "authors": ["Gaborr Melanie Zanona Kristen Holmes Michael Warren", "Melanie Zanona", "Kristen Holmes", "Michael Warren"], "publish_date": "2022/08/09"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_20", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/politics/donald-trump-2024-campaign-dark-speech/index.html", "title": "Trump shows his 2024 campaign would take the country down a ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe last time Donald Trump delivered a major speech in Washington, DC, from outside the White House it unleashed a vicious mob attack. There was no violence this time, but his searing bombast may have heralded the dawn of a new era of American extremism.\n\nTrump returned Tuesday for the first time since leaving the capital in disgrace in January 2021 and made clear he plans to take the country down a dark, demagogic, dystopian road in the coming months. His assurance that it is when and not if he launches a 2024 White House campaign never looked more locked in.\n\nTrump vowed at the America First Policy Institute summit to “save our country,” chillingly employing many of the rhetorical devices of authoritarian leaders as he brimmed with bitterness, a persecution complex and stoked resentment against vulnerable members of society like the homeless and transgender athletes. The ex-President conjured an updated and intensified picture of the “American carnage” that he first laid out in his 2017 inaugural address. He bemoaned a “failing nation” swamped by historic inflation, begging the Saudis for oil, a media that sees itself as “the police of honesty,” deep state bureaucrats, “hacks and thugs” in Congress and cities overrun by undocumented migrants preying on innocent citizens that exemplify contempt for the law and the police.\n\nAmid new signs of an expansive Justice Department probe into the election-stealing scheme launched by his cronies and shocking evidence about his 2020 coup attempt from the House select committee, Trump complained Democrats had “weaponized law enforcement … against the opposition party.” His railing against the investigations that could hold him to account for his dereliction of duty while in office highlighted the absurdity of the only president ever to launch an insurrection lecturing on law and order.\n\nThat was a point picked up by President Joe Biden, who tweeted: “Call me old fashioned, but I don’t think inciting a mob that attacks a police officer is ‘respect for the law.’ You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-cop – or pro-democracy, or pro-American.”\n\nAs so often, Trump’s complaints about the supposed actions of others mirrored his own transgressions. It was he who tried to weaponize the Justice Department, to pursue political enemies, offer pardons to allies and to seek to overturn the 2020 election.\n\nAnd when Trump complained that his Democratic foes were guilty of misinformation against him – “They say stuff and they think you are going to believe it” – he could have been describing his own lies and alternative realities that are amplified by the conservative media machine that convinced millions of Americans that the election was stolen.\n\nTrump’s comments also seemed a hedge against any attempt by the Justice Department to hold him criminally liable for his conduct after the 2020 election. Still, Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed that outside political forces would not deter the department if charges were merited.\n\n“We pursue justice without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone – anyone – who is criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6 or any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another accountable,” Garland told NBC News’ Lester Holt in a taped interview that ran in part Tuesday on MSNBC. “That is what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.”\n\nThe key to Trump’s genuine appeal\n\nIn many ways, Trump’s pitch was a supercharged version of when he first launched his 2016 presidential campaign. He again railed against undocumented migrants and crime, and promised to build his border wall. He seized on the Biden administration’s economic struggles and portrayed his own tenure as a golden age by comparison when Americans were safe, prosperous and respected.\n\nDemocrats may not like to hear it, but Trump’s message remains a seductive one to many Americans who believe the country is beset by open borders, political correctness, weak policing and mistreated by leeching foreign allies. A democratic system channels the frustrations and beliefs of large sectors of society into political campaigns and administrations. (Not that Trump has shown he has much respect for the will of the voters.) So while Trump’s methods are often authoritarian and outrageous, he is not operating in a political vacuum. His strength as a candidate is that he sensed deep disillusionment with the political system in 2016 and rode it to power. He’s trying a similar formula now.\n\nSome liberal critics of the media still complain that an ex-President gets so much coverage – years before the 2024 election – and that the attention only boosts Trump. But while he is banned from Twitter and has been mostly confined to conservative media for the last 18 months, the pulse of Trumpism beats strongly in the heartland. Forests of Trump 2020 and Trump 2024 banners outside major cities may be an anecdotal sign of strength, but they are ubiquitous and a sign that he touches some voters like no other politician.\n\nAnd before much longer, Democrats, and the small but courageous band of anti-Trump Republicans, will have to confront the former President directly. Biden appears to have recognized this already given his own strident attacks on Trump over the last two days.\n\nA second Trump administration would be more extreme\n\nTrump’s speech Tuesday was an unmistakable sign he is on the comeback trail, is deadly serious about trying to regain power and would use any means at his disposal to make it reality.\n\nThis time around, Trump’s campaign would take place in the full knowledge of his authoritarian impulses and his willingness to use violence – on January 6, 2021. A second Trump presidency would make the first one look conventional and calm. The ex-President, for example, called on Tuesday for homeless Americans to be loaded up from city centers and taken to tented camps. He mocked trans athletes and said presidents should be able to send National Guard troops into Democratic states where governors didn’t fight violent crime. He called for quick trials for drug dealers to speed swift executions and demanded the return of “stop-and-frisk” policies in cities that critics decried as institutionalized racism.\n\n“Our country is now a cesspool of crime,” the former President said, painting of a vision of country hostage to “drugged out lunatics” and “sadists.” He promised to purge the education system and to sack “rogue” bureaucrats who constrained his wildest impulses the first time around.\n\nIn short, Trump was advocating an all-powerful presidency that would trample over the guardrails of the law and the Constitution and the elected power of governors. In other words, an administration that would be even more aberrant and authoritarian than his first.\n\nUnlike many of his campaign speeches, Trump did not dedicate his entire appearance to fomenting lies about his 2020 election loss. But he did fire up the crowd with claims that he won two elections, not one. This argument appears to be effective with his most fervent voters, according to a new CNN/SSRS poll released on Tuesday. Sixty-six percent of Republicans said Biden’s 2020 election win was not legitimate. Still, Trump’s continual harping on 2020 may not be a winning argument with a broader electorate. Some 69%, of those asked, a new high in CNN polling, reject the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen.\n\nTrump’s delivery on Tuesday was not the exuberant tour de force of his rallies. It also lacked the outrageous comedy of his events in his first campaign that did not always come across on television, but was vital in convincing supporters they were at the best party of their lives with a host who dared to say everything polite society disdained. On Tuesday, Trump’s monotone dirge summed up his own bitterness and his sinister arguments. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Trump’s appearance – given what we know about the steps he took to cling onto power in 2020 – was his use of authoritarian tropes. For instance, he portrayed himself as persecuted by the forces of the law – but insisted he endured the suffering to save the country.\n\n“Who has been through anything like this?” Trump said, slamming the Russia probe, his two impeachments and the January 6 committee.\n\n“I’m doing it for America. And it’s my honor to do it. It’s my great, great honor to do it. Because if I don’t do our nation is doomed to become another Venezuela or become another Soviet Union,” Trump said, tapping into a classic demagogue’s toolbox to pose as a Superman leader shouldering the peoples’ burden.\n\nA 2024 campaign in all but name\n\nTuesday’s speech by Trump may come to be seen as the unofficial launch of his presidential campaign. He told Republicans convinced they will win the midterm elections in November they need help in the White House, and it will be coming soon.\n\nBut his march to the Republican nomination is far from assured. In the CNN poll, 55% of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters said they did not want Trump as their party’s nominee in 2024. The GOP nominating system, however, means that Trump does not need majority support to secure a place atop the GOP ticket in 2024. A huge field like in 2016 could balkanize opposition to him within his party.\n\nA consensus anti-Trump candidate whom his opponents unite behind could doom a campaign by the former President. But that would require a major contender to show the kind of courage in standing up to Trump that has been at a premium since the former business tycoon’s hostile takeover of the GOP in 2015.\n\nTrump’s speech on Tuesday at times came across as an attempt to strangle any such attempts before they really get started. And it also underscored that not only has the ex-President not changed, but that the next stage of his political evolution will be darker and potentially more dangerous than what came before.", "authors": ["Stephen Collinson"], "publish_date": "2022/07/27"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/politics/959964/the-many-promises-of-donald-trump", "title": "The many promises of Donald Trump | The Week UK", "text": "We will use the details you have shared to manage your registration. You agree to the processing, storage, sharing and use of this information for the purpose of managing your registration as described in our Privacy Policy.\n\nWould you like to receive The WeekDay newsletter ?\n\nThe WeekDay newsletter provides you with a daily digest of news and analysis.\n\nWe will use the details you have shared to manage your newsletter subscription. You agree to the processing, storage, sharing and use of this information for the purpose of managing your subscription as described in our Privacy Policy.\n\nWe will use the information you have shared for carefully considered and specific purposes, where we believe we have a legitimate case to do so, for example to send you communications about similar products and services we offer. You can find out more about our legitimate interest activity in our Privacy Policy.\n\nIf you wish to object to the use of your data in this way, please tick here.\n\n'We' includes The Week and other Future Publishing Limited brands as detailed here.", "authors": ["Ellie Pink"], "publish_date": "2023/03/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/12/politics/ron-desantis-speech-potential-2024-candidate/index.html", "title": "Analysis: Ron DeSantis just gave his first 2024 speech | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely being discussed as a potential 2024 candidate for Republicans – and he’s doing little to knock down that chatter. And, his state of the state speech on Tuesday gave us all a preview of how DeSantis would run if he runs.\n\n“Florida has become the escape hatch for those chafing under authoritarian, arbitrary and seemingly never-ending mandates and restrictions,” DeSantis said, adding that Florida was now “the freest state in these United States.”\n\nDeSantis repeatedly touted his willingness to buck so-called conventional wisdom during his first term – particularly when it came to dealing with the spread of Covid-19 in his state. DeSantis made mention of his decision to re-open Florida schools fully in the fall of 2020.\n\n“We were right and they were wrong,” DeSantis said, in what could easily double for a presidential campaign if/when he runs.\n\nAnd, make no mistake: What DeSantis was doing in his speech was positioning himself for just such a run. Which feels like a natural next step from the first three years of DeSantis’ time as governor; he has used his position to not only differentiate himself on Covid-19 mandates (and masking) but play directly into the arms of the Donald Trump base of the party – on everything from “woke” culture in education to restrictive voting rights in the state.\n\nVoters have taken notice. At CPAC’s annual 2021 gathering, two straw polls were conducted. The former President won the first straw poll. DeSantis won the second, Trump-less one. (DeSantis took 21% in the straw poll with Trump, the only candidate other than the former president to gain double-digit support.)\n\nIn a Reuters national poll released in late December, DeSantis was the only potential candidate not named Trump to make it into double digits – although his 11% was well behind the former President’s 54%. That same poll showed that eight in 10 Republican voters knew who DeSantis was and 66% had a favorable impression of him.\n\nTrump is taking notice of DeSantis’ jockeying.\n\nIn an interview with OANN that ran Tuesday, the former President appeared to take issue with DeSantis’ ongoing unwillingness to say whether he has received a booster shot for Covid-19.\n\n“I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’” Trump said. “Because they had the vaccine, and they’re answering like – in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless. You gotta say it, whether you had it or not, say it.”\n\nWhich isn’t the first time that Trump has thrown a bit of a blowback pitch at the Florida governor.\n\n“If I faced him, I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else,” Trump said of DeSantis late last year. “I think most people would drop out, I think he would drop out.”\n\n(Worth noting: DeSantis, unlike others – such as former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina – being mentioned as potential 2024 candidates, has not said he would stay out of the race if Trump won.)\n\nWhat DeSantis’ speech on Tuesday makes clear is exactly how he would position himself in a 2024 race: Trumpism without all of the antics, lies and distractions that the former President creates. The promise is that he will fight the Washington swamp, the “fake news” and those who would make America less free, he will just do it without all of the tweets and the chaos that Trump creates.\n\nWhich isn’t a bad argument given where the current iteration of the Republican party now finds itself. DeSantis, of course, would face a major uphill climb if Trump decides to run in two years’ time. But, if Trump – for whatever reason – decides to take a pass, DeSantis could well be in the pole position in the race.\n\nAnd, as his state of the state speech makes clear, he is gearing up for that possibility.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/01/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/07/biden-state-of-the-union-sotu-address-updates/11204405002/", "title": "State of the Union 2023 address recap: Biden lays out ambitious ...", "text": "WASHINGTON, D.C — President Joe Biden took credit Tuesday for what he said was the country's economic revival while pushing an agenda of reducing prescription drug costs, protecting abortion rights and banning assault weapons.\n\nThe economy was reeling two years ago, Biden said in his second State of the Union address delivered in a packed House chamber. In a preview of an expected reelection campaign announcement, he noted that the unemployment rate was at 50-year low while inflation has been easing.\n\n“We’ve been sent here to finish the job,” Biden said, invoking a phrase he used several times in his speech.\n\nBut the rancorous atmosphere in the House chamber telegraphed fights ahead, including over budget priorities and avoiding a catastrophic default on the nation’s debt. At several points in Biden’s speech, was interrupted by Republicans, who criticized his handling of border policy and pushed back when he accused them of trying to cut popular entitlements.\n\nSOTU analysis:Pivot point: Joe Biden faced a different chapter of his presidency in his State of the Union\n\nHeckles, spats and deflection:The biggest moments you missed from Biden's State of the Union\n\nState of the Union takeaways:Blue-collar Joe, GOP boos and a 2024 preview\n\nThe latest on Biden's speech:\n\nBlue-collar pitch: Promoting his economic plan, Biden assured Americans that he wants to invest in “places and people that have been forgotten,” arguing that “too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible.”\n\nPromoting his economic plan, Biden assured Americans that he wants to invest in “places and people that have been forgotten,” arguing that “too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible.” Biden calls Pelosi 'greatest speaker’ ever: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t sitting behind Biden for his address but she got a special call-out from the president anyway.\n\nFormer House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t sitting behind Biden for his address but she got a special call-out from the president anyway. Biden touts progress on insulin prices while pushing for more: Biden renewed his call to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American.\n\nBiden renewed his call to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American. Biden spars with GOP over Social Security and Medicare: The president prompted protests in the chamber from Republican lawmakers when he repeated his accusation that the GOP was trying to cut entitlements. When the protests continued, Biden said he wasn’t arguing that all Republicans back reviewing entitlement programs every five years. “But it’s being proposed,” he said.\n\nSanders: Biden has 'failed' American people; calls for 'new generation'\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, at age 40 the youngest governor in the country, didn't hesitate to point out that 80-year-old Joe Biden is the oldest president in history – and added that it is time for a \"new generation\" of Republican leadership.\n\n\"Biden and the Democrats have failed you,\" Sanders said in the formal GOP response to Biden's State of the Union address. \"It's time for a change.\"\n\nSpeaking from the governor's mansion in Little Rock, Ark., Sanders cited domestic issues like inflation, immigration, and crime. Also criticizing the president's foreign policy, Sanders said Biden is \"unfit\" to be Commander-in-Chief.\n\nCiting the Republican majority in the House, Sanders said: \"We will hold the Biden administration accountable.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nThe GOP:In Republican response to Biden's State of the Union, a vow to block the president's agenda\n\nBiden calls Paul Pelosi 'tough'\n\nBiden called out the political violence that was unleashed in the wake of Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.\n\n“With democracy, everything is possible. Without it, nothing is,” he said.\n\nBiden introduced Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was violently attacked in their home by an intruder, saying the assailant was “unhinged by the Big Lie” that the election was stolen.\n\n“Here tonight in this chamber is the man who bears the scars of that brutal attack, but is as tough and strong and as resilient as they get. My friend, Paul Pelosi,\" he said. “But such a heinous act never should have happened.”\n\n– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy\n\nPaul Pelosi attack:Video footage of violent home attack on Paul Pelosi released\n\nBiden gets personal and celebrates Cancer Moonshot initiative\n\nBiden celebrated the Cancer Moonshot initiative, aimed at advancing cancer prevention and treatment,\n\n“Our goal is to cut the cancer death rates at least by 50% in the next 25 years. Turn more cancers from death sentences to treatable diseases. Provide more support for patients and their families.” The issue is also deeply personal to Biden, as one of his sons, Beau Biden, passed away due to brain cancer. “It’s personal to so many of us.”\n\nBiden also singled out Maurice and Kandice Barron, a pair of guests invited by First Lady Jill Biden. Their daughter, Ava Barron, was diagnosed with a form of kidney cancer when she was one year old. “She turns four next month,” Biden said to wide cheers from the audience. “They just found out Ava’s beating the odds and is on her way to being cured from cancer.”\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nCancer treatment:New cancer therapy takes personalized medicine to a new level\n\nBiden says US stood up to China\n\nFacing Republicans who’ve accused him of being too soft on China, Biden said he responded clearly last week when a Chinese surveillance balloon floated over the United States.\n\nChina knows that if U.S. sovereignty is threatened, Americans will act to protect the country.\n\n“And we did,” Biden said, an apparent reference to his decision to shoot down the balloon.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nChinese spy balloon:Chinese spy balloon went over other US missile and nuclear weapons sites, lawmaker says\n\nBiden: Stop production, trafficking of fentanyl\n\nCiting Americans’ growing dependence on prescription drugs, Biden called for a major campaign to stop the production, sale and trafficking of fentanyl.\n\nBiden noted that fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year. But his remarks were met with contempt from some members of Congress.\n\n“It’s your fault!” several Republicans shouted.\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nWhat is fentanyl poisoning?:These State of the Union guests lost their son to it\n\nBiden says VA working to end 'the silent scourge of suicide'\n\nBiden said when he first appointed Denis McDonough to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, the country was losing up to 25 veterans a day to “the silent scourge of suicide,” and continues to lose 17 per day.\n\n“The VA is doing everything it can, including expanding mental health screenings and a proven program that recruits veterans to help other veterans understand what they’re going through and get the help they need,”\n\n– Erin Mansfield\n\nMilitary suicide:Amid suicide crisis, the Army says it will rush mental health providers to Alaska\n\nBiden calls for higher teacher pay\n\nBiden hasn't touched much on education issues during the address but did take a moment to outline several priorities on that front. Among them: expanding access to preschool and raising teacher pay.\n\nIn 2021, teachers made less than 77 cents on the dollar compared with other college graduates. Yet surveys show teachers work more than 50 hours a week on average. Close to 1 in 5 work elsewhere at another job. It's no surprise that nearly half of U.S. schools are short teachers. Some states and districts have proposed or enacted pay bumps but they've been modest at best.\n\nFederal legislation again before Congress this session would set a teacher salary floor of $60,000. While raising teacher pay has garnered the support of some Republicans, the American Teacher Act is unlikely to get far. In some states teachers make less than $50,000 on average.\n\n– Alia Wong\n\nTeacher shortage:Amid crippling teacher shortages, some schools are turning to unorthodox solutions\n\nBiden urges lawmakers to protect abortion rights\n\nBiden called on lawmakers to “restore” abortion rights after the Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.\n\n“The vice president and I are doing everything to protect access to reproductive health care and safeguard patient safety,” Biden said, noting that states across the country have implemented abortion bans and restrictions.\n\n“Make no mistake about it. If Congress passes a national ban, I will veto it,” the president vowed.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nRoe v. Wade overturned:Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, eliminating constitutional right to abortion\n\nAbortion pills:20 Republican attorneys general warn CVS, Walgreens against selling abortion pills by mail\n\nBiden renews call to stand with Ukraine 'as long as it takes'\n\nCalling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “test for the ages,” Biden said the U.S. passed that test by standing for sovereignty.\n\nThat matters, Biden said, because it “prevents open season for would-be aggressors.”\n\nHis argument – and promise to stand with Ukraine “as long as it takes” – comes as some Republicans are calling for greater scrutiny, or even a curtailment, of U.S. involvement.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nUkraine latest:Ukraine pushes to exclude Russia from 2024 Paris Olympics\n\nBono at the SOTU:Here's why musician, advocate Bono is at Biden's State of the Union address\n\nAmerica’s border problems won’t be fixed until Congress acts, said Biden.\n\nSince launching a new border plan last month, unlawful migration from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela has come down 97%, Biden said.\n\n“We now have a record number of personnel working to secure the border, arresting 8,000 human smugglers and seizing over 23,000 pounds of fentanyl in just the last several months,” he said.\n\nHe urged Congress to pass his plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border. He also asked Congress to pave a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers, and essential workers.\n\n– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy\n\nBorder politics:Republicans said Biden wasn't doing enough on the border. New GOP-led House is demanding answers\n\nBiden highlights ‘courage’ of Brandon Tsay and calls for assault weapon bans\n\nBiden singled out Brandon Tsay’s heroism two weeks ago when he disarmed the Monterey Park shooter who killed 11 people who attended a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration. Tsay, who is in attendance, received a standing ovation from lawmakers as Biden acknowledged him.\n\n“He saved lives. It’s time we do the same as well,” Biden said. “Ban assault weapons once and for all.”\n\nMass shootings typically lead lawmakers to call for such actions but it’s unlikely that a ban will pass in a divided Congress with many Republican lawmakers who have vowed that they will not waver on gun control.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\n'Still too high':Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin orders independent panel to study military suicide\n\nMarjorie Taylor Greene yells at Biden multiple times\n\nRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a fervent opponent of Biden who has called for his impeachment, yelled at him twice during the State of the Union address.\n\nThe first time came as Biden said Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare – an accusation that Greene refuted when she stood up yelled “Liar!”\n\nGreene later yelled, “China spied on us!” near the end of Biden’s speech.\n\nShe also yelled to “close the border” and “it’s your fault” when the president talked about the fentanyl crisis.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nHeckling lawmakers:Marjorie Taylor Greene, other Republicans spar with Biden over Social Security, Medicare\n\nState of the Union guests:Lawmakers highlight policing, abortion, wrongful imprisonment\n\nBiden on Tyre Nichols’ death: ‘Something good must come from this’\n\nBiden used his speech to pay tribute to Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers.\n\nBiden called for more police training and more resources to reduce violent crime, along with more investments in housing, education and training.\n\nNoting that Nichols’ mother and stepfather were seated in the first lady’s box, Biden urged lawmakers to commit themselves to making the words of Nichols’ mother come true: “Something good must come from this.”\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nTyre Nichols killing:7 more Memphis police employees under investigation in Tyre Nichols' death, city attorney says\n\nBiden invokes Uvalde massacre in call for gun reform\n\nIn a call to action on gun violence, Biden invoked his trip to Uvalde, Texas, after the Robb Elementary School shooting where 19 students and two teachers were killed.\n\n“Do something, do something. That was the plea of parents who lost their children in Uvalde, I met with everyone.” Biden said, then pointing to the bipartisan gun reform law he signed. “Thank god we did. Passing the most sweeping gun safety law in three decades.”\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nUvalde shooting:Her daughter was killed in Uvalde. She's suing police, the school district and a gunmaker.\n\nCOVID is under control but vigilance necessary, says Biden\n\nWhile COVID-19 deaths are down nearly 90%, and the end of the public health emergency is close, Biden said the country will remember the pain of losing loved ones will never go away for many.\n\n“Families grieving. Children orphaned. Empty chairs at the dining room table. We remember them, and we remain vigilant,” he said.\n\nBiden said it was important to remain vigilant and monitor dozens of variants and support new vaccines and treatments. He urged Congress to fund these efforts and keep America safe.\n\n– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy\n\nThe COVID emergency declaration is ending:What it means for tests, vaccines, treatment\n\nBiden: Police departments 'must be held accountable'\n\nSaying Tyre Nichols’ mother wants something good to come from his death at the hands of police officers in Memphis, Biden called for police reform.\n\n“When police officers or departments violate the public trust, they must be held accountable,” he said.\n\nBiden also pointed to an executive order he signed affecting federal officers that banned chokeholds, restricted no-knock warrants, and implemented “other key elements of the George Floyd Act.”\n\n– Erin Mansfield\n\nTyre Nichols:Ex-Memphis police officer took a photo of Tyre Nichols after beating, document says\n\nBiden urges Congress to act on labor reform\n\nBiden called for Congress to take up labor reform and worker protections as he touted his support for unions and his pledge to be “the most pro-union president.”\n\n“I’m so sick and tired of companies breaking the law by preventing workers from organizing,” said Biden. “Workers have a right to form a union.”\n\nBiden also urged action on additional worker protections and benefits, including paid family and medical leave and affordable child care, specifically calling for the return of the expanded Child Tax Credit.\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nLabor secretary makes move:Former Boston mayor Marty Walsh stepping down as Biden Labor Secretary for job with NHL union\n\nBiden calls for rebooting the expanded Child Tax Credit\n\nParents who qualify for the Child Tax Credit (CTC) won’t be getting as hefty checks as last year. That’s because the enhanced CTC, which parents could also opt to receive in installments rather than waiting to receive it in a lump sum payment when they file their taxes, expired.\n\nThe enhanced CTC increased payments from $2,000 per qualifying child to $3,600 for children ages 5 and under and $3,000 for children ages 6 through 17. This year it will go back to $2,000 for qualifying children of all ages.\n\nIn his remarks, Biden vowed to “restore the full Child Tax Credit which gave tens of millions of parents some breathing room and cut child poverty in half, to the lowest level in history.”\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nChild tax credit this year:How much is the Child Tax Credit for 2023? Here's what you need to know about qualifying.\n\nBiden: Ban ‘junk fees’ on hotel bills, other services\n\nBiden urged Congress to pass legislation to ban excess fees that companies often tack onto hotel bills, airline tickets and other services.\n\n“Americans are tired of being played for suckers,” he said.\n\nThe Junk Fee Prevention Act, if approved, would bar so-called “resort fees” that can add up to $90 a night on hotel bills, stop cable internet and cell phone companies from charging up to $200 more when a customer switches providers, and prohibit airlines from charging up to $50 roundtrip for families to sit together, Biden said.\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nJunk fees:Biden moves to limit credit fees to $8 for missed payments in latest \"junk fee\" crack down\n\nSocial Security and Medicare benefits draw tension during speech\n\nBiden’s State of the Union address comes as he and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have started talks on the debt ceiling and government spending.\n\nTension has been building between the two parties over Social Security and Medicare benefits. McCarthy said Republicans aren’t going to cut those programs, but Democrats say the math will force those cuts if the GOP demands lowered government spending.\n\nBiden in his speech said Republicans want to cut the programs, to which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stood up and yelled “Liar!” as other members booed the president.\n\n“OK, so we agree,” Biden said. “Social Security and Medicare is off the books.”\n\nBipartisan cheers returned to the chamber.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nMedicare:Medicare launches plan to negotiate prices for the costliest drugs. Here's what to know.\n\nBiden takes credit for deficit cuts\n\nBiden celebrated the government’s deficit cuts seen under his administration in his State of the Union address.\n\n“For the last two years, my administration has cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion, the largest deficit reduction in American history,” Biden said. The deficit’s cut was partly a result of higher tax revenues that Biden touted but also the end of spending related to the pandemic.\n\nBiden also took a jab at former President Donald Trump for increases in the federal deficit under Trump’s administration. “Under the previous administration, the American deficit went up four years in a row,” Biden said, to boos and jeers from Republican lawmakers.\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nWhat happens if the US hits the debt ceiling?:Here's what to expect if we reach debt limit.\n\nBiden says Republicans want to ‘take the economy hostage’ in debt ceiling talks\n\nBiden accused Republicans of wanting to “take the economy hostage” unless he agrees to their demands for spending cuts during debt ceiling talks.\n\nBiden demanded Republicans show “what their plans are.” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has not specified what Republicans want axed.\n\n“Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years,” Biden said, prompting loud boos from Republicans in Congress.\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nMedicare and debt ceiling fight:How Medicare and Social Security benefits factor into the Kevin McCarthy debt ceiling fight\n\nBiden defends Inflation Reduction Act\n\nPresident Biden touted the Inflation Reduction Act which he signed into law, saying he was taking on powerful interest to bring health care costs down.\n\n“You know, we pay more for prescription drugs than any major country on earth,” he said. “Big Pharma has been unfairly charging people hundreds of dollars – and making record profits.”\n\nHaving capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors on Medicare, Biden said it was time to help Americans not on Medicare, including 200,000 young people with Type I diabetes who need insulin to save their lives. “Let’s cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it,” he said. The law also caps out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare at a maximum $2,000 per year.\n\nHe also promised to veto any attempts to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act.\n\n– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy\n\nCredit fees:Biden moves to limit credit fees to $8 for missed payments in latest \"junk fee\" crack down\n\nBiden tangles with GOP lawmakers over Social Security and Medicare\n\nBiden got into an unusual back and forth with Republicans over whether GOP lawmakers want to end the automatic continuation of Social Security and Medicare.\n\nWhen some vocally protested, Biden responded: “Anyone who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.”\n\nWhen the protests continued, Biden said he wasn’t arguing that all Republicans back reviewing entitlement programs every five years.\n\n“But it’s being proposed,” he said.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nMedicare debate:How Medicare and Social Security benefits factor into the Kevin McCarthy debt ceiling fight\n\nCheers and boos for Biden\n\nProgressive members of the House, known as “the Squad,” cheered as President Joe Biden pushed for fair taxes and called out low tax rates for billionaires.\n\n“You tell ‘em, Joe,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.\n\nHe also had plenty of jeers from the Republican side of the chamber when he slammed former President Donald Trump’s fiscal record and accused the House GOP of trying to cut Social Security and Medicare. The latter attracted loud boos.\n\nRep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., stood up and yelled, “Liar!” from the back of the chamber.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nTalkative Biden:On average, Biden is most talkative president in six decades of State of Union addresses\n\nBiden repeats call for ‘billionaire’s tax’\n\nBiden used his speech to call again for Congress to pass a so-called “billionaire’s tax,” saying some of the biggest corporations in the country are raking in billions of dollars in profits but paying no federal income taxes.\n\n“That’s simply not fair,” he said.\n\nBiden did not spell out the specifics of his proposal. But in the past, he has called for a 20% levy on households with a net worth of more than $100 million.\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nWhat are the tax brackets?:What are the 2022 US federal tax brackets? What are the new 2023 tax brackets? Answers here\n\nBiden calls climate crisis ‘an existential threat’\n\nBiden said “the climate crisis doesn't care if you're in a red or blue state” as he touted his administration’s work to take on what he called “an existential threat.”\n\nHe pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the largest climate package ever, and investments from his infrastructure law.\n\nHe later went off-script, saying, “We’re still going to need oil and gas for a while.”\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nUN Secretary-General::'No more baby steps' on climate change\n\nBiden to Congress: Continue insurance subsidies that lowered uninsured rates\n\nBiden celebrated the fact that a record number of Americans have health insurance while calling on Congress to continue expanded insurance subsidies that helped boost that rate.\n\nThose enhanced subsidies for people who purchase insurance on their own, instead of getting coverage from the government or an employer, expire after 2025.\n\n“Let’s finish the job and make the savings permanent,” Biden said as he also called for extending expanded Medicaid coverage to all states.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nBiden takes made in America a step further\n\nBiden touted American manufacturing gains and a campaign promise to move more production to the U.S. from foreign countries. Biden then announced, “new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in America.”\n\n“American-made lumber, glass, drywall, fiber optic cables,” he said. “And on my watch, American roads, American bridges, and American highways will be made with American products.”\n\nBiden’s message echoes former President Donald Trump’s prior State of the Union addresses where he boasted about initiatives to bring back manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the years.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nInsulin costs:Medicare caps insulin costs at $35 a month. Can Biden get that price for all Americans?\n\nBiden touts legislative victories in infrastructure and manufacturing\n\nBiden championed his series of legislative victories that ranged from tackling the country’s supply chain shortage and sweeping investments in domestic manufacturing and infrastructure.\n\n“We’re gonna make sure the supply chain for America begins in America,” Biden said, touting a bipartisan bill he signed that made investments to boost domestic manufacturing of semiconductors.\n\n“To maintain the strongest economy in the world, we need the best infrastructure in the world,” said Biden, pointing to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. “Folks, we’re just getting started.”\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nWhy Bono is at SOTU:Here's why musician, advocate Bono is at Biden's State of the Union address\n\nBiden appeals to middle and working class people on manufacturing\n\nIn an appeal to middle class and working class people, Biden said he ran for president “to make sure the economy works for everyone” so that everyone can have pride in what they do for a living.\n\n“For decades, the middle class was hollowed out,” he said. “Too many good-paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas. Factories at home closed down. Once-thriving cities and towns that many of you represent became shadows of what they used to be.”\n\nBiden then spoke about his administration’s accomplishments in the manufacturing sector.\n\n– Erin Mansfield\n\nWhat is fentanyl poisoning?:These State of the Union guests lost their son to it\n\nMore:As Biden prepares 2024 reelection run, Dems worry blue-collar voters are slipping away\n\nBiden: ‘COVID no longer controls our lives’\n\nBiden said the nation’s economy is roaring back from the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\n“Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much,” he said. “Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.”\n\nBiden said his administration has created 12 million jobs, “more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four.”\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nA full House – literally – for State of the Union\n\nPresident Joe Biden entered a full House chamber Tuesday.\n\nThe capacity crowd included House and Senate members, current and former Supreme Court justices, family and honored guests.\n\nBiden’s first words were met with a standing ovation, as he honored Republican and Democratic leaders – but also as he described the state of the union.\n\nThe applause came from Democrats and Republicans, and the standing ovations were sometimes led by a row of powerful Senate moderates, including Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Kyrsten Sinema, who recently changed her party affiliation to independent.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nBiden: Pelosi is 'greatest speaker’ ever\n\nFormer House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t sitting behind Biden for his address but she got a special call-out from the president anyway.\n\n“I want to give special recognition to someone who I think will be considered the greatest speaker in the history of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi,” Biden said.\n\nPelosi stepped down from Democratic leadership after the midterm elections. Biden also congratulated her successor, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black American to be House minority leader.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nWhat are burn pits?:Why were burn pits used? Toxic fumes, medical risks explained.\n\nBiden begins speech telling McCarthy he looks forward to ‘working together’\n\nBiden began his remarks congratulating Kevin McCarthy, the new Republican House speaker, and saying he looks forward to “working together.”\n\nBiden also congratulated Democratic Leader Hakeem Jefferies, the first African American man to lead a party, and gave shout outs to Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.\n\n“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience. Of always moving forward. Of never giving up,” Biden said.\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nLabor Secretary Marty Walsh is designated survivor for 2023 State of the Union\n\nSecretary of Labor Marty Walsh is the designated survivor for this year's State of the Union address.\n\nEvery year, a top government official is chosen as the “designated survivor” as a way to maintain the presidential line of succession in case of a catastrophic event where multiple officials in the line are unable to assume office.\n\n– Ken Tran\n\nMarty Walsh:Former Boston mayor Marty Walsh stepping down as Biden Labor Secretary for job with NHL union\n\nBono is at the State of the Union\n\nBono, the Irish lead singer of U2, is attending the State of the Union as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.\n\nBono is a longtime social justice advocate who co-founded the nonprofit ONE Campaign to address poverty and preventable diseases and Prouct RED to address HIV and AIDS in Africa.\n\nHe’s sitting next to Paul Pelosi, husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.\n\n– Erin Mansfield\n\nWhat is fentanyl poisoning?:These State of the Union guests lost their son to it\n\n2 Californians will sit behind Biden\n\nVice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy may not share a political party. But they do have something in common. Both are from California.\n\nThat gave them at least one thing to talk about as they stood on the rostrum, waiting for Biden’s speech to begin.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nBiden gets a Supreme Court majority for speech, if not policies\n\nAt least for tonight, President Joe Biden landed a majority of the Supreme Court.\n\nFive sitting Supreme Court justices stepped into the House chamber before the president’s remarks: Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.\n\nThat’s a decent turnout for an event some current and former justices have derided as a “political pep rally” and a “childish spectacle.”\n\nWhether the president can cobble together a majority for any of his policies pending at the court – on immigration, student loan debt relief or environmental rules – remains to be seen.\n\n– John Fritze\n\nBiden to get bipartisan escort into House chamber\n\nBiden will be escorted into the House chamber by a bipartisan group of House and Senate officials, including Senate leaders Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.\n\n–Michael Collins\n\nFace masks uncommon as pre-pandemic normality returns\n\nFew lawmakers were wearing face masks as they filed onto the House floor for Biden’s State of the Union speech.\n\nAnd unlike last year, members of Congress were allowed to bring guests, a return to pre-pandemic normality.\n\n“Today, COVID no longer controls our lives,” Biden will declare, according to speech excerpts the White House released in advance.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nState of the economy:A look at economy's strengths, weaknesses as Biden sets to boast of record job growth in State of Union\n\nBiden arrives at Capitol\n\nBiden’s motorcade arrived at the Capitol at 8:40 p.m. ahead of his 9 p.m. State of the Union speech.\n\n“Great shape, getting better,” Biden said when a reporter asked him, “What’s the state of the union?” before he departed the White House.\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\n5 big questions for Biden's speech:Is he running? 5 big questions Joe Biden will answer in the State of the Union\n\nPoll: Republicans want GOP leaders to 'stand up’ to Biden\n\nIf Biden doesn’t find a receptive audience to his call for the two parties to work together, Republican voters could be the reason.\n\nMost Republicans (64%) want GOP congressional leaders to “stand up” to Biden on matters important to GOP, even if that makes it harder to address critical problems facing the country, according to recent polling from the Pew Research Center.\n\nAnd more are concerned that GOP lawmakers won’t focus enough on investigating the administration than the share worried that they will focus too much on investigations.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nState of the Union guests:Lawmakers highlight policing, abortion, wrongful imprisonment\n\nBiden approval rating hovering in low 40s ahead of speech\n\nBiden’s second State of the Union address Tuesday comes as he remains under water politically, with more than half of voters disapproving of his job performance, according to most polls.\n\nA Washington Post-ABC poll released this week found 42% of voters approve of Biden’s job performance, while 53% disapprove. That closely matches the FiveThirtyEight average of polls.\n\nBiden’s job performance has stayed below since August 2021 in most polls. Even more troubling for Biden, most Americans can’t identify his achievements. Sixty-two percent of Americans said Biden has accomplished \"not very much\" or “little or nothing,\" in the same Washington Post-ABC News poll, while only 36% said he has accomplished \"a great deal\" or \"a good amount.\"\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nWhat to watch for:The State of the Union is Tuesday: Here's what you can expect from Joe Biden's speech\n\nVice President Kamala Harris chats with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ahead of speech\n\nVice President Kamala Harris shook hands with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and the two chatted, as they stood behind the rostrum waiting for Biden to enter the House chamber.\n\nThis will be the first State of the Union with McCarthy as speaker since Republicans took control of the House during the midterm elections.\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nBiden heads to the Capitol\n\nBiden left the White House at 8:30 p.m. en route to the Capitol. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived ahead of him along with the majority of his Cabinet.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nPaul Pelosi arrives at State of the Union\n\nPaul Pelosi, the 82-year-old husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arrived at the State of the Union about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.\n\nThis marks his first visit to a joint session of Congress since a video release of a brutal October attack that left him with head and hand injuries requiring surgery.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nLawmakers arrive for State of the Union\n\nIf handshakes across the aisle are any reliable indication, there was a hint of bipartisanship in the air as lawmakers arrived for President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union before a divided Congress.\n\nThere was also the smell of cigars in the House gallery hallways on the third floor, a sign of the changing guard and new House rules.\n\nSeveral guests and congresswomen were wearing white, as a nod to the suffragettes. That included Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who despite earlier posts did not bring a white balloon into the chamber to troll Biden about what she describes as a delayed response in taking down the Chinese spy balloon.\n\n- Candy Woodall\n\nBiden traveling to Wisconsin and Florida after speech\n\nBiden administration officials will hit the road this week, holding events in at least 20 states to highlight parts of the president’s message.\n\nBiden himself will talk about his economic agenda in Wisconsin Wednesday and will discuss Social Security and Medicare in Florida Thursday.\n\nVice President Kamala Harris is heading to Georgia and Minnesota. Multiple other cabinet members are also fanning out across the country.\n\n- Maureen Groppe\n\nHow would Biden’s billionaire tax work?\n\nTonight Biden will resurface his plan to levy more taxes on the ultra-wealthy. But how would that work?\n\nUnder the current tax system, you don’t have to pay taxes on assets like stocks, homes and artwork that can appreciate over time until you sell it. But if you hold onto them until you die, you won’t have to pay any taxes. And on top of that, heirs that inherit your assets won’t have to pay taxes if they sell them.\n\nThe Biden Administration refers to this as a tax loophole, as billionaires benefit the most since they’re more likely than working-class Americans to get compensated via stocks or other assets that appreciate over time or inherit them.\n\nTo end the practice, Biden is proposing “minimum income tax” on American households worth more than $100 million. His plan calls for the wealthiest Americans to pay a tax rate of at least 20% on their full income, including unrealized gains from assets that have increased in value since their purchase.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nTaxing billionaires:Should the wealthy pay taxes on expensive art and wine? Joe Biden thinks so. Here's how it would work\n\nOcasio-Cortez lays out expectations for Biden’s speech, working with Republicans\n\nAhead of Biden’s address, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D.-N.Y., said she’s hoping to “hear a really strong vision” from Biden and explained how Democrats and Republicans could find common ground after the GOP gained control of the House during the midterm elections.\n\nThe New York lawmaker told CNN she hopes to hear “about not just what we've done so far, but also our plans on executing on the enormous bills and successes that we've had in the last one to two years,\" saying “There still is implementation and execution on these plans to address our priorities around climate, taxing the rich and so much more.”\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nBiden's 'finish the job' call in State of the Union echoes FDR\n\nHistorian Michael Beschloss hears echoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Biden’s State of the Union address.\n\nBiden will call on Republicans to work with him to “finish the job” of rebuilding the economy and uniting the country, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House.\n\n“Finish the job” was used as a rationale for FDR's reelection, Beschloss tweeted about the phrase’s historical lineage. It was also a slogan for the World War I effort. And in a famous radio address during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill vowed to “finish the job.”\n\nAt the start of Biden’s administration, many comparisons – not all of them favorable – were made between the size and scope of Biden’s ambitions, Roosevelt’s programs and the World War II spending that lifted the nation out of the Great Depression.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders: Biden is more interested in 'woke fantasies' than concerns of everyday Americans\n\nIn delivering the Republican response to the State of the Union, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sander plans to attack Biden and the Democrats over a panoply of issues that include inflation, taxes, education and so-called \"culture wars.\"\n\n\"And while you reap the consequences of their failures, the Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,\" Sanders plans to say, according to speech excerpts released by her office.\n\nAnother excerpt: \"Most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.\"\n\n– David Jackson\n\nState of the Union guests:Lawmakers highlight policing, abortion, wrongful imprisonment\n\nHow long does the State of the Union last? What it will take for Biden to set a SOTU record\n\nBiden’s first State of the Union address in 2022 was somewhere between the longest and shortest speeches ever given, according to The American Presidency Project. Will he keep his second address tonight short and sweet, or will he be long-winded?\n\nIf he intendeds to break the record for the shortest speech ever, he’d have it keep it under 28 minutes and 55 seconds. That was the time Richard Nixon took to deliver his address in 1972. To beat the longest address ever, he’d have to outdo his fellow Democrat former President Bill Clinton, who went on for 1 hour, 28 minutes and 40 seconds for his final State of the Union speech in 2000. Clinton also claims the spot for the second longest address, clocking in at 1 hour, 24 minutes and 58 seconds in 1995.\n\n– Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy\n\nBiden to promise investment in ‘places and people that have been forgotten’\n\nBiden will spend part of his address promoting his economic plan and assuring Americans that he wants to invest in “places and people that have been forgotten.”\n\nAmid the economic upheaval of the past four decades, too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible, he will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House.\n\n“Maybe that’s you watching at home,” Biden will say. “You remember the jobs that went away. And you wonder whether a path even exists anymore for you and your children to get ahead without moving away. I get it. That’s why we’re building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years. This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives.”\n\n– Michael Collins\n\nBiden to praise recovery from Jan. 6 riot, COVID\n\nPresident Joe Biden will say “the story of America is a story of progress and resilience” in his State of the Union address as he touts a rebounding economy, COVID-19 recovery and democracy that survived the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, according to excerpts of the speech provided by the White House.\n\nBiden will tout 12 million new jobs created under his presidency – many that came back following the pandemic – to claim economic progress. And he will reflect on a period two years ago when businesses and schools closed at the height of the pandemic.\n\n“Today, COVID no longer controls our lives,” Biden plans to say. “And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nBiden to ask Republicans to work with him in SOTU speech\n\nPresident Joe Biden will make a plea to Republicans in Congress to work with him. He said after the November elections that Americans sent a divided Congress to Washington because they want them to work together.\n\n“The people sent us a clear message,” Biden will say, according to excerpts released from the White House. “Fighting for the sake of fighting, power for the sake of power, conflict for the sake of conflict, gets us nowhere.”\n\n– Erin Mansfield\n\nWhy Sen. Patty Murray and other lawmakers will be wearing crayons at State of the Union\n\nWashington Sen. Patty Murray and some of her Democratic colleagues will be wearing crayon pins to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Tuesday to signal their support for greater investments in child care. Such care now costs more than $10,000 a year on average, and roughly half of Americans live in a child care desert. Insufficient child care takes a toll on America's economy, recent research shows, costing taxpayers $122 billion annually.\n\nPartisan gridlock has prevented progress on major child care reforms, such as Murray's Child Care for Working Families Act, which would generally cap child care expenses at 7% of a family's household income. Biden, who alluded to that cap in his last State of the Union, has also struggled to gain traction on his child care proposals.\n\n– Alia Wong\n\nLawmakers to highlight key social issues through guests\n\nTuesday night’s State of the Union address will be the first year since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic where lawmakers are allowed to bring their own guests. As part of tradition, lawmakers tend to invite guests that draw attention to issues important to them.\n\nSeveral Democratic lawmakers have invited guests to champion abortion access such as Roslyn Roger Collins, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Metropolitan New Jersey, who will attend the address alongside Rep. Bob Mendendez, D-N.J., according to Planned Parenthood.\n\nIn the wake of the brutal beating and subsequent death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are bringing guests who have been impacted by police violence. House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has invited Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died at the hands of a New York police officer in 2014.\n\n– Christine Fernando and Ken Tran\n\nRepublican response: Sarah Huckabee Sanders follows in historic footsteps with her State of the Union response\n\nArkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the first former White House press secretary to deliver a formal State of the Union response – she is not, however, the first governor of Arkansas to do the honors.\n\nBack in 1985, the Democrats picked a young governor of Arkansas to deliver their response to President Ronald Reagan.\n\nHis name? Bill Clinton ... then-future President Bill Clinton.\n\nSanders will give the Republican rebuttal after Biden's speech.\n\n– David Jackson\n\n5 big questions for the SOTU:Is he running? 5 big questions Joe Biden will answer in the State of the Union\n\nBiden and China: Spy balloon likely to be addressed\n\nThe speech is a chance for Biden to respond to those who have criticized how he handled the suspected Chinese spy balloon that drifted over the United States last week – and to send a public message to China. Republicans have accused Biden of showing weakness by not shooting down the balloon sooner.\n\nTensions have been rising with China, which the U.S. considers its biggest strategic and economic competitor. The nations have clashed over Taiwan, technology, human rights, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other disputes.\n\nThe Biden administration has been trying to stabilize the relationship, building what it’s called “guardrails” as it normalizes interaction. But one effort to do that – sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China – was postponed because of the balloon incident.\n\n– Maureen Groppe and Michael Collins\n\nIntel chair: China balloon flew over nuke sites\n\nBiden to lay out 'forceful approach’ to combatting fentanyl\n\nThe Biden administration will launch a national campaign to educate young people on the dangers of fentanyl, part of the “forceful approach” for going after fentanyl trafficking and reducing overdose deaths.\n\nOther steps include:\n\nUsing new large-scale scanners to improve efforts to stop fentanyl from being brought into the U.S. through the southern border.\n\nWorking with package delivery companies to catch more packages containing fentanyl from being shipped around the country.\n\nWorking with Congress to make permanent a temporary tool that that’s helped federal agents crack down on drugs chemically similar to fentanyl.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\n5 big questions on Biden's speech:Is he running? 5 big questions Joe Biden will answer in the State of the Union\n\nBiden to plug job market as recession looms\n\nPresident Joe Biden is expected to take credit for a booming job market and easing inflation when he speaks to the nation Tuesday night.\n\nBut he’ll likely leave out a litany of trouble spots, including a slumping housing market, a monthslong manufacturing downturn and elevated recession risk this year. Meanwhile, inflation is still high and economists pin at least some of the blame on Biden for showering Americans with cash in early 2021 while the economy was already healing.\n\n– Paul Davidson\n\nState of the economy:A look at economy's strengths, weaknesses as Biden sets to boast of record job growth in State of Union\n\nWho is Sarah Huckabee Sanders? Arkansas governor to giver Republican response to Biden's State of the Union address\n\nSarah Huckabee Sanders, one-time White House press secretary for former President Trump and current governor of Arkansas, will deliver the Republican rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address tonight.\n\nSanders, the youngest governor in the U.S., hails from a prominent political family. Her father Mike Huckabee was the 44th governor of Arkansas, serving from 1996 to 2007 before launching an unsuccessful presidential bid during the 2008 election. The younger Sanders has since cut out her own place in GOP politics, emerging as one of the more high-profile members of the Trump administration.\n\n– Anna Kaufman\n\nBono, Tyre Nichols’ family members among guests sitting with first lady Jill Biden Tuesday night\n\nThe lead singer for the rock group U2, Bono, and Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, are among the White House guests attending President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday.\n\nGuests are chosen to highlight themes of the president’s speech or because they represent his policy initiatives.\n\nBono is the cofounder of the ONE campaign to fight poverty and preventable diseases, and (RED), which fights HIV/AIDS in Africa. Other guests who will be sitting with first lady Jill Biden during the speech include:\n\nThe mother and stepfather of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who died after being beaten by Memphis police officers.\n\nBrandon Tsay, the man who disarmed the Monterey Park gunman who killed 11 people and injured 10 others during a Lunar New Year celebration.\n\nA Texas woman who almost died because doctors were concerned that intervening when her pregnancy ran into difficulties would violate the state’s abortion ban.\n\nOne of the Massachusetts same-sex couples who sued the state for the right to marry in 2001.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nWhat to expect from tonight's speech:Here's what you can expect from Joe Biden's speech\n\nBiden's speech comes amid job gains\n\nOne accomplishment Biden is sure to bring up tonight is the level of job gains under his presidency. Since he took office the unemployment rate went from 6.3% to 3.4%, per the latest jobs data.\n\nDespite recession fears and massive tech layoffs, U.S. employers added 517,000 new jobs last month, well exceeding economists' expectations of around 180,000 new jobs.\n\nThe blowout jobs report paved the way for the Federal Reserve to pass more rate hikes aimed at lowering inflation, Fed Chairman Powell said in remarks he delivered earlier today. But the rate hikes could push the economy closer to a recession, which the central bank has avoided so far.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nBiden’s student loan forgiveness plan remains stalled\n\nBiden has yet to fulfill his campaign promise of canceling at least $10,000 in student loan debt. Last year he unveiled a plan to make good on his promise.\n\nHowever the plan is being stalled by legal challenges. Six states – Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina – formed a coalition to fight the proposal. They argue that canceling student loan debt extends beyond the administration’s legal authority.\n\nThe Supreme Court is set to hear arguments for the case later this month. The Biden administration claims it is well within their legal realm to proceed with its plan. It cannot do so unless the Court rules in its favor, however.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nStock market under Biden\n\nSince President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10%. Last year the index fell into a bear market, meaning it dropped 20% below a market peak set last January.\n\nDuring former President Donald Trump's time in office, the Dow gained 56%. That represents an annualized gain of close to 12%, one of the best stock market performances under a Republican president according to data from LPL Financial.\n\n– Elisabeth Buchwald\n\nWhat time is the State of the Union speech tonight?\n\nBiden’s State of the Union speech is Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST.\n\nHow to stream the SOTU\n\nThe speech will be livestreamed by USA TODAY.\n\nWho is the designated survivor tonight?\n\nThe State of the Union address, delivered to a joint session of Congress and a crowd that includes all nine Supreme Court justices, poses a unique scenario in which every key member of the nation’s leadership is in one room.\n\nThat makes it both a momentous affair, and a significant national security risk. For this reason, each year one member of the president’s Cabinet dubbed the \"designated survivor\" hangs back.\n\nThe practice dates back to the Cold War, during which fears of a Soviet Nuclear attack abounded and a fresh urgency surrounded protocols for the order of presidential succession. The designated survivor for 2023 has not yet been announced, but heads of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Energy have most frequently been chosen.\n\n– Anna Kaufman\n\nWhat channel is the State of the Union on?\n\nThe major TV networks and other news outlets, such as Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and PBS, are providing live coverage of the address.\n\nWhat is the State of the Union address?\n\nThe State of the Union address isn’t just a tradition in the nation’s capital. It's rooted in the Constitution.\n\nArticle II of the Constitution says the president shall “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.\"\n\nThat doesn’t mean the president has to give a speech – as they often do today.\n\n\"From that very general mandate in the Constitution has evolved into what we recognize today as a yearly event, with lots of pomp and circumstance,\" Claire Jerry, a curator of political history at the National Museum of American History, told USA TODAY.\n\n– Marina Pitofsky\n\nWhen did the annual message become known as State of the Union address?\n\nFrom 1790 to 1946, the speech delivered by the president to Congress was known simply as the \"Annual Message.\"\n\nIn 1947 is became the ‘State of the Union’ and has since been referred to by that name.\n\n– Anna Kaufman\n\nWhat is the origin of the state of the union address?\n\nArticle II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution states that the president will “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”\n\nThis language birthed the practice, allowing the executive to deliver to a joint session of Congress and the American people.\n\nIn the modern era, the speech has become a vehicle for administrations to roll out their policy priorities for the coming year and spotlight key agenda issues.\n\n– Anna Kaufman", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/07/politics/kevin-mccarthy-interview-border-security/index.html", "title": "Kevin McCarthy outlines Republicans' agenda days before midterms ...", "text": "McAllen, Texas CNN —\n\nHouse GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is vowing to secure the border, cut back on government spending and launch rigorous investigations into the Biden administration if Republicans win the House on Tuesday, reflecting a mix of priorities as McCarthy will be forced to contend with an increasingly hardline and pro-Trump conference that is itching to impeach President Joe Biden.\n\nIn an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN, two days before the midterm elections, McCarthy outlined his plans for power, which includes tackling inflation, rising crime and border security – three issues that have become central to Republicans’ closing pitch to voters. To hammer home that message, McCarthy – who has been barnstorming the country in the run-up to the midterms – rallied here on Sunday for a trio of Hispanic GOP women who are vying to represent key districts along the southern border, a key part of the party’s strategy for winning the majority.\n\n“The first thing you’ll see is a bill to control the border first,” McCarthy told CNN, when asked for specifics about his party’s immigration plans. “You’ve got to get control over the border. You’ve had almost 2 million people just this year alone coming across.”\n\nThe Biden administration continues to rely on a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule, known as Title 42, that allows border authorities to turn migrants away at the US-Mexico border. In fiscal year 2022, amid mass migration in the Western hemisphere, US border encounters topped 2 million, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million were turned away under Title 42.\n\nBut McCarthy also highlighted oversight and investigations as a key priority for a GOP-led House, listing potential probes into the chaotic Afghanistan pullout, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the administration has dealt with parents and school board meetings. And he left the door open to launching eventual impeachment proceedings, which some of his members have already begun to call for.\n\nKevin McCarthy asked about impeaching Biden if GOP wins House. Hear his answer 02:29 - Source: CNN\n\n“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy said. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”\n\nAnd with the MAGA-wing calling to cut off funding to Ukraine while the GOP’s defense hawks vow not to abandon the country amid its war with Russia, McCarthy attempted to reaffirm his support for Ukraine while saying they would not automatically rubber stamp any additional requests for aid.\n\n“I’m very supportive of Ukraine,” McCarthy said. “I think there has to be accountability going forward. … You always need, not a blank check, but make sure the resources are going to where it is needed. And make sure Congress, and the Senate, have the ability to debate it openly.”\n\nMcCarthy declined to name how many seats he thinks Republicans will pick up on Tuesday, but said he was confident it will “be at least enough to win the majority.” McCarthy did say that, in his eyes, “anywhere over 20 is a red wave.”\n\nAnd McCarthy, who had to drop out of the speaker’s race in 2015 amid opposition from the far right House Freedom Caucus, told CNN he believes he’ll have the support this time around to secure the coveted speaker’s gavel – both from his conference and from former President Donald Trump.\n\n“I’ll believe we’ll have the votes for speaker, yes,” McCarthy said. “I think Trump will be very supportive.”\n\nMcCarthy signs a \"Make America Great Again\" hat after an event featuring south Texas Republican congressional candidates in McAllen on Sunday. Tamir Kalifa for CNN\n\nMcCarthy outlines vision for the GOP House majority\n\nOn the influx of migrants at the border, McCarthy said “there’s a number of different ways” his majority will tackle the problem, but said Republicans would not put a bill on the floor to fix the broken immigration system until the border is secure.\n\n“I think ‘Stay in Mexico’ you have to have right off the bat,” he said, referring to the controversial policy where migrants were forced to remain in Mexico while they wait for their immigration proceedings in the United States.\n\nTo help stem the flow of fentanyl coming across the border, McCarthy said “you first do a very frontal attack on China to stop the poison from coming,” and then “provide the resources that the border agents need” and “make sure that fentanyl anytime anybody who wants to move it, you can prosecute him for the death penalty.”\n\nWhen pressed for specific on his plans to fight crime, McCarthy said Republicans would fund the police, provide grants for recruiting and training, and look at how crimes are being prosecuted. And to bring down inflation and gas prices, he said they would reduce government spending and make America more energy independent, though he did not name specific bills.\n\nMost bills will be primarily messaging endeavors, unlikely to overcome the president’s veto or the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, though they would have to pass legislation to fund the government and raise the national borrowing limit at some point next year. McCarthy, however, signaled Republicans will demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling, teeing up a risky fiscal showdown that could lead to a disastrous debt default.\n\nMcCarthy cheers as Texas congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz is introduced during an event in McAllen on Sunday. Tamir Kalifa for CNN\n\n“If you’re going to give a person a higher limit, wouldn’t you first say you should change your behavior, so you just don’t keep raising and all the time?” he said. “You shouldn’t just say, ‘Oh, I’m gonna let you keep spending money.’ No household should do that.”\n\nMcCarthy acknowledged Republicans were willing to raise the debt ceiling under Trump, but said the calculus is different now because Democrats spent trillions of dollars under Biden.\n\nWhen pressed on whether he’s willing to risk a default by using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, McCarthy insisted that wouldn’t happen: “People talk about risking it. You don’t risk a default.”\n\nWith eyes on the speakership, McCarthy vows to restore Greene’s committee assignments\n\nAside from working to recapture the majority, McCarthy has also been campaigning to win the speaker’s gavel. And a key part of that strategy has been elevating potential critics and controversial Trump allies.\n\nTo that end, McCarthy has vowed to reinstate freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to her committee assignments, despite being stripped of her assignments by Democrats last year for her inflammatory remarks.\n\nKevin McCarthy reveals whether he will run for speaker if GOP wins majority 01:19 - Source: CNN\n\nMeanwhile, McCarthy reiterated his plans to boot Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, from his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.\n\nWhen asked if he has any restrictions about which committees Greene can serve, McCarthy – who will have a direct say in doling out those assignments – said “no.” Greene has previously told CNN she wants a seat on the House Oversight Committee, which will play a key role in GOP-led investigations in a majority.\n\n“She’s going to have committees to serve on, just like every other member … Members request different committees and as we go through the steering committee, we’ll look at it,” he said. “She can put through the committees she wants, just like any other member in our conference that gets elected.”\n\nGreene is not the only member who has spouted conspiracy theories or incendiary rhetoric. Most recently, some Republicans have mocked the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, or peddled fringe conspiracy theories about the incident.\n\nAsked his message to those Republicans, McCarthy said: “What happened to Paul Pelosi is wrong, and I think we should not get into this rhetoric.”\n\nBut when pressed how he would tamp down that type of rhetoric, McCarthy pointed a finger at Democrats.\n\n“The first thing I’ll ask the president to do is not to call half the nation idiots or say things about them because they have a difference of opinion,” he said. “I think leadership matters, and I think it probably starts with the president. And it will start with the speaker as well.”\n\nAgain asked how he’ll handle members of his own party who spread dangerous conspiracy theories, McCarthy responded: “I’ve watched people on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “If I’m speaker, I’ll be the speaker for the whole House. So it won’t be looking at just Republicans. We’ll be looking at Democrats as well.”", "authors": ["Melanie Zanona Kristin Wilson", "Melanie Zanona", "Kristin Wilson"], "publish_date": "2022/11/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/mccarthy-speaker-house-republicans-218/index.html", "title": "House Republicans brace for doomsday scenario if McCarthy falls ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAs a right-wing faction threatens to tank his speakership ambitions, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy delivered a promise: “I’ll never leave,” making clear he has no plans to drop out of the race even if the fight goes to many ballots on the floor.\n\n“I’ll get 218,” McCarthy told CNN, referring to the votes he’d need to become House speaker.\n\nBut Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a conservative hardliner who is challenging McCarthy to be the most powerful member of Congress, doubled down on his commitment to stop the California Republican’s ascension.\n\n“I’m not bluffing,” Biggs told CNN on Thursday when asked if he would drop out.\n\nWith the increasing likelihood that the speaker’s race could go to multiple ballots – something that hasn’t happened since 1923 – McCarthy’s allies and foes alike are starting to quietly game out the next steps if he can’t get the necessary 218 votes on the first round and they move into uncharted territory.\n\nBash asks Pelosi if McCarthy has what it takes to be House Speaker. See her response 02:37 - Source: CNN\n\nMcCarthy’s supporters are vowing to keep voting for him on multiple ballots, and GOP sources said there are early discussions about a floor strategy for that potential scenario, including whether to recess the House or let the votes keep rolling – no matter how long it takes.\n\nTo prevent that from happening, McCarthy and his team have been engaged in serious talks with a group of conservatives, including over potentially giving them influential committee assignments and more power to drive the legislative process. GOP sources said those negotiations are still early in the process and could ultimately end up giving the group some aspect of what the hardliners desperately want: additional power to seek a sitting speaker’s ouster with a vote on the floor.\n\nAsked if he would drop out of the race if he doesn’t get 218 votes on the first ballot, Biggs refused to say.\n\n“I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals,” said Biggs, who lost his conference’s nomination to become speaker last month after securing 31 votes.\n\nBut in the case of a doomsday scenario – where neither McCarthy nor Biggs can get 218 votes on January 3 and neither drops out – some pro-McCarthy Republicans are signaling support for a different approach. Some said they would be willing to work with Democrats to find a moderate Republican who can get the 218 votes to clinch the gavel – a long-shot idea that underscores the uncertainty looming over the speaker’s race.\n\n“Our initial plan is vote for Kevin and let him fight this out repeatedly. … But if they think they’re going to use this to infinity to drive him out, well, we’re not going to bend to their will,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican.\n\nBacon added if GOP hardliners don’t bend, then he would be willing to work with Democrats to find another more moderate Republican to secure the 218 votes to become speaker.\n\n“If a small group refuses to play ball and be part of the team, then we’ll work across the aisle to find an agreeable Republican,” Bacon said. “But I hope we don’t get there.”\n\nMcCarthy’s detractors don’t buy it.\n\n“There are very significant rules, changes being discussed that would open the House up, that would be transformative, that would give us the ability to actually legislate and represent our constituents,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida who said he’s a “hard no” on McCarthy. “And whoever is speaker is going to have to agree to those rules, I think. And I don’t think that person will be Kevin McCarthy because Kevin McCarthy won’t have 218 votes.”\n\nGaetz added: “I think the person who is ultimately going to be the speaker isn’t even the candidate yet.”\n\nIndeed, the small group of Republicans known as the “Never Kevin” movement – confident that Biggs could not win a majority of the House – has been trying to recruit a viable alternative, and claim “several” Republicans have privately told them they would be interested in running if McCarthy drops out. Their goal with voting for Biggs is to show that McCarthy is weak on the first ballot, which they hope would inspire other candidates to jump in.\n\n“How many members vote for someone else will show the strength (of the anti-McCarthy group),” Rep. Bob Good, a Virginia Republican who is a “hard no” on McCarthy, told CNN. “I think the second ballot is going to have more candidates. … There are already Republicans letting us know they’d like to be considered.”\n\nEven House Republicans who are supporting McCarthy predicted that a number of lawmakers would run if McCarthy withdrew his name, with some saying that House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, McCarthy’s top deputy, would emerge as the front runner in that case.\n\n“If at some point, if Kevin did take his name out, then you would have good people (running). Scalise would probably be the guy,” one GOP lawmaker said.\n\nScalise has repeatedly vowed to support McCarthy and refused to speculate on whether he would jump into the race if the GOP leader can’t get the votes.\n\n“No, I’m not going to get into speculation,” Scalise told CNN. “Obviously, our focus is on getting it resolved by January 3. And there’s a lot of conversations that everybody has been having, Kevin, surely, with the members who have expressed concerns.”\n\nRep. Jim Jordan, the conservative set to become the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, went even further, ruling out jumping into the race even though Gaetz and other hardliners have urged him to seek the speakership.\n\n“No,” Jordan said when asked if he’d run if McCarthy couldn’t get the votes. “I want to chair the Judiciary Committee.”\n\nMcCarthy’s weighs more concessions\n\nWith 222 GOP seats next year, McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes and still win the speakership. But he and his team are still hopeful he can win on the first round as he has been working both publicly and privately to win over holdouts. So far, at least five Republicans have promised to oppose him on the floor – but in a positive sign for McCarthy, one of them has shown he’s gettable.\n\n“I will vote for Andy for speaker, subject to what we’re discussing,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican after leaving a meeting in McCarthy’s office on Wednesday. He later added: “All this is positive. We’re having good change, regardless of what happens. And you’ll see more of it.”\n\nIn addition to those five, a new group of seven Republican hardliners on Thursday laid out a list of conditions to earn their vote, although they did not specifically threaten to vote against McCarthy if their demands aren’t met.\n\nGOP lawmaker explains why he won't vote for McCarthy to become House Speaker 03:08 - Source: CNN\n\nTheir list of demands – which shows the work McCarthy needs to do to get to 218 – includes a promise that leaders won’t play in primaries, restoring the motion to vacate the speaker’s chair, placing more conservatives on key committees, giving members at least 72 hours to read bill text before a vote, and committing to using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to demand more spending cuts, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN.\n\nMcCarthy has already begun brokering some rules changes to empower rank-and-file members, created a new select committee on China, vowed to boot some Democratic lawmakers from their committees, and sketched out in greater detail his investigative plans – including a potential impeachment inquiry into Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.\n\nBut McCarthy still has additional levers he could pull. Conservative hardliners are pushing for more representation on the powerful House Rules Committee, a leadership-aligned panel that decides how and when bills come to the floor. In one private meeting with a member of the House Freedom Caucus, McCarthy was urged to take a harder public stance on the coming policy issues for next year, according to a person familiar with the matter.\n\nAnd the anti-McCarthy group is also still pressing for a process that would allow any single member to hold a floor vote on ousting the sitting speaker, which was wielded over former Speaker John Boehner before he was forced out of the job by the far right in 2015.\n\nMcCarthy has been adamantly opposed to restoring the “motion to vacate the chair,” and a majority of the House GOP voted against the idea during a during a closed-door meeting last month. When asked by CNN on Thursday if he would visit the issue, McCarthy laughed and refused to answer.\n\nBut McCarthy’s detractors said it’s an issue very much still on the table and think he may end up needing to embrace it if he still doesn’t have the speaker votes by January 3. GOP sources told CNN there’s potential room to negotiate to give members more power to call for a vote to oust the speaker – perhaps by allowing the vote to occur if a certain number of members call for one, rather than allowing a single lawmaker to call for a vote as the hardliners want.\n\n“A competent secure leader is not threatened by (the motion to vacate),” Good said. “And so, yeah, that I think that’s central to many members.”\n\nYet others said what Good and his allies are seeking is a recipe for chaos — and are calling on their colleagues to fall in line.\n\n“I think that’s one of the reasons that we didn’t see a red wave … the idea that people are sick and tired of the noise, and they’re sick and tired of the fighting,” Rep. David Joyce, an Ohio Republican, said of the impact of a January 3 floor fight. “And I know I get that wherever I go in my district is, ‘why can’t you guys just get things done?’”\n\nAs McCarthy scrambles to lock down speaker’s votes, he also delayed the GOP’s internal elections for committee chairmanships. There was some speculation that one of the members competing for a gavel, Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida, may retire early if he doesn’t win, which would make McCarthy’s math problem even tougher. But Buchanan vehemently disputed the notion.\n\n“It’s ridiculous, laughable,” he told reporters. “I’m doing everything I can to help get Kevin to 218.”\n\nMcCarthy could also try to convince Democrats or his GOP detractors to vote present or not show up to the floor proceedings, which would lower the threshold he needs to become speaker. But McCarthy promised his GOP colleagues he would not court Democratic votes.\n\nCould Democrats join Republicans and select a speaker?\n\nIn recent weeks, part of McCarthy’s pitch to his critics has been warning that if they don’t unify, then Democrats could theoretically band together and peel off a few Republicans to elect the next speaker.\n\nSome Democrats have said they would entertain the idea, including Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat from Texas who told CNN some of his GOP colleagues have approached him “informally” about it.\n\nJoyce also said some members have reached out to him about potentially running, but he dismissed it. “At the end of the day, Kevin’s going to be the new speaker.”\n\nNew York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the next House Democratic leader, said, “there are no behind-the-scenes conversations” that he has had with Republicans to put up an alternative candidate. But he refused to rule out a scenario where his caucus would help elect the next speaker if McCarthy couldn’t get the votes.\n\nHear if Hakeem Jeffries would be willing to help Kevin McCarthy 02:25 - Source: CNN\n\n“Democrats are in the process of organizing the Democratic Conference,” Jeffries told CNN on Thursday. “Republicans are in the process of organizing the Republican Conference. Let’s see what happens on January 3.”\n\nSome of the potential consensus picks that have been floated included retiring Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and John Katko of New York, who both voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the Capitol insurrection; Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus; and Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a veteran lawmaker and incoming head of the House Rules Committee.\n\nBut that would require agreement from every single Democrat and the help of five Republicans – no easy feat. Upton said he has no plans to be in Washington that day, telling CNN: “I’ll be skiing.”\n\nAnd progressives like Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York said they would never vote for a GOP speaker candidate, no matter how moderate.\n\n“No,” Bowman said, indicating he’d be voting for Jeffries on every ballot on January 3. “It’s going to be Hakeem.”\n\nBut Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman said this has happened before – nearly a decade ago in his state where minority Democrats in the Arkansas legislature joined forces with a handful of Republicans to elect a GOP speaker of their choice. Westerman privately made this case to his colleagues at a closed-door meeting this week.\n\n“I’m concerned about January 3 getting here and us not being able to form a Congress and organize committees and getting delayed in pushing the policy objectives that we want to push,” Westerman said.\n\nWesterman added that the discussion over changing House rules is good for the party. But he added: “I’m not really excited about any type of destructive movement.”", "authors": ["Manu Raju Melanie Zanona", "Manu Raju", "Melanie Zanona"], "publish_date": "2022/12/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/politics/barack-obama-midterms/index.html", "title": "Democrats won't get as much Obama as they want in the midterms ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRequests for Barack Obama are pouring in from Democrats around the country – candidates are desperate for his help in what they feel is an existential midterms battle, one in which each race could help determine control of Congress and governments in the states.\n\nTo these candidates, American democracy itself is on the line. And while Obama agrees with them on the stakes, many of those invitations are about to get turned down.\n\nMore than a dozen advisers and others who have spoken with Obama say the former president’s approach in the fall campaign will remain limited and careful. That cautious approach comes as Obama tells people his presence fires up GOP opposition just as much as it lights up supporters, that he has more of an impact if he does less and that he can’t cloud out the up-and-coming generation of Democrats.\n\nObama’s small staff has instead been coordinating which appearances he’ll make and which ads he’ll record with President Joe Biden’s White House political operation and the Democratic National Committee. A similar effort already happened with fundraising emails his name has been put on – political coordination between a sitting and former president, which – like so much else in current politics – is unprecedented.\n\nDemocratic operatives say they’re eager to see Obama play an active role – even now, they say, his best role is driving up crucial Black voter turnout in places like Philadelphia and Detroit – even as they note his appeal is shifting. Among the disinterested voter blocs are a rising generation too young to remember his 2008 win, those who argue that his failure to deliver on soaring promises helped set up the crisis of faith and political despair that has followed and those who have gotten tired of seeing how little he’s engaged.\n\nHe’ll make a handful of appearances on the campaign trail, bundling appearances for candidates for Senate and governor and secretaries of state, arguing that Democrats winning those races is essential to preserving democracy.\n\nBut beyond the midterm season, Obama sees a larger purpose to this latest phase of his post-presidency life. No matter how the midterms go, the former President will host what he’s calling a Democracy Forum two weeks after Election Day – the first event that he’s hoping to turn into an annual gathering, reflecting a recalibration of the Obama Foundation to focus on democracy in America and around the world.\n\n“We’ll explore a range of issues – from strengthening institutions and fighting disinformation, to promoting inclusive capitalism and expanded pluralism – that will shape democracies for generations to come,” Obama writes in an announcement of the event going out to donors and others involved with the foundation, first obtained by CNN. “We’ll showcase democracy in action around the world, and approaches that are working. And we’ll discuss and debate ideas for how we can adapt our democracies and our institutions for a new age.”\n\nBen Rhodes, a longtime adviser who has been helping plan the Democracy Forum, said that the foundation’s work is removed from politics but will reflect Obama’s priorities.\n\n“All the things he might care about as an ex-president – climate change, health care, avoiding war – all connect back to whether or not democracy survives, and frankly whether or not the worst-case outcomes happen in terms of who’s in charge of countries,” Rhodes said. “He sees it as the thread that connects everything he’s doing.”\n\nStepping back from an unwanted post-presidency role\n\nA common feature of Obama’s post-presidency period will be noticeably missing in this first midterm election under Biden.\n\nGone will be the rounds of mass campaign endorsement lists for statewide, House and state legislator candidates that Obama had been putting out since leaving the White House. The decision to stop those lists is a function, people who’ve been working with him say, of stepping back from the extended leadership role he played in the Democratic Party during the Trump years – a role they say he never wanted.\n\nNow Obama will only endorse candidates who have already been endorsed by Biden, to prevent any sense of potential daylight between them – and no further endorsements are coming this year.\n\nObama continues to occupy a unique place in politics: A former President who really wants to leave politics behind but whose popularity is growing; a man already six years out of office who is still more than a decade younger than Biden and other top Democratic leaders – not to mention Donald Trump, the man who succeeded him and appears set to run again in 2024.\n\n“I’m not sure I can think of him as an elder,” said Rep. Mike Levin, who was one of six first-time House candidates in California with whom Obama did a joint event for in 2018. All six went on to win. Levin in an interview last week was still talking about the 2008 race almost as if it just happened.\n\nMuch of Obama’s focus has been the multi-million-dollar deals continuing his transformation from president to brand. With the Emmy last month for the national parks documentary he narrated for Netflix, he’s a Tony short of becoming an EGOT, if his production company is included.\n\nSome Democrats mock his various ventures as “Obama, Inc.” Among them: Switching his podcast deal from Spotify to Audible, expanding productions under his Netflix deal and a second volume of memoirs – adding to the already 768-page book published in 2020 that stopped chronologically at the killing of Osama bin Laden during his first term.\n\nAnd with the early construction of his library Obama has moved from flashy PowerPoint demonstrations for donors to actual beams and columns on the South Side of Chicago, he is still courting multimillion dollar donors to fund it.\n\n“He’s happy Biden is president,” a friend of Obama’s told CNN. “And he’s being post-president as he sees fit.”\n\nAnd there are Democrats who are happy to see him take a step back.\n\n“One person is still in the ring as the one we look to to advance our values. The other guy is a celebrity,” said one high level Democratic operative. “If your passion is politics, you want to be with the person in the arena.”\n\nStill, Obama has quietly strategized with political leaders at home and abroad – from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to new, young, leftist Chilean President Gabriel Boric or British opposition leader Keir Starmer – while avoiding getting into the daily fray.\n\n“This idea that he should be the guy to sway people’s minds is just silly. That’s not his role. Does he speak inspirationally? Yes,” said the Obama friend. “But he’s a pragmatist.”\n\nEven the limited amount of appearances Obama has continued to do – as he’s tried to get back to the kind of post-presidency he was hoping for before Trump’s election – demonstrate how worried he is about anti-democratic trends on the rise and progressives giving up hope.\n\n“I’m not sure he would have been at COP26 and Copenhagen and holding a summit on democracy here at home if he wasn’t recognizing what’s happening broadly,” said Eric Schultz, a senior adviser who’s been working with Obama since the White House days, referencing last year’s climate summit in Scotland and a major speech on democracy in Denmark earlier this year.\n\nStaying involved behind the scenes\n\nAs much as Obama likes to insist that he’s ready to start playing a more background part, he consulted with both Biden and Schumer about the failed attempt to push through a bill on voting rights. He was also on the phone after Biden’s Build Back Better legislation collapsed, backing the idea of slimming down the bill to just be climate change provisions and whatever else was needed to get West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s support.\n\nHe spent months on phone calls with tech leaders and advocates, building up to a speech he delivered at Stanford in the spring aimed at rallying the elites and intellectuals into getting involved with what he described as essentially unregulated social media companies.\n\nA few weeks later, he gathered several Black journalists – The New York Times Magazine’s Nikole Hannah-Jones, Los Angeles Times executive editor Kevin Merida, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wes Lowery, Columbia University School of Journalism dean and New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb and Washington Post global opinion editor Karen Attiah – in his Washington office to talk about the ways in which disinformation works its way into Black communities, and what could possibly be done to combat that.\n\n“He was in a space of how he could be helpful, how he could help to move things along from the seat he is in currently,” said Rashad Robinson, the president of the advocacy group Color of Change, who also attended the meeting.\n\nObama’s staff, meanwhile, has remained in regular touch with Biden’s political staff at the White House, strategizing about opportunities to speak up on the President’s behalf. He was a sounding board for Biden on the Afghanistan withdrawal and followed up with a strong statement of support.\n\nObama is still important stamp of approval during moments of celebration as well, like when he called in August to congratulate the President after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.\n\nObama’s disdain for the current turn in the Republican Party is clear and his pitch is a more dispirited take on the hopeful pitch he used to make – that Democratic ideas are more popular and that the more people who vote, the better Democratic candidates will do.\n\nAttendees at a rare Obama fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in San Francisco saw a man in his new element: Tieless, in a large chair in the home of a co-founder of Qualcomm, delivering long answers to a room full of tech billionaires on a handheld microphone as he fielded set-up questions lobbed at him by Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson.\n\nThey were struck by the intensity of his attacks on Republicans. But they also noted how he seemed to be reflecting fresh on harbinger moments from his own presidency, like when he pleaded with Republican senators not to blow up the norms of government by blockading Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court and marveling again how he said they didn’t care.\n\nThe former first lady still hates politics\n\nOne person Democrats almost certainly won’t be getting is the Obama they always say they want to see even more: the former first lady.\n\nMichelle Obama will be hitting the road herself, but her limited six-city tour won’t start until after Election Day. Instead of campaigning, she’ll be appearing with celebrities like David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey to promote the new self-help-minded sequel to her blockbuster 2018 memoir.\n\nHer last campaign appearance was a recorded speech played at the virtual 2020 Democratic convention. She told friends at the time that she felt too dejected about the state of the country – between Trump, the Covid-19 pandemic and the racial divisions that were freshly exposed that summer – to bring herself to campaign more than that.\n\nAt their portrait unveilings at the White House last month, she delivered what she said she knew was a “spicy speech” about the peaceful transfer of power. But she won’t be hitting the trail again, despite the many campaigns who believe her power is unmatched in connecting with the Black women who have proven the most important constituency in winning elections for Democrats.\n\nInstead, the Obamas are sticking to a rhythm that developed in the 2018 cycle: He’ll do the direct campaigning and she’ll take a less direct role as the leader of her officially non-partisan, multi-celebrity, co-chaired registration and turnout effort non-profit, When We All Vote.\n\nFocusing on the foundation more than midterms\n\nAlways returning to the Martin Luther King quote about the “long arc of history,” Obama’s interest has remained less on the midterms or 2024 than on the network of nearly 1,000 young leaders at the center of his foundation.\n\nGift Siziva, a young Obama leader from Zimbabwe who is now planning to run for his nation’s parliament in next year’s elections, said that seeing democracy threatened in America has made him more connected to Obama and to the repositioned work of the foundation.\n\n“To find the American democracy being tested itself by different phases and episodes over the last five years,” Siziva told CNN, “makes me understand that – for democratic crusaders globally – the fight for democracy is our reality.”\n\nIt’s also a reflection of the type of young people who’ve been brought in – when Sheila Babauta was introducing Obama at last year’s international climate conference, for example, she had already been part of a march outside demanding more. While protesters were literally taping themselves to the streets in Glasgow, other activists were already waiting to speak to Obama in a small two-hour session he held after his speech.\n\n“These moments are like an electric car when it goes to a charging station. It fills my battery and gets me going,” said Juan Monterrey, one of the inaugural Obama scholars and Panama’s delegate to last year’s climate convention.\n\nBabauta, a local legislator in her native Northern Mariana Islands, said her own association with the former president as a foundation young leader has filtered down to the children at a youth center on the island of Saipan where she works. The children “asked if me and President Obama and I are BFFs” after they found a picture of them together.\n\nObama is often the moderator but sometimes pipes in with advice, like when he met with European leaders in a closed-door session at his democracy speech in Copenhagen during which he pushed back on a question about how to handle opposition.\n\n“Sometimes it just turns out they’re mean, they’re racist, they’re sexist, they’re angry. And your job is then to just beat them because they’re not persuadable,” Obama said, according to a transcript obtained by CNN.\n\nBut he warned them also: “Sometimes we get filled up in our own self-righteousness. We’re so convinced that we’re right that we forget what we are right about.”\n\nCORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the status of Gift Siziva’s campaign. He is planning to run for parliament in Zimbabwe next year.", "authors": ["Edward-Isaac Dovere"], "publish_date": "2022/10/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/joe-biden-2022-politics/index.html", "title": "A frustrated Joe Biden will go on the attack against Republicans in ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden has been letting loose in private conversations in recent weeks, railing about the factors bogging down his approval ratings and the people he thinks aren’t helping – including Democrats eyeing his job despite his clear promise to run for reelection.\n\nHe’s gearing up for intense midterm campaigning built around hammering Republicans, as he tries to save Democrats in the House and Senate, but also to tee up a reelection campaign that for now is expected to be announced by next spring.\n\nBiden is frustrated that journalists aren’t calling out Republicans for, as he sees it, giving up their principles in pursuit of power, according to a dozen people familiar with the President and his inner circle. He’s eager to unleash on the GOP ahead of the midterm elections but worries that doing so could endanger his last remaining hopes for bipartisan legislative wins. He knows he’ll be blamed for the economic pain that people are feeling – but deliberately, the statement he put out on Thursday about the latest contraction in the US economy spent as much time attributing the situation to “technical factors” as hammering congressional Republicans for their proposal to raise taxes on the middle class.\n\nWith his approval rating as bad as the low 30s in some polls and nearly every Democratic strategist warning that the political environment is dire – and many in the party still complaining that the White House’s political operation lacks enough planning or urgency – the President is short on other options. But advisers and others who’ve spoken directly with the President tell CNN the polarized country gives him a chance to make a more effective contrast than in any prior midterm cycle, boosted by the material they’re counting on from expected primary wins by Trump loyalists and other far-right candidates in May and June – as well as the anticipated Republican opposition to Biden’s last attempt at a domestic policy push in the congressional reconciliation process underway.\n\nIn private conversations, the President has lamented how much people have stopped focusing on how bad a state he believes the country was in under former President Donald Trump. And so his old line, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative,” has become a midterm mantra around the West Wing.\n\n“Voters can easily believe that the country isn’t where they hoped,” one Biden adviser argued, “but also believe that they don’t want to turn it over to Marjorie Taylor Greene in ’22 and Trump in ‘24.”\n\n“Part of the value of contrast in any midterms is to try to force voters to think about this as a choice, as opposed to making it a referendum,” said another Biden adviser. “That’s most effectively done from the top – it’s hard to send candidates around the country even if they’re all singing from the same hymnbook if you don’t have the President driving it.”\n\nThe current political climate has Biden’s inner circle looking abroad for hope, with French President Emmanuel Macron’s wide reelection win against a far-right repeat opponent last weekend validating the thinking around Biden that he can mitigate the damage this year by going hard on Republicans. Experts more familiar with French politics weren’t as swayed by a tweet from White House chief of staff Ron Klain after the Macron results came that noted the French President had an approval rating similar to Biden’s and won a big victory. It’s true that the binary choice was to Macron’s benefit, they say, but his approval rating is actually high by French standards, whereas Biden’s is low by American standards.\n\nThe work isn’t just on Biden and his team, as the White House sees it. People close to the President say he’s amused, and a little annoyed, by the impatient ambitions of those in his own party whom he senses ushering him toward the exit. They want Democrats to focus on the party’s stakes in the midterms and not on their own future ambitions.\n\nSen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts inspired the latest eye-rolls in the West Wing. White House aides were annoyed last week to click on her New York Times op-ed lamenting “a stalled Biden agenda” and “our failure to get big things done.” Several of them thought she could have used her platform to tout Biden’s successes. Instead, they watched as she got booked onto Sunday news shows to talk about her own wish-list agenda – and to be asked if she’d be running for president again in 2024.\n\nShe answered by repeating that Biden is running and she’s supporting him, but the White House would rather the conversation focus on Trumpism consuming the Republican Party. Some of that sentiment is likely to come out disguised as jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. Biden has already sprinkled a little new into his weathered “Don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative” and “This is not your father’s Republican Party” lines.\n\n“This is the MAGA party,” he said at a pair of West Coast fundraisers last week.\n\nOn Thursday, responding to the bad gross domestic product numbers that reflect more trouble for the economy on his watch, Biden said the blame was obviously on obstructionist Republicans, and again cited the hard-right agenda of Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, leader of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm.\n\n“We’re in a situation where we have a very different view than Sen. Scott and Republicans who want to raise taxes on middle-class families and want to include half of small business owners,” Biden said. “If our Republican friends are really interested in doing something about economic growth, they should help us continue to lower the deficit; they should be willing to work with us to have a tax code that is actually one that works and everybody pays their fair share; and they should be in a position where we shouldn’t be raising taxes on middle-class folks, we should be raising taxes on people who everyone acknowledges aren’t paying their fair share.”\n\nBracing for a Biden-Trump game of chicken\n\nLike everyone else in politics, Biden and his inner circle of advisers are gauging the rumblings out of Mar-a-Lago, looking for signs of the former President’s plans to run in 2024.\n\nBut the timeline is under Trump’s control – the former President could wait a year or more to declare, looming over Republican machinations that are expected to accelerate the morning after the midterms.\n\nMeanwhile, officials are being very careful about not violating the Hatch Act by mixing politics with government business. Biden’s advisers outside the White House are wary of triggering any campaign finance requirements and restrictions that could come even from too much talk about running.\n\n“You can point to history that there’s a pretty clear time horizon that many presidents have looked to in their reelection campaigns,” another adviser to the President said, asked whether Biden is similarly headed to a reelection announcement of the sort that former President Barack Obama did. If so, that would be around this time next year.\n\nBiden advisers say they think his poll numbers are statistically better than they should be, given the sourness of the country’s mood. Trump’s are worse, and top Democrats present that as a sign of how much goodwill there is toward Biden.\n\n“Joe Biden beat him once,” said John Anzalone, Biden’s pollster for the campaign, “and Joe Biden will beat him again.”\n\nBut the Democratic worries about 2024 are compounding. Many party leaders who agree Biden is their strongest bet against Trump are skeptical that he’d do well against a younger and less reviled Republican. Prominent party leaders say privately that they’re on edge that a 2024 race without Biden would prompt another crowded primary.\n\nAt the same time, if Biden held off on a decision to avoid governing as a lame duck, that could hobble other candidates who need time to raise money and their profiles.\n\n“Even if Republicans win this year, I still believe Biden is our best candidate against Trump and would beat him,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, an avid supporter going back to even before he attended Biden’s first campaign fundraiser on the night he launched in 2019.\n\nIn other words, American politics over the next few years might come down to two White men in their late 70s playing an extended game of chicken.\n\nJust as Trump is using his midterm endorsements and rallies to cut what could be a path of his own for 2024, Biden sees the next six months as his own opportunity to capitalize on his brand.\n\n“He’s like Scranton in his mind,” said one person who has spoken to the President, referring to the Pennsylvania town where Biden was born and that he often references. “There was a boom, then a bust, but the value hasn’t changed. Only the fleeting market interest has.”\n\nThe adviser to the President put it in clearer political terms: “It’s not just that there’s intra-party back-and-forth on the Republican side. It’s that Trump is drawing them to the past, and the American people need their leaders to draw them forward.”\n\nIn the meantime, Biden is still trying to govern. The Supreme Court confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson didn’t give the White House the polling bump aides had hoped for, which they attribute to the lack of a fight on the scale of the Brett Kavanaugh nomination. But even as the President looks to step up the attacks on congressional Republicans, he doesn’t want to harm the possibility of future deals with them.\n\nThey could end up in power, after all.\n\n“Making ad hominem attacks is not who he is,” said a Biden aide, “and it’s not, frankly, what he believes the American people are looking for in their leaders and their president.”\n\nAn old friend drops by the White House for lunch\n\nBiden keeps telling his team that if he can just get out of the White House more he’ll be able to convince more people – Americans and lawmakers – to support his agenda. Covid-19 and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have both been used as explanations for why he hasn’t followed through.\n\nAmong some aides, the persistent vows to get around have become something of a punchline.\n\nThe toe-touch trips Biden has taken have frequently left his agenda upstaged: When he was promoting ethanol inside a corn-processing facility in Iowa, his comment that Putin was committing genocide was what generated the most attention.\n\nOn Monday, Biden had his old buddy Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan over to the White House. While he was there, Duggan joined Biden in the Oval Office as the President called Macron to congratulate him on reelection. He sat in on a session with Harvard students talking about how to draw in disaffected young voters. They had lunch in the presidential dining room, and Duggan showed Biden photographs of how some of the American Rescue Plan money is being used in Detroit.\n\n“Because he’s not out there, he’s really not getting the credit he deserves for all the good things that are happening,” Duggan said he had told Biden. “Standing there with a teleprompter and reading is not what he loves.”\n\nAssessing Democrats’ chances in Michigan, a prime presidential battleground, Duggan said he thinks local Republicans are hurting themselves by continuing to chase conspiracy theories over the 2020 election results. The anxiety over inflation is real among everyone from factory workers to middle-class suburbanites to people in his city, Duggan said, but he’s holding out hope that inflation pressures will fade in the months ahead.\n\nDuggan was the very first person to pitch Biden on running in 2020 – in a conversation on election night 2016 when the then-vice president called for a gut check about Trump winning Michigan.\n\nThe mayor said he’s just as on board now.\n\n“Anybody who hung around him today would be encouraging him to run again – he was strong, focused and ready for the fight,” Duggan said. “I agree with him that the Democrats would be lucky to have Trump again. But if they do, it’s all the more reason to have Joe Biden.”", "authors": ["Edward-Isaac Dovere Kevin Liptak", "Edward-Isaac Dovere", "Kevin Liptak"], "publish_date": "2022/04/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/politics/liz-cheney-donald-trump-2022-election/index.html", "title": "Liz Cheney is already looking beyond 2022 | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nLiz Cheney didn’t come right out and say she expects to lose her primary next month. But in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday, it was pretty easy to read between the lines of the Wyoming Republican’s answers.\n\n“I am working hard here in Wyoming to earn every vote,” Cheney said at one point. “But I will also say this. I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to say things that aren’t true about the election. My opponents are doing that, certainly simply for the purpose of getting elected.\n\n“If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day,” she said at another.\n\nAsked by Tapper whether her service as vice chair of the House select committee investigating January 6 will have been worth it even if she loses next month, Cheney responded that it was “the single most important thing I have ever done professionally.”\n\nIf it sounds to you like Cheney is framing her August 16 primary for Wyoming’s at-large House seat as a sort of fait accompli, and as not the end of the story but as a part of a broader narrative, well, then, you are right.\n\nThe simple fact is that Cheney is very unlikely to beat Harriet Hageman in next month’s primary. Hageman has the support of former President Donald Trump, as well as a number of top Republicans including, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.\n\nWhile Cheney has tried to recruit Democrats to cross party lines and support her – and some undoubtedly will – it’s hard to see that making a real difference in the outcome of the race in such an overwhelmingly Republican state.\n\nSimply put: Cheney looks likely to lose – and she knows it.\n\nWhat she also knows is that, at least in her mind, this isn’t the end of her political career.\n\nHere’s how Cheney answered a question from Tapper on whether she is interested in running for president in 2024:\n\n“I haven’t really – at this point, I have not made a decision about 2024. …\n\n“… But I do think, as we look towards the next presidential election, as I said, I believe that our nation stands on the edge of an abyss. And I do believe that we all have to really think very seriously about the dangers we face and the threats we face. And we have to elect serious candidates.”\n\nWhich tells you everything you need to know about Cheney and 2024. She isn’t an announced candidate. But when you hear a politician talking about the country “standing on the edge of an abyss” and the need to elect “serious candidates,” well, it doesn’t take an astrophysicist to figure out what’s going on there.\n\nThe real question seems to be then not whether Cheney runs – she sounded to all the world like that decision is mostly made – but rather whether she would have any sort of impact on the 2024 race.\n\nIf Cheney runs as a Republican, it will, undoubtedly, be a very tough road for her.\n\nTrump is the clear frontrunner in all polling conducted on the Republican presidential primary and seems very likely to run. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the only serious alternative to Trump at the moment – and he has positioned himself as a representative of Trumpism without Trump.\n\nThere is no potential candidate garnering any serious support in hypothetical 2024 primary polls who is running expressly against Trump and his four years in office. The Republicans, aside from Cheney, who are signaling an interest in running that sort of campaign – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan being perhaps the most prominent – barely register in polls.\n\nCould Cheney somehow coalesce the anti-Trump vote within the Republican Party? Sure. But even if she was to do so, there’s scant evidence that bloc of voters comprise anything close to a majority of likely Republican primary voters.\n\nThe other – and perhaps more plausible – path for Cheney is to run as an independent in 2024. Assuming Trump is the Republican nominee, such a candidacy could skim off enough votes to potentially hamstring the former President’s chances of winning. (Presumably Cheney, who is conservative on most issues, would appeal more to Republicans than Democrats.)\n\nEven under that scenario, however, Cheney would function as a spoiler – trying to keep Trump from the White House – rather than as a viable candidate to be president. Which, given what she told Tapper Sunday, might be enough for her.\n\n“I’m fighting hard, no matter what happens on August 16, I’m going to wake up on August 17 and continue to fight hard to ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again,” said Cheney.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/07/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/09/politics/kevin-mccarthy-midterm-results-house-republicans/index.html", "title": "Kevin McCarthy moves to secure potential speakership | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nHouse GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy is moving swiftly to lock down the votes to claim the speaker’s gavel as a hard-right faction of his conference discusses whether to mount a long-shot challenge to complicate his bid and force concessions in the process, according to multiple GOP sources.\n\nMcCarthy privately spoke to his closest advisers and confidantes in a Wednesday morning phone call just hours after his party appeared on track to take the House but fell short of their bullish expectations of a massive GOP landslide. The California Republican tapped a group of members to be on his whip team that will help him secure the 218 votes in order to win the speakership in January, with GOP lawmakers on the call promising to “work hard to get him elected,” according to a source familiar with the matter. And several allies were seen popping in and out of McCarthy’s office on Wednesday as they started to hash out and execute their game plan.\n\n“Yes,” McCarthy said confidently Wednesday night as he left the Capitol and was asked if he had the votes to assume the speakership.\n\nBut McCarthy’s easy ascension to the speakership will be determined in large part by the size of a potential GOP majority. If McCarthy maintains a narrow majority, then the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus could stand in the way of his leadership ambitions. CNN has not yet projected a Republican takeover of the chamber.\n\nA source familiar with the House Freedom Caucus’ deliberations told CNN on Wednesday morning that there are around two dozen current and incoming members who are willing to vote against McCarthy if he doesn’t offer them concessions. They are actively discussing putting up a nominal challenger to face McCarthy in next week’s leadership elections in an effort to force the GOP leader to give them more influence in how the House operates, the source said.\n\nMcCarthy, who sent a letter to the conference Wednesday afternoon officially declaring his bid for the speakership and asking members for their support, spoke with some potential GOP holdouts behind closed doors throughout the day, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial conservative who was booted from her committee assignments by Democrats – and a number of Republicans – over her past incendiary rhetoric. Greene has pushed for a spot on the powerful House Oversight Committee in a GOP majority.\n\nLeaving McCarthy’s office, Greene would not say if she’d get what she’s been seeking.\n\n“No comment,” Greene said when asked if she’d support McCarthy for speaker.\n\nNext week’s leadership election is just the first step in the process. McCarthy would need to win a majority of his conference’s support next week to be nominated for speaker before a January vote when he would need 218 votes of the full House to win the gavel. The hope, the source said, is that if they back a challenger to McCarthy in next week’s elections, it would force the California Republican to cut a deal in order to secure their support in the January speaker’s race when he wouldn’t be able to afford to lose more than a handful of GOP votes in a narrow Republican majority.\n\nThe Freedom Caucus’ strategy will come into sharper focus by week’s end as members weigh their options and as incoming lawmakers come to Washington for initial meetings. Rep. Matt Gaetz, an unabashed McCarthy critic who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus but is closely aligned with the group, also started calling members to talk strategy about the speaker’s race, according to a source familiar.\n\nAmong their demands: Making it easier for individual members to call for a vote ousting a sitting speaker, an idea that McCarthy has long rejected and one that was wielded over former Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio. The same source said that the Freedom Caucus wants more representation on the panel that makes selections on members’ committee assignments. They are also calling on GOP leaders to commit to slowing down the legislative process and give them more time to review even non-controversial bills.\n\nHardliners may also push for promises related to launching investigations and impeachment proceedings into President Joe Biden or members of his Cabinet.\n\nRep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican and former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told a right-wing streaming network that a McCarthy speakership should not be a “foregone conclusion,” complaining that a red wave never materialized and accusing McCarthy of “backpedaling” on impeachment.\n\n“McCarthy has a lot of chips to cash in,” said a senior GOP source. “But he’s gonna have to cash in every single one of them.”\n\nMcCarthy could also win over detectors with plum committee assignments, lush office space and other perks. Prior to Tuesday, there was also talk of adding an extra leadership position to his team, which could also be used to woo critics.\n\nMcCarthy allies are touting his Tuesday endorsement from former President Donald Trump for the speaker’s gavel, something that could help with staunch Trump backers in the House GOP conference. Moreover, McCarthy has long moved to develop a good standing with even the most rebellious forces within the Freedom Caucus and has been in talks with some members of the group about their role in a GOP majority for weeks, according to Republican sources.\n\nPlus, McCarthy allies believe Republicans will credit him for the hundreds of millions of dollars that his outside group raised and spent in key races. McCarthy has been calling victorious GOP candidates and members since Tuesday night.\n\nMcCarthy’s pitch to members, according to a source familiar, has been relatively straight forward: the GOP picked up seats two cycles in a row under his watch, and he is on the verge of delivering Republicans the majority – which will arm them subpoena power and allow them to serve as a check on the Biden administration.\n\nWhile McCarthy’s allies say the GOP leader is willing to hear members out, they believe negotiating with members could become a slippery slope – though McCarthy may have no choice, depending on the margins.\n\nMcCarthy had hoped to pick up at least 20 seats to give him a cushion in both the speaker’s race and to help push through his agenda. It’s unclear if they can get there as many races remain too early for CNN to call.\n\nOther leadership races in flux\n\nAside from the speaker’s race, Tuesday’s underwhelming performance for the GOP has scrambled other leadership races.\n\nThe race for House GOP whip – a position that will only open up if Republicans win the majority – was already competitive, though Rep. Tom Emmer, who chairs the House GOP’s campaign arm, was seen as having the edge since he was likely to be rewarded if they had a strong night.\n\nNow, Republicans say it could be tougher for Emmer to pull out a win.\n\nEmmer told reporters Tuesday he still plans to run and that he doesn’t know if a smaller majority impacts his bid. But his pitch to members is similar to McCarthy’s, saying: “we delivered.”\n\nMeanwhile, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, a Trump ally and the head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, also officially declared his candidacy for the whip’s position. And Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia, the current deputy whip, is also vying for the post, arguing that his experience on the whip’s team will be even more valuable in a slimmer majority, where the chief vote counting job will be crucial for governing.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments.", "authors": ["Melanie Zanona Manu Raju", "Melanie Zanona", "Manu Raju"], "publish_date": "2022/11/09"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_21", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/06/us/salem-witch-trials-exonerated-elizabeth-johnson-cec/index.html", "title": "The last Salem witch has been exonerated, thanks to an eighth ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIt’s never too late to right a historical wrong – even if that restoration of justice comes nearly 330 years later.\n\nElizabeth Johnson Jr., a woman convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in the 1690s, was finally exonerated last week after years of petitioning by Massachusetts teacher Carrie LaPierre and her eighth-grade civics students. Justice came in the form of a brief addition to the 2023 state budget.\n\nJohnson was accused of witchcraft in 1692 along with more than 200 other women and men in Salem. Of those convicted, 19 were hanged and four others died in prison – Johnson was set to be executed, too, but was later spared.\n\nAnd yet, during Johnson’s lifetime and over the centuries that followed, her name was never actually cleared. It wasn’t until Carrie LaPierre, an eighth-grade civics teacher at North Andover Middle School, came across her story and involved her students in her case that Massachusetts legislators took notice.\n\nHow to exonerate a convicted witch, 300-plus years later\n\nNorth Andover, a town in northeastern Massachusetts, is only about 40 minutes from Salem. But until she’d read a book on local witches by historian Richard Hite, LaPierre said she had no idea how the Salem witch trials reverberated in the North Andover area – and it was within those pages that she learned of Johnson.\n\nWhile many other convicted witches were exonerated, many of them posthumously, the late Johnson – or “EJJ,” as LaPierre and her students called her – had “somehow been overlooked while all other convicted witches had been exonerated over the years,” LaPierre told CNN in an email.\n\nDetails of Johnson’s life are slim, but her family was a major target of the Salem witch trials, driven by hysteria, Puritanical rule and feuding between families. She was one of 28 family members accused of witchcraft in 1692, according to the Boston Globe.\n\nIn this illustration, a young woman accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, tries to defend herself in front of Puritan ministers. MPI/Getty Images\n\nJohnson made a compelling confession during a court examination: She said that another woman, Martha Carrier, “perswaded her to be a witch” and that Carrier told her she “Should be Saved if she would be a witch,” according to a 1692 document digitized by the University of Virginia’s Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive.\n\nSome of the details of her story were sordid and mortifying to Salem’s residents: Johnson said the devil appeared to her “like two black Catts,” and she named several other people in Salem whom she said were involved in witchcraft. She also showed her knuckles, where it appeared fellow “witches” had “suckt her,” according to the 1692 examination document.\n\nFor her “crimes,” Johnson was sentenced to death at age 22, as the Boston Globe reported last year, but she was given a reprieve by the governor at the time (whose wife had also been accused of witchcraft).\n\nIn 1711, after state officials realized they’d had little evidence to convict and execute or imprison women (and some men) for witchcraft, they exonerated many of those who’d been convicted or even hanged, including John Proctor, later one of the protagonists in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible.”\n\nJohnson’s name, though, was omitted from this list. So in 1712, she petitioned Salem to be included in the act, which provided restitution to families of the accused.\n\nIn the letter, she asked “That the Honourable Court would please to allow me Something in consideration of my charges by reason of my Long Imprisonment, which will be thankfully acknowledged as a great favour.”\n\nWhy, exactly, Johnson was left out is unclear. But LaPierre decided, after connecting with the North Andover Historical Society, LaPierre that taking up the case of a long-dead “witch” and clearing her name could be an engaging project for her students – a real-life application of civics in action.\n\nJohnson is the last Salem witch to be exonerated\n\nSo LaPierre’s eighth-graders set out on exonerating EJJ, petitioning the Massachusetts legislature with the hopes that a lawmaker would introduce a bill to clear her name. Eventually, after three years and “numerous disappointments,” one state senator heard them – Diana DiZoglio sponsored an amendment to the state budget this year to add Johnson’s name to an existing resolution that exonerated other “witches” by name.\n\nSome of the women who were hanged during the Salem witch trials have been memorialized. Stephan Savoia/AP/File\n\nAll that petitioning and bureaucratic navigating was instructive for her eighth-grade classes, but LaPierre said “the long-lasting lessons are probably more important: Standing up for justice, advocating for those who cannot do so for themselves, recognizing that their voices have power in the community and the world, and understanding that persistence is necessary to achieve their goals.”\n\nThe amendment adds Johnson’s name to a 1957 resolution that exonerated several people convicted of witchcraft – and so, finally, Johnson’s wish for absolution was granted.\n\nBut the work for LaPierre continues: She’ll have to find a new project for her incoming eighth-graders now that Johnson’s case is closed. She’s leaving it up to her students this year to determine the issues they care about and the courses of action they’ll take to address them.\n\nWhatever her students choose to tackle this year, witches are likely off the table: Johnson is the final woman convicted in the Salem trials to be exonerated. And with that, LaPierre and her class ended a chapter in history that began centuries ago.", "authors": ["Scottie Andrew"], "publish_date": "2022/08/06"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/us/959971/why-connecticut-is-exonerating-witches-350-years-on", "title": "Why Connecticut is seeking justice for convicted witches | The Week ...", "text": "The names of people accused of witchcraft more than 350 years ago in colonial Connecticut may be cleared at last following a long-running campaign by their descendants and lawmakers.\n\nThe state’s judiciary committee is considering “wiping the slate clean” after hearing testimony last week about a House Joint Resolution that would exonerate those who were tried for witchcraft, said NBC Connecticut. Between 1647 and 1697, at least 34 people were accused, of whom 11 – nine women and two men – were hanged.\n\nAddressing the public hearing, state representative Jane Garibay, who introduced the resolution, said: “These were not witches. They were people, women who were executed for electing to wear certain clothing or being too assertive.”\n\nAlong with murder, kidnapping and treason, witchcraft was among a list of 12 capital crimes adopted by colonial Connecticut in 1642. Five years later, a mother-of-once called Alse Young became the first person recorded to have been executed for witchcraft in colonial America. But now, said The Economist, “her absolution may be nigh”.\n\nAllegations of witchcraft “could result from things like contracting an illness, having a crop failure or experiencing a marital dispute”, said The New York Times. “Women were the most often accused, and a single witness could be enough to accuse someone.”\n\nNot everyone agrees with the reprieves currently being considered. Pointing out that the trials took place while Connecticut was under British rule, Republican state senator John Kissel said: “I’m concerned about the path we are taking if we have to go and redress every perceived wrong in our history.”\n\nThere is precedent for the historical redress, however. Two years ago, a class of schoolchildren in North Andover, Massachusetts, “led an effort that resulted in the exoneration of a woman who had been accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials”, said The New York Times. “Now it’s Connecticut’s turn to atone.”", "authors": ["Arion Mcnicoll"], "publish_date": "2023/03/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/07/damien-echols-witch-salem-boy-scout-murders/2139253/", "title": "Freed death-row inmate looks for new beginning", "text": "Natalie DiBlasio, USA TODAY\n\nAfter serving nearly 20 years%2C Damien Echols finds a home in Salem%2C Mass.\n\n%22It%27s the freakiness of it all%2C%22 he says of the historic city\n\nLead member of the %27West Memphis 3%27 is now free and reflecting on life as a persecuted outsider\n\nSALEM, Mass.— He went from an accused devil-worshiping witch on Arkansas' death row to living in the land of persecuted witches.\n\nFor 18 years and 78 days, Damien Echols lived mainly on death row, a decade of that in solitary confinement, for one of Arkansas' most notorious crimes — the murders of three 8-year-old Boy Scouts. Echols and two other men convicted in the killing became known as The West Memphis 3.\n\nNow 38, he's free again after DNA evidence shed new light on the case. He walks the streets of Salem, a community still shadowed by the Salem Witch Trials more than 300 years ago. Witch memorials and cemeteries stand between local businesses and restaurants. Here, he says, he fits in.\n\n\"It's the only place we considered living,\" Echols says, dressed in all black with tattoo-covered arms and dark sunglasses tucked behind his long black hair. \"It's the freakiness of it all. Salem has an incredibly high degree of acceptance for anything outside the norm.\"\n\nThe murders of the three boys — Steve Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers — continue to be a polarizing question for many. In July of 2007, new DNA evidence was presented that could not place Echols and his co-defendants at the scene. But it fell short of clearly exonerating them.\n\nThe state would not grant the three men a new trial. However, prosecutors offered Alford deals, meaning the men did not admit guilt but agreed that prosecutors had enough information to win a conviction.\n\nScott Ellington, a district prosecuting attorney for the Second Judicial District of Arkansas who handled the Alford plea deal, says no one can be sure of Echols' guilt or innocence.\n\n\"People are divided. A lot of people believe they are guilty and should still be in jail,\" Ellington says. \"But many of those understand that retrying a 20-year-old case would be nearly impossible. ... It's probably 10 to 1. For every 10 contacts we have saying 'exonerate the West Memphis 3,' we get one saying 'How do you sleep at night knowing that you let three murderers go free?'\"\n\nAnd so, Echols has found his way here, to Salem. In the 17th century, more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were executed during the mass witch hunt hysteria in Salem. Following the trials and executions, many involved in the cases publicly confessed their errors and in 1957, the state of Massachusetts officially apologized for the trials.\n\nEchols says he identifies with the witch trials, which for many, epitomize paranoia and injustice in the judicial system.\n\n\"Just the level of persecution,\" Echols says softly. \"They sentenced me to death — and it was the exact same thing. They accused me of being a Satanist, of committing human sacrifices and all these things which were the exact same things as the people back then. Fortunately they weren't able to kill me like they were the people they hung here.\"\n\nWhen he was 19, Echols was sentenced to execution by lethal injection for being the ringleader of the infamous West Memphis 3. His two friends, Jason Baldwin then 16 and mentally impaired, and Jesse Misskelly Jr., 17, were sentenced to life in prison. The three were let out of prison in 2011, after more than 18 years of incarceration.\n\nSalem, Echols says, is a spiritual Mecca for people who are different. \"Pretty soon after those trials, whenever they killed people that they accused of witchcraft, they realized pretty quickly afterwards – 'oh we messed up' and they're not eager to do the same thing again – it's like they learned their lesson back then.\"\n\nEchols now lives in a historic 18th century home with his wife, Lorri Davis, 49, whom he met and married while on death row. Davis first reached out to Echols after she saw a documentary about the case. They married in a Buddhist ceremony in a prison visiting room in 1999. It was the first time the two had ever touched.\n\nWhile Salem residents are overwhelmingly supportive of Echols, with some strangers even approaching him to ask for a hug, the 20-year-old controversial case still captivates the nation.\n\nThe 8-year-olds were found dead, naked and hogtied with their own shoelaces in the Robin Hood Hills area of West Memphis in May of 1993.\n\nProsecutors believed that the crime was part of a Satanic ritual which led them to suspect Echols, a teenager who practiced the Wiccan brand of witchcraft and who dressed in black. He had a passion for heavy metal metal and the occult.\n\nThe case garnered the attention of celebrities including actor Johnny Depp, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who came out in support of the West Memphis 3. HBO produced a series of documentaries bringing the case into the public eye.\n\nDespite intense pressure from celebrities and the public, the state would not grant the men a new trial. However, prosecutors offered the plea deal.\n\nEchols says he was told, \"You can sit in prison, hope you survive all this time and maybe have a chance of suing the state or you can sign the agreement and maybe go home before the week is out.\"\n\nAbout a week later Echols walked off of death row and was a free man -- nearly. \"We aren't really free,\" Echols says.\n\nEchols, Baldwin, and Misskelley all have three murder convictions on their record as part of the conditions of the release. The criminal record restricts their right to travel and the Alford plea mandates that they are not allowed to sue the state for anything having to do with the case.\n\nTodd and Dana Moore, parents of Michael Moore, one of the murdered Boy Scouts, maintain that Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley are guilty and should not have been let out of prison.\n\nIn November of 2011, the couple requested that a documentary about the killings be excluded from Academy Award consideration. They made the request in a letter sent Nov. 22 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary division. In it, the Moores argue that Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory glorifies Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were released from prison in August after their sentences were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.\n\n\"Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact in the two previous documentaries, Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society,\" the Associated Press quoted the letter as saying.\n\n\"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated under the guise of a documentary film.\"\n\nNevertheless, life is moving forward for Echols and Davis in Salem. The couple is currently writing a book about their correspondence while he was in prison.\n\nTuesday, his new book, Life After Death, hits the stands, recounting his life story and detailing the trial and his years in prison.\n\nEchols has also opened up a business just blocks from his home where he practices Hermetic Reiki, a form of energy healing, that he learned in prison.\n\n\"In prison there's almost no medical care, there's no dental care, there were times when I was in prison – especially on death row -- they aren't gonna spend a lot of time and money and energy on someone they plan on killing,\" Echols says. \"There were times I got so sick I didn't think I'd make it through the night. The only thing I had to rely on was mediation and energy work.\"\n\nEchols says his interest in alternative forms of spiritual practice stems back to his childhood and is one of the reasons he was targeted as an outcast in Arkansas.\n\n\"The reasons I was persecuted in the first place are what saved my life and are now what allow me to help myself and other people,\" Echols says.\n\nFor Echols, it won't be over until all three men are exonerated.\n\n\"I think it will eventually happen but it won't happen if we don't keep working for it,\" he says.\n\nNow, Echols is pushing for an investigation into the murder of the three boys with the support of Lord of the Rings directors Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Steve Braga, Lonnie Soury and Rachael Geiser.\n\n\"I don't know who did this,\" Echols says. \"We shouldn't have to say who did this. We should be able to allow the evidence to speak for itself.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/05/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/trump-ny-investigation/index.html", "title": "NY attorney general's office says it's nearly done unraveling Trump's ...", "text": "New York CNN —\n\nLawyers for the New York State Attorney General’s Office said they are nearly finished with their civil investigation into the Trump Organization, after taking steps to unravel the real estate company’s assets that they described as being as complex as a “Russian nesting doll.”\n\nThey still want to search two cell phones belonging to former President Donald Trump and the laptop and desktop of his longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff, but investigators told a judge this week they’re moving quickly.\n\n“The process is near the end,” Kevin Wallace, senior enforcement counsel at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, said Monday.\n\nA third-party firm hired to search the Trump Organization’s files had identified 151 custodians, or people or entities, that might have documents sought by the attorney general’s office, but Wallace said they are focusing on the “most important outstanding pieces of information” because the clock is ticking for it to file a lawsuit.\n\nThe statute of limitations for various laws under consideration goes back several years, but the tolling agreement with the Trump Organization that paused the clock expires on Saturday. Even as the agreement expires, it could still be several weeks before the attorney general’s office decides its next step in the investigation.\n\nThe comments came during a court hearing Monday, when New York state Judge Arthur Engoron held Trump in civil contempt and fined him $10,000 per day for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents relating to New York’s investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances. (Trump appealed the order Wednesday.)\n\nLawyers for the New York State Attorney General’s Office provided a glimpse into their investigation, which has spanned three years, after the judge asked them to explain what is taking so long and where it is heading.\n\n“Given the upcoming end of the tolling agreement we will likely need to bring some kind of enforcement action in the near future to preserve our rights,” Wallace said. He noted that before they file the attorney general’s office has agreed to meet with the Trump Organization attorneys and “allow them to make their case” and discuss what any “appropriate resolutions might look like.”\n\nIn addition to the tolling agreement’s expiration, evidence may become stale and memories may fade, Wallace noted. “Counsel is in favor of moving as quickly as we can.”\n\nThe civil investigation has been hanging over Trump for several years. He has been focused on the investigation that threatens his family business, calling Attorney General Letitia James “racist” and accusing her of pursuing him for political gain.\n\nThe attorney general’s office has already said in court filings that it believes there were misleading statements and omissions in Trump’s financial statements that were provided to lenders and insurers and used for tax benefits. Trump has called the investigation a witch hunt, and he and the company have denied any wrongdoing.\n\nThe judge previously ordered Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump to sit for depositions. The Trumps have appealed and it’s unclear when a decision will come. Eric Trump was deposed in 2020 and asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 500 times. Last month, at the attorney general’s request, the judge ordered the Trump Organization to comply with subpoenas by Friday.\n\nWallace said that since the Trump Organization isn’t cooperating with the investigation, the office started off with an “unguided tour” using the financial statements provided to Congress by Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen in February 2019. What the lawyers found, he said, was a company that doesn’t have the processes and controls normally found in regulated industries, like banking. The Trump real estate business – which is large going by the amount of golf courses, condos, hotels and office space it owns – is run as a small family operation.\n\n“The company relies more on its people than its systems,” Wallace said. There are 500 different entities, millions of dollars moving around and different accounting practices and statements depending on the business unit, he said.\n\nThe attorney general’s office served the first of six subpoenas to the Trump Organization in December 2019, Alina Habba, an attorney for Trump, said at the hearing Monday. To date, she said, millions of pages of documents have been turned over and 13 employees of the Trump Organization interviewed. Those include Allen Weisselberg, who served as chief financial officer for decades; Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel; and Jeffrey McConney, the controller; along with McConney’s deputy and other employees in finance, according to court filings.\n\nOne example of the complexity of the business is Trump’s golf course in Jupiter, Florida. Wallace said they’ve been pulling on strands to understand whether it was “presented fairly” in Trump’s financial statements.\n\nHe said the golf club, which was purchased in 2012 for $5 million, was bundled in the financial statement in a $2 billion bucket of club assets. There were no footnotes detailing what was included in the bundle. The supporting papers indicated Trump valued the course at $46 million. Next, investigators searched to determine where the additional $41 million value came from, which he said prompted them to head down additional investigative paths.\n\n“These issues repeat across clubs,” Wallace said. “Each of these assets is like a Russian nesting doll.”\n\nHabba said, “There were multiple layers and multiple people because that’s how real estate companies operate.”\n\nThe financial statements at the heart of the attorney general’s investigation, she said, were an unaudited compilation by a family-owned company.\n\n“These are sophisticated banks and companies,” she said. “No one was lending us money without their own vetting.”\n\n“Quite honestly, I would love to go into the particulars of my client’s properties, some of which are grossly undervalued, but I don’t think we’re at that stage yet,” Habba argued.\n\nDistrict attorney investigation\n\nSeparately, a special grand jury in New York seated to hear evidence in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances is set to expire at the end of the week and will not be extended, people familiar with the investigation told CNN.\n\nThe six-month special grand jury, which was empaneled in October, heard evidence late last year from several witnesses, including reporters to whom Trump boasted about his personal wealth.\n\nPresentations to the grand jury were halted earlier this year after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was sworn into office and raised concerns about the strength of the evidence.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments Wednesday.", "authors": ["Kara Scannell"], "publish_date": "2022/04/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/31/donald-trump-indicted-lawyers-say-former-wont-resist-surrender/11576028002/", "title": "Trump indictment news: Trump court appearance set for Tuesday", "text": "Donald Trump's lawyer said Friday that the former president will surrender to New York authorities, but he won't consider a plea deal after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury investigating a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.\n\nTrump faces multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.\n\nThe former president is set to appear in court in New York at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday. The unprecedented indictment represents the first criminal charges against a former U.S. president.\n\nProsecutors in New York investigated money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep the women from going public with claims that they had sex with him.\n\nTrump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told NBC's \"Today\" show on Friday that Trump was initially \"shocked\" when notified of the grand jury's action late Thursday. But the 76-year-old Trump \"put a notch on his belt\" and vowed to challenge the criminal case, Tacopina said.\n\n“President Trump will not take a plea deal in this case. It’s not going to happen. There’s no crime,” Tacopina said.\n\nHow Stormy Daniels reacted to indictment:Stormy Daniels said she'd dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she's sad it happened\n\nTrump indicted: How did Michael Cohen arrange hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal?\n\nHere is the latest on the indictment:\n\nTrump campaign raises more than $4 million since indictment\n\nFormer President Donald Trump raised over $4 million in the 24 hours since the news of his indictment broke, according to a statement from his presidential campaign.\n\nThe campaign says the donations are a sign “that the American people see the indictment of President Trump as a disgraceful weaponization of our justice system by a Soros-funded prosecutor.”\n\nOver 25% of the donations are from first-time donors, according to the Trump campaign.\n\n-- Ken Tran\n\nRecap:Grand jury indicts Donald Trump in New York, first time a former president is charged criminally\n\nAttorney: Cohen’s testimony supported by ‘multiple sources’\n\nMichael Cohen’s lawyer says everything that Donald Trump’s former fixer has testified about in the hush-money case is supported by layers of documents and corroborating witnesses.\n\n“Everything is backed up by multiple sources,” attorney Lanny Davis, who is representing Cohen, said Friday on Meet The Press.\n\nCohen once served as Trump’s lawyer, and alleges to have engineered payments to silence two women who claimed to have had sex with the New York real estate mogul prior his 2016 White House bid.\n\nTrump and his allies have argued the indictment is a political persecution and that Cohen acted on his own and is seeking \"revenge\" after serving time in prison over the payments.\n\nBut Davis said that ignores the legal evidence and misses the chief factual question at the heart of the case, which is jurors deciding whether Trump had a political motivation to direct the hush-money.\n\n“There’s lots of testimony, lots of documentation about political motivation,” Davis said.\n\n— Phillip M. Bailey\n\nFact check:Donald Trump ties George Soros to Alvin Bragg. Experts say connection is mischaracterized\n\nTrump to fly up to New York on Monday\n\nDonald Trump is making travel plans for his arraignment in New York City on Tuesday.\n\nAs of now, Trump is scheduled to ride his private plane from South Florida to New York on mid-day Monday and spend the night at Trump Tower, according to two campaign officials familiar with the planning.\n\nTrump plans to arrive early at the courthouse Tuesday for his appearance in response to the indictment, officials said.\n\nThe details of his courthouse appearance are still being worked out; the former president is scheduled to be arraigned at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday.\n\nTrump is expected to travel back to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., right after the arraignment on Tuesday, one of the officials said.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nPresiding:Juan Merchan, judge in Trump Organization trial, expected to preside at Trump arraignment\n\nExonerated Central Park 5 member reacts\n\nOne of the men wrongly convicted in the 1989 Central Park Five case has one word for Donald Trump: “karma.”\n\nThat's the tweet Yusef Salaam — now a New York City Council candidate — sent out Thursday. He was one of five Black and Hispanic teenagers wrongly convicted of assaulting and raping a white woman in New York’s Central Park.\n\nDuring that period Trump, who was a popular New York real estate mogul, bought a full-page newspaper ad demanding the state adopt the death penalty in reaction to the attack.\n\nAs president, Trump refused to apologize when the five were officially exonerated and evidence showed police illegally coerced a confession.\n\n— Phillip M. Bailey\n\nPreviously:'They admitted their guilt': 30 years of Trump's comments about the Central Park Five\n\nStormy Daniels opts out of Piers Morgan interview\n\nThe woman at the center of the criminal investigation that led to Donald Trump’s indictment postponed what was being promoted as a blockbuster interview.\n\nStormy Daniels, an adult film actress, was set to do an interview with British TV personality Piers Morgan on Friday, which would have been her first in the wake of the former president being hit with unspecified criminal charges.\n\nBut Morgan, who was a guest star on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” during its run on NBC, said she changed plans at the last minute.\n\n“Unfortunately, Stormy Daniels has had to suddenly postpone our interview tonight due to some security issues that have arisen,” Morgan said via Twitter.\n\n“Hope she’s OK.”\n\nDaniels' attorney did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment.\n\n— Phillip M. Bailey\n\nPreviously:Stormy Daniels said she'd dance in the streets if Trump was indicted. Now she's sad it happened\n\nWhat is an arraignment?:What the legal proceeding means following Trump's indictment\n\nJuan Merchan, judge in Trump Organization trial, expected to preside at Trump arraignment\n\nThe New York judge tentatively assigned to preside at next week's arraignment of Donald Trump is more than familiar with the players in the former president's orbit.\n\nManhattan's Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan presided over the fraud trial of Trump's namesake real estate company and the related Trump Payroll Corporation ending in a December conviction and $1.6 million in fines.\n\nMerchan also oversaw the sentencing of former Trump financial chief Allen Weisselberg, whose testimony in the fraud case helped secure the convictions.\n\n– Kevin Johnson, Josh Meyer, David Jackson\n\nWho will be judge at Trump arraignment?:Juan Merchan, judge in Trump Organization trial, expected to preside at Trump arraignment\n\nManhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office: GOP House chairmen ‘baseless and inflammatory’\n\nManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office told three House Republican chairmen who have criticized his investigation of Donald Trump their dispute is “baseless and inflammatory,” and that Trump can now defend himself against criminal charges in court.\n\nThe three chairmen – Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, on the Judiciary Committee, James Comer of Kentucky on the Oversight and Accountability Committee and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin on the Administration Committee – asked Bragg to answer questions about his inquiry, which they said appeared politically motivated.\n\nBragg’s general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, rejected the request by saying the lawmakers had no legitimate basis to ask about a pending criminal matter. The chairmen wrote again saying they were justified in asking how a local prosecutor could alter a president’s policies by threatening criminal charges.\n\n“Your second letter asserts that, by failing to provide it, the District Attorney somehow failed to dispute your baseless and inflammatory allegations that our investigation is politically motivated,” Dubeck wrote. “That conclusion is misleading and meritless.”\n\n– Bart Jansen\n\nJailed Trump exec cuts ties with lawyers:Former Trump Organization exec Allen Weisselberg cuts ties with attorneys\n\nEric and Donald Trump Jr. outraged by indictment\n\nTrump's sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. expressed outrage that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has obtained a grand jury indictment against their father, calling it a witch hunt and politically motivated prosecutorial misconduct.\n\nDonald Trump Jr. took to the former president’s Truth Social media platform to describe the indictment as “Big news in the weaponization of our Govt against their political enemies.”\n\nEric Trump said the indictment came in response to his father’s third attempt to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election.\n\n\"This is third world prosecutorial misconduct. It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year,\" Eric Trump said in a tweet.\n\n– Josh Meyer\n\nTrump mugshot?:A Donald Trump mugshot? Fingerprints? What happens next after Trump indictment\n\nIvanka Trump on father's indictment\n\nBut Trump's eldest daughter and former White House advisor, Ivanka Trump, hadn’t said anything on social media until Friday morning, when she offered a cautious response.\n\n“I love my father, and I love my country. Today, l am pained for both,” she wrote in an Instagram post shortly after 11 a.m. EST. “I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.”\n\nAfter Trump announced his presidential candidacy last year, she suggested she'd be stepping back from her father's political career. “While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,\" she said at the time.\n\n– Josh Meyer\n\nJailed Trump exec cuts ties with lawyers:Former Trump Organization exec Allen Weisselberg cuts ties with attorneys\n\nWhen will Trump be arrested?\n\nManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office acknowledged late Thursday that Trump’s lawyers had been notified of the indictment.\n\nDetails of the charges haven't been released. But legal experts said the charges could stem from the $130,000 payment former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen said he arranged from Trump to porn actress Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election. Cohen and Daniels have each appeared before the grand jury.\n\nTrump's attorney Joe Tacopina said Trump was expected in New York by Tuesday for arraignment.\n\n\"We're working out those logistics right now,\" Tacopina told NBC's \"Today\" show, referring to Trump's surrender.\n\n– Kevin Johnson\n\nAlvin Bragg v. Donald Trump: Inside Manhattan DA's latest legal tangle with former president\n\nHow will Trump be arrested?\n\nTrump’s lawyer has said he would surrender voluntarily to face the charges in New York.\n\nWhen he is arrested he will be read his rights known as a Miranda warning, including the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.\n\nTrump is expected to be taken into custody and processed like any other defendant, according to law enforcement experts. The difference is that as a former president, his Secret Service detail will accompany him.\n\n“There will still be a mug shot, fingerprints and lots of paperwork filled out as part of the booking process,” like other defendants, said former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.\n\n– Josh Meyer\n\nHow Trump's Republican rivals reacted:'An outrage': What Trump's potential rivals for 2024 are saying about his indictment\n\nBiden: ‘No comment’ on Trump indictment\n\nPresident Joe Biden stayed silent Friday about Trump’s indictment.\n\nReporters asked Biden about the indictment multiple times as he left the White House early Friday for a trip to Mississippi. “I have no comment on Trump,” he said.\n\nBiden has nothing publicly about Trump’s legal troubles since the former president announced two weeks ago that he expected to face criminal charges.\n\n– Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe\n\nBiden refuses to talk Trump indictment:'No. I’m not going to talk about the Trump indictment': Biden refuses to comment on hush money case\n\nTrump’s GOP rivals: Indictment an ‘outrage’ and ‘un-American’\n\nTrump’s Republican rivals and potential opponents for the 2024 presidential nomination also slammed the charges as politically motivated:\n\nFormer Vice President Mike Pence, who is weighing a bid, told CNN the unprecedented indictment was “nothing more than a political prosecution” and an “outrage.”\n\nFormer South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told Fox News Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was trying to take “revenge.”\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considering a run, said the “weaponization of the legal system” is “un-American.”\n\nFormer Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another possible candidate, said Trump should have the “presumption of innocence.” He said Trump shouldn’t be the next president, but that the voters should decide.\n\n– Rebecca Morin\n\nWho is Michael Cohen?:Former Trump lawyer is a key witness in New York probe of ex-president\n\nNew York indictment one of 4 pending investigations against Trump\n\nThe New York indictment against Trump is one of at least four investigations against the former president.\n\nIn Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating potential charges of election fraud for Trump’s call 2021 call to state Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.\n\nJustice Department special counsel Jack Smith has a two-pronged investigation. He is reviewing Trump’s role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and the discovery of classified documents at his estate Mar-a-Lago.\n\nPotential New York charges such as falsifying business records are relatively mundane compared to allegations Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election. But Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and now a law professor at the University of Michigan, said the evidence for falsifying business records would be fairly straightforward based on documents and is a common charge in New York.\n\n“It certainly does not raise the level of overturning an election, but this case is comparable to other cases that get filed on a regular basis in New York against defendants for falsifying business records,” McQuade told USA TODAY. “Trump should not get a pass on this case in New York just because he also faces potential charges in Georgia and in federal court.\"\n\n– Bart Jansen\n\nOther countries charge their leaders:Charges against Trump would be a first in US. But other countries? They routinely charge leaders.\n\nStormy Daniels: 'No joy' from indictment, lawyer says\n\nDaniels said a few weeks ago she would “dance down the street” if Trump were indicted. But on Thursday, the woman at the center of the investigative storm feels bad that he was charged, although it means the judicial system is working, according to her lawyer.\n\n“She was surprised, honestly, even though it was mostly expected,” her lawyer, Clark Brewster told USA TODAY. “But on behalf of Stormy and honestly myself, there's no joy in seeing the man indicted.”\n\nDaniels wasn’t immediately aware of the indictment because she was out riding her horse.\n\n“The fact is that she feels bad that the guy has been charged,” Brewster said. “But on the other hand, truly, she knew what the facts were and she wants him to deal with the truth as well. So from that perspective, there's a degree of feeling like the system is working.”\n\n– Josh Meyer\n\nHow does hush money work?:Trump indicted: How did Michael Cohen arrange hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal?\n\nGo deeper", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/24/robert-mueller-testimony-congress-cover-donald-trump-russia-probe/1797213001/", "title": "Robert Mueller testimony on Russia, Trump: 'It is not a witch hunt'", "text": "Former special counsel gives first testimony\n\nSays Russian interference 'serious' threat to US\n\nTrump 'not exculpated' on obstruction\n\nTestimony largely sticks to report\n\nWASHINGTON – Former special counsel Robert Mueller used a pair of long-anticipated appearance before Congress to drive home a central finding of his investigation: Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election \"is not a hoax,\" and is likely to be repeated.\n\nTaking questions for the first time about his two-year investigation, Mueller challenged President Donald Trump's persistent criticism about the inquiry that cast a shadow over much of his time in office, telling lawmakers that \"it is not a witch hunt.\"\n\nMueller delivered nearly seven hours of testimony to the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees during a pair of hearings that Democrats hoped could change the trajectory of Trump's presidency, even if they delivered few revelations. At times faltering, and at times facing sharp questions from Trump's political allies, Mueller mostly offered a terse confirmation of the central findings of his inquiry.\n\nMueller told lawmakers that the Russian government had sought to meddle in the 2016 election in a dramatic fashion, and that it did so with an eye toward benefiting Trump. He said Trump's campaign welcomed, even praised, that assistance, and while he said investigators did not gather sufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy, \"problematic is an understatement\" to describe some of Trump's conduct.\n\nSuch interference, he warned, seems likely to continue.\n\nMore:What we learned from Robert Mueller: Seven hours, zero bombshells and everyone declares victory\n\nMore:'It is not a witch hunt': Top moments from Robert Mueller's testimony before Congress\n\n\"They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it again during the next campaign,\" Mueller, speaking in a soft, raspy voice, told the House Intelligence Committee. His report, he said, is a \"signal\" to those in power \"not to let this kind of thing happen again.\"\n\nMueller also reinforced his conclusion that his investigation had \"not exculpated\" Trump on the question of whether he sought to had attempted to obstruct justice by thwarting the special counsel inquiry.\n\nAs the hearing ended, Trump and his allies declared the episode closed.\n\n\"The American people understand that this issue is over. They also understand that the case is closed,\" Trump's attorney, Jay Sekulow, said. Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said Mueller's testimony was a vindication for the president and that Democrats were \"trying to undo the legitimate result\" of the election.\n\nDuring his opening statements, Mueller, who led the FBI during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Russia's \"sweeping and systematic\" interference in American elections is among the most serious challenges to democracy he has seen throughout his career in law enforcement. He also said his team's investigation of efforts to obstruct the inquiry into Russia's actions \"was of critical importance.\"\n\n\"Obstruction of justice strikes at the core of the government's effort to find the truth and to hold wrongdoers accountable,\" Mueller said.\n\nQuoted passages, terse replies\n\nDemocrats spent much of the day asking Mueller to confirm episodes detailed in his report, focusing on the president's efforts to thwart the investigation. Republicans sought to poke holes in Mueller's legal theory and air allegations of bias and wrongdoing. Both factions were eager to score points from Mueller's remarks, though many lawmakers appeared to have already made up their minds about the importance of what he might say.\n\nMueller, in terse answers, offered little for either side.\n\n\"The report is my testimony. And I will stay within that text,\" Mueller said at the start of day's first hearing, before the Judiciary committee.\n\nRep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said during his opening statements that the investigation revealed the president himself \"knew that a foreign power was intervening in our election and welcomed it, built Russian meddling into their strategy, and used it.\"\n\nMore:Former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony, like his report, promises an ink-blot test for partisans\n\nMore:Democrats betting on Robert Mueller's public testimony to make the case his report so far has not\n\n\"Worse than all the lies and the greed is the disloyalty to country,\" Schiff said.\n\nRep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the Intelligence Committee's ranking member, echoed familiar accusations that the FBI investigation that later became the special counsel probe was \"marred with corruption\" and bias against Trump.\n\n“It’s time to close the curtain on the Russia hoax,” he said. “The conspiracy theory is dead.”\n\nAt times, Mueller appeared to struggle to keep up with the volley of inquiries, asking that questions be repeated, appealing for help locating citations in the report. At other times, lawmakers raised their arms to flag Mueller's attention, as the questioning moved from one end of the dais to the other.\n\nAsked by one lawmaker, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., whether \"you did not indict Donald Trump is because of (Justice Department) opinion that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?\" Mueller replied: \"That is correct.\"\n\nMueller later clarified that answer during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, saying his team did not reach a determination on whether Trump had obstructed justice. He told another lawmaker that Justice Department rules allow the government to bring charges against a president once he leaves office, but he did not say Trump should be charged.\n\nHopes for a blockbuster\n\nDemocrats went into the hearings betting that the spectacle of Mueller's public appearance will carry far more weight than the report. They had hoped that words from Mueller himself would be pivotal and would make the case that the president's conduct should be punishable by impeachment or a 2020 defeat.\n\nRepublicans, who have long questioned the integrity and genesis of the Russia inquiry that they say exonerated the president, used the rare public appearance to highlight the lack of charges against Trump and the perceived political motivation behind the probe. The president and his allies have accused Democrats of trying to redo the investigation by staging a belated spectacle.\n\nRep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, began the day with a summary of Mueller's years in public service as a Marine officer who was awarded a Purple Heart and as director of the FBI.\n\n\"Director Mueller, we have a responsibility to address the evidence you've uncovered,\" Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a prepared opening statement. \"You recognized as much when you said, 'the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.'\"\n\nNadler said the hearing would highlight episodes in which Trump sought to thwart Mueller's investigation. \"Any other person who acted this way would have been charged with a crime. And in this nation, not even the president is above the law.\"\n\nRep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the panel's ranking member, emphasized that Mueller's investigation did not find that Trump or his campaign conspired with Russia. Trump's reaction to the investigation of him and his campaign was \"understandably negative,\" Collins said, \"but he did not shut down\" the inquiry.\n\nMueller acknowledged early on his role as a reluctant witness, telling lawmakers he cannot answer questions central to ongoing investigations into the origins of the Russia inquiry and citing restrictions the Justice Department has placed on what he can and can't say. The department said in a letter to Mueller on Monday that his testimony \"must remain within the boundaries\" of his report and that information such as presidential communications, discussion about investigative steps and decisions made during the probe can't be disclosed.\n\nMueller largely rebuffed requests from Republican lawmakers to talk about their critiques of his investigation, some repeated by the president. He declined to answer questions about former British spy Christopher Steele, an FBI informant who wrote a \"dossier\" alleging Trump had plotted with Moscow to win the election. He sidestepped allegations of political bias, and declined to answer questions about how the FBI began investigating Trump, because he said the Justice Department, which is conducting its own review, asked him not to.\n\nThroughout the hearing, Democratic lawmakers focused on the investigation's most damaging findings, flashing selected excerpts from Mueller's report on video screens on the walls of the hearing room in an attempt to bolster evidence that Trump had engaged in obstruction. In each case, Mueller acknowledged that underlying conduct by the president necessary to support had been identified, including an alleged \"corrupt intent\" by Trump.\n\nMueller largely responded with one-word answers as Democratic lawmakers asked him to confirm several instances when Trump sought to limit or obstruct the investigation.\n\n\"No,\" Mueller said when asked of Trump was totally exonerated.\n\n\"True,\" Mueller said when asked whether the president sought to have then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse a decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia inquiry.\n\n\"True,\" he said when asked if Trump had ordered White House counsel Donald McGahn to fire the special counsel.\n\n\"Yes,\" when asked whether obstruction of justice warrant a lot of jail time if convicted.\n\nChallenges to the investigation\n\nRepublicans, meanwhile, stepped up their challenges to Mueller, suggesting that the special counsel went beyond his authority by indicating that Trump could not be \"exonerated\" from accusations of obstruction of justice. Stacking law books on the desk in front of him, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, called on Mueller to point to a specific provision in the law that allowed him or other prosecutors to make such a determination.\n\n\"I'm not prepared to have a legal discussion in that arena,\" Mueller said.\n\nIn one of the most animated exchanges of the day, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, launched a broadside on Mueller’s investigation, questioning why prosecutors did not bring charges against a Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic who helped kick-start the Russian election interference inquiry in 2016.\n\nMifsud first alerted Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that Russia had derogatory information on Hillary Clinton.\n\nThe Mueller report documents several false statements Mifsud made to investigators.\n\nJordan asked why the government choose not prosecute Mifsud, asserting that prosecutors chose instead to focus on Papadopoulos and other Trump campaign advisers.\n\n“I don’t agree with your characterization,” Mueller said.\n\nPressed to respond, Mueller said, “I can’t get into that.”\n\n“There seems to be a lot of things that you can’t get into,” Jordan snapped.\n\nRep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, questioned Mueller's relationship with former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump abruptly fired in May 2017. And he suggested that Mueller failed to act quickly when he learned that two former FBI officials working on the investigation, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, had exchanged messages disparaging Trump.\n\nOf Comey, Mueller described the former FBI director as a \"friend and business associate.\"\n\nMueller said he first learned of the Strzok and Page communications in the summer of 2017 and “acted swiftly” to remove them.\n\nRep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., contended that Mueller should have been prohibited from sharing details about Trump's alleged obstruction when the special counsel chose not to make a determination that the president had committed a crime.\n\n\"This flies in the face of American justice,\" said Reschenthaler, a former military lawyer. \"I find this entire process un-American.\"\n\nMueller, however, contended that the report was not written with the expectation that its contents would be made public. Barr ultimately decided to release a redacted version of the report in April.\n\nMueller defended his team under criticisms from Republicans that he hired a group of anti-Trump investigators.\n\nMore:Robert Mueller, in first public remarks, says charging Trump was 'not an option we could consider'\n\nLike what you're reading?:Download the USA TODAY app for more\n\n\"We strove to hire individuals who could do the job. I've been in this business for almost 25 years. In those 25 years, I've not had an occasion once to ask about somebody's political beliefs,\" Mueller said.\n\nMueller also said that his team sought unsuccessfully to interview Trump and said a subpoena that the president was sure to fight would have significantly delayed the investigation. He acknowledged that Trump's written answers were not as meaningful as an interview would have been.\n\nEven before Mueller's testimony began, Trump began issuing a series of pointed – and now familiar – critiques of the former special counsel and the investigation he ran. \"Why didn't Robert Mueller investigate the investigators?\" Trump wrote in an early morning tweet Wednesday, repeating unproven claims that Mueller had conflicts of interest and claiming that he had been the victim of \"The Greatest Witch Hunt\" in history.\n\nThe president has long contended that Mueller pursued the Russia investigation because Trump did not select him to succeed Comey as FBI director, whom Trump fired. But for the first time, Mueller said Wednesday that he never interviewed for the job and only met with Trump to advise him on the search of a new director.\n\nMueller spent two years investigating Russian interference in the presidential election and whether Trump obstructed the inquiry that consumed Washington. Trump and his allies spent nearly as much time questioning the basis of the investigation and accusing some of the investigators of spying and treason.\n\nDuring his first and only other public appearance since his appointment as special counsel, Mueller did not clear Trump of criminal wrongdoing, but said charges were \"not an option\" because of Justice Department policy of not indicting a sitting president.\n\n\"If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that,\" Mueller said during a brief news conference in May.\n\nAs soon as Mueller's testimony ended, Trump, again took to Twitter to proclaim vindication, tweeting in all caps, \"Truth is a force of nature!\"\n\nContributing: Bart Jansen\n\nMore on Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation:\n\nTrump’s aides were eager to take Russian dirt on Clinton. But it wasn’t a conspiracy, Mueller report said\n\nTrump repeatedly tried to impede the Russia probe, Mueller report said. Was it obstruction?\n\nTrump took steps to fire Mueller, stop probe after campaign welcomed Russian dirt on Clinton, Mueller report says\n\nSpying, treason and politics: President Trump ups the stakes in Russia probe battle despite scant evidence", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/07/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2021/08/20/mail-carrier-legacy-pardoning-witch-hermit-rebuild-news-around-states/118453564/", "title": "Mail carrier legacy, pardoning a 'witch': News from around our 50 ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: The City Council has rejected 5-4 an anti-discrimination ordinance that would have protected LGBTQ residents and others, even as Mayor Steven Reed threatened to send businesses to Birmingham if the vote failed. Reed said the two-month process leading to the vote showed that he was wrong to tell companies how far the city has come. If the vote failed, he said, he would be forced to tell businesses that value diversity and inclusiveness that “maybe this isn’t the place for that project because I can’t stand behind it. Maybe this isn’t the place for what your employees are looking for because I can’t tell you in good faith that this city ... shares your values and your vision.” He also threatened to give Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s cellphone number to those businesses. Birmingham’s council passed a similar ordinance in 2017. “They’ve learned from their mistakes,” Reed said. Councilwoman Audrey Graham, who voted against the Montgomery ordinance, asked Reed if he’s serious about that threat. He responded: “Those individuals that ask me an honest question, then I’m going to give them an honest answer.” The ordinance would have made it illegal to discriminate against a range of groups in the areas of public accommodation, housing and employment, as well as in all city practices, including contracting.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Trump administration approvals for a large planned oil project on Alaska’s North Slope, saying the federal review was flawed and didn’t include mitigation measures for polar bears. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage vacated permits for ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in a 110-page ruling. The Trump administration approved the project in late 2020, and the Biden administration defended the project in court. Rebecca Boys, a ConocoPhillips spokesperson, said the company would review Gleason’s decision “and evaluate the options available regarding this project.” Spokespersons for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department said their agencies had no comment. The Bureau of Land Management conducted the environmental review of the project that Gleason found flawed. Conservation groups and Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, described as a grassroots organization, had challenged the adequacy of the review process. Karlin Itchoak, Alaska director for The Wilderness Society, in a statement called the ruling “a step toward protecting public lands and the people who would be most negatively impacted by the BLM’s haphazard greenlighting of the Willow project.”\n\nArizona\n\nBullhead City: Employees in a northwestern Arizona school district cannot discuss vaccination status or mask-wearing with students under a motion approved unanimously by the local school board. The edict from the Colorado River Union High School District Governing Board carries no repercussions for administrators, staff or teachers who violate it. That would be up to Superintendent Monte Silk, who supported the motion. The debate over masks and vaccines in schools has been heated. At least 26 school districts in Arizona have enacted their own mask mandates, even as Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has tried to prevent them and threatened schools with a loss of funding. Those school districts account for nearly 300,000 students and 450 schools, mostly around Phoenix and Tucson. The Colorado River Union High School District’s gag rule, however, is rare. Board member Ashley Gerich, who calls herself a “non-vaxxer,” requested the item be put on the board’s agenda this week. She said a couple of students, including her daughter, told her conversations about the vaccine made them feel uncomfortable, the Mohave Daily News reports.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: Three parents are suing over a northwest Arkansas school district’s decision to require face masks after a judge blocked the state’s mask mandate ban. The lawsuit filed Wednesday over the Bentonville School District’s mandate argues the local school board had no authority to impose the requirement. The parents are asking a Benton County judge to temporarily block the district from enforcing the ban while they challenge it. The parents are “forced to choose either to exercise their fundamental liberty interests in refusing to place face coverings on their children against their will or for the children to face expulsion from school,” the lawsuit said. Public health officials have urged schools to require masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus due to the highly contagious delta variant. Arkansas ranks fourth in the country for new cases per capita, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University researchers. More than 70 public school districts and charter schools have imposed mask mandates since Arkansas’ ban against them was blocked. The requirements cover more than half of the state’s public school students. “Our legal counsel is currently reviewing the matter and we look forward to a vigorous defense of our district,” Leslee Wright, a spokeswoman for the Bentonville School District, said in a statement.\n\nCalifornia\n\nLos Angeles: A major Southern California water agency has declared a water supply alert for the first time in seven years and is asking residents to voluntarily conserve. The Los Angeles Times reports the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California took the step Tuesday, hoping to lessen the need for more severe actions such as reducing water supplies to member agencies. The move came a day after U.S. officials declared the first-ever water shortage on the Colorado River, a key water source for Southern California. “This is a wake-up call for what lies ahead,” said Deven Upadhyay, chief operating officer for the district that supplies water to 19 million Californians, from the Los Angeles area to U.S.-Mexico border. “We cannot overstate the seriousness of this drought,” he said. “Conditions are getting worse, and more importantly, we don’t know how long it will last.” Gov. Gavin Newsom last month asked Californians to scale back water use, and many of the state’s counties, mostly in Central and Northern California, are already under a state of drought emergency. Concern about water supplies spread to the state’s heavily populated southern region following a winter of low precipitation and shrinking reservoirs throughout the West.\n\nColorado\n\nGlenwood Springs: Forest Service officials said Wednesday that Hanging Lake Trail, a popular tourist destination in western Colorado, will be closed for the rest of the summer season and likely beyond because of extensive damage caused by large mudslides in late July. The announcement came after a preliminary assessment earlier in the week that revealed damaged and destroyed bridges, as well as large sections of the trail blocked by debris and mud. “The Hanging Lake Trail is not safe and impassable in some areas and will remain closed for the foreseeable future,” said White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams. “The debris flows we saw in July are probably not the last we will see, so there could be additional damage in the weeks and months ahead.” The trail leads to the emerald-colored Hanging Lake, which is designated as a National Natural Landmark and is about 1,000 feet up a side canyon of Glenwood Canyon. The lake was discolored by mud flows that resulted from a wildfire that torched the area last summer. “The good news is that the water in Hanging Lake is clearing from the debris flow, the boardwalk at the lake wasn’t damaged, and the fish are still swimming,” Fitzwilliams said.\n\nConnecticut\n\nAshford: Ground was broken Wednesday at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children to replace buildings that burned to the ground in a February fire. The Feb. 12 blaze at the camp founded by the late actor Paul Newman destroyed a section of the eastern Connecticut camp that was made to look like the center of an Old West town. It had housed the camp’s woodworking shop, the arts and crafts area, the camp store, and its educational kitchen. Camp officials said they have received 4,500 donations for the rebuild, including a $1 million match from Travelers and the Travelers Championship golf tournament and a $1 million gift from Newman’s Own Foundation. That will allow the camp to build a new, accessible single-level “creative complex” that will not only replace what was lost but also include new features, such as a quiet sensory area for campers and dedicated space for parents and caregivers. “We want to dedicate this moment to everyone who helped us heal and made us whole again,” said Jimmy Canton, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp’s chief executive officer. “Your kindness was the bridge that brought us from grief to gratitude, and your friendship is why we are able to celebrate this milestone.”\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: Police are investigating after photos of two officers who appear to be sleeping in their patrol vehicles were posted on social media. Police said in a Facebook post Tuesday that the department was looking into the matter and that such “behavior is unacceptable to our agency, unfair to our citizens, and certainly outside of department policy.” One photo shows an officer leaned back in his driver’s seat with his eyes shut and his mouth partially open. The other shows an officer leaned back in a police SUV driver’s seat facing away from the car window and toward a computer screen. The officers, who have not been named, were scheduled to meet with command staff late Tuesday, police spokesman Sgt. Mark Hoffman said. The department’s code of conduct states that the health, well-being and overall safety of officers is a top priority. Police said in a statement that officers are encouraged not to operate vehicles when fatigued and urged to speak with a supervisor “so proper measures can be taken” if they feel unwell or unusually fatigued. “With that being said, there is no language that allows such activity,” the department said.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Canceled because of the pandemic 16 months ago, Honor Flights to Washington resumed Wednesday, WUSA-TV reports. The program brings veterans from around the nation to D.C. to see the memorials built in their honor. The flights and tours are free. At the World War II Memorial, 113 veterans were visiting Wednesday from the Honor Flight hub in Chicago. “Probably the most touching moments are watching watching the veterans reflect as they look at the Wall of Stars,” said David Smith, president of the Honor Flight Network. “There are over 400,000 stars there; it represents those that were lost.” Wednesday’s visit honored three veterans from World War II, 34 who served in the Korean War, and 76 veterans of the Vietnam conflict.\n\nFlorida\n\nOrlando: The number of U.S. tourists who came to Sunshine State in the second quarter of this year has returned to pre-pandemic levels, though the international market is still lagging, according to figures released Thursday. Florida received about 30.6 million domestic visitors from April through June, a 6% increase over the same time in 2019 and a 216% jump from the same time last year, during the height of COVID-19 pandemic closures, state tourism marketing firm Visit Florida said in a news release. Overall, the state had 31.4 million visitors in the second quarter of this year, an increase of 220% from the same period a year earlier. Florida’s international market has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels due in part to restrictions on entering the United States. Florida welcomed only 1.1 million visitors from overseas and Canada in the second quarter of this year, compared to 3.5 million visitors in the second quarter of 2019. During the spring of 2020, Florida’s major theme parks and hotels around the state were either shuttered or had limited operations due to the pandemic. As of Thursday, though, Walt Disney World is tweaking its face mask policy, allowing visitors to choose whether to wear face coverings in outdoor lines, outdoor theaters and outdoor attractions. Masks had been required previously.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: Health care providers at some of the state’s largest hospital systems warned Thursday about the increasing toll of the latest coronavirus surge on younger patients, hospital staffs and health care capacity as they implored people to get vaccinated, wear masks and avoid large gatherings. The guidance came as the state’s hospitals – already struggling with rising patient numbers – brace for even higher COVID-19 case counts that could surpass a winter peak. “The unfortunate thing is we don’t have the luxury of saying, ‘We’re full, and we’re closed,’ ” said Robert Jansen, chief medical officer at Atlanta’s Grady Health System. “We’re not a hotel, so people will continue to come and our staff will continue to cope, and we’ll continue to find places to take care of these patients, but it is going to be difficult, and it’s not going to be easy, and it won’t make people happy.” Jansen said the hospital’s emergency room is facing a “tsunami” of patients infected with the delta variant of the coronavirus, forcing staff to divert ambulances to other hospitals for quicker care. As at other hospitals in the state, the influx is primarily people who are unvaccinated.\n\nHawaii\n\nKailua-Kona: Officials on the Big Island are considering closing beaches and canceling the Ironman World Championship in response to a surge of coronavirus cases. “Right now our numbers are skyrocketing. It’s a shame because we as a county have been doing a great job,” Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth told County Council members. “But we let down our guards – I let down my guard.” The administration is revising its emergency rules and will submit the changes to Gov. David Ige for approval, West Hawaii Today reports. That revision could include a return to restrictions at parks and beaches that allow people to cross the sand only to get to the ocean to surf, swim or fish but not to gather or sit. Similar restrictions were enacted across Hawaii during the peak of the pandemic last year. The Ironman World Championship is currently set for Oct. 9 in Kailua-Kona. Roth said a decision would be made soon about whether the event could go on. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look too positive for Ironman this year,” the mayor said. “The question with Ironman is what do you do with all the people who come to spectate.”\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: Students across the state lost some academic ground during the coronavirus pandemic, with standardized testing scores dropping in math and language arts compared to 2019. The Idaho Department of Education released the Idaho Standardized Achievement Test scores Tuesday. The test – required under federal rules – is typically administered to students in third through eighth grades and 10th grade each spring. But the 2020 test was canceled after the federal requirement was temporarily lifted as schools closed amid the coronavirus pandemic. For the 2021 round of testing, students showed the biggest decline in math skills, with 39.6% of students testing at “proficient” or “advanced” levels this spring, compared to 44.4% two years ago. English language arts skills had a smaller drop, with just over 54% of students scoring as proficient or advanced compared to 55% in 2019. “The onset of the pandemic in spring 2020 disrupted the ISAT along with all Idaho school operations, so we weren’t surprised that scores did not continue the gradual upward trend of the previous few years of testing,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra said in a statement. “We expected an impact, and now we can use these results to move forward to rebuild academic performance.”\n\nIllinois\n\nRockford: Some residents are crying foul over a proposed museum for women’s baseball in a city that had one of the sport’s most successful teams in the 1940s. A zoning board postponed a decision Tuesday on a permit for the project at Beyer Park. The Rockford Park District is willing to sell an acre of the park to the International Women’s Baseball Center. A group called Friends of Beyer Stadium said it supports the concept but has acquired land directly west of Beyer Park.“Shame on you,” said Greg Schwanke, president of Friends of Beyer Stadium. “I spent 14 years out there building this place and turned it into a national attraction for the city of Rockford. We’re not going down. We’re fighting all of the way.” The Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League played at Beyer Stadium. The team was featured in the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” with Tom Hanks, Madonna and Geena Davis. The International Women’s Baseball Center is launching a $10 million fundraising campaign for construction of a museum and activity center. “We’ve had people already calling us from outside the area asking us when the museum is going to open,” said Rosemary Collins, a retired judge involved with the group. “They will travel here to see it. It will have an economic boon for the entire area.”\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Facing a pandemic unlike any his predecessors have seen, Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday announced the formation of a public health commission that will spend the next year finding ways to improve the overall health of Hoosiers. While COVID-19 response will figure into the work of the 15-person commission, Holcomb said the panel’s scope would go far beyond this latest crisis. “We’ve got our game plan right now to continue to work through the pandemic,” he said. “That’s not what this commission or this task force is about. This is a long-term look at where we want our state to be decades from now.” Holcomb tapped longtime Republican politician Luke Kenley and former state health commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe to co-chair the body. The group will convene for the first time next month and is expected to issue a report by next summer, in time for 2023 budget discussions, Holcomb said. Over the past year, Holcomb has weathered criticism from all sides for his handling of the pandemic. Some have complained that he has not done enough to halt the spread of the coronavirus, lifting restrictions like the mask mandate too soon. Others have complained that he overreached his authority in taking steps such as that mask mandate.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state would welcome refugees from Afghanistan who want to resettle in Iowa, saying their situation is much different from the immigrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border whom the Republican governor refused to accept in April. Reynolds and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst discussed plans to take refugees while attending the Iowa State Fair on Wednesday. “We’re working with the State Department right now; we’re offering our opportunity to settle here in Iowa,” Ernst said. The Republican senator said she is working with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to push the U.S. Department of State to allow as many people as possible to qualify for the Special Immigrant Visa Program, designed to aid people who worked with the U.S. military as interpreters or translators in Iraq or Afghanistan. The U.S. Bureau of Refugee Services has said Iowa could take as many as 2,000 refugees a year, and Reynolds didn’t disagree with that number. “We’ll work with them to determine what that looks like and just make sure we have a process in place and we have families and homes for them to go,” she said. “We want to be a partner, we want them here, and we want them to know that.” In April Reynolds said she rejected a federal request to accept migrant children from the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that “is the president’s problem.”\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: Officials in some communities are battling a rise in COVID-19 cases by mandating masks for kids, issuing emergency orders and requiring vaccines. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Kansas has risen over the past two weeks from 605.14 new cases per day Aug. 3 to 797.14 new cases per day Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In the Lawrence area, Douglas County leaders approved a health order Wednesday that will require children ages 2 to 12 to wear masks while in indoor public spaces. The decision followed four hours of public comment that included jeering and interruptions from a largely maskless crowd, the Lawrence Journal-World reports. Douglas County’s health officer, Dr. Thomas Marcellino was momentarily drowned out by laughter and heckling from the crowd when he tried to explain the reasoning for the order. One person called him a liar and disgusting, and some in the crowd started chanting “no more masks.” One public commenter even compared maskless children being excluded from activities to racial segregation. There are various exceptions to the proposed order, including youth with a medical condition, mental health condition or disability that prevents wearing a face covering.\n\nKentucky\n\nPine Top: During a five-year span that ended last year, Kentucky State Police fatally shot at least 41 people – more than any other law enforcement agency in the commonwealth, according to a published report. Police declined to release the numbers, but the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and the Marshall Project built a database using a combination of publicly available data and state police records, according to an article the entities published in partnership with the Lexington Herald-Leader. The report said Kentucky troopers killed more people in rural communities than any other department in the nation, according to the partnership’s analysis of data compiled by the Washington Post. None of the 41 fatal shootings resulted in troopers being prosecuted. Of those killed, about 75% were armed, and a majority were suffering from addiction or mental health problems, according to the investigation. Kentucky State Police investigate shootings with no outside oversight, a practice some experts and prosecutors say is problematic. “I don’t think it should be done,” said Dave Stengel, the former commonwealth’s attorney in Louisville. He said there is potential for conflicts of interest. “Everybody knows everybody else.”\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: A civilian Pentagon official ordered the Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday to conduct a full environmental assessment of a $9.4 billion Formosa Plastics complex planned in the state, drawing praise from environmentalists. Jaime Pinkham, the Army’s acting assistant secretary for civil works, ordered the review after a virtual meeting with opponents of a Corps wetlands permit that allowed Formosa Plastics Group member FG LA LLC to build 10 chemical plants and four other major facilities on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Critics praised the decision. “The Army Corps has finally heard our pleas and understands our pain. With God’s help, Formosa Plastics will soon pull out of our community,” said a statement by Sharon Lavigne, who founded the local group Rise St. James to fight the planned complex announced in 2018. Formosa, based in Taiwan, wants to produce polyethylene, polypropylene, polymer and ethylene glycol on 2,400 acres in St. James Parish. Dubbed the Sunshine Project because it’s near the Sunshine Bridge, the project is expected to provide 1,200 permanent jobs and up to 8,000 construction jobs, the state has said.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Several music venues plan to require vaccinations for concertgoers. State Theater, Thompson’s Point and Portland House of Music are among those in the city requiring COVID-19 shots or a negative test for the coronavirus. Elsewhere, the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor and Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield are also requiring proof of vaccination. The marquee sign above State Theater says: “Vaccines are a gateway drug to concerts.” “We hope we can keep our doors open, and we need your support and understanding to do so,” the Portland House of Music said. The announcements come amid a surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus, which now accounts for virtually all infections in Maine. Meanwhile, the University of Maine System is requiring all students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear wear face coverings inside its buildings. The new policy applies to all, regardless of vaccination status. “With our classrooms and other indoor spaces no longer set up to impose social distancing, face coverings are an important strategy we can employ to effectively control the transmission of COVID, regardless of an individual’s vaccination status and testing participation,” Chancellor Dannel Malloy wrote. Bates College has adopted a similar requirement at its Lewiston campus.\n\nMaryland\n\nSalisbury: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has filed a lawsuit against Shore Transit after the public transit agency refused to display PETA advertisements on its buses. The animal rights group applied to display two advertisements on Shore Transit buses in May 2020. Both advertisements read: “No One Needs to Kill to Eat. Close the slaughterhouses: Save the workers, their families, and the animals.” Shore Transit denied the application, saying the advertisements violated its advertising policy. The agency prohibits advertisements that are “political, controversial, offensive, objectionable or in poor taste,” according to the suit. However, PETA claims Shore Transit does not have any written guidance for following these terms. PETA alleges that by denying the application, Shore Transit violated the First and 14th Amendments. In July 2021, PETA renewed its application to advertise, and it says it has not received a response. PETA filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing PETA. The suit names Shore Transit, Shore Transit Director Brad Bellacicco and the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland as defendants. Shore Transit offers public transportation in Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset counties.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: More than three centuries after a woman was wrongly convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death, she’s finally on the verge of being exonerated, thanks to a curious eighth grade civics class. State Sen. Diana DiZoglio, D-Methuen, has introduced legislation to clear the name of Elizabeth Johnson Jr., who was condemned in 1693 at the height of the Salem Witch Trials but never executed. DiZoglio said she was inspired by sleuthing done by a group of 13- and 14-year-olds at North Andover Middle School. Civics teacher Carrie LaPierre’s students painstakingly researched Johnson and the steps that would need to be taken to make sure she was formally pardoned. “It is important that we work to correct history,” DiZoglio said Wednesday. “We will never be able to change what happened to these victims, but at the very least, we can set the record straight.” If lawmakers approve the measure, Johnson will be the last accused witch to be cleared, according to Witches of Massachusetts Bay, a group devoted to the history and lore of the 17th-century witch hunts. In the 328 years since a frenzy of Puritan injustice that began in 1692, dozens of suspects officially were cleared, including Johnson’s own mother, the daughter of a minister whose conviction eventually was reversed. But for some reason, Johnson’s name wasn’t included in various legislative attempts to set the record straight.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: In need of quick cash and find yourself in a forest? Well, you may have an opportunity on your hands. The state Department of Natural Resources is offering $75 for bushels of pine cones for the month of September. The agency is in need of these for replanting purposes, refilling forests with new conifer trees. But the DNR is requesting a specific kind of cone: the red pine cone, marked by its craggy, reddish bark and 4- to 6-inch needles that grow in pairs. The DNR notes that Scotch and Austrian pine cones will not be accepted. Scotch cones are marked by their flayed and thick bark, while Austrian cones are more orb-like than red cones. Cones should be picked off the tree, as fallen cones are usually too old or wet. And one can tell the age of the cone from the way the scales are arranged. The scales should be closed with a hint of green or purple. All brown and they’re too far gone. The correct kind of bag is being distributed at select DNR locations. The cones will be processed in machines that harvest their seeds, which will be used to replenish the in-high-demand red pine, among other initiatives to refill Michigan forests.\n\nMinnesota\n\nIsabella: A wildfire in the Superior National Forest that crews have been fighting since the weekend has grown to 61/ 4 square miles, but U.S. Forest Service officials said Thursday morning that it grew little overnight. The Forest Service said lightning caused the fire first spotted Sunday near Greenwood Lake, about 25 miles southwest of Isabella. It grew from 5 square miles to 61/ 4 by Wednesday evening, after what officials described as a “very active” afternoon of expansion on its western flank. But in an update posted Thursday morning, Forest Service officials said there was no significant change overnight, which is often the case with forest fires. Thursday’s forecast in the area called for continued hot, dry weather, with thunderstorms expected Friday night and Saturday. The fire led authorities to evacuate about 75 homes Monday near McDougal Lake, just north of where the fire started. Many dwellings in the area, which is deep in the forest, are seasonal cabins. Some small portions of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to the north and northeast have been closed as a precaution due to the blaze, and two smaller fires spotted over the weekend in the wilderness. No injuries or damage to structures has been reported. Crews are also fighting several smaller wildfires in northeastern Minnesota.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The state’s only pediatric hospital is treating its largest number of COVID-19 cases so far during the pandemic, the hospital said Thursday. Children’s of Mississippi is part of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. “Today, Children’s of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center reported 28 children with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, the highest number of pediatric COVID-19 patients at the state’s only children’s hospital since the beginning of the pandemic,” the hospital said on Facebook. “Of these hospitalized children, 100% are unvaccinated. This number includes eight children in the ICU, including five who are too young to receive the vaccine.” Meanwhile, state health officials say almost 1,000 hospital beds that could be used to treat patients during the latest surge of coronavirus are unstaffed because of a shortage of health care workers. Mississippi is facing a record number of people hospitalized with the virus – 1,633 on Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health – and has the highest per capita rate of new COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 case tracker.\n\nMissouri\n\nSpringfield: Two employees are suing Springfield Public Schools over the district’s mandatory racial equity training, which they contend violates their rights and is an “unconstitutional condition of employment.” The federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Jennifer Lumley, a records secretary for the special services department, and Brooke Henderson, who works on plans for students with disabilities. Henderson is a member of Back on Track America and has frequently accused the district of inserting critical race theory into its training. Critical race theory, which studies America’s history through the lens of racism, is not mentioned in the lawsuit. But the women allege the term “equity” and other phrases used during the training are code for the theory, which they contend conditions “individuals to see each other’s skin color first and foremost.” All employees were required to take the training during the 2020-21 school year or lose pay. As part of the training, they were required to commit to equity and becoming “anti-racist educators,” according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed against the district, its school board and four district officials. Stephen Hall, spokesman for the district, said the district is prepared to defend its equity efforts and is confident the court will find the lawsuit is without merit.\n\nMontana\n\nBozeman: Montana State University and the University of Montana are telling everyone to wear masks indoors on campus. Montana State University President Waded Cruzado and University of Montana President Seth Bodnar both cited the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus as one reason for their requests and also urged people to get COVID-19 vaccinations. Cruzado said Montana State’s decision would last through Oct. 1 but said in a message to students, staff and faculty that mandates “foment dissension and division.” She also said she understands people find pandemic-related mandates “odious,” and they require enforcement, so she is asking people to voluntarily wear their masks because it is the right thing to do. Bodnar also said UM is urging but not requiring masks, and he said the university will revisit its stance Sept. 20. He noted the uptick in cases in Missoula County had placed it in a “high risk” zone based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and he pointed to advice from health officials that says masks can help slow the spread of the coronavirus.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Officials are dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak at a state correctional facility as coronavirus cases surge statewide. After 33 inmates tested positive for the virus at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln, officials paused all visits and volunteer activities there and asked county jails to delay sending new inmates if they can. All adult men who enter the state prison system go through the facility. Officials said all inmates who test positive for the virus are being housed away from other inmates to limit the spread of COVID-19, according to the Omaha World-Herald. The state Department of Correctional Services has also started providing bars of soap, which inmates had to purchase before the pandemic, and masks to inmates who request them. Officials say they have also stepped up efforts to disinfect spaces where people live and congregate in prisons. Department Director Scott Frakes said the increase in cases in the prison system – which lists 36 active cases – follows an increase in the community. “It is not a surprise that we have an uptick in cases now, especially at DEC which serves as the intake facility for all male inmates who are new admits or returning to us from the community,” Frakes said.\n\nNevada\n\nLas Vegas: The U.S. debut of a long-established international food and beverage industry trade show could make Las Vegas a magnet for foodies and food product retailers, distributors and wholesalers, event producers and tourism officials said. An announcement Tuesday by Emerald Holding Inc. and Comexposium, owner of the SIAL brand of worldwide food shows, was timed as a topper to Emerald’s ongoing International Pizza Expo now at the Las Vegas Convention Center. “This partnership underscores the ever-increasing importance of creating a single event for the food industry,” Jessica Blue, Emerald executive vice president, said in a statement. SIAL, for Salon International de L’Alimentation, has a 50-year history and says it draws some 16,000 exhibitors and 700,000 visitors from 200 countries to 10 shows in France, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. “We plan to bring a new international food exhibition to life in Las Vegas to enable comprehensive sourcing of new products,” said Nicolas Trentesaux, SIAL Network Global CEO. The announcement hosted by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority puts the SIAL America show on the Convention Center schedule for March 2022.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: A billionaire software company CEO has given a former hermit $180,000 to rebuild his cabin in a new location. Alexander Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, gave David Lidstone a personal check last week, Lidstone’s friend, Jodie Gedeon said on Facebook. A spokesperson for the data analytics software company confirmed the donation to the Concord Monitor. “How can I express myself and my gratitude towards something like that? I start to tear up whenever I think about it,” Lidstone told the Monitor. “For an old logger who always had to work, for anyone to give you that type of money, it’s incredibly difficult for me to get my head around.” There has been an outpouring of support for Lidstone since he was jailed July 15 and accused of squatting for nearly 30 years on property owned by a Vermont man. His cabin burned down this month shortly before his release, but he recently secured temporary housing through the winter. The location is being kept secret to protect Lidstone’s privacy, Gedeon said. But supporters will have a chance to meet Lidstone at a “thank you” event in Warner, New Hampshire, on Saturday. Lidstone has said he doesn’t think he can go back to being a hermit. “Maybe the things I’ve been trying to avoid are the things that I really need in life,” he said.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nManasquan: Huge gates that could be slammed shut when major storms approach would be built across the mouths of three inlets in New Jersey, closable barriers would cut parts of two bays in half, and 19,000 homes would be raised as part of a $16 billion plan to address back bay flooding, one of the major sources of storm damage at the Jersey Shore. After five years of study, federal and state officials unveiled recommendations Thursday that would drastically change the appearance of some iconic spots at the shore. It also would be one of the most ambitious and costly efforts any U.S. state has yet taken to address back bay flooding. The term refers to floods that are not primarily caused by waves crashing over ocean barriers but by stealthily rising water levels in bays along inland shorelines. Although ocean waves caused severe damage during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, back bay flooding also caused extensive damage in that storm. In numerous places, it was the primary source of property damage during Sandy. “To better protect New Jersey’s residents, communities, and economy, we must plan and prepare today for the climate change risks of tomorrow,” said Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey’s environmental protection commissioner.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm heard from industry officials Wednesday about what it will take to boost renewable energy development in the state and across the nation as the Biden administration pushes its initiatives to reduce emissions and address climate change. Developers and policy experts said without more transmission infrastructure and a cohesive grid, renewable energy will be stranded in remote spots like rural New Mexico, and opportunities for economic development will be hampered as a result. “This stuff is as important as building highways. It’s as important as building hospitals and schools,” said Fernando Martinez, executive director of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority. “The only way we’re going to accomplish this … is that we really do need a predictable regulatory landscape.” He and others told Granholm about permitting bottlenecks that have slowed the development of major transmission projects in New Mexico. They said if the Biden administration wants to reach its goals, the U.S. can’t afford to take decades to site and build transmission lines. A major line to connect wind farms in eastern New Mexico to the grid, for example, is almost complete but needs the approval of more than 430 easements from ranchers and other landowners.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: A group of restaurants asked a judge this week to block the city’s latest effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, calling the city’s mandate that customers show proof of vaccination “arbitrary, irrational, unscientific and unlawful.” The group argued that the new rules would severely harm their businesses and livelihood. The city’s proof-of-vaccination edict went into effect Tuesday and requires anyone dining indoors at restaurants, going to museums, attending concerts, working out at a gym or entering many indoor public venues show proof that they have been inoculated against COVID-19. The group of restaurateurs that filed the lawsuit in Richmond County, which encompasses Staten Island, said restaurants and other establishments included in the city’s vaccine mandate were unfairly targeted because many other places such as grocery stores, hair salons, churches, schools and office buildings were excluded from the mandate. “This vaccine mandate is arbitrary and capricious due to the fact that it targets certain establishments but not others with no rational whatsoever,” the lawsuit says. Mayor Bill de Blasio first announced the new rules Aug. 3. He said enforcement won’t begin until Sept. 13 to give businesses more time to prepare and people an opportunity to get vaccinated.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nChapel Hill: A college tradition has come under scrutiny after pictures the school posted on social media showed hundreds of students gathered at a campus landmark waiting to get a drink of water in the midst of a COVID-19 surge. Pictures posted to Twitter by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed a line of students approaching the Old Well on Wednesday waiting to get a drink and a picture. According to tradition, students who drink from the fountain at the well on the first day of classes will get good grades for the entire school year. It was first reported by The News & Observer of Raleigh. The tradition was canceled last year because of the pandemic. The resumption brought a thread of negative reactions. “Tradition aside, you couldn’t just find a couple paper cups for this? In the middle of the fourth wave of a global pandemic?” said one response. “It would have been a great idea to put this tradition on hold,” said another response. According to the newspaper, the university issued a statement saying it had consulted with public health experts who agreed it was OK to proceed with the tradition since there is little to no evidence of surface transmission of the coronavirus. Students who chose to participate were encouraged to wear a mask and maintain distance while waiting in line.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: There are no current plans to bring any of the people fleeing the conflict in Afghanistan to the state, officials said. The North Dakota Department of Human Services, who oversees the Refugee Resettlement Program, said the process is actually quite extensive. It takes eight different government agencies and six background checks for a person to gain clearance for the Refugee Resettlement Program in North Dakota, officials said. The state’s refugee coordinator said the people being transported to the U.S. are classified as Special Immigrant Visa Holders. Each person will be resettled in an area of the country in which Afghans have already settled, KXNET-TV reports. “There are strong communities that have already been set up for individuals that have a successful history of gaining employment, assimilating within the community, learning English and, you know, really developing successful relationships with a variety of different community members,” Holly Triska-Dally said. The Pentagon said that over the prior 24 hours about 2,000 people, including 325 American citizens, had been flown out of the Kabul international airport on 18 flights by U.S. Air Force C-17 transport planes.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: Whether because of a lack of computer access, lack of awareness or mistrust, about 180,000 children in the state are not benefiting from the government’s enhanced Child Tax Credit program. That’s the conclusion drawn by Alex Coccia, a senior policy analyst at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a national nonprofit organization. On a conference call with several members of local and national nonprofits this week, Coccia said that through the first two months of the program, 2.151 million Ohio children have received the tax credit’s advance payments, but he estimated that 2.33 million children are eligible. The monthly payments of either $250 or $300 per child began in July and will continue through December, with another six months’ worth of money available upon filing a tax return in 2022. The payments go out automatically to the roughly 90% of eligible Americans who filed a tax return this year, but the concern is that the “non-filers” still may be unaware of the benefit. Those who do not file a tax return, because of very low incomes or several other reasons, must “opt in” through an online portal on the IRS website. And that’s where access issues begin. “We’re worried about non-English speakers, those who lack secure housing, and those with limited internet access,” Coccia said.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: The state’s school districts should have “the autonomy” to enact mask requirements, which are banned by state law, according to the superintendent of schools. “School districts deserve the autonomy to enact policies that protect our schoolchildren and staff from COVID exposure and infection,” Oklahoma Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said in a statement Wednesday. Hofmeister’s comments came after U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in letters to her and Gov. Kevin Stitt that the ban may violate the American Rescue Plan Act that provided $123 billion to the nation’s schools to help them return to the classroom. Cardona sent similar letters to several other states with similar mask bans. Stitt’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. A spokesperson for Stitt told the Tulsa World on Wednesday that the governor had not yet seen the letter. Hofmeister, whose recommendation for a statewide mask mandate in schools was rejected in July 2020 in a 4-3 vote by the state Board of Education, said vaccinations and mask wearing are key to keeping schools open for in-person classes. “I think Ronald Reagan was right when he said those closest to the problem are the ones best suited to address it,” Hofmeister said.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Oregon resident and tribal citizen Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III to head the National Park Service. If confirmed by the Senate, Sams would be the first Native American to hold the position. He is Cayuse and Walla Walla and a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Sams has worked in state and tribal governments and the nonprofit natural resource and conservation management fields for over 25 years, White House officials said. “The diverse experience that Chuck brings to the National Park Service will be an incredible asset as we work to conserve and protect our national parks to make them more accessible for everyone,” U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet secretary, said in a news release. “The outdoors are for everyone, and we have an obligation to protect them for generations to come.” Currently, Sams is a member of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a role appointed by Gov. Kate Brown. The Democratic governor said in a statement Wednesday that it was a proud day for Oregon. She described Sams as a “passionate student and teacher of the history and culture of our lands and our people.”\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPittsburgh: Mister Rogers’ deliveryman’s son, who’s now a real-life mail carrier, briefly appeared this week on an episode of a children’s show based on one of Mister Rogers’ puppets. Alex Newell, 39, is the son of David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Alex Newell had a cameo on “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. In Wednesday’s episode, Newell appears as a mail carrier ensuring a little girl’s care package has been delivered to a friend, according to the newspaper. David Newell said Rogers was the first person who came to visit him at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital after each of his three children were born, including Alex. “In a way, Alex grew up in Mister Rogers’ neighborhood, in reality and in pretend,” his dad said. “He watched the program as he was growing up, and now he’s making a delivery on (‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’). And that makes me so proud.” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” features 4-year-old Daniel Tiger, son of the original show’s Daniel Striped Tiger.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: The cost of running the city’s guaranteed-income pilot program will be more than the total of cash payments given to low-income families. The 110 households selected to take part in the pilot will receive $500 monthly, adding up to $6,000 over the course of the one-year experiment. In total, $660,000 will be given away in no-strings-attached cash grants. Meanwhile, expenses associated with administering the program and researching its effectiveness are already expected to top $723,000, according to an estimate provided by Mayor Jorge Elorza’s office. While that means that the total cost of the pilot program will exceed the $1.1 million that Elorza had originally anticipated, none of that is taxpayer money. The pilot program is being fully funded by private donors, including Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey. Joining a growing number of Democratic mayors nationwide, Elorza has championed the idea that a guaranteed income can help lift people out of poverty, pointing to Stockton, California, which found that many recipients used the money for basic needs and that they were more likely to be employed full time after taking part in the program. Providence is now encouraging anyone who makes less than 200% of the federal poverty level to apply before the Saturday deadline.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nMyrtle Beach: The Myrtle Beach International Airport has been the busiest airport in the Palmetto State this summer. The airport set a record for passenger traffic with more than 500,000 total passengers in July, WBTW-TV reports. That’s the highest monthly passenger count ever recorded at an airport in South Carolina’s history. Total passenger traffic for July totaled nearly 550,000 – a 49% increase over July 2019, airport officials said.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: The head of the South Dakota National Guard says Gov. Kristi Noem didn’t tell him she would use a private donation for the deployment to the U.S. border with Mexico until after the mission was already planned. Noem’s decision to accept a $1 million donation from a Tennessee billionaire last month was met with hefty criticism from those who said it allowed a private donor to commandeer a military force. But Maj. Gen. Jeffery Marlette told a legislative budgeting committee Wednesday that the donation was not a factor in planning the deployment. “Our National Guard is not for hire,” he told lawmakers. “Nowhere in this planning process was there a discussion of, ‘I’ll go send the Guard if I can find somebody to pay for it.’ ” The Republican governor last month described the $1 million donation offer from billionaire Republican donor Willis Johnson as a “surprise” that came as she was deciding whether to send police officers or National Guard troops, as well as how to fund the deployment. The state was responding to a request from Texas and Arizona to send law enforcement officers under an agreement between states to assist during emergencies\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Hospitals warned Thursday that the intensive care units are full in nearly every hospital in the state’s major metropolitan areas, pleading with Tennesseans to get vaccinated and wear masks while not going so far as to criticize Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates in K-12 schools. Meanwhile, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona warned Tennessee in a letter Wednesday that the order might violate federal law. The Tennessee Hospital Association said in its statement that the hospitals in metropolitan areas with full ICUs are the same ones that normally accept transfers from smaller hospitals of the sickest patients. “This means that if you or a loved one need treatment for any type of serious healthcare problem like a severe injury, heart attack, or stroke, you may not be able to access the care you need, when you need it,” the statement says. It cites Tennessee Department of Health data from May and July that found “at least 88% of these COVID hospitalizations and 94% of COVID deaths are among unvaccinated individuals.” And a Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt School of Medicine report released Thursday found hospitalizations have increased more than tenfold in a little more than a month, the fastest rate of increase of the pandemic.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: The Austin City Limits Music Festival announced plans Thursday to require a negative coronavirus test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination for all patrons attending the event, scheduled to take place Oct. 1-3 and 8-10 in Zilker Park. While the festival will still admit children 10 and younger for free with a ticketed adult, the popular Austin Kiddie Limits section of festival programming has been paused for the 2021 event. Families attending the festival will be required to provide a negative virus test result for unvaccinated children. The festival also has added a “fan health pledge” to the website. It requests that fans skip the festival if they have tested positive or been exposed to someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus within 14 days of the beginning of the festival or if they experience symptoms consistent with COVID-19 within 48 hours of the festival. It also requests that fans do not attend if they “have travelled to any international territory identified by federal or applicable state or local governments as being subject to travel or quarantine advisories due to COVID-19.” The move comes as Austin grapples with rising coronavirus hospitalizations in the area. Music venues and industry leaders have been trying to figure out how to increase safety measures right as large events return.\n\nUtah\n\nLehi: A teacher is no longer employed at a high school after a video of her sharing political opinions in class began circulating online, school district officials said Wednesday. The teacher at Lehi High School was initially placed on administrative leave after the video surfaced, but Alpine School District officials confirmed she no longer works there. District spokesman David Stephenson declined to say whether the teacher was fired or resigned. Video that appears to be surreptitiously recorded by a student in the classroom shows the teacher criticizing people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The video was shared online by conservative activists who have led demonstrations against mask mandates and vaccines throughout the state. “I don’t have to be happy about the fact that there’s kids coming in here with their variants that could possibly get me or my family sick,” the video showed the teacher saying. “That’s rude, and I’m not going to pretend like it’s not.” She can also be heard saying that most students are smarter than their parents and that they don’t need to believe everything their parents believe. The Alpine School District, which declined to identify the teacher, said in a statement that the district disavowed her comments.\n\nVermont\n\nColchester: The state’s largest utility is reminding customers that they can apply for grant money to get caught up on past-due utility bills related to the pandemic. A total of $55 million in free grant money is available to help renters, homeowners, businesses and farms pay overdue utility bills tied to the pandemic, Green Mountain Power said in a statement Tuesday. “More than 20,000 GMP customers have fallen at least two months behind on their accounts during the pandemic, yet only about 2,000 have applied for these new assistance programs,” said Steve Costello, a GMP vice president. The Vermont Department of Public Service is taking grant applications through Oct. 25. The money, which does not have to be repaid, can go toward past-due landline phone, electric, natural gas and water service bills, the utility said.\n\nVirginia\n\nNewport News: A school board has voted to ignore state guidelines on protecting transgender students rather than change its policies as the law requires before the school year starts. The Newport News School Board voted 5-1 against the change with one member abstaining at a crowded meeting Tuesday, The Daily Press reports. Newport News is one of the largest districts in the state and among the first in Hampton Roads to refuse to follow the law passed last year. Under the law, school districts must adopt policies consistent with or more comprehensive than the model policies. They include allowing students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms that conform to their gender identity and allowing students to use pronouns and a name that reflect their gender identity. Most board members said they wanted more information, citing their discomfort with parts of the guidelines. Before the vote, Chair Douglas Brown said there’s nothing stopping the district from spending more time on the matter before revisiting it. Still, Brown said the law violates the rights of Christian parents like him who believe kids aren’t capable of making choices about their gender.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: Authorities say there are more people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the state than at any time during the pandemic. Cassie Sauer, president of the Washington State Hospital Association. said as of Thursday morning there were 1,240 people with the coronavirus in state hospitals. The previous highest number was about 1,100 in December. “Hospitals are still really, really full across the state,” Sauer said at a news conference. Hospitals are also seeing more people due to the effects of recent heat waves, smoke from wildfires and injuries due to summer activities. Sauer said until the recent uptick in cases and hospitalizations due to the delta variant, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate in the state had been holding steady at about 300 to 350 people. The numbers began increasing in early July and have been doubling about every two weeks. There has been a slight slowing in COVID-19 admissions recently, but Sauer said it’s too early to say if that’s a trend. To help free up capacity, Sauer said hospitals have been working with the state to move other patients who can be discharged into places like long-term care facilities. “We will have plenty of capacity if we can move patients out,” she said.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh toured an underground coal mine for the first time, joining U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin at a northern West Virginia facility Wednesday. Walsh did his best to signal that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration won’t be an enemy of the coal industry as he and Manchin visited American Consolidated Natural Resources’ Golden Ridge Portal Mine near Wheeling. “It was quite the experience, I’ll tell you that,” Walsh said in a telephone interview on his way back to Washington, D.C. He described donning the proper safety equipment, taking an elevator ride down to the mine, and then a mantrip ride by rail to the longwall to watch a machine grind and extract coal from the seam. Walsh’s agency oversees the Mine Safety and Health Administration as well as the administration of benefits for coal miners disabled by black lung disease. “I felt it was really important for me to go down and get a feel for what mine workers do,” Walsh said. “I have a different understanding and appreciation of the work.” Democratic candidates for president have struggled in recent years to connect with voters in West Virginia, in part due to a push toward clean energy under the Obama administration. Still, despite his promises, coal did not come roaring back under Republican President Donald Trump.\n\nWisconsin\n\nWisconsin Dells: The Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park is building the nation’s first rotating waterslide as part of a $23 million expansion. The project includes a new 22,500-square-foot building attached to the indoor waterpark. The rotating waterslide, named Medusa’s Slidewheel, is a four-person raft ride that combines the rotation of a Ferris wheel with the propulsion of a waterslide, according to a news release from architecture and engineer firm Ramaker and Associates, which is working on the project. Outside the United States, the only other rotating waterslides are in China and Poland, the news release said. Mount Olympus announced the project on its Facebook page Aug. 6. Construction began in July and is scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day 2022. “It will be the coolest slide that ever hit the waterpark industry,” Mount Olympus CEO and owner Nick Laskaris told WiscNews. “Not just the Dells, but the industry as a whole.” In addition to Medusa’s Slidewheel, the indoor waterpark expansion project will include a large swimming pool area, Laskaris told WiscNews. The existing indoor waterpark will be remodeled to match the new addition, he said.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: Marijuana advocates plan to begin circulating petitions in September for two proposed ballot measures – one asking if the state should legalize medical marijuana, and the other if it should decriminalize pot. The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office this week approved the wording of the proposed questions. The Secretary of State’s Office has now begun the process of seeking bids for printing the petitions. The process ends Aug. 25. The Wyoming chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws plans to begin gathering signatures on or soon after Sept. 1. “We’ll be hitting events, going door to door. We intend to get it all wrapped up by February,” Wyoming NORML Executive Director Bennett Sondeno said Wednesday. The group has a “big list” of Wyoming events where it plans to gather signatures in the next few months, Sondeno said. February is the deadline to submit enough valid signatures to the Wyoming secretary of state to get the measures before voters in the 2022 general election, Sondeno said. Wyoming is among a minority of states that don’t allow cannabis in some fashion.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/08/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/02/maurice-hastings-innocent-1983-murder-conviction/11385367002/", "title": "'A nightmare': Man who nearly got death penalty for murder he didn't ...", "text": "A California man who spent nearly four decades in prison for a murder he did not commit was declared innocent Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.\n\n\"Maurice Hastings, wrongfully convicted of murder in 1983, narrowly escaped the death penalty & spent 38 years in prison, was found factually innocent by Judge Ryan today,\" Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón tweeted this week.\n\nHe said in a follow-up tweet that Hastings \"survived a nightmare.\"\n\n\"We continue to work on correcting these injustices that many have experienced due to our current criminal legal system, including responses to requests submitted under prior administrations, such as Mr. Hastings,’\" he tweeted.\n\nHastings' imprisonment came after the 1983 murder of Roberta Wydermyer, as well as two attempted murders.\n\nHe was charged with special-circumstance murder and while the district attorney’s office initially sought the death penalty, the trial resulted in a hung jury, the Associated Press reported. In 1988, Hastings was sentenced to life at a state prison without the possibility of parole.\n\nPrevious coverage: California man imprisoned for 38 years freed after DNA evidence points to another person\n\nOhio: Ohio man served 21 years for robbery that may not have happened. Now, he's getting $1.3 million\n\nDNA evidence led to his exoneration\n\nHastings has long claimed his innocence, prompting the district attorney's office to launch an investigation.\n\nThe office's Conviction Integrity Unit interviewed witnesses and reviewed evidence, finding that Hastings is \"factually innocent of the crimes\" he was accused of, Gascón said in a news release.\n\nAnd last June, DNA testing matched another person, Kenneth Packnett, who died in prison in 2020.\n\nThe district's attorney's office and the Los Angeles Innocence Project submitted a request to vacate Hastings' conviction and immediately release him from prison. In October, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan approved the request and Hastings was freed.\n\nThis week, Hastings and his team asked a judge to declare him \"factually innocent\" to clear his name.\n\nPaula Mitchell, director of the Los Angeles Innocence Project at California State University, Los Angeles, said Hastings' innocence was proven partially due to funding the school's Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center received.\n\n\"This funding makes it possible to test DNA evidence in wrongful conviction cases with claims of actual innocence,” Mitchell said.\n\nIncludes reporting from the Associated Press\n\nSaleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757 – and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas, and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2022/05/31/governors-ball-tabernacle-theft-witch-pardon-news-around-states/50305421/", "title": "Governor's ball, tabernacle theft: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nFlorence: An attorney for an inmate who was the subject of a national manhunt after escaping with the apparent help of a jail official said he will ask to move his trial to another city. Mark McDaniel, an attorney representing Casey White, said he will seek a change of venue to move his upcoming capital murder trial and the separate escape case to a new location. When Casey White disappeared with jailer Vicky White, he was awaiting trial on a charge of killing a woman in 2015.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: The Biden administration is suing the state over fishing rights on a river that runs through a national wildlife refuge, saying Alaska is undermining federal efforts to limit harvests when fish numbers are low to residents in the area of predominantly Indigenous villages. U.S. Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz said the openings violated federal law and interfered with a priority for rural subsistence use under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: Gov. Doug Ducey is in Israel for five days of talks with political and business leaders. Ducey arrived in Israel on Sunday morning, accompanied by the heads of the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ducey spokesperson C.J. Karamargin said the Republican governor’s meetings would focus on trade, water and border security. Ducey has worked over his seven years in office to boost economic ties with Israel, which has a similar arid climate and water and security issues. His plans included meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog, as well as former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also was slated to meet with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides; pay a Memorial Day visit to Israel’s 9/11 memorial in Jerusalem; meet with the city’s mayor; and visit some historic sites.\n\nArkansas\n\nCharleston: The city honored the 1954 integration of its school district – the first public district to do so in the South – with a memorial celebrating the July 27, 1954, decision to desegregate Charleston Public Schools. The decision followed the May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, which determined that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. On Aug. 23, 1954, 11 Black students – three ninth graders and eight elementary school children – attended class alongside 480 white students. Barbara Dotson was one of the 11 Black students to attend school alongside white students. She became the first Black female student to graduate from the Charleston School District.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: A school district has been unable to identify who subjected a Black assistant principal to racist graffiti and messages on social media even after a six-month investigation in which 45 witnesses were interviewed. Elysse Versher, assistant principal at the West Campus High School, told The Sacramento Bee she planned to resign, saying the Sacramento City Unified School District failed to protect her from the harassment and does not take incidents of racism and hate crimes seriously. Versher was made aware in November of social media posts by students calling her racial slurs and criticizing her enforcement of school dress codes. She found racist graffiti painted on a wall across from her parking spot. West Campus is a public college prep school for academic achievers. The school’s dress code states that students cannot wear clothing that promotes violence, drugs or alcohol or hate speech. Students cannot wear helmets or hoods that obscure the face unless required by the student’s religious practices. Versher said back in November that she has been disrespected and even threatened by parents of non-Black students and that non-Black students do not respect her authority. “They do not respect me as a human being,” she said. District officials expressed frustration over the results of their investigation.\n\nColorado\n\nRocky Mountain National Park: A climber was killed and two others were injured Sunday after a rock fall and avalanche in Rocky Mountain National Park, officials said. A woman suffered minor injuries, and a man who suffered more serious injuries was rescued by a Colorado National Guard helicopter using a hoist during a break in wintry weather, a park press release said. The park’s search and rescue team was looking for another man who was with the other two climbers near the Dreamweaver Couloir on Mount Meeker at the time of the avalanche Sunday morning, it said. Search crews found his body in avalanche debris about 5:15 p.m. Sunday, park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said. The identities of the victims were not immediately released. The avalanche was witnessed by climbers in the area.\n\nConnecticut\n\nNew London: The nation’s energy secretary and Danish wind developer Orsted say they want American union workers to build offshore wind farms to dot U.S. coastlines – the building trades workers who could otherwise be left out of a transition to renewable resources. The Biden administration wants to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, generating enough electricity to power more than 10 million homes. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visited the New London State Pier facility this month to see how Orsted, energy provider Eversource and the state of Connecticut are transforming it into a hub for the offshore wind industry. At a press conference afterward, the Democratic governor and Democratic congressmen spoke about creating American jobs – messaging that will surely play into their reelection campaigns. Gov. Ned Lamont said there are “hundreds of good paying jobs right here,” and “we’re just getting started.” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal thanked the unions, saying that “this is the future of energy in the United States of America right here.” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney said they’re maximizing every opportunity for the state to grow in a sustainable way. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, the only one not up for reelection, echoed the same message, saying offshore wind is the “holy grail of public policy” because it creates jobs, helps the local economy, makes the country more secure and helps save the planet.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: State House leaders chastised a fellow Democrat who suggested in an online discussion that those who don’t support mask-wearing amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases but do support gun rights should kill themselves with their firearms. House leaders gave no indication, however, that they want to pursue formal disciplinary action against Rep. John Kowalko, who made the comment in a post following last week’s Texas school shooting but later deleted his Facebook comments and apologized. Kowalko, a Newark Democrat who once described himself as “your textbook liberal, progressive Dem,” made the remark about guns last week in an online back-and-forth with a conservative commenter over whether people should wear masks. Delaware House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst and Majority Whip Larry Mitchell said in a joint statement released Friday that Kowalko’s comments were “offensive and indefensible.”\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Metro riders who take the Orange Line will have to deal with several station closures as crews work on reconstruction and improvements, WUSA-TV reports. The closures, which began Saturday, are expected to last more than three months. According to a release from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the closures will affect the New Carrollton, Landover, Cheverly, Deanwood and Minnesota Avenue stations until Sept. 5. WMATA said free shuttle bus services along three routes and free parking for Metro customers at the closed stations will be available. The closures are part of Metro’s “Platform Improvement Project,” which aims to reconstruct the aging concrete platforms at 20 stations. WMATA said 17 stations have completed the renovations over the past 21/ 2 years.\n\nFlorida\n\nTallahassee: There’s nothing to indicate the Florida Department of Health told an employee to falsify COVID-19 data, and she wasn’t fired out of retaliation, according to a state investigator’s report released this month. Former department employee Rebekah Jones received national attention when she raised questions about the state’s COVID-19 dashboard and claimed she was fired for exposing problems. The state said she was fired for insubordination after being reprimanded several times. An inspector general’s 268-page report found no evidence of wrongdoing or retaliation by the department. Jones, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. House seat now held by Republican Matt Gaetz, is also facing criminal charges after authorities said she illegally accessed the Department of Health’s computer system to send a message to 1,750 people and downloaded confidential data and saved it to her devices.\n\nGeorgia\n\nBrunswick: Workers cooking burgers and tater tots in a Sonic fast-food kitchen fled after discovering a nonvenomous ball python hiding behind the deep fryer. Police Lt. Matthew Wilson found employees of the Sonic drive-in huddled in the parking lot when he arrived to investigate May 21. On the phone, they described the culprit as brown with diamonds on its back. “When I saw it, I could tell it was just a ball python and not a rattlesnake,” Wilson told The Brunswick News. He not only removed the large snake but also found it a new home with a friend who has a large terrarium and a fondness for snakes. Wilson said the python likely slipped into the Sonic’s kitchen through an open back door, finding a cozy spot for its cold-blooded body behind the hot fryer. Police don’t know where the snake came from, though Wilson said it had likely been a pet that got turned loose by its owner.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: A contractor hired by the Navy is recommending a series of structural repairs to a massive fuel tank farm at Pearl Harbor to make sure the facility doesn’t leak petroleum when its tanks are drained, a report released Friday said. The recommendations for the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility came after the complex’s pipes leaked fuel into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year, sickening thousands of military families. The Pentagon has since agreed to comply with a state order to drain the tanks and permanently shut them down. The Navy has a June 30 deadline to inform the state Department of Health when and how it plans to drain the fuel.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: A woman charged with killing her two youngest children and her new husband’s previous wife will be tried alongside her husband, and their trial has been delayed until early next year because the judge said that will give her attorneys enough time to effectively prepare a defense. Judge Steven Boyce ruled that delaying Lori Vallow Daybell’s trial another 90 days to Jan. 9 would not violate her rights for a speedy trial. Vallow and her husband, Chad, have pleaded not guilty and could face the death penalty if they are convicted.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: The discovery of the bodies of three women inside a senior housing facility this month left the city looking for answers to questions that were supposed to be addressed after a far longer, hotter heat wave killed more than 700 people nearly three decades ago. The city is facing the reality that because of climate change, deadly heat waves can strike just about anywhere, don’t only fall in the height of summer, and need not last long. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has yet to determine the causes of death for the three women whose bodies were found in the James Sneider Apartments on May 14. But the victims’ families have already filed or plan to file wrongful death lawsuits against the companies that own and manage the buildings. It took the sight of refrigerated trucks being filled with dead bodies after Chicago’s 1995 heat wave to drive home the message that the city was woefully unprepared for a silent and invisible disaster that took more than twice as many lives as the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. That realization led to a system in which city workers call the elderly and frail and turn city buildings into 24-hour cooling centers when temperatures become oppressive. What happened this month is a reminder that the type of safeguards in place to make sure people don’t freeze to death because they have not paid their heating bills often do not exist to prevent people from overheating in their homes.\n\nIndiana\n\nWest Lafayette: An agreement that will bring $75 million over the next 10 years to Purdue’s West Lafayette campus has officially been signed between the university and Rolls-Royce. Backed up by over 70 years of partnership, the relationship between Purdue and Rolls-Royce has been highlighted through millions of dollars invested in aerospace testing technology, graduate student research fellowships, and 600-plus Purdue alumni in Rolls-Royce’s workforce, according to a release from the university. The funds from this agreement will go toward gas turbine and electrical and digital technology research, with most of the investment going towards Zucrow Laboratories. In April, Purdue also announced plans for a $73 million, 55,000-square-foot propulsion laboratory for hypersonic technologies in Purdue’s Discovery Park District. “Purdue’s research partnership with Rolls-Royce will address some of the greatest technology challenges facing the U.S,” Purdue President Mitch Daniels said in the release. “Our faculty and students will work on advanced technology capabilities to ensure long-term national security. This will enhance the university’s role as a world leader in engineering research.”\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Families could soon be able to open-enroll their children in other school districts at any point during the year after the Legislature passed a bill last week that removes a March 1 deadline. Republicans framed the legislation as a way to give parents more choice about how their children are educated, while Democrats said it could undermine school districts’ ability to set a budget by April 15 every year, as they are required to do by law. The change was passed as part of the final budget bill of the year. The last-minute push to expand open enrollment in Iowa came after Republicans’ education agenda for the year largely collapsed. Just before the annual legislative session adjourned, House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Harford, said House Republicans lacked the votes to pass a proposal from Gov. Kim Reynolds that would have given families taxpayer-funded scholarships to pay private school expenses. Other GOP-backed policies that would have required schools to post their curriculum and library books online also fell by the wayside before the legislative session ended early Wednesday morning. Throughout the legislative session, Republicans have criticized school districts around the state for policies with which they say parents disagree, which they say show parents need other options.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: Visitors to the Statehouse will soon be able to honor Gold Star families who have lost a family member in the line of military duty. Senate Bill 330 authorizes the construction of a memorial honoring Kansas Gold Star families. It passed the Legislature unanimously and was signed by Gov. Laura Kelly. The Capitol Preservation Committee is tasked with approving plans for a permanent memorial on Statehouse grounds. The monument will be on the Veterans’ Walk along the sidewalk at the southwest entrance. Public funds cannot be used for the project, which will depend on gifts and other funding.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort: Incoming high school seniors who have previously taken the ACT will be eligible to retake the standardized test for free, Gov. Andy Beshear said. A statewide ACT retake day will be held this fall on a date chosen by Kentucky’s Department of Education. More information on the date and locations will be shared with schools in the coming months, Beshear said.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: Seventeen years after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city, the Army Corps of Engineers has completed an extensive system of floodgates, strengthened levees and added other protections. The 130-mile ring is designed to hold out a storm surge of about 30 feet around New Orleans and suburbs in three parishes. Congress provided $14.5 billion for what is formally called the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System and related projects. It included two features the Corps described as the world’s largest – a pumping station and a 1.8-mile barrier that can be closed against storm surges. The levees stood up to Hurricane Ida in 2021, though some suburbs outside the system flooded.\n\nMaine\n\nAugusta: A settlement approved for the University of Maine at Augusta president who bowed out amid controversy ensures he will be paid at least $235,000 in the first year. Michael Laliberte will receive an additional $30,000 for a housing allowance on top of his $205,000 salary, which will be paid in a lump sum July 1, the Kennebec Journal reports. If he fails to obtain another job, then he will receive his full salary for another two years, or he will receive the balance if he receives a lower-paying job. University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy was taken to task for failing to disclose to a search committee that Laliberte was the subject of no-confidence votes in his previous job, at State University of New York at Delhi. Malloy has found himself on the receiving end of several no-confidence votes since the controversy began. Malloy, a former Democratic governor of Connecticut, has apologized for the handling of the job search, and Laliberte announced he was declining to take the job as scheduled Aug. 1. The settlement isn’t sitting well with some, especially after nine faculty members were cut the University of Maine at Farmington.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan announced vetoes of 18 bills Friday, including a measure that would have allowed voters who forget to sign their mail-in ballot envelope to do so after mailing it to get it counted. The Republican governor also vetoed a bill that would have allowed union dues to be tax-deductible, as well as a measure that would have stayed eviction proceedings against tenants who could show they are awaiting a determination about rental assistance. The Maryland General Assembly, which has a supermajority of Democrats, won’t have the chance to override these vetoes when lawmakers convene in January for their regular 90-day session because it is the last year of the term.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: It took more than three centuries, but Elizabeth Johnson Jr., the last Salem “witch” who wasn’t officially pardoned, has been cleared of her supposed crime. Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday formally exonerated Johnson, clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson was never executed, but neither was she officially pardoned like others wrongly accused of witchcraft. Lawmakers agreed to reconsider her case last year after a curious eighth grade civics class at North Andover Middle School took up her cause and researched the legislative steps needed to clear her name.\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: Two more Republican candidates for governor are suing to get on the Aug. 2 primary ballot, just days before the lineup must be settled. James Craig filed a lawsuit Friday night in the Court of Claims, while Michael Markey went to the Court of Appeals on Sunday. They were declared ineligible last week, the result of a tie vote by the Board of State Canvassers. State election officials said they didn’t meet the 15,000-signature threshold because of fraudulent signatures on petitions. Perry Johnson and Donna Brandenburg also didn’t make the ballot. Johnson filed a lawsuit Friday. There seems to be no dispute that fraudulent signatures were turned in by paid circulators, though there’s no evidence that the candidates were aware of the scam. The candidates want courts to order the board to put them on the ballot. They said the elections bureau should have inspected petitions line by line. In Johnson’s case, the appeals court said it could make a decision Tuesday. Five other Republican candidates landed a ballot spot, including Tudor Dixon, a former conservative TV news host who has the backing of Betsy DeVos, head of the U.S. Education Department during the Trump administration.\n\nMinnesota\n\nLafayette: The owner of a rural weekly newspaper in southern Minnesota is looking to give his publication away so he can travel to Ukraine. Minnesota Public Radio reports Lafayette-Nicollet Ledger owner and publisher Lee Zion is willing to dig trenches, teach school or fight in Ukraine. Before he leaves, he wants to give the newspaper away for free. Zion produces the newspaper by himself, reporting, editing and laying out pages for about 500 subscribers, and wants to make sure a person committed to local journalism takes over. He said the towns he covers would suffer if the newspaper disappeared.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: Troublesome incidents involving female ride-share passengers and drivers have increased enough to prompt a local entrepreneur to come up with a new business, WLVT-TV reports. Literally Just Ladies is the first of its kind in the Magnolia State, Leigh Sullivan said, and she hopes it will offer safer transportation. She said an app for the company is being developed. Sullivan has been a ride-share driver in Jackson’s metro area for more than six years after doing the same work in her native New Orleans before coming to Mississippi. “And every single time I pick up a female at night, early morning, trying to get to the airport trying to get home from the airport, the first words I hear are, ‘I’m so glad it’s a woman. Thank God, it’s a woman,’ ” she said. Sullivan said she had tossed around the idea of an all-female wing of her transportation business for a while because of the feedback she was getting from her passengers. “And then Nov. 2, my friend Brandy got shot here in Jackson. She got shot seven times. And that was probably the defining moment, like, OK, now is the time.” Brandy Littrell, 36, a Lyft driver, was kidnapped Nov. 2, taken to a wooded area and shot seven times, miraculously surviving the attack.\n\nMissouri\n\nSpringfield: A swastika was painted on the outside wall of a historically Black church in southwestern Missouri, and police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime. Pitts Chapel United Methodist Church in Springfield reported the swastika was spray-painted on the building May 18 or 19. The NAACP and the Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the vandalism. A county parks crew removed the swastika. Pitts Chapel is Springfield’s oldest historically Black church, the Rev. Tracy Wolff said. It was founded in 1847 by a group of enslaved Africans.\n\nMontana\n\nBillings: A federal judge has given U.S. wildlife officials 18 months to decide if wolverines should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, following years of dispute over how much risk climate change and other threats pose to the rare and elusive predators. The order from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy came after environmentalists challenged a 2020 decision under the Trump administration to withhold protections for the animals in the lower 48 states, where no more than 300 are thought to remain. Wildlife officials have previously estimated that 250 to 300 wolverines survive in remote areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington state. The animals in recent years also have been documented in California, Utah, Colorado and Oregon.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: Police arrested a 20-year-old man who had been going door-to-door with a chain saw after he caused a disturbance near a local school. Police said the man was about a quarter of a mile west of the Omaha Veterans Administration Center with the chain saw Friday morning in what they called an attempt to “make money.” Police said a homeowner confronted the man. They argued, and the man threatened the homeowner, who then chased the man. The man dropped his chain saw, but the homeowner tackled him another quarter of a mile to the west, near Holy Cross Catholic Church and its school. Police said the man tried to enter the school to get away from the homeowner, with no intent “to cause harm to anyone inside.” Police said they found several drug pipes on the man. He was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and possessing drug paraphernalia.\n\nNevada\n\nLas Vegas: A high school honors student said in federal court that he’s being bullied by students and harassed by campus administrators who search him for a gun every time someone identifies him on a state hotline that invites anonymous reports of school threats. “I’m a student, not a threat,” Reno High School junior Lucas Gorelick, 16, told the Associated Press. “I have rights. I want people to know what is happening, and I want to ensure safety for all future students.” A lawsuit filed May 23 in U.S. District Court in Reno argued school district officials have violated Gorelick’s constitutional rights to equal protection and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. He said his backpack and pickup truck were searched five times in two weeks based on anonymous tips, but no weapon was found. He also noted he has been the target of other incidents he termed “bullying situations” that he traced to his Jewish heritage, his work with Democratic party candidates and his school achievements. His father, Jeff Gorelick, characterized a state Department of Education hotline called SafeVoice – established in 2017 after approval from the Legislature – as “an unthinking system” that grants anonymity to bullies.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law a $100 million fund to settle sexual and physical abuse claims at a state-run youth detention center. The Legislature approved creating a fund to compensate those who were abused as children at the Sununu Youth Services Center, formerly the Youth Development Center. The Manchester center has been the target of a criminal investigation since 2019, and 11 former workers were arrested last year. Nearly 450 former residents have sued the state, with allegations involving more than 150 staffers from 1963 to 2018. Victims of sexual abuse would be eligible for payments of up to $1.5 million each, while payments to victims of physical abuse would be capped at $150,000. The center is named for former Gov. John H. Sununu, the current governor’s father.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: The state Department of Environmental Protection will distribute $21.4million to counties and municipalities as part of the Clean Communities program to reduce litter and beautify the Garden State. The funding includes just under $19.1 million on the municipal level and $2.3 million awarded to the state’s 21 counties, said DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. The money represents an increase of about $700,000 over the $20.7 million allocated for the 2021 fiscal year. The additional grant funds will help communities improve their local environments and improve quality of life by removing litter, including from roadways and around stormwater collection systems, LaTourette said. “These community-level efforts have far-reaching impacts across the state, from beautifying neighborhoods to improving water quality and enhancing wildlife habitats,” he said. Counties and municipalities can use the grants to promote litter-related activities such as cleanups and to purchase equipment for the activities. The money can also be used to adopt and enforce anti-littering ordinances and boost public information programs. “We are grateful for funding that helps keep New Jersey litter-free,” said JoAnn Gemenden, executive director of the New Jersey Clean Communities Council.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: Students at Mora High School laughed and danced during their prom with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham at the Governor’s Mansion on Thursday night – a silver lining for students during a tumultuous end to the school year. Many students were forced to flee their homes by the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire in recent weeks, and some had only recently returned. Some students arrived decked out in suits and gowns, while others stuck to their roots, showing up in cowboy hats, jeans and boots. Spanish and country music boomed through speakers as students two-stepped across the governor’s back patio. Lujan Grisham said she couldn’t throw a party and sit on the sidelines, so she jumped in to dance the “Cupid Shuffle” with students, state Sen. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández. “I’m just elated that we could do this for the kids,” said New Mexico Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus. “I’ve chaperoned a lot of proms – this one’s a little different than I’ve done before.” Lujan Grisham told the Albuquerque Journal a lot of work went into making sure students knew they had a “whole state that cares about their happiness and well-being.”\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: Police say someone busted into the altar at a Brooklyn church, stole a $2 million gold relic and removed the head from a statue of an angel at some point late last week. The incident happened between 6:30 p.m. Thursday and 4 p.m. Saturday at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, known as the “Notre Dame” of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. The church was closed for construction at the time. Camera recordings from the church’s security system were also stolen, the church’s pastor said. The Diocese of Brooklyn called it “a brazen crime of disrespect and hate.” The diocese said the thief or thieves cut through a metal protective casing and made off with a tabernacle dating to the church’s opening in the 1890s. The tabernacle, a box containing Holy Communion items, was made of 18-carat gold and decorated with jewels, police and the diocese said. It’s valued at $2 million. The diocese said it is irreplaceable because of its historical and artistic value. According to a guidebook posted on the church’s website, the tabernacle was built in 1895 and restored in 1952 and 2000. It’s described as a “masterpiece and one of the most expensive tabernacles in the country, guarded by its own security system,” which involves an “electronically operated burglar-proof safe” and 1-inch-thick steel plates that “completely enclose the tabernacle.” Holy Eucharist, bread consecrated as the body of Christ, was taken from the tabernacle and thrown on the altar.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nWilmington: New Hanover County School Board member Nelson Beaulieu might be out of a job in November. With all absentee and provisional ballots counted, Beaulieu fell behind newcomer Jennah Bosch for the final Democratic nomination for the school board race this fall. But it’s still unknown if that result will hold. Beaulieu is only behind Bosch by two votes, with not even 0.01% of the vote separating them. Beaulieu held a three-vote lead at the end of election night with all precincts reporting, but Bosch overcame that during the official canvass when absentee ballots were counted. With the canvass complete, the results are official, and as of now, Bosch will join Judy Justice, Dorian Cromartie and Veronica McLaurin-Brown as the Democratic candidates in the general election for school board in November. Beaulieu said he has not decided if he will demand a recount. Candidates are allowed to demand recounts if there is less than a 1% split between themselves and the lowest prevailing candidate. With such a slim margin between the candidates, a recount could change the result.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map showed 19% of the state in some form of drought, down from 21% two weeks ago and 80% three months ago, The Bismarck Tribune reports. Three-fourths of the state was suffering through either extreme or exceptional drought in May 2021. The western fourth of the state is still abnormally dry, but no severe, extreme or exceptional drought conditions exist anywhere in the state. Most of the state saw at least a half-inch of rain over the past week, which has helped improve conditions in western North Dakota.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: Gov. Mike DeWine announced plans Friday to spend “a significant amount of money” on efforts to ensure every school building in the state is properly protected against an attack. The Republican governor said he has asked the state schools superintendent for an assessment of which schools need such infrastructure additions within the next few days. DeWine did not name a figure but said: “This is not going to be cheap.” He also did not detail the types of security measures, which based on measures some schools already have in place might range from metal detectors to classroom barricade devices.\n\nOklahoma\n\nTaft: Authorities said a 26-year-old man was in custody after one person was killed and seven people were injured in a shooting early Sunday at an outdoor town festival in eastern Oklahoma, where witnesses described frantic people running for cover amid gunfire. An arrest warrant was issued for Skyler Buckner, and he turned himself in to the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday afternoon, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. OSBI said those shot at the Memorial Day event in Taft, located about 45 miles southeast of Tulsa, ranged in age from 9 to 56. A 39-year-old woman was killed, OSBI said. The injuries of those wounded were considered non-life-threatening. OSBI had earlier said two juveniles were injured in the shooting but said Sunday afternoon that only one juvenile was injured. Witnesses said an argument preceded the gunfire just after midnight, the agency said. About 1,500 people attended the event in Taft, which usually has a population of just a few hundred people. Members of the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office were in attendance and immediately began rendering aid, OSBI said. Gov. Kevin Stitt said on Twitter that he was grateful for the OSBI’s “swift response to assist local police.”\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: It could be a dangerous boating and floating season on the North Santiam River. Downed trees have created one complete blockage in the river and two other major hazard points between Stayton and Jefferson. There haven’t been many incidents so far this season due to cool and wet weather, but with the river running higher than normal, warm weather approaching and potentially good fishing on the way, officials are warning boaters about the hazardous locations as the summer float season gets underway. “The amount of trees in the North Santiam has increased significantly this past year, and there are a fair number of obstructions,” said Brian Paulsen, boating safety program manager for the Oregon State Marine Board. “With high and cold water, there’s a high risk for everyone.” Many of the hazards come from numerous trees killed in the Labor Day fires that have been washed downstream and gotten trapped in certain areas of the river, particularly between Buell-Miller County Park boat ramp, Greens Bridge and Jefferson. The logs can capsize boats and sweep people into “strainers,” where strong current traps people against branches and limbs, sometimes leading to drowning. All reported obstructions statewide can be pinpointed on the Marine Board’s reported waterway obstruction dashboard.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nDent’s Run: A scientific analysis commissioned by the FBI shortly before agents went digging for buried treasure suggested that a huge quantity of gold could be below the surface, according to newly released government documents and photos that deepen the mystery of the 2018 excavation in remote western Pennsylvania. The report, by a geophysicist who performed microgravity testing at the site, hinted at an underground object with a mass of up to 9 tons and a density consistent with gold. The FBI used the consultant’s work to obtain a warrant to seize the gold – if there was any to be found. The government has long claimed its dig was a bust. But a father-son pair of treasure hunters who spent years hunting for the fabled Civil War-era gold – and who led agents to the woodland site, hoping for a finder’s fee – suspect the FBI double-crossed them and made off with a cache that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The newly revealed geophysical survey was part of a court-ordered release of government records on the FBI’s treasure hunt at Dent’s Run, about 135 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, where legend says an 1863 shipment of Union gold was either lost or stolen on its way to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Brown University graduates Sunday to “hold on to your hope,” even when faced with darkness in the world right now. “Amid the darkness, it would be easy to descend into apathy or despair. But we can’t. We can’t,” Pelosi said at the Ivy League school in Providence. The California Democrat referenced the “senseless” shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York – as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the looming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights, the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and voter suppression. “You’re graduating into a vastly different world,” she said, congratulating the students on their bravery and resilience. Referencing President Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to unite the country during “one of America’s darkest hours,” Pelosi called on the graduates “to help summon the better angels of our nature to help heal America’s fractured soul.” Pelosi was the principal speaker for the Class of 2022 commencement ceremony and one of nine people to receive an honorary degree during the three-day commencement weekend. Recording artist Shaggy was also honored Saturday for his work as a musician and a philanthropist.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: Scientists are looking for volunteers to help them study the differences in heat across short distances in the city. A sensor will be put on the car window of volunteers who will then drive certain routes to get exact temperature readings, University of South Carolina professor Kirstin Dow told WLTX-TV. Dow is part of a mapping project paid for by the National Integrated Heat Health Information System to identify and research heat islands, or small areas that are hotter than their surroundings just feet away. That data can help determine the best materials to use for buildings or ground cover or how important trees are to cooling off as temperatures are expected to get hotter. A similar mapping project was done in Charleston last summer and determined the influence of the sea breeze doesn’t extend far inland, said Scott Curtis, the director of the Near Center for Climate Studies, which helped Charleston with the study. “One of the areas that was the hottest was the port. And not because it was near the water – because there is lots of asphalt, lots of concrete, there’s just no vegetation at all,” Curtis said.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: More than 60 Indigenous students celebrated their high school graduation in a special ceremony Friday. The Sioux Falls School District has held a senior honoring ceremony specifically for Indigenous students for at least a decade, said Anna Brokenleg, instructional coach and teacher on special assignment for the Office of Indian Education for the district. A total of 90 Native American students will graduate from Sioux Falls public schools this year, Brokenleg said, counting 60 who were able to attend Friday night’s ceremony, ahead of graduation for all four public high schools Sunday. “Historically, when you look at graduation rates for Native students, they’re often very low,” Brokenleg said, explaining why it’s important to honor these students in a culturally relevant manner. “Hearing from a variety of elders and professionals allows them to see a mirror of the kinds of things they can be in life … and to have a gathering for families to be able to celebrate with them, and the hard work they’ve put in … it’s a really important thing to do.” The honoring ceremony started with an opening prayer, songs by Crazy Bull, and a presentation of the U.S. and South Dakota flags, as well as an eagle feather staff, by veterans. Three speakers gave addresses, then a group of student leaders carried in their tribal flags.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Gov. Bill Lee has signed off on a new campaign finance and ethics face-lift, bucking objections from some of the state’s most influential advocacy groups who opposed the measure. “I think that transparency is a good idea,” Lee told reporters earlier this month. “I think that whenever we have transparency into organizations that politically lobby, that’s a good thing.” The Republican governor signed the measure Friday. The move comes as a federal investigation has hovered over the GOP-controlled General Assembly for over a year that has so far led to one Republican lawmaker pleading guilty to a federal wire fraud charge over allegations she helped carry out a political consulting kickback scheme. However, even as the statehouse’s top legislative leaders called for campaign ethics reform amid the ongoing investigation scandals, so-called dark money groups have remained fiercely opposed to the new changes. Many argued the law will result in them disclosing donors. Opponents include Americans for Prosperity, Tennessee Right to Life and the National Rifle Association. Supporters counter that the new law will shine a light on expenditures, not donors. Specifically, certain politically active nonprofits must disclose spending totaling at least $5,000 within 60 days of an election on communications that contain a state candidate’s name or likeness. The measure also states that political committee leadership must provide identification.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: A man has been sentenced to six years in prison for setting fire to the Travis County Democratic Party office in downtown Austin. Federal court records showed Ryan Faircloth, 31, of San Antonio, was sentenced Friday to 72 months in prison after pleading guilty in January to arson for throwing a Molotov cocktail into the office in September. An attorney for Faircloth did not immediately return a phone call for comment Saturday. Faircloth, who was arrested days after the attack, had faced up to 20 years in prison before reaching a plea agreement in the case. No one was in the office when it was attacked about 2 a.m. Only a small stack of papers caught fire, officials have said, and the blaze was quickly extinguished by employees of a neighboring business.\n\nUtah\n\nSyracuse: Ninth graders at Syracuse Arts Academy asked a science teacher whose gender transition they witnessed to be their graduation speaker. Bree Borrowman began transitioning two years ago, when the students were seventh graders, and they supported her at every step in her journey, she said. So she was especially touched when student body officers asked her to be the one to send them off on their own new journey. As as far as she can tell, she may be the first transgender person ever to speak at a graduation event in Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. “Each one of you is absolutely brilliant, beautiful and wonderful,” Borrowman told the group of 132 ninth graders at the public charter school. “However, feelings of shame and guilt from outside influences can often make us feel less than and unloved. … You are not alone. I love you. And my door is always open.” Parents, administrators and former students waited in a group around Borrowman after the ceremony to thank her for her speech. Some said it made them think of how they can be more supportive of their family members and friends who are LGBTQ. Borrowman, 65, grew up in Bountiful and has lived in Utah nearly all of her life.\n\nVermont\n\nWeybridge: The remains of a Revolutionary War soldier are being moved to a resting place elsewhere in the state because erosion threatens some of the graves at an old cemetery near a riverbank. Josiah Clark, who fought in the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts, was buried in the Stow cemetery in Weybridge in 1835. Erosion over the years left his grave perched on the edge of a steep eroding bank, so his bones were exhumed in 2019. This month a horse-drawn wagon carried a flag-draped coffin containing Clark from the congregational church to another cemetery nearby for a reinterment ceremony. The rest of the roughly 20 graves will also be moved to the Old Weybridge Hill Cemetery eventually, including the remains of Revolutionary War soldier William Haven.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: Legislative leaders are proposing a new criminal misdemeanor in state law for possession of more than 4 ounces of marijuana in public. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the proposal is included in a new two-year state budget plan, which became publicly available online Sunday evening. The General Assembly will meet Wednesday in special session to consider the budget. The language on marijuana – like much of the budget agreement – followed discussions that were not held in public. The budget compromise backed by House Appropriations Chairman Barry Knight, a Republican, and Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Janet Howell, a Democrat, would write into law that anyone caught in public with more than 4 ounces of marijuana would be guilty of a Class 3 criminal misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $500, plus a criminal record. A second or subsequent offense would be a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of the group Marijuana Justice Virginia, along with heads of other organizations, blasted the proposal in an email sent to Howell on Sunday evening. “Please stop finding more ways to criminalize Virginians,” she wrote.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: Gov. Jay Inslee’s appointments to an obscure regulatory panel have cost the state $70,000 in a public records lawsuit settlement and forced the governor to name new appointees. The dispute centered on Inslee’s handling of appointments to the Washington State Building Code Council, which establishes minimum standards for new construction, including rules for energy efficiency, plumbing and fire safety, The Seattle Times reports. State law says two of the council’s 15 members must be nominated by trade associations representing residential and commercial builders. But Inslee last year ignored builder group recommendations and instead named two of his own picks. The Building Industry Association of Washington and the Associated General Contractors of Washington sued over the appointments and filed another lawsuit saying the governor’s office failed to turn over relevant documents after a public records request. The state later admitted that a member of Inslee’s staff had made a material false statement in a sworn court declaration by saying one of Inslee’s nominees had been put forward by another building trade group, when he had not.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: After more than a half-century of carrying visitors on scenic round-trip journeys to the depths of two river gorges, the aerial tramways serving Hawks Nest and Pipestem Resort state parks soon will be replaced. West Virginia State Parks officials are hopeful new, improved aerial tramways will be operating at the two parks next year. The Hawks Nest aerial tramway has been closed since June 6, when a routine morning inspection by the state park’s staff turned up a safety issue that required substantial remediation. “Since then, we’ve shuttled 7,600 people down to the marina to ride the jet boat,” said Joe Baughman, the park’s superintendent. The shuttle involves a van trip from Hawks Nest’s lodge to Ansted, about a mile to the east, followed by a 4-mile descent to Hawks Nest Lake on Mill Creek Road. The Hawks Nest tramway, which opened in 1970, typically carries more than 45,000 visitors annually on steep, 800-foot descents from the lodge to a marina on Hawks Nest Lake at the base of the New River Gorge. The aerial tramway at Pipestem, which began operating in 1972, carries visitors nearly two-thirds of a mile, descending from the rim of Bluestone Canyon and crossing the Bluestone River before arriving at Mountain Creek Lodge. The trip involves an 1,100-foot drop in elevation and six minutes of sightseeing time.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: When Wisconsin Republicans asked the public to report concerns about the 2020 election, voters flocked to the web to submit tips – often about the very officials conducting the probe. “There is a very disturbed man ranting like a lunatic and telling provable lies about the election in order to undermine election integrity,” one person wrote in April. “Not only that, he’s stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from taxpayers by pretending to do a legitimate investigation. This is fraud at the highest levels and he literally advocated nullifying the votes of Wisconsin. Please stop this flagrant fraud asap.” The submission was similar to dozens of others filed over the past year that taunt Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman for budgeting $676,000 for a review of a presidential election that recounts, court decisions and independent studies have concluded was properly called for President Joe Biden. Few submissions contained concrete tips about the way the election was run. Some were vague. Others were unhinged. The messages were submitted over the past year to a wifraud.com, a website set up by Gableman. He recently shut down the site but continues to maintain two others, wielectionreview.org and wispecialcounsel.org.\n\nWyoming\n\nCasper: Organizers of a planned abortion clinic say they won’t be deterred by last week’s potential arson. When they settled on a summer opening for the women’s health clinic earlier this year, they felt upbeat about their plans even as they knew they would face opposition to what will be the only such clinic to offer abortions in the state. There were the expected protests and harassing messages. Things got more tense after a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that, if finalized, would likely make abortions illegal in Wyoming and half of the states. Then last week, their building was damaged by a fire police believe was deliberately set. None of it has derailed plans to open the clinic – a rarity in heavily Republican parts of the United States where most abortion providers at the moment are fighting just to stay in business, let alone expand services. “We can’t be bullied into submission,” Julie Burkhart, the clinic founder, said as she watched from across the street as Casper police and firefighters investigated the blaze.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/05/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2015/08/03/debra-milkes-new-world-half-life-death-row/30974639/", "title": "Debra Milke's new world after a half-life on death row", "text": "Michael Kiefer\n\nThe Republic | azcentral.com\n\nIn September 2013, 2 1/2 weeks after being released from custody, Debra Milke had a hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court.\n\nShe had spent 24 years behind bars and her eyes were wild, like those of an animal, as she backed into the corner of a crowded elevator, hugging the walls and shaking.\n\n“I was trying to get used to people,” she told The Arizona Republic in an exclusive interview last week. “I was trying not to hyperventilate.”\n\nRELATED: Arizona Supreme Court lets Milke ruling stand as precedent\n\nMilke was a celebrated murderer, convicted of arranging the 1989 murder of her 4-year-old son, Christopher.\n\nChristopher was told he was going to the mall to see Santa Claus. Instead, he was taken into the desert by Milke’s male roommate and one of his friends, and shot in the head.\n\nMilke denied that she had any part in the murder, but a jury thought otherwise. She was sent to death row in 1991 and languished there until March 2013, when a federal appeals court threw out her conviction and her death sentence — not because she was exonerated, but because her constitutional rights had been violated. The prosecution and police had refused to turn over the spotty personnel record of a Phoenix police detective who claimed Milke had confessed to the arranged murder. There were no recordings or witnesses to prove the confession took place.\n\nNineteen months after the federal appellate decision, an Arizona appeals court determined that it would constitute double jeopardy to retry her for the murder.\n\nNow she lives free in a tile-roofed stucco house in a cookie-cutter development on the fringes of suburban Phoenix.\n\nHer eyes have calmed, her face relaxed as she sits in a darkened room, shades drawn against the light.\n\nShe has gained 38 pounds.\n\n“They don’t have ice cream in prison,” she said.\n\nShe speaks easily. She is friendly and talkative.\n\nShe was 25 and youthful when she went to prison. Now, at 51, she is white-haired and matronly.\n\nRELATED: Debra Milke speaks out after 23 years on death row\n\n“Half my life,” she said, sighing. “I don’t really mourn over that. I can’t get the years back. I accept that. I accept my life as it is now.”\n\nPhoenix is a very different place than it was in 1989. Its population has swelled. So have its boundaries. The freeways baffle her. The supermarkets seem surreally large.\n\nTechnology has created gadgets that could not have been imagined in 1989.\n\nMilke is trying to gain insight into who and where she is, like a time traveler from the 1980s who suddenly materialized in the second decade of the 21st century.\n\nShe still professes her innocence. Milke claims that she had nothing to do with her son’s murder. But there is no evidence to show she was not involved.\n\nShe feels as if she straddles a fence on the death penalty, “a victim on both sides of it,” calling herself the mother of a child who was murdered, who then spent half her life facing execution.\n\nShe doesn’t need to see her co-defendants executed.\n\n“It’s not going to change anything,” she said. “They’re going to die in prison.”\n\nShe feels she was treated unjustly by the legal system, and even the criminal-defense community is bitterly split on whether she is innocent or guilty.\n\nThis is not the story of that argument. Only Milke and the two men who took her son to the desert and killed him know what happened. And even then, they may have differing views. But they aren’t talking anyway. While Milke is free, the other two remain on death row with little legal recourse standing between them and execution.\n\nThis is Milke’s story about being inside, and then about being outside.\n\n“Just imagine being locked in your bathroom for 24 years and no one will let you out,” Milke said. “Just as I had to adapt to prison, now I have to adapt to freedom.”\n\nLearning to live in prison\n\nIn December 1989, Milke was recently divorced, and she and Christopher were living in Phoenix with a would-be suitor named James Styers.\n\nIn one version of the story, Milke wanted the hyperactive child out of her life, and in another version, Styers wanted him gone to improve his chances with Milke. So Styers enlisted a friend named Roger Scott, and on Dec. 3, 1989, they took the boy into the desert and shot him.\n\nStyers and Scott drove to Metrocenter Mall in northwest Phoenix and told a security guard that the child was lost in the mall. Police didn’t believe the story and Scott confessed, implicating Milke. Then he led police to the boy’s body.\n\nRELATED: Murder charges formally dismissed against Milke\n\nMilke was arrested at her parents’ home in Florence and interrogated by Phoenix police Detective Armando Saldate. He claimed that Milke confessed her involvement in the murder. But there was no tape or video recording of the confession and no one else had witnessed it. Milke flatly denied she had confessed or that she had arranged her son’s death.\n\nEventually, Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Noel Levy persuaded the jury to bring back a guilty verdict against Milke, and Superior Court Judge Cheryl Hendrix sentenced her to death.\n\nScott and Styers were also sentenced to death.\n\nMilke no longer remembers which law-enforcement agency came for her on that February day in 1991 when she was taken from a Maricopa County jail to the Arizona State Prison Complex– Perryville in Goodyear.\n\nShe was a nervous wreck, and a jail doctor gave her an Ativan tablet to ease her anxiety before they loaded her into a car and drove her west on Interstate 10.\n\n“I just remember the freeway seemed endless,” she said.\n\nAs she was led in handcuffs across the yards into the prison, she thought, “I’m not going to die here. I’m not going to live the rest of my life here. I’m going to get out.”\n\nShe cried all through her first night, angry at “God and everybody.”\n\nThen she began to learn to live in prison.\n\nTechnically, she was on death row, but there was no such place in Perryville and she was its only occupant, and even then, it was only semantics. The next woman on death row, Wendi Andriano, who beat her husband to death, would not arrive until 2005. The third, Shawna Forde, an anti-immigrant vigilante involved in a double murder, followed in 2011.\n\nSo in 1991, Milke’s cell-block neighbors were general-population prisoners who were being disciplined in maximum security: prostitutes and gang-bangers — bad girls, career criminals. Though officially deemed an ogre, unlike the others, Milke was a middle-class girl who had never been in trouble before.\n\nShe saw drug overdoses and fights.\n\n“I’ve seen inmates on fire,” she said, women who lit themselves in desperation and craziness. “I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff.”\n\nToday, death-row prisoners, especially the men, spend 23 hours a day locked in their cells with little contact with other prisoners or the outside world.\n\nMilke had a cell with a window in its door, and anyone in the unit could walk up to it and talk to her. She had two windows to the outside world on the other side of her cell, one of which opened about two inches.\n\nShe was treated like a trustee. After 2 in the afternoon, she was allowed to stay out of her cell until 9 p.m., even going outside in a fenced-in part of her unit. She was allowed to help the correctional officers with dinner. She took correspondence courses.\n\nThat changed after 1997, when corrections Officer Brent Lumley was murdered by a male inmate. Afterward, a new wing bearing Lumley’s name was built at the Perryville prison, and the male prisoners were moved to Arizona State Prison Complex–Lewis near Buckeye.\n\nMilke had to learn to live in lockdown.\n\n“I had to have the window open around the clock,” she said. “Otherwise I felt claustrophobic. I used to listen to the traffic on I-10 and watch the airplanes and wonder where they were going or coming from.”\n\nEven if she knew what day it was, she lost all sense of time, describing the days as a conveyor belt with one rolling into the next. She built a routine: writing from 5:30 to 6:30, then showering, cleaning supplies, TV shows, reading.\n\nShe taught herself algebra. She read books she should have read in school, by Leo Tolstoy and Nathaniel Hawthorne.\n\nShe became friends with Andriano, and the two talked through a vent between their cells. They would pass coffee or tea to each other during shift changes, when they were less likely to be seen, by rolling up pieces of paper and telescoping them together until they had long wands that would reach from one cell to the next.\n\n“Every year it was all the same,” she said. “It just melted one into another.”\n\nAppeal victory\n\nMilke’s case tracked through Arizona state courts without relief and then, as happens with capital cases, it bounced into federal court. Her attorneys had uncovered the sordid record of Detective Saldate, who had been fired from the Phoenix Police Department for his bad acts.\n\nIn March 2013, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Milke’s conviction and death sentence and ordered that she either be released or retried. The ruling noted that Saldate had a long history of misconduct that called his credibility into question.\n\nOn March 14, 2013, Milke said, she was lying on the floor of her cell talking to Andriano through the vent when a female correctional officer came with the news that one of her lawyers, Lori Voepel, was on the phone.\n\nThe first thing she said was, “We won.”\n\n“I just started shaking on the inside,” Milke said. Voepel started to explain the ruling. “It went in one ear and out the other,” Milke said.\n\nIt took until July before the state of Arizona decided to retry her and transfer her to a Maricopa County jail. The case went to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and County Attorney Bill Montgomery vowed to continue to seek the death penalty and send Milke back to Perryville.\n\nMilke learned of the transfer the night before she would go. She packed some things, donated her TV and radio so that some other prisoner could have them and was sent to the Estrella Jail in south Phoenix.\n\nLife in jail is harsher than life in prison — no windows, no TV, no clocks.\n\n“You would ask what time it was and no one would tell you,” she said.\n\nShe could not stomach the food. She was stressed by the noise. And when she would be taken to her court hearings, she looked as haggard and unkempt and wild as a witch in a fairy tale.\n\nBut on Sept. 6, 2013, Superior Court Judge Rosa Mroz ruled that Milke could be released on $250,000 bond. She was taken to Lower Buckeye Jail, where she changed into street clothes. Then her other lawyer, Michael Kimerer, secreted her away by car to Voepel’s office, where a court officer affixed an electronic monitoring device to Milke’s ankle.\n\n“This bracelet means freedom to me,” she told the officer.\n\nShe snacked on a vegetarian sandwich that had been brought in for her, because she craved vegetables. And on the way to a welcome-home party at a friend’s home, they drove through a Starbucks restaurant because she had heard in prison that the coffee was wonderful.\n\n“It was gross,” she said.\n\nWelcome to the 21st century, Debra Milke.\n\nEuropean backing\n\nUnlike many inmates released from prison, Debra Milke has a strong and wealthy support system, and it is centered in Europe.\n\nMilke was born in Germany, and her parents moved back there and then on to Switzerland, where they lived the last of their lives. Milke’s mother died after Milke was released from custody but before all charges were dropped, so she was not allowed to travel to Switzerland to see her mother on her death bed.\n\nCapital punishment is illegal in Europe, and Europeans are stridently against its use elsewhere. There have been books and movies about Milke, and the French- and German-speaking media have assiduously followed her case.\n\nIn effect, she is perceived in Europe as Amanda Knox is perceived in the United States: a poor, innocent woman caught up in some unjust foreign judicial system.\n\n(Knox and Milke, incidentally, have met.)\n\nSubsequently, Milke’s European supporters footed her bond, and she is living in the Phoenix-area home of a German friend.\n\nBut on her first night out of custody, she might just as well have still been on the inside.\n\nShe ventured timidly out into the house’s backyard. The next night she dared step into the front yard. And on the third day, her German friend took her for a walk around the block.\n\n“It was strange. There were all these houses and cars,” she said.\n\nShe was overwhelmed the first time she went to the supermarket. “I was amazed at how huge the stores had become and became panicky.”\n\nWhen she saw a woman and a young boy in one aisle, and heard the child say, “Mommy, I want this,” she fell apart.\n\nHer first trip to Walmart was worse. And the first dinner out at a sports bar was unbearable for the noise, the talking and the overstimulation. She panicked at the State Fair.\n\nShe couldn’t bring herself to read or watch television because she had done so much in prison.\n\nShe bought a computer but left it in the box for a month, bought a flip phone and then eased into a smartphone but can’t fathom the things she can do with it.\n\n“It was odd to see everyone walking around with a phone, and strange and annoying walking around listening to everyone’s conversations,” she said. “I wanted to just turn around and tell them to shut up.”\n\nBecause she was in isolation for so many years, she never got sick. Now she falls victim to every flu bug and suffers from allergies.\n\nAfter 24 years of waiting to get back to life, it was difficult to know what to do because she was overwhelmed by options.\n\nShe got a dog. She toils in the garden of her friend’s house.\n\nHer attorneys persuaded her to go back to work and she found a job as a bookkeeper five days a week.\n\nMulling name change\n\nIn September 2014, the Arizona Court of Appeals dismissed all charges against Milke, ruling that retrying her would be tantamount to double jeopardy. The Arizona Supreme Court let the lower court decision stand. That freed Milke to travel and to move on in her life.\n\nShe will spend the next month in Europe, visiting with her remaining relatives there, fulfilling contractual obligations with German media, and traveling to Switzerland to visit her mother’s grave and tend to her estate.\n\nShe has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Phoenix, Maricopa County, County Attorney Montgomery, disgraced Detective Saldate and other police officers, alleging malicious prosecution and civil-rights violations.\n\nShe is considering changing her name. She wants to fade into the world but is worried that going to court to change names will call more attention to her and reveal her new identity anyway.\n\nShe says she knows where she wants to live — but won’t tell so that she can become anonymous.\n\nShe is seeing a psychiatrist.\n\n“I’m trying to figure out who I am today,” she said. “I’m trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces and move ahead.”\n\nOn the beat\n\nMichael Kiefer is a senior reporter who has covered courts, justice and Maricopa County government issues for The Arizona Republic since 2003.\n\nHow to reach him: michael.kiefer@arizonarepublic.com\n\nPhone: 602-444-8994\n\nTwitter: @michaelbkiefer", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/08/03"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_22", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/people/959959/wild-isles-tv-producers-feared-david-attenborough-would-contract-avian-flu-and", "title": "Wild Isles: TV producers feared avian flu would kill David ...", "text": "Producers of David Attenborough’s latest TV series have told how an outbreak of avian flu triggered fears for the veteran presenter’s safety.\n\nWild Isles is the “96-year-old broadcaster’s first foray into exploring the wildlife of the UK” during his 69-year television career, said The Independent. The new show, which debuts on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday, was due to include a segment in which he got close to shearwater chicks on Skomer Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast of Wales, as they took flight on a 6,000-mile migratory journey.\n\n“The shearwaters are not great at taking off, so what the warden on the island said is, ‘If you sit David close to the burrows, they will almost certainly climb up his arm on to his head and take off from his head’,” producer Alastair Fothergill told Radio Times. “We thought, ‘Wow, that could be TV gold.’ That was the plan.”\n\nBut the plan had to be ditched two weeks before filming was to start, following reports that bird flu had hit the neighbouring island of Grassholm.\n\n“I have an old friend who’s an expert on infectious diseases and I rang him up for his opinion,” Fothergill continued. “He said, ‘Well, bird flu is actually extremely hard to catch, but if he [Attenborough] gets it he will die.”\n\nAfter deciding the risk was too great, the TV team instead “used two infrared cameras to capture the moment – one facing David and the other a boulder a few feet away from where they hoped the chicks would take flight”, the London Evening Standard reported.\n\nFothergill told Radio Times that the final footage was one of Attenborough’s “classic” moments.The new five-part series, which was three years in the making, features wildlife ranging from killer whales and white-tailed eagles to dormice, according to the BBC.\n\nAs Attenborough fans gear up for his latest TV outing, The Observer reported that it is “likely to be viewers’ final time seeing him in a series filmed on location”.\n\nAnnouncing the series, Attenborough said: “I’ve been lucky enough to travel to almost every part the globe and gaze upon some of its most beautiful and dramatic sights. But I can assure you that nature in these islands, if you know where to look, can be just as dramatic and spectacular as anything I’ve seen elsewhere.”", "authors": ["Jamie Timson"], "publish_date": "2023/03/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/fact-check-trump-announcement-speech-2024/index.html", "title": "Fact check: 20 false and misleading claims Trump made in his ...", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump began his 2024 presidential campaign just as he ended his presidency in 2021: with a whole lot of inaccuracy.\n\nLike many of Trump’s speeches as president, his announcement speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday was filled with false claims about a variety of topics – from his record in office to his Democratic opponents to the economy, the environment and foreign policy.\n\nHere is a fact check of 20 false or misleading things he said. This is not a comprehensive list.\n\nAfghanistan withdrawal\n\nTrump claimed Tuesday evening that the US left $85 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan upon its military withdrawal in 2021.\n\n“Perhaps the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, where we lost lives, left Americans behind and surrendered $85 billion worth of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world,” Trump said.\n\nFacts First: Trump’s figure is false. While a significant quantity of military equipment that had been provided by the US to Afghan government forces was indeed abandoned to the Taliban upon the US withdrawal, the Defense Department has estimated that this equipment had been worth about $7.1 billion — a chunk of about $18.6 billion worth of equipment provided to Afghan forces between 2005 and 2021. And some of the equipment left behind was rendered inoperable before US forces withdrew.\n\nThere is not any basis for Trump’s claim that $85 billion worth of equipment was left behind. As other fact-checkers have previously explained, that was a rounded-up figure (it’s closer to $83 billion) for the total amount of money Congress has appropriated during the war to a fund supporting the Afghan security forces. Only part of this funding was for equipment.\n\nStrategic Petroleum Reserve\n\nTrump claimed his administration “filled up” the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but it has now been “virtually drained” by the Biden administration.\n\nFacts First: Both parts of Trump’s claim are false. He didn’t fill up the reserve, and the reserve is not “virtually drained.”\n\nThough Trump has repeatedly boasted of supposedly having filled up the reserve, it actually contained fewer barrels of crude when he left office in early 2021 than when he took office in 2017. That’s not all because of him – the law requires some mandatory sales from the reserve for budget reasons, and Democrats in Congress blocked the funding needed to execute Trump’s 2020 directive to buy tens of millions more barrels and fill the reserve to its maximum capacity – but nonetheless, it didn’t get filled.\n\nAs CNN’s Matt Egan and Phil Mattingly reported in mid-October, the US reserve remains the largest in the world even though it was at a 38-year low after President Joe Biden released a major chunk of it to help keep oil prices down in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (and, coincidentally or not, prior to the midterm elections). The reserve had more than 396 million barrels of crude oil as of the week ending November 4.\n\nTariffs on China\n\nTrump also boasted about his tariffs on China, claiming that “no president had ever sought or received $1 for our country from China until I came along.”\n\nFacts First: As we have written repeatedly, it’s not true that no president before Trump had generated any revenue through tariffs on goods from China. In reality, the US has had tariffs on China for more than two centuries, and FactCheck.org reported in 2019 that the US generated an “average of $12.3 billion in custom duties a year from 2007 to 2016, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission DataWeb.”\n\nAlso, American importers, not Chinese exporters, make the actual tariff payments – and study after study during Trump’s presidency found that Americans were bearing the cost of the tariffs.\n\nSea level rise\n\nTrump claimed that unnamed people aren’t talking about the threat of nuclear weapons because they are obsessed with environmental issues, which he said, “they say may affect us in 300 years.” He added, “They say the ocean will rise 1/8 of an inch over the next 200 to 300 years. But don’t worry about nuclear weapons that can take out entire countries with one shot.”\n\nFacts First: Trump’s claims are false – even if you ignore the absurd contention that people aren’t paying attention to nuclear threats because they’re focused on the environment. Sea levels are expected to rise much faster than Trump said. The US government’s National Ocean Service said on its website that “sea level along the U.S. coastline is projected to rise, on average, 10 - 12 inches (0.25 - 0.30 meters) in the next 30 years (2020 - 2050), which will be as much as the rise measured over the last 100 years (1920 - 2020).”\n\nAnd though Trump didn’t use the words “climate change” in this claim, he strongly suggested that people say climate change may only affect us in 300 years. That is grossly inaccurate; it is affecting the US today. The Department of Defense said in a 2021 report: “Increasing temperatures; changing precipitation patterns; and more frequent, intense, and unpredictable extreme weather conditions caused by climate change are exacerbating existing risks and creating new security challenges for U.S. interests.”\n\nDrug use and punishment in China\n\nTrump claimed that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had told him that China has no “drug problem” at all because of its harsh treatment of drug traffickers. Trump then repeated the claim himself, saying, “if you get caught dealing drugs in China you have an immediate and quick trial, and by the end of the day, you are executed. That’s a terrible thing, but they have no drug problem.”\n\nFacts First: Trump’s claim is not true, just as it was when he made similar claims as president. Joe Amon, director of global health at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, said that “yes, China has a drug problem” and that “China, like the US, has a large number of people who use (a wide range of) drugs.” The Chinese government has itself reported that “there were 1.49 million registered drug users nationwide” as of the end of 2021; in the past, officials in China have acknowledged that the number of registered drug users are a significant undercount of actual drug use there.\n\nAnd while Trump solely credits harsh punishments for what he claims is China’s success in handling drugs, the Chinese government also touts its rehabilitation, education and anti-poverty efforts.\n\nPresidential records\n\nComplaining about how he is under criminal investigation for taking presidential documents to his Florida home and resort, Trump repeated a debunked claim about former President Barack Obama’s handling of presidential documents.\n\n“Obama took a lot of things with him,” Trump said.\n\nFacts First: This is false – as the National Archives and Records Administration pointed out in August when Trump previously made this claim. Though Trump claimed that Obama had taken millions of records to Chicago, NARA explained in a public statement that it had itself taken these records to a NARA-managed facility in the Chicago area – which is near where Obama’s presidential library will be located. It said that, as per federal law, “former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration.”\n\nNARA has also debunked Trump’s recent claims about various other presidents having supposedly taken documents to their own home states; in those cases, too, it was NARA that moved the documents, not the former presidents. It is standard for NARA to set up temporary facilities near where former presidents’ permanent libraries will eventually be located.\n\nGas prices\n\nAs he has on other occasions during Biden’s tenure, Trump used misleading figures when discussing the price of gas. He said: “We were $1.87 a gallon for gasoline, and now it’s sitting five, six, seven and even eight dollars, and it’s gonna go really bad.”\n\nFacts First: This is so misleading that we’re classifying it as inaccurate. While the price of a gallon of regular gas did briefly fall to $1.87 (and lower) during the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the national average for regular gas on Trump’s last day in office, January 20, 2021, was much higher than that – $2.393 per gallon, according to data provided to CNN by the American Automobile Association. And while there are some remote gas stations where prices are always much higher than the national average, the national average Tuesday is $3.759, per AAA data, not $5, $6, $7 or $8. California, the state with the highest prices as usual, has an average of $5.423.\n\nDeportations under Obama\n\nTrump claimed Tuesday evening that his administration, unlike Obama’s administration, had convinced countries like Guatemala and Honduras to take back their gang members that had come to America.\n\n“The worst gangs are MS-13. And under the Barack Hussein Obama administration, they were unable to take them out. Because their countries where they came from wouldn’t take them,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago.\n\nFacts First: It’s not true that, as a rule, Guatemala and Honduras wouldn’t take back their citizens during Obama’s administration, though there were some individual exceptions.\n\nIn 2016, just prior to Trump’s presidency, neither Guatemala nor Honduras was on the list of countries that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) considered “recalcitrant,” or uncooperative, in accepting the return of their nationals.\n\nFor the 2016 fiscal year, Obama’s last full fiscal year in office, ICE reported Guatemala and Honduras ranked second and third, behind only Mexico, in terms of the country of citizenship of people being removed from the US. You can read a longer fact check, from 2019, here.\n\nMissile landing in Poland\n\nTrump claimed Tuesday that a missile that was “sent in probably by Russia” landed 50 miles into Poland. “People are going absolutely wild and crazy and they’re not happy,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago.\n\nFacts First: This claim is false. While Poland said a Russian-made missile did land in their territory Tuesday, killing two Polish citizens, the explosion happened about four miles west from the Ukrainian border.\n\nAdditionally, it remains unclear where the missile was fired from, and why it fell in Poland.\n\nFinishing the border wall\n\nTrump made a false claim about one of his signature policies, a wall at the border with Mexico.\n\n“We built the wall, and now we will add to it. Now, we built the wall – we completed the wall – and then we said let’s do more, and we did a lot more. And we did a lot more. And as we were doing it, we had an election that came up. And when they came in, they had three more weeks to complete the additions to the wall, which would’ve been great, and they said no, no, we’re not going to do that,” he said.\n\nFacts First: It’s not even close to true that Trump “completed” the border wall.\n\nAccording to an official “Border Wall Status” report written by US Customs and Border Protection two days after Trump left office, about 458 miles of wall had been completed under Trump – but about 280 more miles that had been identified for wall construction had not completed. The report, provided to CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, said that, of those 280, about 74 miles of barriers were “in the pre-construction phase and have not yet been awarded, in locations where no barriers currently exist,” and that 206 miles were “currently under contract, in place of dilapidated and outdated designs and in locations where no barriers previously existed.”\n\nDemocratic leaders and the National Guard\n\nTrump claimed that Democratic governors and mayors refused to ask for “help” even during “a total breakdown of law and order,” and “don’t want to ever ask to do anything,” so “we sent in the National Guard in Minneapolis and in other places.”\n\nFacts First: This is a false claim Trump liked to make during his presidency. It’s not true that Trump sent in the National Guard to Minneapolis and that Democratic leaders there refused to ask; it was actually Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, not Trump, was the one who deployed the Minnesota National Guard amid unrest in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Walz, who served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades, first activated the Guard more than seven hours before Trump publicly threatened to deploy the Guard himself.\n\nWhen Trump made this false claim in 2020, Walz’s office told CNN that the governor activated the Guard in response to requests from officials in Minneapolis and St. Paul – cities also run by Democrats.\n\nBiden’s acuity\n\nMocking Biden’s mental acuity, Trump said, “There are a lot of bad things, like going to Idaho and saying ‘Welcome to the state of Florida, I really love it.’”\n\nFacts First: This never happened. Biden, like Trump, has made occasional gaffes in referring to places, but this one is fiction. At a rally earlier this month, Trump claimed that Biden had gone to Iowa and wrongly claimed to be in Idaho; that false claim was published by a satirical website in 2020.\n\nIllegal immigration\n\nLamenting illegal immigration, Trump said, “I believe it’s 10 million people coming in, not three or four million people. They’re pouring into our country.”\n\nFacts First: False. “There is no empirical basis at all for the idea that 10 million undocumented people have entered under President Biden,” Emily Ryo, a professor of law and sociology at the University of Southern California’s law school, who studies immigration, said in a Monday email when CNN asked her about Trump making this claim earlier in November. Julia Gelatt, an expert at the Migration Policy Institute think tank, concurred: “Based on the data available, it is not possible that 10 million unauthorized immigrants have come across the border to the U.S. under President Biden. In fact, the reality is a fraction of that.”\n\nMark Morgan, who served as acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection under Trump (and head of the Border Patrol under Obama), told The Arizona Republic in an early-November article that the “worst case scenario” for the number of illegal border crossings under Biden through October “could be 6.2 million.” Trump’s estimate was not close even to that estimate.\n\nAnd there are a bunch of important nuances here. Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 4.3 million total nationwide border “encounters” under Biden, but that number includes people who presented themselves to the authorities to begin the process of seeking humanitarian protection. And while Trump used the word “people,” Ryo emphasized that the number of “encounters” is not the same as the number of separate individuals who have crossed the border. Because many people encountered at the border are rapidly expelled under the Title 42 policy – including more than half of those encountered in the 2021 fiscal year – lots of the same people quickly come back to the border and try again. In the 2021 fiscal year, the recidivism rate was 27%, according to official data.\n\nInflation in turkey prices\n\nTrump claimed, “Good luck getting a turkey for Thanksgiving. Number one, you won’t get it and if you do, you’re gonna pay three to four times more than you paid last year.”\n\nFacts First: This isn’t even close to true. Turkey prices have increased since last Thanksgiving season, but they haven’t come close to tripling or quadrupling. The weighted average advertised supermarket price of a whole frozen hen is 97 cents per pound as of the most recent US Department of Agriculture report – up about 10% from the same time last year. The price of a whole frozen tom was up by about 7%.\n\nAnd though Trump made these comments while criticizing the Biden administration over inflation, it’s worth noting that the turkey market in particular has been significantly impacted by avian flu.\n\nTrump and wars\n\nTrump said that his critics claimed during the 2016 presidential campaign that there would be a war within weeks if Trump was elected – “and yet I’ve gone decades, decades without a war. The first president to do it for that long a period.”\n\nFacts First: This is nonsense. Trump was president for four years, so he could not possibly have gone “decades, decades” without a war. Also, Trump presided over the US involvement in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, though he obviously didn’t start any of these wars and withdrew some troops from all three countries. And he was commander-in-chief for dozens of US airstrikes, including drone strikes, in Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Pakistan, plus a drone strike in Iraq that killed Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, that prompted Iranian retaliation against US service members.\n\nTrump and ISIS\n\nTrump gave himself credit for the liberation of ISIS’s “caliphate” in Syria, saying “the vicious ISIS caliphate, which no president was able to conquer, was decimated by me and our great warriors in less than three weeks.”\n\nFacts First: This is a major exaggeration. The ISIS “caliphate” was declared fully liberated more than two years into Trump’s presidency, in 2019, not “less than three weeks” into his presidency in 2017; it’s not entirely clear what Trump meant by “decimated,” but the fight continued long after Trump’s first weeks in office. And Trump gave himself far too much credit for the defeat of the caliphate, as he has in the past. There was major progress against the caliphate under Obama in 2015 and 2016 – and Kurdish forces did much of the ground fighting.\n\nIHS Markit, an information company that studied the changing the size of the caliphate, reported two days before Trump’s 2017 inauguration that the caliphate shrunk by 23% in 2016 after shrinking by 14% in 2015. “The Islamic State suffered unprecedented territorial losses in 2016, including key areas vital for the group’s governance project,” an analyst there said in a statement at the time.\n\nTerrorism under Trump\n\nTrump claimed: “We had practically, just about, not that I can think of, no Islamic attacks, terrorist attacks, during the Trump administration.”\n\nFacts First: Trump did qualify the claim by saying “practically, just about, not that I can think of,” but it’s not true that there were no terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic extremists during his presidency. Trump’s own Justice Department alleged that a terror attack in New York City in 2017, which killed eight people and injured others, was an act of Islamic extremism carried out in support of ISIS. In fact, Trump repeatedly lamented this attack during his presidency. And Trump’s Justice Department alleged that a 2019 attack by an extremist member of Saudi Arabia’s military, which killed three US servicemembers and injured others at a military base in Florida, “was motivated by jihadist ideology” and was carried out by a longtime “associate” of al Qaeda.\n\nThe military’s use of old bombers\n\nBoasting of how he supposedly rebuilt the military, Trump said, “When I got there, we had jet fighters that were 48 years old. We had bombers that were 60 years old, we had bombers where their grandfathers flew them when they were new. And now the grandchild is flying the bomber – but not anymore.”\n\nFacts First: It’s not true that Trump ended the use of 60-year-old bombers. The military continues to use B-52 bombers that old; they are now being outfitted with new Rolls-Royce engines to prolong their life even further. (And the B-52 isn’t the only decades-old plane still in use.)\n\nTrump’s popularity along the border\n\nAfter boasting of how he is viewed by Latinos, Trump claimed that “along the border in Texas, won every single community – I won – every single community.” He said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told him that he had “won every single area along the border, the longest since Reconstruction.”\n\nFacts First: We don’t know what Abbott told Trump, but it’s not true that Trump won every single area along the border with Mexico. Trump lost border states in both of his previous races – California and New Mexico in both 2016 and 2020, Arizona in 2020 – and also lost numerous border communities in Texas and elsewhere both times, as you can see in these New York Times maps here and here.\n\nTrump did make major gains with some Texas border counties between 2016 and 2020, becoming the first Republican in decades to win some of them, but his claim was about how he supposedly won them all. That’s inaccurate.\n\nInflation\n\nTrump claimed about inflation: “As we speak, inflation is the highest in over 50 years.”\n\nFacts First: This is not true; Trump exaggerated a statistic that would have worked in his favor even if he had recited it accurately. October’s year-over-year inflation rate of 7.7% is the highest since 1982, if you don’t count previous months this year when it was higher. So, ignoring those other Biden-era months, it is the highest in 40 years, not the highest in “over 50 years.”\n\nWe might let this go if Trump did not have a years-long pattern of exaggerating numbers to suit his purposes.", "authors": ["Daniel Dale Paul Leblanc", "Daniel Dale", "Paul Leblanc"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/21/health/monkeypox-under-18-new-york-state/index.html", "title": "For the first time, monkeypox has been reported in a minor in New ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nA minor in New York state has reportedly contracted monkeypox – a first among children in the state and at least the third reported case of the disease among children in the US.\n\nThe child lives in New York but not in New York City, according to state health department data released last week. The data does not list the child’s gender, city of residence nor how the minor became infected.\n\nNew York Department of Health spokesperson Monica Pomeroy said she was not able to disclose the minor’s age.\n\n“In instances where the number of cases is small, patient confidentiality prohibits the Department from disclosing this information,” Pomeroy said.\n\nPreviously, at least two other children in the US have had cases of monkeypox, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nOne case involved a California toddler, and the other involved an infant who is not a US resident.\n\nThe two cases are unrelated and probably the result of household transmission, the CDC said. Public health officials are investigating how the children got infected.\n\nSince the monkeypox outbreak began in May, most cases have occurred among men who have sex with men. But anyone can catch the virus through close skin-to-skin contact.\n\nIn the case of children, the CDC said, this could include “holding, cuddling, feeding, as well as through shared items such as towels, bedding, cups, and utensils.”\n\nThe CDC said the Jynneos vaccine is being made available for children through special expanded use protocols.\n\nThe agency has also developed new guidance for health care providers about identifying, treating and preventing monkeypox in children and teens.", "authors": ["Samantha Beech Isa Kaufman Geballe", "Samantha Beech", "Isa Kaufman Geballe"], "publish_date": "2022/08/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/31/us/five-things-august-31-trnd/index.html", "title": "5 things to know for August 31: Mar-a-Lago, Flooding, Heat waves ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nGet '5 Things' in your inbox If your day doesn’t start until you’re up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the ‘5 Things’ newsletter.\n\nTwo of California’s many wildfires are threatening Sequoia National Park and the massive, iconic trees that grow there. And in Louisiana, Tropical Depression Nicholas could slow down recovery from Hurricane Ida, which just blew through two weeks ago.\n\nHere’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.\n\n(You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)\n\n1. California recall\n\nA flood watch is currently in place for millions of people across the southwestern US after a weekend of rain and thunderstorms drenched the region. In Las Vegas, at least two people have died in flooding since last week in what has become the wettest monsoon season in a decade. In Texas, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring a disturbance that will bring thunderstorms and up to 6 inches of rain over the next few days, leading to potential flash flooding. While the rain has brought relief to some drought-stricken areas, experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme flooding and catastrophic disasters. Separately, a new study indicates a disastrous megaflood is coming to California in the next four decades – and experts say it would be unlike anything anyone alive today has ever experienced.\n\n2. Coronavirus\n\nCNN meteorologist explains cause of water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi 02:27 - Source: CNN\n\n3. Gen. Mark Milley\n\n5. Haiti\n\nNASA scrubs Artemis I rocket launch due to engine issues. CNN reporter explains why 02:39 - Source: CNN\n\n5. UK deportations\n\nBREAKFAST BROWSE\n\nMan vs. Emu\n\nA woman used her smartwatch to call 911 after getting stuck in an interesting position at the gym. Watch the video here.\n\nNASA releases stunning new image of the Phantom Galaxy\n\nIn a galaxy far, far away – 32 million light-years from Earth – there is a remarkable spiral of solar systems. Take a look at the new image here.\n\nHow Princess Diana’s style legacy remains relevant\n\nToday marks 25 years since the death of Princess Diana, but her legacy and wardrobe continue to inspire new generations.\n\nDC Comics featured stereotypical Latino foods on Hispanic Heritage Month covers\n\nThe publisher attempted to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month by adding Latino foods to its comic covers… but fans found it offensive and cliché.\n\nKohl’s and Gap have a surprising plan for this season’s unsold clothing\n\nSome retailers are holding onto their unsold inventory in the hope of selling it next summer. And yes, they’re confident these items will stay in style.\n\nIN MEMORIAM\n\nMikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, has died at the age of 91 after a long illness, Russian state news agencies reported on Tuesday. Gorbachev is credited with introducing key political and economic reforms to the USSR and helping to end the Cold War. Several world leaders paid tribute to Gorbachev Tuesday, with President Joe Biden calling him “a man of remarkable vision” in a statement.\n\nTODAY’S NUMBER\n\n17\n\nThat’s how many people in Pakistan have been recently impacted by devastating floods. Some areas have seen five times their normal levels of rain, largely due to the climate crisis, experts say. Torrential rainfall and extreme flooding have killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than 3,500 others in the country since mid-June.\n\nTODAY’S QUOTE\n\n“This is merely an attempt to stop a man that is leading in every poll, against both Republicans and Democrats by wide margins, from running again for the Presidency.”\n\n– Alberto Flores, a port director for the US Customs and Border Protection, after a large shipment of baby wipes at the US-Mexico border turned out to be $11.8 million worth of cocaine. Officers seized the narcotics Friday at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge just north of Laredo, Texas, according to a news release. An inspection revealed 1,935 baby wipe packages were stuffed with around 1,533 pounds of alleged cocaine.\n\nTODAY’S WEATHER\n\nHeat builds for the west as tropical systems in the Atlantic intensify 02:21 - Source: CNN\n\nCheck your local forecast here>>>\n\nAND FINALLY\n\nMy Dog Gets Annoyed by New Puppy From Day One\n\nHear the Otherworldly Sounds of Skating on Thin Ice\n\nWatch this dog’s reaction when an energetic puppy becomes the newest addition to the family. (Click here to view)", "authors": ["Alexandra Meeks"], "publish_date": "2022/08/31"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/politics/ron-desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-stunt/index.html", "title": "Ron DeSantis is getting *exactly* what he wanted | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nIn the 24 hours or so since Ron DeSantis sent two planes carrying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, the move has dominated the political world. Every newspaper and cable channel is filled with thoughts about the move, with much of that opinion tilting toward outrage over the Florida Republican governor treating people like political pawns.\n\n“It’s outrageous,” New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said of the move. “They lure people, like human traffickers lure people, onto buses and unknowing where they’re going to. They have no concern for – they supposedly are the advocates for human life. They have no concern for the lives of these people.”\n\nDeSantis couldn’t have scripted it any better politically.\n\nThe simple fact is that DeSantis made this Martha’s Vineyard gambit solely to draw attention to himself and his opposition to the border policies of the Biden administration. It was, to be frank, a stunt. And it’s not the first time he’s done something like this.\n\nConsider:\n\n* In the spring of 2022, DeSantis’ administration rejected 41% of proposed math textbooks because they were allegedly “indoctrinating” kids. “Some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” DeSantis said in a statement explaining the move.\n\n* At a press conference at the University of South Florida earlier this year, DeSantis scolded students for wearing masks while indoors. “You do not have to wear those masks,” he said. “I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything. We’ve got to stop with this Covid theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.”\n\n* DeSantis revoked Disney’s special self-governance status in Florida following the company’s criticism of the state’s passage of legislation that bans the discussion of gender and sexuality among young people in public schools. “You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re going to marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state,” said DeSantis. “We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that.”\n\nEach of these incidents drew national headlines. Each of them drew intense criticism from the left. And each of them drew equal amounts of praise from the conservative right.\n\nWhich is exactly how the Martha Vineyard’s stunt has played out. While DeSantis was blasted by Democrats, the right ran to defend him. “DeSantis was right to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. We need to bring border crisis to Democrats,” read an op-ed on Fox News’ website.\n\nFor DeSantis, the outrage – on both sides – is the point. He has built a political brand on the idea of standing up to what he views as political correctness and wokeness. (DeSantis signed a bill into law earlier this year designed to “protect Floridians from discrimination and woke indoctrination.”) In order to maintain and burnish that image, he has to do even more outrageous things – like the Martha’s Vineyard move.\n\nThe fact of the matter – whether you like DeSantis or not – is that his outrage machine is humming along. Largely riding his knack for stirring controversy, he has emerged by many measures as the second-most popular Republican in the country – behind only Donald Trump. He is regarded as a heavy favorite to win a second term over his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Charlie Crist, in November. And he is widely regarded as the only candidate who could credibly challenge Trump in a 2024 Republican primary.\n\nWhich is somewhat ironic. Because, as Trump likes to remind anyone who asks, he helped make DeSantis by endorsing him in a primary fight in 2018. And DeSantis has quite clearly modeled his approach to politics off of the ripped-from-the-headlines strategy employed by Trump.\n\nIn fact, what DeSantis is offering Republican voters amounts to Trumpism without Trump. In DeSantis, you get all the anti-wokeness that Trump built a presidential campaign and presidency on, but just without some of the more embarrassing personal foibles and tics that the former President brings with him.\n\nAnd, just like Trump, covering DeSantis provides a significant challenge for the media as well. DeSantis wants – and even courts – the scorn of the mainstream media for gambits like the one in Martha’s Vineyard. He knows that the more negative attention he gets, the better liked he is among the Republican base and the more money he can raise for his future political endeavors.\n\nNot covering someone like DeSantis – the governor of a major state and someone with national ambitions – is out of the question. But how DeSantis – and his stunts – are covered is something that the media needs to think seriously on as we move closer to 2024.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/09/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/politics/liz-cheney-donald-trump-2022-election/index.html", "title": "Liz Cheney is already looking beyond 2022 | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nLiz Cheney didn’t come right out and say she expects to lose her primary next month. But in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday, it was pretty easy to read between the lines of the Wyoming Republican’s answers.\n\n“I am working hard here in Wyoming to earn every vote,” Cheney said at one point. “But I will also say this. I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to say things that aren’t true about the election. My opponents are doing that, certainly simply for the purpose of getting elected.\n\n“If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I’m going to choose the Constitution and the truth every single day,” she said at another.\n\nAsked by Tapper whether her service as vice chair of the House select committee investigating January 6 will have been worth it even if she loses next month, Cheney responded that it was “the single most important thing I have ever done professionally.”\n\nIf it sounds to you like Cheney is framing her August 16 primary for Wyoming’s at-large House seat as a sort of fait accompli, and as not the end of the story but as a part of a broader narrative, well, then, you are right.\n\nThe simple fact is that Cheney is very unlikely to beat Harriet Hageman in next month’s primary. Hageman has the support of former President Donald Trump, as well as a number of top Republicans including, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.\n\nWhile Cheney has tried to recruit Democrats to cross party lines and support her – and some undoubtedly will – it’s hard to see that making a real difference in the outcome of the race in such an overwhelmingly Republican state.\n\nSimply put: Cheney looks likely to lose – and she knows it.\n\nWhat she also knows is that, at least in her mind, this isn’t the end of her political career.\n\nHere’s how Cheney answered a question from Tapper on whether she is interested in running for president in 2024:\n\n“I haven’t really – at this point, I have not made a decision about 2024. …\n\n“… But I do think, as we look towards the next presidential election, as I said, I believe that our nation stands on the edge of an abyss. And I do believe that we all have to really think very seriously about the dangers we face and the threats we face. And we have to elect serious candidates.”\n\nWhich tells you everything you need to know about Cheney and 2024. She isn’t an announced candidate. But when you hear a politician talking about the country “standing on the edge of an abyss” and the need to elect “serious candidates,” well, it doesn’t take an astrophysicist to figure out what’s going on there.\n\nThe real question seems to be then not whether Cheney runs – she sounded to all the world like that decision is mostly made – but rather whether she would have any sort of impact on the 2024 race.\n\nIf Cheney runs as a Republican, it will, undoubtedly, be a very tough road for her.\n\nTrump is the clear frontrunner in all polling conducted on the Republican presidential primary and seems very likely to run. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the only serious alternative to Trump at the moment – and he has positioned himself as a representative of Trumpism without Trump.\n\nThere is no potential candidate garnering any serious support in hypothetical 2024 primary polls who is running expressly against Trump and his four years in office. The Republicans, aside from Cheney, who are signaling an interest in running that sort of campaign – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan being perhaps the most prominent – barely register in polls.\n\nCould Cheney somehow coalesce the anti-Trump vote within the Republican Party? Sure. But even if she was to do so, there’s scant evidence that bloc of voters comprise anything close to a majority of likely Republican primary voters.\n\nThe other – and perhaps more plausible – path for Cheney is to run as an independent in 2024. Assuming Trump is the Republican nominee, such a candidacy could skim off enough votes to potentially hamstring the former President’s chances of winning. (Presumably Cheney, who is conservative on most issues, would appeal more to Republicans than Democrats.)\n\nEven under that scenario, however, Cheney would function as a spoiler – trying to keep Trump from the White House – rather than as a viable candidate to be president. Which, given what she told Tapper Sunday, might be enough for her.\n\n“I’m fighting hard, no matter what happens on August 16, I’m going to wake up on August 17 and continue to fight hard to ensure Donald Trump is never anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again,” said Cheney.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/07/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/media/fox-news-liz-cheney-dick-cheney/index.html", "title": "Liz Cheney was a Fox hero 10 years ago. Today she is the network's ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nVice President Dick Cheney was a hero on Fox News twenty years ago, but his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney is a villain on Fox today.\n\n“The voters are saying they’ve had enough – and that it’s time to bury the tragic Bush-Cheney era once and for all,” Fox’s 10 p.m. host Laura Ingraham said Tuesday night, around the same time Cheney conceded to Harriet Hageman in the GOP primary in Wyoming.\n\nCheney was a punching bag and punchline all across GOP-aligned media as the primary results came in. Many right-wing commentators repeated the same points they had made for months: That Cheney’s condemnation of former president Donald Trump and her collaboration with Democrats on the House select committee investigating January 6 made her an enemy.\n\nOn Fox, the tone was quite personal and bitter, and an extraordinary turn for a network that once celebrated the Cheney family dynasty. Back in 2012, Liz Cheney was even a paid Fox commentator. And when she left the network in 2013 to run for Senate in Wyoming, Sean Hannity endorsed her.\n\nBut she crossed Trump, and thus Fox’s biggest stars. On Tuesday night Tucker Carlson mocked her public stance in defense of democracy, which stemmed from Trump’s 2020 plot to overturn the election result, and derided media outlets that have taken her seriously. He predicted that she will soon “be writing a column for National Review and will be releasing a book from Simon and Schuster called ‘Democracy.’”\n\nOne hour later, Hannity opened his show by calling Cheney “the most obsessive Trump hater in the country.” He pooh-poohed talk of a potential Cheney presidential run, saying that “if she can’t win Wyoming, she’s not going to win any other red state that I can think of.”\n\nIn the 10 p.m. hour, Ingraham’s program showed about five minutes of Cheney’s concession speech, then cut away to guests who ridiculed Cheney. CNN and MSNBC aired the speech in full.\n\nFox’s coverage did include Cheney telling supporters that she could have easily won the primary – “the path was clear” – but “it would’ve required that I go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election. It would’ve required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic. That was a path I could not and would not take.”\n\nNewsmax did not show any of Cheney’s speech. Instead, 10 p.m. host celebrated the fact that “Liz Cheney is gone.”\n\nNumerous right-wing commentators portrayed Hageman’s win and Cheney’s loss as a perfect example of democracy in action, implying that it undermines Cheney’s warnings about threats to democracy.\n\nBut unlike Trump, Cheney didn’t deny that she lost the race, or encourage people to believe she won, or incite supporters to block Hageman’s victory from being certified.\n\nA version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.", "authors": ["Brian Stelter"], "publish_date": "2022/08/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/opinions/liz-cheney-seat-loss-wierson-honan/index.html", "title": "Opinion: In Cheney's loss, Biden has an opportunity | CNN", "text": "Editor’s Note: Arick Wierson is an Emmy Award-winning television producer and former senior media adviser to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He advises corporate and political clients on communications strategies in the US, Africa and Latin America. He tweets at @ArickWierson. Bradley Honan, CEO of Honan Strategy Group, a Democratic polling and analytics firm, has advised the campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, Tony Blair and leading global companies. He tweets at @BradleyHonan. The views expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion at CNN.\n\nCNN —\n\nWith Tuesday’s defeat of Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, some might argue that former President Donald Trump’s hostile takeover of the GOP is now nearly complete. And they might be right. But Liz Cheney made it clear in her barn burner of a concession speech that she is not planning to ride off quietly into the sunset; rather, she plans to “do whatever it takes to ensure that Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office, and I mean it.”\n\nArick Wierson Tunheim\n\nNo longer chained to a party whose leaders have abandoned its core values and principles, Cheney is now poised to become the Obi-Wan Kenobi of American politics. Like Kenobi’s famous line in “Star Wars,” “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine,” uttered moments before he’s killed by Darth Vader, the same can now also be said about Cheney.\n\nBradley Honan c/o Bradley Honan\n\nBut with her rejection from Republican voters in Wyoming comes an unparalleled opportunity for President Joe Biden and the Democrats, and one they should not squander.\n\nAs a conservative with a dynastic last name who, in this hyper-partisan climate, wields uncommon and genuine respect on both sides of the aisle, Cheney would be a valuable addition to the Biden administration. The President should appoint her as a cabinet-level czar on election integrity and the preservation of democracy once her term is up in January. Creating this post would allow her to continue the work she so adroitly began as the co-chair of the January 6th Committee and empower her to fight against the violent and pseudo-autocratic undercurrents that have seeped into conservative politics and pose a real existential threat to our democracy.\n\nWe don’t agree with much, if any, of Cheney’s politics, but at this point, when our democracy is hanging on by a bare thread, principles trump policy, and we commend Cheney for sticking to her guns amid a hail of incoming fire.\n\nSadly, Cheney was one of the last Republicans standing among those who voted to impeach Trump. Regardless what anyone thinks of her political stances, Cheney has displayed courageous leadership in the face of staunch opposition and even threats to her physical safety. She has proven her mettle as an unapologetic defender of democracy and the rule of law.\n\nIn her concession speech on Tuesday, Cheney made no formal commitments about what the future may hold for her beyond her work as co-chair of the January 6th Committee, but her speech left the door wide open for any number of moves down the road.\n\nShe invoked the name of President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican who lost a US Senate bid only a few years before winning the presidency – a move that surely added to already rampant speculation that she too might seek the nation’s highest office.\n\nBut should Trump declare himself a presidential candidate for 2024, a Cheney run in a Republican primary would likely be nothing more than a constant irritant. She would likely use the megaphone that comes with a national profile to blanket the media with strong anti-Trump messaging and truth telling in the hopes of chipping away at the former President’s support among those who might be on the fence about backing him a third time.\n\nBut primarying Trump is not Cheney’s best play. Nor is running as an independent, a move that might actually serve Trump’s interests by splitting the conservative anti-Trump vote. And certainly, what the country does not need is another ex-pol turned TV pundit.\n\nCheney’s smartest move would be to join the Biden administration in a bespoke senior-level role where her mandate is clear: coordinate the fight for free and fair elections and wage all-out war against the anti-American and undemocratic forces that Trumpism has unleashed. Cheney is the ideal crusader in this fight.\n\nStay up to date on the latest opinion, analysis and conversations through social media. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion and follow us @CNNOpinion on Twitter. We welcome your ideas and comments.\n\nSuch a move by Biden certainly has ample precedent. Both Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama appointed notable Republicans to serve in their Cabinets. The symbolism of bringing members from an opposing party into an administration is a strong signal of bipartisanship, putting the country ahead of party. Placing a high-profile conservative like Cheney in a senior-level position would be a powerful signal to our nation’s shared, bipartisan commitment to the rule of law and the right to free and fair elections.\n\nThis is a perilous time for our democracy, and Biden should recognize that Cheney can be a national force for good by taking the helm of our nation’s fight to push back the dark, homegrown forces and ideologies that threaten our future. It’s clear that, despite her Tuesday night primary defeat, her star continues to shine brightly.\n\nBiden would be well-served to act decisively and harness her star power.", "authors": ["Arick Wierson Bradley Honan", "Arick Wierson", "Bradley Honan"], "publish_date": "2022/08/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/politics/trump-poll-numbers-election-odds/index.html", "title": "How can Donald Trump win again with numbers like these? | CNN ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nLooking through the new CNN poll on the January 6, 2021, insurrection and the role Donald Trump played in it, I was struck by a simple, nagging question: How can anyone with these sort of numbers be elected president again in 2024?\n\nLet’s go through some of the numbers:\n\n* 45% of Americans think Trump acted illegally on January 6.\n\n* 34% think Trump acted unethically but not illegally.\n\n* 61% believe that Trump’s public statements encouraged the political violence that day.\n\n* Just 23% think Trump did everything in his power to stop the riot once it was underway.\n\n* Only 32% think Trump did more than then-Vice President Mike Pence to act in the best interests of the country that day. (67% say Pence did more.)\n\nAlmost half the country thinks Trump acted illegally! Roughly 1 in 4 think he did everything he could to stop the riot once it started! About 6 in 10 think he encouraged the violence that day!\n\nThese are terrible numbers. Like, really bad.\n\nIt appears that the American public, broadly speaking, has made up its mind about Trump and January 6. They believe he instigated it, made it worse and may have even broke the law.\n\n'Bunch of bull****': Reporter talks to Trump supporters in wake of hearings 05:54 - Source: CNN\n\nSo, how then are we talking about him as a serious presidential candidate in 2024?\n\nBuried in the numbers in the CNN poll is our answer.\n\nRespondents were asked whether they believed what happened on January 6 was a crisis, a major problem, a minor problem or not a problem.\n\nOverall, almost 7 in 10 described it as either a crisis (27%) or a major problem (42%).\n\nBut when you look at what Republicans say about that day, the numbers were very different. Just roughly 1 in 3 said it was either a crisis (10%) or a major problem (26%). The majority of Republicans said January 6 was either a minor problem (36%) or not a problem at all (27%).\n\nWhat does that tell us? That Republicans put far less weight on what happened on January 6 – and what it means for the country – compared to the public at large.\n\nWhich means, in turn, that January 6 matters less to Republicans when they are considering who to nominate for president. To that point, almost 3 in 4 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say that the party should be very or somewhat accepting of candidates who believe the 2020 election was stolen.\n\nThe Point: The views of Republicans on January 6 (and the 2020 election) mean that Trump can win a primary. But the numbers I cited above should worry every Republican about whether he can win a(nother) general election.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/07/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2022/07/20/sinkhole-swallows-van-navajo-code-talkers-female-blue-angel-news-around-states/50506581/", "title": "Sinkhole swallows van, Navajo code talkers, female Blue Angel ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: Alan Eugene Miller, 57, a truck driver convicted of killing three men in a workplace shooting rampage more than two decades ago is set to be put to death on Sept. 22, the Alabama Supreme Court said. The clerk’s office announced the scheduled execution date of Miller, who was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the slayings, which occurred in Shelby County in 1999. Testimony indicated Miller was delusional and believed the two men he killed were spreading rumors about him, including one that he was gay. Although a defense psychiatrist testified Miller was mentally ill, he also said Miller’s condition wasn’t bad enough to use as a basis for an insanity defense under state law. Another Alabama inmate already is set for execution later this month. A federal judge last week ruled the execution of Joe Nathan James Jr. could go ahead as scheduled on July 28, refusing the condemned man’s request for a postponement. James was convicted of killing his former girlfriend, Faith Hall, in Birmingham, almost three decades ago.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: Officials ended their search for a woman whose 2-year-old grandchild was found alone last week in a locked car stuck in mud on a rural road, authorities said. No clues to the whereabouts of Mary Dawn Wilson, 69, have emerged since her Ford Focus was found last Thursday with the child and personal items believed to belong to Wilson, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement Saturday. Authorities believe the child was alone in the car for two days. The search was changed from “active” to “reactive,” meaning that a search could be launched again if officials receive new information or evidence, the statement said. The statement added that at “this time, there is no evidence of foul play associated with Wilson’s disappearance.”\n\nArizona\n\nMesa: Thunderstorms packing wind gusts of up to 80 mph knocked down some power lines in the Mesa area and destroyed a mobile home, sending a woman to a hospital by ambulance. Maryjane Garcia Stanley told Phoenix radio station KTAR that her 61-year-old mother was trapped under debris after the monsoon hit Sunday night, with her legs pinned under a stove. Stanley said her mother was being treated for a broken vertebrae. Video from the scene showed the mobile home reduced to piles of rubble with debris scattered across the property and roadway. Thousands of homes reported electrical outages and State Route 87 was closed in both directions near Mesa because of fallen power lines that authorities say might take several days to repair. National Weather Service meteorologists said north Mesa received almost 1 ½ inches of rain from the thunderstorms as the Phoenix metro area continues to have an active monsoon season.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: A former Little Rock police chief who fired his gun at an armed suspect on New Year’s Eve won’t face charges in the shooting. Prosecutor Larry Jegley said in a letter to Arkansas State Police dated Friday that Keith Humphrey was justified in the use of force in the shooting outside a convenience store. A state police spokesman said the letter formally closes the agency’s investigation into the shooting. Humphrey had stopped after seeing a fight among a crowd in the parking lot and was approaching the group when a 29-year-old woman shot and critically wounded a 22-year-old woman, state police said. Humphrey then opened fire, but did not strike the 29-year-old, who was later arrested, state police said. The woman has pleaded not guilty to first-degree battery. Humphrey had been briefly placed on administrative leave after the shooting.Humphrey, who was hired as chief in April 2019, retired in May.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSan Francisco: An Oakland man was arrested for allegedly reporting a false bomb threat over the weekend, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people from the San Francisco International Airport’s international terminal, police said. Terry Addison, 53, was charged with reporting a false bomb threat and malicious report of a false bomb threat, the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement. Addison was booked into jail in San Mateo County, where the airport is located. It was not immediately known if Addison has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. San Mateo County prosecutors did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The bomb threat was reported Friday night, and authorities said they discovered a suspicious package. Investigators at the airport “deemed the item possibly incendiary.” Police said Friday that a man had been taken into custody, but released no other information. Police said they removed “several suspicious packages” from the international terminal and that it was safe and clear to enter just after midnight Saturday.\n\nColorado\n\nFort Collins:The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the cause of a fire in Red Feather Lakes that damaged multiple structures Sunday. Initial reports indicated the fire started about 5 p.m. in a shed on Lone Pine Court and spread to a cabin on the same property, spokesperson David Moore said. From there, the fire spread to a cabin on the next property over and caught the grass on fire. The fire burned the surrounding grass about 100 feet out from the cabins, but moisture on the grass from recent rain helped prevent the fire from spreading more quickly, Moore said. No one was injured in the fire, according to the sheriff’s office. Moore said the sheriff’s office sent an investigator to the scene Monday to investigate the cause of the fire.\n\nConnecticut\n\nWaterbury: Waterbury police have largely stopped using vans to transport prisoners in response to a man becoming paralyzed in a New Haven police van last month. Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo and Mayor Neil O’Leary directed the city’s two police vans be used only for bringing prisoners to and from court until seat belts are installed and officers are trained how to use them, the Republican-American newspaper reported Sunday. The directive took effect July 1, and the seat belt installation and training are expected to be completed by the end of the summer. In New Haven, Richard “Randy” Cox was seriously injured in the back of a police van with no seat belts June 19 when, police said, the officer driving the vehicle braked suddenly to avoid an accident. Cox, who was handcuffed, flew headfirst into the metal divider between the driver’s cab and the back and became paralyzed. Cox’s family and the state NAACP are calling for federal civil rights charges against New Haven police.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: A man was arrested Monday and charged with arson and other offenses in a Target store fire that police said he started “as a diversion to steal a cart full of merchandise.” The 26-year-old man started the fire in the linen section of the store on July 10 and the store was quickly evacuated, Dover police said in a news release. No injuries were reported, but $3 million to $4 million in merchandise was damaged by smoke or fire, police said. Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo said the store will remain closed for several weeks for repairs and restocking, The News Journal reported. The Dover man was arrested at home and charged with first-degree arson, 19 counts of first-degree reckless endangering, criminal mischief of $5,000 or greater, shoplifting under $1,500 and wearing a disguise during the commission of a felony, police said. He was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution on $137,000 cash bond.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington:Residents along the 1900 block of C Street NE and D Street NE said they are concerned about flooding and are hoping the DC Department of Transportation will do something to fix the problem, WUSA-TV reported. WUSA-TV reached out to DDOT for a statement but has not received a reply yet. Dorothy Wright who said she has lived along the 1900 Block of C Street NE for 20 years and she believes the problem is a result of this construction project steps away from her front door. “I just saw water streaming down the street like I’ve never seen before,” Wright said about the rain Saturday afternoon.\n\nFlorida\n\nPensacola: The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels have named Lt. Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, the first woman as a demonstration pilot for the 2023 air show season. Women have served with the Blue Angels in other capacities for more than 55 years, but Lee is the first to join the iconic flight squadron as a pilot, the Navy said. Lee, a member of the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron 106, graduated from Old Dominion University in 2013, the Blue Angels said Monday in a Facebook post announcing the new team. The Blue Angels also named five other new members of the team based at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, including pilots Navy Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman, of Baltimore and Marine Corps Capt. Samuel Petko of Osceola, Indiana. Lt. Cmdr. Brian Vaught, of Englewood, Colorado, was named events coordinator. Lt. Cmdr. Greg Jones, of Cary, North Carolina, will be an aviation maintenance officer and Lt. Philippe Warren, of Williamsburg, Virginia, is the new flight surgeon. The new team members will report to the squadron in September for a two-month turnover period. Once the 2022 show season concludes in November, they will embark on a rigorous five-month training program at NAS Pensacola and Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: Michael Boggs was sworn in Monday as chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. He replaces David Nahmias, who announced in February he was stepping down from the court. Georgia chief justices are chosen by their colleagues to serve a single four-year term leading the state’s judicial branch. The chief justice speaks for the high court and the rest of the state’s judiciary and presides over oral arguments and deliberation meetings. The chief justice also chairs the Georgia Judicial Council, which makes policy for the judicial branch. Georgia Supreme Court justices run for six-year terms and can be reelected. Justice Nels Peterson was sworn in Monday as the court’s presiding justice. Typically, the presiding justice is next in line to be chief justice.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Towering waves on Hawaii’s south shores crashed into homes and businesses, spilled across highways and upended weddings over the weekend. The large waves – some more than 20 feet high – came from a combination of a strong south swell that peaked Saturday night, particularly high tides and rising sea levels associated with climate change, the National Weather Service said Monday. A wedding Saturday night in Kailua-Kona was interrupted when a set of large waves swamped the event, sending tables and chairs crashing toward guests.\n\nIdaho\n\nTwin Falls: The Idaho Republican Party has rejected adding language to their platform to allow an abortion to save the life of the mother. KMVT-TV reported a majority of the roughly 700 delegates from across the state rejected the change to the party’s existing platform during its three-day convention that ended Saturday. The platform does not have the force of law but states the party’s position it wants Republicans in elected office to follow. Delegates also chose U.S. Rep. Dorothy Moon to replace more moderate Tom Luna as the party’s chair. Moon ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary in May for secretary of state, contending the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and Joe Biden wasn’t president.\n\nIllinois\n\nSpringfield:Gov. JB Pritzker has tested positive for the coronavirus. The governor’s press team sent out a release Tuesday morning which said the governor tested positive after being notified of several close contacts. “I’ve tested positive for COVID-19 and am experiencing mild symptoms,” the governor said on Twitter. Pritzker will work from home until he is feeling better. The governor is fully vaccinated and double-boosted, according to his press office. Last week, the governor signed an updated executive order that amends testing requirements for some unvaccinated health care employees and removes mandates for some other industries, including schools.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: The state sales tax on gasoline will rise slightly starting Aug. 1 even though pump prices have dropped more than 11% from a month ago. A total of 62.4 cents per gallon in state taxes will be charged during August, the Indiana Department of Revenue announced Monday. That will be up three-tenths of a cent from July’s record-high rate based on the agency’s calculations of statewide average gasoline prices over the past month – despite AAA reporting Indiana’s average price dropping to $4.58 a gallon as of Monday from $5.15 a month earlier. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and GOP legislative leaders have rejected calls from Democrats since March to temporarily suspend state gas taxes to aid residents amid the high national inflation rate. Holcomb, instead, has asked legislators to approve $225 payments from the growing state budget surplus to all taxpayers during a special legislative session that starts next week.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: A former lottery computer technician convicted in a scheme to rig computers to win jackpots for himself, friends and family has been paroled after serving more than five years in prison. Eddie Tipton, 59, was released from prison Friday, according to online prisoner records. Tipton pleaded guilty to ongoing criminal conduct in 2017 and was ordered to pay restitution of $2.2 million to Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma. He shared some of the restitution obligation with his brother in Texas, who collected some of the winnings and served a 75-day jail sentence. It’s not known what happened to the money Tipton and his associates won between 2005 and 2011. Out of the seven known winning tickets that netted more than $2.2 million, Eddie Tipton claimed to have ended up with only $351,000.\n\nKansas\n\nSouth Hutchinson: A small fire in a vacant store under remodel in a strip mall led to the evacuation Monday of several other businesses in the center. The fire was discovered on the back of the building at 507 N. Main St. just after 10:30 a.m., said South Hutchinson Fire Chief Shae Barajas-Brooks. South Hutchinson dispatched two trucks and called for assistance from Hutchinson for one truck as backup because of the size of the building, which contains six storefronts, including a Dollar General, local pharmacy and liquor store. The local fire units knocked the fire down while Hutchinson firefighters helped open the roof to vent smoke. Also assisting were the South Hutchinson Police and Hutchinson Police departments and the Reno County Sheriff’s Office, who blocked streets so lines could be laid and evacuated the other buildings. The Fire Marshal was investigating the cause, but preliminary investigation indicated it was an accidental electrical fire.\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: The Kentucky State Fair is hiring workers for next month’s festival in Louisville. News outlets reported the fair is hiring workers for dozens of roles including admission, traffic control, guest services, operations, maintenance, outdoor cleanup and housekeeping. Morning, day, evening and overnight shifts that include indoor and outdoor work are available, the fair said in a news release. The fair runs from Aug. 18 through Aug. 28 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. Hiring will take place through Aug. 28. Pay ranges from $11 to $13.50 an hour, and can be $16 to $20.25 during overtime. Those who apply must be at least 18 years old and have a photo identification and social security card. Those interested can apply on the fair’s website and by calling the fair’s human resources department. Applicants can also visit the exposition center for hiring from Wednesday through Friday.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBridge City: Another group of six youths has escaped from a suburban New Orleans juvenile detention center that was rocked by a June riot. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said the six broke out of the Bridge City Center for Youth about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Five were recaptured after stealing a vehicle. A sixth youth, a 17-year-old from Orleans Parish, is still on the loose. It’s the fourth escape this year from the facility. Jefferson Parish officials are pushing to close it after a June riot in which 20 juveniles took over parts of the complex. No one escaped during the uprising, but nearby residents said they feel unsafe.\n\nMaine\n\nAugusta: A judge has granted class-action status for an American Civil Liberties Union of Maine lawsuit over the system that provides attorneys to those who can’t afford them. The lawsuit contended there’s a failure to train, supervise and adequately fund a system to ensure the constitutional right to effective counsel. It originally named five defendants. The ruling by Kennebec County Superior Justice Michaela Murphy late last week means it’ll become a class-action suit with plaintiffs numbering in the thousands in the state. Maine is the only state in the nation without a public defender’s office for people who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Instead, the state relies on private attorneys who are reimbursed by the state and the number of lawyers willing to take court-appointed cases has declined in recent years.\n\nMaryland\n\nPiney Point: Searchers found the body of a 10-year-old girl who disappeared while swimming in southern Maryland over the weekend, authorities said Monday. Genesi Elizabeth Sosa-Bonilla was found dead near where she was last seen in the water on Sunday, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The sheriff’s office, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and members of volunteer fire and rescue companies responded to Camp Merryelande in Piney Point about 1 p.m. Sunday for a report of swimmers in distress, the sheriff’s office said. Two 10-year-olds and a man were swimming when the current pulled them farther out into the Potomac River. The man was able to swim to shore and people nearby were able to rescue one of the two children from the water, the sheriff’s office said. The U.S. Coast Coast and agencies from Maryland and Virginia were involved in the search that continued overnight into Monday.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Lawmakers approved a $52.7 billion state budget Monday, more than two weeks into the state’s new fiscal year. The unanimous votes in both chambers came after a six-member House and Senate conference committee finished hammering out the details of the final compromise budget plan over the weekend. The agreement was crafted after each chamber approved their own versions of the spending plan earlier in the year. The budget – which now heads to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker for his signature – does not include any new broad-based taxes.\n\nMichigan\n\nGreenville: The FBI on Monday raided a western Michigan company that manufactures aluminum alloy wheels for automotive giants Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, Honda, Toyota and Nissan. According to FBI spokesperson Mara Schneider, the FBI executed a search warrant at Dicastal North America in Greenville on Monday morning. She provided no other details, beyond saying the investigation is ongoing, though the Detroit Free Press has learned from a source familiar with the raid that computers were seized and employees were sent home.\n\nMinnesota\n\nMorris: Local leaders in this western Minnesota city have voted to disband the police department, which has dwindled to just two officers, including the chief. The city of Morris, like other communities across the country, is dealing with changing attitudes about policing and challenges in recruiting and retaining officers. Morris, with a population of about 5,200 residents, has budgeted for eight full-time officers and an administrative specialist. The Morris City Council plans to sign a contract for law enforcement services with the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office and shut down a police department that has been around for more than 140 years.\n\nMississippi\n\nPass Christian: A lawsuit alleges that a Mississippi high school soccer player with a rare skin disease was bullied and physically assaulted for months, with school officials failing to respond. The parents of the 15-year-old boy have sued the Pass Christian school district, a principal and Jones College in Ellisville, seeking unspecified damages, saying all three failed to protect their son. The Sun Herald reported the lawsuit said the student has Darier disease, which can cause wart-like blemishes to flare up on skin that is contaminated or irritated. The parents said soccer teammates would rub muscle pain ointment or bleach on their son’s socks, or drag his clothes through the dirt, mostly during practice or before games in the 2020-21 school year. The assaults intensified when the team attended soccer camp in June 2021 at Jones College, a community college in Ellisville, the suit alleged. There, it claimed players stripped off the boy’s clothes, poured hot liquids on the boy’s face, or shoved a canned sausage in his throat, and that the players showed videos of the assaults on social media.\n\nMissouri\n\nSt. Charles: Police said a convenience store customer shot and killed an armed robber in a St. Louis suburb early Saturday. The QuikTrip customer, who St. Charles police identified only as a 26-year-old man from St. Louis, grabbed a gun from his vehicle and confronted the robber after he saw the man grab the clerk and hold a knife to her throat, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police said investigators believed the suspect was also responsible for a burglary and second robbery at two other gas stations that happened shortly before he went to the QuikTrip about 3:20 a.m. Saturday. He was also driving a black Toyota Highlander that had been reported stolen on Friday. St. Charles police said the suspect who died was 26-year-old Lance Bush of St. Louis who was homeless. But they wouldn’t identify the customer who shot him until prosecutors review the incident to determine if the killing was justified.\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: A California woman who was fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in western Montana last summer was the victim of a rare predatory attack by a food-conditioned bear that was likely attracted to food in and near her tent and scents left behind from recent Independence Day picnics, wildlife officials said. Leah Davis Lokan, 65, of Chico was pulled out of her tent and mauled in the predawn hours of July 6, 2021, in the small town of Ovando, along the banks of the Blackfoot River, made famous by the movie “A River Runs Through It.” The town borders a huge expanse of forested land that is home to an estimated 1,000 grizzlies. About an hour before the mauling, the bear had approached the tents of Lokan and a Texas couple who were camping behind a museum. They were able to scare the bear away. Lokan, a retired nurse, told the couple that the bear “huffed at my head,” according to the incident report by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s Board of Review. Lokan declined an offer to go sleep at a hotel where her sister and their friend were staying, investigators reported. The women were participating in a long-anticipated bike ride along the Great Divide Mountain route. The bear that mauled Lokan was shot thee days later while raiding a chicken coop near Ovando. DNA tests confirmed it was the same grizzly that also raided a different chicken coop in the hours after the mauling. The bear was 4 to 7 years old, investigators said.\n\nNebraska\n\nTorrington: The body of a missing kayaker was recovered early Monday from the North Platte River, authorities said, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. The victim’s identity has not been released, except a report that it is a 48-year-old woman.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: Incumbent Democrats have raised more than their Republican opponents in every statewide race, according to the latest expense reports. The reports, filed Friday, document fundraising and spending from April 1 to June 30. In the governor’s race, incumbent Steve Sisolak raised almost $3.3 million, and Republican opponent Joe Lombardo raised $1.65 million. Yet, Lombardo outspent Sisolak during the quarter by just over $2 million.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nCarroll: New Hampshire’s latest historical marker commemorates clergyman Henry Ward Beecher’s open-air sermon site from the 1870s near a glacial boulder in the White Mountains area. Beecher, an abolitionist, proponent of women’s suffrage, and brother to author Harriet Beecher Stowe, came to the area to escape seasonal allergies, according to the marker installed near the intersection of Routes 3 and 302 in a part of Carroll known as Twin Mountain. “While a guest at the Twin Mountain House, located near this site, Beecher conducted sermons that sometimes drew crowds over 1,000,” the marker said. The marker was unveiled earlier this month as part of Carroll’s 250th anniversary celebration. It is the 274th marker in New Hampshire’s Historical Highway Marker program.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nClifton: A former silk mill and textile manufacturing building that dates to the Industrial Revolution will be demolished to make room for a residential building if city zoning officials approve the proposal. The owners of International Veiling Corp. are seeking zoning board approval to raze the three-story red brick building with large metal multipaned windows and replace it with modern apartments. The Wiley family has led International Veiling for three generations, guiding the textile company since 1904. The company, a mill for the spinning of broadcloth and ribbons, was set up in the Hazel Street building that dates to the early 1880s.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nBreadsprings: Efforts continue on building a museum in Tsé Bonito that honors the Diné men who used the Navajo language to transmit secret military messages during World War II. Although there have been some studies done on the land that will hold the museum, the project needs money, presenters told New Mexico lawmakers on the Indian Affairs Committee during a July 11 meeting at the Bááháálí Chapter house. With four code talkers still alive, it is urgent to have the museum built and operating, said Regan Hawthorne, chief executive officer of the Navajo Code Talkers Museum Inc. His father, Roy, was part of the elite group that numbered about 400. The elder Hawthorne died in April 2018. Approximately 300 acres has been designated for the structure near the Navajo Division of Transportation complex and its cost is estimated at $46.6 million.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York City: Street repairs were underway Tuesday after a van fell into a giant sinkhole in the Bronx. A sinkhole the length of three cars opened on Radcliff Avenue in the Morris Park neighborhood after heavy rain Monday. Videos that aired on local news stations showed a white van tip over on its left side and then plunge into the hole. The van’s owner told reporters at the scene that he wasn’t worried. “I’m all right,” he said. “Lose the van … it’s life.” The sinkhole was being filled on Tuesday and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection was investigating the cause of the roadway collapse, department spokesperson Edward Timbers said. Meanwhile, the van was hoisted out of the hole and set upright; the owner got in and drove it off, Timbers said.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nHolden Beach: A shore-based shark fishing tournament has been rescheduled after coastal officials expressed concerns about the event’s impact on tourism. Event organizer Marty Wright said fishermen could fish for sharks from Ocean Isle Beach to Oak Island, and that participants would only be using baitfish dropped from kayaks about 300 to 600 feet offshore, WWAY reported. The event was scheduled for last weekend, but it was moved to October after Wright said he received a call from Oak Island’s mayor asking him to move the event to after Labor Day, when there are fewer swimmers at the beach.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: Animal health officials are ending a ban on poultry events that was instituted when cases of bird flu were on the rise. However, the decision by the State Board of Animal Health came too late for State Fair poultry exhibits this year. The board in March canceled all shows, public sales and exhibitions of poultry within the state at the request of the North Dakota Turkey Federation to help stem the spread of the bird flu. Private sales, catalog sales and retail sales were still allowed. Early last month, the board extended the ban indefinitely. But, now that summer weather and bird migration has decreased the risk of avian influenza, the board has lifted the ban. But State Fair organizers said they don’t have enough time to arrange for poultry shows this year. The fair begins Friday in Minot.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: A conservative podcaster who has embraced former President Donald Trump’s claims the 2020 election was stolen will be on the November ballot for Ohio secretary of state. Terpsehore Tore Maras gathered more than the required 5,000 signatures to get on the ballot as an independent, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said. Maras will face LaRose and Democratic nominee Chelsea Clark in November for the job of overseeing Ohio’s elections. She initially sought to challenge LaRose in the May Republican primary, but could not make that ballot.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: The City Council established a human rights commission Tuesday for the first time since 1996. The nine-member commission will be charged with investigating and addressing complaints about employment, housing and public accommodations discrimination. The City Council approved forming the commission by 5-4 vote, with councilmembers Bradley Carter, Barbara Young, David Greenwell and Mark Stonecipher voting against. The previous human rights commission was disbanded by the City Council in 1996 after commissioners sought to extend protection to the city’s LGBTQ+ residents.\n\nOregon\n\nEugene: A judge has sentenced a 27-year-old man to at least 50 years in prison for the murder of his grandparents. Nicholas Borden-Cortez was sentenced last week in Lane County for two counts of first-degree murder, The Register-Guard reported. Borden-Cortez pleaded guilty in June to the May 6, 2021, murder of 85-year-old Nancy Loucks-Morris and 87-year-old Gerald Morris. As part of his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped two charges of second-degree abuse of a corpse and a charge of attempting to elude a police officer, as well as a separate but related case with two charges of unlawful firearm use. Investigators found his grandparents dead inside a home in the Falconwood Mobile Home Park, police said. Later that day, police named Borden-Cortez as a suspect. Borden-Cortez was arrested on May 7, 2021, in Springfield after a vehicle chase. Police said he initially challenged officers to shoot him before he was taken into custody. Borden-Cortez will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum 50 years of his sentence.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPhiladelphia: The first of six people charged with setting fire to police vehicles in Philadelphia during the 2020 protests after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has been sentenced. Ayoub Tabri, 25, was sentenced Monday to 364 days behind bars – less time than he has already served in custody, and short enough to avoid triggering deportation proceedings for the Moroccan immigrant. Attorneys for Tabri, of Arlington, Va., said the green card holder has been in the U.S. since he was 6. A longer sentence, which he and the others faced under the original arson charges that carried a minimum sentence of seven years in prison, could have sent him to a country where he knew no one and didn’t speak the language, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain had vowed to pursue the harsher arson charges against the six people arrested. After he left office last year, federal prosecutors worked out plea deals with a handful of those defendants, including Tabri and Lore-Elizabeth Blumenthal. Still, prosecutors argued for a longer sentence in court Monday. Tabri pleaded guilty in March to one count of obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder, according to court records. Once released, Tabri will serve three years probation and have to pay about $87,000 in restitution for the Pennsylvania State Police car destroyed after he and others threw lit road flares into the vehicle.\n\nRhode Island\n\nEast Providence: Two on-ramps in East Providence that connect to westbound Route 195, just before the Washington Bridge, will be closed for four days starting July 28, as the state moves the ramps to free up land. The ramps onto Route 195 west, from Veterans Memorial Parkway and Warren Avenue, will be closed starting at 8 p.m. July 28, through 6 a.m. Aug. 1, Department of Transportation Spokesman Charles St. Martin wrote in a news release. Traffic from the two ramps merge before being directed onto Route 195. The ramps need to be moved slightly to the south so work can begin on a new off-ramp onto Waterfront Drive, part of the larger $78 million Washington Bridge project, which lasts until 2026. That exit is expected to open in two years and allow for easier access to the East Providence waterfront and the east side of Providence, St. Martin wrote.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nSpartanburg: City Councilwoman Meghan Smith has been named to a short list of prospective candidates for lieutenant governor by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Joe Cunningham. Smith is among nine people on Cunningham’s short list. Reached Monday, Smith said she is “very humbled and honored.” The others on the short list include: Tally Parham Casey, CEO of Wyche Law Firm, and first female fighter pilot in the South Carolina Air National Guard; Rosalyn Glenn, financial planner and former Democratic nominee for state treasurer; state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, a small business owner and former professional basketball player; state Rep. Kimberly O. Johnson, assistant director of the F. E. DuBose Career Center; Ed Sutton, and Air Force pilot and commercial realtor; state Rep. Spencer Wetmore, a former prosecutor and former city administrator for Folly Beach; Kathryn Whitaker, chief marketing officer of Burr & Forman, LLP; and Teresa Wilson, city manager for the city of Columbia.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nAberdeen: The National Weather Service said it has issued 561 severe thunderstorm warnings in the state as of July 5. That’s 131 more than in 2007, when the previous record for that time frame was set. “But you know, this is just the first half of the season, so you got to kind of take that into account comparing that to the previous seasons,” said Ryan Vipond, NWS meteorologist in Aberdeen. Although there does appear to be an increasing trend in the number of severe thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said it’s important to note the way storms are predicted has become more precise and the standards have changed over time, South Dakota Public Broadcasting reported. State climatologist Laura Edwards said it’s too early to say what’s causing the increase in storms this year.\n\nTennessee\n\nKnoxville: Officials are conducting a census to learn more about the economic impact and demographics of the equine industry in the state. The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the state Department of Agriculture are handling the project. Data will be used to assist with future state programs, support and resources for the equine industry, the institute said in a news release. Anyone who owns or leases a horse or other member of the horse family or who is involved with the industry can participate. Local barns, farriers, veterinarians, trainers, coaches, feed and forage producers, equine service providers and others involved in the industry are included, the release said. To complete the survey, go online to UTHorse.com and look for the Tennessee Equine Census logo. The census will continue through Aug. 15. Participants must be over the age of 18 and live in the U.S.\n\nTexas\n\nGraford: A wildfire has burned at least five homes and resulted in about 300 homes being evacuated around a lake in north Texas amid sweltering temperatures and dry conditions, authorities said. The residents returned home Tuesday, according to Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Adam Turner. The fire at Possum Kingdom Lake about 95 miles west of Dallas began Monday afternoon, has burned about 500 acres and was 10% contained Tuesday, Turner said. No injuries have been reported and the cause was under investigation, but it isn’t believed to have been intentionally set, Turner said. Turner has said drought conditions in the region have left the area ripe for fire. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag fire warning for the area for Tuesday, in addition to an excessive heat warning with high temperatures near 110 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nUtah\n\nSalt Lake City: A man pleaded guilty Tuesday to fatally shooting his mother and three siblings when he was a teenager in 2020. Colin “CJ” Haynie, 19, killed his his mother and one of his sisters as they returned from her school pickup, then waited for two more siblings to arrive home and killed them, prosecutors said. His father came back to the home later that night and was shot in the leg but survived after wrestling the gun away from his son. After the father subdued him, the then 16-year-old said he had planned to kill everyone in his family at their home in the small town of Grantsville, near Salt Lake City, authorities said. Authorities have said they don’t know his motive. CJ Haynie pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder on Tuesday. Several other weapons charges were dismissed in the plea agreement, court documents showed. He had been charged as an adult by prosecutors because of the seriousness of the crime. The family’s oldest child, Danny, was not home at the time of the shootings. At a funeral for the family members in 2020 at their local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ congregation, Danny said CJ was still loved and part of the family. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 7. Aggravated murder in Utah typically carries the possibility of the death penalty, but state prosecutors cannot seek it for people convicted of crimes that happened when they were under 18, even if their their cases are moved to adult court. So Haynie faces a prison sentence of 25 years to life for each aggravated murder conviction under state law.\n\nVermont\n\nNewbury: Fire has gutted an historic schoolhouse in Wells River. Firefighters from Vermont and New Hampshire said the flames were in the roof when they responded within minutes of the call on Monday, WCAX-TV reported. Three hours later, flames were visible in the steeple of the old grade school. The 1870s building is on the the National Register of Historic Places but hasn’t been used as a school since the 1970s. It has had various commercial and residential uses since then.\n\nVirginia\n\nWilliamsburg: Archaeologists began excavating three suspected graves at the original site of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches on Monday, commencing a monthslong effort to learn who was buried there and how they lived. The First Baptist Church was formed in 1776 by free and enslaved Black people in Williamsburg, the colonial capital of Virginia. Members initially met secretly in fields and under trees in defiance of laws that prevented African Americans from congregating. A total of 41 apparent burial plots have been identified. Most are 4 to 6 feet long and up to 2 feet wide. The soil is discolored in places where holes were likely dug and filled back in. Only one grave appears to be marked, with an upside-down empty wine bottle. Before excavations began Monday, a private blessing was held. First Baptist’s original church was destroyed by a tornado in 1834. The second structure, built in 1856, stood there for a century. That building was bought in 1956 and razed to build a parking lot for Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum that was expanding at the time and that now has more than 400 structures.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: As midterm voting kicks into high gear, Republican activists in Washington are organizing surveillance of ballot drop boxes, generating complaints and concern from some elections officials. Signs were posted near ballot boxes in several Seattle-area locations over the weekend. They had red letters warning the boxes are “Under Surveillance” and stating that accepting money “for harvesting or depositing ballots” might violate federal law, the Seattle Times reported. A scannable code on the signs pointed to a section of the King County Republican Party website with a form encouraging people to submit “election incident” reports, including photos and video. Although it is legal for people to observe the county’s 76 ballot boxes, which are located on public property, the signs raised concerns about possible intimidation. King County Elections has notified the County Prosecutor’s Office “to check on the legality” of the effort.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nClendenin: Three shop students and their teacher from Herbert Hoover High School in Clendenin are working this summer to build furniture for the new Intermediate Court of Appeals courtrooms. The school won the bid to produce benches, podiums and tabletops for the main courtroom in Charleston and five satellite courtrooms. The satellite courtrooms in Grant, Lewis, Morgan, Raleigh and Wetzel counties will allow parties to virtually argue cases.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: Wildlife officials said they don’t know when they will release their new wolf management plan after initially saying the document would come out this spring. The Department of Natural Resources’ wolf management plan dates to 1999 and calls for capping the statewide population at 350 animals. Wolf hunt supporters have repeated cited that number as justification for higher quotas. The DNR’s latest population estimates, compiled over the winter of 2020-21, put the number of wolves roaming the state at 1,126. DNR officials began working a stakeholder committee last year to draft a new plan. The department’s timeline called for releasing the draft for public review in the spring of 2022. The department has yet to put out anything and DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hoye said she didn’t have a release date. A federal judge placed most wolves in the continental United States back on the endangered species list in February, outlawing wolf hunting in those states, including Wisconsin.\n\nWyoming\n\nCasper: The state Bureau of Land Management began fire restrictions for its land in Campbell County on Monday because of especially hot and dry weather, the Casper Star Tribune reported. On Friday, the same rules go into effect on BLM lands in Weston and Cook counties.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/07/20"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_23", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230310_24", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/19/stone-maidens-book-bestseller-daughter-tiktok/11251731002/", "title": "Daughter's TikTok moves 2012 book Stone Maidens to No. 1 on ...", "text": "For 14 years, Lloyd Devereux Richards got up early, stayed up late and worked weekends to write a book, juggling his passion with a high-demand job as a corporate attorney and raising three kids.\n\nAt last, Richards' book, \"Stone Maidens,\" published in 2012. Modest sales followed.\n\nAnd then on Feb. 8, \"Stone Maidens\" became an overnight success, all because of a 17-second TikTok that Richards' daughter posted about her dad and his labor of love.\n\n\"My dad spent 14 years writing a book,\" the video described as it showed Richards at work in his attic office. \"He worked full time and his kids came first. But (he) made time for his book. He's so happy even though sales aren't great. I'd love for him to get some sales. He doesn't even know what TikTok is.\"\n\nThe video changed Richards' life almost overnight.\n\nSince it was posted, the has amassed a whopping 47 million views.\n\n\"Stone Maidens\" skyrocketed to Amazon's top-selling serial killer thriller and became its No. 1 seller last week and this, with a high review rating of 4.7 stars. Richards is now in negotiations over his second book, and Hollywood studios are talking to his literary agent about movie deals.\n\nThe power of TikTok\n\nWhen reached by USA TODAY on Thursday, the father-daughter duo were barely keeping up with a flood of interview requests. It's all been so overwhelming but also incredible, Lloyd Richards said.\n\n\"It's been a whirlwind,\" Richards said from his home in Montpelier, Vermont with his daughter by his side. \"I'm pretty grateful but I don't understand it really. I just didn't understand the power of TikTok. I'm 74, I just am not aware of those things.\"\n\nRichards' daughter, Marguerite Richards, said she was fairly new to TikTok when she decided to shoot some video of her dad in his attic, where she has fond memories of watching him working on \"Stone Maidens\" throughout her childhood.\n\n\"I posted it around 7 o'clock on February 7, and when I went to bed I checked and there were like, 200 views in three hours,\" she said. \"So I was like, 'OK, even if just a few people see it and he sold a couple of books that he worked so hard on, that'd be exciting.' And I woke up in the morning and there were 700,000 views. And I was like, 'Oh my God.'\"\n\nBy the end of the day it hit 4 million views and kept snowballing from there.\n\n'I love you, Dad'\n\nWhile his daughter watched the views skyrocket, Richards had no idea anything had changed. She hadn't told him about posting it and he doesn't spend much time on the Internet.\n\nWhen the views reached 15 million, Marguerite decided to film her dad's reaction for another TikTok.\n\nIn that video, Marguerite tells her dad how many people had seen the video and showed him some of the comments they had posted about him and the book.\n\n\"I bought it, so excited to read it,\" one user said. \"I hope your dad succeeds. He looks like such a nice dad.\"\n\nAnother wrote that they were \"ordering!\"\n\n\"What a precious soul,\" they wrote. \"He deserves all the good coming his way!'\"\n\nAnd another: \"I bought it! Just a third through now but I will probably finish tonight because I can't put it down!\"\n\nAs he read through the comments, Richards began crying. So did Marguerite.\n\n\"Because of them you're No. 1,\" she said through tears. \"I love you, Dad.\"\n\nVisibly overwhelmed, Richards choked out a \"Thank you,\" wiped his eyes, and declared that he was \"ready for a nap.\"\n\nThat TikTok has 8 million views, and the account Marguerite created now has more than 330,000 followers.\n\n\"It stunned me,\" Richards said. \"People said such wonderful things about my book and I was so overwhelmed. I was happy but I couldn't believe that many people would feel that way so quickly.\"\n\n\"It makes me feel so good,\" he added. \"It's such an uplifting experience.\"\n\n'Tiktok Dad'\n\nPerhaps the best nugget of joy that's come from their overnight fame is that Marguerite and Lloyd are spending even more time together than usual.\n\nSince the TikTok took off, Marguerite has become his default publicist, fielding interview requests and trying to create more videos for Richards' adoring followers.\n\nIt's a good thing she only lives five minutes away.\n\nA self-described daddy's girl, Marguerite is having the time of her life watching his success.\n\n\"I would have been excited if even 50 people bought his book,\" she said. \"So I'm just shocked and thrilled. It's like you're having an out-of-body experience. Like, is this really happening?\"\n\nHer fierce love for her father comes through in the pair's TikToks. It's so infectious, a lot of their followers have taken to calling Richards their \"TikTok Dad.\"\n\n\"They're like, 'Thanks for sharing your dad with us,'\" she said. \"And the answer is, 'You're welcome.'\"\n\nMore coverage from USA TODAY", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2021/10/16/tiktok-made-me-buy-it-boost-product-sales/8488484002/", "title": "Viral TikTok videos help boost product sales", "text": "Joseph Pisani\n\nAssociated Press\n\nNEW YORK — Near the Twizzlers and Sour Patch Kids at a New York candy store are fruit-shaped soft jelly candies that earned a spot on the shelves because they went viral on TikTok.\n\nA flood of videos last year showed people biting into the fruit gummies’ plastic casing, squirting artificially-colored jelly from their mouths. Store staffers at the candy store chain It’Sugar urged it to stock up, and the gummies did so well that TikTok became part of the company’s sales strategy. The chain now has signs with the app’s logo in stores, and goods from TikTok make up 5% to 10% of weekly sales.\n\n“That’s an insane number,” said Chris Lindstedt, the assistant vice president of merchandising at It’Sugar, which has about 100 locations.\n\nTikTok, an app best known for dancing videos with 1 billion users worldwide, has also become a shopping phenomenon. National chains, hoping to get TikTok’s mostly young users into its stores, are setting up TikTok sections, reminiscent of “As Seen On TV” stores that sold products hawked on infomercials.\n\n► What's the deal with WitchTok?:We spoke to creators bringing magic to TikTok.\n\nAt Barnes & Noble, tables display signs with #BookTok, a book recommendation hashtag on TikTok that has pushed paperbacks up the bestseller list. Amazon has a section of its site it calls “Internet Famous,” with lists of products that anyone who has spent time on TikTok would recognize.\n\nThe hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has gotten more than 5 billion views on TikTok, and the app has made a grab-bag of products a surprise hit: leggings, purses, cleaners, even feta cheese. Videos of a baked feta pasta recipe sent the salty white cheese flying out of supermarket refrigerators earlier this year.\n\n► TikTok:Coach to stop destroying damaged returns after TikTok video of slashed purses goes viral\n\nIt’s hard to crack the code of what becomes the next TikTok sensation. How TikTok decides who gets to see what remains largely a mystery. Companies are often caught off guard and tend to swoop in after their product has taken off, showering creators with free stuff, hiring them to appear in commercials or buying up ads on TikTok.\n\n“It was a little bit of a head scratcher at first,” said Jenny Campbell, the chief marketing officer of Kate Spade, remembering when searches for “heart” spiked on Kate Spade’s website earlier this year.\n\nThe culprit turned out to be a 60-second clip on TikTok posted by 22-year-old Nathalie Covarrubias. She recorded herself in a parked car gushing about a pink heart-shaped purse she’d just bought. Others copied her video, posting TikToks of themselves buying the bag or trying it on with different outfits. The $300 heart-shaped purse sold out.\n\n“I couldn’t believe it because I wasn’t trying to advertise the bag,” said Covarrubias, a makeup artist from Salinas, California, who wasn’t paid to post the video. “I really was so excited and happy about the purse and how unique it was.”\n\nKate Spade sent Covarrubias free items in exchange for posting another TikTok when the bag was back in stores. (That video was marked as an ad.) It turned what was supposed to be a limited Valentine’s Day purse into one sold year round in different colors and fabrics, such as faux fur.\n\nTikTok is a powerful purchasing push for Gen Z because the creators seem authentic, as opposed to Instagram, where the goal is to post the most perfect looking selfie, said Hana Ben-Shabat, the founder of Gen Z Planet. Her advisory firm focuses on the generation born between the late 1990s and 2016, a cohort that practically lives on TikTok.\n\n► ‘It's fun to play dress-up':Getting that cute fall pic in hot weather\n\nUsers trust the recommendations, she said: “This is a real person, telling me a real story.”\n\nInstagram, YouTube and other platforms connected people with friends or random funny videos before marketers realized their selling potential. For TikTok, losing the veneer of authenticity as more ads and ways to shop flood the app could be a risk. If ads are “blatant or awkward, it’s more of a problem,” said Colin Campbell, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of San Diego.\n\nInfluencers who get paid to shill for brands are getting better at pitching goods to their followers, telling them that even though they get paid, they’re recommending a product they actually like. “They feel like they are our friend, even though they aren’t,” he said.\n\nChannah Myers, a 21-year-old barista from Goodyear, Arizona, bought a pair of $50 Aerie leggings after seeing several TikTok videos of women saying the cross-banding on the waist gave them a more hourglass-like figure. “It’s funny, I shop religiously at Aerie and I had no idea they existed until I saw them on TikTok,” Myers said.\n\n► 'Devious licks':Challenge on TikTok leads to criminal charges against students across US\n\nAfter those Aerie leggings went viral on TikTok in 2020, the teen retailer expanded the same design to biker shorts, tennis skirts and bikini bottoms, all of which can be found by searching “TikTok” on Aerie’s website. It wouldn’t say how many of the leggings sold.\n\nTikTok, along with other tech companies like Snapchat, is gearing up to challenge Facebook as a social-shopping powerhouse. Shopping on social media sites, known as social commerce, is a $37 billion market in the U.S., according to eMarketer, mostly coming from Instagram and its parent company Facebook. By the end of 2025, that number is expected to more than double, to $80 billion.\n\nLast month, TikTok began testing a way for brands to set up shop within the app and send users to checkout on their sites. But TikTok has hinted that more is coming. It may eventually look more like Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China, where products can be bought and sold without leaving the app — just like you can on Facebook and Instagram.\n\n“Over the past year, we’ve witnessed a new kind of shopping experience come to life that’s been driven by the TikTok community,” said TikTok General Manager Sandie Hawkins, who works with brands to get them to buy ads on the app and help them boost sales. “We’re excited to continue listening to our community and building solutions that help them discover, engage and purchase the products they love.”\n\nThat includes The Pink Stuff, a British cleaning product that wasn’t available in the U.S. last year.\n\n► TikTok:A woman on TikTok wasn't afraid to show her death. In the process, she helped others live.\n\nThat all changed when videos of people using it to scrub rusty pots and greasy countertops went viral on TikTok, pushing the brand to cross the Atlantic. It launched in the U.S. in January on Amazon, with 1.3 million tubs sold monthly, and is getting calls from major stores wanting to stock it, according to Sal Pesce, president and chief operating officer of the The Pink Stuff U.S.\n\n“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/10/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/health/mouth-taping-tiktok-dangers-sleep-wellness/index.html", "title": "A TikTok trend about mouth taping while you sleep can be dangerous", "text": "Sign up for CNN’s Sleep, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide has helpful hints to achieve better sleep.\n\nCNN —\n\nThe social media platform TikTok has helped spread yet another potentially dangerous idea: taping your lips shut to stop mouth breathing at night.\n\n“If you have obstructive sleep apnea, yes, this can be very dangerous,” said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.\n\nObstructive sleep apnea, which is the complete or partial collapse of the airway, is one of the most common and dangerous sleep disorders: Over 1 billion people between the ages of 30 and 69 are thought to have the condition, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Millions more are undiagnosed, experts say.\n\n“There is limited evidence on the benefits of mouth taping and I would be very careful — and even talk to your health care provider before attempting it,” Dasgupta added.\n\nYet none of the TikTok videos CNN viewed mentioned the practice might be harmful in any way.\n\nOne young woman touts the benefits of beauty sleep as the reason to imprison her lips each night.\n\n“I tape my mouth shut every single day. … Sleeping properly is really important to anti-aging and looking and feeling your best.”\n\nDespite the downsides of painfully losing facial hair or damaging soft tissue around the mouth, another TikTok video recommends “regular old paper tape.”\n\n“I know there’s lots of fancy mouth-taping tapes on the market but you don’t need it. You just need this little square right here across the lip.”\n\nAll of this could be written off as silly, except one video appears to breed another as people pick up the challenge. One woman couldn’t even recall why she started taping her mouth at night:\n\n“Truth be told, I don’t know. I saw on TikTok and I can’t remember what the benefits were. But it helps me stay asleep!”\n\nDangers of mouth breathing\n\nAs with many things “discovered” by TikTok presenters, mouth taping isn’t new. People have been searching for years for ways to shut their mouth at night, and with good reason. Mouth breathing can lead to snoring and excessive thirst at night, as well as dry mouth and bad breath in the morning. Over time, breathing this way is linked to gum disease and malocclusion, where the upper and lower teeth don’t align.\n\nIn childhood, when the tendency to breathe via the mouth often starts, the condition can lead the child to develop a “mouth breathing face” — a narrowed face with receding chin or jaw, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Children are also at risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea, which has been linked to learning difficulties and behavioral problems in childhood.\n\nJournalist James Nestor allowed scientists to stop up his nose with silicone and surgical tape for 10 days in order to see just what mouth breathing would do to his health. As he described in his book “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art,” the impact was shockingly fast. He developed obstructive sleep apnea, his blood pressure, pulse and heart rate shot up and his blood oxygen levels plummeted, sending his brain into a murky fog.\n\n“We had no idea it was going to be that bad,” Nestor told CNN in 2020. “The snoring and sleep apnea was so dramatic, and it came on so quickly, that everyone was pretty floored.”\n\nWhy nose breathing is best\n\nBreathing via the nostrils is healthier, experts say. Fine hairs in your nose called cilia filter out dust, allergens, germs and environmental debris. Nose breathing also moisturizes incoming air, while dry air breathed in through the mouth can irritate the lungs, Dasgupta said.\n\n“Nasal breathing may lower blood pressure by increasing nitride oxide, a compound in your body that can be helpful for keeping your blood pressure under control,” he added.\n\nIn addition, breathing through the nose is relaxing, which is why it is often recommended, along with yoga and meditation, as a way to promote sleep.\n\nCheck first for sleep apnea\n\nIf, however, you decide you do want to give mouth taping a try, don’t tape your mouth horizontally like you’re the hostage of a serial killer — even TikTok users stress that. Just a bit of tape placed vertically over the lips is supposed to work.\n\nOne small March study, however, found people who did that just replaced mouth breathing with “mouth puffing,” in which the research participants puffed air in and out of their mouths on each side of the tape.\n\nOverall, the “most important message” is to first be evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea before you try sleeping with your mouth taped, Dasgupta said.\n\nObstructive sleep apnea has been linked to hypertension, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, even an early death. Max Pepper/CNN\n\n“Once obstructive sleep apnea is ruled out completely, then we can call it snoring,” he said. “Also, there are many other options to address snoring beside mouth taping such as nasal strips, nasal dilators and mouth (and) throat and tongue exercises.”\n\nAvoid sleeping on your back as well, a position that encourages the mouth to fall open and the tongue to fall back into the throat. Pushing air past that blockage is what causes snoring.\n\nMouth breathing is often linked to allergies, colds and chronic nasal congestion. A deviated septum, which is the cartilage that separates your nostrils can also be a cause — a crooked septum can block your airway. Nasal polyps can do the same, Dasgupta said.\n\nChildren may have enlarged adenoids, glands behind the nose that are designed to ward off bacteria and viruses. They shrink with age, so this is not a common cause of mouth breathing for adults, according to the Cleveland Clinic.\n\nAll of these underlying medical issues can be handled by a visit to an ear, nose and throat doctor or a sleep specialist who can create a personalized treatment plan for you.\n\n“These issues should be addressed and evaluated first before mouth taping. In my opinion taping your mouth shut is not likely to help you sleep better,” Dasgupta said.", "authors": ["Sandee Lamotte"], "publish_date": "2022/10/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2018/03/04/watch-out-for-this-clever-credit-card-scam/110886938/", "title": "Watch Out for This Clever Credit Card Scam | The Motley Fool", "text": "Daniel B. Kline\n\nThe Motley Fool\n\nWhile many people regularly check their credit card bills to make sure that all the charges are correct, others can be lax when it comes to looking over their monthly statements. In addition, since many people pay off their credit cards via an automatic transfer, it's easy for small mistakes to slip through.\n\nPerhaps that's not a big deal if it's a one-time mistake -- maybe a restaurant misreading your handwriting. Not checking your credit card bill, however, could potentially let something more nefarious slip through: small charges for subscriptions that recur each month.\n\nWhat's happening?\n\nIf someone steals your credit card number and runs up a huge bill quickly, it will be obvious to you as well as your credit card provider. That still happens, of course, but some thieves are going for a more subtle approach. They obtain access to a stolen credit card number and use it to create accounts at Spotify, Hulu, Netflix, and other similar services.\n\nThese charges are less likely to be noticed by the cardholder. In some cases, they're not paying attention and in others, they may also be a customer of the service, paid for on another card or via another method.\n\nLearn more: Best credit cards of 2023\n\nIf you have a Spotify subscription and see a charge from the music service on your credit card, it's easy to overlook and for the criminal to get a long-term free ride. That's bad, but it's not the worst thing that can happen, according to ACI Worldwide Senior Fraud Consultant Seth Ruden.\n\nMore: Get your tax refund before you file? Here's why it's happening (it's a scam)\n\nMore: Credit card debt: The 25 U.S. cities with the most as it relates to income\n\nMore: Credit scores: Most Americans have not checked it in 6 months\n\n\"It's not uncommon for fraudsters to use subscription merchants for testing cards with small transactions before the real high-dollar fraud takes place,\" he wrote in an email to The Motley Fool. \"The cost to use one of these inexpensive merchants doesn't eat into available funds on the card and isn't expected to set off alarms when attempted if the merchant is familiar to the user.\"\n\nRuden, who has worked with banks and law enforcement to detect and mitigate financial and cyber-crimes since 2004, also shared some variants of this scam to watch out for. He explained that there are markets where hackers can sell working accounts at services like the ones named above.\n\n\"Subscription merchants take many forms, including digital content delivery,\" he wrote.\"The likelihood of the merchant being attacked is usually a factor of their product's liquidity, either for sale on a secondary market, or into a different payment channel, like a prepaid debit card. Many stored value products can be resold on secondary markets, online auctions, or P2P exchanges.\"\n\nWhat can you do?\n\nCheck your credit card bill frequently and be skeptical. Even if you see a charge for a service, product, or website you use, make sure that the cost is correct and that the card you're looking at is the one used to pay that bill.\n\nThis is a small-time scam that can either pave the way for a big purchase on your card or slowly add up to a lot of money. The easiest way to fix this is to be vigilant. Make checking your credit card statement something you do often -- at least once a week -- and if you see something, alert your card company.\n\nIn most cases, you can do this in your credit card provider's app on your smartphone. Most companies even allow you to report fraudulent or questionable charges right from the app or website.\n\nHaving to get a new credit card is a hassle, but it's less of a problem than noticing fraud months later or after it becomes a major charge. A little vigilance goes a long way toward keeping these issues small and stopping them quickly.\n\nDaniel B. Kline has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Netflix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.\n\nThe Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.\n\nOffer from the Motley Fool:The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook\n\nIf you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known \"Social Security secrets\" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/03/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/13/business/velveeta-martini-nail-polish/index.html", "title": "Velveeta is staging a comeback | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nIn 2020, something incredible happened in the dairy aisle: Velveeta started flying off the shelves.\n\nSales of the processed cheese product, which food snobs love to hate, have been in decline for years. Then the pandemic hit, and suddenly stressed-out, homebound people wanted Velveeta for their queso, fudge and extra-cheesy mac and cheese. The sudden interest in the brand presented a rare chance to reintroduce itself to new customers, and to those who hadn’t bought Velveeta in years.\n\n“We recognized that as a great business opportunity,” said Kelsey Rice, senior brand communications manager for Velveeta.\n\nVelveeta wanted to make a big swing, not just to boost sales but to establish itself as part of the culture. “We think Velveeta is an iconic brand, and it should be seen and viewed as such,” she said.\n\nTo change its image, Velveeta has had to change the way it talks about itself.\n\nThat means fewer commercials about affordable, meltable cheese, and more marketing stunts like cheese-scented nail polish and pricey Velveeta martinis.\n\nThe Velveeta Veltini is part of Velveeta's new marketing campaign, La Dolce Velveeta. Velveeta\n\nA cheese star is born\n\nVelveeta was born in 1918, according to the Smithsonian magazine. It was the brain child of a Swiss cheese maker named Emil Frey, who developed the product from cheese scraps while working for the Monroe Cheese Company in Monroe, New York. The Velveeta Cheese Company was incorporated in 1923, operating out of Monroe, and was purchased by Kraft (KHC) in 1927, according to the piece.\n\nAsked about the brand’s history, a representative pointed to a 2005 book published by Kraft, called “The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Cheese,” which states that Kraft introduced Velveeta in 1928, a year after funding research at Rutgers University about a processed cheese it was developing.\n\nBy the late 1920s, Kraft was calling Velveeta a hit.\n\n“Never in the history of our business have we offered the trade a cheese product that has made such an immediate success as Velveeta,” said a 1929 ad aimed at retailers. “It seems to be a perfect product.”\n\nVelveeta's marketing has evolved over the years. Adobe Stock\n\nNot only was Velveeta “delicious” and “healthful,” the ad continued, but it spread “like butter” and melted easily when cooked.\n\nThe brand’s marketing evolved with the times. An ad from the 1940s pointed to Velveeta as a smart war-time ingredient, offering a recipe for Velveeta Pudding with Spanish Sauce, “a hearty main dish that saves you ration points.”\n\nA 1950s ad suggested to young mothers that “while you’re weight-watching, and also trying to get your needed supply of milk nutrients, make your desserts Velveeta and fresh fruit.”\n\nBy the 1970s, Velveeta was a global phenomenon. A 1976 New York Times article called Velveeta a “worldwide favorite,” adding that Kraft’s foreign sales grew 12% from 1974 to 1975, thanks in part to the product.\n\nIn the following decades, American consumption of processed cheese continued to increase. In 1996, it hit a peak of 8.75 pounds of consumption per capita, according to the USDA. Then things took a turn.\n\nNot a food, but a product\n\nTwo decades ago, consumption started to fall. People worried about the health impacts of highly processed foods, and started eating more natural cheese.\n\nTo make matters worse for Velveeta, in 2002 the FDA sent a letter to Kraft warning that it could not use the term “pasteurized processed cheese spread” to describe Velveeta because it is made with milk protein concentrate. So Velveeta went from a cheese spread to a cheese product — today, the company still makes Velveeta with milk protein concentrate and calls it a pasteurized recipe cheese product.\n\nAs consumer attitudes changed, Velveeta began to evolve its advertising. Commercials showed Velveeta being used to create an easy side dish, like cheese dip suitable for a party, rather than dinner.\n\nVelveeta shells on a supermarket shelf last year. Andrew Kelly/Reuters\n\nEven as it changed its marketing approach, Velveeta stuck with a few clear messages. The product is easy to deal with. It’s affordable — Walmart’s website shows a 32-ounce package of Velveeta on sale for about $6.50. And most importantly, it can melt.\n\nYears after processed cheese came on the market, it still melts better than natural cheeses such as cheddar noted Chad Galer, vice president of food safety and product research at Dairy Management Inc., a dairy trade association. Processed cheese contain ingredients that allow it to melt into a type of gel when it heats up, he explained. When natural cheese heats up, oil seeps out, giving it that globby texture.\n\n“We’re trying to make natural cheese melt like Velveeta,” Galer said. “But we haven’t unlocked that yet.”\n\nThat unique melting quality has been Velveeta’s advertising focus for most of its life, said Rice. Now, it’s trying something new.\n\nVelveeta nail polish and martinis\n\nIn 2018, Velveeta sales fell about 4.5% to $1.1 billion from the year before, according to IRI. In 2019, sales fell again — by about 2.4%.\n\nBut, during the pandemic, Velveeta benefited from people’s interest in comfort foods and easy-to-cook meals. In 2020, Velveeta sales surged by nearly 24%.\n\nTo take advantage of that movement, the brand developed a new identity. In Rice’s words, “Velveeta exists to make outrageous pleasure a way of life.” The brand updated its logo and launched a new ad campaign, La Dolce Velveeta, to support the change.\n\nSomeone eats ice cream out of an ice cream cone in the La Dolce Velveeta commercial. Velveeta\n\nThen came the stunts.\n\nIn June, Velveeta started selling a cheese-scented nail polish. More recently it unveiled the Veltini — a Velveeta martini made with cheese-infused vodka and sold at some restaurants, or online.\n\nThe nail polish got some good reviews. The Veltini… not so much.\n\nOne Washington Post writer who ordered the drink at a restaurant said it looked “like a deranged cheese monster, with olives as beady eyes and a dripping Velveeta cheese rim as a lopsided mouth.” The Today Show’s Hoda Kotb tried it on air, reluctantly, and was not a fan. “Yuck,” she said, “No, girl, no.” Her co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, said it wasn’t bad.\n\nBad reviews don’t really matter for Velveeta, which is often the butt of the joke.\n\n“Overall, we’re really pleased with the way the world has received the Velveeta Veltini,” said Rice. The most important thing is to get people to think about Velveeta again.\n\nWhen brands make splashy marketing moves, “people pay attention,” said Bob Samples, executive-in-residence at Western Michigan University, where he teaches students about food and consumer goods marketing. “They go to the store, they remember the name, they buy it.”\n\nSo far, Velveeta seems to be holding onto that pandemic boost. After dipping 1.1% in 2021, sales are up 3.2% through July of this year, according to IRI.\n\nThe way Samples sees it, Velveeta went from benefiting from pandemic trends to the high inflationary environment. Because Velveeta has a long shelf life, it may be more appealing now, as people try to avoid food waste to save money, he said.\n\nPlus, new ad campaign or not, people know what they’re getting when they buy Velveeta.\n\n“People know what to expect,” Samples said. There’s a “comfort feeling that goes with that.”", "authors": ["Danielle Wiener-Bronner"], "publish_date": "2022/08/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/12/politics/trump-lawsuit-and-investigations-rundown/index.html", "title": "What's up with the investigations of and lawsuits against Donald ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story ran in May.\n\nWashington CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump is reportedly nearing a decision on when to announce a 2024 bid to return to the White House, but his legal troubles continue to build – not just with the recent FBI search at Mar-a-Lago.\n\nMultiple federal and state investigations are ongoing regarding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, his handling of confidential documents and his family business.\n\nCivil lawsuits accusing Trump of defamation and spurring on US Capitol rioters also remain on the docket.\n\nHere’s an updated list of notable investigations and lawsuits:\n\nWhite House documents: Did Trump mishandle classified material?\n\nThe search warrant executed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday sent shockwaves through the legal and political worlds and shows the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the handling of classified information is accelerating.\n\nAfter days of misinformation on the right about the search, fueled by Trump and his allies, Attorney General Merrick Garland broke his silence on Thursday and announced that the department had filed in court a request that the search warrant and property receipt from the search be unsealed.\n\nThe Justice Department has been instructed by the court to confer with Trump about its request to unseal certain warrant documents from the FBI Mar-a-Lago search and to tell the court by 3 p.m. ET on Friday if he opposes their release. On Truth Social late Thursday night, Trump said he would “not oppose the release of documents,” adding, “I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.”\n\nThe National Archives, charged with collecting and sorting presidential material, has previously said that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from Mar-a-Lago – including records that may have been classified. In June, federal investigators served a grand jury subpoena and took away sensitive national security documents.\n\nThen, according to sources who spoke to CNN, prosecutors developed evidence that there were potentially classified documents with national security implications remaining at the property and suspicions that Trump’s team wasn’t being entirely forthcoming. That led the FBI to come in on Monday and remove more boxes from the property.\n\nThe Washington Post, citing people familiar with the investigation, reported on Thursday that classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items sought by authorities. CNN has not independently confirmed the report.\n\nAny unauthorized retention or destruction of White House documents raises a red flag under a criminal law that prohibits the removal or destruction of official government records, legal experts tell CNN.\n\nBefore the search, CNN revealed earlier this month that Trump lawyers and the DOJ were in direct communication regarding his efforts to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators in the department’s January 6 probe.\n\nJanuary 6 and overturning the election: House select committee and Justice Department\n\nThe House select committee investigating the US Capitol attack has uncovered dramatic evidence of Trump’s actions before and on January 6, especially efforts to use the levers of government to overturn the election.\n\nAs CNN’s Jeremy Herb wrote:\n\n“Over the course of the two months’ worth of hearings, the committee tapped into the hundreds of taped depositions, as well as key witnesses who testified live, to present a devastating case that Trump sought multiple avenues to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election even after he was told he lost, that the former President knew ahead of time January 6 could turn violent, and that he chose not to act when his supporters attacked the Capitol and put the lives of lawmakers – not to mention his own vice president – in danger.”\n\nDuring the hearings, fingers were pointed at GOP lawmakers and Trump allies who may have tried to help overturn the election and Trump White House officials who failed to stop the former President’s actions.\n\nAnd dramatically, testimony from a former White House aide described hearing an account of a Trump demand to be driven to the Capitol on January 6 – an account in which Trump was said to have lashed out at Secret Service agents when he was told no.\n\nThe Justice Department is watching – and has an investigation of its own – so while there’s an outstanding question if the committee will recommend any charges for DOJ, it’s not a requirement for the feds to act if the committee does make a referral.\n\nEx-aide was told Trump became irate when stopped from going to Capitol 03:04 - Source: CNN\n\n2020 Election: Efforts to overturn Georgia results\n\nFulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis is overseeing a special grand jury investigating what Trump or his allies may have done in their efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.\n\nWillis, a Democrat, has informed all 16 of the individuals who signed an “unofficial electoral certificate,” which was ultimately sent to the National Archives in late 2020, that they may be indicted in the probe.\n\nThe investigation may be drawing closer to Trump as well. Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to appear before the grand jury on August 17.\n\nThe probe was launched last year following Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he pushed the Republican to “find” votes to overturn the election results.\n\nWillis has also been digging into Trump’s calls with Raffensperger and another official in the Secretary of State’s office; presentations Giuliani made before state lawmakers that were riddled with election falsehoods; a phone call between South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger; and the sudden resignation of Byung “BJay” Pak, the US attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.\n\nThe Justice Department, meanwhile, is looking at an aspect of a plot to put forward fake GOP electors from seven states.\n\nFake certificates were created by Trump allies in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico, who sought to replace valid presidential electors from their states with a pro-Trump slate.\n\nHear why Trump is targeting a Wisconsin GOP lawmaker 02:21 - Source: CNN\n\nTrump Organization: NY AG criminal and civil investigation\n\nTrump this week took the Fifth at his deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation of his namesake business in response to hundreds of questions.\n\nThe investigation is nearing the end and James’ office said it needed to question the Trump family to determine who had responsibility for the financial statements at the center of the investigation. Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump also recently were deposed and did answer questions. Eric Trump was questioned in 2020 and declined to answer more than 500 questions.\n\nJames, a Democrat, has previously said her office uncovered “significant” evidence “indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions.”\n\nThe investigation also includes the role of the company’s long-time appraiser Cushman & Wakefield. (The company denies any wrongdoing.)\n\nTrump has decried the investigation as politically motivated.\n\n“When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice” but to invoke the Fifth Amendment, Trump said Wednesday.\n\nTrump Organization: NY DA criminal investigation\n\nManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg inherited that office’s probe into Trump’s businesses, but it has slowed significantly.\n\nProsecutors were focusing on the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s financial statements when seeking financing, people familiar with the matter have told CNN.\n\nEarlier this year, Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, two senior prosecutors on the team, resigned after Bragg informed them that he wasn’t prepared to move forward with criminal charges, CNN’s Kara Scannell reported.\n\nA special grand jury hearing evidence in the case expired in April, but a new one could be seated in the future.\n\nBragg has maintained the investigation is ongoing and prosecutors are reviewing new evidence. He said he will issue a public statement or an indictment when it’s completed.\n\nPersonal finances: Litigation with niece Mary Trump\n\nTrump and his niece Mary are in court over her cut of a 2001 family settlement.\n\nIn 2020, Mary Trump sued Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired judge, and the executor of her late uncle Robert Trump’s estate, alleging “they designed and carried out a complex scheme to siphon funds away from her interests, conceal their grift, and deceive her about the true value of what she had inherited.”\n\nMeanwhile, the former President is suing his niece and The New York Times in New York state court over the disclosure of his tax information.\n\nDefamation: Suit over Trump’s denial of rape claims by E. Jean Carroll\n\nMagazine writer E. Jean Carroll alleged Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid 1990s and defamed her when he denied the rape, said she was not his type and alleged she made the claim to boost sales of her book.\n\nTrump and the Justice Department say Trump was a federal employee and his statements denying Carroll’s allegations were made in response to reporters’ questions while he was at the White House. They argue the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendant, which, because the government cannot be sued for defamation, would end the lawsuit.\n\nA federal judge denied that effort. DOJ and Trump appealed the ruling, and no decision has been made.\n\nTrump lost an attempt to countersue earlier this year.\n\nMichael Cohen: Claims of retaliation against Trump and Barr\n\nTrumps’ former lawyer, Michael Cohen, is suing Trump, former Attorney General William Barr and others, alleging they put him back in jail to prevent him from promoting his upcoming book while under home confinement.\n\nCohen was serving the remainder of his sentence for lying to Congress and campaign violations at home, due to Covid-19 concerns, when he started a social media campaign in summer 2020. In retaliation, Cohen says he was sent back to prison and spent 16 days in solitary.\n\nA hearing was held in early August on Trump’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit; a ruling has not yet been issued.\n\nTax returns: Will Congress see them?\n\nDemocratic lawmakers are still trying to get hold of Trump’s tax records from the Internal Revenue Service.\n\nA federal appeals court on Tuesday sided with a House Ways and Means Committee request – originally made in 2019 – to obtain the returns, upholding a ruling from a Trump-nominated district court judge.\n\nBut Trump can appeal to the full circuit court or to the Supreme Court, and so far he has not shied away from throwing all legal arguments forward to prevent his tax records from being released to Congress or state investigators.\n\nJanuary 6: Lawsuits by police officers\n\nSeveral members of the US Capitol Police and Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police are suing Trump, saying his words and actions incited the riot. Their cases were merged with a similar case filed by Democratic lawmakers.\n\nThe various cases accuse Trump of directing assault and battery; aiding and abetting assault and battery; and violating local Washington, DC, laws that prohibit incitement of riots and disorderly conduct.\n\nA federal judge in February said Trump’s statements to his supporters before the riot are “the essence of civil conspiracy,” and lawsuits by the police officers have been allowed to proceed. Trump is challenging the judge’s ruling in a federal appeals court.\n\nTrump and his top advisers have not been charged with any crimes. Trump and others who are sued have argued they are not responsible for the actions of the people who stormed the Capitol.\n\nPeter Strzok lawsuit\n\nFormer top FBI counter-intelligence official Peter Strzok, who was terminated by the FBI in 2018 after the revelation of anti-Trump texts Strzok exchanged with a top lawyer at the bureau, Lisa Page, has sued DOJ alleging he was improperly terminated. Strzok is now seeking to depose Trump for the case, though the judge has not said yet how she’ll rule on a DOJ request to block the deposition.\n\nStrzok and Page were constant targets of verbal attacks by Trump and his allies as part of the larger ire Trump expressed toward the FBI during the Trump-Russia investigation. Trump repeatedly and publicly called for Strzok’s ouster until Strzok was fired in August 2018.\n\nBiden has until mid-October to determine whether he will assert executive privilege and hinder Strzok’s effort to obtain testimony from Trump.", "authors": ["Dan Berman"], "publish_date": "2022/08/12"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/business/schumer-manchin-bill-ev-credits/index.html", "title": "Tesla, GM buyers would get EV tax credits again under Democrats ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nUnder a new green energy bill agreed to by Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, automakers like Tesla and General Motors would regain the ability to offer federal tax credits to customers who buy their electric vehicles.\n\nHurdles to the bill’s passage remain, but if it becomes law it could cut the price of electric cars for many Americans, which are relatively more expensive than gasoline vehicles, by reviving tax credits for some manufacturers’ vehicles and introducing a new one as well.\n\nUnder current regulations, buyers of electric vehicles get a $7,500 tax credit when purchasing an electric vehicle, but that full credit is limited to the first 200,000 electric vehicles sold by any given manufacturer. After that, the tax credit amount is reduced over the subsequent year and finally phased out altogether. The tax credits, and the cap on sales, also apply to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.\n\nThe proposed legislation would remove the 200,000 vehicle-per-manufacturer cap, in a win for some of the biggest names in the EV market. Automakers like Tesla and GM that have already sold more than 200,000 electric cars can no longer offer the tax credits, essentially raising the price of their vehicles compared to competitors. Other automakers are close to losing access to the credits, too. Toyota, for instance, can currently only offer reduced tax credits.\n\n“We remain hopeful that Congress will advance legislation to address energy and economic security that includes a modification to the EV tax credit removing the per-[automaker] cap,” said GM spokesman Matt Ybarra. “We will review the draft text and look forward to working with Congress on these provisions that would ensure a level playing field for all [automakers].”\n\nThe proposed legislation would put more limits on the vehicles that qualify for the credits, though. For instance, there are requirements for the vehicles and batteries to be manufactured, at least in large part, in North America. At least 50% of the battery components must be made in North America, which rises 10% a year to 100% of battery components by 2029.\n\nAlso, there are limits on income for buyers to quality for the tax credits. They can have taxable income of no more than $300,000 annually for those filing jointly, or $150,000 for those filing as individuals.\n\nAlso, there are price caps on the vehicles that will qualify. For plug-in trucks, vans and SUVs, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price must be no more than $80,000; for all other types of vehicles, like sedans and sports cars, the price limit would be $55,000.\n\nRules that distinguish between different vehicles types, for purposes of Environmental Protection Agency regulations, can be somewhat opaque, however. This allows automakers to make vehicles that may appear similar to a wagon but actually qualify legally as SUVs. The Subaru Outback, for instance qualifies as an SUV thanks, in part, to its higher-than-ordinary ride height, despite its perception among some as a wagon. The Honda HR-V and Nissan Rogue Sport, on the other hand, are classified by the EPA as compact wagons. The bill calls for the creation of rules that would be similar to those used by the EPA.\n\nOne of the most important changes, though, is that EV buyers wouldn’t have to wait until they file their taxes to get the tax credit, said Sam Abuelsamid, an electric vehicle analyst with Guidehouse Insights. Instead, the incentive would be treated like a rebate and applied at the time of purchase at the dealer, he said.\n\n“By taking it off the top, you can actually lower your monthly payment,” he said.\n\nThe bill also includes a tax credit for the purchase of a used electric vehicle. Currently, tax credits are only offered for a new EV, something that critics have argued favors the wealthy who can afford expensive brand new vehicles. Under the bill, buyers of previously-owned electric vehicles would be eligible for a $4,000 credit or 30% off the cost of the vehicle, whichever is less. But there are caveats here, too. Used EVs can only cost a maximum of $25,000 to qualify for a tax credit, and only if it’s sold by a licensed car dealer; it must also be the first time the car has been re-sold.\n\nThese new tax credit rules, if passed into law, would expire in 2032.\n\nToyota and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new legislation. Tesla generally does not respond to media inquiries.", "authors": ["Peter Valdes-Dapena"], "publish_date": "2022/07/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/health/chidiebere-ibe-medical-illustrations-published-nigeria-spc-intl/index.html", "title": "The creator of the viral Black fetus image will have his illustrations ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAn illustration of a Black fetus in the womb went viral last December with many people commenting on social media that it was the first time they had seen a depiction of a dark-skinned fetus or pregnant woman.\n\nThe attention came as a surprise to Chidiebere Ibe, the Nigerian first-year medical student who created the image, and describes it as “just one of my drawings to advocate for diversity in medical illustrations.”\n\nThe image started a discussion about a lack of representation in these illustrations – images that are mostly found in textbooks and scientific journals to show medical pathologies and procedures.\n\nIbe, 25, who is creative director at the Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, has now been invited to have some of his illustrations published in the second edition of a handbook designed to show how a range of conditions appear on dark skin.\n\n“Mind the Gap: A clinical handbook of signs and symptoms in Black and Brown Skin,” was first published in 2020. Co-author Malone Mukwende, a medical student in London, wrote over email that “Chidiebere’s work … unearths some of the biases that exist in medicine in plain sight that we may not be aware of. Representation in healthcare is imperative to ensure that we do not allow implicit biases to cultivate in our heads.”\n\nIbe, who earned a chemistry degree in Nigeria and is now studying medicine in Ukraine, only began his medical illustrations in 2020. He has already created images depicting anatomy and a range of conditions, such as the skin disorder vitiligo, cold sores, a chest infection and spinal injuries, all in Black people.\n\nMedical student and illustrator Chidiebere Ibe. Chidiebere Ibe\n\nIbe says that a lack of illustrations of skin conditions in Black skin makes it hard for medical students to diagnose them. Mukwende hopes that together they can create “the blueprint for the world” in terms of what diverse medical textbooks should look like and that “Mind the Gap” will be known as “the go-to textbook for representation of a variety of skin tones.”\n\nA “big gap” in representation\n\nDr. Jenna Lester, an assistant professor in the department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, describes Ibe’s illustrations as “incredible.”\n\nLester is director of the university’s Skin of Color program, which provides a space for Black, Asian, Latinx and indigenous people to understand conditions that affect them and become more comfortable seeking care. She says she realized that there was a “big gap” in representation in dermatology back when she was a student, and a lecturer told the class a certain condition would look different in dark skin, but not how the condition would appear. Lester says that she is “grateful” that now “people are actually responding and recognizing it as a big problem and making changes to address it.”\n\nChidiebere Ibe started creating medical illustrations in 2020, and depicts a range of conditions and anatomy, all in Black people. Chidiebere Ibe\n\n“I think it’s important to increase representation across the board because … who knows what young mind this inspires when they see themselves represented in this way, who might be inspired to go into science or become a physician or nurse or something like that, by seeing themselves depicted in these illustrations?” she adds.\n\nStudies have shown this lack of diversity. A 2014 study by researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia examined gender bias in anatomy textbooks and found that of more than 6,000 images with an identifiable sex published between 2008 and 2013 in 17 textbooks, the vast majority were White and just over a third were female. About 3% showed disabled bodies and 2% featured elderly people.\n\nCovid-19 has exposed healthcare disparities\n\nIn some Western countries, people of color have been disproportionately affected by the Covid pandemic. Research by the CDC found that racial and ethnic minority groups have had higher rates of hospitalization and emergency care for Covid-19 than White people in the US.\n\nLester says that “Covid-19 has highlighted a lot of issues of disparities, and that has led us to think about disparities and all the ways that they show up, including in dermatology.”\n\nThe vast majority of images in anatomy textbooks are of White people. Ibe is working on a textbook on birth defects in children, which he says will be illustrated with Black skin images. Chidiebere Ibe\n\nLester co-authored a research letter published in the British Journal of Dermatology in May 2020 which found that scientific articles describing the skin manifestations of Covid-19 “almost exclusively show(ed) clinical images from patients with lighter skin,” with no published photos of the manifestations in dark skin. It noted that this may make it more difficult for dermatologists and the public to identify the virus.\n\nThis is compounded by the issue of some medical equipment not working as effectively on people with darker skin tones. Pulse oximeters, which measure a patient’s oxygen level by using light and a sensor to detect the color of the blood, and which have been increasingly used during the pandemic, have been found to provide less accurate readings on darker skin. If they are not calibrated for darker skin tones, the pigmentation could affect how the light is absorbed.\n\n“It’s not just about the skin conditions,” says Ibe. “It’s just about giving everybody the value that they deserve. Black, White, Asian – let’s all have equal healthcare that we deserve.”\n\nA network of African medical illustrators\n\nDespite making up an eighth of the world’s population, Africa accounted for less than 1% of global research output between 2012 and 2016. Even in Nigeria, White skin images dominate the medical literature, says Ibe. His goal is to help remedy that by setting up a network of African medical illustrators.\n\nIbe plans to become a pediatric neurosurgeon and is also working on a textbook on birth defects in children, which will be illustrated with Black skin images.\n\n“I want it to be a norm that whenever a person searches online for a particular skin condition, a particular health challenge, that the first pop-ups are Black illustrations or are illustrations of people of color,” he says.", "authors": ["Amarachi Orie"], "publish_date": "2022/01/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/12/health/covid-booster-flu-shot-timing-explained-wellness/index.html", "title": "Getting your Covid booster and flu shot at the same time: everything ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFall and winter are around the corner, which means not only is it time to get your flu shot, but US health officials are urging everyone who is eligible to get their updated Covid-19 booster, too.\n\nThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the updated Covid-19 vaccine boosters this month, after the US Food and Drug Administration’s authorization. The updated Pfizer/BioNTech booster is authorized for people 12 and older, and Moderna’s is authorized for 18 and older.\n\nAt the same time, health officials stress the recommendation to get your seasonal flu vaccine. Some disease forecasters worry that the upcoming flu season could be a tough one for North America, as nations in the Southern Hemisphere that already had their flu seasons – like Australia and New Zealand – saw higher-than-average peaks in cases. So, the United States could see flu make a comeback while Covid-19 is still circulating at higher levels.\n\nBarring any new and concerning coronavirus variants, some officials predict that the updated Covid-19 shots could be the start of recommended boosters for Americans each year, similar to how updated annual flu vaccines are given.\n\n“For a majority of Americans, one shot a year will provide a very high degree of protection against serious illness, and that’s what we’ve got to be focused on,” Dr. Ashish Jha, White House coronavirus response coordinator, told CNN last week. “Maybe for some high-risk people – the elderly, the immunocompromised – they may need protection more than once a year, but for a majority of Americans, that’s where it is, and I think that’s a really good place to be.”\n\nWhere and when to get Covid-19 booster and flu shot\n\nThe updated Covid-19 vaccine booster and seasonal flu vaccines are available at most pharmacies, doctor’s offices and health care clinics.\n\nNot only are US health officials encouraging people to get both shots this year, some local public health departments are planning to schedule joint vaccine clinics, said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.\n\n“Jurisdictions are going to be standing up joint flu and Covid vaccine clinics and other opportunities for people to get both their flu vaccine and their Covid updated booster together,” Freeman said, adding that there is “no problem at all” with getting both shots at or around the same time.\n\nThe hope is for joint clinics to make it more convenient and accessible for people to get their vaccinations – but not everyone might be interested or even eligible to get both vaccines at the same time. Plus, some say it’s still early to get a flu shot.\n\nA single dose of the updated Covid-19 booster is recommended at least two months after the initial vaccine series or your most recent booster.\n\n“Now, suppose you’ve recovered from Covid – and many people of course have had Covid this summer – wait three months, at least,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.\n\nHe added that it’s important to get your booster as soon as you are eligible.\n\n“It’s clear that whether you’re vaccinated or you’ve had Covid, if you get this booster, you will get much higher levels of antibody and they are thought to help us get more prolonged protection,” he said. “The other thing that happens is that the immune system responds more broadly, and it looks as though we will get more broad coverage against other variants.”\n\nAs for the flu shot, the recommended timing of vaccination for this flu season is similar to last season, according to the CDC’s website.\n\n“For most people who need only one dose for the season, September and October are generally good times to get vaccinated,” according to the CDC, adding that while “ideally” it’s recommended to get vaccinated by the end of October, vaccination after October can still provide protection during the peak of flu season.\n\n“The ideal time is during the month of October and maybe the first couple of weeks of November – and the reason I say that is, particularly for older people and people who are frail, that will help their protection extend well through February into March, and that’s when flu often peaks in the United States in February,” Schaffner said. “Everyone ages 6 months and older should get influenza vaccine.”\n\nAs for children younger than 12, who are not eligible for the updated Covid-19 booster, Schaffner said parents should focus on getting their youngsters vaccinated with the primary series or booster they can get now.\n\n“I would say, maintain the current schedule,” he said. “Because it’s quite clear the original still does a good job in protecting us against hospitalizations and more severe disease.”\n\nSchaffner added that some people have asked him whether the Covid-19 vaccine protects against flu or vice versa. They do not.\n\n“You do have to get both vaccines,” he said. “The Covid vaccine will not protect against flu. The flu vaccine will not protect against Covid.”\n\nBracing for possible Covid-19 surge\n\nLast week, the Biden administration announced its plan to manage Covid-19 this fall as there is the potential for an increase in infections, in part due to waning immunity from vaccines and infection.\n\n“Additionally, as the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors, contagious viruses like COVID-19 can spread more easily,” the announcement says. “And, as we saw last fall with the emergence of Omicron, we must continue to stay prepared for the possibility of a potential new variant of concern.”\n\nThe White House continues to call on Congress to pass additional funding for Covid-19 response, having asked for an updated $22.4 billion last week. GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said that passing that funding would be “a very hard lift.”\n\nThe administration’s plan to manage Covid-19 this fall includes focusing on encouraging updated booster vaccinations and making them easy to access, as well as ensuring that people have easy access to at-home rapid tests and treatments. That includes the purchase of 100 million additional at-home rapid tests from domestic manufacturers, the White House said.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\nThe US Department of Health and Human Services “will launch a paid media campaign aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccination, with a focus on those over age 50, as well as Black, Hispanic, rural, Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native audiences through TV, radio, digital and print outlets.”\n\nThe administration is also boosting “easy access to Covid-19 testing and treatments” but warned, “While the lack of additional COVID-19 funding from Congress puts constraints on what we are able to do, the Administration will do everything in its power to ensure that tests and treatments remain widely available and easy to access, and will encourage Americans to use them.”", "authors": ["Jacqueline Howard"], "publish_date": "2022/09/12"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/27/business/electric-vehicle-tipping-point/index.html", "title": "Electric vehicle sales hit a tipping point in 2022 | CNN Business", "text": "CNN —\n\nNext time you’re circling a full parking lot, try to remember what you saw in it just a couple of years ago. Things are different, now. There are a lot more electric vehicles and they aren’t just Teslas anymore, either.\n\n“It’s not your eyes tricking you,” said Matt Degen, an editor at Cox Automotive, a company that owns a number of auto-related websites and firms. “For the longest time, the majority of the EVs on the road were Teslas, and they still get the lion’s share of sales, but they’re now hardly the only game in town.”\n\nElectric vehicles accounted for 5.6% of all new vehicles sold last year, according to Kelley Blue Book. That may not sound like a lot, but as recently as 2019 that figure was just 1.4%. Based on the experience in other global markets – particularly Norway – 5% market share seems to be an important tipping point for wider adoption, said BloombergNEF researcher Corey Cantor. Other markets, such as China and Europe overall, have shown similar trends, according to data provided by BloombergNEF. Bloomberg includes plug-in hybrids in its count of “electric vehicles,” but a large majority are purely battery-powered models.\n\nIt’s unclear exactly why 5% seems to mark the point where EV sales really take off. It could be that it marks the level at which something begins to seem normal. The overall US market share for Hyundai, for example, is about the same as the market share for electric vehicles, according to Cox Automotive, and buying a Hyundai doesn’t seem like anything weird or unusual. It’s getting to be the same for electric vehicles: It’s no longer uncommon to see them on the roads which makes it easier to consider getting one.\n\nNow, electric vehicles just need to become easier to buy.\n\n“I think now the demand is definitely there,” said Cantor. “It’s just been more a supply side problem of automakers not being able to ship enough.”\n\nA problem with supply, not demand\n\nThe global auto industry has been dealing with parts supply problems that have slowed production of all sorts of vehicles. But a number of electric models have also proven to be popular beyond what their manufacturers were prepared for.\n\nThe Mustang Mach-E, which hit the market in in 2021, was the first electric vehicle to take a notable chunk of Tesla’s still-dominant EV market share. Ford is still struggling to make enough to meet demand. Every one of the more than 150,000 Mach-Es that Ford has produced so far was built for a specific customer order, with none being made just to fill dealer lots, said Darren Palmer, Ford’s vice president of electric vehicle programs.\n\n“We could sell it out at least two or three times over,” he said. “We have held back from launching more global markets because we’re completely sold out.”\n\nSince then, Ford also came out with the F-150 Lightning, an all-electric version of the best-selling vehicle in America, the F-series pickup truck. Ford is already expanding the new Dearborn, Michigan, factory where the Lightning is built, pouring more concrete to stretch floor space even while trucks are being assembled inside.\n\nMore price points\n\nThe variety of EVs available for sale has also been increasing.\n\nIn 2019, there were 11 EV models selling more than 1,000 units, according to Kelley Blue Book. This year, there were 26. Hyundai and Kia, which already had EVs on the market – albeit not terribly exciting ones – came out with the radically designed Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6. Rivian rolled out the R1T truck and R1S SUV. And General Motors saw a huge run of sales for its Bolt EV and Bolt EUV once they returned to the market following a battery fire recall. Luxury brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Genesis and Volvo have also added EVs to the market.\n\n“There’s different segments, there’s different price levels,” said Degen. “It’s not just having to spend $50,000 or $100,000 on an EV anymore.”\n\nLess expensive electric vehicles are also getting better with longer driving ranges and faster charging, said Tony Quiroga, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, which has a starting price around $41,000, earned Car and Driver’s Electric Vehicle of the Year award this year.\n\n“It’ll go from 10% to 80% on a fast charger in 18 minutes,” Quiroga said, “which is something that only the luxury brands were doing.”\n\nUnclear impact of Inflation Reduction Act\n\nThe even greater variety of electric vehicles coming onto the market next year, combined with easing of production problems that hampered overall auto production this year, should help EV sales climb even more – though there some unknowns.\n\nTake gas prices, for example. The spike in costs to fuel up at the pump earlier this year “drove people to to become aware of the [electric] vehicles even if they weren’t thinking about them before,” said Jessica Caldwell, an industry analyst with Edmunds.com.\n\nBut gas prices have also fallen significantly in recent months, which could reduce the urgency some drivers feel to make the switch to electric in 2023.\n\nThe impact of the Inflation Reduction Act is also still unclear. The act, passed this year, changes the rules around which electric vehicles are eligible for consumer tax credits. It places limits on the price of the vehicle and on the income of buyer; there are also requirements designed to promote domestic production of electric vehicles and their batteries.\n\nThe key question isn’t just how many EV models will qualify but which ones, said BloombergNEF’s Cantor.\n\n“So, if a Tesla Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt, and the Tesla Model Y, and a Ford Mach-E and an F-150 Lightning all qualify, those are high volume vehicles,” he said.\n\nGiven their popularity and already high sales, incentive rules could help push EV sales significantly higher.", "authors": ["Peter Valdes-Dapena"], "publish_date": "2022/12/27"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_25", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230310_26", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/football/959948/liverpool-7-man-utd-0-welcome-to-jurgen-klopp-liverpool-2-0", "title": "Liverpool 7 Man Utd 0: 'welcome to Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool 2.0 ...", "text": "To put it simply, Liverpool’s 7-0 win over Manchester United was an annihilation. Jürgen Klopp’s side put on a masterclass at Anfield yesterday, scoring six goals in the second half as they condemned the Red Devils to the joint-heaviest defeat in their history.\n\nIn what was a tight first-half, Liverpool broke the deadlock two minutes before the break through Dutch forward Cody Gakpo. But in the second period, Klopp’s men delivered the “complete performance” with Darwin Núñez (two), Gapko’s second, Mohamed Salah (two), and Roberto Firmino leaving United “overwhelmed at a joyous Anfield”, said Phil McNulty on BBC Sport. With his brace, Salah also became Liverpool’s record Premier League goalscorer. The Egyptian has now scored 129 goals in 205 league appearances.\n\nFor Liverpool, the victory puts them within three points of the top four – they also have a game in hand on fourth-placed Tottenham. For United, the lows of this shocking defeat came just a week after the highs of ending their six-year trophy drought when lifting the Carabao Cup at Wembley.\n\n‘The strike force awakens’\n\nSince becoming Liverpool manager in 2015, Klopp has led the club to success and completed the “full set” of major trophies: Premier League (2019-20); FA Cup (2021-22), League Cup (2021-22), Uefa Champions League (2018-19), Uefa Super Cup (2019), and Fifa Club World Cup (2019).\n\nDespite the trophy haul, in recent seasons Klopp’s first Liverpool team has looked “aged” and it has been “reasonable to ask whether he was equipped to build another”, said Jonathan Wilson in The Guardian. One game is “nowhere near enough to assert that a new Liverpool is being born”, but it felt a “lot closer at the final whistle than it had at kick-off”.\n\nThe front three – Gakpo, Núñez and Salah – all scored twice, but “the goals were only part of it”. The trio had a “coherence and a zip” that has “been rare this season”. While there is “clearly still work to be done”, there is the sense that a front three of Salah, Núñez and Gakpo “could represent a viable future”.\n\nWelcome to Klopp’s “Liverpool 2.0” – “the strike force awakens”, said Chris Bascombe in The Telegraph. The Reds have endured a “turbulent season”, but the reinvention of Gakpo and Núñez “assumes their status in a new era”, while Salah has reprised his role as the “ultimate goalscoring weapon”.", "authors": ["Mike Starling"], "publish_date": "2023/03/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2022/03/03/grealish-looks-for-big-finish-to-tough-first-season-at-city/49885969/", "title": "Grealish looks for big finish to tough first season at City", "text": "AP\n\nTo some, he was a luxury signing, adding unnecessary competition in a squad that had a more pressing concern elsewhere.\n\nTo others, his arrival was important in bringing, over time, a new dimension to the team’s attacking play.\n\nSeven months on and still there’s no clear winner in the debate over whether Manchester City was right to spend a British-record fee of $135 million to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in the offseason.\n\nThe next few weeks, however, could help to sway things one way or the other.\n\nFirstly — and City manager Pep Guardiola won’t like this — let’s look at the stats.\n\nGrealish has featured in 17 of City’s 27 English Premier League games this season, setting up two goals and scoring two himself — in a 5-0 win over Norwich and then in a 7-0 thrashing of Leeds.\n\nIn all competitions, it’s four goals in 26 games as part of the attack of one of the most lethal teams in European soccer.\n\nGrealish has said he should be doing better — “at first,” he said a few weeks before Christmas, “I thought I’d have more of the ball, get more assists and goals but it doesn’t work like that at all\" — though Guardiola has suggested it would be a “mistake” for the England international to read too much into the numbers.\n\n“Statistics are just a bit of information that we have,” Guardiola said this week, “but there are players that make the team play good and are not in the statistics.”\n\nGrealish has always been one of those players. He’s never been a prolific scorer — netting 32 goals in 213 appearances for Villa, his boyhood club — but more of a creator and an instigator of attacks, pulling defenders out of position to open up space for teammates.\n\nAnd he has done that for City, if not so glaringly as he did for Villa, where he didn’t encounter as many teams operating with packed defenses.\n\nPublicly, Guardiola is happy with his big summer signing.\n\n“We didn’t buy him to score 45 goals,” the City manager said. “He doesn’t have that quality but he has another one.\n\n“He’s playing good, really. I would tell you if he’s not playing good, but that’s not the case.”\n\nAnd City hasn’t exactly regressed with Grealish. The team leads the Premier League and is on course to retain the title, even if a rejuvenated Liverpool is pushing hard sitting six points behind with a game in hand. City is all but through to the Champions League quarterfinals and also will be in the draw for the FA Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.\n\nIt was a career-changing move for Grealish, who came from being a big fish in a small pond at Villa to operating as one of the many stars of an elite, trophy-chasing side. Dealing with the expectations stemming from the price tag should be factored in, too.\n\nBut perhaps the most telling question heading into the Manchester derby against United on Sunday is whether Grealish has established himself as part of City’s best team. And coming toward the end of his first season at Etihad Stadium, that’s still open for debate.\n\nHe has started in City’s biggest league games this season, against Liverpool away and twice against Chelsea, and at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.\n\nYet, currently, he might be behind Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez in the fight for a place in City’s ideal front three, even if Guardiola mostly takes a horses-for-courses approach.\n\nCity fans might only see the best of Grealish from next season. And there's still a chance he comes alive in the final 2 1/2 months of this campaign when all the big titles are on the line. That, after all, is why he joined City.\n\nThe technically excellent goal he scored against Peterborough in the FA Cup on Tuesday was a demonstration of his undoubted ability.\n\nBut the feeling is inescapable that Guardiola made a mistake in prioritizing the transfer of yet another versatile attacker in Grealish over a center forward such as Harry Kane, who City looked into signing from Tottenham but wasn’t prepared to pay enough.\n\nJust as Kane is hitting his best form this season — see his stunning individual performance in the 3-2 win over City last month — Grealish is still scratching around for his.\n\nShould City get caught by Liverpool in the Premier League title race and fail again to win the Champions League for the first time, the focus invariably will be on how City went into a season without a premium, out-and-out goalscorer to make the difference in tight, big matches.\n\nInstead, Guardiola indulged himself in bringing in Grealish, a player he didn't really need.\n\nThat's the narrative that could ultimately shape City's season.\n\n___\n\nMore AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports\n\n___\n\nSteve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/football/liverpool-champions-league-villarreal-semifinal-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Liverpool takes control of Champions League semifinal after ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nLiverpool produced an impressive performance to beat Villarreal 2-0 in its Champions League semifinal first leg on Wednesday.\n\nJurgen Klopp’s side was at its devastating best to take full control of the tie, striking twice in the second half to take a healthy advantage into the second leg in Spain next week.\n\nDespite all its possession and chances, Liverpool needed a fortuitous goal to break the deadlock – Jordan Henderson’s cross was deflected over goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli in the 53rd minute.\n\nBut once ahead, Liverpool started purring and had doubled its lead 133 seconds later and this time there was no luck involved.\n\nSadio Mane timed his run to perfection and poked his effort under the goalkeeper after latching onto a pass from his partner in crime Mohamed Salah.\n\nThe pair were in brilliant form against a Villarreal side that looked exhausted at full-time after a brutal evening in a boisterous Anfield Stadium.\n\nSadio Mane scores Liverpool's second goal. Catherine Ivill/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images\n\nDespite his team’s impressive showing, manager Jurgen Klopp was keen to play down the importance of the first-leg result with another 90 minutes left to play in the tie.\n\n“We know we go there and it will be a tricky atmosphere for us and different from tonight,” he said.\n\n“Their players, you saw it, they fight with all they have and what I like is that everybody could see that we fought with all we have.\n\n“It’s always the same. If they beat us with a result that brings them to the final, then they deserve it and if not then we deserve it.”\n\n‘Best team I’ve ever seen in a red shirt’\n\nBut not everyone was as understated as Klopp, with former players and pundits eulogizing over this Liverpool team, which is chasing an unprecedented quadruple this season of the Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League title, to add to the League Cup it has already won.\n\nFormer Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand put rivalries aside to argue this was the best Liverpool team he had seen.\n\n“They’re relentless. We can talk about how great they are individually but it’s the way they press teams, the energy, the effort, the application. You sit here and just marvel at it,” he said, working as a pundit on BT Sport.\n\nThe club’s former striker Michael Owen agreed, saying: “It was just total, total dominance from Jurgen Klopp’s men. As Rio said, it’s the best team I’ve ever seen in a red shirt.”", "authors": ["Ben Church"], "publish_date": "2022/04/28"}]}
{"question_id": "20230310_27", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230310_28", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230310_29", "search_time": "2023/05/25/18:02", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959975/ten-things-you-need-to-know-today-9-march-2023", "title": "Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 9 March 2023 | The Week UK", "text": "Obesity drugs breakthrough\n\nPutting weight loss drugs on the NHS could help reduce the government’s benefits bill, said The Times. Health officials believe that obesity drugs could ultimately be offered to up to 12m people after the approval of a “game-changing” weight-loss jab. Officials hope to persuade Jeremy Hunt and the Treasury to bankroll the initial cost of the move by arguing that the plans will get millions of people with joint problems and other illnesses caused by obesity back to work. However, some in government are said to be “thoroughly unconvinced” by the plan, according to The Times.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/03/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2022/05/19/flag-fix-fire-starters-piggie-pageant-news-around-states/50252431/", "title": "Flag fix, fire starters: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nPrattville: Three former workers at a church day care center have been indicted on more than three dozen charges of abusing children ages 2 and younger, some of whom were harmed on video, authorities said Tuesday. A special grand jury returned charges after watching security videos that showed children being hit, kicked and punched, according to court records and prosecutor C.J. Robinson, who spoke at a news conference. “When you have videos in crimes of this nature, it leaves very little doubt,” he said. The 44 total charges against Susan Baker, of Prattville, Leah Livingston, of Wetumpka, and Alicia Sorrells, of Deatsville, stem from their work at a day care operated by Journey Church of the River Region, Robinson said. All three women were arrested earlier this month. Each person was indicted on charges of child abuse and failure to report child abuse, officials said. An attorney for Sorrells said she will be acquitted once jurors consider the evidence. Livingston doesn’t have an attorney to speak on her behalf, and a lawyer for Baker wasn’t immediately available. Church leaders have cooperated in the investigation, Robinson said.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: State lawmakers tasked with negotiating a budget deal reached a tentative agreement Tuesday that would pay residents more than $3,000 this year, but the final amount would depend on whether the Legislature can muster the votes needed to access a key savings account. The tentative agreement calls for a dividend from the state’s oil-wealth fund in the range of $2,500 this year, plus a $1,300 “energy relief” check. However, half the funding for the energy check would come from a budget reserve account that requires three-fourths support in each the House and Senate to access. Payments to residents could be about $3,200 or $3,850 depending on whether the vote threshold is reached, according to estimates shared with reporters by the office of Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, the Senate Finance Committee co-chair. He chaired the conference committee, which met for the first time Sunday and announced the tentative agreement Tuesday, the day before the legislative session was scheduled to end. The negotiated package is subject to a vote by the House and Senate. Stedman said the budget is a good one, with a “healthy dividend,” capital projects around Alaska, and attention to K-12 education and the university system. He said the dividend is a “sensitive issue” to negotiate, with splits among lawmakers over what the size should be.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: Two more bills restricting responses to the coronavirus pandemic are heading to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk, including one that would affect the ability of future state leaders to respond to another airborne disease and a second blocking the state from ever requiring schoolchildren to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Tuesday’s state Senate votes were the latest moves by GOP lawmakers to limit what they have called government overreach. The Republican-controlled Senate approved a bill that would ban any state or local government agency from requiring face masks to be worn in their buildings. The measure already passed the House and got no support in either chamber from minority Democrats. They have argued it removes one of the most effective measures to prevent the spread of a respiratory disease like COVID-19. Senators also approved a bill barring the state Health Services Department from adding a COVID-19 vaccine to the list of inoculations required to attend public schools. It replaces a measure passed last year that only banned mandates for vaccines given federal emergency use authorizations. That measure, too, is heading to the governor’s desk and got no support from minority Democrats.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has raised another $601,000 in her bid for governor, continuing to far outpace her Republican and Democratic rivals. Sanders, who is seeking the Republican nomination in the state’s May 24 primary, reported having more than $7 million cash on hand for her campaign. Monday was the deadline for campaigns to file their monthly fundraising reports with the state. Sanders faces former talk radio host Doc Washburn in the GOP primary. Sanders reported spending more than $838,000 last month. She has raised nearly $15 million since launching her campaign last year. Chris Jones, the front-runner in fundraising among the five Democrats seeking the party’s nomination, raised more than $161,000 last month and spent more than $147,000. Jones has raised $1.8 million since entering the governor’s race and has about $108,000 on hand. The other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination are Anthony Bland, James “Rus” Russell, Jay Martin and Supha Xayprasith-Mays.\n\nCalifornia\n\nLos Angeles: Dozens of environmental and anti-nuclear organizations expressed opposition Tuesday to any attempt to extend the life of California’s last operating nuclear power plant, challenging suggestions that its electricity is needed to meet potential future shortages in the nation’s most populous state. Last month, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom raised the possibility that the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant – which sits on a coastal bluff halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles – could keep running beyond a scheduled closing by 2025. His office said the governor is in favor of “keeping all options on the table to ensure we have a reliable (electricity) grid.” In a letter to Newsom, groups that included San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, the Oregon Conservancy Foundation, the Snake River Alliance and the Ohio Nuclear Free Network said the plant is old, unsafe and too close to earthquake faults that pose a threat to the twin reactors. “Your suggestion to extend the operational life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility is an outrage,” they wrote. “Diablo Canyon is dangerous, dirty and expensive. It must retire as planned.” The Democratic governor has no direct authority over the operating license for the plant. He floated the idea that owner Pacific Gas & Electric could seek a share of $6 billion in federal funding the Biden administration established to rescue nuclear plants at risk of closing.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: A man who shot and wounded two demonstrators while apparently aiming at a Jeep that was headed toward the crowd during a protest to bring attention to police violence in suburban Denver in 2020 was sentenced Tuesday to 120 days in jail followed by five years of probation. Samuel Young, 24, had been convicted in March of two counts of second-degree assault, four counts of attempted manslaughter and a single count of illegally discharging his gun, The Denver Post reports. “It all happened so fast, there was no time to think, just to react,” Young said in court. “My reaction was wrong. … I cannot take bullets back. I immediately regretted what I’d done and wanted to repair the damage.” Several hundred people who attended the July 2020 protest in Aurora had walked onto a highway and blocked all its lanes. A Jeep approached from behind the protesters and headed toward the crowd, prompting Young to fire five shots. Two hit the back of the Jeep, and two hit fellow protesters. One man was shot in the leg and another grazed in the head. A woman also broke her leg when she leaped from the highway. The driver, who pulled off the highway and contacted police, was not charged. The protest was organized in support of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died after being injected with ketamine by first responders called to the scene of an arrest.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The Department of Justice has given the green light to National Guard members on active duty for their states to join labor unions, despite a U.S. law that makes it a felony for military personnel on active federal duty to unionize. The agreement, finalized Tuesday, settles a lawsuit filed in federal court in Connecticut by labor unions against Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department, seeking collective bargaining rights for Connecticut National Guard members on state duty ordered by the governor. Already, the case has prompted some National Guard members in Texas to unionize. A 1978 federal law makes it a criminal felony for members of the armed forces, including the National Guard, to join or attempt to form a labor organization. But the statute only applies to service members when they are on active federal duty ordered by U.S. military officials, according to the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, which represented the unions in the lawsuit, filed in November. “Before this case, unions were understandably deterred from organizing state active duty National Guard members due to the potential for criminal penalties,” Rekha Kennedy, a Yale law student working for the clinic, said in a statement.\n\nDelaware\n\nLewes: Staffing challenges mean there won’t be lifeguards at the Savannah and Johnnie Walker beaches this summer, a city official said. City Manager Ann Marie Townshend said the city was not in a position to safely guard the two municipal beaches. The city didn’t want to inadequately staff the beaches and create a “false sense of security,” she said. The city intends to return to a full lifeguarding staff in the future, Townshend said. Meanwhile, people should continue following beach rules and be careful while swimming and enjoying the beach, she said. Many Delaware resort towns have increased pay or benefits to attract more summer employees. Lewes recently increased lifeguard pay from $13.49 per hour to $16 per hour to compete with neighboring municipalities. In the past, Lewes has had lifeguards patrolling from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the summer. Last year, Lewes hired eight lifeguards, two fewer than has been typical. Beaches were unguarded for a weekend in August due to low staffing.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: This Friday the district is celebrating Bike to Work Day, encouraging locals to reduce their carbon footprint and get some exercise to boot, WUSA-TV reports. Another incentive: The price of gas in the Washington metro area is at a 10-year high, with the cost per gallon in the district averaging $4.84 as of Wednesday, according to Gas Buddy. The Bike to Work Day tradition is coordinated by a network of transportation organizations in the D.C. area called Commuter Connections, as well as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. The first 15,000 people who register online to participate are eligible to receive a free T-shirt at any of the event’s pit stops. There are more than 100 pit stops for Bike to Work Day, located throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Those who register will be entered into a raffle to win a free bike donated BicycleSPACE, Three Points Cycles and Bikes@Vienna. Those looking for a biking buddy can join a free Bike to Work convoy led by experienced biking commuters. And Capital Bike Share is offering free unlimited rides of up to 45 minutes per trip on its standard bikes. Its e-bikes will be offered at 10 cents per minute. Bike to Work Day in D.C. started with a small group of riders in 2001, and by 2017 the day saw an all-time high of 18,700 people participating.\n\nFlorida\n\nBunnell: A 17-year-old gay student who was suspended for leading protests at his high school against the state’s so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation says school administrators are now stopping him from running for senior class president. Because of the disciplinary infractions he received for leading the protests at Flagler Palm Coast High School in March, school administrators are preventing him for running for the elected student body office, Jack Petocz said in a letter posted on Twitter on Tuesday. The school is located about 30 miles north of Daytona Beach. “I am continuing to be punished for standing up for my identity and against widespread hatred,” Petocz wrote. “We shouldn’t be subject to abuse both in Tallahassee and at-home.” In an email, school district spokesman Jason Wheeler said Flagler Schools was not permitted to speak about individual students’ disciplinary records. Requirements for individual on-campus clubs or organizations are set by the schools or clubs themselves, he said. “The district has no say in setting those requirements or in how those requirements are enforced,” Wheeler said. Petocz is being honored next week with an award at the 2022 PEN America Literary Gala for organizing students to protest the Florida legislation and fighting book bans. PEN America is a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for free speech and is made up of novelists, journalists and other writers.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: The Republican head of the state election board said Tuesday that a recently released film alleging ballots were illegally collected and dropped off during the 2020 presidential election falsely suggests there were tens of thousands of illegitimate votes in Georgia. Still, State Election Board Chairman Matt Mashburn promised a “fair” investigation of its claims. “It’s not going to be a witch hunt,” he said at a meeting of the board. “It’s going to be done soberly and with great care by people who know what they’re doing.” The movie, called “2000 Mules,” paints an ominous picture suggesting Democrat-aligned ballot “mules” were supposedly paid to illegally collect and drop off ballots in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It has been praised by ex-President Donald Trump as exposing “great election fraud,” but election security experts say it is based on faulty assumptions, anonymous accounts and improper analysis of cellphone location data. Mashburn, who said he watched the film, said it suggested there were 92,000 “illegitimate, manufactured votes” in the state, but he said that’s not true. Even if a ballot is illegally dropped off, it goes through the same checks as other ballots to ensure the vote is legitimate, he said.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: The Honolulu Police Commission has narrowed down the competition for the next police chief to four finalists. Seven people vying for the job spent last week going through an assessment process that included a mock press conference. The four highest scorers advanced as finalists: Scott Ebner, Mike Lambert, Arthur “Joe” Logan and Ben Moszkowicz. Lambert and Moszkowicz are Honolulu police majors. Lambert heads the training division. Moszkowicz heads the traffic division. Logan is a retired Army major general who was head of the Hawaii National Guard. Ebner is a retired New Jersey state police lieutenant colonel. Out-of-state consultant PSI Services LLC was contracted for $145,777 to assess the candidates, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. The commission will take over the remainder of the selection process, which includes allowing the public to interact with the finalists, Hawaii News Now reports. It’s been more than a year since former Chief Susan Ballard retired. Interim Chief Rade Vanic took his name out of the running for the permanent position in March, KITV reports.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: Powerful state House Speaker Scott Bedke has won the GOP primary for lieutenant governor. The fourth-generation rancher who is generally considered an expert on Idaho’s water issues defeated state Rep. Priscilla Giddings in a race called Wednesday following voting in Tuesday’s primary. The race was another battle between an establishment Republican in Bedke against a far-right candidate in Giddings. Bedke got about 52% of the vote and Giddings 43%, while Daniel Gasiorowski received the remainder. Giddings was censured by her House colleagues late last year after publicizing the name of a 19-year-old intern who reported she was raped by another House lawmaker. Bedke was appointed to a House seat representing south-central Idaho in 2001 by Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. Following redistricting, he won the GOP primary and general election. He ran mostly unopposed ever since. He became speaker in 2012 by defeating then-Speaker Lawerence Denney, now Idaho’s secretary of state. Bedke will face Democrat Terri Pickens Manweiler in the November general election for lieutenant governor, a post Democrats last held in the 1970s in deeply conservative Idaho.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay $1.2 million to a man who alleged he was sexually abused at 12 years old by a defrocked priest who was convicted of sexually abusing several boys, the man’s attorney announced Tuesday. The settlement of the case before a lawsuit was filed was announced in a news release by attorney Lyndsay Markley and marks the latest chapter in the story of Daniel McCormack, one of the most notorious pedophiles in the history of Chicago’s archdiocese. McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha’s parish in Chicago, was released from prison last fall and has registered as a sex offender with the Illinois State Police. According to published reports, he was listed at that time as living in Chicago’s Near North neighborhood. The settlement follows other similar settlements in which the archdiocese has agreed to pay men who alleged they were abused by McCormack when they were children. In all, the archdiocese has paid well over $12 million to men who filed lawsuits or settled cases involving McCormack before filing lawsuits. The archdiocese declined to comment on the settlement.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Republicans aren’t showing signs of putting the brakes on rising state gasoline taxes even as Indiana’s government continues its streak of fast-growing tax collections. Hoosiers are now paying about 56 cents per gallon in state taxes on gasoline – the highest-ever level shown in state records – and it will increase next month based on rising fuel prices. Democrats have been calling over the past week for Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to issue an emergency order suspending the gas tax or for the GOP-dominated Legislature to do so when lawmakers hold a one-day meeting next week. Republicans shrugged off a push in March by Democrats for a gas tax suspension projected to cost about $125 million a month as national gasoline prices surged past $4 a gallon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Republican legislative leaders argued that much of the gas tax money was dedicated to the state’s highway construction program, and they instead pushed through a plan for gradually cutting Indiana’s individual income tax rate over the next seven years. Indiana’s average price hit $4.60 for a gallon of regular as of Wednesday, according to AAA. State Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, said that a gas tax suspension would be in “the best interest of Hoosiers” and that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Jackson Elementary will retain its name but honor a new historical figure going forward. The Des Moines School Board voted unanimously to change the name during its Tuesday meeting. Students launched the name change campaign about two years ago while researching a class assignment. During a school board meeting last month, Jackson students cited the seventh U.S. president’s ownership of enslaved people and mistreatment of Native Americans as just two of several reasons they were advocating for a name change. The children argued Mary Jackson, NASA’s first Black female engineer, was a better fit in part because the school’s name should reflect its diverse student body. Mary Jackson’s story was made famous in the 2016 book and film “Hidden Figures.” Of the elementary school’s nearly 400 students, 25% are white, roughly 36% are Hispanic, 12% are Black, and about 20% are Asian, according to state data. Parents, students and staff attending the meeting quietly cheered and clapped following the vote. Jackson fourth grader Maximus Vannavong, who spoke at last month’s meeting, said he was “happy that it changed and got approved.” Board Chair Dwana Bradley thanked the students for their hard work. “It’s very important and valuable and people do listen and pay attention when you use your voices,” she said.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: Republicans on Wednesday improved their chances of flipping the state’s only congressional seat held by a Democrat, when the Kansas Supreme Court upheld the new congressional map they drew. The map slices territory out of the Kansas City-area district Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids has carried by a 2-to-1 margin and replaces it with three counties that ex-President Donald Trump carried by more than 40 percentage points in 2020. Republicans argued that Davids still would have carried the new district two years ago and that the map was a fair way to rebalance the number of residents in each of the state’s four districts after 10 years of population shifts. Attorneys for the Kansas voters and voting rights group that challenged the map urged the state Supreme Court to declare that broad language about “inalienable natural rights” and “equal protection and benefits” in the state’s bill of rights bars overly partisan and racial gerrymandering. But the justices apparently didn’t see it that way. Their decision bucks what has been a trend in a small but growing number of states since the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in 2019 that complaints about partisan gerrymandering are political issues and not for the federal courts to resolve.\n\nKentucky\n\nLexington: After a disastrous showing last summer that included long lines and a severe lack of water for attendees amid blazing heat, the Railbird Festival “will take a pause in 2022,” according to a Tuesday post on the event’s Twitter account. More than 30,000 people flowed into the music festival at Keeneland in Lexington in August 2021 as attendees anxiously awaited bands like My Morning Jacket, Dave Matthews Band, Leon Bridges, Jason Isbell and Bendigo Fletcher. However, with anticipation came perspiration as the two-day event held in the middle of summer was sold out, which meant long lines for everything, including water. During the first of the festival’s two days, patrons were expected to bring empty bottles to fill while at the event but were not allowed to bring any water within their containers. That, mixed with the 20- to 30-minute lines to access the limited water stations placed around the grounds, angered attendees as temperatures reached 90 degrees. According to its Twitter account, Railbird Festival said organizers have taken the criticisms and concerns from former festivalgoers “to heart” and are “working hard behind the scenes to create an exceptional experience for the next edition of the festival.” The fest will reopen June 3-4, 2023, at its new downtown venue, Red Mile Gaming & Racing.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: A state lawmaker’s attempt to set restrictions on what public schools can teach about race was rejected by a House committee Tuesday, with some panel members saying the legislation needlessly encroached on state and local education officials’ duties, while other said the legislation was so broadly written it could squelch classroom debate. Both bills were by Rep. Ray Garofalo, a St. Bernard Parish Republican who lost his chairmanship of the House Education Committee last year after pushing similar legislation over the objections of the House leadership. Garofalo was back before the same panel during a livestreamed meeting at the Capitol in Baton Rouge. His House Bill 1014 listed several teaching restrictions, including forbidding teaching that anyone of any race bears “collective guilt” for past actions by members of the same race; that the United States is “systemically racist”; or that anyone should be “adversely or advantageously treated” on the basis of race. Similar bills have been proposed or passed in a number of Republican-controlled states in response to the recent spate of publicity about “critical race theory,” an academic framework dating to the 1970s that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions. Critical race theory is not a fixture of K-12 education but has become a catchall political buzzword for any teaching in schools about race and American history.\n\nMaine\n\nDyer Brook: Residents of a town in far northern Maine are experiencing trouble with mail delivery that officials blame on roads full of potholes. Officials with the U.S. Postal Service told Dyer Brook officials last week that mail carriers were suspending deliveries because of unsafe roads, WGME-TV reports. Officials said deliveries have resumed as the potholes are starting to get filled in. WGME-TV reports residents were told mail would be held in a neighboring town during the service disruption.\n\nMaryland\n\nOcean City: More than 3,000 customs, hot rods, street machines, classics and muscle cars will assemble for various car shows, contests, parades and live auctions in the city from Thursday to Sunday for the 31st annual Cruisin’ event. Residents and visitors alike are reminded to tap the brakes as they cruise along Coastal Highway, as the resort town will be designated a special event zone for the rest of the week, meaning lower speed limits. Violators will face increased fines and penalties for violations and, in extreme cases, arrest. The Ocean City Police Department will remain on high alert during the entirety of the event. Officers from the Ocean City Police Department, Maryland State Police and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office will strictly enforce all traffic laws. Officers will also enforce all laws for spectators who incite drivers for spinning of wheels or burn-outs, as well as for the driver. According to the OCPD, significant traffic congestion and alternate traffic patterns are anticipated throughout the weekend. Due to the high traffic volume, all motorists are advised to plan their drives accordingly to ensure they arrive at their destinations safely and on time.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: The commission put together to study the racial implications of the Massachusetts state seal and motto has voted unanimously to recommend that both be replaced. The Special Commission on the Official Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth, made up of lawmakers, members of Indigenous tribes, historians and others, made the decision at its meeting Tuesday, GBH News reports. The current seal that appears on state flags, which dates to the late 19th century, features a depiction of a Native American man beneath a colonist’s arm brandishing a sword. Critics say it references the defeat of local tribes at the hands of English colonists centuries ago. The state’s Latin motto –which translates into English as, “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty” – dates to about 1659 and is attributed to English politician Algernon Sydney, according to the secretary of state’s office. Brian Boyles, co-chair of the 20-member commission, pointed out at Tuesday’s meeting that the face on the seal was based on a photograph from the Bureau of Ethnology in Washington, D.C., of Thomas Little Shell, a Chippewa leader who never lived in Massachusetts. “No Native residents were consulted in this selection,” Boyles said. The next step is seeking new designs to the seal and motto.\n\nMichigan\n\nGrand Rapids: A prosecutor said Wednesday that he will only decide whether to charge a white police officer in last month’s fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, after he finishes discussing it with experts. Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker acknowledged that the “investigation appears to be moving painstakingly slowly,” six weeks after Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr shot Lyoya in the back of the head during a struggle. “It is imperative that I review all the facts and evidence before making a charging decision,” Becker said. “In this situation, my decision can only be made by taking the time to gather all the available information, both from (state police) and from state and national experts.” State police submitted a report April 28, but Becker said he requested more information. “I ask for your continued patience,” he told the public in a statement. Schurr killed Lyoya, 26, on April 4, minutes after stopping his car because the officer said it didn’t match its license plate. Lyoya didn’t produce a driver’s license and began to run. The officer quickly caught him, and the pair grappled on someone’s lawn while a bystander recorded video. Schurr shot Lyoya in the head after demanding that Lyoya “let go” of his police Taser.\n\nMinnesota\n\nCass Lake: The federal government will soon return nearly 12,000 acres of land in northern Minnesota it wrongfully took from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe decades ago. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs thought it had the power to sell tribal tracts without the consent of the majority of the owners, a misinterpretation of an Interior Department order back in 1948, Minnesota Public Radio News reports. Tribal District 3 Representative LeRoy Staples Fairbanks III said the land transfers were acts of outright theft. “They mailed out letters to people. If they didn’t get a response, they took them as ‘yes.’ They took them as approval,” he said. Fairbanks said he asked his staff to begin looking into the issue in 2012 after hearing from community members for many years. Then-President Donald Trump signed legislation in December 2020 allowing for the return of the land, which is located within the Chippewa National Forest in Cass County. The land is expected to be returned to the tribe in the coming months now that the band has submitted its survey detailing each of the parcels involved. Fairbanks said the Leech Lake band’s relationship with the Cass County leaders played an important role in getting the Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Act signed into law.\n\nMississippi\n\nGreenwood: A Catholic elementary school that primarily serves Black and Hispanic families in the Mississippi Delta is closing after more than 70 years, following a sex abuse scandal, declining enrollment and a steep decrease in donations. St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood notified teachers and families Friday that it will close at the end of this week, the Greenwood Commonwealth reports. It joins more than 200 other Catholic schools in the U.S. that have closed permanently during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Catholic Educational Association. The school in Greenwood was founded in 1951 and is run by the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province, a Wisconsin-based religious community that opened a mission in an impoverished part of Mississippi. In recent years, the school in Greenwood has been tarnished by a clergy sex abuse scandal dating back to the 1990s. Paul West, a former friar who was a teacher and principal, was convicted in April of abusing a former student at the school. The Mississippi attorney general’s office later dropped a second set of charges against West in the abuse of another student as the 62-year-old former friar began a 45-year prison sentence.\n\nMissouri\n\nPotosi: A prosecutor is seeking to vacate the conviction of a man who spent nearly two decades behind bars for the 1998 death of his mother – a crime he and others insist he did not commit. Washington County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Hedgecorth has asked a judge to set aside 38-year-old Michael Politte’s second-degree murder conviction, the Kansas City Star reports. Politte was released from prison last month, two months after he was granted parole. Politte was just 14 when Rita Politte died in a fire at the family home in the eastern Missouri town of Hopewell. Michael and a friend were also in the home but managed to escape the blaze. Politte’s lawyers said the boys were awakened by smoke and scrambled to escape, before Politte found the burning body of his mother. Investigators said the fire was started with gasoline and determined Rita Politte had also suffered blunt force head trauma. The investigation focused on her teenage son as the main suspect, and four years later he was convicted as an adult and sentenced to life in prison. The only physical evidence investigators had to link him to the crime was what they said was the presence of gasoline on the teen’s shoes. But that finding was based on now-discredited fire investigation techniques, and the state has conceded there was no gasoline on his shoes.\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: Residents who want to cast a vote in next month’s primary election must be registered with their county elections office by noon June 6, under an order by the Montana Supreme Court. The justices, in a 4-1 ruling Tuesday, said changes to election laws passed by the 2021 Legislature will remain in effect for the June 7 primary. District Court Judge Michael Moses of Billings had ruled last month that a law ending Election Day voter registration appeared to unconstitutionally burden the right to vote, and he temporarily blocked it for this year’s primary election. The Supreme Court lifted that injunction, agreeing with Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen that three local elections have been successfully held under those laws. The court also noted the plaintiffs – the Montana Democratic Party, Native American organizations and youth advocacy groups – had not challenged the laws prior to the earlier elections. Sheila Hogan, executive director of MDP, has said the 2021 voting laws were an attack on the constitutional right to vote and more greatly affected young, Native, elderly or disabled voters and others who might have difficulty getting to the polls. Western Native Voice, whose work includes registering Native Americans to vote, said in recent years its largest voter registration days have been on election days.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The City Council has approved a redevelopment plan for a downtown property to become a skyscraper housing Mutual of Omaha’s headquarters, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The plan involves the city buying an existing parking garage and Mutual adding a block of downtown property as part of its $600 million proposal, according to the newspaper.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: People start more wildfires that burn more acres in the state than natural events like lightning. In the past four years, Nevadans – either intentionally or unintentionally – started 1,419 fires, while natural events such as lightning started 1,015 fires. Those human-sparked fires burned 776,125 acres, nearly 48,000 acres more than started naturally. In 2018, illegal fireworks set off near Winnemucca started the largest fire in Nevada’s history, burning 439,000 acres. Other significant causes of human-started fires include arson, power lines that brush against vegetation, chains dragging behind trailers causing sparks, target shooting, and campfires. The most notable year was 2020, when nearly half of the 491 wildfires in Nevada were sparked by human causes. While Nevada’s largest, most destructive fires have not been caused by target shooters, “there is just a lot of them in the wildland urban interface areas, drawing down resources needed on other wildland fires,” said Kacey KC, Nevada state forester and fire warden. Part of that is due to Nevada’s rapid growth – the state is one of the fastest growing in the nation. Areas that were once remote locations for target shooting and discharging fireworks are now close to residential areas.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nPeterborough: A 168-year-old company known for its handwoven, hardwood baskets is closing its factory and stopping production, partly because of an insect pest that has been destroying ash trees. The Peterboro Basket Company has been in business since 1854. The company said in a recent announcement that the baskets “are principally made of U.S. grown, Appalachian White Ash,” which is also typically used for baseball bats and ax handles. “For some years the Emerald Ash Borer beetle has reduced the availability of the wood used to make the baskets,” the company said. The emerald ash borer has destroyed tens of millions of trees in the U.S. and Canada. The company said other extreme labor shortages, ongoing supply chain issues and owners who are “ready to retire” are among the other considerations in deciding to close. The factory plans to produce its last basket this summer or fall.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nCedar Grove: Gov. Phil Murphy announced proposed legislation Wednesday that would create licensing for police that he said would make it easier to fire rogue officers. “It will send a strong message that we are rebuilding the bonds of trust between the police and residents, especially in Black and brown communities,” Murphy said during the announcement at the Essex County Police Academy in Cedar Grove with Acting Attorney General Matt Platkin. New Jersey has been grappling with the question of licensing police officers for at least the past four years. Licensing was one of several recommendations the Asbury Park Press made in its police misconduct series “Protecting the Shield” that were embraced by then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal after its publication in January 2018. The series highlighted the fact that New Jersey stands nearly alone in the nation in failing to license police officers. Rhode Island and Hawaii are frequently mentioned as the other states without licensing. But police licensing is a broad catch-all that obscures some of the details of the process of removing a police officer from policing, which varies around the country. Decertification is more to the point. But decertification as it has stood in New Jersey for decades doesn’t have any teeth.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: A conservative-backed foundation that aims to post online registration records for voters across the country urged a federal judge Tuesday to override objections by New Mexico election regulators who say the initiative violates state law and would discourage people from registering to vote out of privacy concerns. The VoteRef.com website does not list details of how people voted regarding candidates or initiatives. The Voter Reference Foundation has posted voter rolls from at least 20 states that can be searched by names or addresses to verify where people live and view whether they voted in various past elections. A companion website highlights the difference between the number of ballots cast according to certified election results and the number of people listed as having voted on registration rolls at various points in time as local registrations are added and purged. Eddie Greim, an attorney for Voter Reference Foundation, urged a federal judge to intervene and ensure voter rolls can be published online to provide direct accountability and allow people to vet the accuracy of most registration records submitted by others. New Mexico election regulators say the unprecedented efforts flouts state statutes that limit the acquisition and sharing of voter registration rolls to governmental activities and political campaigns.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he’s considering a run for Congress after a legal battle over the state’s political maps opened up a seat in Brooklyn. The two-term Democrat, who left office at the end of 2021, said Wednesday that he’s formed an exploratory committee for New York’s 10th Congressional District. The Democratic-heavy district will include a large slice of western Brooklyn, where he lives. New York’s 10th District is currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, but the state’s political maps are being redrawn under supervision of a New York judge after a court found they were unconstitutional and gerrymandered in favor of Democrats. The court this week unveiled new proposed maps that significantly draw a number of New York City-based districts. Nadler said he believed the maps were changed so much that they are also unconstitutional, but if the proposed districts become final at the end of this week, he intends to run in the 12th District representing Manhattan. The primary contest has been pushed back from June to Aug. 23. De Blasio toyed with running for governor this year before deciding to sit it out. He also had a short-lived run for president in 2019.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: The General Assembly returned Wednesday to Raleigh for its traditional budget-adjustment work session, but lawmakers aren’t getting out of the blocks quickly. The House and Senate gaveled in and out sparsely attended floor sessions at midday Wednesday. Republican leaders in both chambers say committee meetings and recorded votes won’t occur until next week. The delay is not surprising given that dozens of incumbents have been back home competing in Tuesday’s primaries. Lawmakers began introducing bills Wednesday. The chief job for lawmakers is to approve changes to the second year of the already-enacted two-year budget. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper made recommendations last week. House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters Wednesday that he expected the session to last five or six weeks. That’s in line with Senate leader Phil Berger’s recent comments that he and Moore were aiming to adjourn the session around July 1, when the new fiscal year begins. Other legislation pending from 2021 likely to be debated now include bills that would legalize medical marijuana and sports wagering. Moore said he didn’t expect cannabis legislation, which has yet to clear the Senate, to be considered in the House until 2023.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nDevils Lake: Horizon Financial Bank is holding its first ever “Piggie Pageant,” featuring nothing but locally made piggy banks. Teaming up with a third grade class from Sweetwater Elementary School, bank representatives read students “The Story of the Original Piggie Bank” and talked to the kids about the importance of savings their money. Sami J. Lindenberg, bookkeeper for the bank, said they also donated the book to the classroom library, explained the rules of the pageant to the kids and instructed them to paint their own piggy banks for the competition. Community members are invited to cast their ballots for their favorite pig. Voting, to last through Friday, is anonymous and can be done by stopping into the bank or online, through Horizon’s Facebook page. After the pageant is over, the piggies will be returned to the students to take home and keep.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: Judges would be required to consider criminal suspects’ threat to public safety when setting bail amounts under legislation and a separate proposal for a state constitutional amendment being advanced by Ohio House Republicans. The GOP proposals follow a ruling by a divided state Supreme Court earlier this year that said a $1.5 million bond for a Cincinnati man accused of fatally shooting a man during a robbery was too high. The measures were scheduled for votes in the House on Wednesday, but they were pulled from the agenda. House Speaker Bob Cupp said more discussion was needed on how the proposals mesh with bigger conversations on changes to the state’s bail system. Lawmakers must weigh a number of issues, including people stuck in jail on nonviolent offenses “simply because they can’t afford to get out,” said Cupp, R-Lima. The Ohio Supreme Court majority said safety concerns expressed by the victim’s family members and evidence that the suspect presented a false ID when confronted after fleeing to Las Vegas weren’t factors relevant to the amount of bail. The court said public safety concerns could be met by other requirements, such as electronic monitoring, which was done in the case of the Cincinnati murder suspect, according to court records.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: Republican leaders in the state House and Senate announced an agreement Tuesday on a $9.8 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year – the largest in state history. Unlike previous years, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt was not included in a statement announcing the agreement, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal. “This year’s budget agreement reflects that the Oklahoma Legislature prioritizes education, law enforcement and healthcare,” Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat said in the statement. Among the key provisions is a plan to send “inflation relief” cash payments in December of $75 to each individual taxpayer and $150 to married couples who file jointly. The deal includes a $32.5 million increase in funding to the Department of Human Services to eliminate the waiting list of more than 5,000 developmentally disabled Oklahomans to receive state services. While the average budget increase was about 10%, some state agencies received boosts, while others had a reduction in funding. Public schools received a modest increase of about 0.54% over last year’s budget, while colleges and universities saw an increase of about 7.45%. The House and Senate saw their budgets increased by 19% and 15%, respectively, while the budget for the governor’s office remained flat.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: Voters in Multnomah County have elected a female sheriff for the first time in history. Current Undersheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, a 26-year veteran of the agency, handily won the top job with two-thirds of the vote and will replace Sheriff Mike Reese on Jan. 1. Reese could not run for reelection due to term limits. Morrisey O’Donnell received key endorsements from Reese, former Govs. Barbara Roberts and Ted Kulongoski, and the mayors of three cities –including Portland – that contract with the county for law enforcement services, The Oregonian/OregonLive reports. Morrisey O’Donnell called the day a win for the community and “trailblazers everywhere.” “I promise to work every day to reduce gun violence, bring compassionate solutions to the homelessness crisis, and collaborate with partners to make our community safer,” she said in a statement. “I know it’s a big task, and I’m honored and encouraged by your trust in me.” Morrisey O’Donnell was hired by the sheriff’s office in 1996 as a corrections deputy and was appointed undersheriff in August, making her the first woman in Multnomah County to serve as second-in-command in the sheriff’s office. She previously led both the agency’s corrections and law enforcement divisions, the newspaper reports.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: One of the Legislature’s most powerful Republicans lost a primary race, and another was in real danger Wednesday of going down to defeat, both targeted by challengers from the right. As vote counting continued, state Sen. Pat Browne of Lehigh County was a few dozen votes behind school board member and pilot Jarrett Coleman. State Rep. Stan Saylor of York County lost to Wendy Jo Fink, who promised to eliminate school property taxes. Both incumbents were attacked for being Harrisburg insiders. Saylor was elected in 1992 and Browne in 2005 after a decade in the state House. They chair the Appropriations Committee in their respective chambers. The committees are the conduit for the state budget legislation and play a prominent role in much of the Legislature’s business. Another longtime House Republican from York County also was looking at a possible defeat: Rep. Keith Gillespie was trailing badly to Joe D’Orsie, the communications director at an Apostolic Church. Gillespie was first elected 20 years ago. On the Democratic side, 12-year incumbent Rep. Pam DeLissio lost to nurse Tarik Khan in a Philadelphia district.\n\nRhode Island\n\nNarragansett: Members of the Narragansett Indian Tribe will be able to walk onto Narragansett Town Beach for free this summer despite the objections of some residents who voiced concerns about overcrowding. The Town Council narrowly voted to approve the change late Monday night during a raucous meeting that lasted for more than four hours. “It’s about the beach, but in many ways, it’s about more than just the beach,” said Town Council President Jesse Pugh, who introduced the resolution along with Councilwoman Deb Kopech. Typically, anyone over the age of 12 must pay a $12 admission fee to walk onto Narragansett Town Beach, on top of paying for parking. Town residents have the option of purchasing a discounted seasonal pass. Pugh said Monday that members of the Narragansett tribe, regardless of whether they are town residents, would be able obtain a seasonal pass for free by showing their tribal identification cards at the beach’s sales office. The pass will be good only for this summer, and the town has no obligation to continue the program after this year. Supporters see the move as a small but meaningful way to honor the tribe from which the town took its name. But opponents said it seemed like the measure was being rushed through.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: A deputy charged in the deaths of two women who drowned in a locked police van in 2018 ignored barricades and drove into rapidly rising floodwaters against advice from his supervisors and officials on the highway, a prosecutor said Monday. Former Horry County Deputy Stephen Flood is on trial on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide for the drownings of the women he was taking to mental health facilities under a court order as rain from Hurricane Florence inundated eastern South Carolina. Flood faces up to five years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and 10 years in prison for each reckless homicide charges. Flood could have prevented the deaths of Wendy Newton, 45, and Nicolette Green, 43, four separate times that evening, Solicitor Ed Clements said in his opening statement Monday at the Marion County courthouse. First, he could have listened to people in the Horry County Sheriff’s Office to avoid the shortest route, which was along a highway that had flooded in major storms before, Clements said. Flood then drove around barricades closing state Highway 9 near Nichols, ignored National Guard troops in the road past the barricades who warned them the water was too deep to traverse, and drove his police transport van into water covering the highway near the Little Pee Dee River bridge, the prosecutor said.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: State lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved a report finding that Republican Gov. Kristi Noem’s daughter got preferential treatment while she was applying for a real estate appraiser’s license in 2020. The findings of last year’s legislative probe, which was conducted by a Republican-controlled Government Operations and Audit Committee, repudiate Noem’s insistence that her daughter, Kassidy Peters, didn’t receive special treatment with her application. State lawmakers on Wednesday approved the committee’s findings by a voice vote and without discussion. Noem, who is running for reelection and is positioned for a 2024 White House bid, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, despite holding a meeting that included Peters and key decision-makers from the agency that was evaluating her license application just days after the agency moved to deny her the license. After the meeting, Peters received another opportunity to demonstrate she could meet federal standards and was ultimately awarded the license. The Republican governor on Wednesday stuck to her defense, saying in a statement that “Kassidy followed the same process as other applicants did to obtain her license. She did not receive preferential treatment.” But the report says Peters received three opportunities to demonstrate to state regulators that she could meet federal standards with her appraisals, which deviated from the standard certification process of two opportunities before an application is denied.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: The state’s highest court ruled Wednesday that Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher program does not violate the state constitution, clearing the path for families to soon use taxpayer dollars on private schools. The Tennessee Supreme Court’s 3-2 decision overturns several lower court rulings that had previously determined the program violated the Tennessee Constitution’s “home rule,” which says the Legislature can’t pass measures singling out individual counties without local support. Under the law, the voucher program would apply only to Nashville and to Shelby County, which includes Memphis – the areas with the lowest-performing schools and regions with Democratic political strongholds who opposed the measure. The law squeaked through the GOP-controlled General Assembly in 2019, with Republicans repeatedly tweaking the legislation to ensure it applied only to Democratic-controlled areas after acknowledging it was unpopular among their constituents. “Every child deserves a high-quality education, and today’s Tennessee Supreme Court opinion on (the voucher law) puts parents in Memphis and Nashville one step closer to finding the best educational fit for their children,” Lee said.\n\nTexas\n\nMcAllen: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that authorities were prepared for an anticipated increase in migrants crossing the border from Mexico, days before a public health order is set to end after being used to turn people away nearly 2 million times without a chance to seek asylum. A federal judge may order that pandemic-related asylum limits continue, but Mayorkas offered public reassurances of readiness after a whirlwind tour of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Homeland Security has said it will prepare for as many as 18,000 daily crossings, compared with a daily average of about 7,800 in April, though Mayorkas emphasized that those are not projections. Mayorkas visited a remodeled processing center in McAllen, the region’s largest city, where migrants sat on metal benches and on sleeping mats spread on the floor, as aluminum thermal blankets made rustling noises. Televisions pointed into cells. The center reopened about six weeks ago for about 1,200 migrants. Chain-link fences have been replaced with cinder block walls. Cells have an open roof that Border Patrol officials said provides better ventilation.\n\nUtah\n\nSt. George: A new report detailing the risk of wildfires across the nation for the next 30 years found southwest Utah to be one of the riskiest areas in the country. The report, released Monday by the nonprofit First Street Foundation, used a 30-year simulation of fires across America and a variety of metrics to calculate fire risk, including data from the U.S. Forest Service’s LANDFIRE program, weather reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, historical records of where wildfires have occurred in the past and changes in climate trends. It found approximately 79.8 million properties in the lower 48 states are at wildfire risk. The report highlighted several counties in Utah with a lot of structures at risk for fire. In Utah County, there are over 118,000 structures at risk. In Salt Lake County, there are 138,600. But while those counties had the largest numerical risk, the areas with the highest risk per household were in southwestern Utah. The report estimates that of Washington County’s 101,400 structures, 93.6% are at a 0.2% or worse risk of being involved in a wildfire this year, compared to 35.2% in Utah County and 9.3% in Salt Lake County. Overall, 57.7% of structures in Utah are at a 0.03% wildfire risk, while 24% of structures are at a 0.2% risk.\n\nVermont\n\nColchester: Planned Parenthood of Northern New England will close four health centers in Vermont and one in New Hampshire next month, while also expanding the days of operation at seven other centers in the region. The organization announced the “difficult but strategic decision” decision to shutter part-time health centers in Bennington, Hyde Park, Middlebury and St. Albans in Vermont and in Claremont, New Hampshire, effective June 12, said Kai Williams, senior vice president of health care delivery, in a statement. “We believe these decisions will ensure that we can continue to serve northern New England for generations to come,” she said. Over the course of a year, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England will expand the days of operation to a minimum of four or five days a week at health centers in Barre, Brattleboro and Williston, Vermont; in Exeter, New Hampshire; and in Sanford, Biddeford, and Topsham, Maine, the organization said. Operating hours will not change at facilities in Burlington, Rutland, St. Johnsbury and White River Junction, Vermont; in Derry, Keene and Manchester, New Hampshire; or in Portland, Maine.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: A Virginia State Police pilot was temporarily blinded during a search for a suspect when a person on the ground aimed a laser pointer at the police aircraft, officials said. Troopers were helping the Nottoway County Sheriff’s Office with a pursuit and search for a suspect near the town of Crewe on Monday, state police said in a news release. While one of the agency’s airplanes was aiding in the search, the pilot was temporarily blinded by a laser pointer being used on the ground, police said. When the pilot regained his vision, he and his co-pilot identified the source of the laser and provided troopers on the ground with an exact location and address. As the airplane continued to assist with the search, the laser continued to track the aircraft. Crewe police officers and Virginia State Police troopers found a woman and the laser pointer and took her into custody. The woman was charged with one felony count of interfering with the operation of an aircraft, police said. The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the incident, which is under investigation. WRIC-TV reports that state police said the woman and the suspect police were searching for were not connected.\n\nWashington\n\nMount Rainier National Park: Two climbers were rescued by helicopter Friday after one fell into a crevasse the day before on Mount Rainier. The climbers had been in contact with the National Park Service beginning last Wednesday evening, when they stopped their summit bid at 12,800 feet because of adverse weather, according to the NPS. They didn’t initially ask for assistance, the Seattle Times reports. But the climbers called for help Thursday after one of them fell 80 feet into a crevasse at about 12,200 feet above sea level and suffered arm and leg injuries, officials said. The climber who fell was able to communicate with Mount Rainier National Park dispatchers, as well as his partner on the Kautz Glacier, but authorities could not immediately launch a rescue effort because of deep snow, limited visibility and strong and erratic winds, according to the Park Service. Heavy winds thwarted rescuers’ efforts to reach the climbers Friday morning, but rescuers were able to reach the pair several hours later. The climbers were on the Kautz Glacier climbing route below the Wapowety Cleaver and had planned to descend the Disappointment Cleaver route when one of them fell into the crevasse, officials said.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: The finishing touches on a six-lane upgrade of the West Virginia Turnpike in Beckley are getting underway and expected to last about eight weeks. The $140 million widening project on the 8-mile stretch was finished last fall, but final paving and striping were delayed to allow holiday traffic to have full access on the heavily traveled road. Paving and striping will take place between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. to minimize impact on motorists, said Jeff Miller, executive director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority. Delays should be expected until the work is complete. The speed limit in the zone will be 55 mph, the state Department of Transportation said. Miller said it will be strictly enforced. “It’s a very, very busy area, and we just don’t want anything bad to happen to anybody,” he said.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: A judge on Tuesday voiced skepticism about a lawsuit challenging the legality of private grant money awarded to the city to help run the 2020 election, calling some of the arguments “ridiculous,” a “stretch” and “close to preposterous.” The lawsuit argues that private grants given to Madison from a group funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg amounted to illegal bribery. The Wisconsin Elections Commission in December rejected that complaint, and this lawsuit is an appeal of that decision. Four nearly identical lawsuits are also pending in Milwaukee, Green Bay, Racine and Kenosha. The case in Madison was the first to hold arguments. Three Wisconsin courts have previously rejected similar lawsuits arguing that the grants were illegal. Similar lawsuits filed in other swing states have also been rejected. Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke referenced those rulings when he questioned attorney Erick Kaardal Tuesday. Kardaal said the commission got it wrong, and Madison should not have been allowed to use a portion of the grant money to pay for absentee ballot drop boxes because, he said, they are illegal, based on a Waukesha County circuit court ruling issued after the election. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is currently weighing an appeal of that ruling.\n\nWyoming\n\nJackson: The father of a Marine killed in an attack on an airport in Afghanistan last year is planning to run for the state House as a Republican, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. Jim McCollum’s son, Rylee, died at age 20 in a suicide bombing in Kabul during the U.S. withdrawal from the Taliban-run nation. Wyoming’s 16th legislative district is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Mike Yin, who ran unopposed in 2020, according to the newspaper.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/05/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2019/06/14/retired-monkeys-freeze-dried-blood-hidden-figures-way-news-around-states/39581447/", "title": "News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMontgomery: A sculpture project highlighting the sister-city relationship between the capital of the Heart of Dixie and the Italian city of Pietrasanta points to the idea that we all exist under the the same moon. Artists Craigger Browne and Marcello Giorgi are joining forces on “Nostra Luna,” Italian for “Our Moon,” which will eventually have a home at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Browne is an artist in residence in Sylacauga whose commissioned work includes a Helen Keller statue in 2017; Giorgi is a master carver from Pietrasanta. Browne says the moon is believed to have two faces in Italian folklore – one side toward the past and one toward the future. Giorgi’s side will feature an older woman looking back over Pietrasanta “with prideful approval of many centuries of classical tradition,” Brown says. On the other side, he is carving a younger woman “looking forward over Montgomery with joyous hope for the future.”\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: At least 60 ice seals have been found dead along the state’s west coast, and federal biologists are trying to determine the cause. Some carcasses had lost hair, and NOAA Fisheries hopes to determine if that was due to decomposition or abnormal molting. The agency noted the importance of ice seals to Alaska Native coastal communities. Bearded, ringed and spotted seals were reported dead south of Nome and north of the Bering Strait. A hunter counted 18 carcasses along 11 miles of shore north of the village of Kotlik and dozens of others along an island near Stebbins. Eight young bearded seals were found Monday on St. Lawrence Island. North of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea, a National Park Service biologist counted six dead seals near Kotzebue’s airport. NOAA Fisheries also received accounts of up to 30 dead seals between Kivalina and Point Hope.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: Sales taxes have gone uncollected because of flaws in a new state program created to make the process more efficient, according to auditors. The Arizona Department of Revenue failed to identify many businesses that weren’t paying taxes and erased active businesses from its tracking system, says a recent report by the Arizona auditor general. Some cities and counties, which were assured they no longer had to deal with sales tax collection issues, now are assigning staff again to assure their cities get the money they are owed. The Department of Revenue fully took over auditing and collecting sales taxes for all cities, towns and counties in 2017. More than a year later, the auditor general showed the Department of Revenue was auditing significantly fewer businesses and, at one point, had completely stopped checking whether businesses had licenses.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: The Police Department announced Wednesday it is overhauling policies for obtaining no-knock warrants in drug raids, eight months after a man alleged officers blasted down his door and raided his apartment without probable cause. Police Chief Keith Humphrey said at a news conference that the department will now use more detailed information when determining whether a no-knock warrant is reasonable. In October, Roderick Talley said he was suing the department and the city, alleging police lied to obtain a no-knock warrant and used similar boiler-plate language on dozens of other warrants. He showed video footage from outside of his home that he said proved officers lied when they claimed they witnessed a confidential informant buying cocaine from Talley. Footage showed the informant ringing Talley’s doorbell and leaving minutes later – after no one answered the door.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: State judges say prison inmates can legally have small amounts of marijuana – if they don’t inhale. The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that California voters in 2016 legalized recreational possession of less than an ounce of cannabis with no exception – even for those behind bars. The court overturned the convictions of five inmates who were found with marijuana in their prison cells. However, the three-judge court said state law does prohibit smoking or ingesting pot in prison. Also, officials can still punish possession as a rules violation – and corrections officials say pot possession is still against those rules. Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office says it’s reviewing the appellate court ruling but didn’t say whether it will appeal.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: Casinos in the state saw an increase in combined 2018 revenue that set a record for the state. The Denver Post reports that casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek reaped combined revenue of $842.1 million last year. The American Gaming Association says the figure is a 1.7% increase over the state’s $828 million take in 2017 and a nearly 13% increase over 2014. The association’s 2019 edition of its “State of the States” roundup found 12 of 24 states with legalized commercial gambling enjoyed record revenues last year. The association says the industry brought in an all-time national high of $41.7 billion in 2018, a 3.5% increase over 2017. Officials say Colorado still lacks legal sports betting, which contributed significantly to the national increase.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHamden: A popular state park is reopening more than a year after it was hit by a tornado that brought down thousands of trees. Gov. Ned Lamont says Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden will reopen to the public beginning at 8 a.m. Friday. State workers and volunteers have spent months clearing the extensive trails in the 1,400-acre park, named for its 2-mile ridge that resembles a man in repose. The park has been closed since the storm hit on May 15, 2018. Final work on restoration of the main Tower Trail was completed earlier this week. The cost of the restoration work has totaled about $735,000. The state anticipates that about 75% of that will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.\n\nDelaware\n\nWilmington: Black-and-white license plates are coveted as a sign of prestige in the First State. They’re reserved only for low-digit tag numbers, and people bid thousands of dollars for them. Yet they suddenly seem to be everywhere. Turns out a lot of them are “illegal tags,” says C.R. McLeod, community relations manager for the Delaware Department of Transportation. Jordan Irazabal, who is behind the Facebook page and website TheDelaware3000.org, has for the past 11 1/ 2 years been trying to find and photograph the 3,000 lowest Delaware tag numbers and running into what he says is a disturbing trend. Irazabal says he finds the fakes offensive and has started a petition asking police to crack down on people with unauthorized plates.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: The street outside NASA’s headquarters in the capital has been renamed “Hidden Figures Way” to honor the black female mathematicians who helped send humans to the moon. News outlets report district officials, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and others gathered Wednesday to unveil the new street sign. “Hidden Figures” author Margot Lee Shetterly and the families of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson also attended the event. Shetterly’s 2016 book details the struggles of the women as they crunched numbers at the NASA Langley Research Center in the pre-computer age. Cruz in August proposed renaming E Street SW through the Hidden Figures Way Designation Act, which passed in December.\n\nFlorida\n\nBig Pine Key: Marine researchers have finished a 10-day assessment of the iconic green sea turtle in the Florida Keys. The study completed Wednesday examined where green turtles live and feed in Keys waters and evaluated green turtles’ general health. Data acquired from 26 green turtles included measurements, skin biopsies and bloodwork. All were released except for three that are being treated at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital for Fibropapillomatosis, a herpes-like virus that affects turtles worldwide. The effort was a collaboration of the Turtle Hospital, other marine research groups and Force Blue, a nonprofit that aids returning combat veterans through mission-focused programs to help the world’s ocean environment. Green sea turtles in the southern Atlantic Ocean are classified as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.\n\nGeorgia\n\nRoswell: The city could begin penalizing hotels that burden police with an outsized number of calls for help. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a hotel safety ordinance was proposed for Roswell on Tuesday by City Council member Mike Palermo. He says there are just a few hotels in town that burden taxpayers with frequent calls for help. The newspaper says most of the calls involved drug use and prostitution. The proposed bill would punish these hotels by dividing 911 calls by the number of rooms and charging offenders accordingly. A similar act that passed narrowly in Alpharetta last month would require a 100-room hotel making 42 calls for police service in a year to hire an off-duty police officer nightly for $90,000 a year. The law would not penalize medical and fire calls.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: A snake stowed away in a man’s bag and remained undetected until it completed the trip from Florida to Hawaii, officials said. The southern black racer snake slithered out of the man’s backpack when he arrived on Maui on Monday, KGMB-TV reports. Snakes have no natural predators in Hawaii and pose a threat to Hawaii’s native species. The Virginia man was not aware of the animal until it emerged after he arrived at a vacation rental property in the community of Pukalani, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The non-venomous snake measured about a foot long and a quarter-inch in diameter, officials said. The property owner told the visitor that snakes are illegal in Hawaii and alerted police, who captured the snake along with state Department of Land and Natural Resources personnel.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: The state Supreme Court says law enforcement officers can’t arrest someone for a misdemeanor unless they have a warrant or actually saw the crime being committed. The unanimous ruling made Wednesday has advocacy organizations scrambling because it likely means police will have to dramatically change how they respond to domestic violence calls. The ruling came in a drug conviction case, but the high court noted the Idaho Constitution’s provision against unlawful search and seizure doesn’t allow warrantless arrests without probable cause. That means no misdemeanor arrests unless the officer saw the crime. Officers responding to domestic violence calls often arrest the person they suspect of committing the violence on a misdemeanor charge as a way of separating those involved and defusing the situation.\n\nIllinois\n\nSpringfield: Abraham Lincoln history buffs will have the chance to learn more about the courtship and marriage of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is hosting tours over the summer that will let visitors learn about their unexpected romance. It’s called “Abe and Mary: Quite Contrary.” Tour guide Jen Brownell says Lincoln and Todd were different on so many levels from education to temperament, yet they seemed to complement each other. The free tours will be offered Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. until Aug. 7. The tour covers 1.5 miles and will take about an hour. Visitors are encouraged to reserve a space online.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Butler University is planning a $100 million upgrade and expansion of its science facilities that will become the school’s largest single investment to date. The private Indianapolis college announced Thursday that its trustees approved the three-phase project last week. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports the school says the project will create 96,000 square feet of space for a science complex featuring “high-tech classrooms, modern research labs and collaborative working spaces.” Construction on the first two phases is expected to be completed within about 18 months. Butler’s science program enrollment has increased 70% in the past decade, causing the department to outgrow its space. Administrators hope to raise at least $42 million through philanthropy and have already secured $27.5 million in donations. A bond issue will fund the remainder.\n\nIowa\n\nArnolds Park: The Iowa Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s hundreds of inductee exhibits have been moved to a new and bigger space in Arnolds Park. They can be found now in the same building that houses the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum. The Hall of Fame had been in the Roof Garden, an open-air complex next to the amusement park. The garden was demolished and is being rebuilt as part of the multimillion-dollar Restore the Park campaign. The new Hall of Fame museum has three times more space than the old version for the photos, videos and memorabilia from bands, musicians and radio personalities. Highlights include recording equipment from Iowa studios, contracts to perform at the Roof Garden that were signed by the likes of Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison, and a bright red suit worn on stage by the late Tommy Bolin, a Sioux City native and guitarist for such bands as Deep Purple and the James Gang.\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: The new owners of a long-abandoned amusement park want to transform it into an outdoor event center and paintball range. The Wichita Eagle reports that the plan is set to go to the City Council next month after winning approval from planners and neighbors. Councilman James Clendenin says he’s pleased to see some redevelopment finally occurring at the site. He says the area has been a nuisance since Joyland shut down for good in 2006. After years of vandalism, a fire destroyed much of what remained in August 2018. Three months later, Gregory and Tina Dunnegan bought Joyland’s 57 acres at auction for $198,000. A consultant wrote in a site proposal that the owners envision temporary outdoor festivals and amusement rides to “capture the old flavor of Joyland.”\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: Donated blood generally has a six-week shelf life, but University of Louisville researchers are testing a way to convert red blood cells into a longer-lasting powder that potentially could save the lives of soldiers, trauma patients and maybe even astronauts. U of L professors Michael Menze and Jonathan Kopechek, as well as Ph.D. candidate Brett Janis, have spent two years developing this “freeze-dried” approach to storing blood, which has drawn interest from the U.S. military, NASA, emergency responders and other groups. “So many people told us, ‘We really want this. We really need this,’ ” Kopechek said. Menze, Kopechek, Janis and U of L students have devised a process of preserving red blood cells though freezing and dehydration. The powder remains viable at a wider range of temperatures than donated blood, which has to be refrigerated.\n\nLouisiana\n\nNew Orleans: The U.S. Justice Department says hate crime charges have been filed in connection with three fires that destroyed African American churches earlier this year. A news release from the department says 21-year-old Holden Matthews faces three counts of intentional damage to religious property. He’s also charged with three counts of using fire to commit a felony. The indictment says the fires were set “because of the religious character” of the properties. Matthews has pleaded not guilty to related state charges. His attorney declined comment on the federal charges. Three historic African American churches were burned over 10 days, beginning in late March, in and around the city of Opelousas. The June 6 federal indictment was unsealed Wednesday.\n\nMaine\n\nAugusta: The state legalized medically assisted suicide Wednesday, becoming the eighth in the nation to allow terminally ill people to end their lives with prescribed medication. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who had previously said she was unsure about the bill, signed it in her office. “It is my hope that this law, while respecting the right to personal liberty, will be used sparingly,” Mills said. While still controversial, assisted suicide legislation is winning increasing acceptance in the United States, and this year at least 18 states considered such measures. Maine’s bill would allow doctors to prescribe terminally ill people a fatal dose of medication. The bill declares that obtaining or administering life-ending medication is not suicide under state law, thereby legalizing the practice often called medically assisted suicide.\n\nMaryland\n\nBaltimore: A jury has awarded nearly $3 million to an inmate who was beaten by prison guards almost six years ago in what his attorney called a “systemwide failure.” The Daily Record of Baltimore reports jurors awarded $2.7 million to Kevin Younger, who was assaulted by officers at the Maryland Reception, Diagnostics & Classification Center in Baltimore in 2013. Officers beat Younger the day after he witnessed other inmates assaulting a guard. Younger’s lawsuit said three officers attacked him as “misplaced retaliation” because they believed he was involved in the attack. Attorney David Daneman said the attack resulted from a “systemwide failure” at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: A lawsuit being filed against state officials says the education funding system shortchanges low-income school districts. Advocates planned to announce the lawsuit at the Statehouse on Thursday on behalf of more than a dozen parents around the state. The plaintiffs argue that the current formula used by the state to distribute education money to school districts violates the civil rights of children in underfunded communities. The lawsuit comes amid behind-the-scenes efforts on Beacon Hill to revamp the 1993 formula which many critics view as outdated and responsible for a widening gap in academic achievement between students from wealthier communities and their less-advantaged urban counterparts. Plans to overhaul the spending formula have been introduced by Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, but no consensus has been reached.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is marking Black Music Month with a concert featuring many of Detroit’s prominent musical, visual and literary artists. Singer Joan Belgrave, wife of late jazz trumpeting great Marcus Belgrave, is producing and performing at the June 27 concert, “Our Music Our Lives.” The show aims to explore connections between music and the American black experience. It will include works from slavery through modern times and span several genres, including R&B, jazz, gospel, blues and spoken word. Dance and graphic art also will be featured. Scheduled performers also include Mark Scott of the Miracles, Motown Legends Gospel Choir, poet and playwright Bill Harris, and the Lisa McCall Dancers. Black Music Month was recognized by President Jimmy Carter 40 years ago.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Paul: President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for spring storms and flooding that caused nearly $40 million in damage to infrastructure across the state. Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that the declaration will provide federal emergency relief money for 51 Minnesota counties and four tribal governments. Walz had requested the federal aid in a letter to Trump two weeks ago. The governor says that “Minnesota is on the road to recovery,” and the incoming federal money “will expedite that process enormously.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized using federal public assistance funds to reimburse affected communities for response and recovery costs. FEMA will pay 75% of eligible expenses. The state will cover the other 25% from the Disaster Assistance Contingency Account.\n\nMississippi\n\nPicayune: A city worker was passing by a home when he noticed it was on fire and saved a girl inside who had woken up to find smoke filling her room. The Picayune Item reports Stanley Hart saw smoke coming from the house Tuesday morning. Hart and a neighbor, Mark Jones, arrived to find a 15-year-old girl inside who was knocking on the window for help to get out. Hart called 911, and then he and Jones broke the window with a cinder block to rescue the teen. Fire officials say the initial investigation shows the fire started near the kitchen stove. The 15-year-old was airlifted to a hospital in New Orleans. No one else was in the home at the time of the fire.\n\nMissouri\n\nBranson: This tourist town is getting a new science attraction called WonderWorks. The Orlando, Florida-based operation announced this week that the new location will open in November in the former theater for the Baldknobbers, one of the longest-running country music shows in town. WonderWorks bills itself as “the indoor amusement park for the mind.” Chief operations officer Janine Vaccarello says it appeals to all age groups, with a lot of hands-on activities and themed areas that cater to the interests of the communities where WonderWorks has a presence. The Branson location will have a military room and a space devoted to the city’s history. WonderWorks has five other locations, including in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Panama City Beach, Florida; and Syracuse, New York.\n\nMontana\n\nGreat Falls: Campers and hikers used to seeing “pack it in, pack it out” signs may soon be seeing some “pull your share” notices as well. The Pull Your Share movement, started by Great Falls High teacher Dan Wilkins three years ago, encourages people to spend five to 15 minutes on their trips pulling out noxious, nonnative knapweed at campgrounds and other sites. An annual Pull Your Share field trip has teachers and students from local high schools heading out to pull the weeds in hopes of encouraging all recreationists to “pull their share.” Since the first year, it’s grown from two students and one teacher to 190 students and nine teachers. Wilkins says knapweed cannot be used by wildlife or domestic livestock and doesn’t have enough nutrition for them to survive.\n\nNebraska\n\nLincoln: A city councilman says an ordinance that forces the Muslim owners of a new hookah lounge to serve alcohol in violation of their faith must change. The ordinance requires businesses in Lincoln that allow smoking indoors to have a liquor license. Those businesses must stock and serve booze. The Lincoln Journal-Star reports that Councilman Roy Christensen has been working with city lawyers to write a new ordinance that would allow businesses like 88 Hookah Lounge to operate in compliance with the owners’ faith and local rules. Cigar bars are legal in Nebraska under the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act as long as they do not sell anything else. City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick says the difficulty will be drafting a law that allows the hookah lounge to serve non-alcoholic beverages.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: The city is closing down some downtown streets as NASA resumes a series of drone tests in high-density urban settings. Beginning Friday, Lake Street will be closed from 1st to 2nd streets from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. through June 20, and again June 23-25. Chism Street also will be closed from Dickerson to 2nd Street from June 14 to July 2. It’s part of the final stage of a four-year effort to develop a national drone traffic management system. NASA and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems conducted initial tests last month, flying drones for the first time above Reno streets beyond the operator’s line of sight. They’re researching emerging technology that someday will be used to manage hundreds of thousands of small unmanned commercial aircraft delivering packages.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nRye: Jenness State Beach is getting an upgrade. The state Parks and Recreation Department is hosting a ribbon-cutting celebration for the new bathhouse at the Rye beach on Friday at 1:30 p.m. The design is similar to the style of the facilities at Hampton Beach State Park and North Hampton State Beach. It features exterior changing rooms, rinse-off showers and a family bathroom. The bathhouse is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily until Labor Day. It replaces the previous bathhouse, built in 1980. Jenness Beach is one of five state park beaches along New Hampshire’s seacoast.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nFort Lee: A little more than a year after the death of celebrity chef and native son Anthony Bourdain, the Garden State is honoring his memory with the launch of the Anthony Bourdain Food Trail, a statewide tribute that includes 10 of the restaurants he visited for a 2015 episode of his CNN food and travel show “Parts Unknown.” The food trail kicked off Thursday and continues Friday with statewide ceremonies featuring Chris Bourdain, the late chef’s brother; New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way; and Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism. Thursday’s event locations included Hiram’s Roadstand in Fort Lee and Frank’s Deli in Asbury Park. Sites slated for Friday visits, open to the public, are James’ Salt Water Taffy in Atlantic City and Donkey’s Place in Camden.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: The U.S. Air Force has begun construction on a facility at Kirtland Air Force Base that officials say will play a role in the proposed “space defense.” The Albuquerque Journal reports the Air Force Research Laboratory’s $12.8 million Space Control Laboratory will consolidate efforts on the base. The new facility will include office and lab space for 65 civilian and military contractors. It will contain a 5,000 square-foot high-bay laboratory space and more than 5,000 square feet of secure office, laboratory and meeting space. Air Force Col. Eric Felt says space is now “a war-fighting domain.” President Donald Trump has proposed creating a new U.S. Space Force – a plan that has hit widespread resistance on Capitol Hill.\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: The state would become the 13th to permit driver’s licenses for immigrants who entered the country illegally under legislation passed by the state Assembly on Wednesday. The measure has the support of liberal groups, the state’s largest business organization and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. Yet its fate remains uncertain in the state Senate, which has not scheduled a vote on the bill. During floor debate in the Assembly, Democrats argued that immigrant families deserve to have the same ability to drive given to other New Yorkers. Licensing immigrants, they said, would improve road safety and help the businesses that rely on immigrant employees. “This bill is common sense,” said Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, D-Bronx and sponsor of the legislation.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: An increasing number of North Carolinians live with hepatitis C, many unaware they’re infected. In response to a dramatic statewide spike in infections fueled by the opioid crisis, the state launched a multimillion dollar initiative Thursday to fight the virus, seeking to increase access to screenings and treatment. It is funded by biotech company Gilead Sciences and partners with local health care providers and the Harm Reduction Coalition, which advocates for health services for drug users. The state’s health department estimates that 110,000 people in North Carolina live with hepatitis C and that in 2017, 186 people were newly diagnosed, a roughly fivefold increase from a decade earlier. The virus can cause severe liver damage or death. In 2016, the most recent year that data is available, 511 people died in North Carolina of hepatitis C-related causes.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nMandan: State residents are donating blood to fill a shortage this summer that a blood transfusion nonprofit says is leaving hospitals in the region without enough donations to meet their needs. Vitalant serves hospitals in North Dakota and parts of South Dakota. The organization’s donor recruitment official, Colleen Scott, tells the Bismarck Tribune that the region’s blood supply was critical in February because of people getting sick and snowstorms affecting blood drives. But she says donations have significantly dropped in the summer months, when people are typically busier. Vitalant is hosting daily blood drives, reaching out to loyal donors and encouraging everyone to bring a friend.\n\nOhio\n\nCincinnati: In honor of LGBTQ Pride month, more than 100 Cincinnati Bell employees used Post-it notes this week to create a Pride mural on the north side of the company’s Atrium 2 headquarters. The mural extends from the 9th floor to the 16th floor and is made up of approximately 26,000 sticky notes put on 96 windows. And for the first time, Cincinnati Bell illuminated its signage on top of Atrium II using Pride colors Wednesday night. Both the mural and the Atrium 2 illumination will remain through the end of June. The company is a corporate sponsor of Cincinnati’s Pride Parade, set for June 22.\n\nOklahoma\n\nPryor: Google has announced a $600 million expansion project at a data center in Pryor and a $6 million grant for computer science education for students in 4-H chapters in rural areas of 20 states. The announcement was made Thursday outside the data center. The expansion project is expected to add about 100 jobs to the more than 400 now employed at the center that opened in 2011. National 4-H Council President Jennifer Sirangelo said the grant through Google.org will focus on computer science training for an estimated 1 million children in rural areas that have limited access to computer science education. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the grant will be used to teach coding and leadership skills to students.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: The city has launched a program to distribute portable toilets in order to reduce cleanup costs and improve public health and hygiene. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Mayor Ted Wheeler proposed the Hygiene Street Response initiative after receiving numerous complaints about human feces in public places. Wheeler says that beyond cleanliness, bathrooms are needed to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as hepatitis A. The city council voted last month to provide $877,000 in funding. Officials say the program will deploy six portable toilets in high-need areas and build mobile bathrooms and shower trailers to be given to nonprofit groups serving the homeless population. A city report says disposal of more than 3,300 gallons of waste, without including other related fees, cost $26,480 for one year.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPhiladelphia: Dozens of rare 13-star American flags never before exhibited will be on display at the Museum of the American Revolution. Antique flag dealer and expert Jeff Bridgman has loaned the historic flags to the Philadelphia museum for display starting Friday, which is Flag Day. The flags feature 32 arrangements of 13 stars representing the 13 original colonies. There was no official pattern for the stars until 1912. Flag makers had previously arranged the stars however they wanted. A highlight of the display is a nearly 6-foot flag that features 13 stars that roughly form the letters “U” and “S.” Three flags from flag maker Sarah McFadden, known as the “Betsy Ross of New York,” will be on display. “A New Constellation: A Collection of Historic 13-Star Flags” runs through July 14.\n\nRhode Island\n\nCoventry: A man sick of potholes has taken matters into his own hands. WJAR-TV reports that Seth Kerstetter spent his own money Sunday to fill holes on Centre of New England Boulevard in Coventry. Kerstetter was at Home Depot when he decided to purchase supplies and fix the most problematic potholes. He blocked traffic, put out traffic cones and worked for about two hours. The boulevard is lined with shopping centers and apartments. Because it is privately owned, neither the town nor the state is responsible for its upkeep. The road is in receivership and under the supervision of attorney Matthew McGowan. McGowan says because the developer ran out of money, the road was never properly surfaced. He says an effort is underway to find money to fix it.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nGreenville: Autumn the giraffe is pregnant again at the Greenville Zoo. The 13-year-old female Masai giraffe is expected to give birth in early July. Autumn gave birth to her first calf, Kiko, in 2012. Kiko now lives at the Toronto Zoo. She had a second pregnancy in 2014 that ended with a stillborn calf. Autumn later gave birth to Tatu in 2016. Tatu was later transferred to the Lehigh Valley Zoo. In January, Autumn gave birth to Kiden, her first calf to be fathered by Miles, a 10-year-old male giraffe who still lives at Greenville Zoo. Miles is also the father of the expected calf. In the past, Autumn’s previous calves were transferred before she gave birth. This time, Kiden will remain with his parents through the birth. The public can keep an eye on Autumn’s pregnancy progress via the zoo’s webcam.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: Local artists are taking to the streets, literally, in an effort to keep the area’s rivers healthy. The city’s Downtown Storm Inlet Art Project, now in its third year, aims to remind citizens the dangers of throwing and dumping “litter, debris and hazardous chemicals” into storm drains, which are direct lines to the Big Sioux River running through the heart of Sioux Falls. Artists Molly O’Connor and Ashton Dockendorf painted two of the six new inlets of 2019 on Dakota Avenue last Friday, with motifs depicting the value of aquatic well-being. Eighteen total painted inlets sit along a seven-block stretch. The Big Sioux River could use some help, says Jessica Sexe, the city’s sustainability coordinator. Sediment from farms and lawns has left the Big Sioux listed as an “impaired water body” unsafe for swimming, kayaking and canoeing.\n\nTennessee\n\nMemphis: The Tennessee Valley Authority is ready to clean up and demolish the Allen Fossil plant in South Memphis. But plans to do so are drawing concern from environmental groups that say the cleanup process has not been publicly vetted and involves pumping dangerous amounts of arsenic solids into the Mississippi River. Inactive since March 2018, the once coal-powered Allen plant still contains an estimated 3 million cubic yards of coal ash waste and other combustible residuals. The water near and in these coal ash pits and their stilling ponds was recently ranked among the worst in the nation for contamination due to the high amount of arsenic present in the water. TVA has said its preferred option for cleaning up the coal ash ponds is removal, but doing so involves a process called “dewatering,” a plan the Southern Environmental Law Center has criticized.\n\nTexas\n\nCollege Station: Friends and family of former President George H.W. Bush gathered in Texas on Wednesday to mark the first day of issue for the U.S. Postal Service stamp honoring him. The event was held on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, where Bush’s presidential library is located. Bush died in Houston on Nov. 30 at the age of 94. Speakers at the event, which was held on what would have been Bush’s 95th birthday, talked about the 41st president’s prolific letter writing. His grandson Pierce Bush said his grandfather’s words, dreams and hopes live on through his letters. “His letters showed his unique ability to lift others up, just at the time they needed to be lifted,” he said. George H.W. Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993.\n\nUtah\n\nCapitol Reef National Park: Officials say vandals have etched an image of an eye onto a sandstone rock formation at Capitol Reef National Park. Park visitors reported the graffiti on the Temple of the Moon monolith in the remote Cathedral Valley on June 6. Park officials say the etching is more than 2 feet wide and about 1 1/ 2 feet tall. Officials are determining if the graffiti can be removed or hidden. Defacing national park structures is a federal crime punishable by jail time and fines. Park law enforcement officers are investigating the vandalism. Information on the crime can be called in or submitted on the National Park Service website.\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: State health insurance regulators are planning to tweak Medicaid rules so transgender youth no longer have to wait until age 21 to seek gender-affirming surgery. The changes are aimed at removing barriers for people seeking a suite of surgeries in order to alleviate gender dysphoria, a conflict between a person’s gender identity and physical gender, says Nissa James, policy director for the Department of Vermont Health Access. Gender-affirming surgeries covered by Medicaid include 16 types of genital surgery, as well as breast augmentation or mastectomy, a surgery that removes the whole breast. The changes would be “enormously positive” for transgender people, especially those in their late teens, says Dr. Rachel Inker, who runs the Transgender Health Clinic at the Community Health Centers of Burlington.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: A state agency has issued permits for three new solar projects. Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has signed off on two new projects in Halifax County and one project in Orange County. Combined, the new projects are expected to generate more than 200 megawatts, or enough energy to power about 25,000 homes. Virginia has seen a dramatic increase in solar facilities in recent years, driven largely by large technology companies seeking carbon-free energy sources for data centers.\n\nWashington\n\nSeattle: The state says drivers won’t pay tolls to use the city’s downtown Highway 99 tunnel until this fall. The Seattle Times reports Washington State Department of Transportation toll spokeswoman Emily Glad said Wednesday that no specific date has been set. When the four-lane tunnel opened Feb. 4, the state intended to begin collecting money from drivers this summer. But if tolling started now, drivers would encounter even worse congestion on Alaskan Way, where demolition crews are taking down the Alaskan Way Viaduct, and on First Avenue, which is crowded with detouring buses that had used the viaduct. State lawmakers approved the tunnel in 2009 to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct and now have required that tolls raise $200 million toward the $3.2 billion project.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: A beekeeping garden has been added to the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center in hopes that it will help the building attain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the first urban beekeeping garden in the city was set up last week on the convention center’s balcony. Along with three beehives, the garden contains flowers and herbs. Assistant Director Jim Smith says it’s also a way to show the public how the center participates in sustainability efforts, as well as recycling and energy management. In its quest for certification, Director John Robertson says the facility is implementing a more efficient air conditioning system and reducing the amount of electric and water used.\n\nWisconsin\n\nWestfield: Izzle, Timon, Batman, River and Mars spent years confined inside a lab, their lives devoted to being tested for the benefit of human health. But these rhesus macaques have paid their dues and are now living in retirement – in larger enclosures that let them venture outside, eat lettuce and carrots, dip their fingers in colorful plastic pools, paint, and hang from pipes and tires – in relative quiet. More research labs are retiring primates to sanctuaries like Primates Inc., a 17-acre rural compound in central Wisconsin, where they can live their remaining years, according to the sanctuaries and researchers. For some monkeys, it’s their first time hanging out in the fresh air. There were approximately 110,000 primates in research facilities in 2017, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.\n\nWyoming\n\nCasper: The Eastern Shoshone Tribe has joined a growing list of municipalities and groups nationwide in suing the makers and distributers of prescription painkillers. The Casper Star-Tribune reports the tribe announced Tuesday it had filed a federal lawsuit against two dozen companies, claiming they used deceptive marketing to convince doctors to prescribe opioids for treatment of chronic pain. The tribe says the opioid crisis has caused substantial increases in child welfare and social service costs. The lawsuit notes the opioid crisis has disproportionately affected Native Americans. The lawsuit is similar to those filed by other Wyoming entities, including the city of Casper and the Northern Arapaho Tribe.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/06/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2019/09/30/disney-skyliner-mark-twain-moose-decline-news-around-states/40222123/", "title": "50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nBirmingham: Alabama Power said it’s reducing water releases from its hydroelectric dams because of a drought affecting the state. The move is intended to prevent lakes from shrinking too much. But a statement from the utility said that without rain, water levels will still likely fall below normal on lakes including Weiss, Henry, Logan Martin, Harris, Martin and Smith. Parts of the state haven’t had substantial rainfall in weeks, and a federal assessment shows more than 80% of Alabama is abnormally dry or in a drought. Conditions are worse in eastern and central parts of Alabama. Montgomery is more than 6 inches below normal, and Troy is more than 10 inches below normal rainfall. Totals are more than 3 inches off in Birmingham.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: Scientists have confirmed an increasing number of moon jellyfish floating around Juneau waters. The Juneau Empire reported Friday that warm ocean temperatures and plentiful food in the form of zooplankton have contributed to the increased sightings. A marine biology professor said the moon jellyfish known as Aurelia aurita have reached maturity after spawning in early spring. Experts said residents could be stung and urge people not to pick up beached jellyfish. Scientists said the sting of a moon jellyfish is considered less painful than the sting of some others. Experts have recommended watching the jellyfish from a pier for the best views. Scientists said there are concerns that too many jellyfish in the water could throw off the ecosystem because they would eat too many zooplankton\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix:A major construction project to widen Interstate 17 north of Phoenix is moving closer to its start date, as the Arizona Department of Transportation prepares a request for proposals for construction companies that want to be part of the work. The Anthem to Sunset Point rest area project, which is moving ahead after a $90 million federal grant announced earlier this year, should break ground in 2021 and be done by 2023, according to the department. A host of elected officials gathered at the outlet mall in Anthem on Thursday to highlight how the widening will benefit the estimated 1 million residents and visitors who travel the road annually, particularly those who get stuck in hours-long backups on weekends. Delays lasting several hours are a weekend tradition. Crashes, even minor, clog the roadway as people head north to campsites and cabins on Fridays and Saturdays, and as they head home on Sundays. The plan will add a third northbound and third southbound lane to the road between Anthem and Black Canyon City.\n\nArkansas\n\nPine Bluff: A casino in Pine Bluff held a surprise “soft opening,” four days before its planned grand opening. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported the Oklahoma-based Quapaw Nation’s Saracen Casino Annex opened at 6 p.m. Friday with about 300 slot machines and a full-service bar. Saracen Casino Resort spokesman Carlton Saffa said the facility is a preview of the 80,000-square-foot casino that will have a 13-floor, 300-room hotel across the street by the end of next year. Saffa said the soft opening was planned to be invitation-only, but those plans were changed because of high interest. The Arkansas Racing Commission in June approved the license for the casino after Arkansas voters last year approved a constitutional amendment legalizing casino gambling in four counties.\n\nCalifornia\n\nLos Angeles: Investigators completed a two-week examination of the charred wreckage of a scuba diving boat and could not determine what ignited the fire that killed 34 people off the Southern California coast, a law enforcement official said Friday. The boat, named Conception, was anchored just off Santa Cruz Island when it caught fire and sank early on Sept. 2. It was raised and brought to Port Hueneme, a naval base northwest of Los Angeles, where specially trained teams from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tried to figure out what sparked the blaze. They completed their work there without finding the cause, but the investigation will continue, said the official, who was not authorized to release the information publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Pieces of the boat have been sent to labs for additional testing, and investigators are poring through hundreds of documents seized from the boat’s operator, Truth Aquatics Inc., the official said. Some parts of the boat washed away when it was submerged.\n\nColorado\n\nPueblo: Gov. Jared Polis, a solar developer, an energy company and a steel plant have announced a large solar project in Pueblo. The Chieftain reported Lightsource BP would build, own and operate the proposed 240-megawatt solar facility on property owned by EVRAZ North America, a steel manufacturer. The project would sell its power to Xcel Energy, which would sell it to the steel plant. The Bighorn Solar Project would be one of the state’s largest. It would give EVRAZ a long-term contract that provides the steel mill price certainty through 2041. EVRAZ North America president and CEO Skip Herald said Friday the solar power makes possible a planned $480 million investment aimed at producing longer railroad rails. The mill employs about 1,100 people. The solar project would create about 300 jobs in construction, operations and maintenance.\n\nConnecticut\n\nLebanon: A generations-old question over who owns the mile-long green at the center of the city has been resolved after two years of negotiations and court hearings. The green, little changed from the days when French troops camped on it during the Revolutionary War, is the center of community life in the town of just over 7,200 people. But several years ago, plans to expand a library on the edge of the green were thwarted because a document dating to 1705 showed the green actually belonged to the “heirs and assigns” of the 17th and early 18th-century investors in the property. This month a judge signed off on the last piece of a plan that awards ownership and control of most of the land to the town.\n\nDelaware\n\nWilmington:Incyte, a Wilmington pharmaceutical company, is preparing to expand its Augustine Cut-Off headquarters. Two years ago, the company opened a 154,000 square-foot office building next to the former John Wanamaker building, which has served as the company’s home since 2014. The latest expansion, consisting of a six-story lab and office building, and a two-story parking deck, is supposed to bring all of Incyte’s employees to one campus. Some of Incyte’s roughly 700 employees work in leased spaces in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington. Since 2014, the company has consistently outgrown its buildings, said Paula Swain, Incyte’s head of human resources of facilities. New Castle County Council approved the expansion project Tuesday. Swain expects construction to begin in October and end in about two years.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: Beach Drive has reopened after a major rehabilitation project, WUSA-TV reported. Crews completed the fourth and final section of more than 6 miles of work on Friday. Construction crews kept busy on Beach Drive until the bitter end, using every minute leading up to the noon Friday deadline to ensure the 23,000 tons of new asphalt was ready for drivers. The National Park Service, along with the Federal Highway Administration, oversaw the project, installing new pavement markers, center-line rumble strips, guardrails and road signs. It’s a major improvement from the potholes of before. Crews also installed a new drainage system. Fourteen new retention ponds now prevent runoff into Rock Creek. Because Beach Drive is part of a National Park, the road was not expanded beyond its original footprint.\n\nFlorida\n\nLake Buena Vista: Walt Disney World on Friday introduced its newest way to get around the resort: an aerial cable car system that whisks visitors from hotels to theme parks three stories above the ground while going 11 mph. The Disney Skyliner cable cars opening to visitors on Sunday are the latest addition to one of the largest private transportation systems in the U.S. The almost 300 enclosed cable cars join 423 buses, 61 mini-vans (appropriately named Minnie Vans), 30 parking lot trams, 29 watercraft and 12 monorail trains. With the Skyliner air gondolas, visitors get neon-colored cars painted with the images of almost two dozen Disney characters taking them on the three lines to five stations where they can access nine resorts and two parks. Disney World has four theme parks and more than two dozen resorts. No more than 10 people are allowed in each cable car. A car will arrive every 10 seconds, allowing the cabins to handle about 3,000 people an hour.\n\nGeorgia\n\nMacon: An ongoing drought has made outdoor burning in Georgia more dangerous than previous years, state officials said. In the past three months, the Georgia Forestry Commission said firefighters have responded to – on average – about 41% more fires. Drought conditions are worsening, affecting more than 11 million people and threatening crops across a five-state area from Louisiana to South Carolina, federal officials said. In Georgia, residents should postpone open burning if conditions are not favorable, Forestry Commission Chief of Protection Frank Sorrells said in a statement. The main cause of wildfires is debris that escapes from a fire, he said. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has summer burning restrictions in place in 54 Georgia counties to protect air quality. State officials will resume issuing burn permits in these counties once the restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, The Telegraph reported.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Retail firm DFS Hawaii plans to lay off 165 of its 660 employees in three locations across Hawaii’s islands, officials said. Financial losses from decreases in the international travel market prompted the staff reductions announced Thursday, company officials said. DFS Hawaii said positions are expected to be cut at two Oahu locations, including T Galleria in Waikiki and the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, as well as the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on the Big Island. The affected employees worked in the management, sales, operations and clerical departments. Eligible workers will receive severance packages based on their individual years of service, officials said. DFS Hawaii caters largely to international travelers. The company’s flagship store in Waikiki opened in 1975 and is now the chain’s sixth-largest galleria store worldwide. The first DFS Hawaii duty-free shop in the United States was established at what was previously known as Honolulu International Airport, now the Inouye International Airport.\n\nIdaho\n\nCaldwell: KIVI-TV reported The College of Idaho is teaming with local company indieDwell to build new dorms out of repurposed shipping containers. Associate Dean of Students Jen Nelson said the school was eager to find a housing solution that would be quick and affordable. The dorm units will have five single rooms surrounding a common area. Once the shipping container dorms are completed early next year, the school will have 54 new rooms. School officials said that will help alleviate the shortage. At this time, students are even being housed in the vacant President’s House on campus.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: Barack and Michelle Obama will speak next month at a summit in Chicago focused on the vision for the Obama Presidential Center. The event will include young leaders from around the world and participants of programs run by the Obama Foundation. It’s the third such summit. Officials said the theme is “Places Reveal Our Purpose.” Organizers said the summit will show how the Obama Presidential Center “connects to a growing global network of leaders.” The center is planned along the lakefront of Chicago’s South Side. It’s near where Obama started his political career and lived with his family. The $500 million center is expected to house a public library branch, house multimedia collections and have community programs, among other things.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Federal officials said an Indiana company is recalling 744 pounds of ready-to-eat pork products which might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Saturday that the products by Fisher Packing Company in Redkey were shipped statewide. They were packaged in late August. The products include smoked ham, smoked ham shanks and Canadian bacon. They have the establishment number “74SEIN” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The products should be thrown out or returned. Federal officials said the problem was discovered when the company found that a sample confirmed positive for Listeria monocytogenes. Consumption of foods contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause a serious infection primarily affecting the elderly, people with weak immune systems and pregnant women and their newborns. There have no confirmed illness reports.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: Iowa now has 24.9 million pigs on farms, a record number and up 6% from last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the figures Friday for the quarter ending Sept. 1. It showed Iowa farms have just over 1 million breeding pigs and 23.9 million market hogs, or those raised for meat. The growth in hog numbers comes as environmental groups are trying to force the state to slow expansion of pig farms. A state court judge on Sept. 10 said two environmental groups may proceed to trial in their lawsuit alleging the state’s policy of expanding hog farms and its voluntary farm pollution controls violate the rights of citizens to clean water in the Raccoon River. The USDA said the national inventory of pigs is at 77.7 million, the highest number for Sept. 1 since records began in 1988.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: State wildlife officials are working on plans to stop a continuing drop in the number of young people who are interested in hunting, in part because the decline could lead to fewer dollars for conservation. For years, Kansas encouraged young hunters by conducting guided hunts. But those classes are losing participants for a variety of reasons, including more entertainment options, more children living in cities and a lack of public hunting land, Kansas News Service reported. Kansas remains popular for out-of-state hunters, with the number of licenses and permits more than doubling over the past two decades to more than 150,000. But in-state licenses have declined about 14%. Hunting licenses contribute about $28 million to the state’s conservation coffers, which gets about 60% of its funding from the licenses. Because out-of-state licenses cost more, their popularity has offset having fewer Kansas hunters. But 2019 was the first in five years where nonresident sales declined. Hunting advocates said one factor contributing to the decline is a lack of public hunting land. Less than 2% of Kansas land is free for public hunting, according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Tourism.\n\nKentucky\n\nFrankfort:Kentucky’s Division of Water and Department for Public Health are issuing a public health advisory for harmful algal bloom along the Ohio River. The advisory is for people using the waters for recreation. The advisory area is from the McAlpine Dam near Louisville to the Greenup Dam near Greenup in northeastern Kentucky. State officials also issued an advisory for Briggs Lake near Russellville. The advisory means algal toxins have been found at various locations along the water. Swimming, wading, and other water activities are not recommended during the advisory. State officials said ingested water might increase the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It can also cause skin irritation.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: The percentage of Louisiana’s people living in poverty has dipped slightly, but the state remains among the poorest in the nation. New data released Thursday from the Census Bureau showed 18.6% of Louisiana residents lived below the poverty line in 2018, compared to 19.7% a year earlier. By comparison, the national average in 2018 was 11.8%. The statistics show more than one-quarter of Louisiana’s children live in poverty. The state remained third-highest in the nation for its poverty rate, behind only Mississippi and New Mexico. Seven states had poverty rates of less than 10%. The census data shows Louisiana’s median income level reached $47,905 last year, well behind the U.S. average of $61,937.\n\nMaine\n\nActon: The devastating toll of ticks on New England’s moose herd has caused the region’s population to shrink, and experts worry it could get worse with climate change. The northern New England states are home to thousands of moose, but the herd has dwindled in the last decade, in part because of the winter ticks. The ticks infest moose and suck their blood dry, and sometimes tens of thousands are found on a single animal. Maine has the largest moose population east of Alaska and was home to some 76,000 animals about seven years ago. Lee Kantar, Maine’s moose biologist, said that number might now be as low as 50,000. Scientists in Maine are entering the final year of a multiyear study of the moose population in its northern and western areas.\n\nMaryland\n\nAnnapolis: An investigation at the U.S. Naval Academy has found it is “unlikely” a rope and knot found over a door in a construction area was meant to be a noose, but the possibility could not be definitively ruled out. The academy announced Friday that the rope resembled a common construction device used to hoist items, although it was draped over a door “for no readily apparent reason.” The academy said the investigation didn’t discover who placed the rope over the door or identify any existing racial animus on the job site. The academy announced an investigation earlier this month after receiving notice from the Caucus of African-American Leaders. The caucus was contacted anonymously about the rope on Aug. 28, the 56th anniversary of the March on Washington.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Starting on Wednesday, the USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat, will be open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The ship, berthed in Boston, will be closed on Oct. 22, then open for free public visits from Wednesday until Sunday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Guests can walk the ship at their own pace and ask questions to the ship’s active-duty Navy sailors, or listen to sailors give presentations on the ship’s history every 30 minutes. The USS Constitution played a crucial role in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, defending sea lanes from 1797 to 1855. It earned its nickname “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812.\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: State and local health departments will conduct aerial spraying for the first time since 1980 to combat a rare mosquito-borne virus that has killed three people and been recorded across the southern half of the state. The aerial spraying is set to begin Sunday and will include 14 counties where eastern equine encephalitis has been confirmed in humans or animals. The weather might determine the actual spraying schedule. Other states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have recently done aerial sprays. Michigan is encouraging officials in affected counties to consider postponing or rescheduling evening outdoor events until there is a hard frost. The number of U.S. deaths and illnesses from the virus are higher than usual this year.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Cloud:Bishop John Francis Kinney, bishop emeritus of St. Cloud, died Friday at Quiet Oaks Hospice in St. Augusta, according to the Diocese of St. Cloud. He was 82. Kinney, the eighth bishop of St. Cloud, headed the diocese from 1995 until his retirement in 2013. He spent 53 years as a priest, with 39 as bishop. During his retirement, Kinney lived at the Speltz House in Sauk Rapids. Kinney presided over the diocese during turbulent times as the Catholic Church became mired in allegations of sex abuse. In a 2016 interview with the St. Cloud Times, Kinney said the revelation of clergy sexual abuse was the most difficult thing he had to work through. Following the revelations, Kinney set up listening and information sessions that he attended in parishes around the diocese. In 1993, the then-National Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed him to chair an Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse. During his tenure as chair, the ad hoc committee published “Restoring Trust,” a document then used by dioceses to address sexual abuse in the church.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The state will get $1.25 million to evaluate the effects of freshwater from a Louisiana spillway on dolphins and sea turtles in the Mississippi Sound. The money from federal oil and gas revenue-sharing will go to Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Gov. Phil Bryant said in a news release Friday. The study will examine the abundance, health and habitat of dolphins and sea turtles in the area. The federal government said at least 310 dolphins have been stranded since February from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, 130 of them in Mississippi. Another 101 were in Louisiana, 42 in Alabama and 37 in Florida. Some have had skin lesions consistent with freshwater exposure, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carré Spillway twice this year to protect New Orleans levees, sending Mississippi River water into the Mississippi Sound for a total of 123 days. The first opening was from Feb. 27 until April 11 and the second from May 10 to July 27. The number of strandings peaked in May and fell sharply in June, according to NOAA.\n\nMissouri\n\nHannibal: Against all odds, what appears to be Samuel Clemens’ signature has turned up on the wall of the cave he made famous in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” In the mid-1800s, long before he adopted the pen name Mark Twain, Clemens and his young pals romped around the cave on the outskirts of Hannibal. As a group of Twain scholars toured what is known as the Mark Twain Cave this summer, cave owner Linda Coleberd and three other enthusiasts broke off in search of Clemens’ signature. It was long believed to be among the thousands of names signed on the limestone walls. A beam from a lone flashlight glanced along the cave wall and Lovell saw the name “Clemens” written in pencil. Experts said it is almost certainly authentic.\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: A group of history fans saw how ground-penetrating radar can be used to help discover unmarked graves Thursday, which was the first day of the 46th Montana History Conference in Helena. During a trip to the Silver City Cemetery north of Helena, University of Montana Ph.D. candidate Ethan Ryan, an archaeologist and ground-penetrating radar specialist, explained that he uses a 400 megahertz device with an electromagnetic pulse to detect anomalies underground. He can then use surface clues and disturbances to determine whether an unmarked grave might be nearby. Before the group went to the cemetery, Pam Attardo, preservation officer for the City of Helena and Lewis and Clark County, spoke about the ongoing preservation efforts happening there. She said the cemetery dates back to the days of the Wild West and is home to a number of graves, both marked and unmarked. Attardo shared some myths about the location, including a story about a group of outlaws captured in Silver City and eventually buried in the cemetery. However, no historical record of any such event exists, the Independent Record reported.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is holding a new Halloween event meant to replace the zoo’s previous long-running Spooktacular trick-or-treat event. The zoo’s Ghouls and Glow event kicked off Friday and will be held Thursdays through Saturdays every week until its last run on Oct. 24-25. The event will feature 400 lantern displays at the Bay Family’s Children’s Adventure Trails. Visitors will encounter dancing skeletons, candy monsters, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, witches, wizards, spider web arches and a mummy band. A number of bats, vultures, spiders and black cats will also light up the trails. Hundreds of hand-carved pumpkins will glisten along the zoo’s pathways, as well as a nearly 15-foot-tall pumpkin tree. Tickets for the event, ranging from $8 to $18, are available online and at the zoo.\n\nNevada\n\nFernley:A proposed industrial park east of Reno could benefit efforts to protect part of a desert trail used by the Donner Party and thousands of others as they journeyed west in the 1840s, historic preservationists and a federal official said. Known as the Fernley Swales, the deep sand trenches and grooves that are part of the California National Historic Trail were carved by wagons and oxen in the Forty Mile Desert between the Humboldt and Carson rivers just north of U.S. Interstate 80. The mile-long swales on the edge of the town of Fernley were protected in 2001 by a U.S. Bureau of Land Management easement that has remained in place despite changes in ownership. But the site is near a shooting range and often the scene of illegal dumping. Signs marking its historical significance are regularly riddled with bullet holes. Earlier this year, Mark IV Capital bought land in and around Fernley for its new Victory Logistics Center, including the parcel with the easement. Jon Nowlin, a member of the California-Nevada chapter of the Oregon-California Trail Association, said approval of Mark IV’s plans would require the dedication of some land to open space. Victoria Wilkins, acting field manager for the BLM’s Sierra Front Field Office, said it’s rare for the agency to have a historical easement surrounded by an industrial park, but the development could benefit the swales.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nManchester: One of two New Hampshire homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is on the market. The Toufic H. Kalil house in Manchester was built in 1955 and is an example the “Usonian Automatic” houses Wright designed as a more moderately-priced option for the post-war middle class. The house made of modular concrete blocks was built for a doctor and his wife who were inspired by the home of a friend whose Wright house was built on the same street. That property, the Zimmerman house, is now part of the Currier Museum of Art. The Kalil house is now for sale for the first time, being offered at $850,000 by the Paula Martin Group. It includes the original furniture and fixtures.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nNewark: State attorney general Gurbir Grewal is ordering two counties to end cooperation agreements with federal immigration authorities. Grewal’s announcement Friday came a day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 50 people in New Jersey. A directive this year limits law enforcement’s cooperation with ICE. But sheriff’s departments in Cape May and Monmouth counties have separate agreements to perform some immigration functions. Critics of New Jersey’s directive said it makes it easier for violent criminals to be released before they can be handed over to immigration authorities. Grewal said Friday the directive gives local authorities the ability to identify dangerous individuals to ICE for detention. Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden said Friday he would fight the order. Cape May County’s sheriff didn’t immediately respond to an email.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: Flags across New Mexico are at half-staff in honor of state Sen. Carlos Cisneros, who died earlier this month of a heart attack. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered flags lowered Friday in recognition of the long-time lawmaker lying in state. The senator’s casket, blanketed by a white cloth adorned with the state seal, was in place in the Rotunda for a public viewing. A funnel service is scheduled Saturday at a church in Santa Fe. Cisneros had recently announced his bid for re-election to represent a vast district that stretches from the state line with Colorado to the outskirts of Los Alamos, including Taos, Peñasco, Truchas and Pojoaque Pueblo. Cisneros joined the Senate in 1985 and went on to play a leading role in annual budget negotiations.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York City: A woman fighting cancer for the third time is thanking police for getting her to treatment after her car got stuck in United Nations-related traffic. Gabriela DeMassi said two officers volunteered to escort her and her parents through Thursday morning’s jam after she and her mother asked officers if they knew a better way to Manhattan’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. After getting through traffic, DeMassi, 28, said one officer greeted her with a smile and said: “Keep up the good fight. Never give up! You got this!” DeMassi recounted the experience in an Instagram post that went viral within the law enforcement community. NYPD Chief Terence Monahan left a comment thanking DeMassi for sharing the story. He closed by echoing the officer’s words: “You got this!”\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: The state’s health agency is urging people to make sure their vaccinations are up to date after several confirmed mumps cases at two private universities. The state Department of Health and Human Services said there have been seven confirmed cases combined at Elon University and High Point University as of Thursday. State and local public health workers are responding in part by vaccinating susceptible groups on campus. Mumps is a contagious virus causing swollen glands, puffy cheeks and fever, and can lead to more serious complications. DHHS said anyone with confirmed or suspected mumps needs to stay home and limit personal contact for five days, or until mumps is ruled out. The agency said vaccinations are the most effective way to prevent mumps or limit complications should mumps still occur.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The remains of a North Dakota sailor who died during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are coming home for burial at the state’s Veterans Cemetery. KFGO-TV reported that the remains of Radioman 2nd Class Floyd Wells were identified in June. His remains are arriving at Hector International Airport on Monday and burial is scheduled for Tuesday. Wells was a native of Cavalier. He was assigned to the USS Arizona, which was struck by torpedoes. The attack on the ship killed 1,177.\n\nOhio\n\nLancaster: The role of Ohio’s formidable run of early U.S. presidents in establishing lasting national customs like the White House Easter egg roll and West Wing war room is explored in a history exhibition running through late December. “The Ohio Presidents: Surprising Legacies “ opened this month at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, located in Lancaster about 30 miles southeast of Columbus. Objects include clothing, furniture, personal items and campaign posters of William Henry Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding. Curator Christine Fowler Shearer said the show features fun facts about the presidents that aren’t common knowledge. The artifacts and photographs were gathered from the Library of Congress, Ohio History Connection and elsewhere.\n\nOklahoma\n\nTahlequah: The new chief of the Cherokee Nation plans to invest $16 million into the tribe’s language preservation program, including a new cabinet-level position focused on its language, culture and community. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. announced the “Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act” in a statement on Friday. Feeling is a leading Cherokee linguist and one of an estimated 2,000 people the tribe identifies as “first-language” speakers, or those whose native language is Cherokee. The new plan includes a $5 million renovation of the former Cherokee Casino Tahlequah building into a new language center, and a $1.5 million annual appropriation for the next five years for its operation. The largest American Indian tribe in the United States, the 370,000-member Cherokee Nation is headquartered in Tahlequah.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem:The Oregon Supreme Court – the oldest government building on the Capitol Mall – is set to empty out in October for two years of renovations including earthquake reinforcements and safety upgrades. Services at the century-old court building, which includes the Oregon Supreme Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals courtroom, the State of Oregon Law Library, the Oregon Judicial Department and Appellate Court Records, will be spread to different locations throughout Salem. It will cost about $51 million and displace 56 employees, according to Oregon Judicial Department spokesman Todd Sprague. Over the past year, staff members have hauled tens of thousands of volumes from its law library collection to new locations. The second-floor library has been home to historic documents that date to the 15th century.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have been found in six Pennsylvania counties, along with one human case. The state’s West Nile Control Program said the mosquitoes were found Friday in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster and Philadelphia counties. The human case of West Nile virus was discovered in Chester County. Friday was the last routine surveillance and reporting day for 2019, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection’s website. West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne sickness that might cause encephalitis, a brain irritation. Mild infections can produce fever, headaches, body aches, skin rash and swollen lymph glands.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: Officials said they have decided to dismantle the city’s first two-way bike lane a month after its installation following public criticism. The Providence Journal reported the city’s recent decision is expected to cost $127,500. Mayor Jorge Elorza’s office said the lane was completed the week of Sept. 9 and cost $63,500. The dismantling process will begin this fall and will cost $64,000. After the lane’s construction, residents began complaining it made the rest of Easton Street too narrow. Louise Ely said cars would have nowhere to move if an ambulance drove by since the lane is on one side of the street. Sarah Mitchell, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition, said the city should do more outreach to educate people about how to use these lanes.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nCongaree National Park: A timber company is selling some swamp and forest land to a conservation group that hopes to donate the land to Congaree National Park. Friends of Congaree Swamp bought the 214 acres from Weyerhaeuser for $783,000. The State newspaper reported the land is along Running Lake Creek and has trees so thick that areas remain darkened by shade in the middle of the day. Friends of Congaree Swamp used a combination of money from the state and federal governments, private donations and fines from wetland violations. The federal government will have to approve the transfer to the national park near Columbia, which could take some time.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nCuster: Officials at Custer State Park said 25,000 people turned out to watch this year’s annual buffalo roundup. The Rapid City Journal reported hundreds of bison were herded into corrals during the 54th annual roundup on Friday. Park resource manager Mark Hendrix said of the 1,460 animals in herd, 470 will be sent to auction Nov. 6. He said staff attempts to keep the herd at an average of 1,000 animals to maintain the ecological balance in the 71,000-acre park south of Mount Rushmore National Memorial.\n\nTennessee\n\nMemphis:Two Memphis schools won the Blue Ribbon designation this year, one of the highest honors from the U.S. Department of Education, given to just 362 schools nationwide. Campus School and Maxine Smith STEAM Academy were recognized for their high scores on state and national tests. They were among six schools in Tennessee to earn the award this year. The designation does not come with financial awards, but is a coveted label. Campus School is a contract school run by the University of Memphis. The elementary school is known for its high test scores and frequently tops district ratings. This spring, 74% of students scored proficient in reading and writing, compared with 21% of students in the district and 34% statewide. Maxine Smith STEAM Academy is a middle school that Shelby County Schools opened in 2014 to serve high-performing students that pass admission tests.\n\nTexas\n\nAustin: A county administrator is apologizing for saying Gov. Greg Abbott “hates trees because one fell on him.” The Texas Tribune reports that the comment made Friday by Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, a Democrat, during a panel discussion was first reported in a tweet by the online magazine The Federalist. Abbott, a Republican, has been paralyzed from the waist down since 1984 when a tree fell on him in Houston while he was jogging. Eckhardt said on her website and in a tweet that she “made a mistake” and apologizes to Abbott. Eckhardt said she “made a flippant comment that was inappropriate.” Eckhardt’s comments came during a discussion about the Texas Legislature overriding local ordinances such one in Austin regarding the cutting down of trees.\n\nUtah\n\nAntelope Island State Park: Authorities said a 22-year-old Utah woman hiking at Antelope Island State Park suffered a broken leg and a laceration on her other leg when she was charged by a bison. Officials said the woman was on an established trail while running toward a companion when the incident occurred Friday night in a remote area and that it’s not clear what prompted the bison to charge. The woman’s identity wasn’t released. Utah State Parks Lt. Eric Stucki said the woman lay still after the bison used its head to throw her into the air and that the animal then nudged her with its nose before moving off. Antelope Island wildlife include hundreds of bison. The state park is connected to the Great Salt Lake’s southeastern shore by a 7-mile-long causeway.\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is beginning to receive the results of tests for a class of chemicals known as PFAS in public water supplies and so far all met public drinking water standards. The testing is part of a state law that requires the testing of an estimated 590 water systems across for the presence of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl levels in public drinking water. So far, the results have come back for 45 system and all met all the state standards with concentrations below 20 parts per trillion. Bryan Redmond of the Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division said the initial sampling results are encouraging. The deadline for testing is Dec. 1. PFAS chemicals were widely used in firefighting foam, nonstick cookware and other products.\n\nVirginia\n\nLovingston: A vehicle has hit and killed a yak who rose to internet fame by making his great escape in Virginia while on the way to a butcher shop. The Washington Post reported the owner of the yak, Robert Cissell, said on social media that the animal named Meteor died Friday morning on U.S. 29 in Nelson County. Meteor had been on the loose since Sept. 10, when he kicked off the back door of a livestock trailer and ran into the mountains. Nelson County Animal Control officer Kevin Wright said there were no witnesses to Friday’s collision. He said a commercial vehicle might have hit the yak and kept going. The Nelson County Farm Bureau wrote a tribute to Meteor on social media that ended with, “Roam free, Meteor!”\n\nWashington\n\nSnohomish: A multiracial family has raised concerns after Ku Klux Klan symbols were spray painted on multiple trees near their home. KOMO-TV reported that the Anderson family has had tough conversations about race with their four adopted children, but the racially offensive graffiti crossed a line. The family sid the teenage son discovered the KKK symbols on six to eight trees as he walked through the woods right next to their house heading to the lake. Snohomish County deputies said an investigation is underway. Authorities said they have not received any other reports and they do not have any leads. The family said the community is usually friendly and welcoming, but a conversation clearly needs to happen.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: West Virginia’s U.S. senators want to make the New River Gorge a national park. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin on Thursday introduced the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve Designation Act. The lawmakers said the move will boost the local economy and tourism in the area, citing a study that said national-park status is shown to increase the number of visitors by 21%. The proposal would allow hunting and fishing at the park. The New River Gorge is the site of the annual Bridge Day festival, where many gather to watch people base jump into the gorge.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: State utility regulators have authorized the construction of a $500 million power line, despite claims that they ignored complaints, concerns and alternative solutions. The Wisconsin State Journal reported that the Public Service Commission approved the plan Thursday, rejecting accusations of a conflict of interest that were brought by two conservation groups, the Driftless Area Land Conservancy and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. The groups said the will appeal. The Cardinal-Hickory Creek line would run between Dubuque, Iowa, and Middleton, west of Madison. Construction is expected to start in 2021. Project supporters said it will allow for the transmission of more carbon-free electricity and save customers money. But critics said the state could transition to renewable energy without damaging natural areas along the planned route of the proposed power line.\n\nWyoming\n\nJackson Hole: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in northwest Wyoming will use renewable energy to power its lifts and other operations. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reported that resort officials announced that they would enter Lower Valley Energy’s Green Power program for customers and begin drawing energy from the Horse Butte Wind Farm near Idaho Falls, Idaho. Phil Cameron of Jackson-based Energy Conservation Works sid Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is one of only a handful of ski resorts across the country to fully move to renewable energy. Over the last two years hundreds of businesses and residents of Teton County have converted to green power. Among them are Snow King Mountain Resort and Jackson Hole Airport.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/09/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2020/02/03/tibetan-monks-turtle-release-puppy-rescue-news-around-states/41132187/", "title": "Tibetan monks at turtle release, puppy rescue 911: News from ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nScottsboro: Jackson County plans to reopen the park where a deadly fire at a marina killed eight people a week ago. Most of Jackson County Park will reopen Monday, officials said, but the part of the marina where fire occurred will still be off-limits. Paul Smith, the county emergency management director, said crews would be cleaning up the site through the weekend. Environmental damage from the blaze didn’t get outside the immediate area around the marina, he told a news conference Friday. A fire broke out on a dock at the marina Jan. 27, destroying about three dozen boats and claiming eight lives. Officials have not determined the cause of the fire, but they said investigators are looking at one boat in particular. Most burned boats that sunk in the wide creek where the marina is located off the Tennessee River have been removed, Smith said, but some remain. Salvage work will take “quite a while,” he said.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: Gov. Mike Dunleavy is planning town hall meetings centered on the state’s fiscal situation and future. Events are planned for Petersburg on Monday and Wrangell on Tuesday. Dunleavy’s office said the town halls will be open to the public. Additional public events will be announced later as part of a town hall series, his office said. Dunleavy has said he plans to more directly communicate with Alaskans. His first year in office was marked by an ongoing recall effort, which was fueled by anger over budget cuts he proposed last year. Dunleavy has called the recall effort political. Besides the town halls, Dunleavy plans to meet with school and community leaders, tribes, business groups and nonprofits across the state, according to his office. Dunleavy told reporters Friday that the state is paying for the upcoming trips. He faced criticism last year for holding town halls hosted by Americans for Prosperity-Alaska.\n\nArizona\n\nFlagstaff: The City Council drew an overflow crowd as it moved toward declaring a climate emergency to address climate change and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. With more than 250 people present for the council’s consideration of the issue at a meeting last week, dozens had to sit on folding chairs in the lobby of City Hall to watch a livestream, the Arizona Daily Sun reports. The council is now poised to officially adopt the resolution following a legal review. “We have seen and felt the sense of emergency,” Councilwoman Regina Salas said after numerous members of the public spoke. The measure would be nonbinding. But activist Sara Kubisty said declaring a climate emergency sets a standard that residents and voters can cite during future policy discussions. Mayor Coral Evans said she supported the resolution but warned that further climate action will take real effort and won’t always be popular.\n\nArkansas\n\nJacksonville: The City Council voted Friday to allow new tests on fingerprints and DNA evidence relating to the case of a man the state put to death in 2017. The council voted to allow the tests that Ledell Lee’s family contends could exonerate him of the 1993 slaying of Debra Reese. Patricia Young, Lee’s sister, had sued the city to allow the new tests. Representing the family were the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arkansas and the Innocence Project. The groups said they plan to have the DNA evidence tested at a nationally accredited laboratory at Young’s expense and to upload the fingerprints to a national database. Lee was the first of four inmates Arkansas executed in April 2017 before its supply of a lethal injection drug expired. The state had originally planned to execute eight inmates, but four were spared by court rulings.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSan Francisco: A conservation group has reached an agreement to buy a canyon in the Santa Cruz Mountains that includes 100 acres of ancient redwood trees, a purchase that will help create a continuous corridor of protected redwood habitat stretching to the Pacific Ocean. Save the Redwoods League reached an agreement Thursday to buy the 564-acre Cascade Creek, nestled between Big Basin Redwoods and Ano Nuevo state parks, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The towering redwoods have never felt the blade of a saw, the kind to which conservationists reverently refer as “old-growth.” “We got here just in time,” said Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League, gesturing toward blue paint marks, which indicate they were once the target of loggers. The league has so far raised $8.6 million of the $9.6 million needed to complete the transaction, which is expected to close May 30.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: The state Senate formally approved a death penalty repeal bill Friday and sent it to the House, where prospects for passage are favorable. Gov. Jared Polis has said he will sign a repeal bill. The 19-13 vote came in the seventh effort in recent years to repeal the state’s death penalty. The bill would apply to offenses charged on or after July 1. It would not apply to the three men on Colorado’s death row. That provision was added to the bill at the conclusion of an hours­long Senate floor debate Thursday. Democratic Sen. Rhonda Fields of Aurora again urged her colleagues to keep capital punishment – or at least refer the question to voters. Colorado’s last execution came in 1997. Twenty-one U.S. states have abolished capital punishment. Other states are currently considering action.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The state is giving $1.3 million to help house victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, advocates say. The state’s Department of Housing and Coalition Against Domestic Violence announced a new round of funding Thursday, the Hartford Courant reports. The coalition said the money will allow the two state agencies continue to find safe housing for victims who are fleeing intimate partner violence and human trafficking. The new funding followed an initial $1.7 million received last year when the two agencies began to collaborate in their effort to house victims of abuse and human trafficking. Gov. Ned Lamont commended the agencies’ efforts and said the state has been a leader “on issues pertaining to domestic and family violence and providing protections for survivors, and enhancing these services remains a priority.”\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: Democratic Gov. John Carney is proposing to increase the state’s operating budget by almost 4% next fiscal year, boosting spending to more than $4.6 billion. The budget proposal unveiled Thursday for the fiscal year starting July 1 includes a 2% pay raise for state employees, who also received pay raises last year and the year before, at a $29.3 million cost to taxpayers. Carney’s proposed operating budget includes $36.5 million in new spending to address school enrollment growth. He’s also proposing a record capital budget of $892.8 million for construction, maintenance, technology, equipment, economic development and environmental projects. The proposal includes $50 million in new spending for clean water initiatives, $50 million for economic development, and $50 million to build and renovate schools in Wilmington.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: A new study has been granted $1 million to determine who would qualify for free or discounted fares on Metro, officials say. The district’s social science center called The Lab received $1 million in grant funding to run the study, WUSA-TV reports. The city says 18% of all Metrorail riders are considered low-income, and that number jumps to 48% on Metrobus. City Administrator Rashad Young says the study ensures the city does not waste its money, as it could ultimately pay Metro for revenue it loses. Researchers say they want the system to be seamless with SmarTrip cards, perhaps linked to databases of other social services, like food stamps. Young also says the idea will not be a handout in a city where getting around can bankrupt those trying to make ends meet. Officials say 2,500 adults will be asked to participate in the study starting this summer.\n\nFlorida\n\nIslamorada: Visiting Tibetan monks helped release a rehabilitated sea turtle in the Florida Keys. Hundreds of spectators witnessed the release Thursday of “Drifter,” a 170-pound female adult loggerhead sea turtle who was rehabilitated at the Keys-based Turtle Hospital after she was found floating offshore of the Lower Keys last November. The monks hail from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India. “Drifter” was released into the Atlantic Ocean off an Islamorada resort after an hourlong ceremony performed by the monks, each an ordained student of the Dalai Lama. Ritual chants aspired that the turtle and other animals enjoy long lives. Minyak Rinpoche, the group’s leader, said the key to ultimate happiness is compassion for all living things and loving kindness. Staff at the Turtle Hospital have been rescuing, rehabilitating and returning turtles to the wild for almost 35 years.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: Anne Cox Chambers, a newspaper heiress, diplomat and philanthropist who was one of the country’s richest women, died Friday at the age of 100. Chambers’ nephew James Cox Kennedy announced her death to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, her company’s flagship newspaper. Chambers, a director of Cox Enterprises Inc., promoted Jimmy Carter’s political career and served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium during his presidency. Forbes estimated her net worth several years ago at nearly $17 billion. She was well known for her charitable giving and served on the boards of the Atlanta Arts Alliance and the High Museum of Art, among other institutions. She owned a white-columned manor across from the governor’s mansion in Atlanta, where Jimmy Carter brought his daughter, Amy, over to swim in the pool. Gov. Brian Kemp issued a statement Friday praising Chambers, saying her “contributions to the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia will be felt for generations to come.”\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Law enforcement officers from around the country gathered in the city for a ceremony to honor one of two officers killed while responding to a call in which a suspect and his landlord died and nearby homes were leveled by fire. Officer Tiffany Enriquez was memorialized Thursday by her family, members of the public, and police officers and emergency personnel who formed a “thin blue line” at the Honolulu Police Department headquarters as part of Enriquez’s “end of watch” ceremony. Enriquez, 38, was a seven-year veteran of the Honolulu police assigned to Waikiki. The Air Force veteran was the first female officer to die in the line of duty in Hawaii when she was fatally shot Jan. 19 along with Officer Kaulike Kalama. Authorities say Jaroslav Hanel, 69, shot the officers and killed landlord Lois Cain in a suspected landlord-tenant dispute.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: The state’s roads are becoming increasingly dangerous with distracted drivers and a growing number of motorists, the director of the Idaho Department of Transportation says. “Drivers are more distracted than ever before,” Brian Ness told state lawmakers on a budget-setting committee Friday. “And I think technology may be to blame for much of that.” Legislation to impose a statewide ban on handheld cellphone use while driving is pending in the Senate, and distracted driving legislation is pending in the House. Ness isn’t taking a position on the legislation, but his agency is running a campaign aimed at having people put away distractions while driving. Ness was before the committee to present his agency’s budget. Republican Gov. Brad Little has proposed a 7.9% increase from last year to $785 million. The committee won’t start setting state agency budgets for several more weeks.\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: The city is suing a coffee company for trademark infringement, saying its logo is nearly identical to the symbol for the city’s fire department. Fire Department Coffee’s logo features the letters F, D and C, intertwined in a stylized monogram, just like the one for the Chicago Fire Department, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The design is likely used to confuse consumers into thinking the city has endorsed or sponsored the business, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday. Firefighters run the Rockford-based company, and “10% of proceeds from every order goes towards supporting ill or injured firefighters and first responders,” according to its website. “Fire Department Coffee pursued all of the correct legal channels and secured an approved, registered trademark for our current Fire Department Coffee logo,” the company said in a statement.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Four members of the Indianapolis City-County Council openly identify as members of the LGBTQ community, which is the most ever for the legislative body. Newly elected member Ali Brown, who is bisexual, says none of the candidates won in November for that reason. “None of that was part of (anything) groundbreaking or anything like that,” Brown says. “It was just something that was.” But LGBTQ advocates hope it means their concerns are better heard. “The only expectation we have is that they listen to our community and provide a voice to the issues important to our community,” says Chris Handberg, executive director of Indy Pride. “Whereas in the past, we have not had easy access to lawmakers and politicians and leaders to be able to provide some of that.” The candidates were elected as part of a Democratic wave on the council. Indiana’s legislature is overwhelmingly Republican.\n\nIowa\n\nDes Moines: A divided state Supreme Court concluded Friday that a central Iowa recreational lake that owners tout as the state’s largest private lake isn’t private at all because it is accessible via a public waterway. The ruling could have ramifications for private lake developments connected to rivers that want to keep out nonmember boaters. It’s not immediately clear how many lakes in the state could be affected. The 4-2 decision came in the case of Jeffrey Alan Meyers, who was arrested by Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers for boating while intoxicated on Lake Panorama in July 2018. The DNR officers initially stopped Meyers’ pontoon boat on the lake because it was decorated with blue lights, violating an Iowa law against displaying blue lights on a boat that’s not an emergency vessel. DNR officers claimed they had jurisdiction because the lake is connected to the publicly accessible Middle Raccoon River.\n\nKansas\n\nLawrence: As the Super Bowl neared, University of Kansas students urged administrators to call off classes on the day after the big game and to provide vomit bags on campus if they didn’t. The Student Senate made the request in a resolution passed Thursday as the Kansas City Chiefs prepared to play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the team’s first trip to the Super Bowl since 1970. It said Chancellor Douglas Girod should consider the “health implications of students attending classes and attempting course work less than 12 hours after the culmination of the Super Bowl and any celebrations that follow the game, should the Kansas City Chiefs emerge victorious.” The resolution also said Student Senate members don’t condone the tradition of fans mimicking tomahawk chops or “any other behavior that mocks or is offensive to Native American culture.” They urged the Chiefs to “take proactive attempts to end such traditions.”\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: The number of travelers taking flights at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport last year set a record, officials said. The airport announced in a statement on Thursday that 2019 was its busiest year yet with 4.2 million passengers. That’s nearly 300,000 more than it had in 2000, when there were 3.9 million passengers. “Exceeding the 4 million mark is something we are very proud of and is a new milestone for our airport,” said Dan Mann, executive director of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority. “We know how successful 2019 was for passenger traffic, and we believe the numbers for 2020 will be even better.” Last year, the six airlines serving Louisville increased capacity on 20 different routes including the addition of nonstop flights to multiple locations. “Direct flights are essential in making us attractive for businesses and visitors,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration reached another impasse Friday over the state’s income forecast, unable to strike a deal with the Legislature’s new Republican leaders about how to set the projections used to build the budget. The Democratic governor had been hopeful that a change in the House’s top leadership would break through repeated logjams over the forecast and give him the updated, larger state income forecast he wanted as he crafts his budget proposal for next year. Instead, the Edwards administration found itself at odds with both the new Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder and new GOP Senate President Page Cortez during the latest meeting of the Revenue Estimating Conference. Both expressed concerns about the numbers proposed by nonpartisan legislative and administrative economists that the governor’s chief budget adviser wanted to use.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Allen’s Coffee Brandy, a venerable brand of liquor beloved in Maine, is no longer the top-selling alcohol in the Pine Tree State. State alcoholic beverage records say Mainers spent $12.2 million on Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey and $11.7 million on Tito’s Handmade Vodka last year, the Bangor Daily News reports. Those sales were enough to eclipse Allen’s, which garnered $9.2 million in sales. Allen’s remains the most-purchased hard alcohol in the state in terms of volume. People purchased more than 90,000 cases of Allen’s in Maine last year, while Tito’s came in second at 71,000. Allen’s is produced by M.S. Walker of Massachusetts. Sales are trending downward, though. Revenue of Allen’s has dropped by about a sixth since 2014. Last year’s sales lagged about $400,000 behind the 2018 figure. Maine is the only significant market for Allen’s, which is especially popular in a milk-based mixed drink called a “Sombrero.”\n\nMaryland\n\nBel Air: The city’s police chief has been placed on administrative leave after being accused of physical and verbal fights with his estranged wife and teenage son. Charles A. Moore Jr., chief of Bel Air police, was served a temporary protective order Tuesday, news outlets report. Deputy Chief Richard Peschek will serve as chief in Moore’s absence, town officials say. Moore and his wife separated in 2016, according to court documents obtained by The Aegis, a division of The Baltimore Sun. In December, Moore and his adult son went to his wife’s house, where Moore allegedly got into an argument with his teenage son and attempted to choke the boy after being punched by the teen, court documents state. Jason Silverstein, Moore’s attorney, said his client is the victim, the newspaper reports. Moore was also accused of sending “belittling text messages” to his wife and threatening to to “bash her head,” according to the documents.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Bay State voters who can’t get to their local polling location for the upcoming presidential primaries can now pick up absentee ballots. Voters who will be out of town March 3 or have a disability or religious belief that prevents them from voting at their polling place are eligible to vote by absentee ballot. Those who need a ballot mailed to them may send an absentee ballot application to their city or town hall. Family members may also complete the application on a voter’s behalf. Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is recommending voters submit absentee ballot applications as soon as possible to allow time for the ballot to be mailed to the voter and returned to their city or town hall. Ballots must be delivered to the local election office by the close of polls March 3 in order to be counted. Early voting will also be available Feb. 24-28 for all voters.\n\nMichigan\n\nSt. Clair Shores: People who live along the shores of Lake St. Clair are wondering how much it will cost them to clean up a sludge-like substance that recently washed up on their properties. Tests of samples taken from one property in Macomb County, in southeastern Michigan, showed the substance to be decaying algae containing E. coli bacteria, the county health department said in a release. Health officials have said the algae presents “no imminent public health hazard.” But to vacuum the material up using a sanitary truck and then dispose it could cost about $10,000 per home, according to Ryan Siarkowski, the owner of Synergy Development Specialist. It will cost more if a homeowner also removes the soil beneath the material, said Siarkowski, who noted that every house would be different. Lake St. Clair feeds into the Detroit River and is part of the waterway linking lakes Huron and Erie.\n\nMinnesota\n\nDuluth: The breathtaking ice caves along the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore will likely be inaccessible this year due to low ice coverage on Lake Superior. On Friday, less than 5% of Lake Superior was covered by ice; ice coverage is typically 25% at the end of January. The Star Tribune reports the last time the ice caves were accessible by foot was in 2015. While ice coverage on Superior usually peaks in February or March, data shows most winters with this level of ice Jan. 31 don’t accumulate much more. A University of Michigan study last year said tracking ice on the Great Lakes is an ideal case study for climate research. Ice surrounding the Bayfield Peninsula was more consistent before the late 1990s, when “all of a sudden we saw years in which there was no safe ice cover,” said Andrew Gronewold, a study author. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.\n\nMississippi\n\nOxford: Former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith is set to receive a journalism award from his alma mater, the University of Mississippi. The university’s School of Journalism and New Media announced in a news release that Smith is the latest to be honored with its Silver Em award. Smith will receive the award during a ceremony April 1 in Oxford. Smith, who grew up in Holly Springs, spent more than 20 years anchoring Fox News before leaving the network last year. “Shepard Smith embodies what a journalist should be – for decades, he has reported the news without fear or favor,” said Debora Wenger, assistant dean for innovation and external partnerships and professor of journalism. “Because he got his start in journalism here at the University of Mississippi, we feel extraordinarily proud of all he has accomplished.”\n\nMissouri\n\nJefferson City: Lawmakers this session are trying to make it easier for military spouses and out-of-state doctors, teachers, pharmacists and other licensed professionals to get jobs in the state. Legislation approved by the state House last week would allow those professionals to work in the state without going through its licensing process. One bill would make the exception only for military spouses, who might move frequently. That bill wouldn’t allow military spouses to transfer teaching licenses to Missouri. Another bill would apply what’s called license reciprocity to all out-of-state professionals. Republican Gov. Mike Parson called for license reciprocity for military spouses during his January State of the State address to the Republican-led Legislature. He told House and Senate sponsors of the measure that he’s counting on them to send legislation to his desk “very soon.”\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted a secretarial natural disaster designation to 17 counties that requested federal aid after incurring losses caused by multiple disasters during the 2019 crop year, Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday. The designation will make producers eligible for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency, including emergency loans. The farmers have eight months to apply for the loans. The counties designated are Cascade, Chouteau, Daniels, Dawson, Glacier, McCone, Pondera, Prairie, Richland, Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sheridan, Teton, Toole, Treasure, Valley and Wibaux. Bullock sent two letters to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue requesting a secretarial disaster designation for several counties that had multiple disasters, including excessive moisture and snow, freezing, frost, hail and high winds.\n\nNebraska\n\nKearney: Officials are investigating how a pair of juvenile offenders managed to escape custody twice in a 24-hour period. The incident began Tuesday night when a report of two suspicious males led the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office to call the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney to see if it was missing any teens. The facility’s staff checked and reported two teens were missing, the Kearney Hub reports. Early the next day, deputies in neighboring Seward County found an abandoned, stolen car in a snowbank off Interstate 80. Footprints in the snow led deputies to the two escaped juveniles. By Wednesday afternoon, York County deputies received a report that a transportation company driver taking the teens back to the Kearney facility had been assaulted and the transport van stolen. York police tracked the van to Hamilton County, where the teens were again taken into custody and back to the youth center, which has been plagued by escapes and understaffing in recent years.\n\nNevada\n\nLas Vegas: The city has opened a new park named for a police officer killed in the line of duty in 2014. The numerous officials and dignitaries who attended the dedication ceremony Friday for Officer Alyn Beck Memorial Park on Friday included Gov. Steve Sisolak, Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Beck and another officer were killed while having lunch at a restaurant when they were shot by a couple who also killed a civilian who tried to stop them. The couple eventually died in a gunfight with other officers. The 10-acre park named after Beck features a lacrosse field, soccer fields, basketball court and a shaded playground with benches for families.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nHampton Beach: The village’s annual Easter egg hunt has been moved inland out of concern that plastic eggs could end up in the ocean. The Hampton Beach Parks & Recreation Department announced on Facebook on Wednesday that the department will no longer host the Easter Egg Dig on the beach because it cannot ensure all eggs will be accounted for, the Portsmouth Herald reports. “I know there’s a lot of people that love this, and it’s been a tradition,” Recreation Director Rene Boudreau said. “I also feel that it’s a time where these kinds of decisions have to be made, and I’d rather be known for trying to help the cause as opposed to be part of the problems.” The department’s post received mixed reaction. Some parents praised the decision, while others called it “very silly.” But Blue Ocean Society Director Jen Kennedy wrote in a letter to the editor that many eggs that are not found during the hunt are discovered in beach cleanups months later.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nElmwood Park: A northern New Jersey paper plant is operating again, a year after a massive fire destroyed most of it. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy was among the guests Friday at the Marcal plant in Elmwood Park for a ceremony at one of the few buildings that wasn’t leveled by the January 2019 fire. “We need to get back to work,” Marcal CEO Rob Baron said Friday. Marcal’s resumption of operations was made possible through a merger with Lewistown, Pennsylvania-based Nittany Paper Mills. Investigators conducted more than 100 interviews and concluded that the fire started in a building where large rolls of paper were stored, but they have been unable to determine the cause due to the extensive damage. The fire destroyed 30 of 36 buildings as well as Marcal’s familiar red sign visible from Interstate 80. Demolition at the site began last August. About 500 people lost their jobs.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nAlbuquerque: Police hired a convicted felon and allowed him to continue working in a high-ranking position even after officials learned he had provided a wrong birthdate and Social Security number, city records show. Documents obtained by KOAT-TV through an open records request show that Amir Chapel was hired in April as the department’s policy and compliance manager. The position, which paid $72,000 a year, was created to make sure police followed the city’s settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice involving use of excessive force. A department memo and court records show Chapel had been convicted of forgery in Texas, misuse of a credit card in Illinois and robbery in California. Under Albuquerque personnel rules, applicants are ineligible for city employment if they make a false statement on applications or if they have a prior felony conviction involving “moral turpitude.”\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: The New York State Bar Association is endorsing the legalization of recreational marijuana, as state lawmakers consider proposals this session to legalize the drug. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has put forward legislation to legalize marijuana in the state. Under the governor’s proposal, sales to retail dispensaries would be taxed at 20%, and people could have 1 ounce of marijuana before getting in trouble. A separate proposal, backed by Democrats in the Legislature, would permit people to have to have 3 ounces of marijuana. The legislation would set one of the largest limits for legal marijuana possession in the nation. The bar association on Friday announced that it supports legalizing adult recreational marijuana. The association also said it approved a report that outlined various recommendations for how the state should address the issue.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: From interstate improvements to turn lanes, the state’s Department of Transportation is asking residents to advise which projects they want funded over the next 10 years. A statewide public comment period to submit ideas continues through Feb. 28 for the 10-year transportation plan for 2023-2032. Residents can send project suggestions in a short, interactive survey found on the 2023-2032 STIP website. Projects can be for any type of transportation, including highway, aviation, bicycle, pedestrian, ferries, rail and public transportation. The comment period is not for maintenance, such as patching potholes. In addition, a three-day open house will be held Tuesday through Thursday during regular business hours at DOT’s Division Five headquarters in Durham for in-person input about potential projects in Wake, Durham, Franklin, Person, Granville, Vance and Warren counties.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: A pipeline spill of oil-field wastewater in northwestern North Dakota has affected more cropland than originally reported. State environmental scientist Bill Suess said regulators were notified last month of the 8,400-gallon pipeline leak in Renville County. The pipeline is operated by Texas-based Cobra Oil and Gas. Regulators initially said about 1,000 square feet of cropland was affected. The landowner, Sherwood resident Allan Engh, said people involved in the cleanup of the site told him the brine could have contaminated as much as 400,000 square feet of soil. Suess told the Bismarck Tribune that estimate could be accurate, but the official number is not yet known. “We know it’s bigger; we know it’s impacting a very large area,” Suess said. He said the spill of produced water happened 2 miles north of Sherwood and within a mile of the U.S.-Canada border. The cause of the pipeline leak is unknown.\n\nOhio\n\nCincinnati: Fiona, the hippopotamus heartthrob at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, apparently made a mess of her Super Bowl prediction Thursday. Zookeepers placed two “enrichment” toys in front of her, marked with the logos of the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. While the plan called for Fiona to nudge one of the items with her snout to indicate her pick, she instead chose to lose her leafy green lunch on the Chiefs’ item, WLWT-TV reports. Fiona’s premature birth three years ago drew international attention. She has since grown to 1,200 pounds, roughly the weight of four NFL offensive linemen. It’s the third year she has handicapped the Super Bowl, correctly picking the Philadelphia Eagles to beat the New England Patriots in 2018 but missing on the Los Angeles Rams upsetting the Patriots in 2019.\n\nOklahoma\n\nNorman: A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the University of Oklahoma’s Board of Regents of negligence in its handling of a sexual harassment case. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ruled Thursday that the case filed by Levi Hilliard involves a “mixed question of law and facts” that should be decided in future legal proceedings, The Norman Transcript reports. Balkman, however, did dismiss a portion of the lawsuit that sought punitive damages against the university. Hilliard, a former server at a university restaurant, says former OU Vice President Jim “Tripp” Hall III made sexual advances toward him on multiple occasions. He says Hall “patted him on the buttocks” during the fall 2017 semester and pinched his nipples at the university club where Hilliard worked.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: The city has agreed to pay an African American couple $120,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit that contended a police officer pulled them over and then broke the key off in the ignition, leaving them stranded. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports city officials settled the suit Friday with Claudius and Daynelle Banks. Officer Christian Berge said he pulled the couple over in March 2015 at 2 a.m. for drifting into oncoming traffic. Attorneys for the Banks said Berge never filed a report or conducted a field sobriety test. Berge said he didn’t have time or backup support to process a drunken driving arrest, so he gave the Banks a warning and allowed them to walk home. Berge said he accidentally broke the key off not in the ignition but in the driver’s door lock. He denied searching the vehicle. Court documents say Berge had approached the vehicle and ordered, “Get your black (expletive) out of the car.”\n\nPennsylvania\n\nHarrisburg: A judge put a freeze on a new state police policy regarding sales of partially manufactured gun frames that can be made into working pistols and rifles. Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson issued the preliminary injunction Friday, about three weeks after state police provided guidance to gun dealers about how to perform background checks for sales of what are often called 80% receivers or unassembled “ghost guns.” Brobson said the plaintiffs, businesses that manufacture and sell the gun frames, have raised a legitimate question about whether the state police policy is too vague. He said he would be open to revisiting the scope of his injunction, depending on what state police does in response. State police announced last month that gun dealers must call the state gun-purchase background check system for sales of the 80% receivers and are not permitted to simply use the online system.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: A bill would require safety barriers or netting on bridges that connect islands to the state’s mainland. If made into law, the barriers would be required for three bridges that connect Aquidneck and Conanicut islands to the Rhode Island mainland – Mount Hope Bridge, the Claiborne Pell Bridge and the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge – by Jan. 1, 2022, in an effort to prevent suicides. Rep. Joseph J. Solomon Jr., D-Warwick, introduced the legislation. He described the problem as “frequent” and said in a statement that Portsmouth Police responded to Mount Hope Bridge 36 times last year. Between 2010 and 2018, there were 27 suicide deaths from the three bridges, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health. The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority already has prevention measures in place, including a surveillance system that allows authorities to act quickly.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nColumbia: The state’s military museum covers 250 years of artifacts and stories of brave soldiers fighting for their country, from the Revolutionary War to the ongoing conflict Afghanistan. But the museum’s official name – the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum – is stuck in the four years South Carolinians didn’t fight for the U.S. And when anything involving the Confederacy comes up, it drags on fundraising and admissions, Executive Director Allen Roberson says. When recently working on renewing its national accreditation, the American Alliance of Museums Accreditation said the museum could make it easier on itself by eliminating “Confederate” from its name. Roberson has his own reason for suggesting the change. “The name right now is too long. And what do you think about when you hear ‘relic’? I prefer ‘artifacts,’ ” he says, suggesting a relic would be a small bottle of sand from a desert battle, while an artifact would be the pen a president used to sign a declaration of war.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nRapid City: Tribal police have taken over law enforcement duties from the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Tribal Police Chief Robert Ecoffey told the Rapid City Journal said the tribe wasn’t getting “enough resources in terms of manpower” from the BIA. The move is allowed under the 1975 Indian Self Determination and Education Assistance Act, which allows tribes to manage federal programs that affect their communities. Charles Addington, director of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services, said the agency supports the move. Tribal officers will take control of the BIA’s $1.3 million budget, property, equipment and responsibilities, which include investigating higher-level crimes on the reservation, Addington said. Ecoffey said the BIA allocates nine positions to the reservation, and nine of his officers have now been promoted to detective.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: The state’s Department of Environment and Conservation on Thursday announced that Dunbar Cave State Park has been selected as the 2019 Tennessee State Park of the Year. The agency says Dunbar Cave State Park – which encompasses 144 acres – is the site of significant prehistoric Mississippian Native American cave art, as well as a prehistoric site for part of the Eastern Woodlands. Over the past two years, the staff has transformed Dunbar Cave State Park by redeveloping cave tours to be more engaging. Research performed by park staffers resulted in new discoveries of Mississippian art and rare Cherokee written symbols that represent syllables. “Dunbar Cave State Park represents some of the highest qualities of our state parks system,” Deputy Commissioner Jim Bryson says. “It takes a lot to stand out among the work of our 56 state parks, and we are proud of the work that has been done at Dunbar Cave.”\n\nTexas\n\nDallas: More than a dozen police officers have been disciplined for making offensive statements on social media, including posts that were bigoted or made light of police violence. The city’s police department announced Thursday that 13 officers whose posts violated department policy would receive punishments ranging from a written reprimand to unpaid suspension. Two more cases are still being reviewed, and one officer resigned, the department said in a statement and memo on the disciplinary measures. The officers can appeal their punishments. “It is imperative that we operate with the highest level of ethics and integrity to ensure that the public is confident in the legitimacy of who we are as a law enforcement agency,” Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said. The officer’s posts were among thousands identified by researchers with the Plain View Project as potentially undermining public confidence in police departments around the country.\n\nUtah\n\nBrigham City: A 9-year-old boy is in stable condition after accidentally shooting himself in the head, authorities say. Brigham City Police Department responded to the call Thursday just after 5 p.m., authorities said. The boy was taken to Brigham City Community Hospital but was later transferred to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, authorities said. An investigation is ongoing. The accidental shooting occurred just hours after a 3-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the head while playing with a gun in his home in Murray, about 65 miles south of Brigham City, authorities say. Police believe the 3-year-old boy was awake before his parents and another sibling and used a chair to reach a handgun that was sitting on a kitchen cabinet, officer Kenny Bass told the Deseret News.\n\nVermont\n\nMontpelier: Republican Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed a paid family and medical leave bill, saying it would have worsened economic inequity in the state. Scott said Friday that he will move forward with a voluntary program that doesn’t rely on a mandatory $29 million payroll tax. “For years, Vermonters have made it clear they don’t want, nor can they afford, new broad-based taxes,” he said in a statement. “We cannot continue to make the state less affordable for working Vermonters and more difficult for employers to employ them – even for well-intentioned programs like this one.” Democratic legislative leaders expressed disappointment about the veto. House Speaker Mitzi Johnson said the bill represented significant movement toward Scott’s position, but the governor was unwilling to compromise.\n\nVirginia\n\nTazewell: A rescued puppy is helping lighten the stressful days of the dispatchers at a 911 center. The puppy’s former owners surrendered the 8-week-old lab mix to the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, and dispatchers fell in love, WVNS-TV reports. “A lot of people don’t realize how stressful this job can be,” Edwinna Cecil told the station. “If we have a bad call, you can’t be upset when you see something this precious. It helps calm everybody down. The whole atmosphere has changed since he’s been here.” As the official 911 dispatcher service dog, he will not only provide emotional support but also be an ambassador for 911, attending events and visiting schools. Dispatchers are asking the public to help name the puppy. People can vote on the sheriff’s office Facebook page for their favorite or four proposed names – Mischief, Rookie, Taser or Creed. Votes will be counted Monday afternoon.\n\nWashington\n\nRichland: Energy Northwest is considering whether there is a need and regional interest for adding a small modular nuclear reactor system near the Tri-Cities – Kennewick, Pasco and Richland. Energy Northwest already operates the only commercial nuclear power reactor in the Northwest, Columbia Generating Station near Richland, in addition to small solar and hydroelectric projects and a wind farm. The public agency currently generates the electricity for more than 1.5 million customers in Washington state. Now it plans to spend up to $2 million to look at the feasibility of small modular reactors that might be added near its existing reactor. The study will look at the electricity that will be needed in the Northwest in coming decades and where it will come from.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: The state may soon require the speedy testing and collection of rape kits under a bill passed by the House of Delegates on Friday. Lawmakers approved the proposal by a unanimous vote of 96-0 without debate. It now moves to the Senate for consideration. The bill comes amid a national push to clear backlogs of the kits. More than 20 states have approved bills to require submission guidelines or kit audits in the past two years, according to the advocacy group End The Backlog. The measure would require the kits to be submitted to the state police’s forensic lab within 30 days or as soon as possible after collection. It would also allow for the creation of a tracking process of the kits and would require a court order before law enforcement could dispose of the examinations.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMilwaukee: The city’s first brewery since Prohibition, Sprecher Brewing, was sold Friday to a group of local investors. Sprecher Brewing is credited with jump-starting the craft beer age in Milwaukee when Randy Sprecher and business partner James Bubolz opened shop in 1985, with $40,000 and a hand-built brew kettle. Sprecher Brewing is metro Milwaukee’s longest-running craft brewery. Sharad Chadha, former vice president for GE Medical and an executive with Samsung, will be the brewery’s CEO. Milwaukee native and entrepreneur Andy Nunemaker will be chairman of the board, and Jim Kanter, the former general manager for MilllerCoors, will also be on the leadership team. “Nothing is really going to change for our partners and suppliers and things like that,” brewery president Jeff Hamilton said Friday. Chadha said the goal is to make Sprecher a national craft beverage producer.\n\nWyoming\n\nCasper: The headdress worn by a Native leader is returning to the tribe after he gave it to a non-Native dentist living in the state, tribal leaders said. The Northern Arapaho Tribe held a ceremony Saturday to welcome the headdress of Chief Black Coal, who guided many to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming in the 19th century, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. Coal gave his headdress to a dentist who would often travel to the reservation to provide dental care, officials said. The great-grandson of that dentist contacted the tribe last year asking if the tribe wanted the headdress back, tribal leaders said. The Tribal Historic Preservation office accepted the offer, and descendants of Coal traveled to Massachusetts to retrieve the 140-year-old headdress, officials said.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/02/03"}]}