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By AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF — Testimony in the pretrial hearing of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused in the shooting rampage nearly a year ago at this massive Army post, could be postponed for another month after Hasan's attorneys made a last-minute request to delay the hearing until Nov. 8. Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, one of three attorneys for Hasan, asked for the continuance Tuesday to "process some paperwork." Attorneys would not discuss the paperwork in open court and asked Col. James Pohl, the investigating officer serving as judge during the hearing, to close the courtroom to discuss the issue. When Pohl denied the request, defense attorneys asked to postpone the hearing until this morning to give them time to submit a written brief on the need for a continuance. Prosecutors opposed the delay. Pohl is expected to rule on the motion when the hearing resumes at 9 a.m. today. The first of dozens of witnesses was expected to begin testifying Tuesday about the shooting at the post's busy Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where 13 were killed and 32 were wounded Nov. 5. More than 120 media members from 40 outlets, including CNN and Al-Jazeera, gathered in the pre-dawn darkness hours before the hearing. Inside the wood-paneled courtroom filled with computer monitors and television screens, a handful of relatives of victims sat on the stadium-style seating in the gallery, which accommodates about 30 onlookers. Clad in a standard olive and beige camouflage Army uniform and a standard issue green knit cap, Hasan looked pale but alert as he was wheeled into the courtroom by a Fort Hood police officer after a lengthy delay while lawyers discussed the possible continuance. Although paralyzed from the chest down from bullet wounds received during the shooting, Hasan is able to move his arms and frequently touched his face during the hearing. In past court appearances, a chilled Hasan has been wrapped in blankets, but he didn't use any Tuesday. His attorney has said he struggles to maintain his core body temperature because of the paralysis. The Article 32 hearing is the first step in what many legal experts expect will result in a death penalty trial for Hasan. At the end of the hearing, which is scheduled to last at least four weeks, Pohl will recommend whether Hasan should face a court-martial. Fort Hood commanders will make the final decision on whether Hasan goes to trial and what penalty he will face. Tuesday's request for a continuance is the latest in a string of delay petitions from Hasan's attorneys, who have complained that they have not received stacks of discovery evidence, including classified portions of investigations ordered by the White House after the shooting. Hasan's civilian attorney, John Galligan, did not address the media after the hearing, as he has done after previous procedural hearings. jschwartz@statesman.com; 912-2942

– The trial of the Army psychiatrist accused in the Fort Hood shooting rampage may be delayed. A pretrial hearing at the military base's courtroom for Maj. Nidal Hasan was scheduled to begin yesterday, but the defense team asked for a month to "process some paperwork," finds the Austin American Statesman. The judge is considering the request and will rule on it today. The military hearing, known as an Article 32, is the first step in a process experts expect will end in a death penalty trial for Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and wounding dozens more, notes the Houston Chronicle. Hasan, paralyzed from the chest down from bullet wounds he received during the rampage, did not speak during the hearing. Several relatives of the victims sat in the courtroom's public viewing area.

Thieves saw through bike-racks, cover the cuts with tape, wait for bikes to be locked to them PC Mark McKay, a police officer in Camberwell, London, tweeted this warning to locals to beware of bike racks that thieves have sawn through and camouflaged with gaffer tape; once the bikes are locked up, the thieves return, remove the tape, and make off with the bikes. Image copyright Sarah King Image caption The cycle rack had been sliced through and then covered with tape to conceal the break A cyclist who had her bike stolen after it was secured to a sabotaged bike rack has warned others about the "cunning" scam.

– London's bike thieves are getting extra crafty. On Friday, a police officer tweeted photos of a bike rack that had been sliced through and then taped back together to hide the cuts from the city's unsuspecting cyclists, per Boing Boing. Sarah King, a councilor for South Camberwell, tells the Evening Standard that she locked her bike to such a rack before a meeting in the London borough on Thursday. She returned to find her bike was missing and figured out the trick when she noticed the tape and gave a push. A police rep says she's never heard of the trick before, notes the Huffington Post, which describes collective online reaction as one of "reluctant admiration." Others are less impressed. "It is appalling that the growing cycling population in the borough are being targeted by these cunning thieves," another local councilor tells the BBC. "The more publicity that can be given to this, the better," a rep for a cycling charity adds. The lesson for cyclists, then: Beware public racks with tape.

Flash flooding plagues Houston after heavy storms Photo: HC Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Image 1 of 48 Fences damaged by a possible tornado on Gaines Road near Bissonnet Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Fences damaged by a possible tornado on Gaines Road near Bissonnet Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 2 of 48 A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 3 of 48 A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 4 of 48 Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 5 of 48 A home damaged by a possible tornado in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Sugar Land. ( James Nielsen / Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 6 of 48 Fences near Sugar Land were hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Fences near Sugar Land were hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 7 of 48 A house near Sugar Land after it was hit by a tornado on Monday, Jan. 9, 2011. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 8 of 48 Umair Sayyed looks over damage by a possible tornado inside the home where his he lives with his family in the 15000 block of Turphin Way Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, near Sugar Land. Photo: (James Nielsen / Chronicle) Image 9 of 48 Cars try to turn onto the Highway 59 feeder lane at the Weslayan Street intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Cars try to turn onto the Highway 59 feeder lane at the Weslayan Street intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 10 of 48 Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 11 of 48 Cars stall Richmond Avenue near Buffalo Speedway as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Cars stall Richmond Avenue near Buffalo Speedway as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 12 of 48 Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 13 of 48 Metro Busses stay put as high water inundate the Richmond Avenue and Buffalo Speedway intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Metro Busses stay put as high water inundate the Richmond Avenue and Buffalo Speedway intersection as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 14 of 48 Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 15 of 48 A pedestrian tries to navigte water as he crosses Buffalo Speedway at Richmond Avenue as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) A pedestrian tries to navigte water as he crosses Buffalo Speedway at Richmond Avenue as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 16 of 48 A SUV tries to get on Highway 59 near Weslayan Street as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) A SUV tries to get on Highway 59 near Weslayan Street as rain pours Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 17 of 48 High water was reported in the Cimarron section of Katy. (Reader photo) High water was reported in the Cimarron section of Katy. (Reader photo) Image 18 of 48 A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 19 of 48 Stranded motorists who wish not to give their names talk beside the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Stranded motorists who wish not to give their names talk beside the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 20 of 48 A motorist walks through the median after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 21 of 48 A car is seen submersed in water Northbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A car is seen submersed in water Northbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 22 of 48 A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 23 of 48 A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 24 of 48 High-water traffic jam at Westpark and Fondren around noon. High-water traffic jam at Westpark and Fondren around noon. Photo: (Houston TranStar) Image 25 of 48 A motorist makes her way to the service road after she was stranded in the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 26 of 48 A stranded motorist sits in the median of the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) A stranded motorist sits in the median of the Southbound lane of Loop 288 north of the I-610 exit Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle) Photo: HC Image 27 of 48 Street flooding on Washington near Thompson streets. Street flooding on Washington near Thompson streets. Photo: (Cody Duty / Chronicle) Image 28 of 48 Rainy Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (Anonymous reader photo) Rainy Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. (Anonymous reader photo) Photo: HC Image 29 of 48 Flooding on Westpark at Tanglewilde about 10:30 a.m. Flooding on Westpark at Tanglewilde about 10:30 a.m. Photo: (Houston TranStar) Image 30 of 48 Flooding at Highway 288 at the South Loop 610 around 10:30 a.m. Flooding at Highway 288 at the South Loop 610 around 10:30 a.m. Photo: (Houston TranStar) Image 31 of 48 Flights being rerouted around Bush Intercontinental Airport to avoid the storm. Click here to see it in real time. Flights being rerouted around Bush Intercontinental Airport to avoid the storm. Photo: (flightaware.com) Image 32 of 48 Power outage map at 10:30 a.m. Click here to see it in real time. Power outage map at 10:30 a.m. Click here to see it in real time. Photo: (CenterPoint) Image 33 of 48 A car, one of six, sits stalled in the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Eastside Street after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston, which caused countless commuters to end up stranded in the high water. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less A car, one of six, sits stalled in the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Eastside Street after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston, which caused ... more Photo: HC Image 34 of 48 A woman sits as she watches Houston firefighters try to free her car on Richmond Avenue and Wakeforest after her car got stuck in the mud as drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less A woman sits as she watches Houston firefighters try to free her car on Richmond Avenue and Wakeforest after her car got stuck in the mud as drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on ... more Photo: HC Image 35 of 48 Motorists splash through high water at Alabama and Shepherd after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) Motorists splash through high water at Alabama and Shepherd after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 36 of 48 Spotts Park off of Waugh and Memorial Drive sits in several feet of water after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less Spotts Park off of Waugh and Memorial Drive sits in several feet of water after drenching thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain early on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Karen Warren / Houston ... more Photo: HC Image 37 of 48 With briefcase and a empty baby car seat in hand Alexander Veksler abandons his car at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area , causing streets to flood Monday January 9, 2010. ( BILLY SMITH II / Houston Chronicle) less With briefcase and a empty baby car seat in hand Alexander Veksler abandons his car at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area , causing streets to flood Monday January ... more Photo: HC Image 38 of 48 In a failed attempt to unclog a storm drain, Jack Peery wades into flood waters at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area,causing streets to flood Monday January 9, 2010. ( BILLY SMITH II / Houston Chronicle) less In a failed attempt to unclog a storm drain, Jack Peery wades into flood waters at South Brasewood and Braewick Dr. in Houston, Tx. Heavy rains hit the Houston area,causing streets to flood Monday January 9, ... more Photo: HC Image 39 of 48 Luis Rodriguez and other friends help a stranded motorist out of high water in the intersection of Fondren and Harwin Drive as a heavy storm continues to move through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. less Luis Rodriguez and other friends help a stranded motorist out of high water in the intersection of Fondren and Harwin Drive as a heavy storm continues to move through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, ... more Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 40 of 48 A motorist stands in water near a stalled car on Washington Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) A motorist stands in water near a stalled car on Washington Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 41 of 48 A Houston fire truck sits stalled under a bridge on Houston Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) A Houston fire truck sits stalled under a bridge on Houston Avenue during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 42 of 48 A motorist drives through high water on S. Braeswood during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) A motorist drives through high water on S. Braeswood during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 43 of 48 An SUV sits in a flooded ditch during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) An SUV sits in a flooded ditch during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 44 of 48 Ana Rivers walks along the overflowing banks of Braes Bayou during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Ana Rivers walks along the overflowing banks of Braes Bayou during a heavy rain storm Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: HC Image 45 of 48 A motorist drives through high water along the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) and Stella Link Road as a heavy thunderstorm moves through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. A motorist drives through high water along the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) and Stella Link Road as a heavy thunderstorm moves through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 46 of 48 Motorist park on the pedestrian curb on the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) on the exit ramp of Stella Link Road to avoid getting stranded on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. Motorist park on the pedestrian curb on the feeder road of Southwest Freeway (59) on the exit ramp of Stella Link Road to avoid getting stranded on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 47 of 48 Cesareo Benitez looks below at the water level along the feeder of Southwest Freeway and Hillcroft exit where motorist have been stranded for two hours on the exit ramp as the storm moves through the Houston area on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Houston. less Cesareo Benitez looks below at the water level along the feeder of Southwest Freeway and Hillcroft exit where motorist have been stranded for two hours on the exit ramp as the storm moves through the Houston ... more Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle Image 48 of 48 Flash flooding plagues Houston after heavy storms 1 / 48 Back to Gallery A strong storm front with heavy rain raced through the Houston region today, leaving behind so much water, it's completely shut down Texas 288 at the South Loop. Much of the heaviest rainfall occurred before noon as the fast-moving storm pushed east quickly, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said as much as 4.5 inches of rainfall was recorded in some areas, especially south and southwest of the metropolitan area. A tornado and hail were reported out in the Katy area, plus one wind gust of 60 mph was recorded near Highway 290 and the West Loop. An apparent tornado tore portions of roofs off garages and homes as well as toppled wooden fences in a residential area near Bissonnet and Gaines near Sugar Land. One resident of a damaged home, 21-year-old Umair Sayyed, said he hid in a closet with his mother and 4-year-old sister as the storm rumbled through the area. Another tornado reportedly touched down near FM 1093 at FM 723, near the Grand Parkway and Mason Road earlier this morning. Nickel-sized hail has been reported at Highway 99 and Fry Road, and bigger hail was seen in Wharton County earlier this morning. More than a dozen freeway intersections were flooded this morning. People in cars stalled in high water on roadways called 911 for rescue, said Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief Lisa Campbell. Firefighters helped people get out of their cars and take them to safer areas. No injuries were reported. Also, HFD had no reports of swift-water rescues. Campbell said HFD ambulances and engines had trouble making emergency calls because of the high water and have been rerouted around flooded areas. One engine stalled in high water on Houston near Washington in a low area. CenterPoint Energy reported power outages affecting about 19,600 customers earlier today. FuelFix.com is reporting that areas inside Loop 610 were hardest hit, particularly between Texas 288 and I-45, according to an outage-tracking map updated by CenterPoint every 15 minutes. There was a cluster of outages in South Houston as well. A flash flood warning was in effect for Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Fort Bend and Harris counties until 2 p.m. In Richmond, people were evacuated by boat from areas near downtown, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. The Richmond Police Department could not be reached for comment. Flooded streets forced Metro to reroute some buses and the Metro Rail service in downtown is limited because of water on the tracks. Light rail service is limited to the Downtown Transit Center and the Preston Station on Main Street. The Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management has upgraded his readiness level in response to the severe weather. The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center activated the first stage of its flood response plan late Monday morning after monitoring bayou levels. Spokeswoman Stephanie Asin said the loading docks and the valet parking station at the neurosensory center have been closed. Several parking garages in the Texas Medical Center have been closed because of high water. Alexa Enriquez, a spokeswoman for the medical center, said Parking Garage 1, 7 and 15 have been closed. Entrances to those garages were closed when water in the Box Culvert off Braes Bayou reached 10 feet earlier Monday morning; Enriquez said the exits were closed when the water level reached 14 feet. They will reopen when the water recedes, she said. The forecast After today's storms, the area is expected to dry out quickly and a cold front is expected to hit later this week, dropping temperatures to near freezing. At least four inches of rain has been recorded in Livingston since midnight Sunday. Monday in the Houston area the heaviest downpours and thunderstorms are expected in the afternoon as the storm moves through the region. Forecasters said some spots could record up to about three inches of rainfall but most areas will receive about one inch. The high temperature will top out at 71 under cloudy skies. The overnight low will be about 51. South winds will be between 5 mph and 15 mph. A 100 percent chance of rain is likely. The area dries out and cools down slightly Tuesday, when rain chances drop to 20 percent. The high will be about 59 degrees under partly sunny skies. The low will be about 42. West winds will be about 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. Sunny skies are expected Wednesday as the Norther, packed with Canadian air, approaches the region. The high will be about 67 degrees before the front arrives, but drops to 44 at night as the front moves closer. The high will struggle to about 55 degrees Thursday under cloudy skies after the front hits. The overnight low will be about 33 when the cold air settles in the region. Some spots north of Houston near Huntsville and Conroe could see the mercury dip to freezing. Friday is likely to be sunny with a high near 54 degrees. The low will be near 39. Temperatures climb on the weekend. The high Saturday will be about 59 under mostly sunny skies. The low will be near 45. Clouds build above the region Sunday as another storm system approaches the area. The high will be about 63. Forecasters said it to early to determine if the storm will bring rain. dale.lezon@chron.com Chronicle photographer James Nielsen, reporter Jeannie Kever, web producer Laura Weisman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report

– A deluge of heavy rain, wind, tornadoes, and nickel-sized hail is giving Houston-area residents a major headache today, the Houston Chronicle reports. A fast-moving storm front pummeled the city with winds reaching 60mph and up to 4.5 inches of rain, shutting part of Highway 288 and flooding a dozen other freeway intersections. Apparent twisters ripped roofs off of houses and garages in one residential area and damaged a mall in nearby Texas City, MSNBC reports. No injuries have been reported, but firefighters struggled to rescue people trapped inside cars on flooded roadways, and several Richmond residents were evacuated by boat. About 19,600 Houston-area residents are without power. The area forecast offers a mixed bag, with dry weather rolling in and near-freezing temperatures descending later this week.

Our analysis examined more than 100,000 premiums charged for liability insurance — the combination of bodily injury and property damage that represents the minimum coverage drivers buy in each of the states. On average, from 2012 through 2014, Illinois insurers paid out 20 percent less for bodily injury and property damage claims in Nash’s predominantly minority zip code than in Hedges’ largely white one, according to data collected by the state’s insurance commission. ProPublica, an investigative news organization, said it submitted freedom of information requests to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and just those four said they collected such data. The insurance industry and some state regulators criticized the report, saying it oversimplified the way companies set rates. “It is dispiriting to see that, in addition to limiting economic opportunity, living in the wrong zip code can mean that you pay more for car insurance regardless of whether you and your neighbors are safe drivers.” The Insurance Information Institute, a trade group representing many insurers, contested ProPublica’s findings. In a call with reporters on Wednesday, Mr. Lynch said the institute had commissioned its own actuarial analysis of ProPublica’s data and determined that the conclusions drawn from the study were “flawed.” The institute did not make its analysis available because it was in draft form, he said, but expected to make it available when the report was completed. “This is a very, very serious charge being made on a very weak study,” he said. Asked if the discrepancies could result from an unintended consequence of the formulas used to set rates, Mr. Lynch said, “There is no unfair discrimination, intentional or unintentional.” Because individual insurers do not publicly release their losses on a ZIP code level, the analysis is based on aggregated losses by insurers. The California Department of Insurance dismissed that approach as “flawed,” the report said, saying an individual insurer’s losses in a given area may vary significantly from the industry average. Robert Klein, who was researching the issue for the association, said in an interview that “the insurance industry opposed the idea of collecting loss and claims data and the NAIC committee sided with the industry and not with me on this point.” Without data about insurers’ losses, Klein’s report could not determine why premiums were higher in minority neighborhoods — whether the difference was truly because of greater risk there. Our findings document what consumer advocates have long suspected: Despite laws in almost every state banning discriminatory rate-setting, some minority neighborhoods pay higher auto insurance premiums than do white areas with similar payouts on claims. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The federation’s studies did not include insurer payout data, which is “good addition” to the analysis, Mr. Hunter said. Since insurance is regulated primarily by states, he urged consumers to contact their state insurance regulators to ask them to examine the fairness of rate-setting practices. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also set up a committee to investigate redlining. Chicago Area Disparities in Car Insurance Premiums Some car insurers charge higher premiums in Chicago’s minority neighborhoods than in predominantly white neighborhoods with similar risk of accidents. They would ask you questions about people’s income levels and questions about neighboring properties — which I don’t really recall ever having to address when I was writing policies in other neighborhoods in the city.” Farmers did not respond to repeated inquiries.

– Drivers in predominantly black neighborhoods in four states paid an average of 30% more to insure their cars than those in white neighborhoods, a new study finds. While it has long been known that African Americans pay more to keep their cars on the road, the analysis conducted by ProPublica and Consumer Reports questioned the insurance industry's contention that premiums for liability insurance are determined by risk of accidents. After studying premiums and claims paid out in California, Illinois, Texas, and Missouri from 2012 to 2014, the nonprofits found that drivers in minority zip codes paid as much as 30% more than white drivers living in areas with similar risk. ProPublica says the "disparity may amount to a subtler form of redlining," meaning denying services to minorities. In this case, many non-white drivers who need their cars to get to work are struggling to pay sky-high bills. One black driver, Otis Nash, pays $136 more each month than a white man living in an area of Chicago deemed a higher insurance risk. "You just bite the bullet and go with it," Nash says. But California insurance regulators called the report "flawed," and the insurance industry dismissed it as a "weak" oversimplification of the rate-setting process. "There is no unfair discrimination, intentional or unintentional," says James Lynch of the Insurance Information Institute, per the New York Times. But ACLU attorney Rachel Goodman tells ProPublica the findings "fit within a pattern that we see all too often—racial disparities allegedly result from differences in risk, but that justification falls apart when we drill down into the data." (A study found Walmart deliberately runs better stores in white areas.)

He writes to The Stranger: Hi there, Having been recently alerted to the Victoria Liss story on your website [here and here], I cannot stand by and have my good name tarnished. As an Andrew Meyer who lives nowhere near the scene of the crime (I live in Fountain Valley, California), I am outraged by this situation. I would like to cover for the trouble that poor Victoria has had to go through on behalf of someone who should be ashamed of himself on so many levels. As a result, I'd like to send a 100% tip from the cost of the meal to Victoria. I will send $28.98 to her if you can arrange for that to happen. Please contact me via e-mail or at [redacted]. My "name" can't be shamed anymore. It was bad enough when this guy tried his part. I can stand my ground no more. Looking forward to hearing from you. Andrew Meyer

– A crazy story about a waitress getting gipped and insulted by a customer just may have a happy ending: The tale began last weekend when Seattle waitress Victoria Liss collected a bill from a customer who wrote in "0" on the tip line and added, "P.S. You could stand to loose (sic) a few pounds." An outraged Liss uploaded a photo of the bill to her Facebook page and identified him online. (He paid by credit card, making it easy.) Internet revenge ensued, with strangers, friends, and bloggers calling out the customer, Andrew Meyers. Which, of course, led to the wrong Andrew Meyers being pilloried in public. Now, however, yet another Andrew Meyers has come forward to the Stranger to offer Liss a 100% tip on the $29 bill, all in the name of clearing the Andrew Meyers name. The newspaper is putting him in touch with Liss. At the Stir blog, meanwhile, Julie Ryan Evans hopes the real culprit is "shaking in his scummy yuppie shoes."

APS March Meeting 2015 Volume 60, Number 1 Monday–Friday, March 2–6, 2015; San Antonio, Texas Session S48: Focus Session: Physics of Evolutionary and Population Dynamics I 8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 5, 2015 Room: 217C Sponsoring Unit: DBIO Chair: Michel Pleimliung, Virginia Tech University Abstract ID: BAPS.2015.MAR.S48.8 Abstract: S48.00008 : The Statistical Mechanics of Zombies 9:24 AM–9:36 AM Preview Abstract Abstract Authors: Alexander A. Alemi (Cornell University) Matthew Bierbaum (Cornell University) Christopher R. Myers (Cornell University) James P. Sethna (Cornell University) We present results and analysis from a large scale exact stochastic dynamical simulation of a zombie outbreak. Zombies have attracted some attention lately as a novel and interesting twist on classic disease models. While most of the initial investigations have focused on the continuous, fully mixed dynamics of a differential equation model, we have explored stochastic, discrete simulations on lattices. We explore some of the basic statistical mechanical properties of the zombie model, including its phase diagram and critical exponents. We report on several variant models, including both homogeneous and inhomogeneous lattices, as well as allowing diffusive motion of infected hosts. We build up to a full scale simulation of an outbreak in the United States, and discover that for `realistic' parameters, we are largely doomed.

– If a zombie outbreak were to strike US shores, East Coasters should head west ASAP. That recommendation comes by way of Cornell University researchers, who have modeled the statistical mechanics of, yes, zombies and will present their findings at a meeting of the American Physical Society on March 5 in San Antonio. The researchers used a number of techniques that are used when modeling real diseases, and the abstract ends with this dismal line: "We build up to a full scale simulation of an outbreak in the United States, and discover that for 'realistic' parameters, we are largely doomed." But Phys.Org relays a glimmer of hope by way of Alex Alemi, a grad student involved in the research: He says those who want to remain safe from the undead for as long as they can should head to the northern Rockies. He explains that while books and movies typically show an outbreak touching all corners of the country immediately, "in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn't seem like this is how it would actually go down." Yes, major cities could be toast within days, but less populated areas could be unaffected for weeks, and the northern Mountain Time Zone could be safe for months. "Given the dynamics of the disease, once the zombies invade more sparsely populated areas, the whole outbreak slows down—there are fewer humans to bite, so you start creating zombies at a slower rate," says Alemi. "I'd love to see a fictional account where most of New York City falls in a day, but upstate New York has a month or so to prepare." (Of course, some people want to be trapped in a room with a zombie.)

Willow Palin and her high school buddies trashed a vacant house in Alaska. Now it appears residents of the Mat-Su Valley are pissed that Sarah Palin got Willow off the hook. Watch out, Sarah. The small town scene is brutal. Here is how Sarah Palin will be destroyed by petty small town drama. Her daughter Willow (Not the Levi Johnston one) runs with the wrong crowd at Colony High School in Palmer, Alaska. One source told the National Inquirer: Willow has been running with the wrong crowd... They are a popular high school clique known as the Colony Girls, who are well known as hard partiers and are regularly involved in underage drinking and smoking dope. Every kid in the Mat-su Valley simultaneously hates and envies the Colony Girls: They are envious of their social success and resentful that this success allows them to get away with things they can't. They transcend bad kid/good kid dynamic that so defines their own experience. It's not fair! It is December, 2009. Willow Palin and her Colony Girls throw a super sweet party at a house they know is for sale. Willow, apparently, is the one who leads them to the house. The rager is so epic it caused "between twenty to thirty thousand dollars in damage," according to the Immoral Minority. The lock had been forced, five wooden doors had been so badly damaged they needed to be replaced, the walls and floors had been gouged with knives, and vodka and orange juice containers were strewn all over the house. It also appeared that sexual activity had taken place on some of the beds, and a computer, some winter gear, and clothing had all been stolen. Everyone hears about the party. The on January 13th, according to The Immoral Minority, the homeowner discovers their trashed house and the cops are called. The National Enquirer picks up the story. The Colony Girls are in trouble! Resentment overtakes envy: Finally, the Colony Girls will get their due. But just like that, the heat is off the Colony Girls. According to The Immoral Minority, a "secret weekend meeting" took place between State Troopers and the Palins. After the meeting, the probation officer decides to charge only the boys engaged in the crime. "The girls would only be identified as 'witnesses' and face no criminal penalties." Now all Mat-Su Valley rages. The Immoral Minority writes, "sources have told me that a number of the parents are very unhappy that their children will face charges and that Willow and the other girls will not." Having grown up in a small town ourselves, we know for a fact that this kind of thing makes people vicious to an extent that would give Mexican drug cartels pause. Years of the Colony Girls getting off the hook have culminated in this ultimate injustice, now it's all-out provincial war. And, given the target, it will be waged on a national level. Sarah Palin better start paying for some Mat-Su Valley high school gym floors to be refinished or something.

– It looks like Fox News was at least two-thirds wrong when they said LL Cool J, Toby Keith, and Jack Welch "will speak to" Sarah Palin "for her inaugural episode of American Stories on April 1st.” Toby Keith has joined LL Cool J in denying that Palin interviewed him, his publicist tells the New York Times, and the network appears to be just recycling an old interview Keith did in 2009. And that's not the least of the bad news for Palin: The former governor isn't the only Palin going rogue, reports Gawker: It seems that Willow, along with some clique known as the Colony Girls, threw themselves a heckuva party last December at a vacant house and caused $20,000 to $30,000 in damage. But mysteriously, after state troopers met with the Palins, only the boys involved are facing charges. Queue the small-town drama.

The blood of Strongsville school teacher Melinda Pleskovic was found on the blade of a knife located in a pickup truck driven by her daughter's fiance, court records show. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond. The court document filed by Strongsville police investigators is the first true glimpse of how Scullin came to emerge as a suspect in Pleskovic's shooting and stabbing death Oct. 23 inside her Blazing Star home. Scullin, who lived with Pleskovic, 49, and her husband, was set to marry the couple's daughter just days after the killing. Instead, they spent the day at her funeral where he reportedly served as a pallbearer. Chief Fender told reporters that Pleskovic’s husband, Bruce Pleskovic, called 911 that Monday after returning to his home with Scullin to find Melinda on the floor in a pool of blood.

– A 911 caller in Ohio who told the dispatcher "there's a lot of blood" after he came across the body of his future mother-in-law is now being accused of her murder. "Jeffery William Scullin Jr. has been charged with aggravated murder," Strongsville Police Chief Mark Fender told reporters at a Tuesday press conference, which WOIO notes took place eight days after the killing of 49-year-old Melinda Pleskovic. Scullin, 20, was engaged to Pleskovic's daughter and lived in the Pleskovic home. People reports he arrived at the home with Pleskovic's husband, Bruce, on Oct. 23 to find the sixth-grade teacher's body on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She'd been shot and stabbed several times. Bruce Pleskovic told a 911 dispatcher there'd been recent break-ins at their home, but cops say he may have thought that based on info fed to him by Scullin. Scullin, who made a separate 911 call, told the dispatcher it didn't look like anyone had broken in. He says he grabbed his own daughter and Pleskovic's son—WKYC notes the 18-year-old has Down syndrome—and went outside without surveying the scene more carefully. Scullin was set to marry Pleskovic's daughter on the Saturday after the slaying, but instead he was said to have served as a pallbearer at her funeral. Per court records cited by WKYC, a knife with Pleskovic's blood was found in Scullin's pickup truck, among other evidence. Scullin is being held on a $1 million bond. (This man killed his mom and two brothers weeks before his planned wedding.)

The new documentary Soaked In Bleach focuses on the conspiracy theory that the Nirvana frontman was murdered, and that his wife Courtney Love was behind the act. In a new documentary called Soaked in Bleach, director Benjamin Statler takes a look at the rock star’s end through the eyes of Tom Grant, a private investigator Courtney Love hired to locate the missing Cobain just days before he was found dead. Not only does the film reveal some supposedly convincing evidence from Grant’s point of view, it also sees former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, who was in office at the time of Cobain’s death, saying he’d reopen the case if he were still Police Chief today. “We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behavior of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead,” Stamper admits in the film, according to Alternative Nation. “If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered, as opposed to having committed suicide, and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that. That was in fact our responsibility.” Stamper went on to say that a new investigation would be “about right and wrong, it’s about honor. The film uses those recordings to reenact Tom’s encounters with Courtney Love and others in Kurt’s inner circle. “If we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the Chief of Police, I would reopen this investigation.” It’s important to note that Stamper isn’t outright saying he believes that Cobain was murdered; rather, he’s just pushing for a thorough investigation. For her part, Love has been attempting to legally block Soaked in Bleach from being shown in theaters, going so far as to send cease and desist letters to any establishment planning on airing it. She claims the film “falsely presents a widely and repeatedly debunked conspiracy theory that accuses Ms. Cobain of orchestrating the death of her husband Kurt Cobain.” The Love-approved documentary, Montage of Heck, has meanwhile received vast critical acclaim. Soaked In Bleach has been a predictably polarizing film.

– Conspiracy theories have long swirled around the 1994 death of Kurt Cobain, but the latest film documentary about the Nirvana frontman has Courtney Love filing cease-and-desist letters and the ex-police chief of Seattle saying he'd reopen the case if he were still in charge, Spin reports. In Soaked in Bleach, a private investigator named Tom Grant says he was hired by Love to find Cobain, who had gone missing, just a few days before his death, per the Consequence of Sound. The movie reportedly offers up convincing evidence from Grant that Cobain didn't kill himself but was murdered, and that Love was the mastermind, Spin notes. The film also features commentary from Norm Stamper, who had just taken over as head of Seattle's police force before Cobain died. While Stamper doesn't come right out and say Love had her husband offed, he does think the movie's allegations warrant a new look. "We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behavior of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead," he says in the movie, per Spin. "If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered … and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that." And if he were still chief today, those steps would be taken, Stamper adds: "It's about right and wrong. It's about honor. It's about ethics. If we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the chief of police, I would reopen this investigation." (The Montage of Heck documentary about Cobain has been described as "brilliant" and "uncomfortable.")

“Do you see I’m a little edgy?” Rosie O’Donnell asked Seth Meyers midway through her interview on Late Night Thursday to promote her role in the new Showtime series SMILF. “I spend like pretty much 90 percent of my waking hours tweeting hatred towards this administration.” “That is a two-way street,” Meyers pointed out, noting that Donald Trump has been targeting O’Donnell for a very long time. Perhaps most famous was the moment during the first Republican primary debate when Trump responded to Megyn Kelly’s question about his history of misogynistic statements by saying, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” “Over a decade,” O’Donnell said. It all started back when O’Donnell was co-hosting The View. As she explained, there was a young woman who had recently been crowned “Junior Miss Trump Atlantic City Pageant Sexist Winner,” as O’Donnell put it, when she was “caught” by the New York Post kissing a woman at a bar downtown. Trump held a press conference and announced that he had forgiven her for her transgressions. “What is he, the pimp and she’s the prostitute?” O’Donnell remembered saying at the time. “He’s the moral arbiter of 20-year-old behavior now, right?” From there, she went on to talk about how he has been “bankrupt four times, that he got all his money from his father, and that he notoriously cheats private contractors out of their money.” After she said all that on The View, Trump “went batshit crazy.” “So, you know, as bad as everyone feels and they have felt since November 8th, I know for me, I’ve been in a severe depression,” O’Donnell told Meyers. “Although, I’d like to say, today after your show I’m going to get a Bob Mueller tattoo. Because I love him!” When Meyers described Mueller as a “severe” man, O’Donnell said, “He looks to me like Superman. Like Captain America. Like justice has finally arrived back on our shores! And we are going to right ourselves again!” “I will say that if Trump gets indicted, it would be really great if Mueller let you serve the papers,” Meyers replied. O’Donnell said that when Trump first rode down that escalator to announce his campaign she was “laughing her ass off” because she thought it “would never happen.” Even her therapist assured her that Trump could never actually win the election. How wrong they were.

– Head to the Trump Twitter archive, type in "Rosie," and you can see in scathing detail the online manifestation of the longtime feud between the president and Rosie O'Donnell. But did we ever really know what started it? O'Donnell offered her take Thursday night on Late Night With Seth Meyers, after the host pointed out that Trump had been going after O'Donnell for what seems like forever, per the Daily Beast. "Over a decade," O'Donnell confirmed, before revealing that she believed the brouhaha all started after something she said on TV when she was co-hosting The View. O'Donnell notes that after Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006, was caught engaging in underage drinking and tested positive for cocaine use that year, Trump announced at a presser he would forgive her. Rosie remembers thinking, "What is he, the pimp and she's the prostitute? He's the moral arbiter of 20-year-old behavior now, right?" And so she scoured the internet (she says she went on Wikipedia) and found some "easily accessible" nuggets—including that Trump went "bankrupt four times, that he got all his money from his father, and that he notoriously cheats private contractors out of their money"—and then shared them on The View. And that, she says, is when Trump went "bats--- crazy." O'Donnell and Meyers also dished on the Robert Mueller Russia investigation, with Meyers noting, "I will say that if Trump gets indicted, it would be really great if Mueller let you serve the papers." O'Donnell replied, "I have put in that request by tweet. I'm waiting to hear."

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's government is negotiating the release of another 83 of the Chibok schoolgirls taken in a mass abduction two-and-a-half years ago, but more than 100 others appear unwilling to leave their Boko Haram Islamic extremist captors, a community leader said Tuesday. Story highlights Almost 200 girls still held captive by Boko Haram At least 14 parents of the missing girls have died since 2014 kidnapping Abuja, Nigeria (CNN) The 21 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped and released by terrorist group Boko Haram were reunited with their families amid tearful scenes on Sunday. The girls and their parents were reunited Sunday and are expected to meet with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday or Wednesday, Bitrus said. An aid worker had told The Associated Press that he had seen the girls on their release and that all but three carried babies.

– Twenty-one Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in April 2014 by Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria were released last week, and on Sunday, they had what they've been wishing for for more than two years: reunions with their families. It was an emotional scene at a welcome-home ceremony in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, with plenty of tight embraces, singing, and tears of joy, per CNN and the New York Times. One woman even lifted her daughter onto her back and carried her like an infant, CNN notes. "I felt like it was the day that I born her into this world," one ecstatic mother said, per the Times. "I danced and danced and danced." Some of the freed girls held up Bibles at an earlier church service as a sign they were reclaiming their Christianity after being forced by their captors to convert to Islam. But not all the tears at Sunday's ceremony were from happiness. Some attendees at the reunion have daughters who are among the 200 or so still missing—and the stories the returned captives tell is a grim one. They say they were given the option to join up with the militants as their wives and turn to Islam or else be turned into slaves responsible for cooking, cleaning, and other chores; about half chose each option. They often went hungry, and some died in the Sambisa Forest where they were being held. And while the Nigerian government is trying to negotiate to free the other captives, there's been a disturbing development: More than 100 of them seem unwilling to return home, either because they've been radicalized or because they feel shame at marrying their captors and having babies with them, the head of the Chibok Development Association tells the AP.

Police are pictured outside of a Century 16 movie theatre where as many as 14 people were killed and many injured at a shooting during the showing of a movie at the in Aurora, Colo., Friday, July 20,... (Associated Press) A police spokesman says the gas mask-wearing suspect arrested in connection with a mass shooting in the Denver suburb of Aurora is a man in his early 20s. The Sullivan family was notified at 8 p.m. after they had desperately searched for Alex for more than 14 hours, a release from the family said. Friday, July 20, 2012 10:20 PM: In addition to Jessica Ghawi, two additional victims have been identified: AJ Boik (age unknown at this time) Micayla Medek, 23 Alex Sullivan, 27, was celebrating his birthday the night of the shootings. 7:50 PM: James Holmes’ family issued the following statement: Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved. "Alex was smart, funny, and above all loved dearly by his friends and family." 7:40 AM: We reportedly earlier that a girl named Jessica Ghawi was reported dead along with Jessica Redfield. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said about 7 p.m. on Friday that the last of the 10 bodies in the Century 16 movie complex in Aurora Town Center were removed by 5 p.m. and police hope to have identifications of the victims within the next couple of hours. 11:51 AM: Hickenlooper called the shooting an “act of a deranged mind,” in the Aurora Theater shooting press conference, which is streaming live now. The suspected gunman James Eagan Holmes, 24, was in the Arapahoe County Jail and is scheduled for his first court appearance at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to the chief. Oates said the suspect is believed to have purchased four guns locally in the last two months and bought ammunition and magazines for his weapons over the Internet. With the weapons employed in the shooting — an AR-15 assault-style rifle, a shotgun and a handgun — the gunman could have gotten off as many as 60 rounds a minute, Oates said. Oates families in four of the five apartments in the complex will be allowed to return briefly this evening to retrieve necessities such as medication, but they will be directed to evacuation centers or other accommodations for the night. We are obviously very concerned about that.” 5:28 AM: The Red Cross is staffing an evacuation center at Gateway High School in Aurora with four mental health workers and a mobile feeding vehicle to help care for about 100 people who were evacuated from the scene. Then he walked out of the theater's emergency door unnoticed, investigators said, propping it open. They got news that their friend was killed during a shooting, where about 50 people were shot 12 fatally early Friday inside an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the new Batman movie, were taken to the high school by bus to be questioned by police. Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania told ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday that investigators don't believe anyone else was involved. The child was handed to a police officer, who put her into the back of his squad car and sped away. Police were on scene within a minute to a minute and a half of the first call and apprehended Holmes at that point. Said “she was girl with passion that was going places” Editor’s note: Jessica was a former sports intern at FOX31 Denver. Ramos and his sister dragged him as far as they could and were eventually met in the lobby by police officers who took over. I just wanted to capture people’s fighting spirit at the scene. We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy. They were not there last night “We’re not going to get into why (Holmes) did what he did. Three weapons were used in the shooting: a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15 assault-style weapon and a .40-caliber Glock handgun, according to Oates. A second Glock was found in Holmes' car, but police don't know if it was used in the attack. 5:43 AM: The gunman reportedly was also wearing a riot helmet and a bullet proof vest when he was discovered at his car int he back of the theater. Oates said investigators are not able to calculate how many shots were fired in the theater but that "lots of bullets fired very quickly." A comment from a witness on the scene: “They said bullets were flying through the wall.” Then, gesturing to her friend, the witness said, “the girl that was sitting next to her got hit in the jaw.” The bullets coming through the wall into theater 8 came from theater 9, where the majority of the shooting occurred. 8:58 AM: Aurora Police are saying that the third floor of James Holmes’ apartment is booby-trapped with sophisticated explosives. Residents of the following addresses will be able to return to their residences to pick up emergency items, such as medicine and baby items: 11948 East 17th Avenue 1686 Paris Street 1685 Paris Street 1678 Paris Street Evacuees should meet at Paris Elementary School (1635 Paris Street) at 7PM. Two died at area hospitals, 10 died at the scene We are not looking for any other suspects, “we are confident that Holmes acted alone.’ Some rounds penetrated into an adjoining theater — at least one person was struck by a bullet in the adjoining theater The suspect was dressed in all black, ballistic attire that included throat, hand and leg covering as well as head and chest protection. This one of those times.” 8:12 AM: Children’s Hospital Colorado has received 6 victims — one child and five adults, ages 18 – 31 — from last night’s shooting at the Aurora movie theater. A U.S. Navy sailor who was at the Century 16 theater at the time of the shooting is unaccounted for, the Department of Defense announced Friday afternoon. ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted.” 2:04 PM: A statement from the department of defense reports that one sailors has been injured, along with two airmen at the Aurora theater shooting. 2:28 PM: Bunkley Air Force Base has confirmed that one of its four missing or injured service members has died. 2:18 PM: ABC’s Brian Ross reported earlier Friday that James Holmes might be a radical member of the Tea Party organization. Police received multiple calls about the shooting beginning at 12:39 a.m. and arrived within two minutes at the complex, 14300 E. Alameda Ave. Police say the suspect "appeared" at the front of one of the theaters showing "The Dark Knight Rises." The bodies of the 10 people who died at the theater remain at the scene while police continue to investigate. “This morning, Colorado lost youthful voices,” Romney said. 5:30 AM: Chief Dan Oats of the Aurora Police just made a few brief comments/ Oates said the suspect in custody “made a statement to us about explosive in his residence, beyond that I have nothing more to say” about the suspect’s motivations. We are dealing with that potential threat," Oates said Police were at the Denver-area apartment and had evacuated other residents of the building. "We were not busy Tuesday night," he recalled . Witnesses said the gunman came into the front of theater #9, threw a canister that released smoke, and then opened fire. The gunman, who is in custody, stood at the front of the theater and fired into the crowd about 12:30 a.m. MDT at a multiplex theater in a mall in Aurora. 7:59 AM: Watch the video of our interview with a witness who said the shooter pointed a gun in her face. He shot at the person sitting behind her, Seeger said. A father has confirmed his 6-year-old daughter was killed. He was arrested with a shotgun, a handgun and a rifle in his possession, and he was wearing a gas mask. 5:53 AM: Witness said “it was tear gas” that was used at the theater. "Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming," he told the station. He said that people ran from the theater and there were gunshots as police shouted "get down!" Fernandez said he saw people falling, including one young girl. When the fire alarm sounded, people began throwing their popcorn and drinks in the air, assuming it was a practical joke, Romero said. Salina Jordan, 19, was in theater 8 and saw people fall after they were shot. She said one girl was struck in a cheek, and others were wounded in the stomach, including a girl who looked to be around 9 years old. Jordan said it sounded like firecrackers until someone ran into theater 8 yelling, "They're shooting out here!" Officers came running in and telling people to leave the theater, Salina Jordan told the Denver Post. Some police were carrying or dragging bodies, she said. Golditch was shot in the neck — under the ear — and the bullet passed through his body. "I ran outside and was holding his arm that was shot," Walton said. Police, ambulances and emergency crews swarmed on the scene after frantic calls started flooding the 911 switchboard, officials said. The suspect was taken into custody, but no name was released. 9:59 AM: We now have a 30-image photo gallery featuring everything from victims being treated on the scene to the suspects apartment and his riot gear to the plethora of police command posts that have been set up. Witnesses were taken to nearby Gateway High School for questioning. Jones said when he first saw smoke billowing from the front of the theater, he thought it was a special effect. Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. Stevens was waiting for her son at Gateway High School while police interviewed him. Jacob told his mom that he saw a guy walk into the theater wearing body armor and throw some sort of cannister that then emitted some sort of gas. President Barack Obama said he was saddened by the "horrific and tragic shooting," pledging that his administration was "committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded." Within one hour of the shooting early Friday morning, there were approximately 25 officers on the scene who apprehended Holmes. "It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morning," Hickenlooper said. 1:25 PM: According to the Associated Press, a federal law enforcement official said suspect James Holmes first bought a ticket to the movie, and then is believed to have propped open an exit door in the theater as the movie was playing. Coloradans have a remarkable ability to support one another in times of crisis. We are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock and immense grief. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has also issued a brief statement: “Anne and I are deeply saddened praying for families and loved ones of the victims.” 5:20 AM: President Obama has issued a statement from a campaign event in Florida. MULTIMEDIA: Video: Investigation into suspected gunman leads to San Diego. MORE>>> 5:45 PM: Metro area theaters will have increased security this weekend in wake of Aurora shooting. FBI spokesman Jason Pack said there's no indication in the investigation so far of any connection to terrorism. From the hospital: Twenty-three patients were brought to the hospital in the aftermath of the Cinema 16 Aurora theater shootings July 20. 4:46 PM: Authorities at the Aurora Medical Center have said the volume of patients they received from the Aurora theater shooting is the most extreme they’ve seen — more so, even, than the Columbine tragedy. A total of 15 patients — ranging from 16 to 31 years old — were sent to the medical center, 12 of them with gunshot wounds. Information about those patients was not immediately available. Eight of the patients have been discharged, five victims remain in critical condition and two patients are being prepared for surgery. Doctors said the wounds were caused by a high-caliber weapon or what appeared to be shrapnel. 7:50 AM: Of the 38 injured, nine are being reported in critical condition at University Hospital in Aurora and two are reported in critical condition at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood. 4:34 PM: Members of the Denver Broncos met with victims today 3:58 PM: Report: Denver Broncos Quarterback Peyton Manning called victims of the Aurora theater shooting. Some of our distaster planning and training served us well.” Denton said the injuries ranged from gunshot wounds to the head, chest and abdomen, along with “substantial wounds to extremities.” 4:29 PM: We have a video interview with a man who shared beers with James Holmes at the Zephyr Lounge in Aurora. Three victims have since been released, the other three remain in fair condition, hospital officials said. Saturday, July 21, 2012 9:05 PM: Police are looking for a second “person of interest” in connection with the Aurora theater shooting and suspected gunman James Holmes 8:49 PM: Per University of Colorado Hospital (as of Saturday evening): 23 patients brought to University of Colorado Hospital 12 treated and released 1 deceased (our understanding is this person has been included in death toll from Aurora Police) 7 patients in critical condition 3 patients in good condition 7:17 PM: (CNN) — President Barack Obama will be in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday to visit with victims of a shooting rampage inside a movie theater, a White House official said Saturday. Of >those, seven are still in critical condition and three are in good >condition. The studio has canceled the red carpet premier of 'The Dark Knight Rises' in Paris," The Hollywood Reporter said. Our heart and prayers are with the families and loved ones of the victims of this tragedy.

– The gas mask-wearing suspect arrested in connection with the hellish Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting is 24-year-old local resident James Holmes, ABC News reports. The Denver Post reports that police have thus far recovered a gas mask, rifle, handgun, and at least one other weapon; they also evacuated an apartment building tied to Holmes, then began searching it. KDVR reports that the suspect apparently told police the apartment contained explosives. Officers found the suspect near a car behind the theater, reports the AP. A rep for the city's police force said investigators don't believe anyone else was involved, and they don't believe Holmes had terrorist ties. Police have not indicated if there was a motive.

Here are the key moments from the debate that brought Republican presidential candidates head-to-head in North Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 14. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Seven candidates participated in Thursday's 2016 presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C.: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex. ), Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The complete transcript is posted below. Washington Post reporters and readers using Genius have annotated it, and will continue to do so following the debate. To see an annotation, click or tap the highlighted part of the transcript; if you would like to leave your own annotations, make sure you have a Genius account. Post staff annotations will appear by default; others are in a menu that you can see in the upper right when you click or tap on an annotation. The debate began after moderators Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo introduced the candidates. BARTIROMO: So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth -- two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? CRUZ: Well, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start -- I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. (APPLAUSE) CRUZ: And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. (APPLAUSE) Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Governor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but (inaudible) investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? KASICH: Look, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts -- if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the -- in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the -- you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations -- I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are -- they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: We know that recent global events have many people worried -- Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention ISIS is getting stronger. Governor Christie, sometimes it seems the world is on fire. Where and when should a president use military action to restore order? CHRISTIE: Well, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? (APPLAUSE) The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. CHRISTIE: Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a -- it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand -- and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton -- and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Just to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? CHRISTIE: Military action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Governor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? BUSH: Well first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about ISIS being the JV team, they form a caliphate the size of Indiana with 35 (thousand) to 40,000 battle-tested terrorists. He's missing the whole point, that America's leadership in the world is required for peace and stability. In the crowd today is Major General James Livingston, who's the co-chairman of my campaign here in South Carolina, a Medal of Honor recipient. (APPLAUSE) I've learned from him that what we need to achieve is peace through strength, which means we need to rebuild the military. In this administration, every weapon system has been gutted, in this administration, the force levels are going down to a level where we can't even project force. Our friends no longer think we have their back and our enemies no longer fear us, and we're in a much difficult -- we're in a much different position than we should be. And for the life of me, I have no understanding why the president thinks that everything is going well. Terrorism is on the run, China, Russia is advancing their agenda at warp speed, and we pull back. As president of the United States, I will be a commander in chief that will have the back of the military. We will rebuild the military to make sure that it is a solid force, not to be the world's policeman, but to make sure that in a peaceful world, people know that the United States is there to take care of our own national interests and take care of our allies. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: So I take it from that you do not agree with the president. BUSH: No. And worse -- worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have -- that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. But we have a serious problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, the president says that ISIS doesn't threaten our national existence like a Germany or a Japan back in World War II, that the terror group is nothing more than twisted souls plotting attacks in their garages. But House Homeland Security Committee recently said that over 1,000 ongoing investigations of homegrown extremism in 50 states. So how do you define the threat? Germany then or dangerous nut cases now? RUBIO: Yeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. (APPLAUSE) Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. (APPLAUSE) On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in ISIS. He consistently underestimates it but I do not. There is a war against ISIS, not just against ISIS but against radical jihadists terrorists, and it is a war that they win or we win. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to win this war on ISIS. The most powerful intelligence agency in the world is going to tell us where we are, the most powerful military in the world is going to destroy them. And if we capture any of them alive, they are getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Thank you, Senator. BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat ISIS as a foreign army, but ISIS is neither a country nor a government. How do you attack a network that does not respect national borders? CARSON: Well, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. (LAUGHTER) You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Mr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. Do we have answer for that? TRUMP: It's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. (APPLAUSE) You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a -- the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will -- some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor -- very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? TRUMP: You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized -- they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 -- going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look -- a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars -- our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? CRUZ: Well Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually -- that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate -- unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack -- is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with FDIC and yes, I made a paperwork error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other. But if that's the best the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well. BARTIROMO: Thank you. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAVUTO: All right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate, right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist -- no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born... (LAUGHTER) ... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump -- and others -- have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? CRUZ: Well, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE) You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. (LAUGHTER) Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. (LAUGHTER) But the poll numbers have. (APPLAUSE) And I recognize -- I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on -- some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. (APPLAUSE) (UNKNOWN): Not me. CRUZ: Because -- because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... TRUMP: But I was born here. CRUZ: ... on the issue -- on the issue of citizenship, Donald... TRUMP: (inaudible). Big difference. CRUZ: ... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. TRUMP: OK, good. Because it wouldn't work. CRUZ: You're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Mr. Trump... (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: ... that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. TRUMP: ... first of all, let me just tell you something -- and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself -- NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll -- headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't -- so you can't -- you can't... (BOOING) ... they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. (LAUGHTER) And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So -- you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. (APPLAUSE) You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. TRUMP: Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square (inaudible) to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and (inaudible) from Harvard -- of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. They do whatever what they do, OK. There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. We're running. He does great. We will win on everything we do. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. See, they don't like that. (LAUGHTER) The fact is -- and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field (inaudible). (AUDIENCE BOOING) No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. (LAUGHTER) But -- if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: Why are you saying this now -- right now? Why are you raising this issue now? TRUMP: Because now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care (inaudible). No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. (LAUGHTER) (CROSSTALK) CRUZ: Neil... (CROSSTALK) TRUMP: The fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because (inaudible). I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a -- and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. CAVUTO: Senator, do you want to respond? CRUZ: Well, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. TRUMP: You don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. (APPLAUSE) (CROSSTALK) TRUMP: Take it from your professors... (CROSSTALK) CRUZ: The chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... TRUMP: He's wrong. CRUZ: ... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... TRUMP: He is not the only one. CRUZ: ... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. TRUMP: There are many lawyers. CRUZ: And I'll tell you what, Donald, you -- you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. (LAUGHTER) I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. TRUMP: No -- no... (LAUGHTER) ... I think if it doesn't... (APPLAUSE) I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. CRUZ: Actually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. (CROSSTALK) TRUMP: I have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. (CROSSTALK) RUBIO: Let me (inaudible). I was invoked in that question, so let me just say -- in that answer -- let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. (LAUGHTER) But the real -- but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. Listen, we -- this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. BARTIROMO: Thank you, senator. BARTIROMO: Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address (APPLAUSE) BARITROMO: appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? TRUMP: Okay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. (LAUGHTER) But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. (APPLAUSE) TRUMP: Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. (APPLAUSE) TRUMP: And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. (APPLAUSE) BARITROMO: But what are you going to do about it? CAVUTO: Marco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? RUBIO: You know, as I said already twice in this debate, we have a very serious problem in this country. (APPLAUSE) RUBIO: We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... CAVUTO: That is not my question. RUBIO: Well, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is -- this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. (APPLAUSE) RUBIO: We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding -- less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned -- he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. CAVUTO: Is he a liberal? RUBIO: Our next president... CAVUTO: Is he a liberal? RUBIO: Unfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. CAVUTO: Governor? (APPLAUSE) CHRISTIE: I stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. (LAUGHTER) So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. (APPLAUSE) CHRISTIE: And the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. (APPLAUSE) BUSH: Neil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be -- this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. (APPLAUSE) Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the -- the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. CARSON: Neil, I was mentioned too. CAVUTO: You were? CARSON: Yeah, he said everybody. (LAUGHTER) And -- and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we -- and when I say we, Republicans -- tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. BARTIROMO: Governor Kasich... (APPLAUSE) ... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? KASICH: Well, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look... (APPLAUSE) ... and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this -- the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to -- I -- I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise -- and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years -- it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in -- in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high -- higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. (APPLAUSE) Let me tell you that, in this country -- in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to -- keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never -- we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America -- and I mean everybody in America -- having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president -- look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the -- than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. (BELL RINGS) It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our -- our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? CARSON: Well, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything -- race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section -- you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Well, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/(inaudible). We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the debate is going so far. CAVUTO: We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? BUSH: First of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the -- (APPLAUSE) BUSH: The Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. (APPLAUSE) BUSH: I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not -- would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. (APPLAUSE) BUSH: The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? TRUMP: No. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. (APPLAUSE) TRUMP: We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. XXX where you get Congress. TRUMP: You get the Congress. You get the Senate. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. RUBIO: That sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. (APPLAUSE) Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get -- they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, ISIS and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show. These... (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE) ... his answer -- you name it. If there's an act of violence in America, his immediate answer before he even knows the facts is gun control. Here's a fact. We are in a war against ISIS. They are trying to attack us here in America. They attacked us in Philadelphia last week. They attacked us in San Bernardino two weeks ago. And the last line standing between them and our families might be us and a gun. When I'm president of the United States, we are defending the Second Amendment, not undermining it the way Barack Obama does. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: But what fact can you point to, Senator -- what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's (inaudible)? RUBIO: About every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended... (CROSSTALK) RUBIO: I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. (APPLAUSE) He doesn't meet -- here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Governor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? CHRISTIE: No, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not buy signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know... (APPLAUSE) ... the fact is, Neil, let's think about -- let's think about -- and I want to maybe -- I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: So what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? CRUZ: The answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do -- done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters -- the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator -- Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane... (LAUGHTER) ... that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award... (BELL RINGS) ... and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans -- we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. BARTIROMO: Senator... (APPLAUSE) ... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? CRUZ: You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. (LAUGHTER) BARTIROMO: I am from New York. I don't. CRUZ: What -- what -- you're from New York? (LAUGHTER) But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. (APPLAUSE) And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And -- and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked -- my friend Donald has taken to it as (ph) advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And -- and -- you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation -- he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And -- and I guess I can -- can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. (LAUGHTER) BARTIROMO: Are you sure about that? CAVUTO: Maria... TRUMP: So conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. (APPLAUSE) And just so -- if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made -- New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... (APPLAUSE) ... you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death -- nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. TRUMP: And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Governor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? BUSH: Well, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel -- (APPLAUSE) ... and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Thank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and OPEC will be back in the driver's seat. U.S. energy player Harold Hamrie similarly told me with friends like these, who needs enemies? Do you agree? KASICH: Well, let me -- let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you... (APPLAUSE) ... that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. (APPLAUSE) KASICH: So look, in foreign policy -- in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it -- I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it - a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's -- deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy ISIS and I believe we can get that done. CAVUTO: Thank you John. BARTIROMO: There's much more ahead including the fight against ISIS. More from Charleston, South Carolina when we come right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: We welcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate, right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting ISIS the cornerstone of his campaign, South Carolina Senator, Lindsey Graham is out the race but he joins us tonight in the audience. (APPLAUSE) He says, "the air-strike now in their 16th month have been ineffective." Dr. Carson ... CARSON: Wait a minute, who in their 16th month? BARTIROMO: The air-strikes. CARSON: OK. BARTIROMO: Now in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops -- ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out ISIS? CARSON: Well, there's no question that ISIS is a very serious problem, and I don't believe that this administration recognizes how serious it is. I think we need to do a lot more than we're doing. Recognize that the caliphate is what gives them the legitimacy to go out on a jihadist mission, so we need to take that away from them. The way to take that away from them is to talk to our military officials and ask them, "what do you need in order to accomplish this goal?" Our decision is, then, do we give them what we need. I say, yes, not only do we give them what they need, but we don't tie their hands behind their backs so that they can go ahead and get the job done. In addition to that... (APPLAUSE) ... in addition to that, we go ahead and we take the oil from them, their source of revenue. You know, some of these -- these engagement rules that the administration has -- "we're not going to bomb a tanker that's coming out of there because there might be a person in it" -- give me a break. Just tell them that, you put people in there, we're going to bomb them. So don't put people in there if you don't want them bombed. You know, that's so simple. (APPLAUSE) And then we need to shut down -- we need to shut down their mechanisms of funding and attack their command-and-control centers. Why should we let their people be sitting there smoking their cigars, sitting in their comfortable chairs in Raqqa? We know (ph) to go ahead and shut off the supply routes, and send in our special ops at 2:00 a.m. and attack them everywhere they go. They should be running all the time, then they won't have time to plan attacks against us. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight ISIS and let Damascus fall into the hands of the Iranians. Assad has to go.'" Governor Christie, how important is it to remove Assad from power and how would you do it? CHRISTIE: Maria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it -- this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state -- drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president -- and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer -- she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight ISIS, but to prop up Assad. The fact of the matter is we're not going to have peace -- we are not going to have peace in Syria. We're not going to be able to rebuild it unless we put a no-fly zone there, make it safe for those folks so we don't have to be talking about Syrian refugees anymore. The Syrians should stay in Syria. They shouldn't be going to Europe. And here's the last piece... (APPLAUSE) ... you're not going to have peace in Syria with Assad in charge. You're simply not. And so Senator Graham is right about this. And if we want to try to rebuild the coalition, as Governor Kasich was saying before, then what we better do is to get to the Arab countries that believe that ISIS is a threat, not only to them, but to us and to world peace, and bring them together. And believe me, Assad is not worth it. And if you're going to leave this to Hillary Clinton, the person who gave us this foreign policy, the architect of it, and you're going to give her another four years, that's why I'm speaking out as strongly as I am about that. Hillary Clinton cannot be president. It will lead to even greater war in this world. And remember this, after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have had nearly 8 years, we have fewer democracies in the world than we had when they started. That makes the world less peaceful, less safe. In my administration, we will help to make sure we bring people together in the Middle East, and we will fight ISIS and defeat them. BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. (APPLAUSE) Mr. Trump -- Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? (LAUGHTER) No. (APPLAUSE) Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the -- with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. TRUMP: I just left Indonesia -- bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. (APPLAUSE) BUSH: Donald, Donald -- can I -- I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out ISIS. The Kurds are our strongest allies. They're Muslim. You're not going to even allow them to come to our country? The other Arab countries have a role to play in this. We cannot be the world's policeman. We can't do this unilaterally. We have to do this in unison with the Arab world. And sending that signal makes it impossible for us to be serious about taking out ISIS and restoring democracy in Syria. (APPLAUSE) So I hope you'll reconsider. I hope you'll reconsider. The better way of dealing with this -- the better way of dealing with this is recognizing that there are people in, you know, the -- Islamic terrorists inside, embedded in refugee populations. What we ought to do is tighten up our efforts to deal with the entry visa program so that a citizen from Europe, it's harder if they've been traveling to Syria or traveling to these other places where there is Islamic terrorism, make it harder -- make the screening take place. We don't have to have refugees come to our country, but all Muslims, seriously? What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world that the United States is a serious player in creating peace and security? CAVUTO: But you said -- you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. BUSH: Yeah, they are unhinged. CAVUTO: Well -- well, after he made them... (APPLAUSE) ... his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now -- now, wait... TRUMP: Eleven points, to be exact. CAVUTO: Are you -- are you saying -- are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? BUSH: No, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't -- this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was (inaudible) his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. (APPLAUSE) TRUMP: I want security for this country. (APPLAUSE) I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people -- those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them -- people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out -- many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. (APPLAUSE) The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to -- wait a minute -- we need vigilance. We have to find out -- many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. BARTIROMO: We -- we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. KASICH: I -- I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. KASICH: And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. (BELL RINGS) It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same -- call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. CHRISTIE: Now Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. (BELL RINGS) And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio, where do you stand? RUBIO: Well, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this debate and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of ISIS. If you listen to the State of the Union the other night, he described them as a bunch of guys with long beards on the back of a pickup truck. This is a group of people that enslaves women and sells them, sells them as brides. This is a group of people that burns people in cages, that is conducting genocide against Christians and Yazidis and others in the region. This is not some small scale group. They are radicalizing people in the United States, they are conducting attacks around the world. So you know what needs to happen, it's a very simple equation, and it's going to happen when I'm president. If we do not know who you are, and we do not know why you are coming when I am president, you are not getting into the United States of America. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? CRUZ: You know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins ISIS and wages jihad against America, that you forfeit your citizenship and you can not come in on a passport. (APPLAUSE) CRUZ: And secondly, we should pass the legislation that I've introduced... (BELL RINGS) ... that suspends all refugees from nations that ISIS or Al Qaida controls significant territory. Just last week, we see saw two Iraqi refugees vetted using the same process the president says will work, that were arrested for being alleged ISIS terrorists. If I'm elected president, we will not let in refugees from countries controlled by ISIS or Al Qaida. When it comes to ISIS, we will not weaken them, we will not degrade them, we will utterly and completely destroy ISIS (APPLAUSE). BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? CARSON: Well, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. BARTIROMO: So, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? BUSH: So, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies -- that we need to build better relationships with? Of course, they would. What we need to do is destroy ISIS. I laid out a plan at the Citadel to do just that and it starts with creating a "No Fly Zone" and "Safe Zones" to make sure refugees are there. We need to lead a force, a Sunni led force inside of Syria. We need to embed with -- with the Iraqi military. We need to arm the Kurds the directly. We need to re-establish the relationships with the Sunnis. We need the lawyers(ph) off the back of the war fighters. That's how you solve the problem. You don't solve it by big talk where you're banning all Muslims and making it harder for us to build the kind of coalition for us to be successful. BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor. CAVUTO: Mr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." TRUMP: That's wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. CAVUTO: Well... TRUMP: They were wrong. CAVUTO: You never said because they provided that... TRUMP: No, I said, " I would use -- " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control -- just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands -- you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost -- 50,000 because of China. (CROSSTALK) CAVUTO: So they've never said to put a tariff on their... TRUMP: We've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount -- where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? CAVUTO: I'm sorry, you lost me. TRUMP: It's not that complicated actually. CAVUTO: Then I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open -- are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? TRUMP: OK, just so you understand -- I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icon today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. CAVUTO: I know... TRUMP: Carl said, "no, no -- " but he's somebody -- these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people -- we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff -- here's what I'm saying, China -- they send their goods and we don't tax it -- they do whatever they want to do. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't -- when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal -- so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of (inaudible). I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. CAVUTO: So you're open to a tariff? TRUMP: I'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. KASICH: Neil, Neil -- can I say one thing about this. I support NAFTA. I believe in the PTT because it's important those countries in Asia are interfacing against China. And we do need China -- Donald's right about North Korea. I mean the fact is, is that they need to put the pressure on and frankly we need to intercepts ships coming out of North Korea so they don't proliferate all these dangerous materials. But what he's touching -- talking about, I think has got merit. And I'll allow putting that tariff or whatever he's saying here... TRUMP: I'm happy to have him tonight... (LAUGHTER) KASICH: For too long -- no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they -- be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need -- we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: All right. RUBIO: But on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. (APPLAUSE) It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. TRUMP: Neil, the problem... BARTIROMO: We're getting... TRUMP: ... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just -- you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. CAVUTO: He is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. TRUMP: You looking at me? BUSH: Yeah. BARTIROMO: Prices go higher for... TRUMP: Can I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing -- it's so impossible for -- you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu (ph). Kamatsu (ph) is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu (ph) tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl (ph) and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. (APPLAUSE) BUSH: Here's -- apart from the -- apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. BARTIROMO: Yeah. BUSH: So they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes -- the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. BARTIROMO: Real quick, Senator -- go ahead, Senator Cruz. (APPLAUSE) And then we have to get to tax reform. TRUMP: And we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb -- I tell you what, we don't need that. AUDIENCE: Boo. TRUMP: We don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. BUSH: They're a mile away from here. TRUMP: That's not the way the game is supposed to be played. BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. BUSH: My name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can -- if you -- you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. TRUMP: No, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. BARTIROMO: Thank you, Mr. Trump. BUSH: When you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... BARTIROMO: Thank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. TRUMP: I'll check for you. BUSH: Check it out. (LAUGHTER) BARTIROMO: Senator briefly. CRUZ: Thanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. CRUZ: You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how -- how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS... (APPLAUSE) ... and here's the critical point, Maria -- the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free -- a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers -- and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal... (BELL RINGS) ... tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... (UNKNOWN): Maria... CRUZ: ... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. (CROSSTALK) BARTIROMO: We've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... (UNKNOWN): Yeah, but I want to talk about taxes. BARTIROMO: ... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. (APPLAUSE) Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? CHRISTIE: Well, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's -- here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world -- and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given -- bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money -- the $2 trillion -- back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And -- and -- and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized -- and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this -- I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. Dr. Carson... (APPLAUSE) ... it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? CARSON: Well, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody -- no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I -- my -- my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but -- you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But... (LAUGHTER) ... you know, the -- the -- the fact of the matter is -- you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations -- because every regulation is a tax, it's a -- on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up -- you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our -- our -- our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is -- that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. Senator Rubio... TRUMP: Maria -- Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs -- leave them behind. TRUMP: They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. BARTIROMO: Which is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? TRUMP: Thank you. BARTIROMO: One of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? RUBIO: Well, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. (APPLAUSE) RUBIO: Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator. CRUZ: Maria, I assume that I can respond to that. BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. CRUZ: Well, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all... (BELL RINGS) ... the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. (APPLAUSE) RUBIO: But that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid... (BELL RINGS) and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. (CROSSTALK) BARTIROMO: Thank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. CRUZ: Maria... BARTIROMO: Yes. CRUZ: Maria, I'd just like to say... (CROSSTALK) CHRISTIE: Maria, I'd like to interrupt this debate on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason -- and the reason... (CROSSTALK) CHRISTIE: ... no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. (CROSSTALK) CHRISTIE: The fact is, the reason why... RUBIO: If you'll answer the (inaudible) core question. CHRISTIE: ... the fact is -- the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this -- avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress -- this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. (APPLAUSE) CARSON: Can I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. BARTIROMO: Thank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: Mr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? TRUMP: Well, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would -- I would be willing to do that. BARTIROMO: So you'll put your assets in a blind trust? TRUMP: I would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. CAVUTO: Governor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? CHRISTIE: Well, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to -- remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back -- this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. CAVUTO: Governor, thank you. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? KASICH: Well, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. KASICH: And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. KASICH: And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for -- for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not -- not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio? (APPLAUSE) Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? RUBIO: Well, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking -- they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking -- they're looking to manipulate our -- the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that ISIS cannot get killers into the United States. So whether it's green cards or any other form of entry into America, when I'm president if we do not know who you are or why you are coming, you are not going to get into the United States of America. BARTIROMO: So your thinking has changed? RUBIO: The issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named ISIS who were burning people in cages and recruiting people to enter our country legally. They have a sophisticated understanding of our legal immigration system and we now have an obligation to ensure that they are not able to use that system against us. The entire system of legal immigration must now be reexamined for security first and foremost, with an eye on ISIS. Because they're recruiting people to enter this country as engineers, posing as doctors, posing as refugees. We know this for a fact. They've contacted the trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere to get people in through the southern border. And they got a killer in San Bernardino in posing as a fiance. This issue now has to be about stopping ISIS entering the United States, and when I'm president we will. (APPLAUSE) CRUZ: But Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. CRUZ: It is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him -- the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are ISIS terrorists. RUBIO: Maria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. RUBIO: Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. (APPLAUSE) That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. (APPLAUSE) And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. (APPLAUSE) BUSH: There's -- look, there's -- CAVUTO: Gentlemen, gentlemen -- CRUZ: I'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack -- CAVUTO: Very quick, very quick. CRUZ: I'm going to -- he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your (inaudible) research folder on the debate stage. RUBIO: No, it's your record. CRUZL But I will say -- CAVUTO: Do you think they like each other? CRUZ: -- at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. CRUZ: So let's start -- let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last debate, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. CAVUTO: All right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. (APPLAUSE) Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last debate, the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and ISIS now loom very large. The FBI says Islamic radicals are using social media to communicate and that it needs better access to communication. Now the CEO of Apple, Governor, Tim Cook said unless served with a warrant private communication is private, period. Do you agree, or would you try to convince him otherwise? BUSH: I would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators -- back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff -- CAVUTO: Would you answer this question? BUSH: Oh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. (LAUGHTER) CAVUTO: Fair enough. So Tim Cook -- so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. BUSH: I got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is -- that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government -- the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. CAVUTO: But if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. BUSH: You've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, ISIS can, over these platforms, and we have no ability to have a cooperative relationship -- CAVUTO: Do you ask or do you order? BUSH: Well, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we -- if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other -- other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: When we come right back, closing statements. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. KASICH: You know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in -- by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. KASICH: Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind (BELL RINGS) And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Governor Bush? BUSH: Who can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy ISIS before the tragedies of San Bernardino and Paris are the right ones. Credibility counts. There'll be people here that will talk about what they're going to do. I ask for your support to build, together, a safer and stronger America. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Governor Chris Christie? CHRISTIE: Maria, Neil, thank you for a great debate tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week -- the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting -- fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Dr. Ben Carson? CARSON: You know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com -- we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Senator Marco Rubio? RUBIO: You know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person -- if you elect me -- we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. (APPLAUSE) CAVUTO: Senator Ted Cruz? CRUZ: "13 Hours" -- tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. CRUZ: And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Mr. Donald Trump? TRUMP: I stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. (APPLAUSE) BARTIROMO: Candidates, thank you. CAVUTO: Gentlemen, thank you all. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead.

– A look at some of the lines generating buzz from each of the seven candidates in the prime-time Republican debate, via the Washington Post: Ted Cruz: "Since September the constitution hasn’t changed, but the poll numbers have. I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling … but the facts of the law here are clear." (On his eligibility to be president.) Cruz also said, “Well, Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece on the front page of the New York Times," when asked about this loan story. "You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don’t hide their views." Donald Trump: "We rebuilt downtown Manhattan ... everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement Ted made." After Cruz slammed "New York values" and said, "Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan." Jeb Bush: "If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that." Referring to Hillary Clinton. Chris Christie: "You already had your chance, Marco, you blew it." (After Rubio talked of other things when asked about entitlements.) Rubio responded, "I'll answer the entitlement question if you'll answer the Common Core question." Christie also said, “I watched story time with Barack Obama [at the State of the Union], and I got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing.” Marco Rubio: He said any "radical jihadist terrorists" captured alive would get "a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know." Ben Carson: "If my mother were secretary of the Treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation." John Kasich: "So look, in foreign policy—in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it—I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training." Rubio vs. Cruz: "I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance," Rubio said of Cruz, per Politico. "That is not consistent conservatism." Cruz responded, "I appreciate you dumping your oppo research folder," and Rubio said, "No, it’s your record."

“I can’t breathe!” He repeats it over and over again, at least nine times audibly. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said, noting that he was involved “because there is wrongdoing.” That much seems obvious. Garner’s family said he didn’t have any cigarettes on him or in his car at the time of his death. Photo: New York Daily News An NYPD spokesperson would only tell the Daily News that Garner “was being placed in custody, went into cardiac arrest and died.” Internal affairs has launched an investigation, with Garner’s wife saying a detective has been in touch. Records show Garner was due in court in October on three Staten Island cases, including charges of pot possession and possession or selling untaxed cigarettes. Eric Garner, who suffered from chronic asthma, diabetes, and sleep apnea, was about six-foot-four, 400 pounds, the Daily News reports, and had a history of arrests for selling untaxed cigarettes. I told you last time, please just leave me alone.” When the officers move to arrest him, Garner struggles until he’s choked from behind by a man not in uniform, who then pushes Garner’s head into the concrete. At City Hall on Friday, Mr. Bratton said he did not believe that the use of chokeholds by police officers in New York City was a widespread problem, saying this was his “first exposure” to the issue since returning as police commissioner in January. The encounter between Mr. Garner and plainclothes officers, from the 120th Precinct, began after the officers accused Mr. Garner of illegally selling cigarettes, an accusation he was familiar with. “I’m minding my business,” he says when confronted in the deeply disturbing video shot by a neighbor. “Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. This stops today,” says Garner. The postponement was to allow Mr. de Blasio to spend more time making calls to elected officials, community leaders and members of the clergy, and talking to the police, about Mr. Garner’s death, the mayor’s press secretary, Phil Walzak, said. The police declined to name the officers but said one of them had been on the force for eight years and the other for four years. “My office is working along with the NYPD to do a complete and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr. Garner's death,” said District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. in a Friday statement.

– An unarmed Staten Island man died yesterday after police put him in a choke-hold and he shouted "I can't breathe!" at least nine times, New York reports. Eric Garner, 43, a father of six and a grandfather, can be seen in an eyewitness video standing on a street corner when police approached him. "Every time you see me, you're messing with me," said Garner, who stood six-foot-four and weighed over 300 pounds. "I'm tired of it. This stops today. ... Please just leave me alone." But officers moved in, pinning Garner down with a choke-hold and apparently slamming his head against the sidewalk, the Daily News reports. Garner, who suffered from chronic asthma, sleep apnea, and diabetes, was dead within minutes. Police say Garner sold untaxed cigarettes, and had just been seen doing so. Garner was also due in court on three cases, including pot possession and illegal cigarette sales. But according to his wife, Esaw—and a friend of Garner's who shot the video—police really moved in because Garner had broken up a fight. Either way, Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed a full investigation (the New York Times notes that the NYPD rulebook forbids choke-holds). Meanwhile, Esaw sounds like she's still grasping what just happened. "When I kissed my husband this morning, I never thought it would be for the last time," she said. At the hospital, "I saw him with his eyes wide open and I said, 'Babe, don’t leave me, I need you.' But he was already gone."

Image copyright PA/Broward Sheriff's Office Image caption Lewis Bennett was given a seven-month jail sentence for smuggling stolen coins A British man who claimed his American wife had disappeared at sea after their catamaran sank off the coast of Cuba has admitted killing her. Boca Raton Police 7 Lewis Bennett has been filmed in an emotional bust-up with the family of his wife 7 Bennett claimed he was sleeping when their boat hit something and when he went to check on Isabella, she was gone Facebook 7 Isabella Hellmann was described as 'full of happiness and joy' In court documents filed last week police allege Mr Bennett, 41, from Poole, Dorset, killed his wife to end “marital strife” between the couple. Her body was never found despite a search. Key points: Bennett, a mining engineer, had told the FBI and British journalists that he and Ms Hellmann went for a Caribbean cruise He is an experienced sailor who received a certification from the Royal Yachting Association in the United Kingdom He did not deploy any flares and did not search for Ms Hellmann in the water with either the catamaran or an attached dinghy Lewis Bennett, 41, entered the plea at a hearing on Monday in Miami. He claims she was piloting the boat and he was asleep but woke up to find the vessel damaged and his new wife missing. Image copyright US Coast Guard Image caption Bennett reported his wife missing in an SOS call as their catamaran was sinking However, the authorities soon suspected that Bennett had killed his wife, who was the mother of his child. Also investigators found Bennett on the life raft with $100,000 worth of coins stolen from a yacht he had worked aboard in 2016. Bennett is currently serving a seven-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to transporting the coins. He faces a maximum eight-year prison sentence over the May 2017 disappearance of Isabella Hellmann, his wife of just three months.

– A British-Australian man who claimed his American wife was lost at sea when their sailing catamaran sank off the coast of Cuba has admitted to killing her. Lewis Bennett, facing a second-degree murder charge, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Miami on Monday, reports the BBC. Bennett, 41, had been sailing from Cuba to Delray Beach, Fla., with his wife of three months, Isabella Hellmann, when he sent out an SOS call on May 15, 2017. Bennett said he'd been awoken by a jolt of impact to find the boat taking on water and his wife missing. After he escaped on a life raft, however, authorities noted damage to the boat appeared to have been caused from the inside and portholes below the waterline had been opened. Text messages also revealed Hellmann was "afraid to get home," as her husband was "an angry person" who did not "respect her anymore," per the Sun. Though the guilty plea means family members may never know how Hellmann died—a body wasn't found—"the US Attorney's Office and our law enforcement partners hope that the defendant's admission of guilt is a step toward justice for the victim," US Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan says, per ABC Australia. In a statement issued through a lawyer, however, Hellmann's family says "there is nothing that Lewis can do to ease the pain he has caused them by taking Isabella from them." Bennett, who would've inherited Hellmann's apartment and bank accounts, was discovered three hours after the SOS call on a life raft with various belongings, including a tea set and $40,000 in antique coins stolen from a yacht where he'd previously worked. Now serving seven months for transporting the coins, Bennett will face up to eight years in prison at his Jan. 10 sentencing.

(Photo: KING) SEATTLE -- A group of attorneys has filed a class action lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Transportation, claiming the billing process for bridge tolls violates due process. Tom Rose says his son, who just got his first job, had been crossing the 520 bridge every day for work, and neglected to get a Good To Go pass. “It will be anything but the independent process that citizens expect,” she said. "And the way the things were going, he was living hand to mouth. Rose's son will have to pay the tolls, but they will try and find a resolution on the penalties. KING 5 has aired a series of stories exposing the confusion and the billing problems with Good To Go. Related: Attorneys file class action lawsuit over Good To Go billing process Read or Share this story: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2015/01/30/520-bridge-good-to-go-poulsbo-18000/22623259/

– A Washington state man received a wee shock when he saw his outstanding toll-bridge bill: more than $18,000. His dad, Tom Rose, says the young man was working his first job and crossing the 520 bridge daily without a Good to Go pass—figuring he'd pay later, KING-TV reports. But the Washington State Department of Transportation didn't have the son's right address, so no bill came in the mail. The guy only learned of the $1,360 in tolls and over $16,000 in penalties when trying to sell his car. "He was living hand to mouth," Rose says of his son. "He thought he was picking the lesser of two evils. He could save up and pay for them later." Luckily WSDOT says it's willing to strike a deal on the man's penalties, but there are other cases of high Good to Go bills. In fact, a recent class-action lawsuit claims that Good to Go billing violated due process by not always notifying a driver of her outstanding bills and penalties, notes KING-TV. Other drivers have felt WSDOT's billing wrath and learned they can't complain in local courts, where elected judges might rule in their favor; billing complaints go to a "merciless administrative review set up by the transportation agency itself," writes Danny Westneat in the Seattle Times. As for WSDOT, it has no comment on the lawsuit and says it hasn't been served yet.

A general view of Taliban office in Doha before the official opening in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. In a major breakthrough, the Taliban and the U.S. announced Tuesday that they will hold talks... (Associated Press) The Afghan president on Wednesday suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban meant to find ways to end the nearly 12-year war. The move by Hamid Karzai could derail the peace process even before it has begun. In a terse statement from his office, Karzai said negotiations with the U.S. on what American and coalition security forces will remain in the country after 2014 have been put on hold. The statement followed an announcement Tuesday by the U.S. and the Taliban that they would pursue bilateral talks in Qatar before the Afghan government was brought in. "In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently underway in Kabul between Afghan and U.S. delegations on the bilateral security agreement," Karzai's statement said. His spokesman was not immediately reachable for questions, and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said nobody was available for immediate comment. Though the Taliban have dismissed Karzai as an American puppet for years, they indicated Tuesday when opening a new political office in Doha, Qatar, that they would be willing to talk with the Afghan leader. But both the American side and the Taliban said they would first meet together before any talks with the Afghanistan government. In another incident highlighting the fragile situation in Afghanistan, only hours after announcing they would hold talks with the U.S., the Taliban claimed responsibility Wednesday for an attack on the Bagram Air Base in which four American troops were killed. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the insurgents fired two rockets into the base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, late on Tuesday. American officials confirmed the base had come under attack by indirect fire _ likely a mortar or rocket _ and that four U.S. troops were killed. Also Tuesday, five Afghan police officers were killed at a security outpost in Helmand province by apparent Taliban infiltrators _ the latest in a string of so-called "insider attacks" that have shaken the confidence of the nascent Afghan security forces. The opening of a Taliban political office in Doha with the intention of starting peace talks was a reversal of months of failed efforts to start negotiations while Taliban militants intensified a campaign targeting urban centers and government installations across Afghanistan. President Barack Obama cautioned that the peace talks with the Taliban would be neither quick nor easy but that their opening a political office in Doha was an "important first step toward reconciliation" between the Islamic militants and the government of Afghanistan. In setting up the office, the Taliban said they were willing to use all legal means to end what they called the occupation of Afghanistan _ but did not say they would immediately stop fighting. American officials said the U.S. and Taliban representatives will hold bilateral meetings in the coming days. Karzai's High Peace Council had been expected to follow up with its own talks with the Taliban a few days later but it was now not clear whether that would happen. The Taliban announcement followed a milestone handover in Afghanistan earlier Tuesday as Afghan forces formally took the lead from the U.S.-led NATO coalition for security nationwide. It marked a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. The handover paves the way for the departure of the majority of coalition forces _ currently numbering about 100,000 troops from 48 countries, including 66,000 Americans _ within 18 months. The NATO-led force is to be cut in half by the end of the year, and by the end of 2014 all combat troops are to leave and be replaced _ contingent on Afghan governmental approval _ by a smaller force that would be on hand for training and advising. It was not immediately clear how long Karzai planned to suspend the negotiations on the agreement. The U.S. has not yet said how many troops will remain in Afghanistan, but it is thought that it would be a force made up of about 9,000 Americans and 6,000 allies. Six years ago, Afghan security forces numbered fewer than 40,000, and have grown to about 352,000 today. But questions remain if they are good enough to fight alone. In the Helmand attack late Tuesday, local official Mohammad Fahim Mosazai said five police officers who had only been on the local force for three months were killed, apparently by five of their fellow officers. He blamed the killings on Taliban infiltrators, and said the suspects escaped with the victims' weapons. In a similar attack in Helmand a week ago, six policemen were found shot dead at their checkpoint, and there have been several other such incidents in the past year, including officers poisoned while eating. Taliban insurgents have warned they would infiltrate Afghan security forces to carry out insider attacks. Overnight in the eastern province of Nangrahar, police ambushed Taliban fighters outside a village in the Surkh Rod district, killing four and capturing two militants. Two police officers were wounded in the fighting, said deputy provincial police chief Masoon Khan Hashimi.

– Taliban insurgents aren't letting up the fight in Afghanistan despite the opening of an office for peace talks. Four American troops were killed in a rocket attack on a convoy near Bagram Air Base just hours after the Taliban office opened its doors in Qatar, the New York Times reports. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as Afghan forces formally took charge of the country's security. In another setback for hopes of stability, President Hamid Karzai announced that the Afghan government was pulling out of talks on a new security deal with the US, the AP reports. The move is believed to be a protest at his government being sidelined by US-Taliban talks, though his official statement said only that the pullout was in response to the "contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process."

NEW YORK (AP) — Target shoppers found out this weekend that when stores make deals to carry merchandise from high-end designers for a limited time, it can be, well, really limiting. The discounter partnered with the Lilly Pulitzer brand to carry a collection of 250 pieces for a fraction of the price of the Palm Beach designer's original merchandise. But the offer, which included $38 pink shift dresses and $25 beach towels, was wrought with long lines in stores, quick sellouts online and other problems. It shows the challenges stores face when they offer limited-time collections. These lines typically consist of cheaper versions of designer pieces and are sold for a short period of time. They generate buzz from aspirational buyers who want to don upscale brands as well as avid wearers of the labels themselves. But the high demand can be a double-edged sword: Often, customers encounter picked-over merchandise and website snafus. Target, which pioneered these partnerships in the 1990s and has been followed by rivals like H&M, Gap and Kohl's, started selling the Lilly Pulitzer collection on Sunday online at about 4 a.m. EST and at stores at 8 a.m. EST. Demand was so heavy that Target took the site offline for 20 minutes, which caused angry chatter on social media. Ultimately, the items sold out online within a few hours and at many of the 1,800 stores within a half hour. Target apologized for the online snafu, noting an "inconsistent experience for our guests." And spokesman Joshua Thomas said pieces could still be found at stores. "We felt good about the amount of product, but you just don't know until you give customers a chance to shop," Thomas said. Despite the issues, many experts say Target's Lilly Pulitzer collection was a success. "I think this was a huge success not only because Target sold out but because everyone was talking about them," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group. Here are three challenges retailers face with limited-time partnerships: HARD TO PREDICT DEMAND Stores and analysts say it's hard to gauge what shoppers will actually buy since those items haven't ever been sold before. There was lot of buzz leading up to Target's launch of its limited-time partnership with Neiman Marcus in 2012. Target increased production in anticipation of a sales blowout, but Target shoppers thought the line was too expensive, while well-heeled Neiman Marcus customers didn't think it was high quality. Several weeks later, prices were slashed more than 50 percent. SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HURT Shoppers are increasingly turning to social media to air their complaints. Target drummed up so much hype around its collection with upscale Italian designer Missoni in 2011 that its web site crashed and was shut down for most of the day of the launch. Shoppers voiced frustrations online and then threatened to boycott Target weeks later on social media because their online orders were being delayed and canceled. "Social media is like a megaphone," said Craig Johnson, a retail consultant. AFTER MARKET SELLERS Some shoppers use these partnerships to profit by selling the stuff on eBay. For instance, there were sold-out Lilly Pulitzer items selling for at least three times Target's original prices on eBay. That frustrates shoppers who want to buy items just for themselves. "I think it's sad that it can't be a fun experience," said Meredith Forbes, 21, who was at Target's East Harlem, New York, store Sunday. Target's Thomas said just 1.5 percent of the total Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection was on eBay. _____ Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

– Target paired with fashion line Lilly Pulitzer over the weekend to offer a limited collection, and it was a smash success from a retail point of view. Online merchandise sold out within hours, reports AP, while most shoppers at physical stores ended up out of luck. Those in the latter camp shouldn't feel too bad about it, writes fashion critic Robin Givhan at the Washington Post. Lilly Pulitzer is a mass marketer of clothes, not fashion, she writes. And "the clothes are, upon close inspection, not so terribly attractive." In fact, "they are rather unattractive," writes Givhan. "And that is part of their charm. They are not meant to be stylish—that’s so nouveau. The clothes are clubby. Country clubby. One-percent-ish." Remember that the company itself was created by a bored Palm Beach socialite—she died in 2013—and its summer dresses reflect that. "The classic Lilly Pulitzer dress comes in shrill shades of yellow and pink that are vaguely infantilizing. They are clothes that can be shrunk down and worn by 7-year-old girls without changing a single design element—if there were actual design elements to change. But there are not." Those disappointed Target shoppers may be cursing their luck at missing out on bargain prices for what they think is high fashion. But really, they just got swept up in a this-many-people-can't-be-wrong phenomenon. Target again proved it's "a retailing dynamo," writes Givhan. "But what it was selling this time had nothing to do with fashion." Click for her full column.

This Aug. 25, 2016 booking photo provided by the Metropolitan Detention Center shows Fabian Gonzales. Albuquerque police are charging Gonzales along with two other people in the death of a 10-year-old... (Associated Press) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It was in early morning darkness that officers scrambled to sort out the chaos at an Albuquerque apartment complex where a couple had reportedly been attacked, the woman bleeding from a head injury and the man with a black eye and wearing blood-stained shorts. The woman told officers her 10-year-old daughter was still inside apartment number 808 from which they had escaped. What the officers didn't know was that the child was already dead, her battered and dismembered body partially wrapped in a blanket and set ablaze. With the fire alarm blaring, they busted in the front door and searched the smoke-filled apartment for Victoria Martens. In the bathroom, the real crime began to come into focus. Investigators took into custody the girl's mother, her boyfriend and his cousin. The community was left struggling to understand how a blossoming elementary school student who loved swimming and gymnastics could have been the target of such violence. Details of what New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged in a criminal complaint made public Thursday. Police said Victoria was injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered. The killing happened on the day Victoria was going to celebrate her 10th birthday. "This homicide is the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career," Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden Jr. said. The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Gonzales and Kelley also face charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Gonzales denied having involvement with Victoria's death while reporters yelled questions at him as he was led out of the police station in handcuffs late Wednesday. The girl's mother said nothing as she taken from the police station to a police cruiser and driven away. Kelley on Friday was booked into the county jail after being released from the hospital for injuries that stemmed from her jumping from the apartment's balcony in an effort to evade police. She probably won't make her initial court appearance until Saturday, said court spokeswoman Camille Baca. Bail was set at $1 million each for Martens and Gonzales at their first court appearance Thursday afternoon. The two did not speak in court, and the public defense lawyer who represented them did not comment about the allegations. As news spread about Victoria's death, neighbors and friends built a makeshift memorial under a tree near the apartment complex, adorning it with stuffed animals and candles. Some hugged while others cried and prayed. In the evening, dozens of people gathered for a candlelight vigil and the shrine grew. Christie Zamora said Victoria attended her gymnastics class every Saturday and always seemed happy. "She was incredibly social," Zamora said. "It's just so tragic." Another shrine was erected at Petroglyph Elementary School, where Victoria had just started the new school year. School officials said in a statement that, like the rest of the community, their hearts ache. "Victoria is in our thoughts and prayers as we hold our children just a little tighter on this sad day," the statement read. Neighbors said Victoria's mother worked at a nearby grocery store deli and they were shocked to see a mugshot of her in an orange jail jumpsuit. Mugshots of Martens and Gonzales released by police showed them with bruises on their faces. According to the complaint, Gonzales said his cousin hit him and Martens with an iron, prompting him to jump over the balcony and run to a neighboring apartment for help. Martens also found her way outside. Police initially went to the apartment complex early Wednesday after the neighbor reported the disturbance. Victoria's mother told police she met Gonzales online about a month ago and that he drugged the girl so he could calm her down and have sex with her, the complaint said. Gonzales pleaded no contest to a charge of child abandonment in 2015. He was not being monitored by probation officers because New Mexico Department of Corrections officials were unaware of a judge's order requiring supervised probation, said corrections spokeswoman Alex Sanchez. Tim Korte, a spokesman for Albuquerque's 2nd District Court, said court records show the judgment mandating probation monitoring for Gonzales was sent to the corrections department in 2015. Kelley's record includes battery, domestic violence and drug charges. The Albuquerque Journal reported that Kelley acted as a lookout while a woman allegedly raped another inmate at a regional detention center in 2012. Martens told police she allowed Kelley to stay in her apartment after Kelley was recently released from prison. Online court records show no criminal history in New Mexico for Martens. ___ Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at www.twitter.com/russcontreras and Susan Montoya Bryan at www.twitter.com/susanmbryanNM

– It was in early morning darkness that officers scrambled to sort out the chaos at an Albuquerque apartment complex where a couple had reportedly been attacked, the woman bleeding from a head injury and the man with a black eye and wearing blood-stained shorts. The woman told officers her 10-year-old daughter was still inside apartment number 808 from which they had escaped. What the officers didn't know was that the child was already dead, her battered and dismembered body partially wrapped in a blanket and set ablaze. With the fire alarm blaring, they busted in the front door and searched the smoke-filled apartment for Victoria Martens. In the bathroom, the real crime began to come into focus, the AP reports. Investigators took into custody the girl's mother, her boyfriend, and his cousin. The community was left struggling to understand how a blossoming elementary school student who loved swimming and gymnastics could have been the target of such violence. Details of what New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged in a criminal complaint made public Thursday. Police said Victoria was injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled, and stabbed before being dismembered Wednesday—her 10th birthday. The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence. Gonzales and Kelley also face charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor. Martens told police she met Gonzales online about a month ago and that he drugged the girl so he could calm her down and have sex with her, the complaint says. Per KOB, Martens says Gonzales then strangled the girl and Kelley stabbed her in the chest.

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images) President Trump on Friday kept alive the Iran nuclear deal he detests by waiving sanctions for the third time, but he said he will not grant another reprieve unless the agreement is amended to permanently block a potential pathway for Iran to build nuclear weapons. "Instead, I have outlined two possible paths forward: either fix the deal's disastrous flaws, or the United States will withdraw." The Obama administration suspended those sanctions were suspended in July of 2015 as part of the agreement negotiated with Iran and five other nations that imposed limits on Iran's nuclear program, which experts said had neared nuclear weapons capability. Trump's decision "keeps the deal on life-support for now but puts it on a path toward collapse," said Philip Gordon, a former Obama national security official who advised Obama on the negotiations. In conjunction with the waivers, the Treasury Department placed sanctions on 14 people and entities for alleged offenses unrelated to Iran's nuclear industry. They include an elite Iranian military cyber unit and the head of Iran’s judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, whose brother is the speaker of Iran's parliament. "The designations today politically go to the top of the regime and send a very strong message that the United States is not going to tolerate their continued abuses, continued violations of the rights of their citizens," said an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules for briefing reporters. Trump listed his conditions for legislation that would address future U.S. participation and called on European allies "to join with the United States in fixing significant flaws in the deal, countering Iranian aggression, and supporting the Iranian people." "If other nations fail to act during this time, I will terminate our deal with Iran," warned Trump, who will revisit the decision in 120 days. Trump also wants to terminate the phased expiration dates of various limitations placed on Iran's nuclear program. ), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump's statement an "ultimatum" and said the president is "making negotiations with Europe more difficult by the way he's laying out the conditions." Gordon expressed skepticism that a legislative fix or transatlantic offering can salvage the deal. In a statement, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel (D-NY), was skeptical about prospects for a legislative fix. Like it or not, we need to uphold our end of the bargain so that we can hold Iran to its obligations and crack down on the regime’s other destabilizing activities.” Diplomacy Works — a group of former Obama national security officials including former Secretary of State John Kerry and his former chief Iran negotiator, Wendy Sherman — denounced Trump's decision in a statement Friday.

– He called it "the worst deal ever," and on Friday he extended it for the third time during his presidency, the New York Times reports. A senior administration official tells Politico that President Trump once again chose not to reinstate the sanctions that were suspended as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Friday was the deadline to do so. However, Trump apparently warned it would not happen again. “The president makes clear this is the last such waiver he will issue,” an official tells the Washington Post. The next deadline for reinstating the sanctions against Iran is in May, and the official says Trump will do so and remove the US from the nuclear deal at that time unless European allies agree to changes to the deal meant to permanently stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. Those changes include adding "triggers," such as inspections of Iranian facilities, and removing "sunset clauses" that allow Iran to enrich uranium and more. While not reinstating sanctions related to the nuclear deal, Trump did impose new sanctions on 14 Iranian people and organizations in response to recent violence against protesters there.

And James did it again in Game 7, posting 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, to notch the seventh triple double in his Finals career and the first triple double in a Finals Game 7 since James Worthy in 1988. He had a freakin’ triple double in Game 7 of an NBA Finals game.” • Get SI’s Cavaliers NBA Championship package | Watch Game 7 highlights The play that will live for years on the highlight tapes came with just under two minutes left. The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors 93–89 in Game 7 at Oracle Arena on Sunday, pulling off the greatest comeback in Finals history by digging out of a 3–1 deficit and spoiling the most successful regular season the league has seen. James saw that he had no equal in the Eastern Conference, he saw Irving’s precocious talent, he saw Love’s desire to start fresh outside Minnesota, he saw Tristan Thompson’s undervalued skills and he saw that Dion Waiters and former coach David Blatt weren’t going to be a part of the equation. • All of LeBron’s Finals, ranked​ | LeBron’s letter | A timeline since then ... James has been a bigger, stronger and faster physical force since his prep school play landed him on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 17, but he’s always been smarter too. And while winning cures all, he can be a free agent this summer, which should scare some people as well. I AM LEGEND He single-handedly brought his team back from a 3-1 deficit to win one of the most thrilling NBA Finals ever.

– LeBron James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to a Game 7 win Sunday night to cap an epic championship series, one in which the Cavs became the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit. Some of the next-morning analysis: If there are any LeBron haters left, it's time to let it go, writes Ben Collins in the Daily Beast. (He counts himself as one of those former haters.) He's "one of the greatest there is. He's up there with Jordan." Josh Levin at Slate explains why this is now true: "If he wasn't before, LeBron James is now, rightfully, a basketball legend." Tim Reynolds of the AP weighs in, too. No more debate: LeBron is the "best player in basketball." Sports Illustrated says this play by James late in the game (a "superhuman" shot block) will be replayed for years. Cleveland native Bert Stratton writes about what the first sports championship in a half-century means for his city at the New York Times. An editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer has three words for it: "magic, unbelievable, transformative." A post at Complex says an emotional JR Smith of the Cavs gave one of the most memorable post-game news conferences ever. The video is here. Deadspin highlights the moment Cleveland newscasters learned the Cavs had won while on the air.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Chief Wahoo, the longtime logo of the Indians, will be gone after the 2018 season. The Indians will disassociate themselves with the logo and will no longer wear it on their uniforms or caps following the 2018 season. The logo has been a flashpoint for the team for several years, drawing criticism and lawsuits from Native American groups who consider it racist. The New York Times was the first to report the story. Chief Wahoo, in one rendition or another, has been worn on Indians uniforms since 1947. Then-owner Bill Veeck made it part of the team's uniform. Walter Goldbach, a 17-year-old draftsman, designed the first logo. Goldbach, 88, died in December. The Indians name will remain unchanged. The charter member of the American League has been called the Indians since 1915. The Block C and script Indians will be the team's main logos after 2018. The logo recently has drawn criticism from Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. Owner Paul Dolan and Manfred have met several times since 2016 to discuss the matter. When Manfred awarded the Indians the 2019 All-Star Game, it seemed unlikely that any Cleveland player participating in the Midsummer Classic would be wearing Chief Wahoo on his uniform. When the Indians played Toronto in the AL Championship Series in 2016, Douglas Cardinal, a member of the Blackfoot nation and a Native American activist, brought a lawsuit against MLB and the Indians. The suit sought to ban Cleveland from using its team name and logo in the series. A judge in Toronto rejected the request and dismissed the suit. Last May, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled that an Ontario court can hear a case contending that the Indians team name and Chief Wahoo logo are discriminatory. The ruling was an offshoot of Cardinal's suit in 2016. In response to that court ruling, Manfred said, "We were hoping that case was going to be dismissed. It was not. I think it points out the ongoing practical problems that are posed by this particular logo." The Indians have been downsizing their use of Chief Wahoo for the last several years. Their more recent primary logo has been the block C. When they conduct spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., Chief Wahoo is nowhere to be found on their uniforms or advertising. The only place it can be found is in the gift shop. * Read the 2014 cleveland.com editorial calling for the end of Chief Wahoo The team does not use it there out of respect for the heavy Native American population in Arizona. The Indians will maintain the trademark and retail rights to Chief Wahoo. They will maintain a local presence for The Chief, meaning they'll still sell merchandise bearing its image.

– Chief Wahoo's days are numbered. The Cleveland Indians will remove the controversial logo of a caricatured Indian brave's face as of the 2019 season, reports the AP. That means the logo, which has been used since 1947 but is today deemed racist by Native American groups and others, will be seen on the team's uniforms for just one more season. However, the team will continue to sell merchandise adorned with Chief Wahoo in northeast Ohio, a decision the AP says was made to keep trademark rules in place. The move came after negotiations with Major League Baseball, which considers the logo inappropriate, reports the New York Times. The issue had come to a head in recent years as the Indians turned into a powerhouse team in the league and thus drew more attention. In fact, the team had been taking steps to limit the logo's exposure in recent years, notes Cleveland.com. For instance, Chief Wahoo is not displayed during the team's spring training camp in Arizona, out of respect for the area's Native American population. (Meanwhile, a similar controversy continues over the Washington Redskins' team name.)

Nearly 530 years after the death of Richard III in battle, Britain’s high court ruled Friday that the king immortalized by Shakespeare as a misshapen, murderous villain is to be buried in Leicester, the city where his skeleton was found beneath a parking lot in 2012. The court dismissed a competing campaign by some of the deposed monarch’s distant relations to have him interred in York, in northern England, which they argued had a stronger claim on his affections – and his bones. “It is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest,” the three justices who heard the case wrote, paving the way for the long-ago ruler to be interred in Leicester Cathedral. The cathedral stands a stone’s throw from the site where, working off of old maps and improbable hopes, archaeologists dug in search of the last recorded place where Richard’s body was buried, beneath the floor of a lost medieval church. In an almost miraculous find in September 2012, on one of the few bits of land not built over in downtown Leicester, they unearthed the skeleton of an adult male who had clearly suffered grievous battle wounds. DNA and other tests proved that the remains belonged to Richard, the final Plantagenet king and the last English monarch to die in combat. He was killed Aug. 22, 1485, at Bosworth Field, outside Leicester, in a climactic fight that ushered in the long reign of the Tudors, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. It is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest. — British high court Almost as soon as the remains were found, however, another battle broke out, over where they ought to be laid to rest. A group called the Plantagenet Alliance challenged the decision to rebury Richard in the nearby cathedral, arguing that York would be more appropriate, since he spent much of his childhood and early adult life in and around that city. The group accused the government of failing to consult widely enough before it granted the burial license to Leicester. But in what it called a “unique and exceptional” case, the high court Friday upheld the government’s decision. Despite the “trenchant views expressed by rival factions,” the court noted that officials had followed proper protocol regarding discovered remains; that Henry VII, Richard’s successor, had buried him in Leicester; and that the present queen, Elizabeth II, appeared content with the idea of keeping him there. He fell here. He's lain here for over 500 years. The cathedral is about 150 meters from the site of discovery. — David Monteith, dean of Leicester Cathedral While an appeal of the ruling is technically possible, David Monteith, the dean of Leicester Cathedral, described the court’s judgment as “clear and unequivocal.” “He fell here. He’s lain here for over 500 years. The cathedral is about 150 meters from the site of discovery,” Monteith said in a telephone interview. Despite Richard’s strong ties to York, “as a king of England in medieval times he spent time all across England,” said Monteith. “He knew the city of York well, but he knew the city of Leicester well. He didn’t leave any will saying [where] he should be buried…. We’re simply doing what the law requires.” In a statement, the Plantagenet Alliance expressed disappointment with the ruling but said it had tried its best to "persuade the decision-makers to reconsider public consultation regarding the final resting place of the last Plantagenet king of England." Leicester Cathedral has already gone to some expense to prepare for a re-interment, tentatively scheduled for spring of next year. A new tomb will be erected in the heart of the church, replacing the existing memorial marker, and planning is underway on a solemn service befitting a man who was England’s “anointed king.” He’s also one of its most controversial. Scholars and amateur historians are bitterly divided over whether Richard was the bloodthirsty tyrant depicted by Shakespeare who had his two young nephews executed in the Tower of London so that he could claim the crown for himself, or an enlightened ruler who instituted lasting legal reforms but whose name was indelibly smeared after his death by Tudor propagandists. No matter where he’s buried, that is one debate that will probably never be put to rest.

– Richard III's last battle is finally over: The former king of England will be reburied in the city of Leicester, not York, reports the Guardian. The site of his resting place had been the subject of a legal fight ever since archeologists discovered his remains underneath a parking lot in Leicester in 2012. Though initial plans called for him to be reburied in the nearby Leicester Cathedral, a group of far-flung relatives sought to have him reburied in York instead, where he grew up. Today, judges at the Royal Courts of Justice rejected the idea. "We agree that it is time for Richard III to be given a dignified reburial, and finally laid to rest," they wrote. But they found no compelling reason to move him to York. Richard died on the battlefield in 1485, the last English king to do so, notes the Guardian. By the looks of it, he then got unceremoniously dumped into a too-small grave, where he remained for nearly 530 years. The LA Times notes that scholars remain divided over Richard himself: He's either the "bloodthirsty tyrant" as depicted by Shakespeare or "an enlightened ruler" whose reputation got maligned by the Tudor dynasty that succeeded him. Either way, he had a bad case of roundworms when he died.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky performed a national service by filibustering the nomination of John O. Brennan to lead the Central Intelligence Agency — an old-fashioned, talk-’til-you-drop filibuster at that.

– Rand Paul's old-fashioned talking filibuster may not derail John Brennan's nomination, but pundits are almost universally praising the Kentucky senator's moxie. Here's what people are saying: "It became clear as the Kentucky Republican talked (and talked) that he was creating a major moment for a party that hasn’t had very many of those since Nov. 6, 2012," writes Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. The marathon should boost Paul's 2016 prospects; he proved he has "a) a core set of beliefs and b) a willingness to stand up for them. That's a rare thing in modern American politics." "Rand Paul is giving a tutorial on what it means, or should mean, to be a member of the US Senate," writes Peter Beinart at the Daily Beast. Not only is he reviving the old-fashioned filibuster, "he's doing so on a matter of principle, not partisanship." Paul himself said yesterday that he "would be here if it were a Republican president doing this," pointing out that Obama's position mirrored George Bush's. "If only his reasoning matched the showmanship," laments the Wall Street Journal in an editorial today, arguing that Paul was overstating matters; yes, US citizens can be killed on US soil, but only if they're enemy combatants. "If Mr. Paul wants to be taken seriously he needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids in their college dorms. He needs to know what he's talking about." But Kevin Williamson at the National Review disagrees. "Our definition of 'enemy combatant' is terrifyingly elastic," he writes. He believes Paul "performed a national service" yesterday. Of course, Williamson would agree; Paul quoted his articles in his speech. It was nice, he writes, "though my experience with senators suggests that they are impervious to argument, reason, evidence, and most other instruments save votes and campaign donations." Even Jon Stewart praised Paul. "He's using the filibuster the way it's meant to be used," Stewart said on the Daily Show. "I can't say I agree with Rand Paul about everything, but as issues go, drone oversight is one certainly worth kicking up a fuss for."

Steven Eugene Clifford is wanted for the alleged sexual assaults of eleven victims from 1998 through 2002. Clifford was a licensed chiropractor who operated an office in Carnelian Bay, California, for several years. In January of 2002, he was arrested by the Placer County Sheriff's Department for sexually assaulting…

– The "greed is good" money man who everyone loved to hate in the movie Wall Street has turned a new leaf. He's now working for the FBI, reports MSNBC. "Gordon Gekko," aka Michael Douglas, is doing a public service announcement for the FBI cautioning consumers to be alert, warning Wall Streeters to stay on the straight and narrow, and urging snitches to turn in their law-busting buddies. Money-grubbing Gekko ends up in prison for scamming innocent investors. "The movie is fiction, but the problem is real," warns Douglas, who urges that Wall Street baddies be reported at www.fbi.gov.

JASON CERONE/P-R PHOTOIn this scene from the Showtime series "Escape from Dannemora," Eric Lange who plays Lyle Mitchell goes to Sansone's restaurant in Malone to meet his wife, Joyce, but she never shows up. The real Joyce Mitchell was just denied parole again.

– A state board has denied parole to a tailor who played a key role in a prison break that's the subject of a Showtime miniseries being filmed in the northern New York region where it happened. Joyce Mitchell will remain behind bars for at least two more years for passing tools to killers Richard Matt and David Sweat, enabling their escape from the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in June 2015, per the AP. The subsequent three-week manhunt ended with Matt shot dead and Sweat captured near the Canadian border. Mitchell's lawyer tells the Plattsburgh Press-Republican the parole board denied her release Friday. Patricia Arquette plays Mitchell in Showtime's Escape at Dannemora, being produced by Ben Stiller. Penelope Ann Miller starred as Mitchell in a Lifetime movie that aired in April. (In 2015, Mitchell was sentenced to serve up to seven years on a contraband charge.)

The Jewish campaign treasurer for a Republican candidate in Connecticut is defending a campaign mailer that depicts their Democratic Party opponent in what is being described as the “worst kind of anti-Semitism.” “The full-color, double-sided mailer shows an altered image of Democrat Matt Lesser, who is Jewish, with large, beady eyes, holding fistfuls of hundred-dollar bills. The embrace of racially charged policies and rhetoric by Republicans, from President Trump to candidates across the country, has emboldened white-supremacist groups, and, critics say, raised questions about the party’s intent. There’s also a lead tagline on the other side: “Matt Lesser will take everything you worked for.” It was mailed out to homes in and around Middletown — the district where Lesser is trying to win a Senate seat,” WNPR reported Tuesday. In addition to the hands grabbing $100 bills that were added to the picture, Lesser’s face has been altered with a smile and a crooked look in his eyes, he said. “We do know, though, the feelings that the flier is evoking — the juxtaposition of a Jewish candidate for office and money in this manner — suggests an age-old anti-Semitic trope,” Steve Ginsburg, of the Anti-Defamation League’s Connecticut office, told the Hartford Courant. https://t.co/SlG90OA2S4 pic.twitter.com/vBE5ewKXeM — Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) October 30, 2018 Stuart S. Miller, the academic director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut, told the newspaper that the ad was “reprehensible, deeply offensive and inexcusable.” “I cannot believe that it is an innocent allusion to a supposedly money-spending Democrat,” he said. The state Republican Party lashed out at those criticizing the campaign mailer. Charamut’s campaign issued an apology to Lesser, the Jewish community and anyone else offended by the mailer, saying in a statement that the mailer was not intended to be anything more than a political statement about Lesser. “I had the opportunity to discuss some of the context of the recent mailer sent by candidate Ed Charamut involving State Representative Matt Lesser,” he said in the statement. “In a race with a Jewish candidate, this image should be recognized as offensive, raising classic anti-Semitic tropes. I personally would not have approved this mailer, and I am grateful that the party did not approve it.

– Just days after the slaying of 11 Jewish congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue, a GOP candidate for a state Senate seat in Connecticut is accused of sending a mailer using an "age-old anti-Semitic trope." The ad sent out by Ed Charamut includes what the Washington Post calls a "money-grubbing" picture (here) of smiling opponent Matt Lesser, clutching $100 bills with a "crazed look in his eyes." Lesser says the original image of him was altered to add the cash and exaggerate his expression; Charamut's Jewish campaign treasurer concedes Lesser's eyes were tweaked "to look bigger and greedy," per Raw Story. Lesser's reaction when he first heard about the ad: It was "some sort of mistake or misunderstanding." "I did not believe them, because we live in America," he adds. Others say the mailer was offensive, maybe intentionally so. But the 60-year-old GOP candidate insists the mailer was simply meant to draw a "sharp contrast" between his 35-year-old opponent's stance on tax policy and his own. "I reject hate speech in all its forms," he says. Other Republicans back him, with state Senate Chair JR Romano telling the Hartford Courant the hubbub is all "false outrage" perpetuated by Dems. "If you criticize any Democrat for failures and their record, they run into this shield that you're a racist." Romano later walked back those statements, agreeing the mailer was "offensive" after having "conversations with Jewish friends." (Mike Pence is facing his own controversy.)

(CNN) -- Think you have the landlord from hell? Think again. Did they steal your stuff? Lock you out? Threaten you with a gun? Unless they did, they're not even in contention for the title. Husband and wife, Kip and Nicole Macy, pleaded guilty to felony charges of residential burglary, stalking and attempted grand theft this week, after terrorizing tenants for years, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said Wednesday. "The actions of these defendants are so outlandish and brazen that it sounds like the plot line of a horror movie," District Attorney George Gascon said. How bad did it get? Kip and Nicole Macy so badly wanted to evict tenants from their apartment building in the South of Market district starting in 2006, court documents say, that they cut holes in the floor of one victim's living room with a power saw while he was inside his apartment. "He actually saw the saw coming up and trying to saw through," Assistant District Attorney Kelly Burke told CNN affiliate KTVU. The Macys also cut out sections of the floor joists. Before making the cuts, Nicole Macy took the time to consult with a city building inspector to make sure she knew which beam to cut to make the building structurally unsound. "They want to make it collapse," Ricardo Cartagena, a former property manager for the Macys, told affiliate KGO. Kip Macy later bought a semiautomatic handgun and threatened to shoot Cartagena after he refused to cut the joists himself. The couple eventually changed the locks to Cartagena's apartment, removed all of his belongings and destroyed them, court records show. Read: Tenant evicted even though she pays rent on time Not done yet Nicole Macy also created a couple of fraudulent e-mails accounts to stir up trouble. In one, pretending to be one of the victims, she fired the attorney who was representing the victim in a civil case against the Macys. From another e-mail account, Macy sent a message to her and her husband's civil attorneys, threatening to kidnap and dismember their children. In the e-mail, she pretended to be one of victims. Still not done Over the course of two years, the Macys cut the victims' telephone lines and shut off their electricity, gas and water, court documents say. Nicole Macy told workers to board up one victim's windows from the outside while he still lived there and falsely reported trespassers in the victim's apartment, causing him and a friend to be held at gunpoint by a police. They also broke into the units of three tenants, removing nearly all of their belongings. In a separate incident, the Macys soaked their beds, clothes and electronics with ammonia. Side trip to Italy After being indicted by a grand jury in early 2009, the couple fled the country. More than three years later, Italian special agents apprehended them in May 2012 and returned them to the United States last month. They will be formally sentenced in August in a plea deal that will send them to prison for four years and four months. Cartagena said he was happy to hear that the couple would be going to prison. "I feel happy," he told KTVU. "Finally there's justice coming." See also: Surviving a nasty neighbor New Jersey officer accused of burning captain's home is out on bail CNN's Elwyn Lopez contributed to this report.

– A group of San Francisco tenants really earned the right to complain about their landlords: The story of one couple's efforts to evict their tenants between 2006 and 2008 so they could sell the units is "so outlandish and brazen that it sounds like the plot line of a horror movie," says a prosecutor. Kip and Nicole Macy (dubbed the "Landlords from Hell") cut parts of their building's floor joists to "make it collapse," says property manager Ricardo Cartagena. In another attempt to get rid of a tenant, the two used a power saw to cut holes in his living room floor—while he was home, CNN reports. "He actually saw the saw coming up and trying to saw through," says an assistant district attorney. The Macys also stole tenants' belongings; poured ammonia on beds, clothes, and gadgets; cut victims' telephone, power, gas, and water services; sent fraudulent and threatening emails (including one to a lawyer saying "each day a package will arrive with a piece" of his children); and had tenants' windows boarded while they were living there, the Los Angeles Times reports. They've now pleaded guilty to burglary, attempted grand theft, and stalking after fleeing the country in 2009 and being taken into custody last year in Italy. As part of their plea deal they'll be handed four-year, four-month prison sentences.

The year 2015 will be slightly longer after the Paris Observatory announced it was adding a leap second to clocks this summer. On June 30, dials will read 11:59:60 as clocks hold their breath for a second to allow the Earth’s rotation to catch up with atomic time. Atomic time is constant, but the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down by around two thousandths of a second per day. It is the task of scientists and officials at the International Earth Rotation Service based in France to monitor the planet's rotation and tweak time where necessary. Some years the Earth runs bang on time and no adjustment is needed. Software companies are already bracing themselves for problems. When the last leap second was added in 2012 Mozilla, Reddit, Foursquare, Yelp, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon all reported crashes and there were problems with the Linux operating system and programmes written in Java. Many computing systems use the Network Time Protocol, or NTP, to keep themselves in sync with the world’s atomic clocks. But most are not programmed to deal with an unexpected extra second. Google has even developed a special technique to deal with what it refers to as a ‘leap smear’ where it gradually adds milliseconds to its system clocks prior to the official arrive of the leap second. "The Earth is slowing down a little bit," said Nick Stamatakos, the chief of Earth Orientation Parameters at the US Naval Observatory. "Atomic clocks keep very accurate time. The measurements are telling us 'Oh, they're slowing down'" The first leap second was added in 1972, and it will be the 26th time it has been added to clocks in history. It means the rotation of the Earth will have slowed 26 seconds compared to the time measured on atomic clocks. "They add an extra second to something called UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) in order to make sure the rate of UTC is the same as atomic time," he said. Adding the leap second will mean that at 11:59:59pm on June 30 for one second clocks will read 11:59:60pm. "For that day [June 30] there'll be 86,401 seconds, instead of 86,400 seconds. The length of the day for you and I and everyone on the Earth will have an extra second," added Mr Stamatakos. Leap seconds are rarer these days than they were when the practice of adding seconds first began. From 1972 to 1979, at least one second was added every year. Leap seconds were added six times throughout the 1980s. But there will only have been four leap seconds added since 1999. The US wants to get rid of leap seconds claiming they're too disruptive to precision systems used for navigation and communication. At a conference in Geneva in 2012 delegates argued that precisely timed money transactions could go astray or vehicles could be sent tens of metres out of position if they are a second out in their measurement of time But Britain opposes the change, saying that it would forever break the link between our concept of time and the rising and setting of the Sun. It would also spell the end for Greenwich Mean Time, which is measured by the time at which the Sun crosses the Greenwich Meridian and was adopted in Britain in 1847 Experts also fear that once this link is broken it could never be restored because although the Earth's timekeeping systems are built to accommodate the occasional leap second, adding a leap minute or hour to global time would be virtually impossible. Rory McEvoy, Curator of Horology, Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "Since antiquity the Earth’s rotation has provided us with our timescale – it is the Earth’s rotation that gives us our most basic unit of time, the solar day. "In the early 20th century civil time, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), was disseminated by radio signal. The clocks connected to the radio transmitters were constantly checked and adjusted, when necessary, according to astronomical determination of time. "This setup did not require leap seconds. It was only after the redefinition of the si second in 1967, when it became an issue because it was based on atomic timekeeping (more accurate than the Earth). It was felt that civil time, Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC), should correspond with Earth rotation. In 1972 the first leap second was added to UTC to correct the disparity. "The Earth’s speed of rotation has a tendency to slow – caused principally because of the relationship between Earth and the moon – but it can speed up. There is a possibility that a negative leap second could be added to UTC. "The abolition of the leap second is being considered and after around 12 years of discussion there may be a decision made later this year."

– The powers that be in the world of time management have decreed that the world needs to gain an extra second this year. More precisely, the folks at the International Earth Rotation Service in Paris have decided to add one second to June 30, 2015, to sync our atomic clocks to the Earth's slowing rotation, reports Phys.org. It's called a "leap second," and this will be the 26th one since the 1970s. The problem is that the last time this happened, in 2012, it caused all kinds of problems for all kinds of websites. "If a computer sees the same second twice in a row, it logically thinks something went very wrong," explains Gizmodo. "There are fixes to this, but they've obviously not been implemented across the board." Google has developed a work-around in which it "gradually adds milliseconds to its system clocks prior to the official arrive of the leap second," reports the Telegraph, though it's not clear whether other sites will follow suit. Meanwhile, the US is pushing for the end of leap seconds altogether, given their potential to wreak havoc with financial transactions, navigation, and communication in general. A decision could come later this year, but opponents such as Britain argue that the move has the hard-to-fathom potential to mess up our notion of telling time by the rising and setting of the sun—eventually our clocks would be noticeably out of whack with the Earth's rotation. "Another possibility," writes Bob Yirka at Phys.org, is "to maintain a dual system, one for technologists, the other for everybody else." (This might be the most precise clock on the planet.)

WBZ-TV in Boston reported on the Pentucket Workshop Preschool in Georgetown, Mass., where the mother of an enrolled 4-year-old said her daughter was discouraged from using the term. If anybody knows of a school with a policy banning kids from having or talking about having a best friend, please let me know. Christine Hartwell, the mother of 4-year-old Julia, told WBZ that she thought the practice was “ridiculous.” The school, she told the station, said the term can lead to feelings of exclusion and the formation of cliques. (AP) — A Massachusetts family is looking for a new preschool for their 4-year-old daughter because her current school has barred use of the term "best friend." Children who are 4 years old speak from their heart, so they should be able to call kids anything loving - you're my best friend, you're my best pal," Hartwell said.The school explained to Hartwell that "the term best friend can lead other children to feel excluded," and it can "ultimately lead to the formation of cliques and outsiders," and the school encourages "students to have a wider group of friends. I don't know if the right answer is necessarily denying children the ability to use that term," said Dr. Gregory Young, a pediatric psychologist.Hartwell says Julia still says "best friend" at home, but her daughter seems unsure if the term is appropriate since she was told not to use it at school"Even now she goes to say it in a loving way -- 'I'm going to go see my best friend Charlie' or this one or that one -- and she looks at me sideways as she's saying it, and she's checking in with me to see if that language is OK," Hartwell said.Hartwell says her daughter will not be going to school the rest of the year. She’s checking in with me to see if it’s okay.” The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

– A Massachusetts mom isn't too thrilled with the word-ban imposed by her daughter's preschool, the AP reports. Christine Hartwell says her 4-year-old daughter Julia came home unhappy from the Pentucket Workshop Preschool in Georgetown because her teacher said the term "best buddy" was forbidden. "I think it's ridiculous," Hartwell tells WIS-TV. "Children who are four years old speak from their heart, so they should be able to call kids anything loving." The school explained to the Hartwells that the term "best friend ... can lead other children to feel excluded" and "ultimately lead to the formation of cliques and outsiders," per ABC 7. Pentucket hasn't responded to the media, leaving a gap filled by pediatric psychologist Gregory Young: "I think that words are really important and the term 'best' does have an implied meaning to it," he says, "[but] I don't know if the right answer is necessarily denying children the ability to use that term." Media reports in recent years have referred to a "best friend" ban in European and British schools but didn't give any concrete evidence, the Washington Post reports. As for Julia, she seems unnerved by the whole thing: "Even now she goes to say it in a loving way—'I'm going to go see my best friend Charlie' or this one or that one—and she looks at me sideways as she's saying it and she's checking in with me to see if that language is okay," Hartwell says.

Report says air pollution is having a devastating impact on children worldwide, storing up a public health time bomb Poisonous air is having a devastating impact on billions of children around the world, damaging their intelligence and leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to a report from the World Health Organization. The study found that more than 90% of the world’s young people – 1.8 billion children – are breathing toxic air, storing up a public health time bomb for the next generation. The WHO said medical experts in almost every field of children’s health are uncovering new evidence of the scale of the crisis in both rich and poor countries – from low birth weight to poor neurodevelopment, asthma to heart disease. Dr Tedros Adhanom, WHO director general, said: “Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives. This is inexcusable – every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their potential.” The findings coincide with the start of the first global conference on air pollution and health in Geneva, including a high-level action day at which nations and cities are expected to make new commitments to cut air pollution. According to the WHO, children are more susceptible to pollution because they breathe more often, taking in more pollutants, and are closer to the ground, which is where some pollutants have higher concentrations. But there are many straightforward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants," said Dr. Maria Neira, director of the Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health at the WHO. The study found that 600,000 children die from acute lower respiratory infections caused by dirty air and 93% are exposed to one of the most damaging pollutants – PM2.5. Among low- and middle-income countries, 98% of all children under 5 are exposed to PM2.5 levels above WHO air quality guidelines, the report found. "Air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for the national burden of disease in India," the report states, adding that researchers tracked more than 1,000 women in India throughout pregnancy and found a direct correlation between increased exposure to pollution and premature, underweight babies. Children exposed to excessive pollution may also be at greater risk of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Tedros, writing in the Guardian on Saturday, described air pollution as the “new tobacco”, saying the simple act of breathing is killing 7 million people a year and harming billions more. The WHO’s latest estimates show that air pollution is responsible for one-quarter to one-third of deaths from heart attack, stroke, lung cancer and chronic respiratory disease. Neira said there were “many straightforward ways to reduce emissions of dangerous pollutants ”, including “accelerating the switch to clean cooking and heating fuels and technologies, [and] promoting the use of cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing and urban planning. We are preparing the ground for low-emission power generation, cleaner, safer industrial technologies and better municipal waste management.” Children are breathing dirty air – and parents are being left to fix it | Maria Miller and Ed Miliband Read more Mark Watts, executive director of the C40 Cities group, which represents cities around the world working to tackle the climate crisis and air pollution, said the report was an urgent call to action.

– The World Health Organization is out with some new numbers on air pollution, and the numbers are hard to fathom: In 2016, 600,000 children were estimated to have died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air, reports CNN. About 1.8 billion children worldwide—that would be 93%—breathe air so toxic that it puts their health, their physical development, and their intelligence at risk, reports the Guardian. In poorer nations, a staggering 98% of children under the age of 5 are exposed to PM2.5, one of the most harmful pollutants, in levels that exceed the WHO's safety guidelines. The pollution isn't always of the outdoor variety: The burning of wood or paraffin for heating, cooking, and light also takes a toll, especially in poorer nations. Pregnant women who breathe such dirty air are more prone to deliver premature and underweight children. Air pollution is the "new tobacco" and is responsible for 7 million premature deaths annually, writes WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a Guardian op-ed. The report is out on the eve of the group's Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health. More on the risks that air pollution poses on pregnant women.

Sitting for too long could be responsible for 4 percent of global deaths After an increasing amount of research has already outlined the negative effects of sitting for long periods of time, a new study has now found that long periods of inactivity are to blame for nearly 4 percent of all deaths worldwide. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and carried out by researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and San Jorge University in Zaragoza, Spain, the study looked at 54 countries across the world using data from between 2002 to 2011. The data revealed that over 60% of people worldwide spend more than three hours a day sitting down, with adults spending on average 4.7 hours of their day sat down. According to the study this inactivity is causing 3.8% of deaths across the world -- approximately 433,000 deaths a year. The team found that the highest rates of death were found in the Western Pacific, followed by parts of Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean region, America and Southeast Asia. Looking at the results by country, the highest rates were found in Lebanon (11.6%), the Netherlands (7.6%) and Denmark (6.9%), while the lowest rates were in Mexico (0.6%), Myanmar (1.3%) and Bhutan (1.6%). Spain falls within the average range with 3.7% of deaths, with Canada and the USA both above the average with 4.7 percent and 4.2 percent of deaths respectively. Several studies published in 2012 by the journal Lancet already that showed 31% of the global population fails to meet the current recommendations for physical activity, with the authors of the study calculating that increasing active time and reducing sitting time in the countries studied could increase life expectancy by 0.20 years. According to their analysis, reducing sitting time by two hours -- around a 50% reduction on the average sitting time found in the study -- would result in a 2.3% decrease in risk of mortality (three times less). Even a reduction of just 10 percent -- or half an hour a day -- could reduce mortality by 0.6%. The team now advise that sedentary behavior should be minimized in order to prevent premature deaths around the world and suggest that strategic national health campaigns, such as bike-sharing systems, could be rolled out by countries to get the population moving more.

– You might want to sit down for this. On second thought, keep standing. A study published last month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that sitting for more than three hours per day is responsible for 3.8%—or approximately 433,000—of all deaths worldwide every year. At this point, it's old news that sitting for long periods of time is bad for your health. But who knew it could be this deadly? According to a press release, researchers looked at data collected from 54 countries between 2002 and 2011. They found that more than 60% of the world's population sits for more than three hours per day, with the average being approximately 4.7 hours. The highest amount of sitting-related deaths were in the Western Pacific and parts of Europe, AFP reports. Lebanon and the Netherlands topped the list, while Mexico and Myanmar had the fewest sitting-related deaths. Researchers found that eliminating sitting could increase overall life expectancy by 0.2 years, while reducing daily sitting time by two hours could decrease an individual's mortality by 2.4%. Even sitting for 30 minutes less per day can have a positive impact on mortality. "It is important to minimize sedentary behavior in order to prevent premature deaths around the world," the study's lead author says. (Even some activity can keep death at bay for couch potatoes.)

“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert is facing backlash for a joke he made about President Donald Trump on Monday night that many are calling “homophobic.” During his opening monologue, Colbert went off on Trump over the President’s treatment of CBS News’ John Dickerson, who saw an interview with Trump abruptly ended when he asked about the President’s unproven claims that then-President Obama had wiretapped Trump and members of his campaign. In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin’s c–k holster.” The final remark has drawn the internet’s ire, with viewers taking to social media to declare Colbert is homophobic.The hashtag #FireColbert began spreading around Twitter, along with calls for people to boycott sponsors of the late-night show. Back in 2014 when he was hosting “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, that show’s official Twitter account posted a message saying, ““I am willing to show Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.” The tweet was meant to satirize Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snider, who started a charity to benefit Native Americans. Guest Rove, however, blasted Colbert’s monologue as “obscene, lewd, and shows how out of touch that part of the media is with the rest of America.” Rove announced: “I’m going to continue to do what I do with anything Colbert: I am going to refuse to watch the SOB.” Rove is among Colbert’s most devoted non-fans, dating back to the host’s Comedy Central days when, as conservative gasbag host of The Colbert Report, he tried to interview “Translucent American Karl Rove” about his super PAC, but discovered Rove is a shy guy who doesn’t do television, except any show on Fox News Channel.

– Stephen Colbert has directed plenty of insults at President Trump, but a critic says one delivered during his Late Show monologue on Monday was "disgusting even for him." It's a sentiment being seconded by many. After noting Trump insulted Face the Nation's John Dickerson before abruptly ending an interview with him, Colbert, nearing the end of his monologue, said he felt compelled to throw insults back at Trump, which he then did. "You attract more skinheads than free Rogaine. You have more people marching against you than cancer. You talk like a sign language gorilla who got hit in the head," he said, per Variety. "In fact, the only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's c--- holster." That final comment, which received a roar from the audience, sparked a #FireColbert hashtag on Twitter with users calling it "homophobic." TMZ also called it "a seriously homophobic punchline," while Karl Rove, appearing on Fox News, said it was "obscene, lewd, and shows how out of touch that part of the media is with the rest of America," per Deadline. Others, including among the LGBT community, maintained the comment was not homophobic. Either way, Callum Borchers at the Washington Post says that "by hitting below the belt," Colbert "became the latest liberal to ignore [Michelle] Obama's 'go high' mantra." Colbert and CBS have not commented. (See what Colbert had to say about Bill O'Reilly.)

Michigan is the only other state with an across-the-board payout as high as 10 cents per bottle, although booze and other large bottles carry a 10-cent payout in California and 15 cents in Maine and Vermont. Oregonians cashed in slightly more than 1 billion bottles and cans in 2015, roughly two-thirds of total sales that year, according to a 2017 report to the Legislature by the state Liquor and Control Commission, which aids distributors in administering program operations. But as curbside recycling and pickup services were brought on board two decades later — not to mention inflationary effects on the nickel's value — the rates at which Oregonians cashed in their bottles and cans gradually tumbled from 90 percent averages to less than 70 percent of all bottle sales statewide in 2014 and 2015. Under state law, if the return rate for beverage containers falls below 80 percent for two years in a row, the redemption value of those containers must increase to 10 cents per container. Now with other recycling options commonplace, the state is working to revamp the program by doubling that refund on bottled and canned water, soda, beer and malt beverages — regardless of what their labels say. Oregon was the first state to give 5-cent refunds for recycling used soda cans and glass bottles more than 45 years ago. Oregon's 1971 Bottle Bill has been replicated in nine other states and the U.S. territory of Guam.

– Ten states have bottle bills, meaning consumers pay a small deposit when they buy drinks in bottles or cans and that deposit is returned to them if they recycle the containers with the state rather than simply throwing them away. Most states pay 5 cents per can or bottle, but starting Saturday, Oregon will become the second state to double that amount to 10 cents, the Hillsboro Tribune reports. (Michigan was the first.) California also pays 10 cents for bottles 24oz or larger, while Maine and Vermont pay 15 cents for liquor bottles. The AP notes that Oregonians who knew the amount was getting bumped higher lined up to do their recycling Saturday.

Sincerely, PETER DeFAZIO GRACE NAPOLITANO Ranking Member Ranking Member Subcommittee on Water Resources & Environment cc: The Honorable Scott Pruitt, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General, Audit of EPA’s Adherence to Policies, Procedures and Oversight Controls Pertaining to the Administrator’s Travel (August 28, 2017) (OA-FY17-0382). Other people think the EPA is doing too much, vis-à-vis enforcing environmental laws and they’re upset about that.” Last month, The Washington Post reported that the EPA spent nearly $25,000 on building Pruitt a sound-proof “privacy booth” for secure phone calls. In total, the $832,735.40 spent on Administrator Pruitt’s security detail during his first quarter as EPA Administrator is nearly double what the two previous Administrators spent on security over that same timeframe; yet, there is no apparent security threat against the Administrator to justify such a security detail or expenditures. “When the administrator travels, he takes commercial flights,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said Wednesday, explaining that the one charter flight and three government flights were due to particular circumstances. In addition, a September 26, 2017 article in The Washington Post found that EPA is spending $24,570 to construct a “secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt.” A secure room such as this, typically called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), allows someone to communicate privately and without a breach in security. This is something which a number, if not all, Cabinet offices have and EPA needs to have updated.” But according to former agency employees, the EPA has long maintained a SCIF on a separate floor from the administrator’s office, where officials with proper clearances can go to share information classified as secret. The EPA said in travel documents that the White House had approved the trip and that “no viable commercial flights” would have allowed Pruitt to make his plane to Italy, where he had “scheduled meetings with Vatican officials the next day.” His official calendar listed meetings with the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, and a roundtable discussion with the Italian Court of Appeals.

– Scott Pruitt's travel, and how he's been traveling, has already come under fire. Now the EPA chief is under the microscope for what CNN calls an "unprecedented level" of protection. That includes the reported hiring of 12 new security officers, which TPM notes would bring the total number keeping tabs on Pruitt to 30. Using public documents, CNN estimates the cost for the entire security team—not counting training, travel, or gear—at $2 million per year, prompting some members of Congress to ask if this is a "potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars." The reason, especially considering no other EPA head has ever received 24/7 protection: The EPA is a "lightning rod," and Pruitt is paying the price for it, per the agency's inspector general's office, which says it's investigated more than 70 threats against Pruitt so far. That's "at least … four to five times the number of threats against Mr. Pruitt" than Gina McCarthy, his predecessor under Obama, assistant IG Patrick Sullivan says. Sullivan adds the threats are coming from "both sides of the spectrum": those who think the EPA isn't doing enough to protect the environment, and those who think the agency is overregulating. Pruitt is also said to be getting "security enhancements" at his DC office, including card readers to control access and a soundproof phone booth—which CNN says together will cost more than $40,000, per purchasing and contracting documents. Two Democratic Congress members, Peter DeFazio and Grace Napolitano, have crafted a letter to the IG asking for a look at this spending, which they say is "symptomatic of a troubling culture that appears to have swept through this administration … from the President on down."

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), an animal advocacy group, hired an undercover investigator to spend the month of April 2012 working at a Wyoming Premium Farms facility in Wheatland, Wyo. Officials are investigating allegations of animal abuse at a Wyoming pig farm after undercover video showed workers kicking pigs and tossing and twirling piglets — incidents that even a co-owner of the farm said looked like major abuses that warranted firings. The Wyoming Livestock Board is investigating Wyoming Premium Farms in Wheatland, Wyo., and Doug DeRouchey, a co-owner and manager of the farm, told NBC affiliate 9NEWS.com that an investigation was under way after the Humane Society of the United States released the video on Tuesday. HSUS identified one pig in its video on whose back, it said, a worker sat and bounced even though the pig had a broken leg. The video also shows hundreds of female pigs confined to "gestation crates" that prohibit them from turning around. The Humane Society said the video was shot over 27 days last month by someone who worked there and alleged the farm was a supplier to Tyson Foods. Wyoming Premium Farms' website states that its facilities "consist of a breeding farm housing over 5,000 sows, a nursery and two finishers with capacity to finish all pigs, feedmill to mix all feed required and a corporate office." He said he could not recall everything she said, but added he definitely would have remembered if anything about animal abuse had come out of her mouth. Tyson Foods spokesman Worth Sparkman emailed a statement to HuffPost, saying the company was "appalled" by the video and denying any connection between the Wyoming farm and the pork processed by Tyson. The food conglomerate denied a direct connection, saying in a statement that: "Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants. We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business," the statement said. "We've seen the video and we are appalled by the apparent mistreatment of the animals. We do not condone for any reason this kind of mistreatment of animals shown in the video." The National Pork Producers Council hit back on its website, saying, "The FTC complaint is the latest attack by animal-rights activists on America's hog farmers, an assault that seems obviously in response to the U.S. pork industry's strident opposition to congressional legislation that would allow federal bureaucrats to tell farmers how to raise and care for their animals."

– Wyoming officials are investigating alleged animal abuse at a pig farm after a secret video of conditions there was released. In the footage, workers are seen punching, kicking, and jumping on pigs and tossing piglets, reports CBS in Denver. Other pigs have untreated abscesses, notes the Huffington Post. The footage was recorded last month by a spy sent in by the Humane Society, which had been alerted by a whistleblower. “I would anticipate there might be charges,” said an investigator from the Wyoming Livestock Board. A statement from Wyoming Premium Farms said it was investigating the incident and that abuses seen in the video would not be tolerated. "That was just poorly supervised employees," an animal sciences professor who viewed the video told MSNBC. "That's the kind of stuff that goes on with bad management. I've seen it over and over again." Click for more on the story.

Three more bodies were found in the ruins of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses in the Great Smoky Mountains area, officials said... (Associated Press) GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — After nearly 24 hours of drenching rain helped quench a series of devastating wildfires in eastern Tennessee, local officials turned to cleanup and recovery efforts even as they battled their own personal crises. Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner said discussions were under way about re-opening the resort city as early as Friday, which would give business owners and residents their first look at the damage in a city that has been closed since Monday night. Werner has spent the better part of two days standing in front of TV cameras saying "everything is going to be OK," all while he lost the home he built himself along with all seven buildings of the condominium business he owned. Trevor Cates, 37, who lost his home in the Gatlinburg area, also lost the church he attends. Miller, the Gatlinburg fire chief, said Thursday he has been trying to get his crews to go home when their shifts are done, but most stay at the station, sleeping on the floor. The family was heartbroken Wednesday evening when, they say, officials told them the 70-year-old Hagler had been found dead -- one of at least 11 people killed in a wildfire that spread from Great Smoky Mountains National Park into the eastern Tennessee resort city this week. Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said officials plan to announce Thursday morning when local residents and business owners can return to the city. "The positive thing, obviously, is we have our two kids, our animals, and each other. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said authorities are checking 70 leads through a hotline set up to track down people said to be missing. Investigators believe the trail fire was "human caused," Soehn said, without offering further information. Three brothers being treated at a Nashville hospital said they had not heard from their parents since they were separated while fleeing the fiery scene during their vacation. More than 14,000 people were evacuated from Gatlinburg on Monday night, and many of them are still nervously awaiting word of when they can get back in the city to see if they still have homes. Buddy McLean said he watched Monday from a deserted Gatlinburg street as flames surrounded his 26-acre hotel nestled in the mountains. “To aid in their recovery effort, the Dollywood Foundation will provide $1,000 a month to all of those families who lost their homes in the fires for six months so that they can get back on their feet.” At least seven people were killed and hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed in the more than 15,000-acre blaze, which started Monday night. The flames reached the doorstep of Dollywood, the theme park named after Parton, but the park was spared any significant damage and will reopen Friday. Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials have closed all facilities in the park due to the extensive fire activity, and downed trees. JUST WATCHED Fire evacuee: It was a firestorm Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Fire evacuee: It was a firestorm 01:44 "The last phone call she made to my brother was the fact that she was really scared and frantic because the house was actually on fire at that point," Wood told CNN's "New Day" on Thursday. "She was unsettled, and she was scared," Rachel Wood told "New Day" on Thursday. We didn't see any partially burned structures."

– Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner has been the voice of calm while the Tennessee city battled a 15,000-acre wildfire that killed at least seven people before it was put out with help from some much-needed rain. That didn't change Thursday as he noted cleanup efforts are now underway and suggested 14,000 evacuated residents could return to the area as soon as Friday. But Werner knows well what those residents might find: His home and seven condominium buildings he owns burned to the ground. "I really can't dwell on it that much," he tells the AP. "I think of others that have lost theirs, and it keeps my mind off of our problems." Gatlinburg's fire chief adds several firefighters also lost their homes, but are still working "to take care of everybody else." A National Park Service rep says the fire began on a trail 10 miles south of Gatlinburg and was "human caused," though she offered no other details, reports CNN. As it spread, the fire destroyed more than 700 buildings in Sevier County, including 300 in Gatlinburg. Many other people are missing and officials fear the death toll will rise as they are now moving from house to house to survey damage. Though Dollywood in neighboring Pigeon Forge escaped major damage, Tennessee native Dolly Parton says her foundation will donate $1,000 per month for six months to survivors who lost their homes. "We want to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything … so that they can get back on their feet," Parton says, per BuzzFeed.

Speaking in the Irish Parliament on Wednesday, the minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, called the discovery of what is described as an unmarked grave as “deeply disturbing and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been.” The burials are believed to have taken place on the site of a so-called mother-and-baby home in Tuam, County Galway, from 1925 to 1961. The institution, which was run by the Sisters of Bon Secours, was subsequently demolished, and a housing development now sits adjacent to the site. People who lived near the home said they have known about the unmarked mass grave for decades, but a fresh investigation was sparked this week after research by local historian Catherine Corless purportedly showed that of the hundreds of children who died at the home, only one was buried at a cemetery.

– This week's news that at least 796 Irish babies were buried in a septic tank on the property of a home for unwed mothers sometime between 1925 and 1961 was not the first time the presence of a mass grave there had been hinted at. The New York Times reports that word of the bodies first emerged in 1975 by way of two 12-year-old boys who were playing at the site and reported that their look into a hole in a concrete slab revealed a space "filled to the brim with bones." So why did it take four decades and a determined historian to expose what may have happened at the mother-and-baby home in Tuam, County Galway? Locals apparently wrote off the remains as remnants from a workhouse that pre-dated the home, or even a relic of the 1840s famine. Though the Washington Post earlier reported an investigation was under way, the Times indicates that's not the case: Police yesterday said in a statement, "There is no suggestion of any impropriety and there is no ... investigation. Also, there is no confirmation from any source that there are between 750 and 800 bodies present." (NBC News reports that historian Catherine Corless found only a single record of one of the children in question being buried at a cemetery.) Still, the police are being urged to open an inquiry, as is the government, with politicians clamoring for an investigation, reports the Irish Times. The one group that could possibly shed light on the situation—the Sisters of Bon Secours, which ran the home—has yet to issue a comment. Reuters reports that Ireland's Roman Catholic Church has instructed the nuns to assist with any investigation that might occur. Click for more on the story.

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– The GOP debate on Fox News tonight proved to be Trump-centric as he and his nine rivals—Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich—tried to emerge from the pack. (As Carly Fiorina did in the early debate.) In fact, Trump fielded the very first question, and it was a doozy. When all the candidates were asked if anyone was unwilling to pledge support to the eventual nominee and to rule out a run as an independent, only Trump raised his hand. “I will not make the pledge at this time,” he said. Other highlights, via CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post: Christie vs Paul: After Paul said, “I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. ... I’m proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to," Christie responded, "That's a completely ridiculous answer. ... How are you supposed to know? ... When you’re sitting in a subcommittee blowing hot air, then you can say things like that.” Bush on political dynasties: "I'm going to have to earn this." And on the Iraq war: “Knowing what we know now with faulty intelligence … it was a mistake. I wouldn’t have gone in.” CNN's David Chalian: "Nothing about tonight's debate indicated that Jeb Bush is in the driver's seat of this campaign. He seemed much more like a passenger—and at times a nervous and unsure one at that." Paul vs Trump: "He buys and sells politicians of all stripes. He’s already hedging his bet on the Clintons," said Paul. Trump responded that he's given money to Paul, too. Kasich: “Donald Trump's hitting a nerve in this country, he really is. ... For people to want to just tune him out, they’re making a mistake." He also gave an impassioned answer about his support of gay marriage, here. Writes Nicholas Confessore at the New York Times: "I think Kasich has been extremely effective up there. Lots of confidence, talks like a real person, and so far has successfully defended his biggest vulnerability--the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare." Rubio: “How is Hillary going to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck." Rubio generally won praise tonight for his answers. Trump on political correctness: "I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I’ve been challenged by so many people and I don’t, frankly, have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn’t have time, either." Carson: He said Hillary Clinton "counts on the fact that people are uninformed." At another point, he thanked the moderator for a question and added, "I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again." Cruz: “It’s not a question of stupidity. It’s that they don’t want to enforce the immigration laws,” he said of unnamed GOP colleagues. Mostly though, Cruz had a surprisingly quiet night. Walker: “Every section of the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than it was." He also said Iran and ISIS were "tied together." Huckabee: "The military is not a social experiment," he said in discussing gender diversity and LGBT benefits. "The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things." Christie on New Jersey's financial trouble: "If you think it’s bad now, you should’ve seen it when I got there."

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Subway restaurant chain said Friday it received a "serious" complaint about Jared Fogle when he was the company's spokesman but that the complaint did not imply any criminal sexual activity. The company announced in a statement that it has completed an internal investigation into whether it was alerted to concerns about Fogle, who agreed last month to plead guilty to allegations he paid for sex acts with girls as young as 16 and had received child pornography. The company has severed its ties to him. Subway's investigation included a review of more than a million online comments and interviews with past and present employees and managers with both the company and an advertising fund, the statement said. Subway spokeswoman Kristen McMahon said the company received the "serious" complaint in 2011 from former Florida journalist Rochelle Herman-Walrond, who says she worked with the FBI to record Fogle expressing interest in sex with minors. The company's statement said that while the complaint "expressed concerns about Mr. Fogle," it included "nothing that implied anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity involving Mr. Fogle." McMahon would not elaborate on the nature of the complaint. Nevertheless, the company said it regrets the complaint was "not properly escalated or acted upon," according to the statement. "It is important to note that the investigation found no further evidence of any other complaints of any kind regarding Mr. Fogle that were submitted to or shared with SUBWAY," the statement said. Telephone calls by The Associated Press to Herman-Walrond seeking comment on Subway's statement were not immediately returned Friday night. Fogle's lawyers also did not respond to requests for comment. It's unclear how Herman-Walrond knew Fogle, who lives in suburban Indianapolis. Authorities in Indiana would not say whether she was part of their investigation into him. But Fogle's plea agreement mentions that witnesses in Florida, Georgia and Washington state provided recordings and information it says show Fogle "repeatedly discussed with them his interest in engaging in commercial sex acts with minors or stated that he has done so in the past." Separately, a lawyer for former Subway franchisee Cindy Mills said she alerted an executive in charge of the company's advertising in 2008 after Fogle began talking to her about paying for sex with minors. The attorney said Mills also shared her concerns with a regional Subway contact in Florida, where she is based. The executive, Jeff Moody, has denied being aware of Fogle's criminal sexual conduct. The company has said it does not have a record of any complaints by the former franchisee. Attempts to reach Mills' attorney on Friday were unsuccessful.

– Subway says it received a "serious" complaint about Jared Fogle years ago and failed to do much about it—but it didn't involve "anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity." A company spokeswoman says the complaint was received in 2011 from Rochelle Herman-Walrond, the informant who provided the FBI with evidence that will send Fogle to prison for years on child porn and underage sex charges, the AP reports. It's not clear what the complaint involved but in a statement, Subway said the company regrets that it was "not properly escalated or acted upon." Subway says the 2011 complaint was the only complaint it found about its former pitchman in a thorough review of more than a million customer comments, as well as "all available documents, and interviews with past and present Company and Franchisee Advertising Fund employees and management," People reports. A former franchisee in Florida, however, says she made a complaint to the executive in charge of Subway's advertising in 2008 when Fogle started telling her about his sexual interest in minors. Her lawyer says she also spoke to a regional Subway exec about Fogle after the inappropriate comments began, reports the AP. (A rare sniffer dog helped build the case against Fogle.)

IFAW via Reuters Two dolphins are prepared for release Monday into Cape Cod Bay. BOSTON -- Nineteen dolphins that stranded themselves along Cape Cod have been treated and released, but several dozen others have perished since the string of strandings began last Thursday. Eight that stranded alive did not survive, said Katie Moore, manager for marine mammal rescue at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, while another 32 washed ashore already dead. Of the 19 survivors, one was a calf and another a pregnant mom. Strandings typically happen from January to April, but the pattern this year is unlike past years, when just one dolphin or a group would be found on a single beach, she said. "I've been doing this for 15 years and this is only the second season I've seen it like this," she said. Julia Cumes / AP A dolphin is given a hearing test before being released back into Cape Cod Bay at Scusset Beach on Saturday. "It feels like stranding after stranding after stranding," Moore added. "It's definitely out of the ordinary." The dolphins began beaching themselves on Thursday, with a single dolphin stranded near the town of Wellfleet, said IFAW spokeswoman Kerry Branon. On Saturday, the busiest day for rescuers, at least 37 dolphin were found spanning five towns along 20 miles of Cape Cod, Branon said. Cape Cod is among the top locations for the phenomenon worldwide, she said. Beaching of dolphins has been happening for centuries, but researchers are still trying to determine what brings the dolphins to Cape Cod Bay this time of year. The group actions tend to happen, in part, because dolphins operate with a group mentality, where many others may follow one animal toward shallow water, IFAW said. The animals, which tend to get stuck on the bay side of the hook-shaped Cape Cod, are assessed by rescuers and then taken to deeper water on the ocean side and released. Marine biologists check for signs of stress and body condition, among other factors, and tag the dolphins with an identifier before release. A handful of animals have also been affixed with a tag to track movement and transmit data to researchers, Branon said. "We also were able to test the hearing on one animal as well ... important data for our project which will hopefully aid in conservation measures to protect marine mammals from ocean noise," Moore said in a statement. Moore said this year's series of dolphins stranded on beaches reminded her of the 2005-2006 winter, when dolphins beached themselves over a 40-day period. Reuters contributed to this report. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

– Volunteers in Cape Cod are scrambling to deal with an unusual spate of dolphin strandings. A solitary dolphin was found stranded last Thursday and dozens more followed in the days after. Nineteen were treated and released but eight others couldn't be saved, and another 32 washed ashore already dead, MSNBC reports. Some 75 other dolphins have been spotted behaving erratically in Provincetown harbor and may be close to beaching themselves, the Cape Cod Times reports. The International Fund for Animal Welfare's rescue director say she has only ever seen one other season with such a high number of dolphin strandings. "It feels like stranding after stranding after stranding," she says. "It's definitely out of the ordinary."

“The NRA and Donald Trump are calling for Second Amendment supporters to protect their constitutional right to self defense by defeating Hillary Clinton at the ballot box,” Baker said. He warned of Clinton’s ability to pick Supreme Court justices if she wins, saying there would be “nothing you can do, folks.” (The Washington Post) At a rally in Wilmington, N.C., Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said rival Hillary Clinton wants to “essentially” abolish the Second Amendment. It certainly put him at great risk, even if they didn’t find them, and it shows you that when the director of the FBI said she was extremely careless, he was being kind.” But Giuliani repeatedly waved away chants of “Lock her up!” from the crowd. I don’t believe that’s at all what he meant.” But Sessions acknowledged: “It may have been awkwardly phrased.” Trump said later in reply to Sean Hannity on Fox News that he was referring to the political movement around the Second Amendment. Even reporters have told me – I mean give me a break.” Trump has been striving to show more discipline on the campaign trail after a string of gaffes in recent weeks. “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the second amendment,” said Trump, eliciting boos from the crowd. He told supporters on Tuesday: “I guess there’s a scenario in which this president could pick five supreme court justices, and if you pick two that are left, left, left, it’s going to be a disaster for our country.” The NRA had endorsed him early, he added. The official NRA Twitter feed compared Trump’s remarks to a 2008 comment from then-Senator Joseph Biden, who said “If [Obama] tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem,” and asked “Was Joe Biden…suggesting violence here?” Katie Pavlich, a prominent conservative writer who spoke at this year’s NRA annual meeting, also slammed the media’s coverage of Trump’s remarks, tweeting: “Media totally exposed itself (again) today by assuming Second Amendment supporters are assassins instead of voters.” But she added: “That said Trump is reason Trump has no credibility/isn’t given the benefit of the doubt when actually misunderstood.” She was referencing Trump’s remark in January that “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Pavlich wrote: “I’m not defending Trump or his comments, I’m defending Second Amendment supporters.” The supreme court has become a central election issue since the death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative who has not yet been replaced.

– Donald Trump's campaign is once again on damage control, this time over remarks that critics say hinted at Hillary Clinton's assassination. His comment that "Second Amendment people" could "maybe" do something about Clinton picking Supreme Court justices if she wins was widely condemned Tuesday, though he insisted that he had been talking about the "strong, powerful" gun lobby using their political force, not their guns. "There can be no other interpretation," he told Fox News Tuesday night. "I mean, give me a break." A round-up of reactions: "The NRA and Donald Trump are calling for Second Amendment supporters to protect their constitutional right to self defense by defeating Hillary Clinton at the ballot box," NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker tells the Guardian, calling the controversy a "distraction created by the dishonest media." "Don't treat this as a political misstep. It's an assassination threat, seriously upping the possibility of a national tragedy & crisis," tweeted Connecticut's Sen. Chris Murphy, who is a strong proponent of gun control. Paul Ryan, speaking at his victory party in Wisconsin, said he hadn't heard the remarks, Politico reports. "I've been a little busy," he said. "It sounds like a joke gone bad. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly." Trump "makes death threats because he's a pathetic coward who can’t handle the fact that he’s losing to a girl," tweeted Elizabeth Warren. "Nobody who is seeking a leadership position—especially the presidency, the leadership of the country—should do anything to countenance violence, and that’s what he was saying," said Tim Kaine. "It seems like every single day the national press latches on to some other issue about my running mate," said Mike Pence. "But you know what they’re not talking about? Anything having to do with Hillary Clinton." The Secret Service tweeted that it "is aware of the comments made earlier this afternoon." Former CIA director Michael Hayden told CNN: "Well, let me say, if someone had have said that outside the hall he’d be in the back of a police wagon now with the Secret Service questioning him." The New York Times notes that Trump's remarks were condemned from across the political spectrum, with conservative writer John Podhoretz criticizing him for suggesting that Second Amendment supporters were "potential assassins." The Washington Post notes that the latest uproar has followed a very familiar pattern of attention-getting expressions, followed by outrage, followed by Trump lashing out at the media—and the cycle appears "to be taking a toll among the electorate overall."

If you’re really paranoid and want to completely kill the omnidirectional microphone, you’d actually need to do some computer surgery.

– It was meant solely to be a celebratory post by Mark Zuckerberg about Instagram reaching the milestone of 500 million users. But as CNET reports, the Internet was far more interested in what Zuckerberg revealed inadvertently: His laptop is in the background, and it shows that Zuckerberg puts a piece of tape over its camera as an apparent security measure—to ward off hackers who might gain control of it remotely to spy on him. A Twitter user named Chris Olson seemed to be the first to spot it, tweeting on Tuesday that Zuckerberg also tapes over his microphone jack and uses a rather obscure email client from Mozilla called Thunderbird. (Some think it's actually a Cisco VPN client.) Reaction: Gizmodo: "Of course, it’s not insane that one of the most powerful people in the world is paranoid about being watched—but Zuckerberg better hope the legions of users his company is depending on for live video content don’t take a lesson from his book." New York Times: “Covering the camera is a very common security measure,” a security expert tells the newspaper. “If you were to walk around a security conference, you would have an easier time counting devices that don’t have something over the camera.” Fusion: Covering the camera is a wise idea. But "putting tape over your microphone jack is not going to be effective in making your computer hacker-proof. That’s just going to keep someone from plugging their headphones into your machine. If Olson is wrong, and Zuck has in fact put tape over the mic holes, though, that will muffle the computer’s hearing ability, per a test conducted in our office." NPR: The Zuckerberg story is prompting outlets to re-run this quote from FBI chief James Comey in April: “I put a piece of tape—I have obviously a laptop, personal laptop—I put a piece of tape over the camera. Because I saw somebody smarter than I am had a piece of tape over their camera.” Also prior to the Zuckerberg story, the Guardian looked into the growing popularity of the idea. The Electronic Frontier Foundation even sells camera-covering stickers.

Chris Rock's 2009 documentary, Good Hair , focused attention on the trouble and expense many a black woman goes through in her quest for straight hair. "Have you ever put your hands through a black woman's hair?" Rock asks some guys in a barbershop . The response: "Hell no! Not a black woman's hair!" (Too expensive.) But extensions are "not a black or white thing or even a woman's thing," says Lori Tharps, coauthor of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. She points to the recent admission by tennis star Andre Agassi that for much of his career his signature mullet was in fact a weave. AS CO-OWNER of the Grooming Room on Brooklyn's Nostrand Avenue , a street so dense with beauty outlets that it almost seems zoned for that purpose, Tiffany Brown is a high priestess of the do. When I first met her yesterday, her face was framed by closely cropped bangs and tresses hanging to her chin. Today she looks altogether different, with hair pulled tight against her scalp into a ponytail just an inch long. Tomorrow, it might well be glamorous locks cascading down her back. The secret of Brown's chameleon powers: extensions made from human hair. It's "a necessary accessory, like earrings or a necklace," she says. "It lets me be whoever I want to be for a day." Her clients feel the same way; they spend about $400 a month maintaining their extensions, she says, though a few drop thousands. Between shops like hers and celebs who might shell out $10,000 or more for a single wig or weave , the demand adds up to a $900 million global trade in human hair—not counting installation. In any case, those seeking a high-end look know what to ask for. It's called "remy" hair, which is more or less synonymous with hair from India. Top salons prize it for the way it's collected, in a single cut, which preserves the orientation of the hair's shingle-like outer layer, and thus its strength, luster, and feel. That's what defines remy, and that's the reason it commands a premium price. "If you want cheap hair," sniffs one supplier's blog, "you're going to get a cheap looking hairstyle." Beyoncé wears remy hair, as do Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, and any Hollywood starlet who's been within a mile of a first-class weave. "The only hair worth buying is remy," says one of Brown's clients, her hair wrapped around enormous curlers. "They say that it's cut from the heads of virgins." VIRGINS, CHECK. But also mothers, fathers, little kids, and not-so-pure American reporters. To see the whole process up close and personal, I have traveled to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, a sprawling Hindu temple in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Tirumala is the planet's top supplier of remy hair and point of origin for at least 30 percent of the Indian trade, a fact that doesn't seem to bother devotees of the resident god Venkateswara—an incarnation of Vishnu. A throng of ripe humanity presses me through a series of wrought-iron gates and into the Kalyana Katta, the temple's tonsuring center. As we inch slowly toward the inner sanctum, cracked concrete floors give way to cool white tiles. After 15 minutes, a uniformed man hands us paper tokens imprinted with a bar code and a picture of Venkateswara. The next official I encounter, clad in a stained brown shirt, hands over two razor blades: one for my head, one for my throat. The crowd of men and women proceeds down a wide staircase whose landing is covered in a soggy mixture of tepid water and black hairballs. The air is moist and smells of rancid coconut oil. The stairs end at a vast, tiled chamber resembling a neglected Olympic swimming facility, where long lines of men face tiled benches running along the walls. (Women are herded into a separate room.) In the center are four massive steel vats. I match my token code—MH1293—to a sign on the wall, then take my place in a queue of about 50 bare-chested men in black sarongs. The pilgrim at the head of the line bows low as a man with a straight razor makes swift work of his curls. Satisfied, the barber looks up, spots me, and beckons me forward. He has a ragged cloth tied around his waist over white striped boxer shorts. No high priest, clearly. Just a worker bee for the holy hive. I assume the position as he fixes my blades to the razor handle. "Start praying," he says. I try to remember the god's face, but there's no time to contemplate: The man forces my head downward and runs the blade down from the top of my head with the practiced efficiency of a sheepherder. Satisfied, he grabs my chin, sticking a thumb in my mouth as he prepares to dispense with my beard. I watch the brown hair fall away in clumps, joining the dark, wet mash underfoot. The curly-haired guy, like me, is now bald, with small nicks in his scalp and pink streaks of blood dripping down his back. He meets my eyes and smiles broadly. "Venkateswara will be pleased." His wife is offering her hair in the other room. Together they will return to their village bearing a symbol of humility and devotion that all will recognize. A woman in a blue sari flashes by and scoops my hair from the gutter into a bucket. Each time her bucket fills, she stands on her tiptoes and empties it into one of the tall vats. By day's end all four will be filled with hair destined for the auction block. Name-dropped in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata, Tirumala is holy ground for 50,000 pilgrims who arrive daily from across South Asia to seek favors from their god. In addition to monetary donations, about one in four offer their hair, which will then be offered to the gods of the marketplace, reaping a reported $10 million to $15 million each year. Including donations, the temple boasts that it takes in more money than the Vatican—a dubious claim. In any case, temple leaders announced a plan last October to plate the walls of the sanctum sanctorum with gold. (Profits from the hair, according to the temple website, are used to support temple programs and feed the needy.) Indian hair is sold to two distinct markets. The bulk of it, some 500 tons per year from short-haired men like me, is purchased by chemical companies that use it to make fertilizer or L-cysteine, an amino acid that gives hair its strength and is used in baked goods and other products. The more lucrative hair of female pilgrims—temple employees call it "black gold"—is tied in individual bundles and brought to the tonsuring center's top floor, where women in cheap flower-print saris labor over small heaps of the stuff, sorting it by length. An armed guard frisks all who exit. There's no way anyone is going to get past him with a single precious strand. Human hair contains all sorts of secretions, including sweat and blood, plus food particles, lice, and the coconut oil many Indians use as a conditioner. Put 21 tons of the stuff in a room blooming with mildew and fungus and the stench is overpowering. One volunteer, her own long hair bound in a tight braid, appears to smile at me, but she's wearing a scrap of cloth over her nose and mouth, so she might be grimacing. It's difficult to imagine that bits of this foul-smelling heap may one day adorn the heads of American pop stars. THE REINCARNATION of temple hair as a beauty accessory started out as a relatively humble affair. Until the early 1960s, the temple simply burned the hair it collected. (Citing pollution, the government banned the practice during the 1990s.) Then wig makers began seeking raw materials at Tirumala. At the temple's first auction, in 1962, the hair sold for 16 rupees a kilo—about $24.50 in today's dollars. Now it fetches up to 10 times as much, and the auctions have become cutthroat affairs. To check it out, I drive a few miles to the bustling town of Tirupati, where the temple's marketing unit operates out of a string of warehouses filled with drying hair. In a large boardroom, Indian traders representing 44 companies are crowded around tables, prepared to drop millions of dollars in a complicated process of backroom negotiations. "The hair business is unlike any other," says Vijay, who owns a hair-exporting house called Shabanesa, and like many South Indians goes by a single name. "In any other business, buying a commodity is easy; it's the selling it to retailers that is difficult. Here it's all reversed. It's simple to sell hair, just difficult to buy it." Tensions are running particularly high today. The temple is pressing for a higher price than last year's, and traders are worried that the global economic meltdown will batter the extensions market. Halfway through the evening India's largest hair reseller—K.K. Gupta, whose Gupta Enterprises did a brisk $49 million in sales in 2008—accuses the temple directors of trying to set an inflated price and walks out. After an hour, which Gupta spends in the parking lot making calls and threatening to go to the papers, the price is set slightly lower. Then another reseller loudly charges that Gupta is trying to corner the market. A muscular bidder has to step in to prevent fisticuffs. Another three hours and it's approaching midnight. The price for the longest and most durable product hovers around $193 per kilo ($70 less than last year, I'm told). Over the next few days trucks will deliver the hair to the distributors, where the alchemy of transforming human waste into a luxury product takes place. SOME EIGHTY-FIVE MILES from the auction site, on an industrial lot on the outskirts of the coastal metropolis of Chennai, George Cherian, chairman of Raj Impex, one of India's largest hair-export houses, awaits his delivery. The hair must be checked for lice, painstakingly untangled, washed in vats of detergent, and combed until it's of export quality. "The real value of what we do is right here, when we grade the hair and transform it from waste into something beautiful," Cherian says. He pulls out a handful of smoothed hair the size of a riding crop, noting that it will fetch $15 on the international market. The bulk of hair sold in India isn't tonsured, he notes—it comes from garbage bins, the floors of barber shops, and the combs of long-haired women. Nomadic families and small businesses go door-to-door bartering hair clips, rubber bands, and trinkets for it. "This work supports tens of thousands of people across India in cottage sorting and collecting industries," Cherian says. "The rule is simple: Remy hair goes to the US, the rest goes to Africa." In a storage room, he shows me 400 kilos of hair packed in boxes and bound for cities throughout the world. His warehouse contains several tons more, ready to ship. "The demand is huge," Cherian says, "but I don't think that anyone outside of India would ever be able to do this. We survive because of the cheap labor. No one in Italy, or California, could prepare the hair for less." California, in fact, is where a good deal of the hair ends up—mostly in places like Oakland's Glamour Beauty Supply, where three rows of human-hair wigs sit on Styrofoam heads behind the counter. China Bullock, a fiery 24-year-old Denny's waitress with bangs the color of cherry soda, is looking at nonremy extensions, which are $21 a pack—a splurge considering that you need two for a proper do. She can't resist asking about remy, but when the shopkeeper points out the price—$120 per pack—Bullock recoils. "It's way cuter," she laments, settling instead for two $12 packs of synthetic hair. Maybe one day, she says, she'll be able to afford the real thing.

– In the US, women and girls sometimes donate their hair to groups that make wigs—think Locks of Love—not because hair is hard to come by but because it is so expensive. But many also buy wigs and extensions made of real human hair—and chances are good that hair comes from countries like India and China, where women sell their long locks out of necessity. It's a dirty business, reports Alex Mayyasi for Priceonomics, both literally and figuratively. In India, for instance, sites like the Venkateswara Temple do quite a business selling hair (though they say they donate the proceeds to charities) because it is customary for pilgrims who visit the temple to have their heads shaved. Most are unaware their hair is sold. The workers who then sort through the discarded locks must contend with blood from the quickly-shaved scalps, lice, and more, and the factories reek. As Scott Carney wrote in his 2010 report for Mother Jones, "Put 21 tons of the stuff in a room blooming with mildew and fungus and the stench is overpowering." Most say hair from India is the best; Mayyasi writes that Indian pilgrims typically haven't performed damaging treatments on their hair, "but its most valuable attribute is that it closely resembles caucasian hair." There's a dark side to the trade, and not just the flow of hair from poor women giving up their long locks for wealthy buyers. There are stories of men beating and holding down women to shave their heads for money. Wigs made of real hair can easily cost thousands of dollars, though synthetic hair—which just doesn't look as natural and can't be styled—continues to improve and is far less expensive, so it may only be a matter of time before the market for the real thing dwindles considerably. (Lady Gaga says she wears wigs to cover up her pain.)

This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern... (Associated Press) This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern India. The discovery of stone tools at the site shows a style that has been associated elsewhere... (Associated Press) This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern India. The discovery of stone tools at the site shows a style that has been associated elsewhere... (Associated Press) This image provided by the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India in January 2018 shows a sample of artifacts from the Middle Palaeolithic era found at the Attirampakkam archaeological site in southern... (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — Just a week after scientists reported evidence that our species left Africa earlier than we thought, another discovery is suggesting the date might be pushed back further. Homo sapiens arose in Africa at least 300,000 years ago and left to colonize the globe. Scientists think there were several dispersals from Africa, not all equally successful. Last week's report of a human jaw showed some members of our species had reached Israel by 177,000 to 194,000 years ago. Now comes a discovery in India of stone tools, showing a style that has been associated elsewhere with our species. They were fashioned from 385,000 years ago to 172,000 years ago, showing evidence of continuity and development over that time. That starting point is a lot earlier than scientists generally think Homo sapiens left Africa. This tool style has also been attributed to Neanderthals and possibly other species. So it's impossible to say whether the tools were made by Homo sapiens or some evolutionary cousin, say researchers who reported the finding Wednesday in the journal Nature . "We are very cautious on this point" because no human fossils were found with the tools, several authors added in a statement. It's not clear how much the tool development reflects arrival of populations or ideas from outside India, versus being more of a local development, said one author, Shanti Pappu of the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education in Chennai, India. The tool-making style was a change from older stone tools found at the site, featuring a shift to smaller flakes, for example. Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist who specializes in human evolution in Asia but didn't participate in the work, said he did not think the tools show that our species had left Africa so long ago. "I simply don't buy it," said Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany. Instead, he said, he believes one of our evolutionary cousins in India developed the tool style independently of outside influence. The tools at the site northwest of Chennai in southeastern India are closely related to the older tool-making style there and seem to represent a transition, he said. The idea that they reflect knowledge brought in from elsewhere would be tough to prove in India, he said. The country has few well-studied archaeological sites and only one fossil find from this period, from a forerunner of Homo sapiens that was associated with the earlier style of tool-making, Petraglia said. ___ Follow Malcolm Ritter at @MalcolmRitter . His recent work can be found here.

– Just a week after scientists reported evidence that our species left Africa earlier than we thought, another discovery is suggesting the date might be pushed back further. Homo sapiens arose in Africa at least 300,000 years ago and left to colonize the globe. Scientists think there were several dispersals from Africa, not all equally successful. Last week's report of a human jaw showed some members of our species had reached Israel by 177,000 to 194,000 years ago. Now comes a discovery in India of stone tools, showing a style that has been associated elsewhere with our species. They were fashioned from 385,000 years ago to 172,000 years ago, showing evidence of continuity and development over that time. That starting point is a lot earlier than scientists generally think Homo sapiens left Africa. This tool style has also been attributed to Neanderthals and possibly other species. So it's impossible to say whether the tools were made by Homo sapiens or some evolutionary cousin, say researchers who reported the finding Wednesday in the journal Nature. "We are very cautious on this point" because no human fossils were found with the tools, several authors added in a statement, per the AP. Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist who specializes in human evolution in Asia but didn't participate in the work, said he did not think the tools show that our species had left Africa so long ago. "I simply don't buy it." Instead, he said, he believes one of our evolutionary cousins in India developed the tool style independently. "It's a whodunit, and we don't have the answer," a paleoanthropologist not involved with the study tells NPR.

Administration officials have not released updated numbers, but there were signs that enrollment numbers have grown since Thursday's milestone was announced. Meanwhile, four in ten of the uninsured are still unaware of the law’s subsidies to help lower-income Americans purchase coverage, and half don’t know about the law’s expansion of Medicaid. Will make health care more affordable/control costs/lower costs 10 “Because it makes health insurance affordable for people without insurance.�? (Photo: Jon Elswick, AP) WASHINGTON — The federal government's health care enrollment website — HealthCare.gov — went down briefly early Monday for extended maintenance as heavy traffic was building on the last day of open enrollment for 2014. At one point, the site told visitors that it was "down for maintenance" and asked people to "please try again later." At other points, visitors were told there was heavy traffic on the system and were asked to remain online in a "virtual waiting room" until they could be connected. (Also on POLITICO: The Obamacare enthusiasm gap) Numerous polls show the law remains controversial and unpopular, and the Republicans have steadily blamed the Affordable Care Act for harming the economy, raising costs, killing jobs and depriving people of access to doctors of their choice. An interview with Vice President Biden encouraging young people to enroll will air Monday on celebrity chef Rachael Ray's talk show. Country/people will be better off generally 7 “It makes health care better for Americans.�? Just over half the public (53 percent) say they’re tired of hearing about the debate over the ACA and want the country to focus more on other issues, while about four in ten (42 percent) say they think it’s important for the country to continue the debate.

– As the clock ticked toward ObamaCare's midnight deadline, a second round of glitches hit HealthCare.gov today, this time blocking new users from applying. The site is now back up and running, Politico reports, but its "virtual waiting room was triggered," and the Obama administration reported that as many as 100,000 users at a time were on the site. HealthCare.gov had earlier gone down for maintenance for several hours beginning around 3am ET, with Health and Human Services officials ascribing the outage to a software bug. More last-minute tidbits: We are a nation of procrastinators: Last night, HHS revealed that the site saw 2 million visits over the weekend, and that the ObamaCare call center fielded 2.5 million calls in the last week—compared to 2.4 million for all of February, reports USA Today. Joe Biden is trying to help: By appealing to America's youth via an appearance on Rachael Ray's show today. Today's deadline isn't truly a deadline: As previously reported, would-be enrollees who begin but don't complete the process by today will be granted an extension. The penalty threat: The Wall Street Journal clarifies the specifics: a $95 fine or 1% of your income, whichever is greater. It estimates a couple with two kids bringing in $100,000 a year would pony up about $800—when paying 2014 taxes, which will happen in 2015. The unaware: The Journal points out a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll that this week determined 60% of uninsured Americans aren't aware of today's deadline.

I sort-of expected the just-released trailer for Joaquin Phoenix’s Crazy Lost Year documentary “I’m Still Here” to clear things up a bit. (Perhaps, this is a good place to mention that Affleck and Phoenix have matching circle tattoos that mean literally “nothing.”) The movie, which opens Sept. 10, marks Affleck’s directorial debut and was filmed during Phoenix’s 2008-2009 press tour for his last film, Two Lovers, a critically acclaimed indie drama co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. But the nature of his talent has never been more apparent than during the last two years when, beginning with his legendary interview with David Letterman, the clean-shaven two-time Oscar nominee committed himself wholly to making every public appearance a painstaking portrait of an emotional breakdown. “Life’s a journey that goes round and round,” the mystic says, “and the end is closest to the beginning.” Shepard Fairey said the new movie convinced him that Phoenix is “definitely a brilliant and troubled mystery.” Whatever that means.

– The enigma that's wrapped in the riddle that is actor Joaquin Phoenix is beginning to unravel ... or maybe not. Film of his apparent months-long nervous breakdown, shot by brother-in-law Casey Affleck, is about to hit theaters, and it's proof that the mysterious personality disorder he displayed was all an enormous practical joke, crows Daily Beast writer Gina Piccalo. A preview of the film I'm Still Here: The Lost World of Joaquin circulating on the Internet is so deadpan that's it's "ridiculous" and further evidence that Joaquin "has been pulling one over on the public," she notes. Still ... the work is "bizarre," admits Piccalo, and everyone connected to the film is still "keeping mum" (except for two female staffers who are suing Affleck for sex harassment). The Baltimore Sun calls the trailer a "whirling dervish of confusion," and the Los Angeles Times is perplexed, and "not entirely sure whether the film is a joke." Like Joaquin, the "entire thing is kind of a blur," the paper adds.

Kimberly Stewart Is Pregnant With Benicio Del Toro's Baby Email This and Kimberly Stewart are the latest pair to get swept up in the Hollywood baby boom. Benicio is the father and is very supportive," his rep confirms to PEOPLE in a statement. Although they are not a couple, they are looking forward to the arrival of the baby." "Kimberly is pregnant.

– Kimberly Stewart has starred as herself in the E! True Hollywood Story episode of "The Hilton Sisters." So it makes total sense that she's carrying the baby of a fellow actor ... Oscar-winner Benicio del Toro. Yes, you read that right. The 31-year-old daughter of Rod Stewart isn't in a relationship with the 44-year-old, but a source tells People del Toro "is supportive and both are very excited." Click for more on who each has been linked to in the past.

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– Be careful if you're a woman at Glasgow's Shimmy Club and find yourself having to use the restroom: It's installed with a two-way mirror, and clubgoers who want a look are charged as much as $1,200 to peep in. After complaints, Scotland's police force launched an investigation into the nightclub, the Drum reports. The club isn't denying anything; it released a statement on Facebook calling the mirror "a bit of fun," "a talking point," and "a unique idea," and pointing out that signs in the bathroom warn patrons about the mirror. But one commenter who responded claimed those signs are "barely noticeable."

But the sexual assault of women can and is often explained away — including the Notre Dame donor who justified his continued support to Henneberger by saying that Seeberg had been sexually aggressive, that "she was all over the boy." The alums who mystify me are those who know the real story, believe it, and are giddy still over a winning season that’s at least in part the result of wrong behavior. Te'o was a sophomore on August 31, 2010, when Lizzy Seeberg, a freshman at St Mary's College, a university across the street from Notre Dame, reported that she was sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player. In December, Melinda Henneberger explained what happened: Yet after Lizzy went to the police, a friend of the player’s sent her a series of texts that frightened her as much as anything that had happened in the player’s dorm room. Lizzy’s aunt, Katie Garvey, who met her husband at ND, has come to believe that even if the facts of these cases were “blasted from every news source in the country, the average Notre Dame fan would still find a way to discount it.” Part of her is actually kind of glad for them, that “they don’t have the burden of knowing,” even if “their resistance to knowing is absolutely remarkable.” In South Bend, naturally, knowing is particularly burdensome: “I’ve watched almost every game this season and there’s not a single time that I don’t feel extreme anger when I see [the accused] on the field,” said Kaliegh Fields, a Saint Mary’s junior who went with Lizzy to the police station.

– Notre Dame is sticking by Manti Te'o, taking him at his word that he was a victim and not a perpetrator of the non-existent girlfriend hoax. The school promises its own investigation into this "cruel game." But where was this outrage, this determination to get to the truth, in the case of Lizzy Seeberg, wonders observers such as Amanda Marcotte at Slate, Irin Carmon at Salon, and Katie Rogers at the Guardian. Seeberg was a Notre Dame freshman who committed suicide after accusing a football player there of sexual assault. She had been warned by another player not to make trouble because "messing with Notre Dame football is a bad idea," according to reporter Melinda Henneberger, who wrote about it in the Washington Post last month. What's more, Henneberger says another girl got raped by a different player but declined to report it after receiving a "hailstorm" of threatening texts from his teammates. No player has been charged, and the school showed little interest in either case, she writes. Ditto for police and the media. "Notre Dame has already scheduled press conferences and hired an outside investigator to deal with the Te’o situation, two things that never happened for Seeberg," writes Marcotte at Slate. "Beautiful, selfless, perfect woman does not exist? Now that's a story. The horrors faced by women trying to find justice for sexual violence? Sorry, ladies, that's just boring old everyday life." Read her full post here.

At the CNN debate in Miami, GOP candidates sparred over immigration, social security, how to talk about Muslims and more. That contrast was not so stark on Thursday, and Kasich consequently did not have a big breakthrough moment. * Ted Cruz: The Texas senator succeeded, at times during the debate, in making it seem as though it was a one-on-one race between him and Trump. Sen. Marco Rubio Marco RubioRubio: 'I have no reaction’ to Bannon hire NFL players visit DC for dialogue on race Insurers brace for ObamaCare upheaval MORE (Fla.) Rubio entered this debate on the ropes. Policy wonks will also have derived some satisfaction from the evening, which featured substantive discussions about a wide range of issues, foreign and domestic, from Social Security and veterans’ affairs to trade agreements and relations with Cuba. Caption The four remaining candidates debated in Miami, five days before the winner-take-all GOP primary in Florida on March 15. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. The question, as always with Trump, is whether he lacks engagement on policy matters at all. MIXED Sen. Ted Cruz Ted CruzCruz, Marla Maples, Tommy Hilfiger all seen at Trump Tower Supreme Court now in Trump’s hands The conservative case against filibuster reform MORE (Texas) Cruz can take satisfaction from the fact that he is clearly the biggest threat to Trump’s quest for the nomination. Cruz at one point highlighted that he was only about 100 delegates behind the front-runner and that he had beaten him in a number of states. Trump shot back immediately: “He’s always saying, ‘I’m the only one that beat Donald in six contests, and I beat him.’ But I beat him in 13 contests. Generally, Cruz turned in what's likely to be Thursday's most effective performance. Marco Rubio – Rubio got off virtually every memorable line of the night, including “I don’t care about being politically correct, I just want to be correct on this issue.” He also embarrassingly exposed Trump’s lack of basic knowledge about foreign policy, especially with respect to Cuba. Cruz delivered a cutting description of Trump’s foreign policy philosophy as, “China bad, Muslims bad.” It was an entirely different approach by Trump’s opponents, and response by the New York billionaire.

– After the escalating pattern of hostilities over the previous 11 GOP debates, the 12th offered what seemed like the strangest spectacle yet: four Republican candidates calmly discussing the issues, with nary a mention of bodily parts or functions. Marco Rubio was widely seen as having turned in the best performance, though the lack of any standout moments from rivals left the relatively subdued Donald Trump in the best position at the end of the night. Here's what commentators are saying about the candidates: Donald Trump. He pursued a strategy common to front-runners: "play not to lose, avoid mistakes or eruptions, and force the opposition to change the dynamic," writes Dan Balz at the Washington Post. He didn't really seem to know what he was talking about most of the time, Balz notes, but that hasn't been a problem for him before. Mark Halperin at Bloomberg also declares Trump—"the luckiest front-runner"—the winner, mainly because the three underdogs largely left him alone and failed to score big moments of their own. Marco Rubio. The Florida senator was "poised, confident, and knowledgeable" on his home turf, writes Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, who credits him for avoiding attacks on Trump and for "performing extremely well when the chips were down," even though it's probably too late to save his campaign. Ted Cruz. This was a good but not good enough performance from Cruz, according to Niall Stanage at the Hill, who considers Trump and Rubio the winners. His debating "was proficient, as it almost always is, but he delivered no moments spectacular enough to derail the Trump train," he writes. Leon Wolf at RedState, however, calls Cruz the winner simply because the debate left him on course to become Trump's sole opponent. Wolf gives Cruz bonus points because "on several occasions, he demonstrated that he knew what he was talking about, and that Donald Trump did not." John Kasich. The Ohio governor had some excellent lines and turned in a competent performance, but not one likely to catapult him to the GOP nomination. Last week, Kasich emerged as "the adult in the room during a childish debate that for all intents and purposes devolved into a middle-school food fight," writes Andrew Tobias at Cleveland.com, but he failed to stand out during Thursday's more well-mannered affair. Click for some of the debate's best lines.

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– At times the losing team is accused of choking. This time ESPN announcer Chris Fowler admits he choked, literally, during yesterday's Pinstripe Bowl, the AP reports. Fowler tweeted that he was choking on a chicken sandwich at halftime when fellow broadcaster Jesse Palmer gave him the Heimlich maneuver. "Never before needed a Heimlich at halftime. (Or any time)!" he posted. "Thanks Jesse Palmer! He saved me from death by dry chicken sandwich. Really." He soon added that it was "not bad to have a quick-thinking, ex-NFL player around" in a time of need.

More Watch this report The clock first made its appearance in the heady days of Apollo, for Apollo 12 in November 1969. When America's next generation of spacecraft blasts off in December, NASA officials hope a new clock will be in place for the countdown. Bruce Hodge, the clockmaster, supervised the removal of the old countdown clock that he's kept running for 40 of its 45 years. Launch Complex 39 -- where the Apollo moon missions and space shuttle flights left the earth -- is being rebuilt for giant new rockets, both public and private. Central Floridians watched the clock through a lot of suspenseful moments and a lot of weather delays. "To keep it going, or parts which we have to make ourselves is just not practical," said George Diller, NASA Public Information Specialist) The numerals are made of old fashioned 40-watt light bulbs similar to the kind once used in refrigerators. The clock has 336 light bulbs. Hodge changed every last one of those bulbs multiple times, "run through the numbers, make sure they all work short of the countdown. Images: Best spots to see KSC rocket launches On a clear day and especially at night, rocket launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center can be seen from hundreds of miles away in the Central Florida area. "Run through the numbers; make sure they all work," he said. Also see: Leon County deputy shot, killed in house fire ambush north of Tallahassee A new clock, looking just like the old one but with fancy graphics and electronics will be in place for next week's big Orion test launch. Workers hauled it away in three sections Monday but the plan is to refurbish it and move it down the road to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where space shuttle Atlantis now lives as a museum piece.

– After London's Big Ben, NASA says its Kennedy Space Center countdown clock was the world's most watched. Not anymore: It was taken down yesterday, WESH reports. The clock, with 336 40-watt light bulbs, has been around since November 1969, when it ticked away the seconds until the launch of Apollo 12, WCSC reports. But all those hundreds of bulbs have to be changed from time to time, and the clock requires checking before "every launch," says the man who has been in charge of the device for all but five of its 45 years. Its motors are kept cool with fans, its electronics have weathered storms, and it was corroded by salty air, MyFox Tampa Bay reports. These days, "to keep it going, or (use) parts which we have to make ourselves, is just not practical," a NASA rep says. Fortunately, the replacement version looks the same as its predecessor, just with modernized electronics. The old clock will make its new home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, WESH notes, while the new one will be ready for an Orion launch next week.

– An animal welfare officer in Oregon is getting attention after her body-worn camera captured her rescuing a baby deer. The Eugene Police Department on Thursday made public a video and photo of Officer Shawni McLaughlin freeing a terrified fawn that got stuck in a backyard fence, the AP reports. In the video, McLaughlin wraps the fawn's head in a towel and lifts it from between two narrow fence posts as she gently talks to the deer. The fawn lies on the ground for a few seconds after being freed, apparently not aware it can walk. McLaughlin pets it before it springs up and runs away. An open sore can be seen on the fawn's left hip.

Splash News Online Pierce Brosnan is returning to work following the death of his daughter , Charlotte, from ovarian cancer.The actor was seen on set Tuesday shooting action scenes in Belgrade, Serbia, for the upcoming film November Man, a spy thriller based on the novels by Bill Granger.According to a press release, the movie follows an ex-CIA operative who is brought back in on a dangerous mission, pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving CIA and Russian officials.Brosnan, 60, reportedly left the set to be with his daughter during her final days. Charlotte, who was 41, passed away in London on June 28."Charlotte fought her cancer with grace and humanity, courage and dignity," Brosnan, who lost his wife and Charlotte's mother to the same disease in 1991, said in a statement. "Our hearts are heavy with the loss of our beautiful dear girl. We pray for her and that the cure for this wretched disease will be close at hand soon," the actor continues. "We thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences."

– A bit of joyful news in the wake of Pierce Brosnan's daughter's death: She quietly married her boyfriend two weeks beforehand. Brosnan walked Charlotte, 42, down the aisle; her daughter Isabella, 15, was a bridesmaid. "It wasn’t a day to be sad," an attendee tells the Sun. "Alex [Smith, the groom] and Pierce were smiling broadly." Pierce Brosnan is already back to work, People reports. He was spotted in Serbia yesterday shooting scenes for spy thriller November Man.

FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA, which plans to merge with MetroPCS, will have to overcome technology hurdles to be able to take on bigger rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp. Signage for a T-Mobile store is pictured in downtown Los Angeles, California in this August 31, 2011, file photo. REUTERS/Fred Prouser/Files MetroPCS and T-Mobile USA, a Deutsche Telekom unit, said on Wednesday they hope to set themselves up as the leading provider of wireless services to cost-conscious U.S. customers by combining their assets. But as their networks are incompatible, they will have to convince MetroPCS customers to move to T-Mobile’s network with the aim of shutting down the MetroPCS network by the end of 2015. And T-Mobile USA has to upgrade its network with high-speed services to catch up to bigger competitors, the companies said. “This all adds up to a hugely complex and challenging migration that will take significant time and investment, and which is a major risk for derailing the benefits of the deal,” said Mike Roberts, principal analyst at research firm Informa. MetroPCS shares, which rose 18 percent on Tuesday on reports that a deal was in the works, fell 9.8 percent to $12.24 as the reality of the challenges took hold. Uncertainty about the deal’s implied valuation for MetroPCS also did not help. One analyst calculated the value as low as $11 per share, while another put it at $19.51. The stock has more than doubled to since mid-July. T-Mobile USA parent Deutsche Telekom has been looking for a Plan B for the No.4 U.S. wireless network since its $39 billion attempt to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T collapsed in late 2011 because of opposition from antitrust regulators. Deutsche Telekom said on Wednesday that it will take a 74 percent stake in the combined company, with the deal structured as a reverse merger in which smaller MetroPCS will buy T-Mobile USA. MetroPCS will declare a 1 for 2 reverse stock split and make a cash payment of $1.5 billion to its shareholders. The deal would allow Deutsche Telekom to maintain a presence in the U.S. market while unloading much of the financial strain of having to invest in T-Mobile USA, which has been losing customers. The public listing will also offer the potential for the new company to raise capital on its own if needed and it will also give Deutsche Telekom a more liquid asset it could sell if it wants to exit the U.S. market. The companies agreed on a broad framework for a deal during the summer and spent the last eight to 10 weeks putting the final agreement together, according to a source familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named due to a lack of authorization to speak to the media. Deutsche Telekom shares closed up 0.1 percent at 1438 GMT on Wednesday, in-line with a 0.2 percent stronger German blue chip index in thin trading due to a public holiday there. NETWORK CHALLENGES The merger marks the long-awaited consolidation in the U.S. market, which is dominated by Verizon and AT&T. Sprint and T-Mobile USA take distant third and fourth places, and also compete with smaller companies, including MetroPCS and Leap Wireless. Analysts say the deal, which awaits regulatory and shareholder approval, might force Sprint to put in a rival bid because it badly needs to grow its user base to continue to compete with Verizon and AT&T. Sprint has declined to comment. Sprint, which has also been struggling to stem customer losses, tried to buy MetroPCS in February, but balked at the deal at the last minute because its board worried about the expense. Sprint has never fully recovered from its 2005 purchase of Nextel, which was plagued by network integration problems and years of customer losses. It is finally planning to shut down Nextel’s network next year. T-Mobile USA Chief Executive John Legere said Sprint’s problems have given him a perfect guide for what not-to-do. “This is not a replay of a debacle that people have seen in the past. We will not smash together two networks with differing technology,” Legere, who will also head the new company, said on a call with analysts. The deal, which requires approval from MetroPCS shareholders and regulators, is expected to close in the first half of 2013. The combined company, which will retain the T-Mobile name, will have 42.5 million subscribers. If MetroPCS were to leave the deal, it would have to pay a $150 million break-up fee. Legere, who took the top job at T-Mobile USA just two weeks ago, expects minimal customer losses during the network migration. If necessary, the company will offer customers financial incentives to move towards the end of 2015, he said. While a stronger T-Mobile USA could pressure bigger providers to offer more competitive prices, Consumer Reports magazine said the elimination of MetroPCS could hurt competition for prepaid wireless services that are used by the country’s most price-sensitive customers. Once Deutsche Telekom’s strongest growth engine, T-Mobile USA has lagged behind competitors in upgrading to high-speed wireless services and has been unable to get a deal with Apple Inc to sell its popular iPhone. REVERSE MERGER The new company will start with $18.6 billion in debt, of which $2.5 billion comes from MetroPCS. Analysts said that this would be a heavy load for the company. T-Mobile USA was already set to spend $4 billion on upgrading its network. It will remain listed in New York, which analysts said would allow Deutsche Telekom to benefit from higher U.S. stock market valuations for what is effectively a T-Mobile USA spin-off. U.S. regulators must still approve the deal, although analysts said they did not expect any major regulatory problems. Braxton Carter, the current chief financial officer of MetroPCS, will become the CFO of the new company. Deutsche Telekom said cost synergies from the combined company would have a net present value of $6 billion to $7 billion and, after 2017 synergies, would be worth $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion annually. It added that it was targeting an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 34 percent to 36 percent for the new company by 2017, compared with T-Mobile USA’s adjusted EBITDA margin of 27.7 percent in the second quarter of this year. Morgan Stanley and Lazard were financial advisers to Deutsche Telekom. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, K&L Gates, and Wiley Rein LLP were legal counsel. J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse advised MetroPCS, while Evercore Partners and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP advised the special committee of the board of directors of MetroPCS.

– Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, has agreed to a merger with the smaller MetroPCS Communications, a move that inches the two struggling competitors closer to industry leaders Verizon and AT&T, reports Reuters. The company will retain the name T-Mobile, and Deutsche will hold 74% of the new business. The new company will now have 42.5 million subscribers—still a far cry from AT&T's 105 million and Verizon's 94 million. It's also trailing the No. 3 in the market, Sprint, which now finds itself in a tough position, reports Bloomberg. Sprint's CEO has said that the company was looking to take part in "industry consolidation," but with the new merger, there isn't much left for Sprint to gobble up. The move "pushes them into a corner," says one analyst. “You can’t be an orphan in this industry. You’ve got to try and save a place at the table, and there’s going to be some movement here.”

President Barack Obama has decided not to release photographs of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's body, the White House said Wednesday. The announcement came after a senior administration official told NBC News of the decision not to release post-mortem photos and Obama revealed the decision during an interview Wednesday with CBS' "60 Minutes." The White House had been weighing the release of a photo, in part to offer proof that bin Laden was killed during a raid on his compound early Monday. However, officials had cautioned that the photo was gruesome and could prove inflammatory. "It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told CBS News, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney. "We don't need to spike the football. And I think that, given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk," the president said, according to Carney's account. Asked about his response to some people in Pakistan saying the United States was lying about having killed bin Laden, Obama said: "The truth is that we were monitoring worldwide reaction. There is no doubt that bin Laden is dead. "Certainly there is no doubt among al-Qaida members that he is dead. And so we don't think that a photograph in and of itself will make a difference. There are going to be folks who will deny it." Carney said there would not be images released of bin Laden's burial at sea, either. The president decided against making the images public after a spirited debate within government over the potential impact of their release. Ever since word of bin Laden's death broke, the administration has tried to strike a balance between celebrating the success of the dramatic covert operation without unnecessarily offending sensitivities in the Muslim world. Officials stressed that Muslim traditions were followed before bin Laden's body was buried at sea, for example. There was support for releasing the photos from both ends of the spectrum: Some family members of those who died in the 9-11 terror attacks thought it important to document bin Laden's death, as did some skeptics in the Arab world who doubted his demise in the absence of convincing evidence. But the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, said in advance of Obama's decision that he was concerned that the photographic images could be seen as a "trophy" that would inflame U.S. critics and makes it harder for members of the American military deployed overseas to do their job. "Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway," Rogers told CBS News, "and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East." Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said "there is no end served by releasing a picture of someone who has been killed. I think there is absolute proof that Osama bin Laden was in fact the person that was taken into custody... killed in the firefight." Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that not releasing the photos is "a mistake" and will only prolong the debate over whether bin Laden is dead. "The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden's death," Graham said. "I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., backed Obama's decision, NBC News reported. "I agree with President Obama that if there's a choice between protecting the security of our military and intelligence personnel and disproving conspiracy theories, it's an easy call," Reid said in a prepared statement. "The evidence collected leaves no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead." The photos have been described by several sources as gruesome. One shows part of the skull blown off, those sources say. A U.S. official said one consideration is that the photo also shows exposed brain matter. Sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the photo is still part of a classified investigation. The president made his decision as the Navy SEALS involved in the daring raid in Pakistan arrived in the U.S. for debriefing, and U.S. officials began to comb through the intelligence trove of computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that the commandos hauled out of the terrorist's hideaway. Bin Laden had about 500 euros sewn into his clothes when he was killed and had phone numbers on him when he was killed, U.S. officials said, a possible indication that bin Laden was ready to flee the compound on short notice. The decision comes a day after CIA director Leon Panetta said that a photo proving the death of bin Laden "would be presented to the public," but the comment quickly drew a response from the White House saying no decision has yet been made. "The bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him," Panetta said in an interview with Nightly News. Panetta said the photos leave no question that bin Laden was killed. "Obviously I've seen those photographs," he said. "We've analyzed them and there's no question that it's bin Laden." In July 2003, the U.S. took heat but also quieted most conspiracy theorists by releasing graphic photos of the corpses of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's two powerful sons to prove American forces had killed them. So far, the U.S. has cited evidence that satisfied the Navy SEAL force, and at least most of the world, that they had the right man in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The helicopter-borne raiding squad that swarmed the luxury compound identified bin Laden by appearance. A woman in the compound who was identified as his wife was said to have called out bin Laden's name in the melee. Officials produced a quick DNA match from his remains that they said established bin Laden's identity, even absent the other techniques, with 99.9 percent certainty. U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through photo comparisons and other methods.

– President Obama has decided not to release grisly photos of Osama bin Laden's body. Obama himself tells Steve Kroft of his decision in a 60 Minutes interview to air Sunday, reports CBS News. Excerpts will be out later today. The decision—NBC reported it earlier today—comes after CIA chief Leon Panetta suggested an image would be out soon. But the White House apparently decided that the potential backlash would outweigh the benefits of offering definitive proof of the killing. Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates had argued against the release.

President Trump said earlier this month that he would make Kim Jong Un "truly regret" harming the United States or its allies. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) President Trump said that “all options are on the table” following North Korea’s latest missile launch early Tuesday, this one fired over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean in the most brazen provocation of Kim Jong Un's five-year-long rule. “The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: This regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior,” Trump said Tuesday morning in a statement. “Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.” [North Korea’s latest launch designed to cause maximum mayhem, minimal blowback] Despite the grave warning, Trump’s statement was notably measured in contrast to his response to previous tests of ballistic missile launches by North Korea. After a recent spate, he promised “fire and fury” if the isolated nation continued to provoke the United States. During his stay at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club on Aug. 8, President Trump said North Korea "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" if they continue making nuclear "threats." (Reuters) Trump also said earlier this month that he would make Kim “truly regret” harming the United States or its allies. As he walked from the White House to Marine One, en route to survey hurricane damage in Texas, Trump paused briefly to answer a reporter’s question about what he plans to do about North Korea. “We’ll see, we’ll see,” he said. Trump's statement came more than 12 hours after White House aides had signaled a statement by the president was in the works. The Japanese prime minister’s office said Shinzo Abe and Trump talked by phone for 40 minutes after the launch, agreeing that they should increase pressure on North Korea. The missile appears to have been a Hwasong-12, the inter­mediate-range ballistic missile technically capable of flying 3,000 miles that North Korea has been threatening to launch toward the U.S. territory of Guam.But North Korea launched Tuesday’s missile to the east, over Hokkaido and into the Pacific rather than on a southward path toward Guam, apparently to test its flight on a normal trajectory without crossing a “red line” of aiming at the United States. North Korea fired a missile on Aug. 29 that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean. (Reuters) Still, this launch, coming after North Korea last month launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, underscore both Kim's defiance of the international community and his determination to press ahead with his missile program. Kim has now ordered the launch of 18 missiles this year alone, compared with the 16 missiles his father, Kim Jong Il, fired during 17 years in power. The U.N. Security Council confirmed that it would hold an emergency meeting in New York on Tuesday to discuss the latest provocation. Missile launches and nuclear tests are banned by the U.N. Security Council, but North Korea has paid no attention to its resolutions. Kim’s government had been threatening to fire a missile to land near Guam, which is home to two huge U.S. military bases, by the middle of this month. However, Kim later said that after reviewing the plans, he would “watch the Yankees a little longer” before making a decision about whether to launch. After the Guam threat, Trump warned North Korea that “things will happen to them like they never thought possible” should the isolated country attack the United States or its allies. With no missile launches during the first three weeks of August, the Trump administration had suggested that its tough talk was working. At a campaign-style rally in Phoenix last week, Trump alluded to his earlier rhetoric on North Korea, telling a boisterous crowd that Kim was “starting to respect” the United States. “I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us,” Trump said at the rally. “I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a similar argument at the time, saying that he was pleased “to see that the regime in Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we've not seen in the past.” Those comments came before North Korea's firing of three short-range missiles Friday. Asked during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” if he still stood by his and Trump’s assessments, Tillerson said, “I don’t know that we’re wrong. I think it's going to take some time to tell." Fifield reported from Tokyo.

– North Korea's provocative new missile launch has prompted an early morning warning from President Trump in which he says that "all options are on the table." Trump doesn't offer specifics but chastises Pyongyang for launching a ballistic missile that flew over Japan. "The world has received North Korea’s latest message loud and clear: this regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior," said the presidential statement, per the Washington Post. In its coverage for the North's test launch, the New York Times characterized Pyongyang's move as a "direct challenge" to Trump, who said last week that the North was "starting to respect us" after Trump began talking tough. Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday night, and afterward Abe told reporters that Japan and the US were "completely matched" in their stances and would discuss ways to increase international pressure on the North. Pyongyang has twice before fired missiles over Japan, in 1998 and in 2009, but it said afterward that those missiles were carrying satellites. The AP reports that the latest launch involved a midrange ballistic missile, which is "unambiguously" for military purposes, unlike the two earlier missile launches.

The flight on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016 flew from Sea-Tac Airport to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. (Photo: KOMO News) SEA-TAC AIRPORT, Wash - Alaska Airlines made history on Monday with the first commercial flight that used renewable, alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals. The biofuel remains much more expensive than regular jet fuel derived from oil. An Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Washington, D.C., on Monday morning was powered with a jet-fuel blend containing 20 percent renewable biofuel made from Pacific Northwest forest residuals — the limbs and branches that remain after the harvesting of managed forests. "[It is] the first commercial airline flight to be powered by certified, sustainable, bio-jet fuel, produced from wood and other wood materials that are the result of timber harvesting on managed forest lands," said NARA executive director Ralph Cavaleri Cavalier, who is also the Vice President for Research at WSU. The airline said that replacing 20 percent of its entire fuel supply at Sea-Tac Airport with the same fuel would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 142,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

– On Monday, an Alaska Airlines jet flew into the history books as the first commercial flight to use a "renewable, alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals," as KOMO News puts it. In other words: Tree limbs and branches, the byproducts of the timber harvest that typically would have been burned as waste, made up some of the fuel that powered the Boeing 737 along its journey from Seattle's Sea-Tac Airport to Washington DC's Reagan National. "The jet fuel itself is 20% blend of petroleum and renewables," says a representative of biofuel company Gevo, which was involved in the project. "This is the future of being able to reduce our greenhouse gas footprint." The project, which used wood from local tribal lands and private forest operations, began five years ago. Washington State University and the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance worked on it with a $40 million federal grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The jet fuel containing wood products is rated as equivalent to regular jet fuel, the Seattle Times reports. If all of Alaska Airlines' planes at Sea-Tac saw 20% of their fuel replaced with the biofuel, it would reduce carbon emissions equal to those produced by 30,000 cars per year, but more funding is needed before the fuel can be used regularly because it's currently more expensive than jet fuel.

Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press) Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, right, listens to unidentified official after voting at a polling station in Baku, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Ilham Aliyev, who has run the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic since he succeeded his father 10 years ago, is standing for a third term. But one of the main election observers, the OSCE, has been critical of the election environment from the start, saying there has been little substantive debate, unjustified restriction of freedom of speech and imbalanced media coverage. Azerbaijan election: the pre-determined president Protests against the government have been stifled Continue reading the main story Related Stories Azerbaijan elects a president on Wednesday in what human rights organisations say is a stifling atmosphere of intimidation. Azerbaijan’s president won a third five-year term by... (Associated Press) On Tuesday, a day before the voting began, the smartphone app of the Central Election Commission released results showing President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has been at the helm of the Caspian Sea nation for four decades, winning 73 percent of the vote. The opposition, however, argues that the candidacy is invalid because the constitution was changed after Mr Aliyev was sworn in as president in his second term. The commission apologized for the early result, saying Thursday it had been only a test at one polling station conducted by the software developer. As of this writing, Azerbaijan's election authorities say they've counted 80 percent of the ballots, with Aliyev winning just under 85 percent of the vote so far.

– Voting for the next president of Azerbaijan wasn't supposed to start until yesterday—but the day before, results were already amazingly posted on a Central Election Commission smartphone app. The app said incumbent president Ilham Aliyev was winning with 73% of the vote, continuing his family's decades-long reign (the Washington Post has a screenshot). The early results were quickly removed, and when actual voting commenced, the commission said Aliyev had managed 85% of the vote, compared to the runner-up's 6%. The election was never actually expected to be free or fair, the Post notes. Today, the commission apologized for the advance result, claiming it was spurred by software testing. But runner-up Jamil Hasanli wasn't satisfied. "This election doesn't reflect the people's will," he said. Outside observers cited a deeply flawed voting process, including "limitations on the freedoms of expression, assembly, and association that didn't guarantee a level playing field for candidates," the AP reports. Political activists in the country have been falsely imprisoned, says Human Rights Watch; and an analyst says fake candidates ganged up on Hasanli during debates, the BBC reports. Officials fear "post-election disorder," monitors say, following anti-corruption riots earlier this year.

(CNN) -- An electrical fire on board a Boeing Dreamliner caused the plane to lose primary electrical power during a test flight Tuesday, the company said. The crew relied upon backup systems to land the aircraft. "The pilots executed a safe landing and at all times had positive control of the airplane and all of the information necessary to perform that safe landing," Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said Wednesday. Boeing is analyzing flight data from the plane, a process it says will take several days, to determine the exact cause of the fire. The company's initial inspection of the aircraft indicated damage to a power control panel in the rear of the aircraft. Boeing employees were conducting a test of a system designed to prevent fires when smoke began filling the back of the cabin of the next-generation 787 Dreamliner, according to the company. The crew was testing a "nitrogen generation system," which separates nitrogen from ambient air and pumps it into fuel tanks as jet fuel is burned during a flight, Boeing said. The system is designed to prevent oxygen from filling the empty space and potentially igniting the fuel. There is no indication, however, that Tuesday's fire was caused by the nitrogen generation system, according to Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx. Boeing is grounding its entire fleet of test Dreamliners pending results of its analysis of hundreds of different data measurements to determine the cause of the fire. The Dreamliner departed from Yuma, Arizona. After about six hours of flight, smoke entered the cabin as the plane was on approach to Laredo, Texas. "It's something that needs to be taken very seriously," said Proulx. "We need to know what happened before we can determine the likelihood of its repeatability." The 42 people aboard evacuated using the plane's emergency slides, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said. One person was injured during the evacuation. "We are continuing to gather data regarding this event," Gunter said in a statement. "It's too early to tell what may have gone wrong." The plane is the second of six test Dreamliners, having undergone 179 flights and 558 hours of flight, according to Boeing data posted on its website. The company does not intend to sell the test plane to any airline customers. Boeing says it still intends to deliver the first 787-08 Dreamliner to ANA Airlines in the middle of the first quarter of next year. ANA has 55 Dreamliners on order, which Boeing plans to deliver over the course of several years. The Dreamliner is Boeing's new passenger jet, touted as a highly fuel-efficient aircraft made largely with composite materials. It made its maiden flight in December 2009 after two years of delays, but the head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division told CNN in July that the Dreamliner could still make its debut in early 2011. The company has nearly 900 orders for the jet around the world. Aviation experts say Boeing's testing problems are not indicative of the Dreamliner's ultimate safety. "If I were a prospective passenger in a 787 I wouldn't be concerned," said Snorri Gudmundsson, assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "All these bugs will be weeded out." "Boeing is quite thorough, not just because of requirements from the FAA but because of Boeing's position in the industry," added Todd Curtis, a former Boeing electrical engineer. CNN's Frances Causey and Jason Kessler contributed to this report.

– Is the Boeing 787 cursed? Boeing today announced that it will ground its entire test fleet of the long-delayed Dreamliner, after a fire forced one to make an emergency landing yesterday. The plane was making its final approach to Laredo, Texas, when the crew reported smoke in the cabin, possibly from the rear electronics bay, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 42-member crew wound up evacuating via the jet’s emergency slides, as ground crews rushed in to extinguish the flames. “Until we understand the event, we’re not going to schedule any new flights,” a Boeing spokeswoman told CNN. The problem may have been with the electronics, or it might have involved its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, which have encountered a series of problems both in test flights, and in Rolls-Royce’s testing facilities. (Rolls-Royce has been having a tough couple of days; click here for more.)

FILE - This May 13, 2013 file photo shows O.J. Simpson during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. Simpson's lawyers submitted a supersized appeal May 21, 2014, asking the... (Associated Press) FILE - This May 13, 2013 file photo shows O.J. Simpson's lawyers submitted a supersized appeal May 21, 2014, asking the... (Associated Press) LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson's lawyers submitted a supersized appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, seeking the former football star's release from prison and a new trial in his 2007 Las Vegas armed-robbery case. The lawyers met a midnight Wednesday deadline to submit a request for the court to review Simpson's claim that 2008 trial in Las Vegas was tainted by his fame and notoriety following his 1995 acquittal in Los Angeles in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. However, the document totaled 19,993 words, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said Thursday. That was some 43 percent longer than the 14,000-word limit the court had set. It will be up to the seven justices to decide whether to accept it for filing and consideration. Until that time, the document hasn't been made public. The court hasn't decided whether to hear oral arguments. Simpson, 66, is serving nine to 33 years in a northern Nevada prison after being found guilty of leading a group of armed men in a September 2007 confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel. He was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. He's not eligible for parole until late 2017. The appeal stems from arguments rejected last year by Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell that Simpson's trial attorney botched Simpson's trial and first appeal to the state Supreme Court, the only appeals court in Nevada. Simpson attorney Patricia Palm said the appeal ran long because she and attorneys Ozzie Fumo and Tom Pitaro were responding in detail to the judge's Nov. 26 ruling, which totaled 101 pages. Palm said the state high court routinely accepts oversized filings in complex cases. She also submitted 36 appendices to the appeal brief. Bell's ruling came after she held five days of hearings in Las Vegas on a 94-page petition that Palm filed in May 2012 seeking a new trial on 22 possible grounds. The judge said she reviewed the entire Simpson court record and determined that evidence was overwhelming that Simpson orchestrated the armed kidnapping and robbery, and that Simpson's current attorneys failed to demonstrate how his former lawyer's actions changed the outcome of the case. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he was confident that Bell's ruling would be upheld. Wolfson's wife, former Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass, presided over Simpson's 2008 trial and sentencing. Simpson claimed he was trying to retrieve from the memorabilia dealers items that had been stolen from him after his Los Angeles trial and a 1997 civil court a wrongful-death judgment that put him on the hook for $33.5 million to the estates of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. The NFL hall of famer testified last year that he thought he had a right to get his own belongings back, and he never knew any of the men with him were carrying guns. ___ Find Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr

– OJ Simpson is seeking a new trial, arguing that the notoriety from his 1995 murder acquittal tainted his 2008 trial for a robbery in Las Vegas. His lawyers have filed an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court, but it runs a mammoth 19,993 words and has more than 30 appendices; the AP points out that's 43% longer than the court's established word limit. It's not clear whether it will be accepted, though the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the court has made such exceptions in the past. Simpson is serving nine to 33 years at the Lovelock Correctional Center in northern Nevada for his part in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers, but he argues that he was simply recovering his own property. He will not be eligible for parole until late 2017. The state's board of parole commissioners says Inmate #1027820 has had a "positive record," reports the Review-Journal. (He was, however, told off for stealing cookies last fall.)

Abrams made the comments in a Friday... (Associated Press) ATLANTA (AP) — Democrat Stacey Abrams ended 10 days of post-election drama in Georgia's closely watched and even more closely contested race for governor Friday, acknowledging Republican Brian Kemp as the victor while defiantly refusing to concede to the man she blamed for "gross mismanagement" of a bitterly fought election. “I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election, but to watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling,” Abrams said. Kemp declared himself governor-elect the next day and stepped down as Georgia's secretary of state, though thousands of absentee and provisional ballots remained uncounted. But Abrams also criticized Kemp's handling of the election as secretary of state and said her speech was not a normal concession of a fair election to an opponent. But my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy.” Abrams’ speech, her first public remarks since election night, came during a news conference called with less than two hours’ notice. Instead, she announced that she was bowing out of the race knowing that the interim Secretary of State was poised to certify election results declaring Republican Brian Kemp the winner. Since the Nov. 6 election, Abrams and her campaign argued that Kemp, through negligence or indirect moves as secretary of state, worked to suppress the vote for Abrams throughout the state. Putting her campaign to rest, Abrams said she would continue to speak out about how Kemp carried out the election and push for changes. She accused Kemp of using the secretary of state's office to aggressively purge the rolls of inactive voters, enforce an "exact match" policy for checking voters' identities that left thousands of registrations in limbo and other measures to tile the outcome in his favor. “The campaign is over and Kemp’s focus is on building a safer, stronger future for Georgia families. Kemp also built his reputation as secretary of state on being a voter-fraud hardliner. Since Election Day her campaign fought on, insisting efforts to suppress turnout had left thousands of ballots uncounted that otherwise could erode Kemp's lead and force a runoff election. Stacey Abrams fought brilliantly and hard - she will have a terrific political future!

– It's over in Georgia: Stacey Abrams called a press conference Friday to acknowledge that Republican Brian Kemp will be the state's next governor, reports Politico. But Abrams made clear that she thinks Kemp, who oversaw the election as secretary of state, is guilty of foul play. "To watch an elected official who claims to represent the people in this state baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right to vote has been truly appalling,” Abrams said, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “So, let’s be clear," she said. "This is not a speech of concession. Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy.” Abrams, who had been vying to become the nation's first black female governor, accused Kemp of "gross mismanagement" of the election, per the AP. Still, she said she would pray for his success. Kemp, for his part, praised his opponent's "passion, hard work, and commitment to public service."

In November, the Brookhaven Police Department launched a criminal investigation into 89-year-old James Dempsey’s death after an 11Alive Investigation uncovered hidden camera video and court depositions of nursing home staff who responded to the World War II veteran. ►OTHER INVESTIGATIONS: The Hunt: Atlanta's Hidden Serial Killers ►AND: The Dumping Grounds: A trail of bodies hidden in plain sight State health inspection records show Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation continued to have a history of problems after Dempsey's death. Footage showed nurses apparently ignoring his cries for help, then laughing as Dempsey continued to die. Footage later showed apparent laughter in the room. Submit PHOTOS: How a senior care facility failed Mr. Dempsey (story continues below) PHOTOS: How a senior care facility failed Mr. Dempsey Wanda Nuckles of Buford, also a former nurse, is charged with depriving an elder person of essential Services, while Mable Turman, a certified nurse assistant from College Park, is charged with neglect to an elder person. This is why one is charged with murder In the video deposition, Nuckles originally told Dempsey family attorney Mike Prieto that she rushed to Dempsey's room when a nurse told her that he had stopped breathing. Submit Prieto: “From the time you came in, you took over doing chest compressions…correct?” Nuckles : “Yes.” Prieto: “Until the time paramedics arrive, you were giving CPR continuously?” Nuckles : “Yes.” The video, however, shows no one doing CPR when Nuckles entered the room. ►OTHER INVESTIGATIONS: Drug Whisperer: Drivers arrested while stone cold sober In the video, nursing staff repeatedly start and stop doing CPR on Dempsey. “Sir, that was an honest mistake,” said Nuckles in the deposition. “I was just basing everything on what I normally do.” The video shows the veteran calling for help six times before he goes unconscious while gasping for air. “I can’t even remember all that, as you can see.” Dempsey’s family reached a settlement with the nursing home.

– Nurses fired after a video appeared to show them ignoring a World War II veteran's calls for help before his death at a Georgia nursing home are now facing criminal charges, including a murder charge in one case. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted former licensed nurse Loyce Pickquet Agyeman on charges of felony murder, neglect to an elder person, and concealing a death following a police investigation triggered by 11Alive's airing of hidden camera footage from inside Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation. It showed Agyeman, former licensed nurse Wanda Nuckles, and nursing assistant Mable Turman inside the room of 89-year-old James Dempsey, who fell unconscious and ultimately died on Feb 27, 2014, after repeatedly calling for help while struggling to breathe. The footage—from a camera set up by family members who reached a settlement with the nursing home, per Law & Crime—showed staff laughing as they tried to start an oxygen machine. It also conflicted with a video deposition in which Nuckles claimed she'd given Dempsey CPR continuously until paramedics arrived. Staff didn't call 911 for almost an hour, 11Alive previously reported. Also indicted Tuesday, Nuckles is charged with depriving an elder person of essential services and concealing a death, while Turman—who remains certified—is charged with neglect and concealing a death. Arrest warrants for all three have been issued, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, though it's not clear if they are yet in custody. A trial date is pending.

Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Unite the Right rally, has been indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury on a felony perjury charge. According to court records, the charge stems from a sworn statement he made in January. Court records show that he gave a statement to a magistrate claiming that he was assaulted by James Taylor on the Downtown Mall on Jan. 22 while trying to gather signatures for his petition to get Wes Bellamy removed from the Charlottesville City Council. Taylor said when he refused to sign the petition, Kessler punched him and Kessler was charged with assault. On Jan. 23, Kessler swore out an assault complaint against Taylor, writing that Taylor "grabbed the petition and my arm, violently shaking to separate the two." Kessler claimed Taylor screamed an obscenity while "making contact with his face to mine." However, prosecutors said video of the altercation showed Kessler's version of the story wasn't true. The assault charge against Taylor was dismissed and Kessler pleaded guilty to an assault charge in April. He was sentenced to 50 hours of community service. The perjury charge is a class 5 felony and carries a possible sentence of one to ten years in prison and up to a $2,500 fine. The indictment was handed up in Albemarle County because the statement was made at the magistrate's office located in the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, which is in the county. Legal analyst Scott Goodman says perjury charges are rare. "It's very hard to prove perjury," he said. "Nowadays, the only cases that can hold up in court and prove perjury is where there is video evidence." And he pointed out that a felony conviction is punished by more than just prison time or a fine. It strips voting and other rights. "It [would take] away his right to own a firearm and that is something that most people these days don't want to lose, the right to be able to bear arms," said Goodman. Neither Kessler nor Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Tracci responded to a request for comment.

– The organizer of August's deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville has been indicted on a felony perjury charge stemming from a January incident that previously landed him with an assault conviction. In a sworn statement on Jan. 23, Jason Kessler told a magistrate he was assaulted by Charlottesville resident James Taylor on the city's Downtown Mall while collecting signatures for a petition to oust a city councillor, according to court records. Kessler said Taylor "grabbed the petition and my arm, violently shaking to separate the two" and screamed an obscenity while "making contact with his face to mine," reports CBS19. Kessler added he "punched the attacker in self-defense," per the Daily Progress. However, prosecutors later said a video proved Kessler was lying; Taylor said at the time that "I was literally holding a cup of coffee." Kessler pleaded guilty to assault, received a 30-day suspended sentence, and was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, while the complaint against Taylor was dismissed. "I'll admit that what I did was not legal," Kessler said in April, per the Daily Progress. "I was having a bad day. I've never done anything like this before and it will never happen again." Still, an Albemarle County grand jury issued an indictment for Kessler on Monday and an arrest warrant was issued by 3pm Tuesday. It's not clear if Kessler is in custody. Meanwhile in Charlottesville, the city council voted unanimously Monday to rename a section of 4th Street as Heather Heyer Way in honor of the counterprotester who was killed by a driver at the Unite the Right rally, reports WHSV.

***UPDATE: Politico has suspended Williams. Full report here. Politico, the unofficial web-branch of MSNBC, and whose staff spends more time on MSNBC than Chris Matthews, has a so-called reporter named Joseph Williams who all but called Mitt Romney a racist on Martin Bashir’s show today. Williams says declaratively that Romney is only comfortable around white people. But if you think the video clip is disgraceful, wait till you see Mr. Williams’ greatest tweets collection assembled below. “Dick” jokes about Ann Romney. Really. — — The full clip is actually worse. Williams just isn’t any Politico reporter, by the way, he’s their White House Correspondent, but one who regularly shills for Obama on Twitter — furthering the Obama campaign’s talking points on race and Romney’s wealth. Oh, and he also makes penis jokes about Ann Romney. Picture of a Politico White House Correspondent in action…when he thinks no one is watching: – And naturally, NASCAR is racist, donchaknow: – This is our MSM. This is Politico. This is why God created Andrew Breitbart. Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC

– Politico has suspended White House correspondent Joe Williams following his implication that Mitt Romney is only at ease among "white folks." Williams told Martin Bashir on MSNBC yesterday that Romney is "very, very comfortable ... with people who are like him," Thus he can be "awkward" in town hall meetings, but "when he comes on Fox and Friends, they're like him, they're white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company." Daily Intel points out that a Romney penis joke Williams made on Twitter only added fuel to the fire. And so Politico responded. Williams' comments "fell short of our standards for fairness and judgment in an especially unfortunate way," Politico bosses wrote in a staff memo. "An unacceptable number of Joe Williams' public statements on cable and Twitter have called into question his commitment to this responsibility," they noted. "Following discussion of this matter with editors, Joe has been suspended while we review the matter."

Vice President Pence on Wednesday rejected claims from Democrats that FBI Director James Comey was fired to stop the bureau's investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. "That's not what this was about," Pence told reporters at the Capitol. "The president's decision to accept the recommendation of the deputy attorney general and the attorney general to remove Director Comey as the head of the FBI was based solely and exclusively on his commitment to the best interest of the American people," he said, responding to a question from NBC's Kristen Welker. ADVERTISEMENT Pence praised President Trump and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom Pence called "a man of extraordinary independence and integrity." Trump "made the right decision at the right time," Pence said. "Director Comey had lost the confidence of the American people," he added. "I personally am very grateful that we have a president willing to show the kind of strong and decisive leadership" necessary to fire him." Trump fired Comey Tuesday evening in a letter that thanked Comey for "informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation." Trump said the firing was necessary to "find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission."

– Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday that President Trump's firing of James Comey had nothing to do with the fact that the former FBI director was in charge of the bureau's investigation into whether Trump's campaign team colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election, CNN reports. "As has been stated repeatedly and the president has been told, he's not under investigation," Pence said in response to a question from NBC News' Kristen Welker. "There is no evidence of collusion between our campaign and any Russian officials." He didn't elaborate on the actual reasons for Comey's firing, but did say Trump was simply looking out for "the best interest of the American people," the Hill reports. (Mitch McConnell says there will be no special prosecutor appointed to investigate Russian tampering.)

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: She was the first woman to serve as dean of Harvard law school and the first woman solicitor general , the government 's lawyer at the Supreme Court . If President Obama has his way, she'll be just the fourth woman in US history to take a seat on the Supreme Court . She is Elena Kagan . She's from New York , and while she's never been a judge, she has that in common with a host of justices on the court throughout history. Today the president praised her legal mind. Now we wait and see how tough a fight this will be. We begin our coverage here tonight with our justice correspondent Pete Williams at the Supreme Court . Pete , good evening. PETE WILLIAMS reporting: Brian, the president today called her a woman of many firsts, but one thing she's never been is a judge. That lack of experience is already becoming an issue, even though roughly one-third of all Supreme Court justices were never judges when they got here, either. Mr. Obama called Elena Kagan , the second Supreme Court nominee of his presidency, someone who can bring people together. President BARACK OBAMA: Elena is respected and admired not just for her intellect and record of achievement, but also for her temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints. P. WILLIAMS: She's the child of a New York housing rights lawyer father and a public school teacher mother. Ms. ELENA KAGAN: My parents' lives and their memory remind me every day of the impact public service can have. And I pray every day that I live up to the example they set. P. WILLIAMS: Judging from her high school yearbook, she had early aspirations to wield a gavel. Classmates say she was a standout in a school of overachievers. Ms. JUSTENE ADAMEC (Former Classmate): She would speak up and talk to the teachers as if she was much older. She knew far more history and far more of the news events that the rest of us had not started paying attention to. P. WILLIAMS: After Princeton and Harvard law school , she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall , who called her "Shortie." For most of the 1990s she taught law at the University of Chicago , where she met a young Barack Obama , a part-time faculty member. She served President Clinton as a lawyer and policy adviser and later became the first woman dean of Harvard law . She diversified the faculty, hiring prominent conservatives. But her tenure included controversy; she enforced a long-standing anti-discrimination policy there, blocking military recruiters from the law school because of the Pentagon 's ban on gays in the military . Last year President Obama appointed her solicitor general , responsible for arguing the government 's position before the Supreme Court . Ms. KAGAN: Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court , I have three very quick points to make about the government 's position. P. WILLIAMS: Some Republicans say her lack of experience as a judge clouds her nomination . Senator MITCH McCONNELL (Minority Leader): The lifetime position on the Supreme Court does not lend itself to on-the-job training. P. WILLIAMS: But some Senate Democrats consider her background a plus. Senator PATRICK LEAHY (Democrat, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair): I worry when you're in a judicial monastery that you don't have the kind of real world experience you might have otherwise. So I -- and she brings a breadth of experience . P. WILLIAMS: And a Supreme Court expert says her lack of experience as a judge leaves a scant paper trail . Mr. TOM GOLDSTEIN (Supreme Court Expert): No track record when it comes to abortion, affirmative action , religion, a lot of the hot button social issues that could give rise to a huge nomination fight. P. WILLIAMS: A few other points about her: accomplished poker player, opera lover, and, given that nickname that Justice Marshall gave to her, she's five foot 3", Brian.

– President Obama plans to nominate Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court to replace John Paul Stevens tomorrow, MSNBC reports and numerous other sources comfirm. Should Kagan, 50, be confirmed, the high court would have three female justices for the first time. Her nomination marks the first time in 38 years that a Supreme Court nominee was not a sitting judge, notes the Washington Post. Kagan, the first female solicitor general, was confirmed to that post last year by a 61-31 vote, but the path to the high court is likely to be considerably rockier.

Austrian businessman Richard Lugner has made a tradition of paying starlets big bucks to accompany him to Vienna’s annual Opera Ball. This year, RadarOnline.com has learned that he paid Kim Kardashian $500,000 to be his date. But he’s not getting his money’s worth! Just hours after Kardashian’s arrival with mom Kris Jenner and baby North West, Lugner spoke out to local media to complain about how Kardashian had stood him up to film scenes for Keeping Up with the Kardashians! “Kim is annoying me,” Lugner told reporters. “Because she’s not sticking to the program.” Only hours after her arrival, Lugner claimed, the reality star stood him up to go to a Schnitzel restaurant with her mom Jenner, and film scenes for her reality show. PHOTOS: Kardashian’s Frozen Face Takes In The Sights In Vienna “She’s filming and so she doesn’t want to have me around,” he said. The 81-year-old angrily insisted, “The guest should be with me and not anywhere else that is not agreed upon.” And even when it comes to scheduled appearances, Kardashian has made it clear she won’t follow his schedule. Though Lugner had told press he would dance with her at 11:45 p.m. during the ball, Kardashian said in a press conference that she’d have mom Jenner take her place, explaining, “I’d rather watch the dancing.” PHOTOS: Like Mother, Like Daughter: Kim Kardashian & Kris Jenner Have A White Party For Two In NY Kardashian was set to attend the ball Thursday night, and Lugner revealed he had already taken special measures to make sure he was ready for the spotlight: He told reporters he had gotten fifteen shots of Botox, saying, “What’s good for [Kim] is good for me too.” Despite the drama, Kardashian is hardly Lugner’s worst date of all time. That honor surely goes to Lindsay Lohan, who didn’t even show up for her scheduled appearance in 2010 after she missed her flight.

– Kim Kardashian was the latest celebrity paid ($500,000, in this case) to escort Austrian businessman Richard Lugner to the Vienna Opera Ball last night, but the evening didn't exactly go as planned. Sources tell TMZ Kardashian was posing for pictures with Lugner when a worker approached her in blackface, pretending to be Kanye West. She stayed at the ball, but then another man asked her to dance—and when she tried to decline, the guy told her the orchestra should play "N-----s in Vienna" for them to dance to, and she stormed out of the event. Prior to the ball, Lugner complained to reporters that "Kim is annoying me, because she's not sticking to the program," Radar reports. Hours after Kardashian arrived in Vienna, with mom Kris Jenner and daughter North West in tow, Lugner says she stood him up to go film scenes for Keeping Up With the Kardashians. "The guest should be with me and not anywhere else that is not agreed upon," said 81-year-old Lugner. But Kardashian had her own complaints, sources say: She claims Lugner grabbed her aggressively and was attempting to get alone with her. At least Kardashian showed up for the escort gig: In 2010, Lindsay Lohan bailed.

What once appeared to be the killing of an officer in the line of duty turned out to be "a carefully staged suicide," George Filenko, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander, said Wednesday. Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Chris Covelli said that once a major crimes task force investigation starts, it's understood that individual departments will pick up the cost of the employees they send to work on it. Fox Lake police on Wednesday said Gliniewicz’s death was a “carefully staged suicide.” Gliniewicz had been stealing and laundering thousands of dollars from the police department’s youth auxiliary program for personal purchases, the department said. Gilbert R. Boucher II | Staff Photographer Once hailed a hero cop, Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was exposed by authorities Wednesday as an embezzler who tried to make his death look like murder to deceive investigators. “Personally, this is the first time as a police officer that I’m ashamed by the actions of a member of law enforcement.” As a leader in the police “explorer” program, Gliniewicz had extensive experience mocking up crime scenes to train aspiring cops, and officials say he used those skills to throw police off the trail of his deception. While the loss of a father and husband has devastated the Gliniewicz family—as well as his fellow officers at the Fox Lake Police Department—the new information provided by authorities may be even more painful to consider. The backups arrived about 8 a.m. and a few minutes later found Gliniewicz dead. "I'm looking forward to continuing the great post that Lt. Gliniewicz did establish and maintain all these years," he said. "It's important for us to take the time we need to get that done," Keller said.

– The Illinois cop found shot to death in September, setting off a statewide manhunt for three suspects he had told dispatchers he was chasing, actually orchestrated a "carefully staged suicide," George Filenko, the commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said in a press conference Wednesday, CNN reports. That confirmed earlier reports that Joe Gliniewicz had killed himself, but what emerged at the presser was more shocking: that Gliniewicz had taken his own life after committing criminal acts, the AP notes. "Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," Filenko said, per the Daily Beast, adding that the police officer had "intentionally left a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene." Filenko tells the Daily Herald that the popular officer known as "GI Joe" stole and laundered somewhere in "the five figures" from the department's Explorer program—a training program for youth interested in a career in law enforcement—using it "as his personal bank account." Gliniewicz allegedly used the funds for gym memberships, travel, his mortgage, and adult websites. What helped crack the case: electronic messages deleted from his work and personal cellphones, Filenko adds. There were questions about Gliniewicz's death almost from the start, including that the fatal bullet had come from his own gun, as well as an initial refusal by the coroner to rule out suicide or an accident, CNN and the Daily Beast note. Now Filenko may have to walk back angry statements he made about the coroner—as well as justify the estimated $300,000 price tag for the manhunt.

Man found liable for runaway snowmobile crash near McBride Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK March 03, 2018 - 2:00 PM MCBRIDE - A man has won his case in court after being seriously injured when a runaway snowmobile crashed into him in the McBride area nearly five years ago. Webb's sister Sarah and father Dave were also there. According to the decision, Webb testified that he did not check the throttle or the safety cord after lunch. Passerin walked toward Sarah to help her, but after walking about 10 feet he was struck by Webb's snowmobile. The next morning they headed north of McBride to snowmobile the Mount Renshaw area. The judgment said neither he nor Sarah Webb heard it coming and that warning shouts from friends had not a "hope in hell" of being heard, either. 'Freak accident' Devon Webb, riding at half speed "some distance" behind his sister and Passerin, had lost control of his snowmobile after running into an unexpected snowdrift. The rider-less snowmobile went over a 100-foot cliff, climbed out of a 20-foot powdered ravine and raced at full throttle for one to one-and-a-half kilometres until it struck Passerin, Dley said. A co-worker of Webb's was a distance away for Sarah and Passerin, and saw the unmanned snowmobile coming toward the pair. "I accept the evidence, that if the tether cord had been affixed to Mr. Webb’s clothing, his fall from the machine would have likely caused the cap to pull off the post, thereby shutting off the engine. Warnings that had been on the snowmobile when Webb first got it reminded riders to check the safety features before each trip. His testimony was so unreliable that I cannot accept his assertion that he had attached the tether cord to his clothing." Webb argued that if he was found liable for the crash, Passerin should be found just as liable considering he had drank the night before and during lunch. Passerin is entitled to costs, but his lawyer said it will be complicated to figure out just how much.

– A fun day snowmobiling in British Columbia left one man with "horrific" injuries and another liable for them after he was thrown off his snowmobile and the vehicle kept going, slamming into one of his companions. InfoTel News reports that Devon Webb, Angelo Passerin, and about eight others were snowmobiling after lunch in McBride on March 22, 2013, when Webb's sister, Sarah, became stuck in the snow, per a lawsuit filed by Passerin. Passerin saw her waving for help and went to assist, when suddenly a riderless snowmobile came out of nowhere and struck him down. It turned out Devon Webb had been thrown from his snowmobile, which then "traveled over a 100-foot cliff, climbed out of a 20-foot powdered ravine, and raced at full throttle for [0.6 to 0.9 miles] until it struck Mr. Passerin," the suit notes. It only stopped after slamming into Sarah Webb's snowmobile. The crash left Passerin with broken leg bones and vertebrae, a brain injury, and a limp now with him for life, the CBC reports. Webb was found liable because he wasn't wearing the tethered safety cord that should be hooked to each rider's clothing; if the rider falls off, the cord, attached to a cap on the snowmobile, yanks off the cap, which shuts the vehicle off. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley found Webb had neglected to put his tether on, bucking precautions that would've kept his friend safe. Although Webb tried to argue that Passerin had been drinking—the latter had a vodka cranberry with his lunch, while Webb had consumed no alcohol—the judge found "no evidence" Passerin was impaired to the point where he could've avoided being hit by the runaway snowmobile. Both Passerin and Sarah Webb said they hadn't heard the snowmobile coming.

Meet 18-Year-Old Cole Carman, One of the First Transgender Teens to Freeze Eggs Before Transitioning Related Video: Transgender Teen Gets Her Own Reality Show Courtesy Cole Carman An 18-year-old from northern California has become one of the first transgender teenagers to freeze his eggs so he can have biological children later in life, his doctor says.Cole Carman, formerly known as Nicole, has undergone a double mastectomy and was about to start testosterone treatment in January when his doctor asked if he wanted to freeze his eggs first. "[After] they told me that, I didn't [start testosterone treatment] and I did some research on the egg retrieving process," Carman told PEOPLE. "I already knew I wanted kids, so to say yes and make that decision was a no-brainer. "The teen, who hails from the San Francisco area, had first started looking into transgender issues when he was 12, but didn't really understand what it meant to be transgender. He came to a better understanding of the definition last year. "From there I had to just make sure I came to terms with myself and who I am before making a big decision like [undergoing surgery]," he said.Carman's parents' have been supporting him throughout the process of transitioning. "I didn't really hesitate at all simply because Cole has always been mature in his thinking and I knew this was something that was really important to him," his mother C.J. Carman tells PEOPLE.C.J. said she and husband Pat were receptive to the idea of Cole freezing his eggs because she struggled to conceive – leading them to adopt Cole. "I wanted to make sure it was done before it couldn't be done," she said.Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, the doctor who performed the procedure on Carman at the end of May, says he is one of the first transgender teens to do this prior to transitioning. "The concept of freezing eggs is not new for the transgender community, what I would say is typically you're seeing probably trans-males in their 30s who are trying to come off their testosterone and trying to freeze eggs," she commented. "This is an unusual [case] and probably one of the first, if not the first, for a teenager. "His parents funded the entire procedure, which cost about $13,000. Carman advises other teens in his situation to think very carefully about how personally important it is to have biological children. "It's a lot of money and there are other ways," he said. "You should think, how important would it be that your child is related to you? That would be the biggest factor to play in into making the decision. "Eyvazzadeh said that Carman's procedure went very smoothly. "From the minute I met them, I wanted to help. I could tell that he was mature, he knew exactly what he wanted and this was self-directed," she said. "It's a journey and an emotional roller coaster ride," C.J. said. "But I think it's really important for parents to understand that [the surgeries] aren't something that's a choice, they're a necessity. Love your child, be open minded and get information."

– An 18-year-old San Francisco-area transgender teen may be the first to have had eggs harvested prior to transition. Having decided last year to go from Nicole to Cole Carman, the teen decided to harvest his eggs first so it would be easier to have his own biological children down the road. "I've always known I wanted to have kids of my own, so ... it was a no-brainer," he tells Yahoo Parenting. Typically these procedures are performed when trans males are in their 30s, already transitioned, and decide to halt their testosterone so that they can be biologically related to their kids, says Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, who performed the successful procedure on Carman. But post-transition is far more challenging: "After years of testosterone therapy, their ovaries would shut down and would not reawaken to create any viable eggs, or the eggs would be low quality." Carman's parents, who adopted their only child when he was just 5 weeks old and know how hard it can be to conceive, funded the procedure themselves, paying $13,000 to have the eggs harvested in May. "I didn't really hesitate at all simply because Cole has always been mature in his thinking and I knew this was something that was really important to him," his mother tells People. Carman has reportedly been thinking about his gender, as well as what it means to be trans, since he was 12, and Eyvazzadeh says she wanted to help "from the minute" they met. "I could tell that he was mature, he knew exactly what he wanted and this was self-directed," she says. "It's not something you do on a whim." (Caitlyn Jenner is shocking some of her trans friends with her politics.)

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea turned its anger on South Korea on Friday, warning the South Koreans they could suffer “physical countermeasures” for any enforcement of the tightened international sanctions meant to stop its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities. The North Korean warning came a day after it bluntly threatened the United States, saying North Korea had no interest in talks on denuclearizing itself and would forge ahead with its missile and weapons development, with the goal of attaining the capability to hit American territory. North Korea framed the warning, including a threat to stage a third nuclear test, as a deterrent to what it called American hostility and efforts to isolate the country. While the tone of the message was not unexpected after the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision this week on North Korea sanctions, the threats represent a new challenge to President Obama as he begins his second term, and to the incoming conservative president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye. She had signaled she would be more open to the North than the current president, but since her election last month she has said she will not tolerate the North’s nuclear program and will deal sternly with what she has called North Korean provocations. In a statement issued in the name of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, which manages relations with South Korea, the North gave no hint of what countermeasures were envisioned against the South over enforcement of the sanctions. While the North does not follow through on many of its threats, it does have a history of unexpected military attacks — most recently, its shelling of a border island in 2010 that left four South Koreans dead. It was also blamed for sinking a South Korean warship the same year, leaving 46 sailors dead, despite North Korean denials. Those two episodes were among the most serious in decades between the two Koreas, dispelling Washington’s desire to engage North Korea in serious negotiation. While calling for a vigorous enforcement of United Nations sanctions, Glyn Davies, Washington’s special envoy on North Korea, also appealed Thursday to the North’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, not to miss opportunities for a new beginning, stressing that Washington could not improve ties with the North without progress in inter-Korean relations. North Korea’s outburst against South Korea on Friday was the latest installment of a verbal barrage it started after the Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning a Dec. 12 rocket launching by the North. The resolution called the launching a violation of earlier United Nations resolutions banning it from testing ballistic missile technology, and called for tightening sanctions against the country. Especially notable was that China, the longtime North Korean protector and advocate, voted for the resolution. Referring to the South Koreans, North Korea said: “If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the U.N. ‘sanctions,’ the D.P.R.K. will take strong physical countermeasures against it,” using the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “ ‘Sanctions’ mean a war and a declaration of war against us.” The United Nations resolution was the fifth against the North for its rocket and nuclear programs since 1993. It calls for tightening existing sanctions, including expanding a travel ban on North Korean officials and broadening the means for United Nations member nations to intercept and confiscate cargo headed for the North. Ms. Park’s office said Friday that the president-elect would soon send a high-level delegation to Washington for a policy consultation at which North Korea was expected to be a focus of discussion. The United Nations sanctions and the North’s angry reactions dissipated early hopes that changes of leadership in the North, the South and in the Obama administration would open the way for easing tensions. North Korea, which has lived through American-led trade embargoes, considers itself a small yet proud nation struggling to maintain its independence in the face of an “imperialist” plot to erase it from the earth. It has typically called any new round of American-inspired sanctions a declaration of war. For the United States, a new entanglement over North Korea could distract from the American focus on pressuring Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which the Iranians say is peaceful but which the West suspects is meant to develop nuclear weapons capability. Talks aimed at resolving that dispute are stalled. Some strategic weapons policy analysts suggested that North Korea’s defiant tone, and the relatively muted American response, had set an example for Iran by demonstrating what can be achieved when an American adversary is armed with nuclear weapons. Iranian leaders, like North Korea’s Kim family, view America as a nuclear-armed bully that respects only the threat of force. Jeffrey Lewis, a nonproliferation expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif., said he feared that North Korea was now intent on demonstrating the ability to produce a far more powerful nuclear weapon than the two relatively small nuclear devices it had tested so far. “If you think international politics is basically about power and that power is basically about armaments, then having a small number of fission devices is not good enough,” he said. “You want big nuclear devices.” (American intelligence officials believe North Korea has enough plutonium for roughly 6 to 10 weapons.) Others dismissed the idea that Iran is taking any political cues from North Korea. They noted that Iran remained a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that Iranian leaders had repeatedly asserted that they had no interest in nuclear weapons. “They see North Korea is starving and isolated with no resources whatsoever,” said Gary G. Sick, an American academic and Iran expert who served on the National Security Council under the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. He called the connectivity on the nuclear issue between Iran and North Korea “a Western argument — I’ve never seen anybody in Iran make that argument.”

– Yesterday the US was the target of North Korean warnings; today, Pyongyang is focused on its southern neighbor, threatening to attack if South Korea backs UN sanctions against it. "If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the UN 'sanctions,' the DPRK will take strong physical countermeasures against it," said the North. "'Sanctions' mean a war and a declaration of war against us." The new president-elect of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, will still seek a dialogue with Pyongyang, the AP reports—but the North's latest threats put her in a tight spot, the New York Times notes. Talks are "a gradual process based on mutual trust and respect, which can begin with keeping promises," says a rep for Park, adding that the North's "nuclear ambitions and further provocations against the South will not be tolerated."

Woodbridge, VA (22192) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 26F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 26F. Winds light and variable.

– A man accused of impersonating a police officer had the bad luck to pull over an actual police officer, reports WUSA-TV. An off-duty cop in Dumfries, Va., says he pulled over when the Crown Vic behind him turned a spotlight on his car about 1am yesterday. When the Crown Vic pulled up alongside, the real officer identified himself as such, and the Crown Vic then sped away. The officer followed, and the driver and his passenger soon abandoned the Crown Vic and fled on foot. The car was traced to Shawn Robinson, 27, of Alexandria, who later turned himself in, reports insidenova.com. Sound familiar? Something similar happened in Florida.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch police who found 350,000 euros ($400,000) hidden inside a washing machine have detained a man on suspicion of — what else? — money laundering. Police said in a statement Thursday that officers were checking a house in western Amsterdam on Monday for unregistered residents when they found the valuable laundry load. A photo displayed on the police website showed bundles of bank notes, mainly 20- and 50-euro bills, crammed into the drum. The officers also found a money-counting machine, a gun and several cell phones. The 24-year-old suspect's name was not released, in line with Dutch privacy rules.

– Maybe someone figured that a washing machine would be the last literal place that cops would check when sussing out a money-laundering scheme, but that someone may have placed the wrong bet. The AP and CNN report a 24-year-old man has been arrested in the Netherlands after police descended on an address in western Amsterdam during a raid seeking out unregistered residents. Inside this particular home, which municipal records showed was uninhabited, authorities found nearly $400,000, in primarily 20- and 50-euro notes, stuffed into the washing machine. The resident check was part of a probe into "housing fraud, money laundering, and other [signs] of crime," a police news release said, via CNN. Also found on site: a few cellphones, a money-counting device, and a firearm. And also the suspect, who hasn't yet been identified. (Authorities in Massachusetts found $20 million—yes, $20 million—in cash under a mattress.)

"It's OK to pretend that you don’t understand, even if you might understand a little bit, get them to explain it to you to make sure they understand," Francis said.

– A new Snapchat geolocation function released last week may be dishing out more personal information than users were counting on. The company announced Wednesday that once activated, Snap Map places a location Bitmoji on the new map feature for anyone on a user’s friends list to see. But according to the Verge, locations update whenever the app is opened, meaning friends can track users’ whereabouts more often than they may realize. Writer Dani Deahl tested out how much information she could gather via the map by observing a friend’s Bitmoji. Within minutes, she was able to guess her friend’s address, which she hadn’t previously known. “That’s so creepy!” her friend said after Deahl called to confirm the address, adding, “I wouldn’t want people to see where I am at all times.” The map function is opt-in and users can go into a “ghost mode” to turn it off, but a social media expert told ABC 15 that parents should make sure their children understand how it all works: “It's OK to pretend that you don’t understand, even if you might understand a little bit, get them to explain it to you to make sure they understand.” Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that police in the UK have already issued warnings to parents on the dangers of location sharing, echoed by UK Safer Internet Centre, which cautions that the new feature "can allow people to build up a picture of where you live, go to school, and spend your time.” The Verge writes that to opt out, new Snapchat users should choose ghost mode, and those who already opted in can switch to ghost mode in the map's settings to disable the location feature.

Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s killing was mixed in the Muslim world, including in Pakistan, where former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf said that the United States should not have executed a mission within his country’s borders. But Umm Mohammed, a veiled woman, said she hoped news of bin Laden's death was a lie. Osama Bin Laden will no longer be able to bring terror and murder and mayhem to the world." Iranian Foreign Ministry The Islamic Republic of Iran hopes that the death of Osama bin Laden will put an end to war and the killing of innocent people and restore peace to their region, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. “Talib, come to your country and stop the fighting and leave the weapon that the foreigners have put on your shoulders.” In Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that the United States has “no excuse” for continuing its military involvement in the Middle East now that bin Laden has been killed. Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister for the Hamas government in Gaza The prime minister condemned the killing, describing bin Laden as a Muslim "mujahid" or holy warrior. While Hamas and other radical groups and individuals spoke out against the killing of bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader’s image in the Muslim world has been in decline in the last few years, a Pew Research Group survey released Monday shows. A victory of good against evil, of justice against malignancy. It is a victory of the free and democratic world." MIXED MESSAGES In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the PA's view on the death of the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks was shared by Ahmed Saleh, a 58-year-old retiree. In a statement, the Pakistani foreign ministry celebrated bin Laden’s death as “a major setback to terrorist organizations around the world.” Over the border in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai on Monday urged the Taliban not to seek retaliation. This operation was conducted by the U.S. forces in accordance with declared U.S. policy that Osama bin Laden will be eliminated in a direct action by the U.S. forces, wherever found in the world," the ministry said. The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop.” Text Size - + reset POLITICO 44 Though President Barack Obama did refer to Pakistani help in his remarks Sunday night, there was no mention of involvement in Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s statement, which said that Zadari was notified of bin Laden’s killing with a phone call from Obama.

– Reaction to Osama bin Laden's death is pouring in from around the world—and not everybody's cheering, Reuters reports: Hamas: “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior,” said Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s leader in the Gaza Strip. “We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.” Pervez Musharraf: Pakistan’s former president said the US had violated “our sovereignty” by carrying out the mission, Politico reports. “The Pakistani government should have been kept in the loop.” Still, the country’s foreign ministry applauded the killing. The Vatican: "In front of the death of man, a Christian never rejoices but rather reflects on the grave responsibility of each one in front of God and men," said a spokesman, according to CNN. He did acknowledge that bin Laden spread "division and hatred." Civilians in Ramallah, in the West Bank, offered mixed views. One woman hoped the news was false: “God willing, he will continue to conquer the West,” she said. Another Palestinian called the killing “a very criminal act.” But others approved: “His heinous actions were exploited to allow hostile policies toward the Arabs and Muslims,” one says.

Here's a look back at some of Walters's most memorable interviews on The View: The Time She Made a Future President Blush President Barack Obama has appeared on The View several times (his joint appearance with the First Lady was a major "get" for Walters's daytime show), but one of his earliest pit stops on the show — when he was still a senator — had Walters gushing over his good looks. ABC Photo Archive Barbara Walters spoke to "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve at his upstate New York home on Sept. 7, 2002 for an interview that aired on ABC. In the interview, Cruise said he had no regrets about his much-publicized couch-jumping incident on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." It was the first time Chavez had been interviewed by an American television journalist since he called President George W. Bush "the devil" in a 2006 speech before the U.N. General Assembly. Lou Rocco/ABC Barbara Walters interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, his first interview with an American journalist since the uprising in Syria began almost a year prior.

– When Barbara Walters signs off from The View today, it will mark her farewell to television—at least as a regular—after a 50-year career. For a woman who started out hawking dog food on camera to one that reeled in the most viewers of any single news program ever (that would be the almost 50 million who watched her interview Monica Lewinsky in 1999), her career has been a long and remarkable one. As the New York Times puts it, "it's hard to imagine a single newscaster again holding so much sway over the culture"—which shows both Walters' pull as well as the changing media landscape. It may be goodbye, but we'll always have the interviews. Here are five of her more notable ones, courtesy of ABC News. Monica Lewinsky: The former White House intern broke her silence on her affair with President Bill Clinton in an interview that aired March 4, 1999. Fidel Castro: In an interview that aired June 9, 1977, Walters talked to Cuban President Fidel Castro as the pair crossed the Bay of Pigs. Vladimir Putin: Walters sat down with Putin in an interview airing November 7, 2001, marking the Russian president's first chat with an American journalist since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Tom Cruise: Everyone remembers Cruise's couch-jumping on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but he explained his bizarre behavior to Walters in 2005; he said he had no regrets. Bashar al-Assad: In 2011 Walters nabbed the Syrian president's first interview with a US journalist after the Syrian uprising began, in which he denied ordering a deadly crackdown on protesters. Click here for more of her best interviews ... or here for some of her worst.

Crawl performed by Internet Archive. This data is currently not publicly accessible.

– Those hoping for a simple answer to what caused last week's stock market collapse—a typo caused by a so-called "fat finger" trading error, for instance, or maybe a malicious hacker—will be disappointed with the testimony of federal regulators today on Capitol Hill. While they simply don't know yet what caused the freefall, they're pretty sure it wasn't triggered by any single event such as those, reports MarketWatch. The SEC's Mary Schapiro and commodities trading chief Gary Gensler promised to provide preliminary—emphasis on the preliminary—findings next week. Schapiro said SEC investigators have issued supboenas, though she didn't say to whom. One area of possible inquiry, notes Bloomberg: Traders who tried to take advantage of the chaos by purposely driving down stocks. Regulators also are looking at activity in something called the S&P 500 E-Mini futures contract, which the New York Times describes as "by far the largest stock index futures contract"—and sounds infinitely more complicated than fat fingers.

Thanks to favorable weather conditions, below-average snow levels and assistance from the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Yellowstone National Park will open the roads from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful on Friday. Budget cuts because of sequestration had pushed the opening day back to April 26 this spring as the park delayed its snow plowing work to save money. But that delay is no longer necessary. The roads from West Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful will open at 8 a.m. on Friday. Weather permitting, the road from Norris Junction through Canyon and Fishing Bridge to the park’s East Entrance will open to travel on May 3. Travel through the South Entrance to Grant Village, West Thumb Junction and on to Fishing Bridge is set to open May 10. The road from West Thumb Junction to Old Faithful will open sometime after May 10. Restroom facilities will be available at Madison Junction and Old Faithful starting April 19, with pay-at-the-pump fuel available 24 hours a day at the upper and lower service stations. The Old Faithful Visitor Education Center, the Geyser Grill and the Bear Den Gift Shop will open for the season on April 26. The Old Faithful Snow Lodge, Cabins and Restaurant, the Old Faithful Upper Store and the Lower Service Station convenience store all open for the season on May 3. Park entrance fees will be waived April 22-26 as part of National Park Week. A seven-day pass to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is normally $25 for a private, noncommercial vehicle. Information on current conditions in the park is available online at http://www.nps.gov/yell/conditions.htm. Updated Yellowstone National Park road information is available 24 hours a day by calling 307-344-2117.

– Mystery solved: Scientists say they've finally figured out why Old Faithful erupts with super-hot water and steam about every 90 minutes, Our Amazing Planet reports. Seismic records show that under the Yellowstone geyser, a large egg-shaped chamber is connected to the mouth of Old Faithful by a sort of pipe. After every eruption, water levels rise in the chamber and send steam bubbles into the conduit—which creates a "bubble trap" that leads to the eventual steam explosion. What's the big deal? The finding helps discredit an old idea that large geysers are fed by long, narrow tubes (Our Amazing Planet describes Old Faithful's "plumbing [as] more like a bagpipe than a flute"). Researchers made a similar finding earlier this year in Russia, where geysers are also fed by caverns that create bubble traps. Another neat fact: Scientists were able to map Old Faithful's cavern with seismic records because gas bubbles create tremors when they pop. And there's good news for those eager to visit it: Sequestration forced the park to postpone its annual snow-plowing efforts, pushing the opening date to April 26; but the Billings Gazette reports that the road to Old Faithful opened Friday, due to a happy combination of good weather, less snow than expected, and help from the state's Department of Transportation.

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– New folk hero flight attendant Steven Slater emerged from a New York City jail yesterday grateful for the outpouring of public support, while his proud cancer-battling mom said her boy "deserved" a meltdown. "Something about this resonated with people," Slater said as he left jail a day after his freakout on a JetBlue airline when a rude passenger cursed at him. "The outpouring of support is very appreciated. I'm overwhelmed, very thankful." As he left Hunts Point jail after posting a $2500 bail, employees shouted: "You're a hero" and "You're a celebrity." His mom, Diane Slater, meanwhile, defended her off-the-rail boy. "I can understand why he snapped. I would have snapped, too," she told the New York Daily News. "I think he just had a very small meltdown, and I think he deserved to be able to have that meltdown." Slater has pleaded not guilty to criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing charges filed after he reportedly swore at the nasty flyer over the plane's PA system, then deployed the plane emergency chute to make a speedy getaway. "Free Steven Slater" Facebook fans are raising money for his defense.

Excavation of two quarries in Wales by a UCL-led team of archaeologists and geologists has confirmed they are sources of Stonehenge’s ‘bluestones’– and shed light on how they were quarried and transported. New research by the team published today in Antiquity presents detailed evidence of prehistoric quarrying in the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, helping to answer long-standing questions about why, when and how Stonehenge was built. The team of scientists includes researchers from UCL, University of Manchester, Bournemouth University, University of Southampton, University of Leicester, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, and Dyfed Archaeological Trust. The very large standing stones at Stonehenge are of ‘sarsen’, a local sandstone, but the smaller ones, known as ‘bluestones’, come from the Preseli hills in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Geologists have known since the 1920s that the bluestones were brought to Stonehenge from somewhere in the Preseli Hills, but only now has there been collaboration with archaeologists to locate and excavate the actual quarries from which they came. Director of the project, Professor Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology), said: “This has been a wonderful opportunity for geologists and archaeologists to work together. The geologists have been able to lead us to the actual outcrops where Stonehenge’s stones were extracted.” The Stonehenge bluestones are of volcanic and igneous rocks, the most common of which are called dolerite and rhyolite. Dr Richard Bevins (Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales) and Dr Rob Ixer (UCL and University of Leicester) have identified the outcrop of Carn Goedog as the main source of Stonehenge’s ‘spotted dolerite’ bluestones and the outcrop of Craig Rhos-y-felin as a source for one of the ‘rhyolite’ bluestones. The research published today details excavations at Craig Rhos-y-felin specifically. The special formation of the rock, which forms natural pillars at these outcrops, allowed the prehistoric quarry-workers to detach each megalith (standing stone) with a minimum of effort. “They only had to insert wooden wedges into the cracks between the pillars and then let the Welsh rain do the rest by swelling the wood to ease each pillar off the rock face” said Dr Josh Pollard (University of Southampton). “The quarry-workers then lowered the thin pillars onto platforms of earth and stone, a sort of ‘loading bay’ from where the huge stones could be dragged away along trackways leading out of each quarry.” Professor Colin Richards (University of Manchester), an expert in Neolithic quarries, said: “The two outcrops are really impressive – they may well have had special significance for prehistoric people. When we saw them for the first time, we knew immediately that we had found the source.” Radiocarbon-dating of burnt hazelnuts and charcoal from the quarry-workers’ camp fires reveals that there were several occurrences of megalith-quarrying at these outcrops. Stonehenge was built during the Neolithic period, between 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Both of the quarries in Preseli were exploited in the Neolithic, and Craig Rhos-y-felin was also quarried in the Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago. “We have dates of around 3400 BC for Craig Rhos-y-felin and 3200 BC for Carn Goedog, which is intriguing because the bluestones didn’t get put up at Stonehenge until around 2900 BC” said Professor Parker Pearson. “It could have taken those Neolithic stone-draggers nearly 500 years to get them to Stonehenge, but that’s pretty improbable in my view. It’s more likely that the stones were first used in a local monument, somewhere near the quarries, that was then dismantled and dragged off to Wiltshire.” Professor Kate Welham (Bournemouth University) thinks that the ruins of any dismantled monument are likely to lie somewhere between the two megalith quarries. She said: “We’ve been conducting geophysical surveys, trial excavations and aerial photographic analysis throughout the area and we think we have the most likely spot. The results are very promising – we may find something big in 2016.” The megalith quarries are on the north side of the Preseli hills, and this location undermines previous theories about how the bluestones were transported from Wales to Stonehenge. Previous writers have often suggested that bluestones were taken southwards from the hills to Milford Haven and then floated on boats or rafts, but this now seems unlikely. “The only logical direction for the bluestones to go was to the north then either by sea around St David’s Head or eastwards overland through the valleys along the route that is now the A40” said Professor Parker Pearson. “Personally I think that the overland route is more likely. Each of the 80 monoliths weighed less than 2 tons, so teams of people or oxen could have managed this. We know from examples in India and elsewhere in Asia that single stones this size can even be carried on wooden lattices by groups of 60 – they didn’t even have to drag them if they didn’t want to.” Phil Bennett, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority’s Culture and Heritage Manager, said: “This project is making a wonderful contribution to our knowledge of the National Park’s importance in prehistory.” The new discoveries may also help to understand why Stonehenge was built. Parker Pearson and his team believe that the bluestones were erected at Stonehenge around 2900 BC, long before the giant sarsens were put up around 2500 BC. “Stonehenge was a Welsh monument from its very beginning. If we can find the original monument in Wales from which it was built, we will finally be able to solve the mystery of why Stonehenge was built and why some of its stones were brought so far”, said Professor Parker Pearson. Further excavations are planned for 2016. Craig Rhos-y-felin: a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge’ is published in the journal Antiquity on Monday 7th December 2015. Links Image Excavations at Craig Rhos-y-felin (Courtesy of Adam Stanford © Aerial-Cam Ltd) Media contact Siobhan Pipa Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9041 Email: s.pipa [at] ucl.ac.uk

– Researchers in London think they have solved one of the most enduring mysteries of Stonehenge: How did a bunch of prehistoric Britons haul massive stones from a quarry in Wales to the site of the monument more than 100 miles? "The answer," per the Telegraph, "is surprisingly simple." By mounting a giant stone on a wooden sleigh and dragging it along a track of timbers, a team from University College London found that just 10 people were able to move a more than 2,000-pound stone at a rate of about 1mph. “We were expecting to need at least 15 people to move the stone so to find we could do it with 10 was quite interesting,” doctoral student Barney Harris tells the Telegraph. The rocks in question, the ones at the center of the monument known as bluestones, were quarried in Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales, according to a separate study last year. They were laid at Stonehenge, some 140 miles away in Wiltshire, around 2400 BC, according to Seeker.com. The larger stones around the perimeter, called sarsens, are local sandstone and were laid during a second phase of construction about 500 years later. The sleigh-and-track method, if that's what Stonehenge's architects used, is not unique, Harris tells the Telegraph. “We know that pre-industrialized societies like the Maram Naga in India still use this kind of sledge to construct huge stone monuments, he says, adding that the Japanese are known to have used similar sleighs thousands of years ago. Could oxen have been used to pull the stones along the track? "Oxen are quite belligerent and difficult to control," Harris says. "This experiment shows that humans could have carried out the task fairly easily." (A century ago, Cecil Chubb bought Stonehenge on a whim.)

Cinnamon is a delicious addition to toast, coffee and breakfast rolls. Eating the tasty household spice also might improve learning ability, according to new study results published online in the July issue of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology. The study by neurological scientists at Rush University Medical Center found that feeding cinnamon to laboratory mice determined to have poor learning ability made the mice better learners. "This would be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners," said Kalipada Pahan, PhD, the lead researcher of the study and the Floyd A. Davis Professor of Neurology at Rush. Some people are born naturally good learners, some become good learners by effort, and some find it hard to learn new tasks even with effort. Little is known about the neurological processes that cause someone to be a poor learner and how to improve performance in poor learners. "Understanding brain mechanisms that lead to poor learning is important to developing effective strategies to improve memory and learning ability," Pahan said. Cinnamon role reversal The key to gaining that understanding lies in the hippocampus, a small part in the brain that generates, organizes and stores memory. Researchers have found that the hippocampus of poor learners has less CREB (a protein involved in memory and learning) and more alpha5 subunit of GABAA receptor or GABRA5 (a protein that generates tonic inhibitory conductance in the brain) than good learners. The mice in the study received oral feedings of ground cinnamon, which their bodies metabolized into sodium benzoate, a chemical used as a drug treatment for brain damage. When the sodium benzoate entered the mice's brains, it increased CREB, decreased GABRA5, and stimulated the plasticity (ability to change) of hippocampal neurons. These changes in turn led to improved memory and learning among the mice. "We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," Pahan said. The researchers used a Barnes maze, a standard elevated circular maze consisting of 20 holes, to identify mice with good and bad learning abilities. After two days of training, the mice were examined for their ability to find the target hole. They tested the mice again after one month of cinnamon feeding. The researchers found that after eating their cinnamon, the poor learning mice had improved memory and learning at a level found in good learning mice. However, they did not find any significant improvement among good learners by cinnamon. "Individual difference in learning and educational performance is a global issue," Pahan said. "We need to further test this approach in poor learners. If these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance." Cinnamon also may aid against Parkinson's disease Cinnamon has been a sweet spot for Pahan's research. He and his colleagues previously that cinnamon can reverse changes in the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease. These studies have made the researchers spice connoisseurs: They used mass spectrometric analysis to identify the purer of the two major types of cinnamon widely available in the United States -- Chinese cinnamon (Cinnamonum cassia) and original Ceylon cinnamon. "Although both types of cinnamon are metabolized into sodium benzoate, we have seen that Ceylon cinnamon is much more pure than Chinese cinnamon, as the latter contains coumarin, a hepatotoxic (liver damaging) molecule," Pahan said. The study of cinnamon and learning ability was supported by grants from National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Alzheimer's Association.

– Scientists say they've discovered "one of the safest and the easiest approaches to convert poor learners to good learners." And all you have to do is eat cinnamon. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center say that feeding cinnamon to mice with a poor learning ability turned them into a bunch of brainiacs by transforming the part of the brain that controls memory. Previous research has found poor learners have less of a protein vital to memory and learning, known as CREB, and more of a protein known as GABRA5 in the hippocampus. However, poor-learning mice showed increased CREB and decreased GABRA5 after a month of daily cinnamon doses, study author Kalipada Pahan explains in a release. Essentially, the body converts cinnamon into sodium benzoate, which promotes healthy neurons, reports the Epoch Times. The mice were then able to navigate a maze in half the time it took them before, even though the exit moved with each test. The ability was similar to that of so-called good-learning mice. Mice who were given cinnamon but were already good learners, however, didn't exhibit any change. "We have successfully used cinnamon to reverse biochemical, cellular, and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with poor learning," says Pahan, adding "if these results are replicated in poor learning students, it would be a remarkable advance." Interestingly, Pahan notes cinnamon is superior to straight doses of sodium benzoate because the chemical is slowly released from cinnamon but is "quickly excreted out through the urine" when taken on its own. (This doesn't mean you should take the cinnamon challenge.)

The Daily Caller reported late last night that they obtained an exclusive first look at Richard Miniter's forthcoming book Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him, which contains the "bombshell" allegation (sourced to a single anonymous official) that in the first three months of 2011, President Obama thrice canceled the mission to kill Osama bin Laden. The Daily Caller's David Martosko wrote last night: In "Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him," Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the "kill" mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. From the New Yorker: In late 2010, Obama ordered Panetta to begin exploring options for a military strike on the compound. Panetta contacted Vice-Admiral Bill McRaven, the SEAL in charge of JSOC . Traditionally, the Army has dominated the special-operations community, but in recent years the SEAL s have become a more prominent presence; McRaven’s boss at the time of the raid, Eric Olson—the head of Special Operations Command, or SOCOM —is a Navy admiral who used to be a commander of DEVGRU . In January, 2011, McRaven asked a JSOC official named Brian, who had previously been a DEVGRU deputy commander, to present a raid plan. The next month, Brian, who has the all-American look of a high-school quarterback, moved into an unmarked office on the first floor of the C.I.A.’s printing plant, in Langley, Virginia. A satellite image of the compound was displayed on a wall, along with a map showing the flight routes into and out of Pakistan. He and half a dozen JSOC officers were formally attached to the Pakistan/Afghanistan department of the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center, but in practice they operated on their own. Several analysts from the National Counterterrorism Center were invited to critique the C.I.A.’s analysis; their confidence in the intelligence ranged between forty and sixty per cent. A senior counterterrorism official who visited the JSOC redoubt described it as an enclave of unusual secrecy and discretion. "Everything they were working on was closely held," the official said. That article refers to the timing of the training of the Seal team for the operation, not the timing of CIA, Defense Department and White House planning for the operation, which began months earlier. Again, from the New Yorker: On March 14th, Obama called his national-security advisers into the White House Situation Room and reviewed a spreadsheet listing possible courses of action against the Abbottabad compound. Most were variations of either a JSOC raid or an airstrike. Some versions included coöperating with the Pakistani military; some did not. Obama had decided to go with a DEVGRU assault, with McRaven choosing the night. "There was a real lack of confidence that the Pakistanis could keep this secret for more than a nanosecond," a senior adviser to the President told me. On Saturday afternoon, McRaven and Obama spoke on the phone, and McRaven said that the raid would occur on Sunday night. Brian, James, and Mark selected a team of two dozen SEAL s from Red Squadron and told them to report to a densely forested site in North Carolina for a training exercise on April 10th. He found a two-star Army general from JSOC headquarters seated at a conference table with Brian, James, Mark, and several analysts from the C.I.A. They spent the next two and a half weeks considering ways to get inside bin Laden's house. One option entailed flying helicopters to a spot outside Abbottabad and letting the team sneak into the city on foot. The risk of detection was high, however, and the SEAL s would be tired by a long run to the compound. The proximity of bin Laden’s house to the Pakistan Military Academy raised the possibility that the military, or the I.S.I., had helped protect bin Laden. But images provided by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency showed that there was standing water in the vicinity, suggesting that the compound sat in a flood basin. The water table was probably just below the surface, making tunnels highly unlikely. Eventually, the planners agreed that it made the most sense to fly directly into the compound. "Special operations is about doing what's not expected, and probably the least expected thing here was that a helicopter would come in, drop guys on the roof, and land in the yard," the special-operations officer said. On March 29th, McRaven brought the plan to Obama. John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, told me that the President’s advisers began an “interrogation of the data, to see if, by that interrogation, you’re going to disprove the theory that bin Laden was there.” The C.I.A. Some supported a raid, some an airstrike, and others wanted to hold off until the intelligence improved. Vice-President Joseph Biden, Secretary Gates, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed him, as did anyone else who could fit into the office. Gates reminded his colleagues that he had been in the Situation Room of the Carter White House when military officials presented Eagle Claw -- the 1980 Delta Force operation that aimed at rescuing American hostages in Tehran but resulted in a disastrous collision in the Iranian desert, killing eight American soldiers. "They said that was a pretty good idea, too," Gates warned. He and General James Cartwright, the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs, favored an airstrike by B-2 Spirit bombers. That option would avoid the risk of having American boots on the ground in Pakistan. But the Air Force then calculated that a payload of thirty-two smart bombs, each weighing two thousand pounds, would be required to penetrate thirty feet below ground, insuring that any bunkers would collapse. “There are people out there that, if we could find them, we would go after them,” Cartwright told me. The prospect of flattening a Pakistani city made Obama pause. He shelved the B-2 option and directed McRaven to start rehearsing the raid. UPDATE: The White House has flatly denied Miniter's allegation, telling USA Today that it is "an utter fabrication" and that White House senior adviser Valerie Jarret "wasn't read into super-secret plans for the raid that took place in May of 2011."

– President Obama took such a cautious approach to killing Osama bin Laden that he actually canceled the mission three times at the urging of advisor Valerie Jarrett, according to an upcoming book. In Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him, author Richard Miniter writes that Obama even delayed the mission the day before May 2, 2011, when Navy SEALs finally carried it out, the Daily Caller reports. “President Obama’s greatest success was actually his greatest failure,” says Miniter. But the White House is calling Miniter's version of events "an utter fabrication," reports Politico. "It's seems pretty clear that Mr. Miniter doesn't know what he's talking about," said a White House rep. And a report at Media Matters notes that Miniter's version doesn't jibe with the New Yorker's "deep dive" into the bin Laden raid.

“The Internet is an amazing opportunity, socially. We have this opportunity to mature and learn, which is the essence of being on earth — to being the closest person we can be to our actual, real, truest self,” she said ahead of her surprise appearance at the Code Conference today. “But the Internet also allows us the opportunity to project outward our hatred, our jealousy. It’s culturally acceptable to be an anonymous commenter. It’s culturally acceptable to say, ‘I’m just going to take all of my internal pain and externalize it anonymously.’” Does this mean Gwyneth actually reads the thousands of posts written about her each week? “It’s taken me a long time to get to the point where I can see these things and not take it as a personal affront and a hurt. I see myself as a chalkboard or a whiteboard or a screen, and someone is just putting up their own projection on it,” she said. Paltrow, who specifically slammed Facebook for its "foundation of objectification," didn't go into many details about the online abuse she herself has taken. They have an internal object, and they’re putting it on me. I kind of look at it as, ‘Wow this is an interesting social experiment.’ You’re talking about a blind stranger having feelings about you. “You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It can only be projection.” The experience of reading about herself online over the years is analogous to what it’s like for veterans of war, she reportedly said. “My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience.” So, the next time you’re about to leave an anonymous, caps-lock comment on a Kim Kardashian photo post, imagine a mini-Gwyneth on your shoulder, drinking a mini-kale smoothie, shaking her head. Paltrow said she thinks about how her children will grow up in an online world, and wonders: "Perhaps the Internet has been brought to us as a test of our own emotional evolution." Though the Goop team won’t disclose specific details, Paltrow said her e-commerce business is profitable, and that the “open rate” (meaning subscribers that actually open Goop emails) for the Goop newsletter, which reaches people in 120 different countries, is more than double the industry average. I finally have been able to find the self-confidence that I really can do this, and I’m doing it.” Paltrow said she was initially hesitant about speaking at the Code Conference, where she would be onstage among tech CEOs.

– Gwyneth Paltrow ... tech expert? The actress spoke at the Code Conference yesterday, rubbing elbows with tech CEOs, thanks to her Web business, Goop. Before her surprise appearance, she talked to re/code (the tech news site hosting the conference, Vanity Fair notes) about Goop (it's profitable, though she won't give exact numbers, and the "open rate" for her newsletter emails is more than double the industry average), but she also spoke quite a bit about mean online commenters on the Internet. One quote that's getting her some negative attention: "You come across [online comments] about yourself and about your friends, and it’s a very dehumanizing thing. It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing, and then something is defined out of it. My hope is, as we get out of it, we’ll reach the next level of conscience." The quote, of course, led to headlines like "Gwyneth Paltrow: Celebrities Who Have Dealt with Mean Internet Comments Are Almost Like War Veterans." (Even re/code acknowledged that Paltrow "compared the experience of living through vitriolic Internet commenters to surviving a war.") NBC News notes that her actual speech focused on the same themes, but her comparison there wasn't as dramatic: She said reading mean comments was like having "the scabs from your high-school wounds being ripped off on a daily basis." (Paltrow's last ill-advised comment had to do with working moms.)

Shearer, who co-wrote the soundtrack to the film, filed suit in the Central District Court of California on Tuesday over the alleged underpayment of music royalties. Shearer, who also voices Simpsons characters as Mr Burns and Ned Flanders, said he, Reiner and the film and band's other creators - Christopher Guest and Michael McKean - had "poured themselves into nurturing and perfecting the paean to rock loudness that has entertained so many people". Shearer alleges that Vivendi, which acquired the film in 1989, engaged in fraud to hide revenues. “It is stunning that after all this time, two cinema releases, all the various home-video format releases, all the records and CDs, and all the band-themed merchandise still widely available worldwide, the only people who haven’t shared Spinal Tap’s success are those who formed the band and created the film in the first place.” Harry Shearer (@theharryshearer) I’m going up against @vivendi and @studiocanal to ensure #fairplayfairpay for the movie #SpinalTap - #fairnessrocks pic.twitter.com/fTG23OMbsW This is Spinal Tap was created by Shearer, Christopher Guest, who went on to co-write and direct dog competition mockumentary Best in Show, Rob Reiner and Michael McKean. The legal complaint alleges that between 1989 and 2006, Vivendi reported that the total income from soundtrack music sales was just $98. And in addition, it claims Vivendi reported that the four creators’ share of total worldwide merchandising income between 1984 and 2006 was $81. CANNES, France — Harry Shearer is suing Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and Studiocanal for $125 million for allegedly fraudulent accounting of the music revenues from Rob Reiner’s 1984 film “This is Spinal Tap.” Shearer, who co-created and starred in the classic mockumentary, is seeking $125 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Vivendi's UK representative declined to comment when asked to do so by the BBC News website.

– One of the makers of This Is Spinal Tap is suing entertainment group Vivendi, claiming the company is hiding millions from those who made the film possible. Harry Shearer—perhaps better known as the guy who voices dozens of Simpsons characters—co-created the 1984 film along with Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest and also co-wrote its soundtrack and starred as bassist Derek Smalls, reports Variety. He claims the four creators were promised 40% of net receipts from all sources of revenue, but he accuses Vivendi—which acquired the rights to the film in 1989—of a "concerted and fraudulent campaign to hide, or grossly underreport, the film's revenues in order to avoid its profit participation obligations," per the Guardian. In particular, Shearer, who is seeking $125 million, says Vivendi claimed just $98 from soundtrack sales between 1989 and 2006, and $81 from global merchandising income from 1984 to 2006. Vivendi has "failed and refused, and continues to fail and refuse, to provide [Shearer] with proper and accurate accountings reflecting the amount of revenues," reads the complaint filed at the Central District Court of California on Monday. "The only people who haven't shared Spinal Tap's success are those who formed the band and created the film in the first place," adds Shearer, noting his suit is "on behalf of all creators of popular films whose talent has not been fairly remunerated." Vivendi declined to comment, per the BBC.

Image 7 of 30 Chevron oil refinery, Richmond Chevron oil refinery, Richmond Image 8 of 30 Elizabeth Fein, of El Cerrito, takes a photo of plumes of smoke emanating from the Chevron oil refinery on Monday, August 6, 2012 in Richmond, Calif. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Elizabeth Fein, of El Cerrito, takes a photo of plumes of smoke... RICHMOND/HOUSTON (Reuters) - A massive fire struck at the core of Chevron Corp's large Richmond, California, refinery on Monday, spewing flames and a column of smoke into the air, threatening a prolonged outage that may increase prices of the costliest U.S. gasoline. The fire was contained, but not extinguished, according to the company. The fire blazed for hours after it erupted at the refinery in a densely populated industrial suburb east of San Francisco. Smoke could be seen billowing over the Bay Area and four train stations were shut. Thousands of local residents were ordered to stay indoors and shut all windows and doors after the fire hit the sole crude unit at the 245,000 barrel per day plant, which accounts for one-eighth of California state's refining capacity. Kaiser's Richmond Medical Center said several dozen people came to the emergency room Monday night complaining of shortness of breath, but none was seriously ill. Julius Bailey, 21, who lives on Barrett Avenue in Richmond, blocks away from the refinery, was at the hospital wearing a face mask. "I heard a big boom ... then the alarms started going off," 23-year-old local resident Daniela Rodriguez told the Contra Costa Times. Just before 6:30 p.m., an inspection crew discovered that there was a diesel leak in a line in the unit - and that the leak was growing. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Nigel Hearne, manager of Chevron's Richmond refinery, says the fire... He said some units were still operating, but gave no details. Complete US news coverage on NBCNews.com Supply could be affected Any lengthy disruption in production could affect the supply of fuel in the West Coast, particularly gasoline, due to the difficulty in meeting California's super-clean specifications. The region also has few immediate alternative supply sources. "Chevron will have a hard time finding replacement barrels in an already short market," said Bob van der Valk, a petroleum industry analyst in Terry, Montana. "Refineries are already drawing down summer blend inventory in anticipation of the switch back to winter blend gasoline," he said. TOWERING FLAMES, BLACK SMOKE Residents of Richmond were advised to "shelter in place", an order often given during refinery accidents to shield against possible exposure to toxic chemicals or smoke. Sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide were released during the incident, according to a filing with the California Emergency Management Agency. Key to local economy The refinery, the third-largest in California and among the oldest in the country, is key to the economy of Richmond, a declining industrial city. But it has stirred controversy among local residents concerned about the environmental impacts and local politicians often seeking more tax revenues. "I looked out the window and saw 40 foot flames and black smoke," Marc Mowrey, a Point Richmond resident who lives about a mile from the plant, said in a telephone interview. BART closed the Richmond, El Cerrito del Norte and El Cerrito Plaza stations at about 7 p.m., and shut down service between Richmond and El Cerrito and Richmond and North Berkeley about 30 minutes later. Chevron said in a statement that there had been only one minor injury at the refinery, which at its peak 10 years ago employed over 1,300 people on a site of over 2,900 acres. Last week, the refinery reported vapor leaks and a compressor failure to California pollution regulators, according to notices. The notices did not say which units were involved. Fire breaks out after explosion at Okla. oil refinery We are "very disappointed that this happened, and apologize that we are inconveniencing our neighbors," Chevron spokesman Walt Gill told local television. A Reuters reporter who lives nearby said he heard some loud bangs and a siren as the fire erupted, but a Chevron spokesman denied reports of an explosion. It is common to shut down the entire plant in the event of a major blaze. A Feb. 17 fire at the crude installation units of BP's 225,000-bpd Cherry Point, Wash., refinery led to a three-month shutdown and sent the regional price premium to more than $1 a gallon in some places.

– Explosions tore through a Chevron oil refinery as it erupted in flames yesterday, driving toll takers from the Richmond Bridge and San Francisco Bay Area residents indoors. At least two fires were triggered when a diesel leak exploded at the Richmond refinery, one of the largest in the nation, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. There were no fatalities and no one was seriously injured. The plant was evacuated after workers spotted the leak. Minutes after the explosions, plant alarms alerted nearby residents to stay indoors with doors and windows shut to avoid breathing toxins in the air. Residents in all of Contra Costa County in the East Bay were being told to stay inside as hazmat trucks drove through streets taking air samples. Health officials, concerned about fumes from crude oil and diesel fuel, said that so far the winds seem to be carrying most of the smoke skyward. Dozens of people complaining about breathing problems headed to local emergency rooms. One patient with a burning throat and sore, itchy eyes, told the Chronicle: "They told me I'm not going to die, but it sure feels pretty serious." The fire was contained late last night as a crew of 60 firefighters battled the blaze with nitrogen and steam to keep it cool, but Chevron officials offered no estimate as to when the fire would be extinguished, NBC reports. The 1,200-worker refinery is Northern California's largest, the third biggest in the state, and is capable of processing more than 242,000 barrels of oil a day.

Los Angeles police are seeking two men in connection with the slaying of a 19-year-old Canadian woman who was stabbed to death in 1969, just a few miles from the most infamous of the Manson family killings. Sketches of the men were released Friday by the Los Angeles Police Department and are based on new information collected from a witness in Montreal. The drawings show how the men might have looked in 1969, when the body of the then-unidentified woman — stabbed 150 times in the upper torso and neck — was discovered by a child on Mulholland Drive, not far from the Benedict Canyon home where actress Sharon Tate and four others had been stabbed to death a few months earlier, in August 1969. The Canadian woman’s slaying has long been suspected of being tied to the Manson family murders, but as of April of this year, police still had no concrete evidence linking the killings. We believed that Reet was probably in search of more autonomy, and therefore we waited for her to get in touch with us. — Anne Jurvetson, sister of Reet, who was slain in 1969 Detectives began reinvestigating the killing in 2003, after a retired LAPD cold-case investigator turned up a DNA sample, said LAPD Det. Luis Rivera. That sample, along with photographs of the victim, led investigators to her sister, and eventually, a positive ID was made. Little was known about the young woman, Reet Jurvetson, after she traveled to Los Angeles in 1969. She came to meet a friend named “John or Jean,” Rivera said. She initially kept in sporadic touch with her family. As time passed without contact, her relatives became concerned, but they never filed a missing person’s report, he said. Her sister, Anne, the only remaining relative in Jurvetson’s immediate family, recently created a website to help solve her sister’s killing. She posted photos of Reet as a teenager: celebrating her church confirmation, lounging on a sofa, smiling in a family portrait. Handout An undated photo of Reet Jurvetson An undated photo of Reet Jurvetson (Handout) She describes the young woman as adventurous but naive, part of an Estonian refugee family who fled to Canada during World War II. “Attempts were made to reach her, but they proved fruitless,” she wrote. “Initially, we believed that Reet was probably in search of more autonomy, and therefore we waited for her to get in touch with us.” As years passed, Anne said, the family imagined her sister had made a new life for herself. No one suspected the young woman had been killed, she said. When Anne found out about her sister’s slaying, it was “devastating,” she wrote. The witness in Montreal provided new details in July about the friend named John or Jean. The witness remembers meeting Reet Jurvetson and the man at a cafe in Montreal, police said. The witness also provided information on an associate, a shorter man with a Beatles-type haircut who might also have been named Jean. Authorities said Friday that Anne Jurvetson had recently found a postcard sent by her sister about two weeks before she was killed. Handout A postcard Reet Jurvetson sent to her family shortly before her death. A postcard Reet Jurvetson sent to her family shortly before her death. (Handout) Dated Oct. 31, 1969, it read: “Dear Mother and Father, The weather is nice and the people are kind. I have a nice little apartment. I go frequently to the beach. Please write to me. Hugs, Reet.” The postcard was sent from an apartment in Hollywood. The building, on Melrose Avenue, used to be the Paramount Hotel, but it was demolished in 1989 and replaced with a new structure. Detectives initially suspected the Manson family of Jurvetson’s killing because their other victims had been stabbed to death, Rivera said, and Jurvetson’s death occurred about the time of the cult killings. Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi said in his 1974 book “Helter Skelter” that he believed Jane Doe No. 59 — as Jurvetson was then known — was killed because she had witnessed another suspected Manson family slaying, the death of John Phillip Haught. Investigators initially believed Haught died playing Russian roulette in Venice in November 1969. But Simon Wells, author of the Manson biography “Coming Down Fast,” found out that Manson family members were present when Haught died. Manson and his followers eventually were convicted of killing nine people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area in August 1969. Prosecutors said Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesied in the Beatles song “Helter Skelter.” Last year, LAPD investigators interviewed Manson at Corcoran State Prison, where he is incarcerated, but Manson did not provide any additional information, according to Capt. Billy Hayes, commander of the Robbery Homicide Division. “Talking to Charlie is like talking to a wall,” Hayes said. Prosecutors and Manson scholars have always believed the group was responsible for slayings beyond the nine for which they were convicted. Manson is eligible for parole in 2027. Most of his followers remain jailed or have died. CAPTION White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about President Trump's response to Steve Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. and his Russia meeting. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about President Trump's response to Steve Bannon's comments about Donald Trump Jr. and his Russia meeting. CAPTION It’s the first time that a rock act hasn’t headlined the festival. It’s the first time that a rock act hasn’t headlined the festival. CAPTION President Trump’s lawyer on Thursday demanded a publisher and author cease publication of a forthcoming book. President Trump’s lawyer on Thursday demanded a publisher and author cease publication of a forthcoming book. CAPTION Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions scrapped a policy that offered legal shelter for state-sanctioned marijuana sales. Atty. CAPTION President Trump delivered a scorching rebuke to his former chief strategist. President Trump delivered a scorching rebuke to his former chief strategist. esmeralda.bermudez@latimes.com @LATBermudez Times staff writers James Queally and Richard Winton contributed to this report. ALSO Going against the grain after Orlando shooting, LGBT group embraces guns Bodies and blood everywhere after San Bernardino terrorist attack, DOJ report shows 7 officers to be criminally charged in Bay Area police sex scandal, D.A. says UPDATES: 8:32 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with additional editing. This article was originally published at 6 a.m.

– The Los Angeles Police Department has released sketches of two men considered persons of interest in a 47-year-old murder possibly connected to the Manson family, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to People, Reet Jurvetson, 19, flew from Canada to LA in 1969 to see a man named Jean she met in a Montreal coffee shop. Weeks later, she was dead—stabbed 150 times. Jurvetson's body was found on Mulholland Drive, near where Sharon Tate and four others had been stabbed to death by the Manson family a few months earlier. One Manson prosecutor believes Jurvetson was killed because she witnessed another killing, but no solid evidence has ever tied her death to the Manson family. Jurvetson's family never filed a missing persons report, figuring she had started a new life in the US, and Jurvetson wasn't even identified until last April. Earlier this summer, a friend from Montreal called the LAPD. She remembered seeing Jurvetson with a man named Jean—and a second man named Jean—at a coffee shop. She helped police develop a sketch of the Jeans, who may have been roommates, and now detectives are looking for the pair. One LAPD investigator calls Jean "the best lead we have." Police also got another lead recently when they discovered where Jurvetson had been living in Hollywood before her death, CBC reports. While the apartment building has since been demolished, investigators are looking for anyone who used to live there. (The youngest member of the Manson family lost her bid for parole this summer.)

Though a few angiosperms (the scientific name for flowering plants) around today occur in the water, most live on land, and it has been generally assumed that these types of plants evolved on terra firma before radiating back out into the water, says Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher. A paper published August 17 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has identified the oldest flowering plant found to date, an aquatic species fossilized in deposits in modern-day Spain. "This discovery raises significant questions about the early evolutionary history of flowering plants, as well as the role of these plants in the evolution of other plant and animal life," said Dilcher, an emeritus professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Geological Sciences. Fossils of the plant were first discovered more than 100 years ago in the limestone deposits of the Iberian Range in central Spain and in the Montsec Range of the Pyrenees, near the country's border with France. Credit: Oscar Sanisidro He also asserted that the fossils used in the study were "poorly understood and even misinterpreted" during previous analyses. See all of the best photos of the week in these slideshows This study helps “to unravel the evolutionary and ecological events that accompanied the rise of flowering plants to global prominence,” writes Donald Les, a University of Connecticut expert in plant evolution who was not involved in the study, in a commentary in the same journal. The age of the plant at 125 million to 130 million years is based upon comparisons to other fossils in the same area, notably the freshwater algae charophytes, which places Montsechia in the Barremian age of the early Cretaceous period, making this flowering plant a contemporary of dinosaurs such as the brachiosaurus and iguanodon.

– The world's oldest known flower dating back 130 million years is an aquatic species called Montsechia found fossilized in limestone deposits in Spain. But it wouldn't necessarily be recognized as a flower today, given it didn't boast petals or nectar-producing structures. "The fruit contains a single seed"—thus making it an angiosperm, or flowering plant—"which is borne upside down," says Indiana University paleobotanist David Dilcher, who with colleagues reports these findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The plant thrived in freshwater lakes in what are now Spain's mountainous regions, and while Phys.org reports that the fossils were first discovered more than 100 years ago, the ones used in this study were "poorly understood and even misinterpreted" when analyzed at earlier points, Dilcher says. One way to spread seed—which in angiosperms is typically done by getting other animals (think bees) or elements (think wind) to carry pollen to other members of the same species—is through water currents. In fact today's descendants of Montsechia, called Ceratophyllum, are found in lakes on every continent, and they behave similarly. "Flowers are all about sex,” Dilcher tells Newsweek. "Right at the start [of angiosperm evolution], this was another method that flowering plants were using for their genetic exchange." Whether Montsechia is the world's oldest flower has yet to be determined, but it is the oldest flower we have found to date, suggesting that angiosperms have their earliest roots in water instead of on land. (Michigan officials are warning about a plant that can blind you.)

HONOLULU (AP) — A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific Ocean unharmed despite frigid temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, FBI and airline officials said. File- This July 2, 2004, file photo shows a traveler walking from one terminal to another at San Jose Airport in San Jose, Calif. FBI officials say a 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a... (Associated Press) FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night that the boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport with no identification. "Kid's lucky to be alive," Simon said. Simon said security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, Calif., hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The child had run away from his family after an argument, Simon said. Simon said when the flight landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds. "He was unconscious for the lion's share of the flight," Simon said. The flight lasted about 5½ hours. Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Alison Croyle said airline personnel noticed the boy on the ramp after the flight arrived and immediately notified airport security. "Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived," Croyle said. Simon said the boy was medically screened and found to be unharmed. "Doesn't even remember the flight," Simon said. "It's amazing he survived that." His misadventure immediately raised security questions. A Congressman who serves on the Homeland Security committee wondered how the teen could have snuck onto the airfield at San Jose unnoticed. "I have long been concerned about security at our airport perimeters. #Stowaway teen demonstrates vulnerabilities that need to be addressed," tweeted Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who represents the San Francisco Bay Area's eastern cities and suburbs. A Mineta San Jose International Airport spokeswoman said airport police were working with the FBI and the Transportation Security Agency to review security at the facility as part of an investigation. "Our concern is with this young boy and his family. Thank God he survived and we hope his health is OK," spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said. Officials at Kahului Airport referred questions to the State Department of Transportation, which did not return a phone call seeking comment. A Transportation Security Agency spokesman who declined to be named referred questions to the FBI and airport authorities. The boy was released to child protective services and not charged with a crime, Simon said. In August, a 13- or 14-year-old boy in Nigeria survived a 35-minute trip in the wheel well of a domestic flight after stowing away. Authorities credited the flight's short duration and altitude of about 25,000. Others stowing away in wheel wells have died, including a 16-year-old killed after stowing away aboard a flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Boston in 2010 and a man who fell onto a suburban London street as a flight from Angola began its descent in 2012. ___ Associated Press writer Daisy Nguyen contributed to this report from Los Angeles. Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia

– A 16-year-old boy who stowed away in the wheel well of a plane after a fight with his family is incredibly lucky to be alive after the California-to-Hawaii flight, authorities say. The boy made it through the five-hour flight unharmed yesterday despite freezing temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen, the AP reports. An FBI spokesman says the boy was apparently unconscious for most of the flight and he was taken into custody after being found wandering around the grounds of the airport in a disoriented state. Security footage from the San Jose airport shows the boy hopping a fence before he climbed into the wheel well of the Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767, the FBI says. "Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived," an airline spokeswoman says. The boy, who has not been charged with any crime, is now in the hands of Hawaii Child Protective Services officials, reports Hawaii News Now. The BBC in 2012 noted that Dr. Stephen Veronneau, with the FAA, had documented 96 cases since 1947 of someone stowing away in a plane's wheel well; more than 75% of the cases ended in a fatality.

Kim reportedly "stressed that the protracted showdown with the U.S. imperialists has reached its final phase and it is the time for the DPRK to demonstrate its mettle to the U.S., which is testing its will in defiance of its warning." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Missiles fired during US-South Korea drills serve as warning to North Korea The US and South Korea have held a ballistic missile drill, after North Korea tested a long-range missile experts believe may reach Alaska. A report in its state media Wednesday described leader Kim as "feasting his eyes" on the ICBM, which was said to be capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, before its launch. The missile test is a direct challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile. A public TV screen broadcasts a local TV news showing what was said to be the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM, aired by North Korea's KRT on July 4, 2017, in Tokyo Wednesday,... (Associated Press) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un vowed his nation would "demonstrate its mettle to the U.S." and never put its weapons programs up for negotiations a day after test-launching its first intercontinental ballistic missile. "With a broad smile on his face," Kim urged his scientists to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees," an apparent reference to continuing the stream of nuclear and missile tests Kim has ordered since taking power in late 2011. Yesterday, an announcement on North Korean state television claimed the missile was capable of hitting "anywhere in the world".

– North Korea's first successful launch of an ICBM has shocked the world—and caused some gloating in Pyongyang. North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted Kim Jong Un as saying "American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary," the Guardian reports. The agency said Kim, who has vowed not to give up the country's nuclear program, urged his nuclear scientists to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees." According to KCNA, the missile North Korea launched Tuesday is capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead. The latest: The US and South Korea responded to the launch with a joint ballistic missile exercise in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, reports the BBC. The two countries warned that "self-restraint" was "all that separated armistice and war." The US vowed to take tougher measures on North Korea, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling for global action, reports Reuters. "All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons," he said. The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting on the issue Wednesday. The New York Times looks at the different options President Trump can proceed with, and finds that they are "few and risky." One option that China and Russia agree on involves Pyongyang suspending its nuclear weapons program in return for the US suspending joint military exercises with South Korea. The launch of an ICBM has long been seen as a "red line," though analysts believe Pyongyang may still be years away from having long-range nuclear capability, the AP reports. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer of the British Armed Forces Joint Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Regiment, says "in capability of missile terms and delivery, it is a major step up and they seem to be making progress week-on-week," but "actually marrying the warhead to the missile is probably the biggest challenge, which they appear not to have progressed on." The Los Angeles Times reports that the ICBM launch wasn't a huge surprise for some analysts, who observed that North Korea had two mysterious launch failures at the same facility last fall. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation looks at just how far the North Korean ICBM could go. Experts believe Alaska and possibly some America's Pacific bases are now in range, as is northern Australia.

The Seychelles, where the U.S. had temporarily stationed MQ-9s under the operational authority of U.S. Africa Command, now houses a base where a small fleet of “hunter-killer” drones resumed operations this month. (U.S. Africa Command/Major Eric Hilliard) The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said. One of the installations is being established in Ethi­o­pia, a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the Somali militant group that controls much of that country. Another base is in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where a small fleet of “hunter-killer” drones resumed operations this month after an experimental mission demonstrated that the unmanned aircraft could effectively patrol Somalia from there. The U.S. military also has flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in Djibouti, a tiny African nation at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, the CIA is building a secret airstrip in the Arabian Peninsula so it can deploy armed drones over Yemen. The rapid expansion of the undeclared drone wars is a reflection of the growing alarm with which U.S. officials view the activities of al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, even as al-Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan has been weakened by U.S. counterterrorism operations. The U.S. government is known to have used drones to carry out lethal attacks in at least six countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The negotiations that preceded the establishment of the base in the Republic of Seychelles illustrate the efforts the United States is making to broaden the range of its drone weapons. The island nation of 85,000 people has hosted a small fleet of MQ-9 Reaper drones operated by the U.S. Navy and Air Force since September 2009. U.S. and Seychellois officials have previously acknowledged the drones’ presence but have said that their primary mission was to track pirates in regional waters. But classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that the unmanned aircraft have also conducted counterterrorism missions over Somalia, about 800 miles to the northwest. The cables, obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, reveal that U.S. officials asked leaders in the Seychelles to keep the counterterrorism missions secret. The Reapers are described by the military as “hunter-killer” drones because they can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. To allay concerns among islanders, U.S. officials said they had no plans to arm the Reapers when the mission was announced two years ago. The cables show, however, that U.S. officials were thinking about weaponizing the drones. During a meeting with Seychelles President James Michel on Sept. 18, 2009, American diplomats said the U.S. government “would seek discrete [sic], specific discussions . to gain approval” to arm the Reapers “should the desire to do so ever arise,” according to a cable summarizing the meeting. Michel concurred, but asked U.S. officials to approach him exclusively for permission “and not anyone else” in his government, the cable reported. Michel’s chief deputy told a U.S. diplomat on a separate occasion that the Seychelles president “was not philosophically against” arming the drones, according to another cable. But the deputy urged the Americans “to be extremely careful in raising the issue with anyone in the Government outside of the President. Such a request would be ‘politically extremely sensitive’ and would have to be handled with ‘the utmost discreet care.’ ” A U.S. military spokesman declined to say whether the Reapers in the Seychelles have ever been armed. “Because of operational security concerns, I can’t get into specifics,” said Lt. Cmdr. James D. Stockman, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Africa Command, which oversees the base in the Seychelles. He noted, however, that the MQ-9 Reapers “can be configured for both surveillance and strike.” A spokeswoman for Michel said the president was unavailable for comment. Jean-Paul Adam, who was Michel’s chief deputy in 2009 and now serves as minister of foreign affairs, said U.S. officials had not asked for permission to equip the drones with missiles or bombs. “The operation of the drones in Seychelles for the purposes of ­counter-piracy surveillance and other related activities has always been unarmed, and the U.S. government has never asked us for them to be armed,” Adam said in an e-mail. “This was agreed between the two governments at the first deployment and the situation has not changed.” The State Department cables show that U.S. officials were sensitive to perceptions that the drones might be armed, noting that they “do have equipment that could appear to the public as being weapons.” To dispel potential concerns, they held a “media day” for about 30 journalists and Seychellois officials at the small, one-runway airport in Victoria, the capital, in November 2009. One of the Reapers was parked on the tarmac. “The government of Seychelles invited us here to fight against piracy, and that is its mission,” Craig White, a U.S. diplomat, said during the event. “However, these aircraft have a great deal of capabilities and could be used for other missions.” In fact, U.S. officials had already outlined other purposes for the drones in a classified mission review with Michel and Adam. Saying that the U.S. government “desires to be completely transparent,” the American diplomats informed the Seychellois leaders that the Reapers would also fly over Somalia “to support ongoing counter-terrorism efforts,” though not “direct attacks,” according to a cable summarizing the meeting. U.S. officials “stressed the sensitive nature of this counter-terrorism mission and that this not be released outside of the highest . channels,” the cable stated. “The President wholeheartedly concurred with that request, noting that such issues could be politically sensitive for him as well.” The Seychelles drone operation has a relatively small footprint. Based in a hangar located about a quarter-mile from the main passenger terminal at the airport, it includes between three and four Reapers and about 100 U.S. military personnel and contractors, according to the cables. The military operated the flights on a continuous basis until April, when it paused the operations. They resumed this month, said Stockman, the Africa Command spokesman. The aim in assembling a constellation of bases in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula is to create overlapping circles of surveillance in a region where al-Qaeda offshoots could emerge for years to come, U.S. officials said. The locations “are based on potential target sets,” said a senior U.S. military official. “If you look at it geographically, it makes sense — you get out a ruler and draw the distances [drones] can fly and where they take off from.” One U.S. official said that there had been discussions about putting a drone base in Ethiopia for as long as four years, but that plan was delayed because “the Ethiopians were not all that jazzed.” Other officials said Ethiopia has become a valued counterterrorism partner because of threats posed by al-Shabab. “We have a lot of interesting cooperation and arrangements with the Ethiopians when it comes to intelligence collection and linguistic capabilities,” said a former senior U.S. military official familiar with special operations missions in the region. An Ethio­pian Embassy spokesman in Washington could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. The former official said the United States relies on Ethiopian linguists to translate signals intercepts gathered by U.S. agencies monitoring calls and e-mails of al-Shabab members. The CIA and other agencies also employ Ethiopian informants who gather information from across the border. Overall, officials said, the cluster of bases reflects an effort to have wider geographic coverage, greater leverage with countries in the region and backup facilities if individual airstrips are forced to close. “It’s a conscious recognition that those are the hot spots developing right now,” said the former senior U.S. military official.

– The Obama administration is creating an expanded network of drone bases in Africa, which officials say will help the US target Islamic militants in Somalia and Yemen. A new drone base is being built in Ethiopia, and the US is already deploying drones over Somalia and Yemen from its base in Djibouti, reports the Washington Post. A drone base in the Seychelles will be used to target Islamic militant groups, as well as pirates that plague the Indian Ocean island nation. Reaper drones deployed from the Seychelles—but controlled from bases in the US—can be configured for both surveillance and strike missions, say officials, who warn that militant groups in Africa are showing a new level of co-operation among themselves. "We do not know enough about the leaders of the al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa," a senior US official tells the Wall Street Journal. "Is there a guy out there saying, 'I am the future of al Qaeda?' Who is the next Osama bin Laden?"

Culture And Criticism In Slight Defense Of Miss Utah USA, A Little Bit, With Reservations i i itoggle caption Ethan Miller/Getty Images Ethan Miller/Getty Images Look, Miss Utah USA, Marissa Powell, gave a pretty unimpressive answer to a question about income inequality at the Miss USA pageant. Let's all agree on that. But what, exactly, did the circumstances call for? She was asked — by NeNe Leakes, who first became famous on The Real Housewives Of Atlanta before warring with Star Jones on The Celebrity Apprentice and is therefore exactly the person to whom we would entrust interrogations on major policy issues — the following question: "A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?" Not to put too fine a point on it, what kind of a simultaneously (1) dumb and (2) impossible to answer question is that? First of all, it's three questions rolled into one — what does it say that in 40 percent of homes, women are the primary earners, or what does it say that women earn less than men, or what does it say that we allow these two facts to coexist? Second of all, "What does this say about society?" Really? Not "What kinds of help do families need to make ends meet?" or something with at least some policy meat on the bones, but "What does this say about society?" Asked by NeNe Leakes? While you're standing next to Giuliana Rancic, whose other job involves making people walk their fingernails down a tiny, hand-sized red carpet? What would have been a good answer to this question that could have been delivered in the time frame she had? I think about this kind of stuff a lot. I've studied it. I've had about 20 years longer than Miss Utah USA to think about it. I have no idea what I would have said if someone had asked me such a moronic question on live television. This isn't the kind of question that actually tests what you know; it's basically a test of your ability to generate cow patties on command. Have you ever seen the part of Miss Congeniality where they all say "world peace" and receive polite applause? The entire reason it's funny when Sandra Bullock says, "That would be harsher punishment for parole violators, Stan," is that she's not supposed to say anything substantive based on her experience. She's supposed to say "world peace." These dumb questions aren't intended to actually see whether you're smart or not. Miss Utah USA might be smart and she might not be, but the last thing I'd use to guess at whether she's smart is whether she can answer this kind of question "correctly." Because "correctly" here just means smoothly, expertly, without hesitation or stammering. Had she said, "What it says is that we live in the greatest country in the world, and every day I get up and thank my lucky stars that I live in the United States of America," she would not be in the news, despite having given just as irrelevant a non-answer. Had she said, "What it says is that family is the most important thing in the world, and we need to figure out how to help all families be happy families because it's the most important thing in the world," she would not be in the news. And none of this has to do with whether beautiful women or pageant contestants can be smart or are smart. Welcome to the broad sweep of humanity. She's not in the news for being dumb; she's in the news for being bad at spontaneous but convincing balderdash manufacturing, and because it's fun to watch a carefully orchestrated spectacle crash on the rocks. She's not a dumb person; she's bad at public speaking. And if she were good at it, nobody would have ever heard of her.

– Miss Utah got to go on the Today show this morning for a second crack at the question that she flubbed at the recent Miss USA pageant. This time around, Marissa Powell gave a far more polished response, which KSL.com has in more detail. Good for her, but the next time this happens to a pageant contestant, and it surely will, just remember that these questions test not intelligence but the "ability to generate cow patties on demand," writes Linda Holmes at NPR. Holmes breaks down the original question—"A recent report shows that in 40% of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?"—and finds it to be simultaneously "dumb" and "impossible to answer." She's studied family and gender issues for years and has no idea how she would have responded. Powell could have blathered some vapid answer, but as long as she did so smoothly, it would have drawn no attention. "She's not in the news for being dumb; she's in the news for being bad at spontaneous but convincing balderdash manufacturing." Click for the full column.

The Grateful Dead with Trey Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti and Bruce Hornsby 3 Day Pass Tickets (July 3-5) Sell for this event Set Price Alert Go with friends Add to wishlist Important event information Compare tickets from these sellers The Grateful Dead with Trey Anastasio, Jeff Chimenti and Bruce Hornsby 3 Day Pass Tickets (July 3-5) Your listings will no longer be selected You cannot select listings on multiple pages. If you continue, your selections will be cleared. We don't have seating information for this venue just yet. The easiest way to get the gang together! Send invites, get responses, and know everyone's RSVP status with Go Together - the best way to organize a group event on StubHub! Looking to get the gang together? Send invites, get responses, and know everyone's RSVP status with Go Together - the best way to organize an event on StubHub! Click 'Go with friends' to get started! OK Add this event to your public wishlist and share it with your friends.

– The "core four" original members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting for a three-day 50th anniversary show in Chicago, and let's just say people really, really want to see it. The farewell show, appropriately titled Fare Thee Well, sold out, but tickets are being sold on the secondary market for as much as $116,000 each. Even the least-expensive tickets are around $1,350, Billboard reports, and CNN notes that some of those have an obstructed view. Soldier Field, where the July 3-5 event is being held, seats about 70,000; the original ticket prices ranged from $59.50 to $199.50 per day. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will be taking over for the late Jerry Garcia.

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.

– There's no napping in baseball. When 26-year-old Yankees fan Andrew Rector fell asleep during a game against the Red Sox on April 13, an ESPN cameraman lingered on his snoozing face and two announcers launched into a diatribe that included the words "stupor, stupid, fatty, and unintelligent"—that according to a $10 million lawsuit Rector filed last Thursday against the Yankees, Major League Baseball, ESPN, and the two announcers, John Kruk and Dan Shulman, claiming defamation and "intentional infliction of emotional distress," reports Courthouse News Service. The New York Times points out that Shulman and Kruk said no such words in the clip (Shulman did, however, call him "oblivious"), though it's unclear whether they commented on the 4th-inning nap later. Rector's complaint is filled with misspellings and odd turns of phrases (Courthouse News calls the writing style "idiosyncratic"). An example, from paragraph 14, published on The Smoking Gun: "John Kruck [sic] in his verbal attack insinuated that the plaintiff is an individual that know neither history nor understood the beauty or rivalry between Boston Red Sox and New York Yankee." In his suit, Rector argues that the defendants presented false facts about him, including, "Plaintiff is not worthy to be fan of the New York Yankee," and, more colorfully, "Plaintiff is a fatty cow that need two seats at all time and represent symbol of failure." Rector's mother tells the Times the aftermath has been so bad he's had to miss work. (Another colorful NYC suit: A man in May sued for every penny on Earth, and then some.)

Democrats pounced Thursday on politically inartful comments by Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), who told constituents that his $174,000 salary is nothing to write home about. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hammered Southerland for statements he made during a visit to a retirement community in his Tallahassee-area district, in which he suggested his congressional salary was not worth the safety risks in the wake of the shooting that gravely injured Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in January. Text Size - + reset POLITICO 44 The DCCC response noted that Southerland’s salary is four times a local police officer’s take. “It’s unbelievable how far out of touch Rep. Steve Southerland is with Florida families if he thinks his $174,000 salary is not so much,” DCCC spokesman Adam Hodge said in a statement. “While he’s complaining about only making $174,000, his constituents are struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their head or find a job.” “And by the way, did I mention? They’re shooting at us. There is law-enforcement security in this room right now, and why is that?” Southerland said Wednesday, according to The Tallahassee Democrat. Southerland reportedly painted his salary as small compensation considering he had to cut ties with his family business and that, he said, there’s no free health insurance. “If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks and cutting me off from my family business, I’ll just tell you: This job don’t mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City,” Southerland said, according to the newspaper. In a statement to POLITICO, Southerland said his remarks had been misinterpreted and that “other than the successes of my marriage and my family, serving the people of North and Northwest Florida has been one of the greatest honors of my life.” “The folks who were in the room with me in Tallahassee on Wednesday understand the full context of the statements I made,” he said. “In the course of yesterday’s conversation, I explained in a transparent fashion how members of Congress are compensated, along with some of the unexpected events that can occur in the course of our work.” Southerland won the Tallahasse-centered district by unseating Democrat Allen Boyd last year. It’s currently a GOP-leaning district, but may get slightly more competitive under Florida’s yet-to-be-drawn redistricting plan. Florida’s redistricting won’t be completed until next year. Former Republican state Sen. Nancy Argenziano had announced that she would run for the seat as a Democrat, but a state elections board said she cannot because she was registered with a different party for a year before the period when candidates qualify for the ballot. Florida state Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith told POLITICO there’s an easy fix if Southerland misses his life before he was elected to Congress. “There’s one thing we agree on: He should return to his good life in Panama City,” Smith said.

– A freshman GOP rep from Florida is taking some heat after suggesting his salary isn't worth the dangers of his job in the wake of Gabrielle Giffords' shooting, the loss of income from his family business, and the lack of free health care. “They’re shooting at us. There is law-enforcement security in this room right now, and why is that?” Rep. Steve Southerland asked a town hall meeting Wednesday, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. “If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks, I’ll just tell you: This job don’t mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City.” Democrats are inviting him to go back there, with the DCCC pointing out that Southerland makes four times what a police officer in his district makes. “It’s unbelievable how far out of touch Rep. Steve Southerland is with Florida families if he thinks his $174,000 salary is not so much,” said a Democratic spokesman. Southerland tells Politico that his words were taken out of context and clarified that his job in Congress is “one of the greatest honors of my life.”

Tim Heim, one of the homeowners with a failing foundation and president of the Connecticut Coalition for Crumbling Basements, said he is satisfied with the first round of results. "We produce our concrete using sand, water, granite stone, Type I/II cement and standard industrial admixtures and use the exact same materials for our residential, commercial, and government work - the latter two of which are rigorously tested and inspected prior to and during installation. Pyrrhotite is a naturally occurring iron sulfide mineral that reacts with oxygen and deteriorates over time. "Although [the] investigation will continue into the fall, we believe there is now sufficient evidence to conclude that significant levels of the mineral pyrrhotite in stone aggregate used in the production of concrete is a substantial contributing factor to the crumbling foundations," state Attorney General George Jepsen said in a written statement. I feel bad for the families who had their home built last year and used this same concrete." Mottes' concrete has been cited in lawsuits filed by homeowners with faulty foundations. "We continue to believe this is an issue of improper installation and not materials — findings which were proven in our only Connecticut court case involving a failed foundation … and we have always cooperated with the state and will continue to do so in the hope of finding sustainable and meaningful solutions for the homeowners and future homeowners," Patton said in a written statement.

– Around 1995, Linda and Robert Tofolowsky noticed the walls of the basement in their Connecticut home cracking. Their foundation had developed severe fissures, and they soon discovered other homes in the area with the same issue. Their insurance claim was denied, they got no help from the town or the state, and they lost their lawsuit against JJ Mottes, the company that installed the concrete for the foundation. In a 2001 complaint the couple filed with the Consumer Protection Department, Linda wrote that the issue needed to be made public "so that maybe someone else will not lose their biggest investment, their home." The couple ended up being just the first of hundreds of homeowners in the state whose foundations are crumbling, causing their houses to slowly collapse. "When you’re told your home is now worthless and your biggest investment is now worthless, it’s devastating," one such homeowner tells the New York Times. As the Times points out, state officials were warned about the problem by more than just the Tofolowskys in the early 2000s, and in 2003, lawmakers met with the CPD, representatives from the attorney general's office, and homeowners about the issue—but did nothing. In July 2015, WVIT did an investigative report on the foundations, prompting state officials to open an inquiry. They recently announced that the problem is at least partially caused by high levels of pyrrhotite (a mineral that can cause swelling and cracking when mixed with water) from aggregate in a local quarry used in JJ Mottes' concrete, the Hartford Courant reported last month; a spokesperson for JJ Mottes blames contractors who improperly added water to wet concrete so it would pour faster. Officials are taking steps to help homeowners, but none of those steps do much to subsidize their costs, and WVIT notes that insurance companies are only settling with some homeowners and only after "long legal battles."

In a... (Associated Press) FILE - In this May 17, 2014 file photo, Kurt Busch, left, walks with his girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, after arriving for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord,... (Associated Press) Driver Kurt Busch, left, gives his girlfriend Ashley Van Metre a kiss before getting in his car during qualifying for the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway,... (Associated Press) Busch was suspended by NASCAR indefinitely Friday after a judge said the 2004 former champion almost surely choked and beat a former girlfriend last fall and there was a "substantial likelihood" of more domestic violence from him in the future. Earlier Friday it was ruled that Busch smashed his ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll's head against his motor home wall Sept. 26 at Dover International Speedway, according to the conclusions of a Kent County (Del.) family court commissioner who granted Driscoll's request for a protective order Monday. "Given the serious nature of the findings and conclusions made by the Commissioner of the Family Court of the State of Delaware, NASCAR has indefinitely suspended driver Kurt Busch, effective immediately," NASCAR said in a statement. He will not be allowed to race nor participate in any NASCAR activities until further notice," the e-mailed release said. "Kurt Busch and his Stewart-Haas Racing team are fully aware of our position and why this decision was made. We will continue to respect the process and timetable of the authorities involved." Busch on Friday night filed paperwork for an appeal on his suspension, which will be heard at noon ET Saturday in Daytona, NASCAR spokesman David Higdon said. Rusty Hardin, Busch's attorney, requested the Delaware Attorney General's Office to investigate separate allegations that Driscoll had tampered with witnesses. "We assure everyone, including NASCAR, that this action against Mr. Busch will turn out to be a travesty of justice, apparent to all, as this story continues to unfold," Hardin said in the e-mailed statement. "It is important for everyone to remember that the commissioner's report has to do with a civil, family law matter and no criminal charges have been filed against Mr. Busch," Hardin said. "We ask everyone's patience as this case continues in the court of law and are confident that when the truth is known Mr. Busch will be fully vindicated and back in the driver's seat," Busch attorney Rusty Hardin said in a statement, adding the assault allegation has led to "a travesty of justice" that will become clear as Busch continues to defend himself. Chairman Brian France had maintained the series would let the process play out before ruling on Busch's eligibility — and the series came down hard in finding that he committed actions detrimental to stock car racing and broke the series' behavioral rules. "For victims of domestic violence there are no victories," she said. "My only hope is that the pain and trauma I suffered through this process will help other victims find their voice. "Unfortunately we live in a culture where stories like mine are often swept under the rug out of fear and with the knowledge that for every person who shows empathy many more will seek to disparage the victim. It is bad enough to endure the actual physical abuse, but the verbal attacks that follow when a victim speaks up are sometimes just as painful." O'Donnell, who resigned his spot on the board of Driscoll's Armed Forces Foundation late last year, disputed comments from Driscoll that indicated that other women in the NASCAR industry have been abused by others in the NASCAR community. Smith replaced SHR driver/co-owner Tony Stewart at Watkins Glen last August, the day after Stewart's sprint car struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. at Canandaigua Motorsports Park. The next steps are to develop a thorough process and policies that reenforce the organization's position it took today: Domestic violence will not be tolerated in NASCAR." Travis Kvapil, who qualified second for Friday night's Truck Series race, was arrested and charged with assault of his wife in 2013. "Today NASCAR took an important step and deserves to be commended. A short time after the suspension was announced, on the glass outside of Busch's garage stall at Daytona, someone had scrawled in black marker "#41 Ray Rice," a reference to the former Baltimore Ravens running back whose own case of domestic violence dominated much of last year. Team co-owner Gene Haas hand-picked Busch to drive a car paid for out of pocket by Haas because the machine tool manufacturer wanted to see a driver take his company to victory lane. 41 Chevrolet. In an e-mail, a spokesman said they had no comment on the court opinion or Busch's suspension. He was suspended in 2012 by NASCAR for threatening a reporter, and parked for the final two races of the 2005 season by Roush-Fenway Racing after he was pulled over by police in Arizona. "The Court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that, on September 26, 2014, Respondent [Busch] committed an act of domestic violence against Petitioner [Driscoll] by manually strangling her by placing his left hand on her throat, while placing his right hand on her chin and face and smashing her head into the wall of his motor home," commissioner David Jones wrote in his findings and conclusions. Although an appeal can be heard as early as Saturday, Stewart-Haas Racing has already decided to use Regan Smith in the Daytona 500. Jones said the incident was "likely situational in nature" where the "stressors of the situation" overwhelmed Busch's ability to "cope and control his tendency to act out violently in response to stress and frustration, causing him to 'snap' and assault" Driscoll. They claim that multiple witnesses have come forward since the hearing's conclusion and provided information that contradicts versions of the events, and asked Jones to delay his opinion until ruling on his motion. "We are confident that if the Commissioner agrees to hear newly available evidence that contradicts the testimony of Ms. Driscoll, he will be able understand the actions of that night as well as Ms. Driscoll's character and motivations and reconsider his judgment" Hardin said in Friday's statement. Busch's attorneys said that Driscoll had repeatedly lied on the stand and committed perjury. "Our newly available evidence will make it clear that much more of her testimony was untruthful and was purposefully kept from the Commissioner by Ms. Driscoll's attempts to intimidate and threaten witnesses." Driscoll characterized Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, as battling alcoholism and depression leading up to the alleged assault. Busch testified he was afraid of Driscoll, whom he believed was a trained assassin because of the stories and photos she had shared with him. Busch opted to get his side of the story out in court over two days of Delaware family court hearings in December and two more days in January. Busch, the 2004 NASCAR champion, has 25 career wins but only one since 2011. It came last year, his first season with SHR, the team that helped resurrect his career.

– One of NASCAR's biggest races runs tomorrow, but one of NASCAR's biggest names will not be there when the Daytona 500 begins. The sport suspended Kurt Busch indefinitely yesterday over allegations that he beat and choked his then-girlfriend last fall, reports ESPN. The move came after a Family Court judge in Delaware concluded that Busch likely abused Patricia Driscoll, "manually strangling" her and causing her head to slam against a wall. What's more, he wrote that there was a "substantial likelihood" of more domestic violence from Busch. The judge cited Busch's "propensity to lose control of his behavior and act out violently in response to stressful, disappointing and/or frustrating situations involving his racing," reports the News Journal. The ruling didn't come in a criminal trial but in a civil proceeding in which the judge awarded Driscoll an order of protection from Busch. He has denied the allegations and is appealing the NASCAR suspension. The alleged assault remains the subject of a separate criminal investigation, reports AP. (At a court hearing last month, Busch said Driscoll is a trained assassin.)

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL POST MARCH 14 THAT IS LINKED IN MANY PLACES... FOR MORE RECENT POSTINGS GO TO THE TOP OF MY GOOGLE + PAGE. MH370 A different point of view. Pulau Langkawi 13,000 runway. A lot of speculation about MH370. Terrorism, hijack, meteors. I cannot believe the analysis on CNN - almost disturbing. I tend to look for a more simple explanation of this event. Loaded 777 departs midnight from Kuala to Beijing. Hot night. Heavy aircraft. About an hour out across the gulf towards Vietnam the plane goes dark meaning the transponder goes off and secondary radar tracking goes off. Two days later we hear of reports that Malaysian military radar (which is a primary radar meaning the plane is being tracked by reflection rather than by transponder interrogation response) has tracked the plane on a southwesterly course back across the Malay Peninsula into the straits of Malacca. When I heard this I immediately brought up Google Earth and I searched for airports in proximity to the track towards southwest. The left turn is the key here. This was a very experienced senior Captain with 18,000 hours. Maybe some of the younger pilots interviewed on CNN didn't pick up on this left turn. We old pilots were always drilled to always know the closest airport of safe harbor while in cruise. Airports behind us, airports abeam us and airports ahead of us. Always in our head. Because if something happens you don't want to be thinking what are you going to do - you already know what you are going to do. Instinctively when I saw that left turn with a direct heading I knew he was heading for an airport. Actually he was taking a direct route to Palau Langkawi a 13,000 foot strip with an approach over water at night with no obstacles. He did not turn back to Kuala Lampur because he knew he had 8,000 foot ridges to cross. He knew the terrain was friendlier towards Langkawi and also a shorter distance. Take a look on Google Earth at this airport. This pilot did all the right things. He was confronted by some major event onboard that made him make that immediate turn back to the closest safe airport. For me the loss of transponders and communications makes perfect sense if a fire. There was most likely a fire or electrical fire. In the case of fire the first response if to pull all the main busses and restore circuits one by one until you have isolated the bad one. If they pulled the busses the plane indeed would go silent. It was probably a serious event and they simply were occupied with controlling the plane and trying to fight the fire. Aviate, Navigate and lastly communicate. There are two types of fires. Electrical might not be as fast and furious and there might or might not be incapacitating smoke. However there is the possibility given the timeline that perhaps there was an overheat on one of the front landing gear tires and it blew on takeoff and started slowly burning. Yes this happens with underinflated tires. Remember heavy plane, hot night, sea level, long run takeoff. There was a well known accident in Nigeria of a DC8 that had a landing gear fire on takeoff. A tire fire once going would produce horrific incapacitating smoke. Yes, pilots have access to oxygen masks but this is a no no with fire. Most have access to a smoke hood with a filter but this will only last for a few minutes depending on the smoke level. (I used to carry one of my own in a flight bag and I still carry one in my briefcase today when I fly). What I think happened is that they were overcome by smoke and the plane just continued on the heading probably on George (autopilot) until either fuel exhaustion or fire destroyed the control surfaces and it crashed. I said four days ago you will find it along that route - looking elsewhere was pointless. This pilot, as I say, was a hero struggling with an impossible situation trying to get that plane to Langkawi. No doubt in my mind. That's the reason for the turn and direct route. A hijack would not have made that deliberate left turn with a direct heading for Langkawi. It would probably have weaved around a bit until the hijackers decided on where they were taking it. Surprisingly none of the reporters , officials, other pilots interviewed have looked at this from the pilot's viewpoint. If something went wrong where would he go? Thanks to Google earth I spotted Langkawi in about 30 seconds, zoomed in and saw how long the runway was and I just instinctively knew this pilot knew this airport. He had probably flown there many times. I guess we will eventually find out when you help me spread this theory on the net and some reporters finally take a look on Google earth and put 2 and 2 together. Also a look at the age and number of cycles on those nose tires might give us a good clue too. Fire in an aircraft demands one thing - you get the machine on the ground as soon as possible. There are two well remembered experiences in my memory. The AirCanada DC9 which landed I believe in Columbus Ohio in the eighties. That pilot delayed descent and bypassed several airports. He didn't instinctively know the closest airports. He got it on the ground eventually but lost 30 odd souls. In the 1998 crash of Swissair DC-10 off Nova Scotia was another example of heroic pilots. They were 15 minutes out of Halifax but the fire simply overcame them and they had to ditch in the ocean. Just ran out of time. That fire incidentally started when the aircraft was about an hour out of Kennedy. Guess what the transponders and communications were shut off as they pulled the busses. Get on Google Earth and type in Pulau Langkawi and then look at it in relation to the radar track heading. 2+2=4 That for me is the simple explanation why it turned and headed in that direction. Smart pilot. Just didn't have the time. If you are reading this the first time please read the two further comments containing corrections and additions to the above in the string of the comments below Thank you. 

– A veteran pilot's theory about what happened to Flight 370 dazzled the Internet yesterday, but aviation writer Jeff Wise is poking holes in it today at Slate. If you missed it, pilot Chris Goodfellow speculated at Google Plus that a fire aboard the missing Malaysian jet caused its disappearance. The pilots went off course deliberately to reach the nearest airport—on the island of Langkawi—but the smoke got to them before they could land, and the plane kept flying on its own over the ocean until it crashed. A world desperate for answers soaked it up, but Wise says the theory doesn't hold up when other facts about Flight 370 are considered. Specifically: "While it’s true that MH370 did turn toward Langkawi and wound up overflying it, whoever was at the controls continued to maneuver after that point as well," writes Wise. One subsequent waypoint picked up a sharp right turn and another a left turn. "Such vigorous navigating would have been impossible for unconscious men." A final electronic ping picked up from the plane put it on one of two paths, one over central Asia as far as Kazakhstan and the other out over the Indian Ocean. "As MH370 flew from its original course toward Langkawi, it was headed toward neither," writes Wise. "Without human intervention—which would go against Goodfellow’s theory—it simply could not have reached the position we know it attained" at 8:11am on March 8, the time of that last ping. The bottom line is that "Goodfellow's theory falls apart," writes Wise. Click for his full column. Or to read about how files are missing from the senior pilot's flight-simulator system.

Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images During the public debate over health care in 2009 and 2010, no matter how tightly you may have shut your door, there was one piece of information it was impossible to avoid: the president's promise that if you liked your doctor and your health care plan you would be able to keep it. If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” — President Obama, speech to the American Medical Association, June 15, 2009 (as the health-care law was being written.) When the president said if you like your insurance plan you can keep it, what he meant was you can keep it if he likes it. He explained to an aide: “If someone attacks us, it isn’t a foreign war, is it?” When his own son questioned his honesty, FDR replied: “If I don’t say I hate war, then people are going to think I don’t hate war. One of them is this NBC News story, which reports that “millions of Americans are getting or are about to get cancellation letters for their health insurance under Obamacare, say experts, and the Obama administration has known that for at least three years.” Critics of the law are right to ask whether it is having an adverse impact on these millions of Americans. The most famous presidential lies have to do with misconduct (Richard Nixon’s “I am not a crook” or Bill Clinton’s “I did not have sexual relations”) or war. After Obama made his speech before the AMA, the Associated Press ran a smart analysis — “Promises, Promises: Obama’s Health Plan Guarantee” — that demonstrated how it would be all but impossible for the president to keep that pledge. The list includes: ambulatory patient services; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care. “These estimates assume that the policies that terminate are replaced by new individual policies, and that these new policies are not, by definition, grandfathered,” the rules noted. It’s a subset of a larger Republican refusal to have an actual debate about the law’s tradeoffs — one in which the law’s benefits for millions of Americans are also reckoned with in a serious way. The matter at issue here only affects the 5 percent of the population that buys health care in the individual market, compared to the 80 percent who get health care through their companies.

– The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog does its thing with President Obama's much-criticized claim that "if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan, period." The verdict? Four Pinocchios, which happens to be the max. Though he might have been forgiven for such a grand proclamation while the bill was still being drafted, the president continued to make the claim even once the law had been signed and its potential impact on insurance plans was clear, writes Glenn Kessler. Further, the law's design purposefully quashes "substandard" plans that the Americans on them certainly might like, in no small part because they can be cheap. So Kessler amends the president's infamous line: "If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan—if we deem it to be adequate." Other pundits are also weighing in: What Obama "meant was you can keep it if he likes it," echoes Holman Jenkins in the Wall Street Journal. The bottom line, for Jenkins: "He wants you to pay for coverage you'll never use (mental-health services, cancer wigs, fertility treatments, Viagra) so the money can be spent on somebody else." "The GOP outrage about Americans supposedly 'losing' coverage is largely just more of the same old misdirection," writes Greg Sargent in the Washington Post. "It’s a subset of a larger Republican refusal to have an actual debate about the law’s tradeoffs—one in which the law’s benefits for millions of Americans are also reckoned with in a serious way." Jonah Goldberg says Obama's statement "looks like the biggest lie about domestic policy ever uttered by a US president." The question, writes Goldberg at National Review Online, is whether "he was simply 'playing to win' and therefore lying on purpose" or whether he actually believed his own spin. "The president's message about his signature law has always been: It gets better, I promise," writes John Dickerson at Slate. "That was always an uphill battle. The benefits of the law were strung out over time, making it harder for people to recognize a payoff. 'Trust me' claims clash with people's mistrust of politicians and government programs."