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Mark Wahlberg is excited about "Transformers 4" Mark Wahlberg has worked with Paul Thomas Anderson, David O. Russell and Martin Scorsese, but it's the chance to star with Optimus Prime that has him excited at the moment. "I'm thinking this is the most important role of my career and I can do something really special," Wahlberg told Coming Soon about his participation in Michael Bay's "Transformers 4." Wahlberg and Bay worked together on the black comedy "Pain & Gain" and were going to make another film together. That project was jettisoned, however, when the pair decided "Transformers 4" would be the right fit. "Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on 'Pain and Gain' and I'm so fired up to be back working with him," Bay said in a statement on his website in November. "An actor of his caliber is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the 'Transformers' legacy." According to Wahlberg, the idea of doing a "Transformers" reboot is what appealed to him most. "I loved the idea and I think we can make something really cool and kick-ass," he told Coming Soon. "This is not something where it's already established and I'm just in there to get a paycheck." Original cast members like Shia LaBeouf, who appeared in three "Transformers" films, will not return to "Transformers 4." "Transformers 4" is due in theaters on June 27, 2014. To find out how Wahlberg's children feel about his new job, head over to Coming Soon. [via Coming Soon] ||||| Last month, Mark Wahlberg officially landed a role in Transformers 4 . ComingSoon.net caught up with the star at a press junket for his upcoming Broken City and talked a bit about his hopes for the franchise reboot."I'm really excited about 'Transformers,'" Wahlberg says. "Michael Bay and I just did 'Pain & Gain' and we had such a good time making it. He came to me and said, 'I'm kind of doing a whole different reboot on 'Transformers.' Are you interested?' I said, 'Yeah, I'll do it!'. I loved the idea and I think we can make something really cool and kick-ass. This is not something where it's already established and I'm just in there to get a paycheck. I'm thinking this is the most important role of my career and I can do something really special."The current plan is for Transformers 4 to shoot in May and see a release on June 27, 2014. Adding to Wahlberg's excitement is the anticipation from a very specific demographic."It's the only time my kids have ever been interested in a movie I'm making," he laughs.Check back soon for the full video interview and catch Broken City , directed by Allen Hughes, in theaters on January 18.(Photo Credit: Anneke Ruys / WENN.com)

– Mark Wahlberg—who, the Huffington Post points out, has worked with people like Martin Scorsese—thinks his most important role ever is ... Transformers 4. "This is not something where it's already established and I'm just in there to get a paycheck," an apparently very enthusiastic Wahlberg said in a recent interview with ComingSoon.net. "I'm thinking this is the most important role of my career and I can do something really special." He added that Michael Bay told him the film will be "a whole different reboot" on the only-recently-rebooted franchise. It's expected to be out in 2014.

Giant panda no longer 'endangered' but iconic species still at risk Giant panda eating bamboo in Sichuan province In a welcome piece of good news for the world’s threatened wildlife, the giant panda has just been downgraded from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Vulnerable’ on the global list of species at risk of extinction, demonstrating how an integrated approach can help save our planet’s vanishing biodiversity.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced the positive change to the giant panda’s official status in the Red List of Threatened Species, pointing to the 17 per cent rise in the population in the decade up to 2014, when a nationwide census found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild in China.“For over fifty years, the giant panda has been the globe’s most beloved conservation icon as well as the symbol of WWF. Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats,” said Marco Lambertini, WWF Director General.“The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity,” added Lambertini.While the panda’s status has improved, other species are under increasing threat, including the Eastern gorilla, which is now listed as critically endangered primarily due to poaching.WWF’s panda logo was designed by the organisation’s founding chairman, the naturalist and painter Sir Peter Scott in 1961. Twenty years later, WWF became the first international organisation to work in China.Ever since, WWF has been working with the government on initiatives to save giant pandas and their habitat, including helping to establish an integrated network of giant panda reserves and wildlife corridors to connect isolated panda populations as well as working with local communities to develop sustainable livelihoods and minimise their impact on the forests.These efforts have seen the number of panda reserves jump to 67, which now protect nearly two-thirds of all wild pandas. They have also helped to safeguard large swathes of mountainous bamboo forests, which shelter countless other species and provide natural services to vast numbers of people, including tens of millions who live alongside rivers downstream of panda habitat.“This reclassification recognises decades of successful conservation efforts led by the Chinese government and demonstrates that investment in the conservation of iconic species like giant pandas does pay off – and benefits our society as well as species,” said Lo Sze Ping, CEO WWF-China.“Everyone should celebrate this achievement but pandas remain scattered and vulnerable, and much of their habitat is threatened by poorly-planned infrastructure projects – and remember: there are still only 1,864 left in the wild.”After decades of work, it is clear that only a broad approach will be able to secure the long term survival of China’s giant pandas and their unique habitat, made even harder by climate change impacts. It will require even greater government investment, stronger partnerships with local communities and a wider understanding of the importance for people of conserving wildlife and the landscapes in which they live ||||| (CNN) There's mixed news in the animal kingdom, as one beloved species celebrates increased numbers and another slips closer to extinction. These developments come from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species , which assesses a species' conservation status. First, the good news: The giant panda is no longer an endangered species Thanks to an increase in available habitat, the population of the giant panda rose 17% from 2004 to 2014, leading the IUCN to downgrade it from endangered to vulnerable. A nationwide census in 2014 found 1,864 giant pandas in the wild in China, up from 1,596 in 2004, the IUCN said in its report on the animal. Revered in Chinese culture, the giant panda was once widespread throughout southern China. Since the 1970s, it has been the focus of one of the most intensive, high-profile campaigns to recover an endangered species, after a census by the Chinese government found around 2,459 pandas in the world -- proof of its precarious position, according to the World Wildlife Fund Giant panda cub Nuan Nuan lives at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur. China banned trading panda skins in 1981, and the enactment of the 1988 Wildlife Protection Law banned poaching and conferred the highest protected status to the animal. The creation of a panda reserve system in 1992 increased available habitats; today, there are 67 reserves in the country that protect 67% of the population and nearly 1.4 million hectares of habitat. Meanwhile, partnerships between the Chinese government and international conservation nongovernmental organizations and zoos have spread research, conservation and breeding efforts. Zoo Atlanta announced Saturday that 19-year-old Lun Lun, originally from China's Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, had given birth to twins The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's reforestation and forest protection efforts are working, the IUCN said. But climate change still threatens to eliminate more than 35% of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years; hence the "vulnerable" designation, which means it's still at risk of extinction. "The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity," said WWF Director General Marco Lambertini. Now, the bad news: The eastern gorilla is critically endangered Eastern gorillas populate the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda and southwest Uganda, making them another victim of the region's civil wars. Hunting of eastern gorillas, fueled by the spread of firearms, has led to a population decline of more than 70% in the past 20 years for the world's largest living primate, the IUCN said. The eastern gorilla population, made up of two subspecies, is estimated to be fewer than 5,000, bumping it from endangered to critically endangered. One of those subspecies, Grauer's gorilla, lost 77% of its population since 1994, declining from 16,900 individuals to just 3,800 in 2015, the IUCN said. The second subspecies, the mountain gorilla, is faring better, increasing its number to around 880 individuals, reversing a decline that began in 1996. The mountain gorilla, seen here, is doing better than its counterpart, the Grauer's gorilla. The change in status means four of six great apes are critically endangered, the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan. The chimpanzee and bonobo are considered endangered. In the past 20 years, Grauer's gorillas have been severely affected by human activities, the victim of poaching for bushmeat for those working in mining camps and for commercial trade, the IUCN said. "This illegal hunting has been facilitated by a proliferation of firearms resulting from widespread insecurity in the region," said the IUCN in a report on the animal . "This rate of population loss is almost three times above that which qualifies a species as critically endangered." Additional threats include habitat loss and degradation through agricultural and pastoral activities in DRC, along with extraction of resources, which puts added stress on natural habitats. Illegal mining has decimated the lowlands of Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a Grauer's gorilla habitat. Destruction of forest for timber, charcoal production and agriculture continues to threaten isolated gorilla populations in North Kivu and the Itombwe Massif.

– The animal on the World Wildlife Fund's logo now represents a rare and very welcome environmental success story. The group says the giant panda has been bumped down a notch in the Red List of Threatened Species and is now classed as "vulnerable" instead of "endangered," with 1,864 of them believed to be in the wild as of 2014, up 17% from a decade earlier. "Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats,” says WWF Director General Marco Lambertini, praising the panda's recovery as an example of what can happen when "science, political will, and engagement of local communities come together." But while there is hope for the panda the news from elsewhere isn't so bright, with the eastern lowland gorilla moving from endangered to critically endangered because of poaching and civil war in the eastern Congo, CNN reports. The Grauer's gorilla subspecies has declined from 1994 16,900 individuals to only around 3,800 today, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warns. Still, the WWF hopes the panda success story, which it says involved work with local communities to develop sustainable livelihoods and the creation of protected forest reserves connected by corridors, will serve as an inspiration to conservation efforts elsewhere. (California's island foxes have made an amazing comeback.)

Image copyright EPA/ Yulia Skripal/Facebook Image caption Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are in a critical condition in hospital Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia, Theresa May has told MPs. The PM said it was "highly likely" Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack. The Foreign Office summoned Russia's ambassador to provide an explanation. Mrs May said if there is no "credible response" by the end of Tuesday, the UK would conclude there has been an "unlawful use of force" by Moscow. The chemical used in the attack, the PM said, has been identified as one of a group of nerve agents known as Novichok. Mrs May said: "Either this was a direct action by the Russian state against our country, or the Russian government lost control of its potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Theresa May: Spy poisoned by "military-grade nerve agent" She said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had told the ambassador Moscow must provide "full and complete disclosure" of the Novichok programme to international body the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Mrs May said the UK must stand ready to take much more extensive measures, and these would be set out in the Commons on Wednesday should there be no adequate explanation from Russia. Retired military intelligence officer Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33, were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre on Sunday 4 March. They remain in a critical but stable condition in hospital. Det Sgt Nick Bailey, who fell ill attending the pair, remains seriously ill, but has been talking to his family. Mr Skripal was convicted by the Russian government of passing secrets to MI6 in 2004, but given refuge in the UK in 2010 as part of a "spy swap". Home Secretary Amber Rudd will chair a meeting of the government emergency committee Cobra on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments in the case. What are Novichok agents? Image copyright PA Image caption Investigators removed a vehicle from a village near Salisbury on Monday The name means "newcomer" in Russian, and applies to a group of advanced nerve agents developed in secret by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s One chemical - called A-230 - is reportedly five to eight times more toxic than VX nerve agent, which can kill a person within minutes Some are liquids, others are thought to exist in solid form. Some are reported to be "binary weapons", meaning they are typically stored as two less toxic chemicals which when mixed, react to produce the more toxic agent One variant was reportedly approved for use by the Russian military as a chemical weapon Designed to escape detection by international inspectors, their existence was revealed by defectors Read more on Novichok and what it can do Addressing the Commons following a meeting of the government's National Security Council, Mrs May said: "This attempted murder using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town was not just a crime against the Skripals. "It was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk." She told MPs the positive identification of this chemical agent was made by experts at the UK's Porton Down laboratory. She said Russia has previously produced the agent and would still be capable of doing so. The decision to point the finger at Moscow was also based on "Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations", the PM added. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jeremy Corbyn urges action - but criticises the Tories for taking donations from "Russian oligarchs" Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said "robust dialogue" with Russia was needed to avoid escalating tensions further - but he was heckled by Tory MPs when he raised questions about Russian oligarchs donating money to the Conservatives. 'Circus show' Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US agreed with the UK that Russia was likely to be behind the attack. "We agree that those responsible - both those who committed the crime and those who ordered it - must face appropriately serious consequences," he added. "We stand in solidarity with our allies in the United Kingdom and will continue to coordinate closely our responses." Mrs May spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and "discussed the wide pattern of aggressive Russian behaviour and agreed that it would be important to continue to act in concert with allies to address it", her spokesman said. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the use of any nerve agent was "horrendous and completely unacceptable" and officials were in touch with the UK. Downing Street said the incident was not an "article five" matter - a reference to Nato rules which say an attack on one member constitutes an attack on all. However, the former UK National Security Adviser Lord Ricketts said action would be more effective with a "broader, Nato-EU solidarity behind us". He added: "We can't out-punch Putin... But we can take a stand and we can invite others to join us." Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Vladimir Putin is challenged by the BBC over the Skripal poisoning Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Mrs May's statement was "a circus show in the British parliament". "The conclusion is obvious - it's another information and political campaign based on provocation," she said. Earlier, asked whether Russia was to blame, President Vladimir Putin told the BBC: "Get to the bottom of things there, then we'll discuss this." BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says the tone of the meeting between Boris Johnson and the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko was "cool but firm". She says the men did not shake hands and the foreign secretary expressed the "outrage" of the British public. What will the PM do next? By James Landale, diplomatic correspondent Theresa May could have thrown the kitchen sink at Russia, expelling diplomats, toughening sanctions, and cracking down on oligarchs who keep their cash in London. Instead, the PM has chosen a staged response, throwing down an ultimatum to the Kremlin to explain what happened or face the consequences. The argument she was making was that this attack crossed a line, that it was not the sort of thing that sometimes happens to old spies in the darker underbelly of the intelligence world, but instead it was part of a pattern of Russian aggression from which other countries have also suffered. The question now is what action Mrs May will be prepared to take on Wednesday once Russia has responded, or perhaps failed to respond. The key will be the scale of the international co-operation she can secure. For it is one thing to crack down on wealthy Russians in London, but it is another to secure united international action against Moscow. This is a tougher ask, particularly when President Trump has yet to comment on the Salisbury attack and many European partners are looking to soften existing sanctions against Russia. Mrs May is promising "extensive measures" - the question will be whether they will be enough to make the Kremlin think twice. Police and Army activity continued in the Salisbury area on Monday, with officers - some wearing hazardous materials suits - removing a white van from the village of Winterslow, about six miles away. A Sainsbury's car park has become the latest area to be sealed off in the city itself. Mrs May said the people of Salisbury had responded with "fortitude and calmness", but there was some concern among residents about the length of time it had taken for information to be released. On Sunday, up to 500 Salisbury pub-goers and diners were told to wash their possessions as a precaution after trace amounts of the substance used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found on and around a table where they had eaten in Zizzi. Traces were also found at the Mill pub in the city which, like Zizzi, remains closed. Graham Mulcock, who saw the Skripals being treated by paramedics in the street, said it was a "disappointment" that advice which "might affect people" was not released sooner. Former chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, said he had also been a "little surprised" that communication with the public had been "slow to get off the ground". Meanwhile, a man from Salisbury who breached the cordon around the bench where Mr Skripal and his daughter were found has been jailed for 16 weeks. Father-of-three Jamie Knight, 30, who pleaded guilty to assault, criminal damage and racially aggravated public disorder, was said to have been drunk when he shouted out abusive remarks about Russians, Swindon Magistrates' Court was told. ||||| Military personnel in College Street Car Park in Salisbury, Sunday March 11, 2018, as police and members of the armed forces probe the suspected nerve agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal,... (Associated Press) Military personnel in College Street Car Park in Salisbury, Sunday March 11, 2018, as police and members of the armed forces probe the suspected nerve agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, which took place on Sunday March 4. British health authorities said Sunday that small traces of... (Associated Press) LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain (all times local): 5:10 p.m. British Prime Minister Theresa May says the Russian ex-spy poisoned in England was exposed to a military-grade nerve agent of type produced by Russia May told lawmakers during an address in parliament on Monday it was "highly likely' Russia was responsible for poisoning Sergei Skripal, the former Russian military intelligence officer who was convicted of spying for Britain. May says Russia's ambassador to the U.K. has been summoned to explain how a Russian nerve agent turned up in Salisbury, the English city where Skripal and his adult daughter were sickened. The British prime minister says if Moscow is proven to be behind the poisoning, her government will consider it an "unlawful use of force" by Russia. ___ 2:20 p.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin says Britain should figure out what happened to ex-spy Sergei Skripal before blaming the poisoning on Russia. Asked by a British reporter in southern Russia if Russia was behind the poisoning, Putin said in comments carried by Russian news wires on Monday: "You first get to the bottom of things over there, and after that we can discuss it." Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence officer who was convicted of spying in Britain and released from prison as part of a spy swap. He and his daughter remain in critical condition following the March 4 nerve agent attack in England. Authorities haven't said what nerve agent was used. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to update lawmakers later Monday on the case. ___ 11:40 a.m. The Kremlin has rejected suggestions that it might be behind the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter that has left them in critical condition. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, told reporters that Sergei Skripal worked for British intelligence and was poisoned on British soil, and therefore the incident "has nothing to do with Russia, let alone the Russian leadership." Peskov also said the Kremlin has not heard any official statements of Russian involvement. Earlier Monday, senior British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat told the BBC the March 4 poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia is looking "like it was state-sponsored attempted murder." The British prime minister is chairing a National Security Council meeting later on Monday to hear the latest evidence. ___ 9:10 a.m. A senior British lawmaker says the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter is "looking awfully like it was state-sponsored attempted murder." Tom Tugendhat told the BBC it is still too early to be absolutely certain. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee said he would be "surprised" if Prime Minister Theresa May does not end up blaming Russian officials for the attack. He says the announcement may come soon. May is chairing a National Security Council meeting Monday to hear the latest evidence. Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in critical condition following the March 4 nerve agent attack. Officials have not said what nerve agent was used or who is to blame. The 66-year-old Skripal worked for Russian military intelligence before he was recruited to spy for Britain.

– The Russian ex-spy poisoned in England was exposed to a military-grade nerve agent of a type produced by Russia, says British Prime Minister Theresa May. May told lawmakers during an address in parliament on Monday it was "highly likely' Russia was responsible for poisoning Sergei Skripal, the former Russian military intelligence officer who was convicted of spying for Britain, reports the AP. May says Russia's ambassador to the UK has been summoned to explain how a Russian nerve agent turned up in Salisbury, the English city where Skripal and his adult daughter were sickened. The BBC indicates May suggests Russian culpability: for either being behind the poisoning or "losing control" of a dose of nerve agent. The British prime minister says if Moscow is proven to be behind the poisoning, her government will consider it an "unlawful use of force" by Russia. Hours earlier, President Vladimir Putin had been asked by a British reporter in southern Russia if Russia was behind the poisoning. His response: "You first get to the bottom of things over there, and after that we can discuss it." Skripal and his daughter remain in critical condition following the March 4 nerve agent attack in England. Authorities still haven't specified which nerve agent was used.

Sarah Palin is ready for the next chapter of her publishing career. FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2010 file photo, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks to the crowd at a campaign rally for Texas Gov. Rick Perry in Cypress, Texas. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (Associated Press) Publisher HarperCollins announced Wednesday that the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate is working on a "celebration of American virtues and strengths." The book is currently untitled and no release date has been set. Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue," released last fall by HarperCollins, has sold more than 2 million copies. Her new work will "include selections from classic and contemporary readings that have inspired her, as well as portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her love of country, faith, and family," the publisher's statement reads. "She will also draw from her personal experience to amplify these timely _ and timeless_ themes." In an e-mail Wednesday, HarperCollins publisher Jonathan Burnham said that "a number of ideas and concepts" were explored with Palin. "This is the idea which appealed the most to her," he said, adding that she is currently "gathering ideas and identifying favorite texts and examples." Burnham declined comment on financial terms. As with "Going Rogue," Palin was represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, whose clients include President Obama and former President George W. Bush. ||||| Sarah Palin's quest to become the white, thin, Alaskan, conservative, near-sighted Oprah continues: She's shopping around a show with reality TV heavy Mark Burnett. Also, Sarah Palin is starting on her next book. What are these things? Take the quiz! Sarah Palin just made her comedy debut. And it appears she took Richard's advice and went out and got her own show. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that she has teamed up with British reality TV producer Mark Burnett (producer of Survivor and The Apprentice) to develop a TV show. Yesterday, she met with Fox, today she met with CBS and tomorrow she's got a meeting with NBC's TV Chairman Jeff Gaspin himself. So, readers, is this TV show: a.) My Alaska, an expansive documentary about the myriad plants, animals and native peoples who call the Alaskan tundra their home—and the beautiful oil they are inconveniently sitting on top of. b.) Can You Deny Global Warming Harder Than a Fifth Grader?, a game-show which pits normal Americans against fifth graders in a contest to see who can better ignore overwhelming scientific evidence. c.) In the Womb, a sit-com about a fetus and its heartwarming quest to convince its heartless mother it deserves not to be aborted. d.) A yet-untitled "TV docudrama about Alaska," which one source tells EW will be a "planet-Earth type look' at Palin's home state." (Answer: d.) But that's not all! Perhaps you've heard of Palin's best-selling book, Going Rogue? Turns out, it sold a lot of copies and made lots of money. Now, USA Today reports that Palin is working on her second book for HarperCollins. There is no release date. Is this book: a) A new English translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, which Palin decided to embark on after finding Seamus Heaney's landmark 1999 translation "weak-willed and, frankly, derivative." b) An indie graphic novel which uses sparse, black-and-white panels to interweave the stories of a 19th century Alaska homesteader, a Wasilla beauty queen from the 1970s, and the modern-day Wesleyan comparative literature professor obsessed with tracing the connections between them. c) Going Rogue II: Going Even Roguer, a sequel to Going Rogue, which details the harrowing four months since the first Going Rogue came out. d) An untitled "celebration of American virtues and strengths," which HarperCollins says will "include selections from classic and contemporary readings that have inspired her, as well as portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her love of country, faith, and family." (Answer: d.) If you got both answers right: Congratulations! You're not an idiot!

– With 2 million copies sold, and Going Rogue still on bestseller lists, Sarah Palin is already working on another book, the AP reports. The untitled, release-date-TBA work will be a “celebration of American virtues and strengths” and “include selections from classic and contemporary readings that have inspired her, as well as portraits of some of the extraordinary men and women she admires and who embody her love of country, faith, and family,” the HarperCollins statement reads. Gawker has some alternate suggestions: A new translation of Beowulf, embarked upon after Palin found “Seamus Heaney's landmark 1999 translation ‘weak-willed and, frankly, derivative,’” writes Adrian Chen. “An indie graphic novel which uses sparse, black-and-white panels to interweave the stories of a 19th century Alaska homesteader, a Wasilla beauty queen from the 1970s, and the modern-day Wesleyan comparative literature professor obsessed with tracing the connections between them.” "Going Rogue II: Going Even Roguer, which details the harrowing four months since the first Going Rogue came out." Chen also has a few ideas about Palin’s upcoming TV project—to read those, click here.

Monday morning, while teasing a report on Nicolas Sarkozy’s defeat in the French national election, MSNBC mistakenly labeled the outgoing French president a “prostitute” when the wrong graphic appeared over video of him speaking. The mistaken chryon read: “The Prostitute Speaks,” presumably referring to the Colombian prostitute who spoke to the Today Show about her Secret Service ordeal. Check out the flub, via MSNBC: Please enable Javascript to watch. (H/T Huffington Post) ||||| MSNBC used the wrong graphic for footage of French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday, airing a chyron that read "Prostitute Speaks." The network made the flub one day after Sarkozy lost the presidential election to Socialist candidate François Hollande. The misplaced graphic was presumably for a story about the woman at the center of the Secret Service prostitution scandal in Colombia. The network apologized for the mistake on Monday. A spokesperson said, “MSNBC regrets the error and we apologize to President Sarkozy and our viewers.” PHOTO (via The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins): Related on HuffPost:

– As if Nicolas Sarkozy wasn’t already having a bad enough day, now he’s been accidentally dubbed a hooker. Mediaite and the Huffington Post spotted the flub by MSNBC, which previewed a report on Sarkozy’s defeat with video of the soon-to-be former president speaking. Except the chryon that appeared over the video read, “Prostitute Speaks.” Either MSNBC used a graphic meant for the Secret Service prostitution scandal, or the network knows something we don’t about Sarkozy…

Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| As I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night. The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing. ||||| "The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Sarah Sanders clarifies Syria strike photo tweet White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended a Saturday night tweet from her official account, saying the message, which contained an official photo of President Donald Trump and his team being "briefed" on Syria, is not misleading. "It’s from Thursday meeting when he was briefed on Syria," Sanders said in an email to POLITICO. "So no, not misleading at all." Story Continued Below The missile strike on Syria occurred Friday night. On Saturday night, she tweeted the photo from her @PressSec account and wrote: “Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it." Sanders herself clarified the tweet on Sunday: "As I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night," she wrote on Twitter. "The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing." Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria - Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead) pic.twitter.com/GzOSejdqQh — Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) April 15, 2018 On Saturday and Sunday, White House reporters pondered whether the tweet was misleading and pointed out that Vice President Mike Pence, who is seated to the right of the president in the photo, was in Peru during the strike. "Friday night @VP was off to Peru. @nikkihaley was in NY for UN," NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "@PressSec appeared to be wearing this striped blouse at Wednesday's briefing so this behind the scenes photo in Situation Room likely not taken 'last night' as tweet suggests but earlier in week." O'Donnell later added that she had spoken with Sanders, who told her that the photo was from Thursday. "This is a photo from a briefing earlier in the week because Pence was in Peru on Friday when Trump ordered the strikes in Syria," added Phillip Rucker, White House bureau chief for The Washington Post. Shortly after the joint airstrikes against Syria on Friday night, the French presidential Twitter account published a photo of Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by advisers, watching the strikes on Syrian targets, along with a stern message outlining their response. The image was reminiscent of the photo that was taken during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, showing President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top national security officials inside the White House Situation Room watching a live video feed of U.S. special forces carrying out the mission.

– White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted a photo Saturday that appeared to show President Trump directing missile strikes from the Situation Room on Friday, but sharp-eyed observers noticed something unusual: The caption read "Last night the President put our adversaries on notice," but Vice President Mike Pence was in the photo, even though he was in Peru when the attack took place. "Fascinating tweet in which Sarah Sanders reveals that Mike Pence was simultaneously in Peru and Washington," said former Office of Government Ethics chief Walter Shaub, per the Guardian. "If this new capability doesn’t scare our enemies, nothing will." Sanders clarified Sunday that the photo had not been taken Friday night. "I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night," she tweeted. "The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing." She tells Politico—which notes that the photo was reminiscent of the image of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and other senior officials during the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden—that the Situation Room photo was "not misleading at all."

High temperatures over Pakistan and India on Monday, in Celsius. (ogimet.com via @EKMeteo on Twitter) On Monday, a city in the southern part of Pakistan soared to 122.4 degrees (50.2 Celsius). This might just be the highest temperature ever reliably measured on the planet during April. The temperature was observed in the city of Nawabshah, which has a population of 1.1 million and is about 120 miles from the Indian Ocean. Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist at Meteo France, posted the observation on Twitter. Kapikian’s tweet said that it was the warmest April temperature ever recorded in Pakistan and for the entire Asian continent. Christopher Burt, an expert on global weather extremes, went a step further. In an email he said it probably was also the highest temperature “yet reliably observed on Earth in modern records.” The competing hottest April temperature of 123.8 degrees (51.0 Celsius) set in Santa Rosa, Mexico, in April 2001, is “of dubious reliability,” Burt said. We may never be able to say definitively that Nawabshah’s 122.4 degrees is a world April record because the World Meteorological Organization does not conduct official reviews of such monthly temperature extremes. But Randy Cerveny, who serves as rapporteur for the agency’s committee on extreme records, said that he would trust Burt’s take. “He’s pretty thorough about those things,” Cerveny said in an email. This is the second straight month in which Nawabshah has set a new monthly temperature record for Pakistan. In late March, a heat wave pushed the temperature there to a national record of 113.9 degrees for the month. Several other countries in Asia also established March record highs during the hot spell from the 29th to the 31st. April’s heat wave, coming just 30 days later, resulted from a sprawling heat dome centered over the northern Indian Ocean. American (GFS) model simulation of heat dome over northern Indian Ocean on Monday. (TropicalTidBits.com) The Dawn newspaper described the heat around Nawabshah as “unbearable” and said heatstroke “caused dozens of people to faint.” Pakistan Today reported that the demand for electricity had exceeded generation resulting in “unannounced outages” that exacerbated the heat’s effects due to a lack of air conditioning. The heat had also spread over India. The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported the temperature reached 107.6 in New Delhi on Monday. A weather model analysis showed that Monday’s temperatures over southern Pakistan were up to 25 degrees warmer than normal. American (GFS) model temperature difference from normal over Pakistan and India on Monday. (WeatherBell.com) A separate dome of hot air, which bubbled over central and eastern Russia over the weekend, pushed the temperature to 94.6 degrees Sunday in the village of Poltavka, near the border with Kazakhstan. Burt said it was the warmest April temperature ever measured in the Asian part of Russia. The record-setting 122.4 degree reading in Nawabshah adds to a long list of international hot weather extremes since 2017, which includes Spain’s and Iran’s highest temperatures ever recorded last summer. In May 2017, the western town of Turbat in Pakistan hit 128.3 degrees, tying the all-time highest temperature in that country and the world-record temperature for that month, Weather Underground’s Jeff Masters reported. As concentrations of heat-trapping gases continue to build in the atmosphere due to human activity, the expectation is for an increase in the intensity, frequency and duration of hot weather. ||||| 🌡️🔥Exceptionnel 50.2°C à Nawabshah au #Pakistan ce lundi 30/04/2018, #RECORD national de chaleur pour un mois d'avr… https://t.co/nflea4wdGw — Etienne Kapikian (@EKMeteo) 1525097056000 NEW DELHI: In news that should give global warming naysayers pause, the town of Nawabshah in Pakistan 's Sindh province may just have endured the highest ever temperature for April in recorded times.Temperatures soared to 50.2 degrees C, or 122.4 degrees F, in Nawabshah in southern Pakistan on Monday, April 30.One of the first people to draw attention to this record was French meteorologist Etienne Kapikian. He said it was the hottest April temperature ever recorded in Pakistan and that was a new record for the entire Asian continent as well.Pakistan Meteorological Department also confirmed to a Pakistani news outlet, Geo News, that the temperature in Nawabshah on April 30 was indeed the highest ever recorded in Pakistan in the month.This is the second straight month in which Nawabshah has set a new monthly temperature record for Pakistan, said Geo. In March, temperatures in Nawabshah touched a national record of 45.5 degrees C, said The Express Tribune of Pakistan."There was a 51 degree Celsius reading reported from Santa Rosa, Mexico, in April 2011, but this figure is considered of dubious reliability, so yes, the 50.2 degree Celsius reading is likely the hottest April temperature yet reliably observed on Earth in modern records," said weather historian Christopher Burt to web site Earther.comThe sizzling heat took a toll on the residents."The unbearable heat forced people to remain indoors throughout the day. Roads and markets wore a deserted look and business activities came to a halt. The worst sufferers of heatstroke were labourers and motorcyclists," reported Pakistani newspaper Dawn.Most scientists agree that rising temperatures signal global warming."Human-caused global warming will increase the danger as heat waves become hotter, longer, and more frequent," said a report earlier this month on US climate portal Climate.gov.

– A city in southern Pakistan was the absolute hottest destination in April—and by "hottest," we're talking temps, not trends. In fact, Nawabshah registered the highest reliably documented temperature in the month of April ever, anywhere on the planet, per the New York Times, which noted the city hit 122.4 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday. "The unbearable heat forced people to remain indoors throughout the day. Roads and markets wore a deserted look and business activities came to a halt," a Pakistani newspaper reported, via the Times of India. The problem here is that there's no governing organization keeping tabs on monthly temperatures globally, so record temps in this category are often based on meteorologist consensus. There's another contender for the top spot: Santa Rosa, NM, once saw an April temperature of 123.8 degrees, but a weather expert cited by both the Times and Washington Post says that record was of "dubious reliability" because the temperature wasn't recorded at an official World Meteorological Organization weather station. A high-pressure "heat dome" over the Indian Ocean is to blame for the current heat wave in Pakistan.

PLAINFIELD (WTHR) - A deadly bite may be to blame for a Central Indiana toddler going from perfectly healthy to dangerously sick, in just one week. That two-year-old girl from Plainfield died Sunday. Her family suspects she was infected with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever after getting bitten by a tick. "She was the light of their life,” said family friend Monica Kirby. Kenley Ratliff spent most of her young life wearing a huge smile and sharing a bright presence. But she spent her final days covered in tubes, in and out of the hospital. She went from healthy to dangerously sick in a week. "Yes, within less than like five days,” Kirby said. "Her little body couldn't handle it." Family members suspect the two-year-old died from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It's a rare, tick-borne illness that's on the rise in Indiana. The Indiana Department of Health reports 30 cases in 2015 and 40 in 2016. If not treated right away with antibiotics, there is a high death rate associated with the disease. Testing will confirm if that's what killed Kenley early Sunday morning at Riley Hospital. Family says that will take two weeks. "it's unimaginable. Words can't express what they're going through right now,” Kirby said. Grieving family asked Kirby to speak on their behalf, to warn about the illness that seemingly, suddenly took their daughter. They say she'd gone camping recently and then the sickness started. "Strep throat is what she initially tested positive for. Then she goes home and gets a nearly 104 degree fever. And they just couldn't break it,” Kirby said. "They're wanting to raise awareness for others, so this doesn't happen to them." "I've gotten more phone calls this year about ticks than I have the last two or three years,” said Jim Erwin, biologist with the Marion County Health Department. “Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever could start with a fever. It could be a rash. There are other flu-like symptoms associated with it. It can be very dangerous, for sure.” Experts say this could be an especially dangerous year for ticks in Indiana and across the Midwest. A warmer winter likely impacted the tick population, which can carry Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. They say families, especially children, need to take precautions when outdoors. "You'd use a product with DEET in it. It would be a repellent. You'd want to make sure you spray your pant leg, down low, because that's where the ticks are. They're going to be in the grasses, especially higher grasses, maybe knee-high,” Erwin explained. He says the spray should contain 20 to 30 percent DEET for proper protection. He also says you should treat your yard, to act as a barrier between your home and wooded or high-grass areas. It’s all to protect against a deadly bite that may have taken the life of this Indiana toddler. "They loved her more than life itself...and just...it's like she was an angel here on earth,” Kirby said. A fund has been set up to help the family pay for medical expenses. Click here for tips to protect yourself and your kids from tick bites. ||||| A virus carried by ticks is spreading, and could become a major public health concern. A virus carried by ticks is spreading, and could become a major public health concern. New tick-borne virus worse than Lyme may be spreading New tick-borne virus worse than Lyme may be spreading The family wants to get the message out to other families that they should always check for ticks. (Source: Kayla Conn/WISH/CNN) INDIANAPOLIS (WISH/CNN) – Friends and family of a 2-year-old in Indiana who died of what doctors believe was a tick-borne disease want to make sure other families always check for ticks. Kenley Ratliff, 2, died Saturday after she had been at the hospital for several days following a high fever that wouldn’t go down. Doctors had been treating the little girl for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a tick-borne disease which causes a bacterial infection. The 2-year-old had a brain infection, swollen hands and rashes all over her body. "She had purple rashes, splotches all over her body in an ununiform pattern, just all over, little tiny purple spots, big purple patches,” family friend Nichol Kirby said. Kenley was admitted to the hospital Tuesday after her high fever didn’t break. She was given an antibiotic and placed on a breathing tube while doctors tried to diagnose her, Kirby says. "Just the condition of this poor baby laying there the way she was, it's a mother's nightmare, a father's nightmare,” Kirby said. Before being admitted to the hospital, the 2-year-old was taken to the emergency room twice for strep throat then released. Kirby says the doctors were treating what they finally diagnosed as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever as best they could. "Her mother and father cannot believe that she is gone, that their baby girl is gone now,” Kirby said. Kenley loved spending time outdoors with her family, Kirby says. If she was bitten by a tick, the family is not sure where it may have happened. Kirby says Kenley’s mother just wants to get the message out there to other families to always check for ticks. "She would be devastated to see this happen to anyone else, and I think she would just want everyone to know how much she loved her baby girl. That was her angel,” Kirby said. The family is currently waiting for autopsy results to confirm if it was a tick bite that caused the 2-year-old’s death. Copyright 2017 WISH, Kayla Conn via CNN. All rights reserved. ||||| Early signs and symptoms are not specific to RMSF (including fever and headache). However, the disease can rapidly progress to a serious and life-threatening illness. See your health care provider if you become ill after having been bitten by a tick or having been in the woods or in areas with high brush where ticks commonly live. Signs and symptoms can include: Fever Headache Rash Nausea Vomiting Stomach pain Muscle pain Lack of appetite Rash Figure 1. Late stage rash in a patient with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Rash is a common sign in people who are sick with RMSF. Rash usually develops 2-4 days after fever begins. The look of the rash can vary widely over the course of illness. Some rashes can look like red splotches and some look like pinpoint dots. While almost all patients with RMSF will develop a rash, it often does not appear early in illness, which can make RMSF difficult to diagnose. Long-term Health Problems RMSF does not result in chronic or persistent infections. Some patients who recover from severe RMSF may be left with permanent damage, including amputation of arms, legs, fingers, or toes (from damage to blood vessels in these areas); hearing loss; paralysis; or mental disability. Any permanent damage is caused by the acute illness and does not result from a chronic infection.

– A grieving family in Indiana wants a little girl's death to raise awareness of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which, despite the name, has been found in almost every state and has killed people a long way from the Rocky Mountains. Doctors believe the tick-borne illness caused the death of 2-year-old Kenley Ratliff, who died in Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis on Saturday, just days after becoming ill, WTOL reports. She had a brain infection, swollen hands, and, in what the CDC says is one of the most common early symptoms of the illness in children, rashes all over her body. Kenley went from healthy to dangerously ill in less than a week, family friend Monica Kirby tells WTHR. "Her little body couldn't handle it." Kirby says the toddler became ill after a family camping trip. "Strep throat is what she initially tested positive for," she says. "Then she goes home and gets a nearly 104-degree fever. And they just couldn't break it." Tests are expected to confirm within two weeks whether Kenley died from Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Experts warn there could be more cases than usual this year because of a surge in the tick population caused by the warmer winter. Biologists say people should use a repellent containing DEET, taking care to spray their lower legs because ticks live in long grasses. (In Oregon, a toddler was temporarily paralyzed after a tick bite.)

Keep me logged in ||||| See more of Columbus Division of Police on Facebook ||||| Ohio Police say a woman was so upset by the unflattering photo detectives posted to Facebook that she called them and demanded that it be removed, leading to her arrest. "This is a first for us," Denise Alex-Bouzounis, public information officer with the Columbus Police Department, told The Huffington Post. "She really didn't want her face out there for everyone to see." According to Alex-Bouzounis, she posted 34-year-old Monica Hargrove's mug shot to the department's Facebook page on Sept. 10, as part of a weekly roundup called "Warrant Wednesday." "It included her mug shot, her name and information about the crime," said Alex-Bouzounis. The Facebook post read, in part: "On August 30th Hargrove offered a female acquaintance a ride to a pharmacy on E. Main St. to pick up a prescription. After the acquaintance got the prescription and got back in the vehicle, Hargrove robbed the victim at gunpoint, leaving her on the side of the road." According to The Columbus Dispatch, Hargrove had been indicted in the case for aggravated-robbery and kidnapping. The Facebook post, which garnered 64 shares and some 54 thousand pages views, did not go unnoticed by Hargrove. Police say the woman was so upset by the mug shot photo, which she considered unflattering, that she called within 48 hours of the post. "She contacted the detective listed on the Facebook post and said, 'Hey, I want my picture down,'" Alex-Bouzounis said. "[The detective] said, 'Come on in and we'll talk about it.'" And, police say, that is exactly what Hargrove did. "She came in and he put her under arrest," said Alex-Bouzounis. "Warrant Wednesday" has proven to be such a success for the police department that they plan to continue using Facebook to hunt down wanted individuals. "We've had a lot of Facebook followers help turn people in," said Alex-Bouzounis. ||||| Don’t you just hate it when an unflattering photo of you ends up online? So does Monica Hargrove, and she did what any of us might do: The 34-year-old called the person who had posted the offending image and asked that it be taken down. But the person tagging her on Facebook wasn’t a friend. It was the Columbus police, who had a warrant for her arrest on an aggravated-robbery charge. The division’s public-information team posted Hargrove’s mug shot on Sept. 10 on its Facebook page with a description of the charge: On Aug. 30, police said, she gave a friend a ride to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription and then robbed the friend. Hargrove called police and said she wanted her picture taken off the page. The detective said sure, just come on down to headquarters. She did and was promptly locked up. She since has been indicted on robbery, aggravated-robbery and kidnapping charges. In the end, though, she did get her way: Her photo is gone from the Police Division’s Facebook page. • • • The American Bar Association has given lawyers the OK to Google the names of both potential jurors and those who are selected to sit on a case. So, if they want, attorneys in a criminal or civil case can look for jurors’ latest rants shared on Facebook, memes posted on Tumblr, selfies uploaded to Instagram or recipes pinned to Pinterest. It’s not clear how many lawyers will take the association up on this. There’s just not much time to be Facebook-stalking potential jurors during voir dire, Columbus defense attorney Martin Midian said. Typically, attorneys see jury questionnaires, with names and addresses, only as the potential jurors are filing into the courtroom. “We might be allowed to do that,” Midian said, “but the opportunity, in reality, to do that doesn’t really exist.” • • • As most judges do these days, Franklin County Municipal Judge James E. Green gives a regular spiel to remind his courtroom that cellphones should be silenced, lest they be confiscated by the court. “I am looking for an iPhone 6,” he added during a morning in Courtroom 4C last week, “so if you have one, please leave it on. I can always get the manual and wall charger from you later.” tdecker@dispatch.com @Theodore_Decker amanning@dispatch.com @allymanning ||||| Suspect Meets Police to Demand they Take Mugshot off Facebook, Gets Arrested “I think Ms. Hargrove’s case is the first time a suspect has called about a mug shot,” said Denise Alex, with the Columbus Police.Cops posted a mug shot of Hargrove from a previous arrest when a warrant was issued last month in connection with a robbery in East Columbus.Hargrove is accused of taking a friend to a pharmacy and then robbing the woman at gunpoint. “The woman went to pick up a prescription, Ms. Hargrove pulled a gun on her, and tossed her friend out of the car,” said Alex.After C.P.D. posted Hargrove’s photo on its Facebook page, she called police and demanded her mug shot be removed from the internet. “She said I want my photo off the CPD Facebook,” said Alex.Hargrove made arrangements to come to CPD and speak with Detectives about removing her unflattering Kodak moment; instead she was arrested and booked on robbery charges.“I am sure she was surprised, because she thought she was meeting with detectives, she should’ve known she had a warrant for her arrest,” said Alex.Hargrove was allowed to take a new mug shot, however the “unflattering” photo she demanded be pulled from cyberspace is still roaming free on the information superhighway.Hargrove was recently indicted by a County Grand Jury on kidnapping and robbery charges, and is now locked up in the Franklin County Jail.

– Ahh, vanity: It gets us every time. A 34-year-old Ohio woman was hit with robbery, aggravated-robbery, and kidnapping charges all thanks, in part, to an unflattering Facebook photo. Monica Hargrove drove a friend to pick up a prescription on Aug. 30, only to allegedly pull a gun on her, rob her, and leave her on the side of the road. A warrant was issued for her arrest, and Columbus Police posted a mugshot of Hargrove—one taken in connection with a previous arrest—on its Facebook page as part of its Sept. 10 "Warrant Wednesday" post. A rep for the Columbus Police tells the Huffington Post that Hargrove called police within 48 hours of the posting, insisting that her photo be taken down. She apparently considered it an unattractive shot. Police invited Hargrove to the station to talk about it; she actually showed up and was promptly arrested. Fox 28 notes Hargrove got the chance to take a new mugshot, and the Columbus Dispatch reports that she ultimately "got her way": The offending photo, which racked up more than 50,000 views, was taken down from the department's feed. Kind of. You can still see it here, and the Columbus Division of Police page shared a link to the Huffington Post story 16 hours ago with the infamous picture featured as well. Reads its post: "Looks like CPD & suspect Monica Hargrove are getting some national attention. The [mugshot] she wanted taken off CPD Facebook is now seen around the US and beyond!" (This, however, may be the best mugshot of all time.)

Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012 and an abortion opponent, said Thursday that anti-abortion activists should try to build a broad coalition and find common ground with supporters of abortion rights as a way to advance their agenda. Ryan, R-Wis., said in a speech to the Susan B. Anthony List that those who oppose abortion "need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice _ because our task isn't to purge our ranks. It's to grow them." "We don't want a country where abortion is simply outlawed. We want a country where it isn't even considered," he said. Ryan told the organization that seeks to elect women who oppose abortion rights that "labels can be misleading." He pointed to former GOP Sen. Scott Brown, whose 2010 election in Massachusetts nearly derailed President Barack Obama's health care law. Brown supports abortion rights. In contrast, Ryan told the group that former Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, who opposed abortion, "delivered the votes that passed it into law." Many opponents of abortion disagreed with the health care overhaul because it requires most employers to cover birth control free of charge to female workers as a preventative service. The law exempted churches and other houses of worship. Ryan said critics often urge abortion opponents to abandon their beliefs but "that would only demoralize our voters." But he said anti-abortion activists should work with people of all beliefs to plant "flags" in the law _ "small changes that raise questions about abortion." He said some people who support abortion rights oppose taxpayer funding of abortions or parental notification of minors' abortions. Others, he said, support the reinstatement of the so-called Mexico City policy, which bans American aid from funding abortions. Obama waived the order soon after taking office in 2009. Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group's president, said it plans to target Senate seats in 2014 held by Democrats Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, both of whom support abortion rights. ___ Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas ||||| Two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two highly publicized gay-marriage cases, a majority of Americans continue to say they support same-sex marriage, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Fifty-three percent of respondents favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, which is up 2 points since the NBC/WSJ survey last asked this question in December, though that increase is within the poll’s margin of error. Forty-two percent oppose gay marriage – also up 2 points since late last year. By party, 73 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents back gay marriage, while 66 percent of Republicans oppose it. Strikingly, nearly 8-in-10 respondents (79 percent) say they know or work with someone who is gay or lesbian, which is an increase of 14 points since December and 17 points since 2004. However, only 15 percent say that knowing or working with someone gay makes them more likely to back same-sex marriage; 4 percent say it makes them less likely to support it, and more than half say it doesn’t make a difference. Win Mcnamee / Getty Images file photo Equal rights supporters demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2013 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments March 26, in California's proposition 8, the controversial ballot initiative that defines marriage only between a man and a woman. These numbers come after numerous Democratic politicians, plus a handful of Republicans, have recently announced their support for gay marriage. They also come as the Supreme Court is expected to decide two different cases this summer – one on the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law which prohibits the government from recognizing gay marriages performed in states where they are legal, and the other on California’s Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage in that state. The poll also finds that 63 percent of respondents believe the federal government should recognize same-sex marriages in states where they are legal, and 56 percent think that the question of allowing gay marriage should be left to a federal standard rather than to the states. In reversal, majority thinks abortion should be illegal At the same time that general support for gay marriage has increased – albeit within the margin of error – so has opposition to abortion. According to the survey, a combined 52 percent say that abortion should be illegal either with exceptions or without them, versus a combined 45 percent who say it should be legal either “always” or “most of the time.” This is a reversal from the NBC/WSJ poll in January, when a majority – for the first time – said abortion should be legal in some form or fashion. Measuring the values debate The poll also gauges public sentiment on other questions involving social and moral issues. Asked to choose what should be a more important goal for society – either promoting greater respect for traditional values or encouraging greater tolerance – 50 percent picked traditional values, and 44 selected greater tolerance. That’s a significant change from when this question was last asked in 1999, when 60 percent chose traditional values and 29 percent sided with tolerance. As the Republican Party tries to find their message on gun control in the wake of Newtown and on gay marriage before the Supreme Court rulings this summer, Stuart Stevens, Romney's 2012 campaign manager, offers them some advice. Notably, this movement toward tolerance comes from Democrats and self-described independents – but not from Republicans. (In 1999, 76 percent of Republicans said promoting traditional values was a more important goal vs. 77 percent say that now.) In another change, half of respondents (50 percent) say that society’s most serious problems stem primarily from economic and financial pressures. View full poll results here But in past NBC/WSJ polls – in 1994 and 1996 – majorities said those problems came mainly from a decline in moral values. And Americans give the Democratic and Republican parties either mixed or poor marks when it comes to social and cultural issues. By 47 percent to 22 percent, respondents say they disagree with the GOP’s approach to social and cultural issues, and they disagree with Democrats by a 38-percent-to-37 percent margin. On the parties’ approach to looking out for the middle class, the numbers are even worse – they disagree with Republicans by 51 percent to 24 percent, and with Democrats by 42 percent to 33 percent. The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted of 1,000 adults (including 300 cell phone-only respondents) from April 5-8, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

– Support for gay marriage is up, but the same isn't true for abortion, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. The survey of 1,000 people found 53% in favor of allowing gays and lesbians to marry, up two points since December (it notes the rise is within the poll's margin of error); opposition to gay marriage was also up two points, to 42%. An interesting and substantial jump: 79% said they know or work with someone who is gay, up 14 points since the December poll. But in a big switch from January's poll, the majority has flipped on the subject of abortion: 52% say abortion should be illegal, versus 45% who think it should be legal "always" or "most of the time." In a speech from last night that's getting a bit of buzz, Paul Ryan addressed the issue. The key lines, per the AP: We "need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice—because our task isn't to purge our ranks. It's to grow them. ... We don't want a country where abortion is simply outlawed. We want a country where it isn't even considered."

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. ||||| Thirteen Guantánamo Bay detainees on hunger strike have written an open letter to their military doctors insisting they receive independent, non-military medical treatment – and appealing to the conscience of their physicians. "I cannot trust your advice, because you are responsible to your superior military officers who require you to treat me by means unacceptable to me, and you put your duty to them above your duty to me as a doctor," the detainees write in an open letter from the detention center obtained by the Guardian. "Your dual loyalties make trusting you impossible." The signatories, who include former UK resident Shaker Aamer, protest that the force-feedings administered by military physicians at Guantánamo are "extremely painful" and "in violation of the ethics of your profession." The May 30 letter was co-ordinated by attorneys for the 13 detainees, nine of whom signed the statement directly. Four signed through their lawyers. Another nine lawyers, some of whom represent Guantánamo detainees, added their names to the letter. The detainees express an "urgent request" that the Joint Task Force Guantánamo, the military command running the detention facility, allow "independent" doctors selected by their attorneys to treat them. Army Lt Col Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman, said there is "no precedent" for allowing civilian doctors to treat Guantánamo detainees. Despite the impassioned tone of the letter, the detainees express "some sympathy" for their military doctors. "Whether you continue in the military or return to civilian practice, you will have to live with what you have done and not done here at Guantánamo for the rest of your life," they write. "You can make a difference. You can choose to stop actively contributing to the abusive conditions I am currently enduring." The hunger strike, a high-profile problem for the Obama administration, is approaching its fifth month. Of the 166 detainees at Guantánamo, 103 are refusing food. Thirty-six of them are being forcibly fed through enteral feeds, five of whom are currently being observed in detention camp's hospital. Breasseale said none "currently have any life-threatening conditions." In April, a Yemeni detainee, Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel, published an op-ed in the New York Times describing his "painful, degrading and unnecessary" force-feeding, which involved Guantanamo personnel inserting tubes into nose, stomach and wrist, as well as inserting a catheter into his penis. The hunger strike galvanized President Obama to return to his unfulfilled pledge to close the detention facility. On May 23, Obama lifted his self-imposed ban on transferring 56 Yemeni detainees who the Defense Department does not consider a threat, citing improved competency by the Yemeni government to hold and monitor them. He also pledged in a high-profile speech to task a new "senior envoy" with repatriating or transferring other detainees cleared for release. "History will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and those of us who fail to end it," Obama said, challenging a Congress that has blocked his efforts to shut the facility. Yet Obama did not rule out future indefinite detention of terror suspects, and designated the Pentagon with finding a "site inside the United States where we can hold military commissions," steps that disappointed civil libertarians. US officials, including Obama himself, contend that allowing the detainees to die from their hunger strike would be "inhumane." "We will not allow detainees to harm themselves – not with weapons, not with medication, not via self-imposed starvation to death," Breasseale said. "It's worth noting that not only is our practice the same as the one followed by the US Bureau of Prisons, but the practice of enteral feeding to prevent self-imposed starvation to death has been upheld by multiple US courts." The detainees do not charge that their military doctors "are bad people," explained Cori Crider, a lawyer from the UK-based human rights organization Reprieve, which helped co-ordinate the open letter. But "they have let themselves be co-opted into force-feeding practices that the world (and the US) medical community judges unethical – practices even Barack Obama has suggested are un-American." Still, the detainees feel that after years of imprisonment without charge and little sign of Guantánamo's imminent closure, they have little choice besides risking their own deaths to draw attention to their conditions, a situation their letter dares Guantánamo doctors to confront. "If you truly had my best medical interests at heart," the detainees write to their military physicians, "you could have talked to me like a human being about my choices, instead of treating me in a way that feels like I am being punished for something."

– Detainees at Guantanamo Bay on a hunger strike have written a letter to their military physicians to demand independent doctors, reports the Guardian. The 13 detainees who signed it—more than 100 in all are refusing food—say they can't trust the military doctors because they must do the bidding of their superiors. The detainees object to "extremely painful" force-feedings and say it's unethical for the doctors to order them against their patients' wishes. The prisoners don't want to die, the letter states, but they're willing to risk doing so in a hunger strike to make their plight public. The letter also tries to appeal to the doctors' consciences. "Whether you continue in the military or return to civilian practice, you will have to live with what you have done and not done here at Guantánamo for the rest of your life," it states. "You can make a difference. You can choose to stop actively contributing to the abusive conditions I am currently enduring." The Guardian has the full text.

Justice Alabama Town Orders Small Time Offenders To Attend Church — Or It Will Throw Them In Jail CREDIT: This week, the Alabama town of Bay Minette will implement a bizarre and unconstitutional way of keeping minor offenders in check — go to church or go to jail: Operation Restore Our Community or “ROC”…begins next week. The city judge will either let misdemenor [sic] offenders work off their sentences in jail and pay a fine or go to church every Sunday for a year. If offenders elect church, they’re allowed to pick the place of worship, but must check in weekly with the pastor and the police department. If the one-year church attendance program is completed successfully, the offender’s case will be dismissed. This program isn’t just unconstitutional, it is unconstitutional even under conservative Justice Antonin Scalia’s vision of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. In his dissenting opinion in Lee v. Weisman, Scalia wrote that the state may not us the “threat of penalty” to “coerce anyone to support or participate in religion or its exercise.” Telling someone — even someone convicted of a crime — that they must participate in a religious service or go to jail clearly fails Justice Scalia’s test. Indeed, as conservative law Professor Eugene Volokh points out, religiously compelled church attendance is so clearly and obviously unconstitutional, that the Mississippi Supreme Court held that a “judge’s decision to order people to attend church as a condition of bail is not just unconstitutional, but merits a 30-day suspension from the bench.” Again, this was in Mississippi. Just across the border in Alabama, however, one town apparently thinks that the Constitution no longer applies. ||||| Some criminal offenders will soon have a choice: serve time in jail or in church. By: | Published: September 22, 2011 Non-violent offenders in Bay Minette now have a choice some would call simple: do time behind bars or work off the sentence in church. Operation Restore Our Community or "ROC"...begins next week. The city judge will either let misdemenor offenders work off their sentences in jail and pay a fine or go to church every Sunday for a year. If offenders elect church, they're allowed to pick the place of worship, but must check in weekly with the pastor and the police department. If the one-year church attendance program is completed successfully, the offender's case will be dismissed. Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland says it costs his department about 75 bucks per inmate per day. Rowland says the ROC program will be cost-effective and could change the lives of many people heading down the wrong path. So far, 56 churches in North Baldwin County are participating in ROC. Rowland says the program is legal and doesn't violate separation of church and state issues because it allows the offender to choose church or jail...and the church of their choice.

– Petty offenders can choose between Jesus and jail time in Bay Minette, Alabama. The town kicked off Operation Restore Our Community this week, giving misdemeanor lawbreakers the choice between a year of church-going or fines and jail, Raw Story reports. Pastors invented the program because crime is caused by "the erosion of family values and morals," the town's police chief says. "We have children raising children and parents not instilling values in young people." Alabama's ACLU office calls the plan "blatantly unconstitutional" and is "considering options for response." A Think Progress writer notes that even conservative Justice Antonin Scalia would condemn the plan for using the threat of penalty to coerce participation in religion. But one pastor rebuffed critics, saying, "You show me somebody who falls in love with Jesus, and I'll show you a person who won't be a problem to society."

Image copyright EPA Image caption "A hair's breadth from catastrophe", local police say A quick-thinking French tourist has been praised for preventing a bus from plunging over a cliff in the Austrian Alps after the driver passed out. The vehicle was travelling through the mountains in the Tyrolean Alps with 21 passengers on board when the driver, 76, collapsed, police say. As the bus continued towards a steep cliff, the Frenchman was able to brake. The bus crashed into a barrier at the side of the road and came to a stop. Four people were taken to hospital. The passenger, a 65-year-old Frenchman, was sitting close to the driver when he became ill near the city of Schwaz in western Austria on Saturday, local media report. He then leapt from his seat as the vehicle crashed through the wooden roadside guardrail and applied the brake, leaving the bus full of passengers hanging over the cliff edge a short distance from a 100m (328ft) drop. "We were a hair's breadth from catastrophe," a local police spokesman said, adding it was "incredible luck" that the passenger's reflexes had managed to stop the bus, AFP news agency reports. In 2004, five tourists were killed when a coach left the road and tumbled down a 30m embankment near the village of Bad Dürrnberg, south of Salzburg, in Austria. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

– A French tourist is being praised for saving a busload of fellow passengers from "catastrophe" after the driver passed out. The bus was on a winding road in the Austrian Alps near Schwaz when the 76-year-old driver collapsed, the BBC reports. As the bus was careening toward a precipice, a 65-year-old man sitting near the front jumped from his seat and managed to hit the brakes at the last second, per Le Quotidien. The bus slammed into a wooden barrier, preventing it from hurtling down a slope and over a 328-foot cliff. LQ published a photo of the bus, its front end punctured by the barrier, tilting down a grassy hill. A local police rep praised the hero passenger's quick reflexes. "We were a hair's breadth from catastrophe," he tells AFP. He calls it "incredible luck" the man managed to stop the bus. In 2004, five tourists were killed when their bus plunged down a 98-foot embankment south of Salzburg, Austria, the BBC notes. (Two dozen seniors in Germany escaped a bus crash in July, but 18 were killed.)

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Leigh Ann Caldwell GARDNERVILLE, Nev. — While a handful of Republican students from the University of Nevada, Reno discussed politics over sausages and fried lamb testicles here last weekend, a woman decked out in a patriotic red, white and blue outfit walked by. She pointed to one of the students wearing a Dean Heller campaign sticker. “It must be lonely,” she observed. For Heller, the Nevada Republican who is widely considered the most endangered senator up for re-election in next year's midterm cycle, it was a sentiment that sums up his narrow and treacherous political path to victory. Facing substantial opposition from both conservatives within his own party and a general electorate trending Democratic, Heller's list of political foes sometimes appears far larger than his number of supporters. Photos: Summer Fry Fest Brings Tasty Funds for Nevada GOP Heller's re-election challenge is three-fold: He must attract enough support from an increasingly conservative Nevada GOP base, especially in the northern part of the state, to avoid being ousted in a primary. He must manage a difficult relationship with President Donald Trump in order to avoid alienating voters in either the GOP primary or next fall's general election. And he has to be mindful of the state's overall electorate, which voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in last year's presidential race. Sen. Dean Heller, center right, poses for pictures at the 3rd Annual Basque Fry republican fundraiser in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Saturday, August 26. Tiffany Brown Anderson / Redux for NBC News Those challenges were evident at the third annual Basque Fry in August, a Republican fundraiser at a sprawling cattle ranch hosted by the political action committee of Adam Laxalt, the current Nevada attorney general and likely gubernatorial candidate. More than 2,000 Republicans mingled over Basque delicacies in between political speeches. Many of the attendees were from the northern part of the state, where Republicans are often more conservative than their counterparts in more populous cities like Las Vegas. While Trump’s approval ratings hover around 38 percent nationally, Republicans here still support the president and they expect their elected officials to do the same. That was top of mind for 75-year-old Claire Price of Incline Village, who said she is still angry that Heller didn't back Trump at last year’s event during the presidential campaign. “I thought that was a real political problem for him,” she said. The Trump Factor Republicans at the fundraiser were mostly supportive of the president and blamed Congress — as well as Heller, specifically — for any lack of progress on his agenda. “I actually think it’s a pretty sad state of affairs that Congress will not support [the president] and make meaningful accomplishments, and our senators better be very careful in every state across the nation that if they don’t get behind their president and make things happen, they are going to lose their seats and I’m going to be a party to that,” said Leslie Burnside, 57, from Minden, Nev., who was wearing a camouflage Make America Great Again hat. “I think [Trump has] succeeded as far as he can but I think the elected Republicans are letting him down at every level,” said Ron Dayton, a 66-year-old Marine veteran and retired truck driver from Dayton, Nev. “I blame Dean Heller.” Clare Price, center, of Incline Village, Nevada, looks on during the national anthem at the 3rd Annual Basque Fry republican fundraiser in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Saturday, August 26. Tiffany Brown Anderson / Redux for NBC News Trump’s attacks on the GOP-led Congress appear to be working when it comes to these Republicans. But, as the Heller race illustrates, the consequence could be Republicans losing their narrow Senate majority if GOP primary voters succeed in defeating sitting incumbents or rejecting candidates with broader general election appeal. And Trump is already playing a central role in both races. In the primary, Heller is facing Danny Tarkanian, a perennial candidate with a famous last name who is touting his total support for the president. In the general, Heller would likely face Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen, who is seeking to show that his voting record is right in line with the Trump agenda. “Dean is going to stand on his own record. Nevadans know him for that and Nevadans don’t like him for that,” Rosen said in an interview after a gathering of progressive leaders in East Las Vegas. So far, Heller has walked a fine line in his association with Trump even as the president's sometimes divisive style has clashed with Heller's jovial and mild-mannered public persona. Despite their differences, which have included a public spat over health care reform, Heller insisted that he wasn't that far apart from the president in an interview with NBC News in Las Vegas last week. “I work very closely with the White House and with President Trump,” Heller told NBC News. “I talked to him last week on the phone. We were talking about taking care of our veterans here in this country. So we’re in a very good place right now working together.” Since January, Heller has kept a low profile both in Washington and in his home state, doing just a smattering of media interviews and keeping his public schedule confined to small and non-publicized events. That approach was on display at the Gardnerville event. He showed up for just the last 20 minutes of the four-hour Basque Fry. He hovered mostly around the VIP tent where other elected officials and program participants sought shelter from the blistering sun and spoke to attendees who approached him instead of meandering through the crowd. The Delicate Policy Dance Aside from his relationship with the president, Heller has also come under fire from Nevada conservatives for a lack of ideological clarity. He received heavy criticism last spring when he told a town hall audience in Reno that he has “no problem” funding Planned Parenthood, a hot-button issue for social conservatives. And while his spokesperson attempted to clarify the remarks, saying the senator remains opposed to federal funding of organizations that provide abortion services, many Republicans in the state are still holding it against him. “He is a spineless, lying jellyfish,” said Burnside of Heller. On health care, Heller held a news conference with popular Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval after the release of the Senate’s first version of the bill, saying that he wouldn’t support it because it would strip health care away from too many of the 600,000 Medicaid recipients in the state. After arm-twisting by Trump that included a brief run of televised attack ads against him by a pro-Trump super PAC, Heller split the difference. He voted against the Senate’s more robust repeal and replace bill, and against a straight repeal of Obamacare — the same bill he supported in 2015 when there was no chance it would become law. But he voted for the most scaled-down version known as the “skinny” repeal, which failed by one vote. “He brought his reps through our area and his people promised that he was going to support a repeal on Obamacare [on] July 8,” said Jeanette Nutcher, the caucus chair of Esmeralda County, a county halfway between Reno and Las Vegas that stretches 3,500 square miles but has a population of less than 800 people. “His representative lied to us.” The health care vote was at the beginning of August. John Manelly, a constituent from Mindon, is fed up with Heller, saying the senator went to Washington and became a weak conservative. “He’s been too wishy-washy all along. His credibility is shot,” Manelly said. Immigration is another key issue for these voters, many of whom said they support Trump’s pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the construction of a border wall and ending reprieve for the children of undocumented immigrants under President Obama's DACA program. In his interview with NBC News last week, Heller shunned some of Trump's anti-immigrant policies, including a pardon of Arpaio. He also touted his support of comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, a bill that was reviled by many on the right. “He is an open borders guy and instant legalization guy,” Dayton, the Marine veteran, said of the senator. John Mannelly, of Minden, Nevada, at right in white shirt, eats lunch under a covered wagon with friends and family at the 3rd Annual Basque Fry republican fundraiser in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Saturday, August 26. Tiffany Brown Anderson / Redux for NBC News But the immigration issue cuts the other way during a general election in a state where Latinos are a growing voter bloc. Latinos made up around 17 percent of the state’s electorate in the 2016 election. And Heller's attempt to appeal to the Latino community, and shun some of the harsher edges of Trump's policies, hasn’t won over Rudy Zamora, an immigrant who benefited from DACA and got his U.S. citizenship last October. "Dean Heller can say a lot of things,” Zamora said. “The day that Senator Dean Heller votes to protect DACA and protect our families will be the day we trust him.” Heller's new campaign chair, Nevada Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, who called Heller "one of the finest people you’ll ever meet on planet Earth," said the senator will maintain his independence to do what's best for the Silver State. "Dean will support President Trump when Trump pursues policies that benefit Nevada, and when he pursues policies that don’t benefit Nevada, then Dean’s gong to speak up and change the direction of that policy," Hutchison said. The Primary Challenge On paper, Heller would appear to be a heavy favorite in next June's Republican primary. Tarkanian, the son of legendary UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, has run five previous times in the state and never won in a general election. Heller, meanwhile, has never lost a political race and has the state and national GOP establishment backing him with both organization and, most importantly, resources. But at the Gardnerville event, the conservative crowd gave Tarkanian a warm reception as he defended yet another run for political office by pointing to his last race where he lost by just 1 point — less than the margin Trump lost to Hillary Clinton in the state. And voters here were enthused by Tarkanian's conservative candidacy and lock-step support for Trump on the issues — supporting the pardon of Arpaio, defending Trump’s response to the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, and getting behind his border wall. "I like what he's trying to accomplish policy-wise," Tarkanian said of the president. Heller told NBC News that he’s “not worried” about his re-election. “I’ll let Danny do what Danny wants to do,” Heller said. “I wake up every morning trying to figure out what’s best for Nevada. Danny wakes up every morning trying to figure out what’s best for Danny.” But Heller is preparing to return to work in Washington where he will face ten more months of difficult Senate votes on issues like raising the debt ceiling, funding the government, tax reform and possibly even health care again before the primary. And with no big legislative successes in the first half of 2017 for senators like Heller to point to, the pressure is building from the base to deliver results. “Personally, I like Dean Heller. But again he better get behind his president and get some stuff done,” 62 year-old Pam Bergamini of Garnerville said. Pointing to Tarkanian who was standing across the dirt walk way, she continued, “And I have no problem voting for that guy if he doesn’t do his job.” ||||| Dean Heller knows he’s the most vulnerable Republican senator in the country. But he thinks Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy might just help him hang on to his seat. “Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer,” Heller predicted in Las Vegas last week, according to audio of an event he spoke at that was obtained by POLITICO. “Which I’m hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.” Story Continued Below The 45-minute recording of the media-shy Heller shows a senator defending President Donald Trump repeatedly, breaking only delicately with the president on issues like trade and gun control. It’s in line with the tightrope Heller has to walk to have any hope of winning reelection against a Trump-inspired Republican primary opponent and a highly touted Democratic general election challenger — in a state that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Heller can't afford to lose conservatives by breaking with Trump, yet must keep a lane to the center open to win a general election. It’s the trickiest political equation facing any GOP senator on the ballot this year. The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. “I’m not going to sit here and criticize him,” Heller said when asked about Trump’s flirtation with Democrats on gun control. “Because everything else he’s touched, like this economy, has been just incredible. So, I don’t want to get too far in front of some of these policies.” Many Republicans credit the Supreme Court vacancy in 2016 with keeping the Senate in GOP control — and making Trump president. Heller went on to float Sen. Mike Lee for the job, calling the Utah Republican the type of conservative who could energize Nevada's electorate in the June 12 primary. Lee's office declined to comment. “Mike Lee from Utah is probably on that short list of the next Supreme Court justice in our courts,” Heller said during the Q-and-A session with the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in Las Vegas Friday. But Trump was clearly most on Heller's mind. He dinged the president’s “crazy” tweets about North Korea, before quickly crediting him with fostering better relations with its neighbor to the south. “North Korea joined South Korea and goes to the Olympics. And they say, the only reason they did that was because of President Trump,” Heller said. The Nevadan once declared that he was “100 percent against Clinton, 99 percent against Trump” and opposed early drafts of the GOP’s plan to repeal Obamacare, much to Trump’s annoyance. But now it’s hard to get Heller to say a cross word about the president, whom Heller seems to view as an asset rather than an anchor. Trump’s comment last week that he would “take the guns first, go through due process second” turned Heller into the president’s explainer-in-chief. “I think he misspoke, I can’t imagine that this president believes that. I think today, he does not,” Heller said. “Negotiator as he is, he says, 'I’m going to take a big bite, just so that I can negotiate it back.' I think he’s doing the same thing on trade. I don’t agree with tariffs, but I’m not going to criticize at this point until I see an end result.” The senator declined to comment on his remarks. Heller’s efforts to yoke himself to Trump could backfire in Nevada, a state where Democrats are betting on a key Senate pickup by knocking off Heller in November. In an interview, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.) said that Trump is as much a drag on Republicans now as he was in 2016 when she defeated former Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.). “I don’t think it’s changed … he not only could be, I think he is a drag,” Cortez-Masto said. And Heller “is going to have make that calculation for himself. But I know from what I’ve seen, he’s embraced President Trump.” There may be no other way. Heck famously unendorsed Trump, then promptly lost to Cortez-Masto. Heller is leaning into the triangulation that made him the only incumbent GOP senator in a tough race to win reelection in 2012. So when Heller was asked at the event about the special counsel investigation dogging Trump, he asserts that the probe should not be killed — before adding that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should appoint a second special counsel to investigate Democrats' efforts to compile damaging information on Trump. “What I want is [the] Mueller investigation to continue. I don’t want this thing coming to an end,” Heller said. “I would have had the attorney general obviously do an investigation on the other side. They should be doing one simultaneously on both sides. … I’ve talked to the attorney general directly about it, but he’s chosen not to do so.” He went on to fret about potential Russian interference in the 2018 elections, which includes his own race against Danny Tarkanian in the primary and, if Heller wins, Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) in the general election. “This is the most difficult race in America. This is the No. 1 race in America,” Heller said, adding later: “ They did manipulate our elections. My biggest concern is — I’m going into ’18 and my biggest fear is [the Russians are] going to try to do it again.” Republicans say Heller is doing the best he can, given the tough hand he’s been dealt running for reelection in the only competitive 2018 battleground that supported Clinton. “After we passed tax reform we’ve seen him do well in terms of the data that I’m seeing,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. And, he added: “The president is very supportive of his [reelection].” Heller aligned himself with Trump's criticism of the Senate’s glacial pace and arcane rules, which have slowed the pace of confirmations and contributed to the failure to repeal Obamacare. Though some credit Heller’s early criticisms of the GOP’s plans to repeal Obamacare with significantly dampening the prospects of health care reform, Heller, in the recording, name-checked Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins for voting down the so-called skinny repeal. Articulating a major complaint of the GOP base, Heller said he wants to change Senate rules to allow much speedier confirmation of judges, something Republicans are discussing privately but which needs bipartisan support. Heller also complained about the 60-vote threshold stymieing his party’s progress on the budget, placing himself at odds with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is often attacked by insurgent GOP candidates. “Our biggest difficulty is that Mitch McConnell likes the rules the way they are,” Heller said. “This 60-vote threshold that we have in the United States Senate, I’m tired of it.” The 60-vote threshold blocked several immigration proposals last month. Heller voted for the president’s plan, which failed to crack 40 votes. Heller supported comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, but said in Las Vegas last week that the two parties no longer see eye to eye. The senator sounds resigned to inaction on immigration reform in his remarks, a difficult admission in a state that is more than a quarter Hispanic. “Republicans want illegal immigrants to work but not vote. Democrats want them not to work, but to vote. Think about that for a minute,” Heller said. “That’s why we can’t come together on a solution for this.” ||||| Republicans are going to retain control of the Senate in 2018. I know that runs counter to the “blue wave” messaging that predicts white women will suddenly decide to not be partners in white supremacy, but the reality of the Senate map speaks for itself. Democrats are defending more seats, in many places where it’s hard for Democrats to win. Republicans are going to pick up seats. If you want to talk to me about resisting, you better be talking about secession as opposed to white women in Texas finding a moral center. But that doesn’t mean every Republican will win. Dean Heller, Republican Senator from Nevada, faces a very tough re-election battle. You can tell he’s already desperate because of this report in Politico: Dean Heller knows he’s the most vulnerable Republican senator in the country. But he thinks Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy might just help him hang on to his seat. “Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer,�? Heller predicted in Las Vegas last week, according to audio of an event he spoke at that was obtained by POLITICO. “Which I’m hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.�? Yes, Justice Anthony Kennedy retiring would indeed help struggling Republican candidates. We know that the Republican base will turn out to vote based on the Supreme Court more than the Democratic base will turn out to do the same. But Heller has no evidence to support his wish that Kennedy will quit and save his political prospects. We do have some evidence that Kennedy will be sticking around for at least another year. As we reported back in December, Kennedy has already hired clerks for the 2018-2019 term. Hiring a full slate of clerks doesn’t guarantee that Kennedy is staying. But it’s more evidence that he’s staying than anything Dean Heller has in the opposite direction. Heller’s political need for Kennedy’s imminent retirement is the news here, not any new information about Anthony Kennedy’s plans. Which isn’t to say that people should get used to having Anthony Kennedy around. Kennedy is old and has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to die at work. He could change his mind. He could have hired clerks just to throw people off the scent. He could also, you know, die. Any of them could die. Sotomayor is a diabetic. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is probably nothing more than a Force hologram at this point. If Republicans retain control of the Senate — which they WILL — it’s incredibly likely that Trump will get to pick another Supreme Court justice. But Dean Heller doesn’t have any inside information. He’s just a guy trying to figure out how to hang onto his job. In the words of Nice Guy Eddie: “If you f***** beat this prick long enough, he’ll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire, now that don’t necessarily make it f****** so!” The endangered GOP senator who thinks Justice Kennedy could save him [Politico] Earlier: Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist. ||||| Sen. Dean Heller Dean Arthur HellerLeft mounts heavy pressure campaign on swing senators over Supreme Court Senate passes mammoth farm bill Supreme Court ends term with no retirements MORE (R-Nev.) said in a speech last week he believes Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this summer, according to audio of the speech obtained by Politico. “Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer,” Heller said in the speech, according to Politico. “Which I’m hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.” ADVERTISEMENT Heller is facing a tough GOP primary challenge ahead of the 2018 midterm elections from Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian. Kennedy’s possible retirement has been rumored for months. Last June, multiple reports said Kennedy was considering announcing his retirement. But the 80-year-old justice seemingly quashed those rumors in January when he hired four law clerks for the October term. Kennedy, who was appointed to the court by President Reagan in 1988, is considered the most pivotal justice on the Supreme Court and is often known for casting the tie-breaking vote in contentious decisions. While he's among the court's conservative justices, he has sided with his liberal colleagues at times, including on the court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. If Kennedy were to retire, it would set up President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump congratulates Mexico's new president: 'I look very much forward to working with him' Comedian who allegedly prank-called Trump says he has hired Michael Avenatti Ex-Trump aide pushes for Hope Hicks as chief of staff: Trump will 'listen to women more than men’ MORE to fill a second Supreme Court seat after he nominated Neil Gorsuch last year to replace Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, while President Obama was still in office. Trump made the appointment of a new conservative justice to the court one of the main promises of his presidential campaign.

– Dean Heller doesn't exactly have the safest seat in the US Senate, and he might not even make it to the midterms if he doesn't beat GOPer Danny Tarkanian in the Nevada primaries in June, per the Hill. But in audio obtained by Politico from a Las Vegas event last week, Heller seems to be clinging to one prospect as a glimmer of hope: the stepping down of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. "Kennedy is going to retire around sometime early summer," Heller said during a Q&A with the J. Reuben Clark Law Society on Friday. "Which I'm hoping will get our base a little motivated because right now they're not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated." Who Heller thinks would make the short list to replace Kennedy: Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who hasn't commented yet on Heller's take. The Hill notes Kennedy, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, is seen as the "most pivotal justice on the Supreme Court"; his stepping down would give President Trump another opening for a conservative justice. Not everyone is buying Heller's prediction, though. In an Above the Law post, Elie Mystal calls it an "epic example of wishcasting," noting Heller has offered "no evidence" on Kennedy's retirement. He notes that the fact that Kennedy has already put in place his clerks for the 2018-2019 term, while "not a guarantee," is "more evidence that he's staying than anything Dean Heller has in the opposite direction."

Janie Thompson speaks about her financial concerns outside of a temporary shelter in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. Thompson, who works at the McDonalds in Gatlinburg, has been unable to... (Associated Press) Janie Thompson speaks about her financial concerns outside of a temporary shelter in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016. Thompson, who works at the McDonalds in Gatlinburg, has been unable to work due to the wildfire that hit the town, and doesn't know when she can return. (Andrew Nelles/The... (Associated Press) GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Crews discovered the remains of more people as they searched the rubble of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses near the Great Smoky Mountains, bringing the death toll to 11, officials said Thursday. Authorities set up a hotline for people to report missing friends and relatives, and after following up on dozens of leads, they said many of those people had been accounted for. They did not say whether they believe anyone else is still missing or may have died. "I think it's fair to say that the search is winding down," Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said. "And hopefully we will not find any more." He said the searches would likely be completed Friday. Nearly 24 hours of rain on Wednesday helped dampen the wildfires, but fire officials struck a cautious tone, saying people shouldn't have a false sense of security because months of drought have left the ground bone-dry and wildfires can rekindle. The trouble began Monday when a wildfire, likely caused by a person, spread from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park into the tourist city of Gatlinburg as hurricane-force winds toppled trees and power lines, blowing embers in all directions. "We had trees going down everywhere, power lines, all those power lines were just like lighting a match because of the extreme drought conditions. So we went from nothing to over 20-plus structure fires in a matter of minutes. And that grew and that grew and that grew," Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said. More than 14,000 residents and visitors in Gatlinburg were forced to evacuate, and the typically bustling tourist city has been shuttered ever since. At least 700 buildings in the county have been damaged. "Gatlinburg is the people; that's what Gatlinburg is. It's not the buildings, it's not the stuff in the buildings," Mayor Mike Werner said. "We're gonna be back better than ever. Just be patient." Starting Friday, homeowners, business owners, renters and lease holders will be allowed to go see most of their Gatlinburg properties, said City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle. The city is hoping to open main roads to the general public Wednesday. There were other signs of recovery. Waters declared that Sevier County was "open for business." In nearby Pigeon Forge, the Comedy House rented an electronic billboard message that said it was open for laughs, and a flyer at a hotel urged guests to check out the scenic Cades Cove loop. "Take a drive and remember what you love about the Smokies!" the flyer said. Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash has said the fires were "likely to be human-caused" but he has refused to elaborate, saying only that the investigation continues. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are helping investigate the cause. About 10,000 acres, or 15 square miles, burned inside the country's most visited national park. Another 6,000 acres were scorched outside of the park. One of the victims was identified as Alice Hagler. Her son Lyle Wood said his mother and brother lived in a home at Chalet Village in Gatlinburg and she frantically called his brother Monday night because the house had caught fire. The call dropped as Wood's brother raced up the fiery mountain trying to get to his mother. He didn't make it in time. "My mom was a very warm, loving, personable person. She never met a stranger. She would talk to anybody," Wood said. Authorities said they were still working to identify the dead and did not release any details about how they were killed. 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. A number of funds have been established to help victims of the wildfires, including one set up by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and another by country music legend and native Dolly Parton. 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. About 240 people stayed overnight in shelters, including Mark Howard, who was flat on his back in the hospital with pneumonia when the wildfires started. He called 911 when he heard his house was consumed. "I had no insurance. It's a total loss," the 57-year-old owner of a handyman business said. ___ Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press writers Rebecca Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky, and Kristin M. Hall in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, contributed to this report. ||||| Summers Family (Photo: Summers Family) Jon and Janet Summers, the Memphis couple missing since the spread of the Gatlinburg fires, were confirmed dead late Thursday afternoon, brother Jim Summers said in a Facebook post. "I am sorry to report that at 4:45 pm CST the Sevier County Sheriff's Department has reported that the medical examiner has confirmed that two of the bodies found in North Chalet Village were Jon and Janet Summers," the post read, adding that the couple's three sons have also been notified. While the news was not unexpected considering that the couple had been missing for several days, family and friends still mourned when the official notification came through. "We’re going to miss Jon. He brought a lot of leadership to the firm. His exuberance for the work that we did is just something that we’re going to miss," said Steve Berger, the managing principal at brg3s architects, where Jon Summers was a partner. "He brought a lot of experience and our staff always looked to him for guidance. All of us, our thoughts now are with the boys and the family. We’re a small office and all of our families know each other. Janet was a wonderful partner for Jon and a great mom for the boys. We’re going to miss her as well." Jon and Janet, both 61, and their three sons were in Gatlinburg for a birthday celebration, and had been staying at the Chalet Village a little west of the city’s popular downtown area. But when the wildfires spread, the family tried to flee the area by car. However, friends said, their path was blocked by debris. They left the car and tried to flee on foot, but became separated. The sons — Branson, 23, and Jared and Wesley, who turned 22 on Wednesday — were rescued and taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. All three were recovering Thursday — Jared and Wesley in stable condition with Branson in critical but stable condition. No one had seen or heard from Jon and Janet since that attempted escape, and friends and family had hoped for good news but feared the worst. That came with the family notification Thursday afternoon. According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Knox County medical examiner's office handled the identification of the remains, likely through dental records. "It’s significant not only for me, but a lot of other kids our age," said Ryan Agee, a friend to the Summers boys and an admirer of their parents. "(They) were always a second (set of) parents to everybody. We were always eating dinner at their house, talking to them about things. They were very caring people." Jon, Janet and Jared left Memphis ast weekend for the quick getaway to the Smoky Mountains, likely picking up Branson and Wesley — who were still living in Nashville — on the way. The plan was to get the family together to celebrate Wednesday's 22nd birthday for the twins, Jared and Wesley. They booked a spot at Chalet Village, a large property just west of Downtown Gatlinburg that primarily rents vacation cabins. Before the fires, the family posted several updates and images on social media, letting everyone know how their vacation was going. But on Monday night, a fire that began at a point on Chimney Tops Trail, south of Gatlinburg in the mountains, was stoked and spread by high winds that pummeled the area. Those winds took embers from Chimney Tops and threw them all over the Gatlinburg area, sparking dozens of fires that grew and coalesced into what some called an apocalyptic scene. It was that conflagration that prompted the Summers family to try and flee, particularly since several areas in Chalet Village were on fire. Firefighters from Gatlinburg and, eventually, from all over the nation battled the flames for days until they finally brought them under control. The original fire on Chimney Tops, however, remained ablaze. So far, the grim tally is 11 dead, including Jon and Janet Summers and Alice Hagler, who was also in the Chalet Village area, as well as dozens wounded. More than 400 structures have been destroyed or damaged, and at least 17,000 acres have been scorched in what some officials called the worst fire in Tennessee in more than a century. The one spot of good news Thursday, however, was that the Summers boys were improving. Jim Summers posted several Facebook updates Thursday letting well-wishers know what was going on with the young men, adding that it was possible that they could be discharged on Sunday. "Sunday discharge not cast in stone. Many things can occur that would extend that, but still positive since we were looking at weeks vs days on arrival. Thanks again for all the prayers and well wishes. So very much appreciated," Jim Summers said on Facebook. He then went on to update family and friends about the condition of his nephews. He said that Branson Summers will have to undergo another procedure to repair a small leakage in his collapsed lung. "All, this morning at 6 a.m. Ruth and the attending physician contacted me and advised that Branson had developed a very small leakage in the fire damaged lung, and would need a thoracostomy to plug the leakage and remove the fluid from the is chest cavity," Jim Summers wrote. "This will not interfere with his recovery, and will assist in recovering a partially collapsed lung. This is not an unusual condition, considering the trauma from the injury. It not a procedure to be postponed, and I advised the physician to move forward with the procedure, which is done in the room. It takes about 10 minutes. The condition was found with a routine chest X-ray used to monitor lung and chest cavity while he is on the respirator. The risks are minor from the procedure, major if no effort is made to plug the leak. I have no further information at this time." Later, he updated readers about the twins. "Jared's ventilator was successfully removed yesterday, and he did well. It was decided to hold off on any attempts to remove Branson and Wesley from the ventilator until more time has passed. If Jared continues to breathe on his own today, there is a possibility he will be discharged from emergency care, and move to dressing replacement and wound care. No surgery planned. With the exception of the minor setback to Branson this morning, he and Wesley may be discharged by Sunday, and will then have follow up care for the injuries. But out of the woods in terms of critical vs stable. Improvement continues." Friends have set up a fund to help the brothers. By late Thursday, more than $35,000 in donations had been made at youcaring.com/bransonsummersjaredsummersandwesleysummers-704149. Gatlinburg Developments GATLINBURG, Tenn. - Crews discovered the remains of three more people as they searched the rubble of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses near the Great Smoky Mountains, bringing the death toll to 11, officials said Thursday. Authorities set up a hotline for people to report missing friends and relatives, and after following up on dozens of leads, they said many of those people had been accounted for. They did not say whether they believe anyone else is still missing or may have died. “I think it’s fair to say that the search is winding down,” Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters said. “And hopefully we will not find any more.” He said the searches would likely be completed Friday. More than 14,000 residents and visitors in Gatlinburg were forced to evacuate, and the typically bustling tourist city has been shuttered ever since. At least 700 buildings in the county have been damaged. Starting Friday, homeowners, business owners, renters and lease holders will be allowed to go see most of their Gatlinburg properties, said City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle. The city is hoping to open main roads to the general public on Wednesday. Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash has said the fires were “likely to be human-caused” but he has refused to elaborate, saying only that the investigation continues. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are helping investigate the cause. About 10,000 acres, or 15 square miles, burned inside the country’s most-visited national park. An additional 6,000 acres were scorched outside of the park. Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2gpkjql

– Crews discovered the remains of more people as they searched the rubble of wildfires that torched hundreds of homes and businesses near the Great Smoky Mountains, bringing the death toll to 11, officials in Gatlinburg, Tenn., said Thursday. The Commercial Appeal reports that Memphis couple Jon and Janet Summers are among the dead. They were at the Chalet Village with sons Branson, 23, and Jared and Wesley, 22, and found themselves unable to flee by car; the family got separated while on foot. The sons are being cared for at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A hotline has been set up for people to report missing friends and relatives, and after following up on dozens of leads, authorities say many of those people had been accounted for. They didn't say whether they believe anyone else is still missing or may have died, the AP reports. "I think it's fair to say that the search is winding down," Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters says. "And hopefully we will not find any more." He says the searches will likely be completed Friday. More than 14,000 residents and visitors in Gatlinburg were forced to evacuate, and the typically bustling tourist city has been shuttered ever since. At least 700 buildings in the county have been damaged. The city hopes to open main roads again by the middle of next week. The superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has said the fires were "likely to be human-caused" but he has refused to elaborate, saying only that the investigation continues. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are helping investigate the cause.

High-level aides to both the Clinton and Trump campaigns became involved in a heated exchange Dec. 1, during a post-election forum sponsored by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. (Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government) “Do you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform? Are you going to look me in the face and tell me that?” That was the incredulous question posed by President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, to Hillary Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri last week at the Harvard Institute of Politics’ quadrennial first-draft-of-history discussion of the general election campaign. And there is no escaping the truth: Conway most definitely did. What elicited Conway’s defensive and dismissive query was Palmieri’s comment that “I am more proud of Hillary Clinton’s alt-right speech than any other moment on the campaign trail.” So am I. In fact, Clinton’s boldness on race was a highlight of her White House bid. [Despite the political risks, Hillary Clinton is eager to talk about race] Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager and senior adviser to the Trump presidential transition team, speaks to the media at Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 4. (Darren Ornitz/Reuters) Folks focus on Clinton’s terrific speech on the so-called alt-right (read: white supremacy) as if it were a one-off. Nope. The Democratic presidential nominee had delivered three other speeches on race, division and healing by the time she traveled to Reno, Nev., to give that address last August. And the notoriously press-shy Clinton talked to me on July 14 to lay out her concerns about the divisive campaign that Trump was waging. Clinton: … We have to reject Trump’s divisive rhetoric. It’s a threat to our democracy. I don’t care what your race, your ethnicity, your religion. Pitting people against one another, stoking mistrust. Everything he says, everything he promises to do as president would drive even further divisive barriers between us. So, I think he is the one who for whatever reason, I can’t look into his heart, has chosen to incite bigotry and bias and, as we unfortunately have seen, violence. JC: Why do you think he’s stoking those emotions? Clinton: I don’t know. As I say, I can’t look in the man’s heart. But if you look at everything he has said, it’s clearly meant for political purposes. Wanting to ban Muslims from coming the U.S., demeaning women, promoting an anti-Semitic image pushed by Neo-Nazis and when confronted refusing to acknowledge how hurtful that is. Saying that he would round up 11 million people and kick them out of our country. Ordering our troops to commit war crimes. Banishing members of the press who [have] criticized him, even encouraging violence towards protesters. I have to believe that is what he believes. You know Maya Angelou had that great quote, “When someone shows you what they believe, believe them.” When they show you who they are, believe them. So that is who he has presented himself to be and it is troubling. And, frankly frightening that someone running for president of the United States wants to sow such discord and divisiveness. Hillary Clinton speaks in Springfield, Ill., on July 13. (Andrew Harnik/Associated Press) By engaging in the messy yet necessary conversation on race at a time when emotions were high and raw, Clinton showed the kind of understanding and leadership Americans should expect from their elected officials — especially the president. Sadly, Clinton will not be our president. Instead, our president will be a man who “disavows” the white nationalists who hailed his victory at a gathering in Washington last month while elevating the man who gave their racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia a “platform” to chief White House strategist and senior counselor. [Don’t fall for the whitewashing of Steve Bannon’s past and present] Palmieri got it exactly right in her op-ed for The Post. “If Trump expects the Americans who did not vote for him to accept him as president, he needs to show that he accepts all of them as Americans,” she wrote. “We all have a role to play here. But it’s the winner who carries the burden of taking the lead in uniting the country. It’s the burden of leadership. It’s the burden of being the president of the United States.” And, so far, I’ve seen no evidence of Trump’s ability to meet this urgent challenge. Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @Capehartj Subscribe to Cape Up, Jonathan Capehart’s weekly podcast ||||| Donald Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway has blasted the president-elect's critics -- namely Hillary Clinton supporters -- for fueling a barrage of death threats against her. "Anytime I respond, anytime I defend myself against these ... allegations that are now leading to death threats ... I'm seen as ungracious," Conway said during an interview Thursday on MSNBC with Chris Matthews, referring, in part, to claims that the Trump campaign gave a platform to white nationalists. "Why are we sore winners? I'm not a sore winner. I'm a winner. My guy is a winner. He's the next president of the United States." .@KellyannePolls talks to @HardballChris about receiving death threats and the need to end incendiary rhetoric https://t.co/wF6jv1b8nl — Hardball (@hardball) December 9, 2016 Conway also slammed Jen Palmieri, who was communications director for Clinton's presidential campaign, for penning an op-ed in The Washington Post on Thursday in which she claimed the Trump campaign catered to white supremacists. Palmieri wrote, "I don’t know whether the Trump campaign needed to give a platform to white supremacists to win. But the campaign clearly did, and it had the effect of empowering the white-nationalist movement." The Washington Post also ran a piece written by editorial board member Jonathan Capeheart titled, "Yes, Kellyanne Conway, you did provide a platform for white supremacy." When asked by MSNBC's Matthews if the back-and-forth accusations are "going to end," Conway cited the Post pieces, as well as the death threats. "Ask Jen Palmieri that because she's writing an op-ed, somebody else in The Washington Post today has a scathing headline about me which is not true but did lead to some death threats today and that'll be on their doorstep." Conway added, "The fact is that [the Trump] campaign ran a race where we reached into those working class voters who felt they were the forgotten man or forgotten woman, they were the base of our support," she said. "All [the Hillary Clinton campaign] needed to do was have a compelling, sticky, aspirational message for the American people....all I heard was 'We're not Donald Trump. That's not a message." ||||| Archive-It Partner 1067: The Political TV Ad Archive, a project of the Internet Archive, collects political TV ads and social media sites in key 2016 primary election states, unlocking the metadata underneath and highlighting quality journalism to provide journalists, civic organizations, academics, and the general public with reliable information on who is trying to influence them & how. ||||| President-elect Donald Trump waves as he is greeted by Azalea Trail Maids on his way to a “thank you” tour event in Mobile, Ala. Dec. 17, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump waves as he is greeted by Azalea Trail Maids on his way to a “thank you” tour event in Mobile, Ala. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post The president-elect saluted workers at a plant where he says he saved more than 1,000 jobs, then went to Ohio. The president-elect saluted workers at a plant where he says he saved more than 1,000 jobs, then went to Ohio. Jennifer Palmieri was communications director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. I know how to be a gracious loser. I could have let it go last week when Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, challenged me to look her in the eye and say she ran a campaign that gave white supremacists a platform. I considered for a split second. I knew you were supposed to be gracious when you come for the post-election forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. But I decided this was a year where normal rules don’t apply. Speaking the truth was more important. “It did. Kellyanne, it did,” I told her. It’s just a fact. Trump winning the election doesn’t change that. To my mind, his win makes it all the more important that the truth be acknowledged. High-level aides to both the Clinton and Trump campaigns became involved in a heated exchange Dec. 1, during a post-election forum sponsored by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. (Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government) My colleagues and I from the Hillary Clinton campaign knew what we were likely to face from the Trump side at the Harvard University event and thought hard about our obligations as representatives of the losing side in this most unconventional of years — particularly when our candidate actually won the popular vote by a large margin. As I like to note, Clinton received more votes for president than any white man in U.S. history. Our candidate gave us a good model to follow. She had the grace to call Trump on election night to congratulate him and concede. But in her concession speech she also challenged all of us to defend our rights and principles under the Constitution — rights and principles that she and many of the people who voted for her feared could be under threat in a Trump presidency. The campaign has ended, and we accept that Trump won. But we are not laying down our principles or abandoning our supporters. That’s the frame of mind I brought to Harvard. [Yes, Kellyanne Conway, you did provide a platform for white supremacy] A good bit of the post-election analysis has centered on what our campaign should have done differently. That’s appropriate. We should think long and hard about why we lost. Trust me, we have. But it’s also important for the winners of this campaign to think long and hard about the voters who rejected them. I haven’t seen much evidence of such introspection from the Trump side. That’s concerning. I don’t know whether the Trump campaign needed to give a platform to white supremacists to win. But the campaign clearly did, and it had the effect of empowering the white-nationalist movement. Trump provided a platform by retweeting white nationalists — giving their views an audience of millions. Views previously relegated to the darkest corners of the Internet also had a platform on Breitbart, the website of Trump campaign chief executive Stephen K. Bannon. “Before Trump, our identity ideas, national ideas, they had no place to go,” said Richard Spencer, president of a white-nationalist think tank that held a post-election conference in Washington. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said this fall, “The fact that Donald Trump’s doing so well, it proves that I’m winning.” At Harvard, some on the Trump team crowed that we in the Clinton campaign and those in the press were foolish because we took Trump’s words “literally.” That’s right. We did. You should take a candidate for president’s words literally. You know who else took his words literally? White supremacists. The white supremacists who lauded Trump with cries of “Hail, Trump!” Duke, who expressed confidence that Trump’s decision to make Bannon his chief strategist meant Duke’s ideology would have a prominent place in the West Wing. The students who mocked Hispanic athletes with chants of “build that wall.” The man in New York City who threatened the off-duty female Muslim police officer last weekend. It’s also true that many of the more than 65 million people who voted for Clinton took Trump’s words literally. Many of our supporters were sincerely frightened by his campaign’s embrace of the alt-right. Hispanic families who voted for Clinton believe Trump will deport their parents or siblings because he said he would. Muslim supporters fear they will not be welcome in their own country because of Trump’s proposed Muslim ban. Mothers and fathers of both parties supported Clinton because they didn’t want their children growing up in an America where women and girls don’t feel respected by their own president. Whether Trump intended for any of these people — both those who were energized and those who were repelled — to take his words literally or not, they did. That has already had real-life consequences that our new president must own up to. That’s why what he said during the campaign matters. That’s why everything he says matters. If we are not to take Trump’s words literally, he needs to explain what he does mean. The Trump team likes to tell Clinton supporters “hashtag ‘he’s your president.’ ” But this isn’t a one-way street. If Trump expects the Americans who did not vote for him to accept him as president, he needs to show that he accepts all of them as Americans. He needs to show that he understands their concerns and hears their fears. I suggest he and his team try “hashtag ‘we are all Americans.’ ” We all have a role to play here. But it’s the winner who carries the burden of taking the lead in uniting the country. It’s the burden of leadership. It’s the burden of being the president of the United States.

– "Incendiary" pro-Clinton "rhetoric" is leading to death threats against Kellyanne Conway, the senior adviser to Donald Trump said in an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC Thursday. "Somebody ... in the Washington Post today has a scathing headline about me, which is not true but did lead to some death threats today, so that'll be on their doorstep," Conway said, referring, per ABC News, to a column by Jonathan Capehart headlined, "Yes, Kellyanne Conway, you did provide a platform for white supremacy." Added Conway, "Any time I respond, any time I defend myself against these specious allegations that are now leading to death threats ... I'm seen as ungracious. Why are we sore winners? I'm not a sore winner. I'm a winner. My guy is a winner. He's the next president of the United States." As Mediaite reports, Conway argued with Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri at a Harvard forum last week over whether the Trump campaign provided a platform for white supremacists, and Palmieri responded this week with her own Washington Post column about just that.

More than a year ago, the FDA unveiled a broad policy to reduce the death and disease caused by smoking. Smoking remains the number one preventable cause of death in America, killing nearly half a million people a year. If we aren’t successful in more sharply reducing the rate of addiction to tobacco, then we’ll continue to see this needless death and disease. FDA’s new legal authorities to regulate tobacco ‒ as part of the Tobacco Control Act ‒ empowered us to alter this trajectory. We saw an opening to push a generational shift in the deadly course caused by tobacco. And we’ve seized it. Our comprehensive tobacco plan to combat the ill effects of smoking was founded on a central animating principle. That what primarily causes death and disease from tobacco use isn’t the nicotine in these products. It’s the act of lighting tobacco on fire to free that drug for inhalation. While it’s the addiction to nicotine that keeps people smoking, it’s primarily the combustion, which releases thousands of harmful constituents into the body at dangerous levels, that kills people. This fact represents both the biggest challenge to curtailing cigarette addiction ‒ and also holds the seeds of an opportunity that’s a central construct for our actions. E-cigarettes may present an important opportunity for adult smokers to transition off combustible tobacco products and onto nicotine delivery products that may not have the same level of risks associated with them. So, we set out on a new rulemaking process that seeks to regulate the nicotine levels in combustible cigarettes to render them minimally or non-addictive. That process is well underway. And at the same time, we’re developing a path to properly regulate non-combustible forms of nicotine delivery, like electronic cigarettes, that may be an alternative for adults who still want to get access to satisfying levels of nicotine, without all the risks associated with lighting tobacco on fire. We saw an important opportunity. We saw a chance to leverage the potential benefits of new and non-combustible technology to allow more adults to get nicotine from sources that could pose a lot less harm than smoking cigarettes. We continue to believe in this central concept. But let me be clear that nicotine isn’t a benign substance. This is especially true when it comes to children, and the effects that nicotine has on a developing brain. That’s why we need a strong regulatory process that puts these new products through an appropriate series of regulatory gates. We need a regulatory process that requires product applications to show that the marketing of the product is appropriate for the protection of the health of the overall population. And we need a regulatory process that keeps these same electronic cigarette products out of the hands of youth. This is our current policy framework to fulfill a central premise of our public health mandate. We need to make sure that we properly evaluate the net public health impact of products like e-cigs before they get marketing authorization from the FDA and that these products meet their regulatory responsibilities. Such products may still pose health risks, including possibly releasing some chemicals at higher levels than conventional cigarettes, and these potential risks require closer scrutiny. But since electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products had only been recently brought under FDA’s regulatory jurisdiction, few of the foundational rules and guidance documents for defining and clarifying the premarket authorization process for such products had been established at the time I joined the FDA 17 months ago. So, to create this regulatory framework for how we’d properly evaluate the electronic nicotine delivery products, we’ve committed to the development of guidance and regulations, including product standards, that will better spell out the rules of the road. And we’re making significant progress toward achieving these procedural goals. If we succeed in our overall plan, the public health impact can dwarf anything else we’re able to accomplish in any reasonable stretch of time. It can dwarf the introduction of any new medical technology. Analysis shows that our plan has the potential to drop smoking rates from the current 15 percent to as low as 1.4 percent. It can prevent more than 33 million people ‒ including children ‒ from becoming smokers; avoiding a lot of the death and disease that’s going to be caused by cigarettes. Yet despite our progress, and these metrics, we find ourselves at a very challenging crossroads in the execution of this plan. That’s because we didn’t foresee the extent of what’s now become one of our biggest challenges. We didn’t predict what I now believe is an epidemic of e-cigarette use among teenagers. Today we can see that this epidemic of addiction was emerging when we first announced our plan last summer. Hindsight, and the data now available to us, reveal these trends. And the impact is clearly apparent to the FDA. Unfortunately, I now have good reason to believe that it’s reached nothing short of an epidemic proportion of growth. I use the word epidemic with great care. E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous ‒ and dangerous ‒ trend among teens. The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end. It’s simply not tolerable. I’ll be clear. The FDA won’t tolerate a whole generation of young people becoming addicted to nicotine as a tradeoff for enabling adults to have unfettered access to these same products. This fundamental commitment is why FDA launched our Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan earlier this year. That plan encompassed a series of actions to stop youth use of tobacco products, especially the rising use of e-cigarettes. Our Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan focuses on three key strategies. First, preventing youth access to tobacco products. Second, curbing the marketing of tobacco products aimed at youth. And finally, educating teens about the dangers of using any tobacco products. Recognizing that our most immediate tool to address youth use is enforcement, this has been a cornerstone of our approach. And it’s a tool that we’ll continue to deploy, and with growing vigor, to directly address this challenge. We’ve taken a series of compliance actions over the past year. In partnership with the Federal Trade Commission, we targeted misleadingly labeled or advertised e-liquids resembling kid-friendly foods like juice boxes, candy and cookies. Since then, the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers that were warned by the FDA have stopped selling products with the offending labeling and advertising. And, today, the FDA issued 12 warning letters to other companies that continue to advertise and sell the violative products. This includes several companies that are also cited by the FDA for illegally selling the products to kids. We’ve also sharply expanded our enforcement against retailers who illegally sell e-cigarettes to kids. This spring, we focused on sales of JUUL, issuing 56 warning letters and six civil monetary penalties to retailers as part of this effort. And, today, we’re announcing that we’re taking other, significant enforcement and compliance actions. We’re announcing the largest ever coordinated initiative against violative sales in the history of the FDA. This is the largest single enforcement action in agency history. It’s aimed at retail and online sales of e-cigarettes to minors. We sent more than 1,100 warning letters to stores for the illegal sale of e-cigarettes to minors. In addition, we issued another 131 civil money penalties to stores that continued to violate the restrictions on sales to minors. But we must do more to stem what I see as an epidemic of use of e-cigs among teens, and deeply disturbing trends that show no sign of abating. So, we’re also going to re-visit the compliance policy that we announced last summer to extend the application compliance periods for certain deemed products, including and especially the e-cigarettes that were on the market as of Aug. 8, 2016. Under the current policy, the compliance date for filing applications for such products was extended to Aug. 8, 2022. We exercised that discretion for ENDS products because, as part of the tobacco and nicotine regulatory framework that we developed, which includes pathways to transition smokers off combustible cigarettes, we wanted to allow time for FDA to establish and more clearly explain the series of appropriate regulatory gates ‒ and for companies to prepare quality applications for new products like e-cigarettes. That’s where the e-cigarettes and other non-combustible products come into play. We wanted to make sure ‒ before we began enforcement of the application requirements ‒ that there was a clear, viable pathway to seek FDA authorization to market alternative products for adult smokers who still sought access to nicotine. But in view of the accelerating use among youth, we’re actively considering whether we will enforce the premarket review provision earlier, when it is apparent that these products are now subject to widespread youth use. One factor we’re closely evaluating is the availability of characterizing flavors. We know that the flavors play an important role in driving the youth appeal. And in view of the trends underway, we may take steps to curtail the marketing and selling of flavored products. We’re now actively evaluating how we’d implement such a policy. I’ve spent a lot of time considering whether there were different choices we could have made last summer that would have lessened, or avoided, the epidemic of youth use that I believe is before us. As stewards of public health, this is an important question that we must ask ourselves as we consider what steps to take at this challenging crossroads. For instance, what if we hadn’t extended the compliance dates for filing applications for e-cigs on the market when the deeming rule went into effect? In reality, most of those applications wouldn’t have been submitted until last month. And the e-cigs would have remained on the market for at least an additional year while we reviewed them. So, products would’ve still been on the market, and we might still have had the disturbing trends gripping us now in 2018. When we set that comprehensive plan in motion, we also knew we didn’t have all the regulations and guidance that we wanted in place to more clearly define the application pathway for these non-combustible alternatives. While the statute places the burden on manufacturers to show with scientific evidence that the public health standards in the law are met, we also understood that many manufacturers were new to regulation. And many novel products were already on the market. Given the circumstances, we felt that it was important to provide clear, transparent, and predictable rules of the road for industry. And so, for these reasons, we wanted to give the e-cig industry time to come into compliance while we wrote the guidance and regulations to better define and explain how the new products would meet those application requirements. It was an exercise in good government that was taken to accommodate the continued availability of innovations that we believe have potential value. But our public health mandate to prevent youth addiction has forced us to now revisit this element of our overall plan. The legal standard for FDA premarket review of a new tobacco product includes consideration of whether the product would be appropriate for the protection of the public health. We must factor in whether these products get kids addicted to nicotine. It’s that simple. And we are taking aggressive actions today to address this. This may create some obstacles for some adults who also enjoy e-cigs. These are the hard tradeoffs that we’re grappling with. But the youth risk is paramount. It’s now clear to me, that in closing the on-ramp to kids, we’re going to have to narrow the off-ramp for adults who want to migrate off combustible tobacco and onto e-cigs. This isn’t our choice alone. I’ve been warning the e-cigarette industry for more than a year that they needed to do much more to stem the youth trends. In my view, they treated these issues like a public relations challenge rather than seriously considering their legal obligations, the public health mandate, and the existential threat to these products. And the risks mounted. Well, I’m here to tell them that this prior approach is over. The FDA is closely watching the trends in youth use. And if, as we expect, preliminary data that’s in our possession and will be finalized and released in the coming months confirm our present observations that the youth use of e-cigs is rising very sharply; we’ll swiftly change course. In the meantime, the FDA is announcing an escalating series of actions to forcefully address youth use trends. It starts with the steps that we’re taking today, with the announcement of the largest coordinated tobacco compliance effort in FDA’s history. In addition, as I noted, we’re seriously reconsidering our compliance dates for the submission of product applications when it is apparent that there’s widespread youth use of the product. We’re especially focused on the flavored e-cigarettes. And we’re seriously considering a policy change that would lead to the immediate removal of these flavored products from the market. Today, we sent letters to five e-cigarette manufacturers whose products were sold to kids during the enforcement blitz and that, collectively, represent more than 97 percent of the current market for e-cigs — JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen, blu e-cigs, and Logic. These brands will be the initial focus of our attention when it comes to protecting kids. They’re now on notice by the FDA of how their products are being used by youth at disturbing rates. Given the magnitude of the problem, we’re requesting that the manufacturers of these brands and products come back to the FDA in 60 days with robust plans on how they’ll convincingly address the widespread use of their products by minors, or we’ll revisit the FDA’s exercise of enforcement discretion for products currently on the market. Let me be clear. This may require these brands to revise their sales and marketing practices, including online sales; to stop distributing their products to retailers who sell to kids; and to remove some or all of their flavored e-cig products from the market until they receive premarket authorization and otherwise meet applicable requirements. In the meantime, we’ll be investigating their marketing and sales practices, including with boots on the ground inspections. The FDA is going to continue to work to find out why so many kids are using and abusing these products. And we’re not going to stop there. We’re also re-examining the enforcement discretion we currently exercise for other e-cig products currently on the market without authorization. Today’s letters target the five dominant e-cig manufacturers, including those whose products were purchased by kids in our enforcement blitz. But the policy reconsiderations apply to the entire category. As we do this, we’re considering how the different products are being used by kids. The biggest youth use seems to be among cartridge-based e-cigarettes, and not the open-tank vaping products. So, we’re exploring policy options that could let us adjust the policy steps we take to account for different product use patterns between kids and adults. Our focus is on the products that are being misused by minors. We’re also going to permanently step up our enforcement actions with a sustained campaign to monitor, penalize and prevent e-cig sales to minors in convenience stores and other retail sites. It’s clear there’s need for strong federal enforcement of youth access restrictions. We’ll continue to hold retailers accountable by vigorously enforcing the law with the help of our state partners. The e-cig manufacturers ought to follow suit. They should also ensure that their online sales are not part of the problem. Although today’s action included warning letters for online sales, following up on our retail blitz, we’re taking a hard look at the manufacturer’s own internet storefronts and distribution practices. We’ll look at whether internet sites are being used to make straw purchases with the intent for redistribution to minors. If young adults go online and buy 100 units of a product to sell to teens, that activity ought to be easy for a product manufacturer to identify, and FDA will consider what steps we can take in these circumstances. Let me be clear: Everything is on the table. This includes the resources of our civil and criminal enforcement tools. If the companies don’t know, or if they don’t want to know, that straw purchases are occurring, we’ll now be helping to identify it for them. If violative activities are found, the FDA has both civil and criminal remedies at its disposal. We are also investigating whether makers of certain e-cig products may be subject to enforcement for marketing new products that don’t have pre-market authorization and were introduced after the FDA’s compliance date. And next week, we’re also announcing a national campaign to warn teenagers of the dangers of nicotine and e-cigarette use. This public campaign will bring these public health messages to online sites that we know teenagers access, and even to high school bathrooms. I challenge e-cig manufacturers to take equally bold action to reform their own practices. There’s some historical advertising that I’ve seen, especially on social media, that gives me pause as to how earnest some of these companies were in making sure that kids didn’t use their products. As I noted earlier, we’ll also be taking steps beyond compliance and enforcement. We plan to update our recommendations that lay out the Pre-Market Tobacco Product application pathway and the evidence we expect to see when manufacturers file those applications. We believe there’s no excuse for manufacturers not to file applications with the FDA because the agency hasn’t told them what they are expected to do. If any manufacturer wants to get direct, precise guidance on a specific product application, just call us. Request a meeting. Our door is open. And our policy is to grant pre-submission meetings to help manufacturers understand our expectations. The staff of our Center for Tobacco Products is also working on an overall policy roadmap to address these trends, while remaining true to the goals of our comprehensive plan announced last summer, and to the public health purpose that animates our work every day. They’ll be presenting to me a strengthened approach, building on our Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan, to address the rising use of e-cigs by minors. I’ll communicate the additional decisions that we make together as an agency in a timely fashion. The steps I’m announcing today are the initial elements of these new efforts that we’re committing to right away. I believe there’s an epidemic of youth use. We have good reason to draw this conclusion based on the trends and data that we’ve seen, some of which is still preliminary and will be finalized in the coming months and presented publicly. But our actions today are firmly rooted in what we’ve learned. There’s no mistaking the risks. At the FDA, we still believe that new innovations that don’t use combustion, like the electronic cigarettes, offer an important opportunity for adults to transition off combustible tobacco. I still believe in this opportunity. I still believe in the concept of modified risk products. I still believe that tobacco products exist on a continuum of risk, and that there are opportunities to move adult smokers down that ladder of harm. The leadership of the FDA’s tobacco center still firmly believes in this concept. And we’re all committed to helping reduce the overall burden of risk to our nation. We’re committed to the purpose of harm reduction. We’re committed to saving lives. And we’re committed to changing the trajectory of death and disease from tobacco. We started to confront these trends right out of the gate with the comprehensive tobacco policy that we announced last summer. We ramped up these efforts with the announcement of our Youth Tobacco Prevention Plan last spring. And today, we’re taking a new turn in our efforts as youth trends worsen. We’ll bend that trajectory on this growing youth addiction. We must succeed. But we’re not the only party to this problem. Industry must step up to this challenge. The companies selling the brands that resulted in the most illegal sales in our enforcement blitz have 60 days to respond with forceful plans of their own or face regulatory consequences. They say they’ve changed from the days of Joe Camel. But look at what’s happening right now, on our watch and on their watch. They must demonstrate that they’re truly committed to keeping these new products out of the hands of kids and they must find a way to reverse this trend. I believe in the power of American ingenuity to solve a lot of problems, including this one. I’m deeply disturbed by the trends I’ve seen. I’m disturbed by an epidemic of nicotine use among teenagers. So, we’re at a crossroads today. It’s one where the opportunities from new innovations will be responsibly seized on right now, or perhaps lost forever. The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products. ### ||||| LISTEN TO ARTICLE 4:36 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email The U.S. government signaled that it is prepared to adopt a tougher stance on electronic cigarettes in order to stem an epidemic of use by teens and children, after taking a more cautious approach last year. The Food and Drug Administration told five major e-cigarette manufacturers on Wednesday to address youth use of their products in the next 60 days or the agency could require them to stop selling flavored tobacco pods that appeal to children. The move is part of a campaign by regulators to limit sales to minors of new cigarette-smoking alternatives, which officials say still contain addictive nicotine and can have negative effects on brain development. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that data the agency would soon release showed a “substantial increase” in youth vaping over the past year. The FDA had attempted to ease regulations on the e-cigarette industry last year as a way to encourage development of more products that could help adults quit smoking. But critics of the agency had said that it didn’t do enough to prevent kids from using products like Juul, a pocket-sized device that resembles a USB drive and has become popular with students. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in New York that the FDA has his “complete, undivided support,” and that, as a father, the effort has personal urgency. “I have teens, and I get to hear anecdotally what’s going on in the schools in terms of access to Juul and other products,” Azar said. “We are extremely concerned about this and we’re not going to permit it.” The products being targeted are Juul, Altria Group Inc.’s MarkTen, Fontem Ventures BV’s blu, British American Tobacco Plc’s Vuse and Logic. “By working together, we believe we can help adult smokers while preventing access to minors, and we will continue to engage with the FDA to fulfill our mission,” Juul said in an e-mailed statement. Altria said it looks forward to sharing its thoughts with the FDA on “an issue we’ve focused on for decades.” Fontem said it would continue to work with regulators. Benefits Overshadowed Gottlieb recently began to ask whether the use of Juul and other similar products by kids is overshadowing any benefit to adult smokers using the devices to help them quit cigarettes. He said in June tobacco companies “better step up and step up soon,” but he didn’t divulge what consequences the industry could face until now. In July 2017, the FDA said it was considering lowering nicotine levels in cigarettes. In addition, the agency pushed back until 2022 a deadline for electronic-cigarette companies to submit applications to the FDA. Gottlieb said at the time he was trying to ease the regulatory pathway for products that are potentially less harmful sources of nicotine than smoking. “I have grown increasingly concerned around what we see as rising youth use in these products, and I’m disappointed in the actions the companies have taken to try to address this,” Gottlieb said in an interview this week. The Truth Initiative, a tobacco-control group based in Washington, is pleased with the FDA’s move, but it wants the agency to immediately pull flavored e-cigarettes from the market, said Chief Executive Officer Robin Koval. “The circumstances have changed and we’re glad to see them reacting in the real world,” Koval said about the FDA. “Organizations like ours have been saying for quite some time now that products like Juul are a risk.” Like the Truth Initiative, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said in a statement Wednesday that the FDA should remove flavored e-cigarettes from the market immediately. Another Democrat who often weighs in on tobacco issues, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, thanked the FDA for taking an “important step.” Smoking Spark? Despite the setback dealt to big tobacco companies’ nascent electronic-cigarette business, shares of the companies rallied. Cigarette smoking has been falling in the U.S. for decades, but former smokers who vape could be pushed to return to traditional cigarettes if flavored e-cigarettes are no longer available. Altria, which makes Marlboro cigarettes in the U.S., gained 6.7 percent in New York trading, the biggest advance for the stock in nearly 10 years. U.S.-traded shares of British American, the maker of Camel cigarettes, climbed 6 percent, also the biggest gain in almost 10 years. Nevertheless, regulators made clear that the intent behind the proposed new restrictions on alternative tobacco devices was to drive smoking rates as low as possible, by closing off an enticing entry point for children. “We are committed to getting people off of combustible tobacco,” Azar said. “We just simply cannot allow the e-cigarettes to be a vehicle for kids getting addicted on nicotine products and then potentially waking up years from now that that’s become an on-ramp for combustibles and a whole other generation hooked on combustible just as we’re seeing improvement in adult consumption rates.” — With assistance by Janine Wolf, Zachary Tracer, Jared S Hopkins, and Craig Giammona ||||| CLOSE Teen vaping is reaching epidemic levels and FDA is considering regulation to curb it. One proposal would be banning flavoring of e-cigarette liquids. USA TODAY In this April 23, 2014, file photo, a man smokes an electronic cigarette in Chicago. (Photo: AP) Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Wednesday declared youth vaping an "epidemic," and said the agency will halt sales of flavored electronic cigarettes if the major manufacturers can't prove they are doing enough to keep them out of the hands of children and teens. The FDA says it's giving manufacturers of Juul, Vuse, MarkTen XL, Blu and Logic 60 days to submit “robust” plans to prevent youth vaping. If the agency doesn’t think their plans go far enough, it could order their products off the market. Those five brands make up more than 97 percent of the U.S. market for e-cigarettes, FDA says. The FDA is "reconsidering our overall approach" after a review of preliminary data on youth vaping, Gottlieb told USA TODAY. "Teenagers are becoming regular users, and the proportion of regular users is increasing," says Gottlieb, a physician. "We’re going to have to take action." "No one can look at the data and say there’s no problem," he says. More: To juul or not to juul? That's what you should be talking to your teen about More than 2 million middle school, high school and college students use the battery-powered devices to heat liquid-based nicotine into an inhalable vapor. E-cigarettes are by far the most popular tobacco product among teens: Nearly 12 percent of high school students and 3 percent of middle school students used the device in the past 30 days, according to the 2017 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Some parents want the FDA to go farther. Kelli Cogan says her 15-year-old son was able to get free Juul cartridges online last year by using his father's name and birth name and having them shipped to a different address. The Ohio woman says the company offered to block her husband's name from ordering, but she didn't think that was sufficient. Juul spokeswoman Victoria Davis says the company now requires an age-verified signature on delivery and has made other changes to protect against distributing e-cigarettes to children under the legal vaping age in their states. That's not enough for Jon Ahles of St. Paul, Minnesota. "I have two teenagers that are now vape addicts," he says. "The first thing that the FDA needs to do is ban nicotine. These kids do not have a chance."​​​​​ The FDA's new approach is much faster than the rule-making process the agency announced in March. That was quickly criticized as too little, too late by public health advocates. The brands will no longer be largely immune from regulations simply because they were already on the market in August 2016 when the FDA announced e-cigarettes would be regulated like other tobacco products. Companies whose products were ordered off the shelves would have to show they have a net positive public health benefit before resuming sales. The FDA also announced the results of its largest enforcement effort yet against e-cigarettes. The agency targeted more than 1,300 online and brick-and-mortar retailers with warning letters or civil penalties for selling to minors. Officials said 131 of the retailers will have to pay penalties. Gottlieb told USA TODAY last month that the FDA was weighing the benefits of e-cigarettes in helping adults quit smoking against the risk to young people who become addicted to tobacco through vaping. Many adults prefer flavored e-liquid when they are trying to quit. But Gottlieb now says he's prepared to make vaping less attractive to adults if it reduces the harm to teens. Gottlieb said the agency could also target "cartridge-based products," such as the USB-sized Juul, which is favored by teens and sold in convenience stores. Adults tend to use bulkier "open tank" vaping products, he said. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, a physician, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrators Seema Verma at a press briefing on the administration new drug pricing proposals on May 14, 2018 (Photo: JAYNE O'DONNELL, USA TODAY) A spokeswoman for Vapers United, a group that promotes vaping as a way to quit smoking, said the FDA's moves could send people back to cigarettes. "The FDA needs to be very cautious about the adverse effects that flavoring bans or excess regulation could have on this trend – smokers using vapor as a way to stop consuming cigarettes and move towards a healthier lifestyle," spokeswoman Liz Mair said. The companies targeted by FDA struck a conciliatory tone. JUUL Labs CEO Kevin Burns said the company "will work proactively with FDA in response to its request." "We are committed to preventing underage use of our product, and we want to be part of the solution in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of young people," he said in a statement. A spokesman for Phillip Morris parent Altria, maker of the MarkTen XL, said the company welcomed the FDA action. We "look forward to sharing our thoughts about how to prevent and reduce youth use, an issue we have focused on for decades," spokesman David Sutton said. "We strongly believe kids shouldn’t use any tobacco products and take a number of steps to prevent kids from getting access to all tobacco products," he said. Anthony Hemsley, Logic's head of corporate affairs, said the company will work with the FDA "to demonstrate that Logic markets its product only to adults." R.J. Reynolds Vapor, maker of Vuse, said it supports "eliminating youth usage of all tobacco products." Fontem Ventures, owner of the Blu brand, said it welcomes "the opportunity to demonstrate, and work with the FDA to further strengthen, our youth access prevention policies and procedures. We will continue to work with regulators in the US and elsewhere to implement best practices in all our commercial activities." In the past, Burns has warned that restricting flavors “will negatively impact current adult smokers” who want to switch from smoking to vaping. He said the company would support “reasonable regulation” to restrict advertising and the naming of flavors such as cotton candy and gummy bear that target children. Vaping can also help younger smokers quit. Spencer Re of Napa Valley, Calif., says he started vaping five years ago as a senior in high school. That led him to start smoking in college. Cigarettes eventually “completely replaced vaping," he said. When he wanted to quit, he says, he turned back to e-cigarettes. Juul has mounted an aggressive advertising campaign, including full-page ads in newspapers, targeting parents with messages about teen vaping. The FDA said Wednesday for the first time that some be e-cigarettes might be on the market illegally. Officials said they're investigating some manufacturers for violating rules that require regulators' approval to introduce new products after August 2016. They would not say which companies they are investigating. The American Lung Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health groups sued the FDA in March over a delay announced last year in the deeming regulations from August 2018 to 2022. Gottlieb said last month that even the 2022 deadline would be a challenge for some manufacturers to meet, so they had "better start now." "What we’re living through now are the unintended consequences" of Gottlieb's decision to move the compliance date, says Robin Koval, CEO of the Truth Institute. "Congress gave FDA all the authority and FDA has all the tools they need to regulate this market and they need to do this quickly." She's heartened by Gottlieb's new stance on vaping, but worries that giving companies the chance to tell regulators how they plan to prevent teen vaping is like "asking the proverbial fox to guard the henhouse." Re says he can't stand the taste of tobacco and cream flavors, so he vaped only fruity flavors. He thinks the idea that vaping is a "forbidden substance," more than the flavors, is what makes it more attractive to teens. Psychologists worry that vaping in youth signals mental health problems. Melissa Sporn, a Fairfax County, Virginia, child psychologist, said teen patients are "self medicating" with e-cigarettes. Usually, she said, it's because they are anxious or depressed. "it’s a numbing of those feelings," she said. Jack Cao, co-owner of Vapor Solutions DMV is shown at his store in Falls Church, VA. (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY) Jack Cao, who co-owns a chain of vape shops in California, Texas and Virginia, questions whether a ban on the sale of flavored e-liquid would have much impact. If stores such as his could not sell flavored e-liquid, he said, it would only encourage a new industry of flavors that users themselves would mix with unflavored liquid. Still, he's been bracing for tougher FDA regulations that could dramatically reduce if not eliminate his vaping business. He has started a tee shirt business in the back of his Falls Church, Virginia, shop. If you are interested in connecting with people online who have overcome or are currently struggling with health problems mentioned in this story, join USA TODAY’s ‘I Survived It’ Facebook support group. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2CNY6PH

– Youth vaping is an "epidemic," as far as the FDA is concerned, and if manufacturers don't submit "robust" plans to prevent kids from getting their hands on flavored e-cigarettes, the agency will take action—possibly going so far as to order the flavored products off the shelves. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced the plan Wednesday, saying the agency is giving the manufacturers of Juul, Vuse, MarkTen, Blu, and Logic—which make up more than 97% of the US e-cigarette market—60 days to submit their plans, USA Today reports. The agency will then determine whether the plans go far enough. "No one can look at the data and say there's no problem," Gottlieb says, explaining that the FDA decided to reconsider its approach to the issue after looking at new data. Of the 3.6 million middle and high school students who said in 2017 they were tobacco product users, 2.1 million used e-cigarettes, Bloomberg reports, citing CDC stats. Almost 12% of high school students and 3% of middle school students reported using e-cigarettes in the prior 30 days. "Teenagers are becoming regular users, and the proportion of regular users is increasing," Gottlieb tells USA Today. "We're going to have to take action." Companies whose products are pulled from shelves will have to prove a net positive public health benefit before sales can resume. Flavored e-cigarettes are said to be a tool that helps adults quit smoking traditional cigarettes, the main example of a plus the product can claim.

Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| At this point in the story of the internet, it’s essentially routine for trolls on social media to capitalize on news events to spread fake, racially motivated, or anti-progressive rumors. This fake trolling has the effect of distorting reality, catering to middle America’s worst fears about people of other races and political beliefs, and making progressive political movements seem more extreme than they actually are. And now, it could have an effect on the opening-weekend box office for Marvel’s long-awaited Black Panther. Related Black Panther is a joyous game changer for Marvel On social media, racist trolls are currently attempting to fake a battle that isn’t happening by stealing photos, many of assault victims, from various parts of the internet and claiming they’re evidence of attacks by black moviegoers during Thursday night showings of Black Panther. In one tweet, Twitter user Hardcorial stole selfies which were shared online in 2016 by a woman attempting to speak out about her abuse. The Twitter user claimed to have been “brutally attack” [sic] by “black thugs” while attending, “because they said whites weren’t allowed to watch the movie.” This never happened. Another troll used a screencap of actor Steven Yun in a scene from The Walking Dead: My friend and I went to the #BlackPanther premier and he was brutally beaten for “not belonging there” by an angry group who did not have tickets. Very sad, night ruined pic.twitter.com/Con2bmU2Ag — . (@WHIT3IV3RS0N_) February 16, 2018 The images being used to perpetrate the hoax occupy a wide range. One troll tweet used a random clip of K-Pop group BlackPink; another used fictional images from a 2013 Serbian video meant to raise awareness of domestic violence. But most fakes seem to be co-opting images of real violence. As documented in this tweet, one now-suspended Twitter account used a viral photo from January of a Swedish woman who was brutally attacked after resisting sexual assault; another since-suspended account used a stock image of a bloodied paper towel. Another Twitter user claimed to have witnessed an assault at the movie: “Went to the #BlackPanther premier tonight and my wife was assaulted. Three black women approached us and one said “This movie ain’t for you white b****” and then attacked her. Security escorted us to the parking lot and we left. We just wanted to see a movie.” The photo the troll used to illustrate the tweet, however, was a photo of Colbie Holderness, the ex-wife of former White House staffer Rob Porter, who resigned following accusations of domestic abuse. The photo was documentation of Porter’s alleged battery of Holderness while they were married. Naturally, the fake trolling has since spawned parody trolling — the Walking Dead tweet above may also be an example of this — a hopeful sign that these false accusations of racially motivated violence toward white Black Panther viewers are being recognized for the lies they are. Was at the #BlackPanther premiere but a group of black youths said this movie wasnt for spoilt milk Mayo crackers ...I am white. They then proceeded to assault me. Im heading to the ER now.Z pic.twitter.com/qilUc5kCbe — freeponyrides (@3freeponyrides) February 16, 2018 However, as BuzzFeed noted, at least one troll has also tried to reverse the tactic by claiming a fake assault by white men “in MAGA hats” at a showing of the movie, which is also a lie. Meanwhile, there seems to be a real fear on the part of some moviegoers that black viewers could be targeted by white supremacists while attending the film. I want y’all to be extra careful in the theaters this weekend. CAREFUL. — Questlove Gomez (@questlove) February 16, 2018 Black people around the United States, be very very careful at these movie screenings for Black Panther. These white supremacists are emboldened by this #NikolasCruz terror attack #practiceyour2ndamendmentrights — Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) February 15, 2018 This fear is not coming out of nowhere: Black Panther’s opening weekend follows the deadliest school shooting in five years. In 2012, a mass shooting occurred at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater during the opening weekend of The Dark Knight Rises. And in a tense and ideologically polarized moment, Black Panther, a movie set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, is becoming heavily politicized. Black Panther is already breaking box-office records, and its success could be a game changer for films with diverse casts built around black leads. It’s possible the trolling is an attempt to scare people away from the theaters and cut into the movie’s bankroll — or it could be yet another example of trolling being used to create a disruptive and ever-more-extreme political environment. That’s why it’s good to get in the habit of being skeptical online. Always stop and do a reverse image search on any incendiary or inflammatory image you run across online, especially if it seems too awful (or too good) to be true. A reverse image search allows you to look up the original source for an image, if it previously existed on the internet. Google’s reverse image search is the most popular, and if you’re using Google’s Chrome browser you can easily perform such a search by right-clicking on any image you see while browsing the web. Another popular reverse image search is Tin Eye, which will let you search stock image databases and can help you identify the earliest-known source for a photo. So put on your critical thinking cap and don’t let the trolls scare you. Black Panther, currently sitting at a 98 percent critical approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, is by all accounts worth the trip to the theater. Update: This article has been updated to reflect that previous reports that the Parkland shooter was a white supremacist appear to have been false. ||||| In one image, a user shared an actual photo of former White House staffer Rob Porter's ex-wife sporting a black eye with the caption: "Went to the #BlackPanther premier tonight and my wife was assaulted. Three black women approached us and one said 'This movie ain't for you white b****' and then attacked her. Security escorted us to the parking lot and we left. We just wanted to see a movie." ||||| Trolls on Twitter are trying to stoke outrage by making false claims of racially motivated assaults at screenings of. For example, the photo in this tweet actually shows a 19-year-old Swedish woman who was assaulted at a bar last month. It has nothing to do with the film. Some trolls are using images of battered women to make their false claims. This tweet includes photos of an 18-year-old woman who was locked in an apartment by her boyfriend and assaulted for four hours . He later pled guilty to two charges of assault. This troll account used a photo of the ex-wife of former White House staffer Rob Porter Here's a sample of the other kinds of tweets sent by the same account... This Twitter user used a photo from 2009 to make a false claim about being assaulted at a showing. It's generated over 400 retweets. Fortunately, many people on Twitter are calling out these false claims. Fake posts are being created to make black people look bad and the sad part of it is some people will believe them… https://t.co/WnhyinOrrw This Twitter user went viral by calling out some of the fakes. There's a bunch of people on here posting fake assault pictures and saying it was black teens at #BlackPanther showings. God I hate people. And a lot of people are outraged by this attempt to create division. Unfortunately, the fake tweets keep coming. This account used the name and photo of Paul Nehlen, a racist and anti-Semitic man in Wisconsin who is trying to defeat Rep. Paul Ryan in a Republican primary there. Nehlen's Twitter account was recently banned The photo this tweet used is actually taken from a viral 2013 video made in Serbia that used special effects makeup to raise awareness about spousal abuse This tweet made a false claim of an assault while including a video from a South Korean pop group called BlackPink Some troll accounts also tried to circulate claims that people in MAGA hats were attacking theatergoers at Black Panther screenings. Also not true. Remember: If you see an image online and want to check where it came from, do a reverse image search. If you use Chrome as your browser, just right click on an image and select "Search Google for Image." It's free and fast, and will help you fight back against fakes.

– Reason number 149,684,594 the internet should be burned to the ground: Trolls on social media are using photos of actual victims of domestic violence to make false claims that white people are being targeted in racially motivated attacks at Black Panther screenings. BuzzFeed reports one photo shared on Twitter is actually an 18-year-old woman who was assaulted by her boyfriend for hours on end; he later pled guilty. Another shows the ex-wife of former White House aide Rob Porter who has accused him of domestic violence. "Fake posts are being created to make black people look bad and the sad part of it is some people will believe them," the New York Daily News quotes one disappointed Twitter user as saying. Other images used by trolls include a young Swedish woman who was assaulted at a bar in January, a years-old stock photo, and a still from a 2013 video that used special-effects makeup to raise awareness about domestic violence. Vox advises readers to use Google's reverse image search function before believing everything they see online. "It’s possible the trolling is an attempt to scare people away from the theaters and cut into the movie’s bankroll—or it could be yet another example of trolling being used to create a disruptive and ever-more-extreme political environment," the website states. In related news, a number of Twitter users, including Questlove of the Roots, appear genuinely concerned white supremacists could target Black Panther screenings this weekend. (Meanwhile film critics say the hype is real and Black Panther is fantastic.)

A judge on Wednesday imposed four consecutive 180-day jail terms on infamous "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch. "You're not getting out of jail today," State District Judge Wayne Salvant told the Texas teen, sentencing him to 720 days — one 180-day sentence for each of the four victims he killed in a June 2013 drunk-driving accident. Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, received 10 years' probation in juvenile court following the car crash. He was accused of violating the terms of his juvenile probation after a video surfaced online last December that appeared to show him at a party where alcohol was served. He and his mother fled to Mexico, evading authorities for several weeks. Wednesday's hearing was his first appearance in adult court. Couch showed up with long hair and a beard, wearing a red jumpsuit. His mother Tonya was not in court. ||||| File - In this Feb. 19, 2016 file photo, Ethan Couch is led by sheriff deputies after a juvenile court for a hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. Couch, a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following... (Associated Press) File - In this Feb. 19, 2016 file photo, Ethan Couch is led by sheriff deputies after a juvenile court for a hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. Couch, a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following... (Associated Press) FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the case of "affluenza" teenager Ethan Couch (all times local): 11:30 a.m. The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck has been ordered to spend nearly two years in jail. State District Judge Wayne Salvant said Wednesday that Ethan Couch must spend 180 days in jail for each of the four people he killed in 2013 when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people helping a motorist. The sentences will be served consecutively. Salvant earlier said he would not rule on Couch's jail time immediately. It was Couch's first appearance in an adult court. Couch was 16 and his blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers when the crash occurred. Couch and his mother were caught in Mexico after fleeing a possible probation violation. He has been has been in custody in Texas since January. ___ 10:35 a.m. The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense for a fatal drunken-driving wreck will remain in jail, for now. Ethan Couch appeared in adult court for the first time Wednesday. State District Judge Wayne Salvant says he will not make an immediate decision on how much longer Couch must remain in the Tarrant County jail. The 19-year-old Couch killed four people and seriously injured two others in June 2013 when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people helping a disabled motorist. His blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for adult drivers. Couch has been in Texas custody since January, a month after he and his mother were caught in Mexico after fleeing a possible probation violation. ___ 00:15 a.m. A Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following a deadly drunken-driving wreck will appear in adult court facing the prospect of more jail time. Ethan Couch is due Wednesday before a Fort Worth judge who could order more jail time as part of the conditions of his adult probation. Couch, who turned 19 on Monday, was given 10 years of probation for a June 2013 wreck that killed four people and left two severely injured. The sentence outraged victims' families and prosecutors. Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico in December after a video surfaced online appearing to show Couch at a party where alcohol was being served. Drinking alcohol would be a violation of his probation. He's been in custody in Texas since January. ||||| FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County judge told Ethan Couch on Wednesday that he’ll remain in jail for 180 days for each of the four people he killed in a drunken-driving crash three years ago. That means the 19-year-old won’t be free until 2018, unless his attorneys change State District Judge Wayne Salvant’s mind. “Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider,” the judge told the bearded teen, who wore a red jail suit and shaggy hairstyle into the judge’s Fort Worth courtroom. The judge is expected to make a final ruling on the intoxication manslaughter case in two weeks. Couch, who’s been locked up since his arrest in Mexico in late December, was considered a juvenile until Monday, when he turned 19 and his case was transferred to the adult court system. Salvant could have tightened other restrictions on the teen but said the terms of his adult probation would remain “consistent” with the conditions he faced as a juvenile. Upon his release, Couch won’t be able to drive, take drugs or consume alcohol. He will also need to seek employment and prove that he did to his probation officer, Salvant said. There was one significant change to the terms of his probation, however: Salvant ruled that Couch would be jailed for 720 days — 180 days for each of four counts of intoxication manslaughter he was convicted of in 2013. But, Salvant said, the attorneys involved in the case will get the opportunity to “convince me that I’m wrong or tell me something else that I might need as far as probation.” The judge asked Couch a few yes or no questions before telling him what his new probation conditions would be. “I want you to understand that you’re not going to get out of jail today,” the judge told Couch, whose attorneys did most of the talking during the hearing. Also declining to talk Wednesday were Couch’s father, Fred Couch, and half-brother Steven McWilliams, who sat in the courtroom’s gallery with other relatives during the hearing. His mother, Tonya Couch, is on house arrest in Fort Worth and was not present. Fred Couch put on a black ball cap as he left the courtroom, dodging reporters who flocked to him seeking comment on the ruling. On the opposite side of the courtroom sat Alex Lemus, the brother of Sergio Molina. Molina was paralyzed in the crash and still requires around-the-clock care. Lemus also declined to comment after the judge made his ruling. Ethan Couch was 16 in June 2013 when he got drunk at a party and struck a group of people on a roadside in Burleson, killing four and injuring others. A psychologist testified that he suffered from “affluenza” because his dysfunctional relationship with his wealthy parents had stolen any sense of personal responsibility. ya boy ethan couch violating probation. i got more if u want @CityofBurleson @TarrantCountyDA pic.twitter.com/otiGprQ1uD — h (@BlondeSpectre) December 2, 2015 As a result, Couch was given probation, a sentence that sparked outrage among the public. He returned to the headlines late last year after he was accused of violating the terms of his probation and fleeing to Mexico after a viral video appeared to show him at a party where alcohol was served. Couch was later tracked to the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta, where he and his mother were arrested in December. Both were returned to Tarrant County to face charges. While the Couch family’s wealth was a major part of Couch’s defense, his estranged parents were later deemed financially unable to pay for his court-ordered rehabilitation. So, the state picked up most of the nearly $200,000 that his treatment cost, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported this week, citing documents that have since been sealed. Salvant, who is also handling Tonya Couch’s case, sealed the documents from the teen’s juvenile proceedings and has also forbidden prosecutors and defense attorneys from commenting publicly on the case. He said the gag order is in place because Ethan Couch’s case is directly tied to his mother’s, who has yet to be indicted on a charge of hindering apprehension. But that hasn’t kept the county sheriff from talking about the case. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told reporters on Wednesday that Couch has cooperated so far with the jail staff at the Lon Evans Corrections Center in downtown Fort Worth. The 19-year-old is kept in isolation at the facility, away from other inmates who might want to harm him, Anderson said. He spends 23 hours of the day alone in his jail cell and only gets an hour of free time. “I do think that it’s having an impact on him,” Anderson said. “I do believe that he is not the same person he was when he came in.” ||||| The Texas teenager who was at the center of an international manhunt was ordered to stay in jail for nearly two years after his first appearance in adult court today. Interested in ? Add as an interest to stay up to date on the latest news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest Ethan Couch, who allegedly violated the terms of his probation from a deadly 2013 drunken-driving case by missing a court-mandated check-in, was sentenced to 180 days in jail for each of the four charges he faces. The jail time is set to be served consecutively, meaning he will be in jail for 720 days, which would be 10 days shy of a full two years. But the judge did note that the time frame could change. Judge Wayne Salvant determined that Couch, once released, will not be able to consume alcohol, or leave Tarrant County without his permission. Couch appeared in court in a dark orange and spoke briefly at the beginning of the hearing, answering the Fort Worth judge with, "Yes, sir." Couch, who turned 19 earlier this week, making him an adult under Texas law, was previously sentenced to 10 years’ probation. ABC News Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Couch has been in isolation and will remain there because he'd "obviously be in some danger." "He understands that mainly it’s for his protection," Anderson told reporters today. Anderson was part of the team that searched for Couch and his mother before they were apprehended in Mexico, and he says that since he was taken into custody in Texas, Couch has been well-behaved. "We have had really zero issues with Ethan so far as an inmate," Anderson said. "I do think it’s having an impact on him. I do believe that he is not the same person he was when he came in.” The case caught national attention when he and his mother were apprehended in Mexico in December. After being held in Mexico, he was transferred to the United States and arrived back in Texas Jan. 28. Couch was initially put on probation in 2013 after killing four people while driving drunk at the age of 16. During his original sentencing in the drunken-driving trial, a psychologist hired by the defense testified that the teen was a product of "affluenza," a term he used to describe Ethan's irresponsible lifestyle associated with his affluent upbringing. ||||| File - In this Feb. 19, 2016 file photo, Ethan Couch is led by sheriff deputies after a juvenile court for a hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. Couch, a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following... (Associated Press) File - In this Feb. 19, 2016 file photo, Ethan Couch is led by sheriff deputies after a juvenile court for a hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. Couch, a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense following... (Associated Press) FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck must serve nearly two years in jail, a judge ordered Wednesday. Ethan Couch, who turned 19 Monday, was making his first appearance in adult court. Initially, state District Judge Wayne Salvant said he would not immediately rule on how much longer Couch would spend in Tarrant County jail. But he reconsidered his ruling after hearing an argument from prosecutors that Couch should be sentenced not to a maximum of 120 days in jail, but for 180 days for each of four counts of intoxication manslaughter under a separate part of Texas code. The terms will be served consecutively. It was not clear if that would include the time Couch has already spent in jail. A juvenile court judge originally sentenced Couch only to probation, angering the families of his victims and prosecutors who had pushed for detention time. Further sparking outrage was the contention of a defense psychologist, Dr. Dick Miller, that Couch had been coddled into a dangerous sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents. Miller used the term "affluenza," which has stuck with the case ever since. Couch ended up in trouble again last year after a cellphone video showed him at what appeared to be a party with alcohol. Drinking alcohol is a violation of Couch's probation. Shortly after the video surfaced, Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico. The two were apprehended in a Mexican resort city in December and sent back to the United States. Couch has been in custody since. Couch lost control of his family's pickup truck after he and his friends had played beer pong and drank beer that some of them had stolen from a Wal-Mart. He veered into a crowd of people helping the driver of a disabled vehicle on the side of the road. Authorities later estimated that he was going 70 mph in a 40 mph zone. The crash fatally injured the stranded motorist, a youth minister who stopped to help her and a mother and daughter who came out of their nearby home. Couch was found to have had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers. It was not Couch's first run-in with the law. At 15, Couch was given two citations after a police officer found him behind the wheel of a pickup truck next to a half-naked girl, with an open vodka bottle on the backseat floor. "I spoke with him at some length about the various consequences of his driving and drinking," a police officer wrote in a report, "such as effects on (his) driver's license and his path in life, especially DWI and even killing someone in a DWI." Ethan's father, Fred, runs a roofing and construction company and has faced lawsuits over a $100,000 debt and allegations of sexual harassment. Tonya Couch has been charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon for helping Ethan flee to Mexico. Miller, the psychologist who suggested Couch had "affluenza," blamed Couch's parents at his sentencing for having "taught him a system that's 180 degrees from rational. If you hurt someone, say you're sorry. In that family, if you hurt someone, send some money." ___ Associated Press writers Reese Dunklin and Emily Schmall contributed to this report.

– Ethan Couch got "no party, no cake, no ice cream" when he turned 19 on Monday, and on Wednesday, he got something quite a bit worse. The so-called "Affluenza Teen" was sentenced to four consecutive 180-day terms in Tarrant County jail by state District Judge Wayne Salvant during Couch's first appearance in adult court. The AP explains that the Fort Worth judge was able to hand out more jail time as part of the conditions of Couch's adult probation. The four terms relate to four counts of intoxication manslaughter, reports the AP; Couch killed four people and severely injured several others in a DUI crash in 2013. ABC News reports that Salvant did say the total term—10 days short of two years—could change. The Dallas Morning News backs that up with this quote from Salvant: "Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider." He said both sides could make their arguments in coming weeks. But Salvant was clear about one point: "You're not getting out of jail today," he told Couch, per NBC News, which notes the case will resume in two weeks. The AP notes it isn't clear if Couch's 720 days will include time already served.

Adrian Lamo, the computer hacker who turned in whistleblower Chelsea Manning to law enforcement, has died at the age of 37, according to authorities in Kansas. Lamo, who testified about Manning’s release of documents to WikiLeaks, was confirmed dead on Friday by authorities in Sedgwick County. The coroner’s office has not responded to inquiries about the cause of his death. Manning, a former soldier whose leaks exposed the nature of warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, was released from military prison last year after Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence. Lamo had met Manning online in 2010 and eventually reported her to the authorities. Manning had reached out to Lamo after reading an article about the hacker, who was convicted in 2004 of breaking into computers at the New York Times, Yahoo and Microsoft. Lamo’s father, Mario, confirmed the death in a Facebook post on Friday that said: “With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian’s friends and acquittances [sic] that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.” In a 2011 interview with the Guardian, Lamo had expressed some regret about a possible lengthy prison sentence for Manning. He said he thought of Manning “every day”, adding: “The decision was not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me.” Called the “world’s most hated hacker” by some at the time, Lamo also said: “Had I done nothing, I would always have been left wondering whether the hundreds of thousands of documents that had been leaked to unknown third parties would end up costing lives, either directly or indirectly.” Lamo also spoke to the Guardian in 2013 about Manning’s harsh treatment behind bars, saying: “I came to terms and continued my life some time ago.” Manning, who was one of the most severely punished leakers in US history, announced earlier this year that she is running for US Senate. She came out as a transgender woman while incarcerated and has been an advocate for trans rights since. ||||| NEW YORK – Last January, Adrian Lamo awoke in the abandoned building near Philadelphia's Ben Franklin Bridge where he'd been squatting, went to a public computer with an Internet connection, and found a leak in the Excite@Home's supposedly airtight company network. Just another day in the life of a young man who may be the world's most famous homeless hacker. More than a year later, Lamo is becoming widely known in hacker circles for tiptoeing into the networks of companies like Yahoo and WorldCom – and then telling the corporate guys how he got there. Administrators at several of the companies he's hacked have called Lamo brilliant and "helpful" for helping fix these gaps in network defenses. Critics blast Lamo as a charlatan who preens for the spotlight. "(Is) anyone impressed with Lamo's skills(?) He is not doing anything particularly amazing. He has not found some new security concept. He is just looking for basic holes," wrote one poster to the SecurityFocus website. To such barbs, Oxblood Ruffian, a veteran of the hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow, replied, "It's like dancing. Anyone can dance. But not many people can dance like Michael Jackson." Lamo's latest move: using a back door in The New York Times' intranet to snag the home phone numbers of over 3,000 Op-Ed contributors, including Vint Cerf, Warren Beatty and Rush Limbaugh. Although Lamo (pronounced LAHM-oh) did nothing more mischievous with the information than include himself in its roster of experts, the Times is considering pressing charges, according to spokeswoman Christine Mohan. Hacking is a federal crime, currently punishable by five years in jail. Prison would be an ironic twist for Lamo – it'd be the first time in years he would have a steady place to stay. Living out of a backpack, getting online from university libraries and Kinko's laptop stations, the slightly built, boyish Lamo wanders the country's coasts by Amtrak and Greyhound bus. "I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. It kind of redefines the term multi-jurisdictional," Lamo said with a mild stutter. "It'll be hard to get warrants for it all." He spends most of his nights on friends' couches. But when hospitality wears thin, he takes shelter in city skeletons – like the crumbling Philadelphia restaurant supply shop, or the old officers' quarters at the Presidio in San Francisco. Lamo said he found his way into the colonial-era military complex by randomly trying doorknobs until he found one that rattled. It's a pretty good metaphor, he adds, for how he hacks. Company networks use proxy software to let internal employees out to the public Internet. It's a one-way door, essentially. But if proxy servers aren't configured correctly, these doors can swing both ways, allowing outsiders in through the corporate firewall, said Chris Wyspoal, an executive with security firm @Stake. Lamo peeks around for these swinging doors and lets himself in with widely used hacker tools. It's not technically complex at all. Lamo found an open proxy on The New York Times' network in less than two minutes. So it's understandable that many who consider themselves black belts in the computer arts regard Lamo's notoriety with more than a bit of skepticism. A poster to SecurityFocus' site complains, "The only thing 'hacked' here is the media." "The only way to get a publicly traded company to recognize that they're acting retarded is to kick 'em in the nuts. And you do that through the media," wrote Ira Wing, 29, who's been one of Lamo's closest confidants since the mid-1990s when the two met at PlanetOut, the gay and lesbian media firm where Wing worked and Lamo volunteered. Lamo had long tried to point out security flaws to corporate network administrators, Wing said. But even after his first well-publicized intrusion – a late-2000 pilfering of AOL instant messenger accounts – the suits weren't about to pay attention to some hacker kid who didn't even have a high school diploma. Despite his good intentions, Lamo may still go to jail for what he's doing. "Strictly speaking, he is a criminal. The law doesn't take into account motivation," security consultant Winn Schwartau said. Lamo answered, "If (the government) were to decide to indict (me), I'd rather everything be on the up and up – inasmuch as you can be on the up and up when you're committing a federal crime." For example, Lamo insists that unlike so many others in his trade, he won't take money from the companies he's hacked. "When I was thirsty during Excite@Home, they bought me a 50-cent bottle of water," he said. "That's the most I got." Instead, he relies on a small savings he amassed from stints doing security work for Levi Strauss and for Bay Area nonprofits, where his cubicle or the office elevator would often serve as the night's lodgings. He picks up money, occasionally, from short-term freelance security gigs. And, of course, there are the emergency handouts from his parents, Mario Lamo and Mary Atwood. Lamo's parents moved often during his formative years, to Arlington, Virginia, to Mario's native Bogota, Colombia, and then to San Francisco. When they decided to move to Sacramento when Adrian was 17, the teen elected to stay in the city and live on his own. Despite such grown-up pressures, friends say Lamo is still a kid in many ways. Childhood cloak-and-dagger fantasies of "paying 'salaries' of lunch goodies" to spy on youthful nemeses are now acted out online, according to Stephen Whiters-Ridley, a friend since elementary school. Cyberpunk fiction, like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, seems to serve as a model for real-life action. Lamo is "a strange amalgam of Robin Hood and console cowboy," Whiters-Ridley wrote in an instant message. "(He's) the wandering samurai, Mad Max, (the) hacker with a heart of gold." Lamo recently posted to a Usenet group, "If I didn't have computers, I'd be exploring storm drains or mountain caves. Hell, I do, when I don't have a line to the Net. There have been times my laptop has been the only dry thing I owned." But his adventures – picking through the trash of tech firms ("we considered stealing a CSC [Computer Science Corporation] flag ... but decided against it," a co-conspirator said) or climbing to the roof of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station – may be starting to wear thin. The heat is coming from a growing chorus of critics and a federal investigation Lamo feels is almost certain to come. "My lifestyle takes a toll on anyone I interact with," Lamo said. Reluctantly, he recalled a recent date when he suggested exploring the ruins of San Francisco's old Sutro Baths instead of dinner or a movie. A breakup e-mail followed the next day. "I've had a long day, a long month, and a long year," he said at the end of a pre-dawn chat. He follows that with an instant message: "Dream of a warm and safe place." ||||| Image copyright Mario Lamo Image caption Adrian Lamo was behind hack attacks on Microsoft and the New York Times Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker best known for passing on information that led to the arrest of Chelsea Manning, has died aged 37. In online messaging conversations, Manning confided in him, describing confidential military material Manning had sent to Wikileaks. Wikileaks published the video of a US helicopter strike that killed seven people, including a journalist working for the Reuters news agency. The cause of Lamo’s death, confirmed to the BBC by the Sedgwick County coroner in Kansas, has not yet been made public. On Facebook, his father Mario wrote: “With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian's friends and acquittances [sic] that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.” Lamo's own record as a hacker included some high-profile targets, such as Microsoft and the New York Times. 'Thrust upon me' Speaking to the Guardian newspaper in 2011, Lamo described his decision to give up Manning as “not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me”. Lamo said he would have "lasting regret" if Manning was handed a long sentence. Manning, known at the time as Bradley Manning, was eventually sentenced to 35 years in prison. However, President Barack Obama later commuted her sentence and she was released in May 2017. She is now attempting to become the Senator for Maryland, her home state. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Friday described Lamo as a “petty conman and betrayer of basic human decency”.

– Julian Assange didn't shy away from speaking ill of the dead on Friday. The BBC reports he called hacker Adrian Lamo, who has died at age 37, a "petty conman and betrayer of basic human decency." The bad blood traces back to Lamo's central role in the downfall of Chelsea Manning, who told Lamo of the military material she had secretly passed on to WikiLeaks. Lamo turned Manning in, leading to a 35-year sentence that then-President Obama later commuted. The Wichita Eagle reports Lamo was found dead in a Wichita, Kansas, apartment Wednesday. Authorities provided no cause of death, but said it did not appear suspicious. The Guardian reports Manning contacted Lamo online in 2010 after reading an article about him, and has this quote from Lamo: "Had I done nothing, I would always have been left wondering whether the hundreds of thousands of documents that had been leaked to unknown third parties would end up costing lives, either directly or indirectly." Wired profiled the hacker in 2002, two years before he was convicted of breaking into the New York Times' computers, describing him as living out of a backpack and under a bridge, all while exposing companies' security holes.

Guns and Gear By Major General Jerry Curry, USA (Ret.) The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S. No one has yet said what the purpose of these purchases is, though we are led to believe that they will be used only in an emergency to counteract and control civil unrest. Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used — those causing the civil unrest — must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their citizens. What would be the target of these 174, 000 rounds of hollow point bullets? It can’t simply be to control demonstrators or rioters. Hollow point bullets are so lethal that the Geneva Convention does not allow their use on the battle field in time of war. Hollow point bullets don’t just stop or hurt people, they penetrate the body, spread out, fragment and cause maximum damage to the body’s organs. Death often follows. Potentially each hollow nose bullet represents a dead American. If so, why would the U.S. government want the SSA to kill 174,000 of our citizens, even during a time of civil unrest? Or is the purpose to kill 174,000 of the nation’s military and replace them with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special security forces, forces loyal to the Administration, not to the Constitution? All my life I’ve handled firearms. When a young boy growing up on my father’s farm in Pennsylvania Dad’s first rule of firearms training was, “Never point a gun at someone, in fun or otherwise, unless you intend to shoot them. If you shoot someone, shoot to kill.” I’ve never forgotten his admonition. It stayed with me through my Boy Scout training, when I enlisted in the army as a Private to fight in the Korea War, during my days as a Ranger and Paratrooper and throughout my thirty-four year military career. If this were only a one time order of ammunition, it could easily be dismissed. But there is a pattern here. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow point ammunition. Notice that all of these purchases are for the lethal hollow nose bullets. These bullets are not being purchased and stored for squirrel or coyote hunting. This is serious ammunition manufactured to be used for serious purposes. In the war in Iraq, our military forces expended approximately 70 million rounds per year. In March DHS ordered 750 million rounds of hollow point ammunition. It then turned around and ordered an additional 750 million rounds of miscellaneous bullets including some that are capable of penetrating walls. This is enough ammunition to empty five rounds into the body of every living American citizen. Is this something we and the Congress should be concerned about? What’s the plan that requires so many dead Americans, even during times of civil unrest? Has Congress and the Administration vetted the plan in public. I fear that Congress won’t take these ammunition purchases seriously until they are all led from Capitol Hill in handcuffs. Why buy all this ammunition unless you plan to use it. Unknown to Congress, Does DHS plan to declare war on some country? Shouldn’t Congress hold hearings on why the Administration is stockpiling this ammunition all across the nation? How will it be used; what are the Administration’s plans? Obama is a deadly serious, persistent man. Once he focuses on an object, he pursues it to the end. What is his focus here? All of these rounds of ammunition can only be used to kill American citizens, though there is enough ammunition being ordered to kill, in addition to every American citizen, also every Iranian, Syrian or Mexican. There is simply too much of it. And this much ammunition can’t be just for training, there aren’t that many weapons and “shooters” in the U.S. to fire it. Perhaps it is to be used to arm illegal immigrants? We have enough military forces to maintain law and order in the U.S. even during times of civil unrest. We have local police, backed up by each state’s National Guard, backed up by the Department of Defense. So in addition to all these forces why does DHS need its own private army? Why do the SSA, NOAA and other government agencies need to create their own civilian security forces armed with hollow nose bullets? Were I the JCS, and if I wasn’t already fully briefed on this matter, I’d stop the purchase of hollow point bullets, ask the secretary of Defense why all this ammunition is being purchased and spread around the country? If I got answers like the ones Congress got during the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious – I’d start tracking all ammunition deliveries nationwide to find out what organizations and units are using them, for what purpose and, if it is not constitutional, prepare to counteract whatever it is that they are doing. This is a deadly serious business. I hope I’m wrong, but something smells rotten. And If the Congress isn’t going to do its duty and investigate this matter fully, the military will have to protect the Constitution, the nation, and our citizens. Jerry Curry is a decorated combat veteran, Army Aviator, Paratrooper, and Ranger, who for nearly forty years has served his country both in the military and as a Presidential political appointee. ||||| It didn't take long for the Internet to start buzzing with conspiracy theories after the Social Security Administration posted a notice it was purchasing 174,000 hollow-point bullets. Why is an agency that provides benefits to 56 million retirees, disabled workers, widows and children stockpiling ammunition? Whom are they going to use it on? One website suggested the agency was preparing for civil unrest. And comedian Jay Leno wondered just which senior citizens the agency believes are about to storm its offices. The explanation, it turns out, isn't as tantalizing as an arms buildup to defend against unruly old people. The bullets are for nearly 300 agents who investigate Social Security fraud and made almost 600 arrests last year. Most of the ammunition will be expended on the firing range.

– A routine purchase request from the Social Security Administration has caused a flood of conspiracy theories, reports AP. The agency posted a notice that it's buying 174,000 hollow-point bullets, causing some to believe that it was stockpiling ammo to put down civil unrest. A retired major-general at the Daily Caller speculated that the agency was planning to "arm illegal immigrants," or even kill 174,000 US troops and replace them with security forces "loyal to the Administration, not to the Constitution." The reality is a little tamer. The agency explained that it employs 295 agents with full law-enforcement powers to investigate fraud, the Daily Beast reports. Most of the ammunition will be used on the training range. "Our special agents need to be armed and trained appropriately," the agency says. "They not only investigate allegations of Social Security fraud, but they also are called to respond to threats against Social Security offices, employees, and customers."

On April 19, 1987, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie made their debut during a short on The Tracey Ullman Show. Two years later, Fox gave them their own program. In the three decades since, The Simpsons has become an American institution. To celebrate the 30th birthday of the greatest set of television characters of all time, let’s look back at the stories behind the 100 best Simpsons episodes. To compile this list, I sought feedback from both hardcore Simpsons fans and former members of the show’s creative staff. Still, it was an inherently subjective undertaking. "You could choose every other episode from the first 200 episodes for your top 100 and you wouldn’t be too far off," one Simpsons writer told me. I don’t claim to be a scientician, but I tried to be meticulous. So crack open a Duff and enjoy. ||||| As the animated hit comedy reaches its 30th birthday, a look back on some of the key moments throughout its run Matt Groening’s The Simpsons is 30 years old today, its titular family having first appeared on the Tracey Ullman show in 1987 in a very weird short during which Homer and Marge put the kids to bed. Since then it’s become a ubiquitous cultural force: a theme park ride, half a dozen different action figure series, several video games, a whole line of comic books, and of course 28 seasons – and counting – of television. The Simpsons Thanksgiving marathon: the 25 best episodes to gorge on Read more Prehistory Originally, Groening was invited to pitch an animated version of his popular alt-weekly newspaper strip Life in Hell but balked when he realized he would have to sign over the rights to the whole thing to 20th Century Fox. Depending on who you believe, Groening either came up with the Simpsons family the night before he was due to give the “What else you got?” pitch to producer James L Brooks or in the lobby of Brooks’ office. Groening had a dad named Homer Groening, a mom named Margaret Groening, neé Wiggum, sisters named Lisa and Maggie, and an aunt named Selma. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, where the town next door was Springfield, though the mystery of which state hosts the Simpson family’s home town is a running gag on the show. But the Simpsons is far more than a sentimental look back on family life, though it is more often that than either its fans or its detractors believe. It’s also an incredible patchwork of secondary and tertiary characters, many of them voiced by the omnipresent cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer – with the rare exception of Yeardley Smith, who voices only Lisa. Here are the show’s key cultural milestones. 1989 Animation problems pushed the series all the way to the end of the year from its original debut date in the fall of 1989. Episode 1 of season 1, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, airs 17 December. 1990 The Simpsons landed its first renewal and began its second season, outdoing The Cosby Show with the season two premiere, Bart Gets an F. 1992 George HW Bush addressed the Republican national convention by scolding the TV show and proclaiming his party’s desire to “keep trying to strengthen the American family, to make the American family a lot more like the Waltons and a lot less like the Simpsons”. The show’s producers took enough umbrage to quickly record a new line of dialogue zinging Bush for the state of the economy at the beginning of a January rerun of the episode Stark Raving Dad. “Hey, we’re just like the Waltons,” says an offended Bart as he watched Bush’s speech. “We’re praying for an end to the Depression, too.” What's the greatest TV show of all time? Easy. The Simpsons Read more 1994 Producers approved a crossover episode with Brooks’ other series, The Critic. Months later, Groening would publicly air his displeasure with Brooks, who developed and produces The Simpsons. The Critic was in need of a marketing push after its failure on ABC and subsequent hasty move to Fox. Neither man got much out of the showdown: The Critic was canceled, though not without a cult following, and the episode – A Star Is Burns, set during a Springfield film festival – far from a monument to compromise, remains one of the series’ most beloved. 1995 The show had heard the cries of parent groups and opportunistic politicians denouncing the excessive violence in the series, especially in its show-within-a-show, Itchy and Scratchy, a parody of classic smart mouse v hapless cat cartoons. In response, writer David Mirkin packed the show’s 1995 Halloween special episode, Treehouse of Horror V, with as much violence as possible, including a short in which the teachers at Springfield Elementary murder and eat the students. 2001 The Oxford English Dictionary capitulated: editions from 2001 forward define the word “D’oh” as “Expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish.” 2003 The final episode written by John Swartzwelder, The Regina Monologues, aired. Swartzwelder holds the record for most episodes written – 59 – and maintains a mystique worthy of its own television show. In Mike Sacks’ book about comedy writers, Poking a Dead Frog, the head of David Letterman’s writing staff in 1983 claimed to have discovered him when Swartzwelder sent a single, perfect one-liner on a postcard. It read: “Mike Flynn’s much-publicized attempt to break every record in the Guinness Book of Records got off to a rocky start this week when his recording of White Christmas sold only five copies.” 2007 The Simpsons Movie opened in theaters with cameos by a host of movie stars. Unfortunately, not all made the cut: the producers kept Tom Hanks but lost Edward Norton and even Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob. It still grossed $528m. 2013 Voice actor Marcia Wallace, who gave elementary school teacher Edna Krabappel her trademark acerbic “HA!”, died of pneumonia at age 70. The Simpsons paid her tribute next year, with Ned Flanders remarking that he sure does miss her laugh. School bully Nelson demonstrated his own laugh (“HA-ha.”) before admitting: “I miss, her too.” 2015 Ross and Rachel v Homer and Marge: who’s the best TV couple? Read more Fox stopped producing DVDs of the series, pushing fans to the network’s digital platforms. The same year, Fox decided to syndicate the 500-plus-episode run of the series on FXX, a new network to which it hopes to lure younger viewers. 2016 The show passed 600 episodes this year with its 27th Treehouse of Horror anthology – in celebration, the writers slipped in a triumphant declaration as part of the usual litany of Halloween names such as Bat Groening and James Hell Brooks: Al Jean went by Al “You’re next, Gunsmoke” Jean – and indeed, barring the end of the world, or even less likely, the Fox network, The Simpsons will surpass Gunsmoke’s 635-show record for most episodes aired in a US primetime show ever. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| 30 Years Later, 'The Simpsons' Are A Part Of The American Family Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Fox Courtesy of Fox On April 19, 1987, a momentous event happened: America was introduced to one of its most enduring families, The Simpsons. Bart, Homer, Marge and the rest of the family first appeared in 48 short filler segments on the sketch comedy program The Tracey Ullman Show, but those first characters were very different from the Simpsons of today. "At first they were what we call bumpers that went between The Tracey Ullman Show and commercial breaks," says Maureen Furniss, an animation historian who teaches at the California Institute of the Arts. "The Simpsons were very quick little segments that were united by some particular theme," she says. For Furniss one particular segment, where Bart and Lisa are having a burping contest, stands out as a depiction of what early versions of the characters were before the standalone show began. YouTube When Matt Groening created The Simpsons, Furniss says, people were excited to see what the cartoonist would do within the field of animation. With the show, she says Groening set a new standard for animation on TV, especially when it came to shows that were more crass and humorous. "When The Simpsons came out, people were so worried about the crude behavior," Furniss says. "But they didn't have any idea that South Park or Beavis and Butt-head were on the horizon and would be much more outrageous in a lot of ways." Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Fox Courtesy of Fox Since the days of the early filler segments and The Simpsons' launch as its own show in December 1989, the town of Springfield and its yellow inhabitants have managed to become TV's longest-running, prime-time scripted entertainment series. With such a long history, it's no surprise that there have been more than a few times when The Simpsons were the subject of a story here at NPR. Below you'll find a sampling of this work, with an assurance that there's always more to come — so long as Homer and Co. continue to let us into their world on Sunday nights. In 2016, NPR's Bob Boilen went to Springfield and hung out with the locals. Over the years plenty of celebrities have made cameos as themselves, but during the 27th season of the show Boilen was cast as a radio host of "Mountain Trax," a local Springfield program. All Things Considered host Robert Siegel also has made an appearance, along with the familiar opening tune to NPR's program. YouTube In 2015, we all learned a bit more about Bart — or rather, about the woman who gives the mischievous 10-year-old his voice, Nancy Cartwright. NPR's Danny Hajek interviewed Cartwright about how she started on The Simpsons. She actually didn't intend to audition for Bart's role, but can you really imagine him sounding any other way? While the show is full of humor and references to current events ranging from politics to religion, it also consistently has featured classical music. Before the start of a 12-day marathon of every single episode in 2014, NPR's Mark Mobley created "A Perfectly Cromulent Classical Guide To 'The Simpsons' Marathon" that goes through the references chronologically. Throughout the years different members of the cast and even the creator of the show have talked with NPR. In an episode of Fresh Air, host Terry Gross revisited interviews with creator and cartoonist Matt Groening, showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, and several of the show's actors. The Simpsons has been making news since the show's beginning, and continues to do so. Last week the Oxford Dictionaries embiggened its collection with the words "embiggen" and "cromulent," which the show introduced as Springfield-specific terms. Even decades-old one-off jokes have staying power for the 619-episode-and-counting show. ||||| type TV Show Current Status In Season run date 12/17/89 performer Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith guest performer Pierce Brosnan, Richard Gere, Stephen Jay Gould, Lisa Kudrow, Edward Norton, R.E.M., Ben Stiller, Reese Witherspoon broadcaster Fox genre Cartoons/Animation, Comedy “Well, good night, son.” They’re certainly not the four funniest words ever said on The Simpsons — make way for “I was saying Boo-urns” or “God bless those pagans” or “Stupider like a fox” or “mmm… crumbled-up cookie things” — but they are extremely important, notable for being the first words ever uttered by Homer Simpson. Exactly 30 years ago to the day, on April 19, 1987, the seeds of a comedy revolution were planted, as Fox sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show aired an animated short about the Simpson family by Life In Hell cartoonist Matt Groening. Forty-seven more shorts would air over the next two years, and in December 1989, The Simpsons would truly take root as its own thing with the Christmas special “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” Flash forward three decades later, and The Simpsons is considered to be one of the greatest TV comedies of all time, boasting 32 Emmys on its shelf. Currently in its 28th season and renewed through season 30, it’s also the longest-running scripted primetime entertainment series of all time, having eclipsed the 600-episode mark last fall. And it’s an unproven fact that you and the person sitting next to you will quote a line from Homer or Lisa or Mr. Burns or Barney or Moe or Comic Book Guy or Ralph Wiggum or Troy McClure or dozens of other Springfield characters any second now. You can marvel at how time flies and see how it all started by (re)watching the first short, “Good Night.” Clocking in at just under two minutes long, “Good Night” details the family’s bedtime ritual as Homer and Marge tuck in Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, and somewhat resembles the show we know today. The animation is much cruder (Groening quickly sketched out the characters before a meeting with Tracey Ullman co-creator James L. Brooks, and the animators traced over his drawings), Homer sounds different (Dan Castellaneta would ultimately change the way he voiced the grand patriarch of stupidity), and Bart asks Homer something more likely to come out Lisa’s mouth these days: “What is the mind? Is it just a system of impulses or… is it something tangible?” With the kids rattled after their good-nights with their parents — even baby Maggie is freaked out by “Rock-a-bye Baby” — they come knocking on Homer and Marge’s door, and everyone winds up in bed together. Thirty years later, the lights are still on.

– The Simpson family first appeared on television 30 years ago today—April 19, 1987—in a short on The Tracey Ullman Show called "Good Night," EW reports. Three decades later, The Simpsons is in its 28th season, has aired more than 600 episodes, and is the longest-running scripted prime-time series in TV history. Not bad for characters creator Matt Groening came up with at the last minute. According to the Guardian, Groening was supposed to pitch an animated version of his comic strip Life in Hell but didn't want to give up the rights to it. He quickly sketched out the Simpson family, naming its members after his own relatives. That led to "Good Night" and the first words of The Simpsons' illustrious run on television: "Well, good night, son." The show would get funnier. The Simpsons appeared in 48 shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show before getting their own series in 1989. That series is currently renewed through its 30th season. A TV historian tells NPR The Simpsons broke ground when it came to what you could put on television: "When The Simpsons came out, people were so worried about the crude behavior." And the Ringer ranks the show's 100 best episodes.

CLOSE President Trump reportedly told the Associated Press he was open to having a conversation with the North Korean President. Buzz60 President Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-In during Trump's visit to Asia in November. (Photo: JUNG YEON-JE, AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON – President Trump said Tuesday he is open to the idea of opening multi-party talks involving the U.S., South Korea and North Korea to reduce the nuclear tensions on the peninsula – but only under certain conditions. During a phone conversation with South Korea President President Moon Jae-in, a White House statement said, Trump "expressed his openness to holding talks between the United States and North Korea at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances." The statement did not specify the circumstances, but the openness to talks with Pyongyang marks a shift for Trump. The president publicly blasted his secretary of State in October for "wasting his time" by trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – right after Rex Tillerson acknowledged for the first time that the administration is in “direct contact" with Pyongyang and is seeking a dialogue about its missile and nuclear tests. More: North Korea to Send Athletes to Olympics More: Trump: Rex Tillerson is wasting his time negotiating with 'Little Rocket Man' More: Mike Pence to lead U.S. delegation at Winter Olympics Trump also said he wants to maintain pressure on North Korea, urging China and other countries to withhold economic aid to Kim Jong Un until he gives up his nuclear weapons programs. The U.S. president credited his tough stance for encouraging new contacts between the two Koreas, including a new agreement in which the North will send athletes to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea. During a briefing on recent discussions between North and South Korea, Moon "thanked President Trump for his influential leadership in making the talks possible," the statement said. "The two leaders underscored the importance of continuing the maximum pressure campaign against North Korea. " Trump also told his South Korean counterpart that Vice President Mike Pence would lead the American delegation to the Olympics in Pyeongchang. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2D0XZPK ||||| Trump Reiterates Openness To Talks With North Korea At 'Appropriate Time' Enlarge this image toggle caption Lee Jin-man/AP Lee Jin-man/AP In a phone call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, President Trump once again expressed his willingness to hold talks between the U.S. and North Korea "at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances," according to a White House readout of Wednesday's call. The conversation comes one day after the two Koreas held their first high-level talks in two years, resulting in North Korea's inclusion in the upcoming Winter Olympics. Another sign of a thaw in relations between the neighbors included an agreement to hold military talks. During Wednesday's call, Moon "thanked President Trump for his influential leadership in making the talks possible," according to the White House. At a weekend news conference at Camp David, Trump suggested that the recent rapprochement between the North and South was due to his own "tough stance." For months, the U.S. president and North Korea's leader have volleyed insults back and forth, most memorably with Trump dubbing Kim Jong Un "rocket man," and Kim responding that Trump was a "dotard." Last week, Trump's Twitter taunt about the nuclear button on his desk being "much bigger & more powerful" than Kim's generated alarm among some about the seriousness of a nuclear threat being delivered in a seemingly offhand way. At Saturday's Camp David news conference, Trump also spoke of his willingness to hold phone talks with Kim. "I always believe in talking," Trump said, adding, "but we have a very firm stance." When pressed if there would be prerequisites to talks (the U.S. has historically demanded the North first commit to denuclearizing), Trump evaded the question. "He [Kim] knows I'm not messing around. I'm not messing around — not even a little bit, not even 1 percent," Trump said. "At the same time, if we can come up with a very peaceful and very good solution — we're working on it with Rex [Secretary of State Rex Tillerson] and we're working on it with a lot of people — if something can happen and something can come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity. That would be a great thing for the world. Very important, OK?" Later Wednesday, Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of the year and, according to Reuters, the president said that while he welcomed the possibility of U.S.-North Korea talks, it was unclear whether they would pay off. "Who knows where it leads?" Trump said. ||||| Story highlights The call comes a day after representatives from North and South Korea held day-long negotiations in the demilitarized zone South Korean President Moon Jae-in "thanked President Trump for his influential leadership" Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump expressed openness to holding talks between the United States and North Korea during a call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday, the latest of Trump's forays into inter-Korean relations. The call comes a day after representatives from North and South Korea held day-long negotiations in the demilitarized zone, where Pyongyang agreed to send a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics and to hold talks with Seoul to ease military tensions. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Moon briefed Trump on the "outcomes of the discussions between North and South Korea" and Moon "thanked President Trump for his influential leadership in making the talks possible." Moon, during a briefing with reporters earlier, credited Trump with making a "huge" contribution to bringing the North and South together. "The two leaders underscored the importance of continuing the maximum pressure campaign against North Korea," Sanders said. "President Trump expressed his openness to holding talks between the United States and North Korea at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances." Read More

– During a phone call Wednesday with South Korea President Moon Jae-in, President Trump "expressed his openness to holding talks between the United States and North Korea at the appropriate time, under the right circumstances," USA Today quotes the White House as saying in a statement. The White House didn't specify what those circumstances would be. The statement represents a continued shift in Trump's stance on talks with North Korea. In October, he said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea. But on Saturday, Trump told reporters he would be open to talks, NPR reports. "I always believe in talking," he said. "But we have a very firm stance." Trump didn't specify any conditions for talks at that point either. Trump's call with Moon came a day after South Korea and North Korea held talks on the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, with the north agreeing to participate in the games. The White House says Moon "thanked President Trump for his influential leadership in making the talks possible" during their call Wednesday. Over the weekend, Trump said his "tough stance" might be the reason the two countries are talking. Tuesday's talk between the Koreas also included discussion of easing military tensions. CNN reports the South Korean government says Trump on Wednesday told Moon, "I hope you let them know that there will be absolutely no military action as long as inter-Korean talks are ongoing."

People is an American weekly magazine of celebrity and human-interest stories, published by Time Inc., a subsidiary of the Meredith Corporation.[3] With a readership of 46.6 million adults, People has the largest audience of any American magazine.[4] People had $997 million in advertising revenue in 2011, the highest advertising revenue of any American magazine.[5] In 2006, it had a circulation of 3.75 million and revenue expected to top $1.5 billion.[6] It was named "Magazine of the Year" by Advertising Age in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation, and advertising.[7] People ranked #6 on Advertising Age's annual "A-list" and #3 on Adweek's "Brand Blazers" list in October 2006. The magazine runs a roughly 50/50 mix of celebrity and human-interest articles.a[›] People's editors claim to refrain from printing pure celebrity gossip, enough to lead celebrity publicists to propose exclusives to the magazine, and evidence of what one staffer calls a "publicist-friendly strategy".[6] People's website, People.com, focuses on celebrity news and human interest stories.[7] In February 2015, the website broke a new record: 72 million unique visitors.[8][9][not in citation given] People is perhaps best known for its yearly special issues naming the "World's Most Beautiful", "Best & Worst Dressed", and "Sexiest Man Alive". The magazine's headquarters are in New York, and it maintains editorial bureaus in Los Angeles and in London. For economic reasons, it closed bureaus in Austin, Miami, and Chicago in 2006.[6][7] History [ edit ] The concept for People has been attributed to Andrew Heiskell, Time Inc.'s chief executive officer at the time and the former publisher of the weekly Life magazine. The founding managing editor of People was Richard B. (Dick) Stolley, a former assistant managing editor at Life and the journalist who acquired the Zapruder tapes of the John F. Kennedy assassination for Time Inc. in 1963. People's first publisher was Richard J. (Dick) Durrell, another Time Inc. veteran.[citation needed] Stolley characterized the magazine as "getting back to the people who are causing the news and who are caught up in it, or deserve to be in it. Our focus is on people, not issues."[10] Stolley's almost religious determination to keep the magazine people-focused contributed significantly to its rapid early success. It is said that although Time Inc. pumped an estimated $40 million into the venture, the magazine only broke even 18 months after its debut in March 1974. Initially, the magazine was sold primarily on newsstands and in supermarkets. To get the magazine out each week, founding staff members regularly slept on the floor of their offices two or three nights each week and severely limited all non-essential outside engagements. The premier edition for the week ending March 4, 1974 featured actress Mia Farrow, then starring in the film The Great Gatsby, on the cover. That issue also featured stories on Gloria Vanderbilt, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the wives of U.S. Vietnam veterans who were Missing In Action.[6] The magazine was, apart from its cover, printed in black-and-white. The initial cover price was 35 cents (equivalent to $1.78 in 2018). The core of the small founding editorial team included other editors, writers, photographers and photo editors from Life magazine, which had ceased publication just 13 months earlier. This group included managing editor Stolley, senior editors Hal Wingo (father of ESPN anchor Trey Wingo), Sam Angeloff (the founding managing editor of Us magazine) and Robert Emmett Ginna (later a producer of films); writers James Watters (a theater reviewer) and Ronald B. Scott (later a biographer of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney); former Time senior editor Richard Burgheim (later the founder of Time's ill-fated cable television magazine View); Chief of Photography, a Life photographer, John Loengard, to be succeeded by John Dominus, a noteworthy Life staff photographer; and design artist Bernard Waber, author and illustrator of the Lyle The Crocodile book series for children. Many of the noteworthy Life photographers contributed to the magazine as well, including legends Alfred Eisenstaedt and Gjon Mili and rising stars Co Rentmeester, David Burnett and Bill Eppridge. Other members of the first editorial staff included editors and writers: Ross Drake, Ralph Novak, Bina Bernard, James Jerome, Sally Moore, Mary Vespa, Lee Wohlfert, Joy Wansley, Curt Davis, Clare Crawford-Mason,[11] and Jed Horne, later an editor of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. In 1996, Time Inc. launched a Spanish-language magazine entitled People en Español. The company has said that the new publication emerged after a 1995 issue of the original magazine was distributed with two distinct covers, one featuring the murdered Tejano singer Selena and the other featuring the hit television series Friends; the Selena cover sold out while the other did not.[12] Although the original idea was that Spanish-language translations of articles from the English magazine would comprise half the content, People en Español over time came to have entirely original content. In 2002, People introduced People Stylewatch, a title focusing on celebrity style, fashion, and beauty – a newsstand extension of its Stylewatch column. Due to its success, the frequency of People Stylewatch was increased to 10 times per year in 2007.[citation needed] In spring 2017, People Stylewatch was rebranded as PeopleStyle. In late 2017, it was announced that there would no longer be a print version of PeopleStyle and it would be a digital-only publication. In Australia, the localized version of People is titled Who because of a pre-existing lad's mag published under the title People. The international edition of People has been published in Greece since 2010.[citation needed] On July 26, 2013, Outlook Group announced that it was closing down the Indian edition of People, which began publication in 2008.[13][14] In September 2016, in collaboration with Entertainment Weekly, People launched the People/Entertainment Weekly Network. The network is "a free, ad-supported online-video network carries short- and long-form programming covering celebrities, pop culture, lifestyle and human-interest stories". It was rebranded as PeopleTV in September 2017.[15] In December 2016, LaTavia Roberson engaged in a feud with People after alleging they misquoted and misrepresented her interview online.[16][17][18] Teen People [ edit ] Teen People cover, April 2006 Managing Editor Niraj Biswal Barbara O'Dair Categories Celebrity Frequency Monthly First issue February 1998 Final issue September 2006 Company Time Inc. (Time Warner) Country United States Language English ISSN 1096-2832 In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens, called Teen People.[19] However, on July 27, 2006 the company announced that it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006.[20] In exchange subscribers to this magazine received Entertainment Weekly for the rest of their subscriptions. There were numerous reasons cited for the publication shutdown, including a downfall in ad pages, competition from both other teen-oriented magazines and the internet, along with a decrease in circulation numbers.[21] Teenpeople.com was merged into People.com in April 2007. People.com will "carry teen-focused stories that are branded as TeenPeople.com", Mark Golin, the editor of People.com explained, and on the decision to merge the brands he said, "We've got traffic on TeenPeople, People is a larger site, why not combine and have the teen traffic going to one place?"[22] Competition for celebrity photos [ edit ] In a July 2006 Variety article, Janice Min, Us Weekly editor-in-chief, blamed People for the increase in cost to publishers of celebrity photos: They are among the largest spenders of celebrity photos in the industry....One of the first things they ever did, that led to the jacking up of photo prices, was to pay $75,000 to buy pictures of Jennifer Lopez reading Us magazine, so Us Weekly couldn't buy them. That was the watershed moment that kicked off high photo prices in my mind. I had never seen anything like it. But they saw a competitor come along, and responded. It was a business move, and probably a smart one.[6] People reportedly paid $4.1 million for photos of newborn Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, the child of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.[6] The photos set a single-day traffic record for their website, attracting 26.5 million page views.[6] Sexiest Man Alive [ edit ] The annual feature the "Sexiest Man Alive" is billed as a benchmark of male attractiveness and typically includes only famous people and celebrities. It is determined using a procedure similar to the procedure used for Time's Person of the Year. The origin of the title was a discussion on a planned story on Mel Gibson. Someone exclaimed, "Oh my God, he is the sexiest man alive!" And someone else said, "You should use that as a cover line."[23] For the first decade or so, the feature appeared at uneven intervals. Originally awarded in the wintertime, it shifted around the calendar, resulting in gaps as short as seven months and as long as a year and a half, with no selection at all during 1994 (21 years later the magazine did select Keanu Reeves to fill the 1994 gap, with runners-up including Hugh Grant and Jim Carrey). Since 1997, the dates have settled between mid-November and early December. Dates of magazine issues, winners, ages of winners at the time of selection, and pertinent comments are listed below. As of 2016 , John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Patrick Swayze are the only winners to have died. Kennedy, Adam Levine, David Beckham, and Blake Shelton are the only non-actors to have won the award. Sexiest Woman Alive [ edit ] In December 2014, People selected its first and only Sexiest Woman Alive.[39] No later People Sexiest Women of the Year were announced. Cindy Crawford alongside Richard Gere had been declared "Sexiest Couple of the Year" on October 19, 1993 as a departure from the magazine's annual "Sexiest Man of the Year" award. Year Choice Age December 25, 2014 Kate Upton[39] 22 Most Intriguing People of the Year [ edit ] At the end of each year People magazine famously selects 25 news-making individuals or couples who have received a lot of media attention over the past 12 months and showcases them in a special year-end issue, the '25 Most Intriguing People of the Year'. This series of full-page features and half-page featurettes includes world leaders and political activists, famous actors and entertainers, elite athletes, prominent business people, accomplished scientists and occasionally members of the public whose stories have made an unusual impact in news or tabloid media.[40] 100 Most Beautiful People [ edit ] People's 100 Most Beautiful People is an annual list of 100 people judged to be the most beautiful individuals in the world. Until 2006, it was the 50 Most Beautiful People. Julia Roberts holds the record for most times named, with five.[41] Michelle Pfeiffer and Jennifer Aniston have appeared twice. Number Ones of Most Beautiful People [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] ^ a: The ratio, according to Variety, is 53% to 47%. ||||| Jennifer Aniston is PEOPLE’s 2016 World’s Most Beautiful Woman! The actress is opening up about her marriage and sharing her age-defying beauty tips. Subscribe now for this exclusive special edition of PEOPLE! Jennifer Aniston may be one of the most gorgeous stars in Hollywood, but she was still humbled and “very, very flattered” when she first heard the news that she was being named the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. “I thought, ‘Oh my God,’ ” she tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “There was this sort of very excited, teenage-y kind of moment.” The actress, who says she’s learned to embrace her appearance over the years, insists she feels her best when she’s healthy and strong. “It’s funny, it’s a really quick transition from not a care and now all of a sudden, we’ve got to really be mindful of what we put inside our bodies,” she adds. “And how we sleep and take care of ourselves. You can get away with a lot in your 20s.” For more of Aniston’s revealing interview, including beauty tips and secrets she’s learned over the years, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday Jennifer Aniston is PEOPLE's 2016 World's Most Beautiful Woman People Aniston, 47, was first motivated to start taking care of herself early on in her career after an agent told her she didn’t get a part because she was “too chubby.” “I was like, ‘What?!’ But my diet was terrible,” she says. “Milk shakes and French fries with gravy [laughs]. It was a good thing to start paying attention.” Now the actress mixes it up by exercising at least six days a week for about an hour each day and watching her diet. But that doesn’t mean she won’t indulge in her favorites. From chips and guacamole to her husband Justin Theroux‘s pasta carbonara, which they make together every couple of weeks, “I’m not as strict as I was,” she says. “It was always sort of a monitored watch. Then I thought just give yourself moderation.” Besides cooking and exercising with her husband, Aniston says just being married to Theroux brings her the greatest joy. “He makes me laugh. He’s so interesting and so interested,” she says. “He’s unbelievably talented in more areas than one and he’s just a good man.” As for her natural look, the actress gives full credit to her glam squad for teaching her “everything that I know! Whatever was happening before was just unfortunate,” says the star, adding that she now knows how to contour her cheeks and blow out her hair. “When I was in my 20s, my face was almost a complete circle. So I really needed contouring. And now I’m slowly chiseling away, wishing I had that round face back.” If she could magically try any new look and instantly go back, Aniston says she’d be game to check out a pixie cut. “If I knew I could instantly push it back. I’m very curious to see what I would look like with really short hair,” she says. “But I’ll never do it. Never. I’m a long hair girl. It’s like a security blanket.” So how does Aniston define beauty? “Inner confidence. Peace. Kindness. Honesty. A life well-lived,” she says. “Taking on challenges and not feeling shame for things that haven’t gone the way you felt they should have. And not feeling like a failure or allowing people to critique your life and make you feel like you’ve failed at something. That’s just toxic noise.” ||||| Julia Roberts is the 2017 World’s Most Beautiful Woman! Learn her secrets to staying young—and subscribe now for this special edition featuring over 50 pages of beauties — only in PEOPLE! It’s been 26 years since Julia Roberts was first on the cover of PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful issue, and she’s still our favorite pretty woman. Get push notifications with news, features and more. The stunning star is, for a record fifth time, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World – though she can hardly believe it. “I am very flattered,” she tells PEOPLE’s editor-in-chief Jess Cagle in this week’s cover story. In fact, Roberts is now way ahead of pal George Clooney, who has been PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive twice. Jokes Roberts of the feat, “I’m going to mention that in my Christmas card to the Clooneys this year.” Roberts, 49, opens up about her happy 14-year marriage to cinematographer Danny Moder, her life with twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 12, and Henry, 9, and the secrets of her ageless beauty in her interview with Cagle and PEOPLE’s style and beauty director, Andrea Lavinthal. She thinks the best is yet to come: “I think I’m currently peaking.” Alexi Lubomirski for Lancôme To see the full interview, watch People Cover Story: World’s Most Beautiful — Julia Roberts, streaming now on the People/Entertainment Weekly Network. Go to People.com/PEN, or download the PEN app on your favorite device. Roberts was just 23 when she first appeared on the cover of the World’s Most Beautiful issue in 1991. The year before, she had skyrocketed to instant fame when she starred in the smash romantic comedy Pretty Woman. Ron Batzdorff/Touchstone Pictures RELATED VIDEO: World’s Most Beautiful: PEOPLE Editor Catherine Kast on Julia Roberts’ Diet, Family & More! But behind the scenes, Roberts reveals, she had no idea how much her life had changed. “People say, ‘Oh, when Pretty Woman came out it must have really changed your life,’ and it’s kind of become this joke, but the truth is I was out of town when Pretty Woman came out,” she says in the cover story. “I was in another movie in this tiny little town that was showing Star Wars in its first run. I remember reading … ‘Pretty Woman came out this weekend and made this much money’ and I thought, ‘Is that a lot of money? Is that good? Is that great?’ I didn’t really know.” Alex J. Berliner/abimages/AP She reflects on how she found confidence after her “awkward” early years — and how she found her own fairy-tale ending. “I mean every day my husband walks in the door it’s like a recurring dream. I’m like, ‘Ah, he’s back!’ “ ||||| Mirror Mirror People magazine’s “most beautiful” women list isn’t about looks, but calibrates a more complex algorithm of pop-cultural currency. The curators of the “World's Most Beautiful Women” at People magazine have surely spent months mulling over their annual issue, which hit newsstands Wednesday. They have surely devoted hundreds of hours to debate contenders’ merits and the definition of beauty in heated editorial meetings. Perhaps they employed some sort of “beauty” algorithm to whittle down actresses and rate each one numerically, weighing “money given to charities” against “number of times photographed by paparazzi.” But at the end of the day, there’s only one thing that matters: whose face will attract the most eyes--be they approving or withering—in supermarket checkout lines? This year, People placed their bets on “Real, Radiant Sandra Bullock!” whose defiant smile on the cover of the tabloid pairs nicely with a defiant strand of hair hovering above her right eyebrow. The 50-year-old actress doesn’t give a damn about out-of-place hair! She looks too good to concern herself with matters so trivial. Plus, she’s a proud single mother, a Hollywood star aging gracefully five years after her big Oscar win, and embracing her role as “the world’s first female supervillain” in the upcoming animated feature, Minions. At 50, she’s the oldest “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” ever. Bullock is a strategic choice for People, who know readers don’t associate her with classic Hollywood beauty and femininity. Bullock charmed you despite yourself as the tough girl with the cutesie bob in Speed. She annoyed you in While You Were Sleeping, but won your heart again with her tough-girl slapstick shtick in Miss Congeniality. The actress is more poised in real life, but she’s still the ballsy guys’ girl—never catty or petty—who is bored by celebrity drivel. She’s modest, cool, and insouciant. Or at least this is how People is selling her. “The people I find most beautiful are the ones who aren’t trying,” Bullock told People. “Real beauty is quiet. Especially in this town, it’s just so hard not to say, ‘Oh, I need to look like that.’” Superficial beauty is ephemeral; real beauty is to “be a good person, be a good mom, do a good job with the lunch, let someone cut in front of you who looks like they’re in a bigger hurry.” Naturally, when Bullock learned People had bestowed her with the “most beautiful” honorific, she thought it was “ridiculous” and “told no one.” It’s a predictable response from the Hollywood star, desperate to sound modest and prove her talent and success are unrelated to her good looks. But it sounds more genuine coming from Bullock, who has always seemed “laissez-faire” about her public image next to other big-name actresses. Perhaps the other reason Bullock “told no one” is because, like every other sensible person, she recognizes that People’s annual stock of the “World’s Most Beautiful” women is more tired and ridiculous every year. It’s a list of actresses who fit a certain script. Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily Digest Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason There are 192 “breathtaking beauties” in this year’s issue, but Broadway’s Gigi star Vanessa Hudgens, Orange is the New Black’s Laverne Cox, pop singer Meghan Trainor (who, People writes, is a “pop force to be reckoned with” despite her “initial insecurities about not looking ‘like Rihanna’”) are all beautiful—yes—but also more than that airless word. Many of these women are cultural lightning rods; they’re the celebrities we can’t stop talking about because they’re shattering gender and beauty conventions. They are talking points. It’s a major departure from the “Most Beautiful” archives. When People first launched the issue 25 years ago, it was puffed-up eye candy: actresses and models who were famous because they were beautiful. For less than a dollar, you could pore over pictures of the most beautiful people—and get a superficial glimpse of their world from the tabloid’s interviews. Now the “beauty” criteria is more about cultural cachet than aesthetic beauty. In some ways this is a good thing: People’s definition of beauty, tailored to their readers’ views, is much less narrow than it used to be. But it’s the script that bugs me, the imagined algorithms, the token “beautiful” star who defies beauty conventions. The message is clear: They’re not objectifying women, because that’s no longer socially acceptable. They’re celebrating their achievements! They’re championing diversity! But they can’t say that because—why—too worthy? Too dull? Sell it as a beauty parade, but really this is a feminist-slanted pageant on the sly? Implicitly, People wants us to see it is doing all women a service by selecting beautiful women who are more than just a bunch of pretty faces—but, hmm, still pretty enough to sell magazines. People’s annual “Sexiest Man Alive” issue is equally absurd, but at least it’s straightforward when it comes to its looks-based objectification, and not laboring the “beautiful on the inside and out” point. In its parade of firm pecs and hillock-shaped biceps, it says plainly: Here’s our pick of Hollywood’s sexiest male stars for you to fantasize about. If People’s “Most Beautiful” cover star isn’t a painfully obvious choice (Beyoncé in 2012, for example), the magazine tends to go with a wild card, like Gwyneth Paltrow in 2013. Eight days before that issue came out, Paltrow had been named Hollywood’s most hated celebrity by Star magazine. People made a canny move here, knowing that polarizing beauties often sell more than popular ones, especially when selling to a tabloid demographic. Giving the prize to Sandra Bullock this year is equally strategic. For all the readers who will marvel at how good she looks at 50, there are just as many who will say she’s over-the-hill. And if there’s anything tabloid readers enjoy more than gawking at celebrity beauty, it’s voyeuristically observing their failures and flaws, from Britney Spears’s head-shaving meltdown to a glimpse of mottled flesh on Gwynnie’s thighs. Not that you’ll see any of this in People this week. It’s a brief moment of sexy, shiny, happy respite for Hollywood stars, whose physical beauty will be relentlessly scrutinized the rest of the year. Lately, People’s “Most Beautiful” issue has become an annual attempt by the magazine to redeem themselves from accusations of shallowness, to prove they believe beauty is more than skin deep. ||||| share tweet pin email Julia Roberts has been named People's Most Beautiful woman of 2017. The 49-year-old Oscar winner is gracing the cover of the publication's annual issue for a record fifth time. TODAY revealed the news exclusively Wednesday morning. People Inside the magazine, the "Pretty Woman" star reveals that happiness, humor and healthy living have helped her maintain her girl-next-door good looks. The Georgia-born beauty, who won an Oscar for her leading role in 2000's "Erin Brockovich," has three kids — twins, Phinnaeus and Hazel, 12, and son Henry, 9 — with her hubby of 14 years, cinematographer Danny Moder, 48. Closed Captioning ON OFF apply | reset x Text Display Background Enhancements font Times New Roman Arial Comic Sans T T T T size color Julia Roberts named People magazine's Most Beautiful (again) Play Video - 0:39 Julia Roberts named People magazine's Most Beautiful (again) Play Video - 0:39 We apologize, this video has expired. A perfect day, said Roberts, is "just to be with my family (with) everybody feeling happy and running around and playing. Just sharing time together." The star, who first landed on People's Most Beautiful in 1991 at age 23, said her kids keep her laughing. People Julia Roberts on the cover of People in 1991 "They all have a very keen sense of humor," she said. "They all have a sort of different style of humor, but I do think they are all pretty funny, and I really hope they get that from me because that's what I tell everybody." RELATED: Julia Roberts delivers vaccines for children in Kenya Roberts, who lost her mom, Betty, in 2015, revealed that she looks forward to growing "gracefully-ish old" and one day being a grandmother herself: "That's what the winter of life is supposed to be about." Closed Captioning ON OFF apply | reset x Text Display Background Enhancements font Times New Roman Arial Comic Sans T T T T size color share link Julia Roberts named People's Most Beautiful Woman for 5th time: See her past covers! Play Video - 0:46 Julia Roberts named People's Most Beautiful Woman for 5th time: See her past covers! Play Video - 0:46 The actress said she never looks back wistfully at her career, feeling as if she's already peaked: "I think I'm currently peaking," she said. "I'm a slow rise. I'm like a slow Thanksgiving dinner roll." People's Most Beautiful issue hits newsstands on Friday. ||||| Apr 19, 2017 - Roberts was just 23 years old when she first appeared on the cover of the World's Most Beautiful issue in 1991. "Was I old enough to be voted ...

– "Pretty Woman" has once more received a description upgrade. Julia Roberts is the "World's Most Beautiful Woman," according to People, the star's fifth turn at the honor since she first appeared on the "Most Beautiful" cover in 1991 at the age of 23. The 49-year-old mom of three tells the magazine, "I am very flattered," adding that she believes she's "currently peaking." "I'm a slow rise … like a slow Thanksgiving dinner roll," she says, per Today. Roberts' repeat ascension to the top of the "Most Beautiful" list continues the recent trend of the magazine selecting women from the 45-and-over set as its honorees: Last year's cover star was Jennifer Aniston at the age of 47 (her second time on the cover), and in 2015, Sandra Bullock took the top spot at the age of 50—what the Daily Beast mused at the time was a "strategic" move on People's part. As for Roberts, perhaps the secret to what People calls her "ageless beauty" can be found in the love she has for husband Danny Moder, whom she married in 2002. "Every day [he] walks in the door it's like a recurring dream," she says. "I'm like, 'Ah, he's back!'" (Kiefer Sutherland recently spoke about his long-ago romance with Roberts.)

What Happened After My Kidnapping When I was a senior in college, three teenagers from West Philly abducted me, robbed me, and threatened to kill me. It changed my life. Did it destroy theirs? Sign up to get the best of Philly, every day. Hello, my name is Brad Pearson. In March 2006, you were one of three people who kidnapped me in West Philadelphia. I’m writing this letter not because I’m angry at you, or upset, or hurt. The opposite, actually. While the kidnapping and investigation were difficult for me, in the end they made me a stronger man. I’m a magazine writer now, and I’ve always hoped to talk to you and Jerry and Mordi about that night, and what your lives have been like since. I’d either like to do that by letter or in person. I can travel to Pennsylvania to speak with you, if you’d allow me to. I also included my email address, if that’s easier for you. Again, I’m not angry, and I’d really just like to talk. Sincerely, Brad Pearson Jerry’s response came first, less than a month later. Two pages, handwritten, single-spaced. All-caps block letters, except for the words “Sincerely, Jerry Price,” in cursive: In your letter, you said ‘I don’t know if you remember.’ The truth is that I don’t think that I will ever be able to forget you. That day — your face plays over and over in my head constantly reminding me of the hurt, anger, sorrow and other feelings that I have caused you as well as the others. Tyree soon sent a letter, too: “Being a dad in jail is really sad.” I started looking at flights. • THE WEATHER WAS unseasonably warm that night, but I still needed a coat. It was a little after 10 p.m., and I’d parked at the corner of 58th Street and Overbrook Avenue, two blocks off St. Joe’s campus. As I made my way down the street, the silver tips of my sneakers reflected each street lamp. A few steps after I turned onto Overbrook, though, the shine stopped, signaling the end of the area the school actually cared about. Shattered glass covered the leaves in the gutter, a reminder that someone probably left an iPod in a cup holder. I hopped over the broken glass, and two men approached. They chatted and laughed; neither of them looked at me. My car sat 20 steps ahead. As I turned the corner, I heard the first noise. Smack, smack, smack, rubber on concrete. Then grrick, grrick, grrick, rubber on gravel. Whooosh as jacket grazed cedars. “Don’t fucking look at me. Look at the fucking ground.” There was another whoosh, and the light bounced off a pistol now pointed at my head. I couldn’t concentrate on the weapon; the man’s voice was puerile. He was like a baby holding a shiny toy. He grabbed my arm and pushed me out of the street’s light, next to a sinking Ford Escort outside a rotting garage. The wooden door was a pile of paint and beetle bore creeping toward the expired license plates. “Empty out your pockets.” I tossed to the ground the contents of my hands: car key, water bottle. Cell phone and wallet were next. “Is that all you got?” They quickly reached into my pockets to confirm my response. “You got an ATM card?” Yes, I said, it’s Wachovia but says First Union, it’s green. Sir. Yes, I have my ATM card, sir. “Don’t call me FUCKING sir, that shit’s for white people. What’s the PIN number for your MAC card?” Now, what’s the play here? Correct number, they leave and I walk away? Wrong number, they leave, they have my wallet and find me after they realize the number is bunk? “One four six six.” “Why the fuck should we believe you?” “I swear to God that’s the number. I wouldn’t lie to you.” Normal Brad would have lied to them. Gun-to-head Brad thinks differently. “We’re going for a ride.” They grabbed me by the back of the neck. My head popped up for a split second. “Keep your fucking head down. You look up again and I will shoot you in the fucking face.” My chin dove into my collarbone, and they threw me toward a running car. Dark paint, tan leather interior. I hit my head on the door frame, my two attackers flanked me on either side, and we were off. A third man drove. “How much money do you have in the account?” We’d driven straight for a few blocks, then hung a right and a sharp left. My mental GPS slowed down as we drove farther and farther, as more turns stacked on backtracks. Was that a turn or a curve? “About $800, I think.” “If there is one dime less than $800 in your account, I will shoot you in the fucking face. Do you understand?” The possibility of a delay between my cashing of a check and that money’s appearance in my account seemed plausible, so in an abundance of caution, I told them there might only be $600. “Oh, so you lied to us. My associates and I don’t like liars, Brad. You know what else we don’t like? Heroes. So don’t try to be a fucking hero, Brad, or I’ll have to shoot you.” In the fucking face. Got it. After the lesson in fiscal responsibility, the man to my right began to talk. And talk. He asked if I’d handed in a paper I was working on. He asked how my job was. He asked if I saw a kid on campus with black hair. He tried to convince me that they had been following me for weeks. The car stopped, and one of the men exited. A second later, he was back. Place didn’t have an ATM, he complained, and we returned to the road. They were novices, kids with higher voices than mine, and they didn’t know where to find an ATM. • “WHO’S ‘ADO,’ BRAD?” When I was a baby, my parents and I lived in my grandparents’ attic. The three of us would wander downstairs each morning, where my grandmother would place me on her lap. “I do love you! I do love you!” she’d say. “I do” became “Ado,” and the name stuck to her. I winced. He’d begun scrolling through my phone, and Ado is my first contact. “Home.” As he made his way through my alphabet of contacts, I answered each query with one of three responses: home, college or work. At 21, those are the only three options anyone really has. But … Ado. For the first time, I thought of my family — my dad, my mom, my brothers and my sister. At home, all of them, asleep, unworried. “Do you have a girlfriend, Brad?” Lie, just lie, don’t think about it just lie. Kelleen’s face filled the backs of my eyelids, her hair and her dimples. She turned and smiled, all gauzy movie sequence. “No, I don’t.” • “STAY THE FUCK DOWN, Braddy Brad.” In the short trip, I’d acquired a nickname, and we finally pulled up to an ATM. One of the men left and returned again quickly. “We got out $700.” “I thought you said there was going to be $800, Brad.” I stammered out an excuse revolving around the American banking system, but the subtext was please don’t kill me please don’t kill me please don’t kill me over $100. “All right, 700 bucks, divide that shit up.” “Twenty 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 … yo, I think we got enough.” We left to score some coke. Burst. Stop. Burst. Stop. Long burst, quick body-throwing stop. The window lowered, and a man stepped up. “Yo, who the fuck is that?” “Quiet down, you want us to get caught?” Money was exchanged, coke was scored. The door seemed close. I could kick it open and run. I could run faster than they could. I had adrenaline on my side, I had fear on my side, I had living on my side. But I didn’t have a gun on my side. The pistol rested over my left shoulder, warmed by his hand and my shoulder. My head wedged between my knees. I stayed. Cramped, I moved the fingers on one hand, pinkie to thumb, thumb to pinkie, an imprisoned pianist. Silence, so I worked the other hand. “Brad, if you move one more time, I swear to God I’ll fucking kill you. I haven’t killed anyone in a few months, Brad, and I’m getting kinda anxious.” Before, I had been convinced they would let me go; now, I wasn’t so sure. It would be a quick death, hopefully. One shot, right to the head. They’d get their $700, and someone walking his dog would find me, without a wallet or forehead. “Sometimes I like to use a knife, Brad, right across the throat. Slittttttt.” Flipping through my wallet, he passed over a stack of Pathmark SuperSaver cards and expired Papa John’s coupons, settling on my Eagle Scout card. Matte gold. “I see you’re also an Eagle Scout.” The emphasis fell on also instead of “an Eagle Scout.” Brothers in arms, it seemed. We talked about Hawk Mountain, a rounded-off lump of a Pennsylvania peak that he encouraged me to visit. Any comfort I gleaned from the conversation died quickly as they spotted a police car. The psychology of telling me about the car was twisted, but I may have given them too much credit. A fucking shot to the face was once again promised, heroism again discouraged. I stayed in my crouch, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt was once again turned up, and we continued on. • “YO, MAN, LET’S LET BRAD GO.” The suggestion came from one of my original abductors. They were the first words he’d said since he’d doled out the cash. I was asked if I’d like to be dropped off anywhere in particular, a sort of forced chauffeur service. Literally anywhere, I said. “You don’t want us to drop you off anywhere, Brad. Your ass will end up raped and naked in the streets.” Laughter filled the car, and I joined in. I’m free! Let’s all laugh about how great the past hour has been! I don’t know why I laughed. Maybe it was just that I hadn’t been told I’d be shot in the fucking face for a few minutes, and to me, that seemed like a reason to celebrate. They pulled over and grabbed me from the left side, dragging me out of the backseat. I tripped on the curb, then some sticks, and slipped on the grass and a piece of wet cardboard. My face was covered and down; fresh air filled me. I slowed, and felt the brush at my knees. “Lay the fuck down.” The decomposing leaves smelled clean somehow, and my nose burrowed into them. One of the men told me to count to 100 and made me promise not to go to the police. Do not run home, either: Walk. Do not jog: Walk. I began counting. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The gun cocked over my head. I tried counting to eight, but all I could hear was the hammer sliding, the click-clack of a roller coaster approaching the top of a hill. I waited to die, and I prayed. Dear God don’t let this happen dear God I can’t die dear God help me help me live help me see my family help me see Kelleen help me live I need to live. I hadn’t been to church without parental nudging in my entire life. Whatever goodwill I had stored up during those trips was already cashed in. “Don’t fucking move. … ” “Just keep counting.” Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. I counted to 200, maybe 500. Exhausted, I almost fell asleep. When I finally stood up and opened my eyes, I thought I was back at 58th and Overbrook. Trees surrounded me, and a cedar stood at my left once again. I had no idea where I was. Walletless, phoneless, I crossed an abandoned lot and headed for the street. Two blocks up, I ran into a man. Black and wiry, with a wispy, graying goatee. “What are you doing here?” “I need to find my way home.” • SOON, THE POLICE picked up Jerry Price, Tyree Brown and Mordi Baskerville — not just for my kidnapping, but for 12 other kidnappings and robberies across West Philadelphia. They’d started showing up at Price’s cousin’s apartment with cash, cell phones, a Lexus and pizza. (In addition to college students, the three also robbed pizza deliverymen. And why waste a good pizza?) Laptops and wallets arrived at the Parkside apartment, too. During the pretrial hearings, the three smirked as they sat at the defendants’ table. One by one we entered the courtroom and talked about getting pistol-whipped or mock-executed or otherwise embarrassed. My dad and girlfriend sat in the audience. When my dad would get upset, Kelleen would take his hand. The night before the trial was set to begin, they all pleaded guilty. Mordi, the youngest at 16, flipped first. In exchange, a lighter sentence of seven to 15 years. Jerry, who was 17, got nine to 18. Tyree, age 18, 10 to 20. In the weeks and months following the kidnapping, I lived off free rail drinks and well-wishes, cocky and alive. Then I went back to my apartment and had nightmares. The room would be dark, beyond vision. There was something in there, ready to attack. Or maybe there was nothing in the room and I just had my eyes closed, afraid to open them. I’d always wake up before I found out. I cried once, on my parents’ deck in New York. I yelled into the phone at Kelleen, blaming Jerry, Tyree and Mordi for my inability to land a job after graduation. But it wasn’t true. I blamed them, sure, but I could have gotten a job. It was easy to deflect. That first year passed. Jerry, Tyree and Mordi went to jail, and I slowly climbed back into life. I got a job. I moved to Maryland, and then eventually Texas. I’d think about them, 1,500 miles away in prison, whenever I’d get a victim compensation check from one of my kidnappers: a few dollars here and there to pay for my missing wallet, cell phone and bank fees. My mom would get the checks in New York, then forward them to wherever I was living. I’d take the check, say “Fuck you” out loud, and slide it into an accordion folder. They’re still there now, $78.22 worth, at the bottom of my closet. The kidnapping became a crutch, too, one I would break out especially during job interviews. My favorite question was, “Tell us about a time you overcame adversity.” I had them then. (It worked two out of the three times I tried it.) I knew I had the best party story, the best sob story, the best any story. A psychiatrist could diagnose this behavior: Coping through manipulative bragging. If I’d gone to more than one session, maybe mine would have. March 27th was always an awkward day, one I wasn’t sure whether to celebrate or forget. Eventually March would flip to April without my notice. But something still lingered in the back of my head. What were they doing? Were they thinking about me? Did they care? Do I care? Kelleen and I got married; we got a dog. Then, last summer, I sat down and typed two short letters to Jerry and Tyree. • A CORRECTIONS OFFICER points me to a small TV monitor ensconced in a metal box, and a hard plastic chair. The telephone receiver has a 24-inch cord, trapping me underneath the TV. A camera sits on top of the monitor, and John Legend performs in the background on Live with Kelly and Michael. Outside the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, in northeastern Pennsylvania, it’s brilliant and clear. The monitor flicks on, and Jerry pops into sight. “I’m sorry, and I apologize. I guarantee. I’ve changed. I’m studying psychology to help me figure out the impact of my crime. I’ve been through 32 groups. I’m trying to understand. … “I know it was wrong. I wasn’t raised bad. I got addicted to that lifestyle. … I didn’t want prison.” Jerry is small, but he fills up the TV monitor. He sits upright, leaning into our conversation. His voice is direct, with underlying youthfulness. He’s warm and laughs easily, with a wide hyena smile. He’s someone I would consider being friends with, even though he nearly killed me. There is little awkwardness in our first conversation. After his initial apology, we launch into his background, his childhood, his plans. A month before my visit, Jerry found out he’d made parole. A lot has changed since 2006. He reaches for the name of a product. Some kind of taco thing? Made of — what are they called? — Doritos! He’d like to try that. He misses Checkers french fries and Wendy’s chicken nuggets, and he’s never held a smartphone. A fellow inmate told him about 3-D movies but warned he should ease himself into those. He says his parents are going to pick him up on June 8th. They still live in West Philly; his dad’s in construction, his mom a homemaker. They help run St. James Soul Saving Holiness Church, where they’d hoped Jerry would someday become a pastor. As a kid he sat at the drum kit in the small, windowless chapel. He liked the drums because they turned something simple into something beautiful. He’d perch there in his suit until he grew bored, then would head to the bathroom to try and fall asleep. When his father caught on, he made him sit at the kit for the entire service, even after the music stopped. Jerry did not become a pastor. His mom and dad were strict: no rap, early curfew. In the neighborhood, they had a saying: When the streetlights came on, Jerry and his siblings had to go home. If they didn’t make it, they’d have to pick out words from the dictionary, write down their definitions, then use them in a sentence. In the house, they’d listen to gospel, Kirk Franklin. Sometimes, while driving in the car with their dad, they’d flip on WDAS. By ninth grade, school started to bore Jerry, so he skipped it and smoked weed in Upper Darby with his friends. His mom would drag him to school — literally walking him to first period — but he’d bolt before the end of the day. He’d figured out a way to make sure his parents didn’t find out, too: The school would always call exactly at 5 p.m. to let parents know a son or daughter had skipped class. All you had to do, Jerry learned, was be on the phone at 5 p.m. The school never tried a second call. Jerry didn’t make it past ninth grade. He ran away from home, to live with a cousin off Girard Avenue, by the Zoo. He wasn’t very good at selling weed or coke, but he needed the money, so he did it anyway. Tyree is taller than Jerry by a few inches, which matters when you find out how they became friends. Overbrook Park had a park, and that park had a basketball court. Tyree could jump all over that court, flying from baseline to baseline, leaping to block shots. Jerry could never get in on a game, until Tyree picked him one day. This entire story might not have happened if Tyree Brown hadn’t felt bad for Jerry Price. Tyree, in most ways, is the opposite of Jerry, though those opposites landed them in the same place. When he was six or seven, he walked into his single mother’s apartment and watched as an ex-boyfriend jumped out of the closet. Tyree tried to call the police, but the man cut the phone lines. The beating hospitalized his mother for months, costing her her nursing-home job. “I couldn’t protect her,” he says. “It felt like the end of the world.” Tyree graduated from Overbrook High while dealing on the side. He liked reading and science (“It’s fun, cutting up frogs and whatever”) and was proud of himself when he graduated. When I ask him whether — unlike Jerry — he was good at selling drugs, he laughs, says yes, then catches himself. “I believe I had a choice, but I didn’t push myself down that road,” he says. “I wish like hell I took that road.” On the outside, Tyree has a daughter, Lauren. She’s the same age as his prison term so far — nine. She writes, sends him pictures and emails. She’s a straight-A student, he says. Her mother and grandmother try to bring her up every few months. When Lauren was eight, she visited the prison and sat outside with her dad. A guard walked over and informed Tyree he had 10 minutes left. Lauren asked who the man was, then walked over to him, tapped him. “I’ll give you my chips if you let me stay with my dad.” Tyree tries to be honest with her. This isn’t okay, he tells her. Do better. When she asks when he’s getting out, he says, “Soon.” “When’s soon?” The night after his daughter offered the chips, Tyree cried in his cell. “I’ve watched her grow up in jail,” he says. “That’s the most painful thing: knowing I let her down. Years I’ll never get back. What can I do now to be a father? She’s supported, but still needs a father. That eats me up inside.” • AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR, I ask Jerry about the kidnapping. It wasn’t something they’d planned, he said; they just wanted money. Robbery was quicker and easier than dealing weed and coke, and the pay more immediate. No middlemen, no corners. “I was fucked up at the time,” he says. “I was real messed up at the time. I didn’t have no regard for myself, so I wasn’t going to have no regard for anyone else.” I bring up something the district attorney told me before I testified: that on that night, two of them had to convince the third not to kill me. That I was the first person they’d kidnapped with a real gun. Jerry assures me they were never going to kill me, that it was the D.A. scaring me into more damning testimony. They weren’t going to use the gun, Jerry said. “Then why have a real gun?” “If I go in with a fake gun and they figure it out, what do we do?” I strain up to the camera, with a Then you stop fucking kidnapping people look. Jerry catches my eye and tells me sometimes the gun didn’t have any bullets in it. I launch into my memories of the gun, the cocking, the counting. Jerry looks down for three, five, seven seconds. The phone’s quiet. He looks up, and wipes his eyes. I apologize for asking about it and tell him it’s okay, that it’s in the past. “No, it’s not okay. It’s never okay, for real, to put someone through that hurt. The best I can tell you is I’m better now. It’s not going to happen again.” The conversation ends with that. We move on. • I SPEND THREE DAYS in and out of SCI Dallas. I grow to genuinely enjoy both Jerry and Tyree, so much so that afterward, I ask a guard what he thinks. Is this weird? Are they putting on an act for the sake of the parole board? “I guess, I don’t know,” he says. The second day, I meet with each of them one-on-one, in the main visitors area. Wives and girlfriends stake out prime seats in a corner, close to the vending machines but away from the children, lining up and re- adjusting their microwave pepperoni pizzas on the chairs next to them while they wait. Kids run up and down a ramp, under the razor wire, and into their fathers’ arms. On the third day, I meet with Jerry and Tyree together, at a table reserved for families. The walls are covered in Snoopy and Mickey Mouse and a pretty decent Bugs Bunny holding a carrot as a paintbrush. There, our new little family sits and talks and bullshits and watches as another family plays Uno. March 27, 2006, is millions of miles away, happening to three different people. Those people came from contrasting worlds and polar communities, brought together by the happenstance and opportunity of West Philadelphia. Now, we’re bound together by that night, but no longer dragged down by it. Now, there are no nightmares, no anger. Soon, Jerry will be outside again, eating Doritos tacos; Tyree’s up for parole next year. (Mordi has already been released, which is why I don’t visit him.) Our conversation turns to the outside, and with that, the most difficult question: What happens when you’ve spent one-third of your life in prison and you’re not even 30? They both hope to work with at-risk youth, a noble if reasonable goal. Jerry should be fine; he’ll work for his dad’s construction company, a firm safety net underneath. He’s worried about normal things: catching the bus, seeing family members he hasn’t seen in nine years. (Jerry has published a book about his time in jail, a collection of poems and short stories called Even In The Dark The Sun Still Shines. A fellow inmate introduced him to his publisher, Angela Price, whose other titles include erotic fiction about anal sex. Jerry’s expanding her repertoire.) Tyree … I worry for Tyree. He wants to open a barbershop, is taking business classes. I want him to succeed, to flourish for himself and for Lauren. But his voice belies his optimism. He’s practiced his spiel; the question is whether he believes it himself. “I’m gonna hear a lot of no’s, but I just need that one yes. I’m not gonna give myself that excuse to go back to drugs or criminal activity. I gotta lift myself up. “You gotta show them you want it. You gotta be up-front: ‘I made a mistake, a big mistake, and I acknowledge that.’” We talk about the other victims for a bit, and I make sure it’s okay that I keep in contact with the two men, both inside and outside of prison, to check on their progress. As I’m getting ready to leave, I ask if they have any questions for me. “This might sound weird, but would it be cool if we got a picture together?” Tyree asks. The visitors room has a small ad hoc photo booth, which in prison is just a stone wall, a decade-old digital camera and a printer. Jerry and I go first; he flashes a toothy ear-to-ear grin. Tyree steps up and takes my hand. The inmate photographer looks at his first shot and shakes his head. He opens his mouth wide and sticks his tongue through the space where his four front teeth used to be. “Smile!” • THE FOLLOWING DAY, I come to Philadelphia. I pass the spot where Jerry, Mordi and Tyree kidnapped me, retracing the route where my mind tells me I went that night. I go looking for the lot they dropped me in, where the dirty leaves were clean and I was sure I’d die. I spend an hour driving the streets, up Haverford Avenue, down Girard. I sputter along on one-way side streets and through alleys, double-parking when I think something looks familiar. On my phone, I pull up the satellite map, looking for wooded areas and abandoned lots. As I’m ready to give up, I find an overgrown yard, all rusted chains and stooped-over vehicles. It’s lonely; overhead, a lavender empress tree hangs lush from the spring rains. I shimmy to the side of the empty street and lean across the passenger seat, craning to place a memory. There are no cedars, only a needle-less Christmas tree tossed over the fence. I take a few pictures, roll up the window, and head for home. Originally published as “My Kidnappers” in the September 2015 issue of Philadelphia magazine. ||||| When I was a senior in college, three teenagers from West Philly abducted me, robbed me, and threatened to kill me. It changed my life. Did it destroy theirs? Hello, my name is Brad Pearson. In March 2006, you were one of three people who kidnapped me in West Philadelphia. I’m writing this letter not because I’m angry at you, or upset, or hurt. The opposite, actually. While the kidnapping and investigation were difficult for me, in the end they made me a stronger man. I’m a magazine writer now, and I’ve always hoped to talk to you and Jerry and Mordi about that night, and what your lives have been like since. I’d either like to do that by letter or in person. I can travel to Pennsylvania to speak with you, if you’d allow me to. I also included my email address, if that’s easier for you. Again, I’m not angry, and I’d really just like to talk. Sincerely, Brad Pearson Jerry’s response came first, less than a month later. Two pages, handwritten, single-spaced. All-caps block letters, except for the words “Sincerely, Jerry Price,” in cursive: In your letter, you said ‘I don’t know if you remember.’ The truth is that I don’t think that I will ever be able to forget you. That day — your face plays over and over in my head constantly reminding me of the hurt, anger, sorrow and other feelings that I have caused you as well as the others. Tyree soon sent a letter, too: “Being a dad in jail is really sad.” I started looking at flights. • THE WEATHER WAS unseasonably warm that night, but I still needed a coat. It was a little after 10 p.m., and I’d parked at the corner of 58th Street and Overbrook Avenue, two blocks off St. Joe’s campus. As I made my way down the street, the silver tips of my sneakers reflected each street lamp. A few steps after I turned onto Overbrook, though, the shine stopped, signaling the end of the area the school actually cared about. Shattered glass covered the leaves in the gutter, a reminder that someone probably left an iPod in a cup holder. I hopped over the broken glass, and two men approached. They chatted and laughed; neither of them looked at me. My car sat 20 steps ahead. As I turned the corner, I heard the first noise. Smack, smack, smack, rubber on concrete. Then grrick, grrick, grrick, rubber on gravel. Whooosh as jacket grazed cedars. “Don’t fucking look at me. Look at the fucking ground.” There was another whoosh, and the light bounced off a pistol now pointed at my head. I couldn’t concentrate on the weapon; the man’s voice was puerile. He was like a baby holding a shiny toy. He grabbed my arm and pushed me out of the street’s light, next to a sinking Ford Escort outside a rotting garage. The wooden door was a pile of paint and beetle bore creeping toward the expired license plates. “Empty out your pockets.” I tossed to the ground the contents of my hands: car key, water bottle. Cell phone and wallet were next. “Is that all you got?” They quickly reached into my pockets to confirm my response. “You got an ATM card?” Yes, I said, it’s Wachovia but says First Union, it’s green. Sir. Yes, I have my ATM card, sir. “Don’t call me FUCKING sir, that shit’s for white people. What’s the PIN number for your MAC card?” Now, what’s the play here? Correct number, they leave and I walk away? Wrong number, they leave, they have my wallet and find me after they realize the number is bunk? “One four six six.” “Why the fuck should we believe you?” “I swear to God that’s the number. I wouldn’t lie to you.” Normal Brad would have lied to them. Gun-to-head Brad thinks differently. “We’re going for a ride.” They grabbed me by the back of the neck. My head popped up for a split second. “Keep your fucking head down. You look up again and I will shoot you in the fucking face.” My chin dove into my collarbone, and they threw me toward a running car. Dark paint, tan leather interior. I hit my head on the door frame, my two attackers flanked me on either side, and we were off. A third man drove. “How much money do you have in the account?” We’d driven straight for a few blocks, then hung a right and a sharp left. My mental GPS slowed down as we drove farther and farther, as more turns stacked on backtracks. Was that a turn or a curve? “About $800, I think.” “If there is one dime less than $800 in your account, I will shoot you in the fucking face. Do you understand?” The possibility of a delay between my cashing of a check and that money’s appearance in my account seemed plausible, so in an abundance of caution, I told them there might only be $600. “Oh, so you lied to us. My associates and I don’t like liars, Brad. You know what else we don’t like? Heroes. So don’t try to be a fucking hero, Brad, or I’ll have to shoot you.” In the fucking face. Got it. After the lesson in fiscal responsibility, the man to my right began to talk. And talk. He asked if I’d handed in a paper I was working on. He asked how my job was. He asked if I saw a kid on campus with black hair. He tried to convince me that they had been following me for weeks. The car stopped, and one of the men exited. A second later, he was back. Place didn’t have an ATM, he complained, and we returned to the road. They were novices, kids with higher voices than mine, and they didn’t know where to find an ATM. • “WHO’S ‘ADO,’ BRAD?” When I was a baby, my parents and I lived in my grandparents’ attic. The three of us would wander downstairs each morning, where my grandmother would place me on her lap. “I do love you! I do love you!” she’d say. “I do” became “Ado,” and the name stuck to her. I winced. He’d begun scrolling through my phone, and Ado is my first contact. “Home.” As he made his way through my alphabet of contacts, I answered each query with one of three responses: home, college or work. At 21, those are the only three options anyone really has. But … Ado. For the first time, I thought of my family — my dad, my mom, my brothers and my sister. At home, all of them, asleep, unworried. “Do you have a girlfriend, Brad?” Lie, just lie, don’t think about it just lie. Kelleen’s face filled the backs of my eyelids, her hair and her dimples. She turned and smiled, all gauzy movie sequence. “No, I don’t.” • “STAY THE FUCK DOWN, Braddy Brad.” In the short trip, I’d acquired a nickname, and we finally pulled up to an ATM. One of the men left and returned again quickly. “We got out $700.” “I thought you said there was going to be $800, Brad.” I stammered out an excuse revolving around the American banking system, but the subtext was please don’t kill me please don’t kill me please don’t kill me over $100. “All right, 700 bucks, divide that shit up.” “Twenty 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 … yo, I think we got enough.” We left to score some coke. Burst. Stop. Burst. Stop. Long burst, quick body-throwing stop. The window lowered, and a man stepped up. “Yo, who the fuck is that?” “Quiet down, you want us to get caught?” Money was exchanged, coke was scored. The door seemed close. I could kick it open and run. I could run faster than they could. I had adrenaline on my side, I had fear on my side, I had living on my side. But I didn’t have a gun on my side. The pistol rested over my left shoulder, warmed by his hand and my shoulder. My head wedged between my knees. I stayed. Cramped, I moved the fingers on one hand, pinkie to thumb, thumb to pinkie, an imprisoned pianist. Silence, so I worked the other hand. “Brad, if you move one more time, I swear to God I’ll fucking kill you. I haven’t killed anyone in a few months, Brad, and I’m getting kinda anxious.” Before, I had been convinced they would let me go; now, I wasn’t so sure. It would be a quick death, hopefully. One shot, right to the head. They’d get their $700, and someone walking his dog would find me, without a wallet or forehead. “Sometimes I like to use a knife, Brad, right across the throat. Slittttttt.” Flipping through my wallet, he passed over a stack of Pathmark SuperSaver cards and expired Papa John’s coupons, settling on my Eagle Scout card. Matte gold. “I see you’re also an Eagle Scout.” The emphasis fell on also instead of “an Eagle Scout.” Brothers in arms, it seemed. We talked about Hawk Mountain, a rounded-off lump of a Pennsylvania peak that he encouraged me to visit. Any comfort I gleaned from the conversation died quickly as they spotted a police car. The psychology of telling me about the car was twisted, but I may have given them too much credit. A fucking shot to the face was once again promised, heroism again discouraged. I stayed in my crouch, Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt was once again turned up, and we continued on. • “YO, MAN, LET’S LET BRAD GO.” The suggestion came from one of my original abductors. They were the first words he’d said since he’d doled out the cash. I was asked if I’d like to be dropped off anywhere in particular, a sort of forced chauffeur service. Literally anywhere, I said. “You don’t want us to drop you off anywhere, Brad. Your ass will end up raped and naked in the streets.” Laughter filled the car, and I joined in. I’m free! Let’s all laugh about how great the past hour has been! I don’t know why I laughed. Maybe it was just that I hadn’t been told I’d be shot in the fucking face for a few minutes, and to me, that seemed like a reason to celebrate. They pulled over and grabbed me from the left side, dragging me out of the backseat. I tripped on the curb, then some sticks, and slipped on the grass and a piece of wet cardboard. My face was covered and down; fresh air filled me. I slowed, and felt the brush at my knees. “Lay the fuck down.” The decomposing leaves smelled clean somehow, and my nose burrowed into them. One of the men told me to count to 100 and made me promise not to go to the police. Do not run home, either: Walk. Do not jog: Walk. I began counting. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. The gun cocked over my head. I tried counting to eight, but all I could hear was the hammer sliding, the click-clack of a roller coaster approaching the top of a hill. I waited to die, and I prayed. Dear God don’t let this happen dear God I can’t die dear God help me help me live help me see my family help me see Kelleen help me live I need to live. I hadn’t been to church without parental nudging in my entire life. Whatever goodwill I had stored up during those trips was already cashed in. “Don’t fucking move. … ” “Just keep counting.” Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. I counted to 200, maybe 500. Exhausted, I almost fell asleep. When I finally stood up and opened my eyes, I thought I was back at 58th and Overbrook. Trees surrounded me, and a cedar stood at my left once again. I had no idea where I was. Walletless, phoneless, I crossed an abandoned lot and headed for the street. Two blocks up, I ran into a man. Black and wiry, with a wispy, graying goatee. “What are you doing here?” “I need to find my way home.” • SOON, THE POLICE picked up Jerry Price, Tyree Brown and Mordi Baskerville — not just for my kidnapping, but for 12 other kidnappings and robberies across West Philadelphia. They’d started showing up at Price’s cousin’s apartment with cash, cell phones, a Lexus and pizza. (In addition to college students, the three also robbed pizza deliverymen. And why waste a good pizza?) Laptops and wallets arrived at the Parkside apartment, too. During the pretrial hearings, the three smirked as they sat at the defendants’ table. One by one we entered the courtroom and talked about getting pistol-whipped or mock-executed or otherwise embarrassed. My dad and girlfriend sat in the audience. When my dad would get upset, Kelleen would take his hand. The night before the trial was set to begin, they all pleaded guilty. Mordi, the youngest at 16, flipped first. In exchange, a lighter sentence of seven to 15 years. Jerry, who was 17, got nine to 18. Tyree, age 18, 10 to 20. In the weeks and months following the kidnapping, I lived off free rail drinks and well-wishes, cocky and alive. Then I went back to my apartment and had nightmares. The room would be dark, beyond vision. There was something in there, ready to attack. Or maybe there was nothing in the room and I just had my eyes closed, afraid to open them. I’d always wake up before I found out. I cried once, on my parents’ deck in New York. I yelled into the phone at Kelleen, blaming Jerry, Tyree and Mordi for my inability to land a job after graduation. But it wasn’t true. I blamed them, sure, but I could have gotten a job. It was easy to deflect. That first year passed. Jerry, Tyree and Mordi went to jail, and I slowly climbed back into life. I got a job. I moved to Maryland, and then eventually Texas. I’d think about them, 1,500 miles away in prison, whenever I’d get a victim compensation check from one of my kidnappers: a few dollars here and there to pay for my missing wallet, cell phone and bank fees. My mom would get the checks in New York, then forward them to wherever I was living. I’d take the check, say “Fuck you” out loud, and slide it into an accordion folder. They’re still there now, $78.22 worth, at the bottom of my closet. The kidnapping became a crutch, too, one I would break out especially during job interviews. My favorite question was, “Tell us about a time you overcame adversity.” I had them then. (It worked two out of the three times I tried it.) I knew I had the best party story, the best sob story, the best any story. A psychiatrist could diagnose this behavior: Coping through manipulative bragging. If I’d gone to more than one session, maybe mine would have. March 27th was always an awkward day, one I wasn’t sure whether to celebrate or forget. Eventually March would flip to April without my notice. But something still lingered in the back of my head. What were they doing? Were they thinking about me? Did they care? Do I care? Kelleen and I got married; we got a dog. Then, last summer, I sat down and typed two short letters to Jerry and Tyree. • A CORRECTIONS OFFICER points me to a small TV monitor ensconced in a metal box, and a hard plastic chair. The telephone receiver has a 24-inch cord, trapping me underneath the TV. A camera sits on top of the monitor, and John Legend performs in the background on Live with Kelly and Michael. Outside the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, in northeastern Pennsylvania, it’s brilliant and clear. The monitor flicks on, and Jerry pops into sight. “I’m sorry, and I apologize. I guarantee. I’ve changed. I’m studying psychology to help me figure out the impact of my crime. I’ve been through 32 groups. I’m trying to understand. … “I know it was wrong. I wasn’t raised bad. I got addicted to that lifestyle. … I didn’t want prison.” Jerry is small, but he fills up the TV monitor. He sits upright, leaning into our conversation. His voice is direct, with underlying youthfulness. He’s warm and laughs easily, with a wide hyena smile. He’s someone I would consider being friends with, even though he nearly killed me. There is little awkwardness in our first conversation. After his initial apology, we launch into his background, his childhood, his plans. A month before my visit, Jerry found out he’d made parole. A lot has changed since 2006. He reaches for the name of a product. Some kind of taco thing? Made of — what are they called? — Doritos! He’d like to try that. He misses Checkers french fries and Wendy’s chicken nuggets, and he’s never held a smartphone. A fellow inmate told him about 3-D movies but warned he should ease himself into those. He says his parents are going to pick him up on June 8th. They still live in West Philly; his dad’s in construction, his mom a homemaker. They help run St. James Soul Saving Holiness Church, where they’d hoped Jerry would someday become a pastor. As a kid he sat at the drum kit in the small, windowless chapel. He liked the drums because they turned something simple into something beautiful. He’d perch there in his suit until he grew bored, then would head to the bathroom to try and fall asleep. When his father caught on, he made him sit at the kit for the entire service, even after the music stopped. Jerry did not become a pastor. His mom and dad were strict: no rap, early curfew. In the neighborhood, they had a saying: When the streetlights came on, Jerry and his siblings had to go home. If they didn’t make it, they’d have to pick out words from the dictionary, write down their definitions, then use them in a sentence. In the house, they’d listen to gospel, Kirk Franklin. Sometimes, while driving in the car with their dad, they’d flip on WDAS. By ninth grade, school started to bore Jerry, so he skipped it and smoked weed in Upper Darby with his friends. His mom would drag him to school — literally walking him to first period — but he’d bolt before the end of the day. He’d figured out a way to make sure his parents didn’t find out, too: The school would always call exactly at 5 p.m. to let parents know a son or daughter had skipped class. All you had to do, Jerry learned, was be on the phone at 5 p.m. The school never tried a second call. Jerry didn’t make it past ninth grade. He ran away from home, to live with a cousin off Girard Avenue, by the Zoo. He wasn’t very good at selling weed or coke, but he needed the money, so he did it anyway. Tyree is taller than Jerry by a few inches, which matters when you find out how they became friends. Overbrook Park had a park, and that park had a basketball court. Tyree could jump all over that court, flying from baseline to baseline, leaping to block shots. Jerry could never get in on a game, until Tyree picked him one day. This entire story might not have happened if Tyree Brown hadn’t felt bad for Jerry Price. Tyree, in most ways, is the opposite of Jerry, though those opposites landed them in the same place. When he was six or seven, he walked into his single mother’s apartment and watched as an ex-boyfriend jumped out of the closet. Tyree tried to call the police, but the man cut the phone lines. The beating hospitalized his mother for months, costing her her nursing-home job. “I couldn’t protect her,” he says. “It felt like the end of the world.” Tyree graduated from Overbrook High while dealing on the side. He liked reading and science (“It’s fun, cutting up frogs and whatever”) and was proud of himself when he graduated. When I ask him whether — unlike Jerry — he was good at selling drugs, he laughs, says yes, then catches himself. “I believe I had a choice, but I didn’t push myself down that road,” he says. “I wish like hell I took that road.” On the outside, Tyree has a daughter, Lauren. She’s the same age as his prison term so far — nine. She writes, sends him pictures and emails. She’s a straight-A student, he says. Her mother and grandmother try to bring her up every few months. When Lauren was eight, she visited the prison and sat outside with her dad. A guard walked over and informed Tyree he had 10 minutes left. Lauren asked who the man was, then walked over to him, tapped him. “I’ll give you my chips if you let me stay with my dad.” Tyree tries to be honest with her. This isn’t okay, he tells her. Do better. When she asks when he’s getting out, he says, “Soon.” “When’s soon?” The night after his daughter offered the chips, Tyree cried in his cell. “I’ve watched her grow up in jail,” he says. “That’s the most painful thing: knowing I let her down. Years I’ll never get back. What can I do now to be a father? She’s supported, but still needs a father. That eats me up inside.” • AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR, I ask Jerry about the kidnapping. It wasn’t something they’d planned, he said; they just wanted money. Robbery was quicker and easier than dealing weed and coke, and the pay more immediate. No middlemen, no corners. “I was fucked up at the time,” he says. “I was real messed up at the time. I didn’t have no regard for myself, so I wasn’t going to have no regard for anyone else.” I bring up something the district attorney told me before I testified: that on that night, two of them had to convince the third not to kill me. That I was the first person they’d kidnapped with a real gun. Jerry assures me they were never going to kill me, that it was the D.A. scaring me into more damning testimony. They weren’t going to use the gun, Jerry said. “Then why have a real gun?” “If I go in with a fake gun and they figure it out, what do we do?” I strain up to the camera, with a Then you stop fucking kidnapping people look. Jerry catches my eye and tells me sometimes the gun didn’t have any bullets in it. I launch into my memories of the gun, the cocking, the counting. Jerry looks down for three, five, seven seconds. The phone’s quiet. He looks up, and wipes his eyes. I apologize for asking about it and tell him it’s okay, that it’s in the past. “No, it’s not okay. It’s never okay, for real, to put someone through that hurt. The best I can tell you is I’m better now. It’s not going to happen again.” The conversation ends with that. We move on. • I SPEND THREE DAYS in and out of SCI Dallas. I grow to genuinely enjoy both Jerry and Tyree, so much so that afterward, I ask a guard what he thinks. Is this weird? Are they putting on an act for the sake of the parole board? “I guess, I don’t know,” he says. The second day, I meet with each of them one-on-one, in the main visitors area. Wives and girlfriends stake out prime seats in a corner, close to the vending machines but away from the children, lining up and re- adjusting their microwave pepperoni pizzas on the chairs next to them while they wait. Kids run up and down a ramp, under the razor wire, and into their fathers’ arms. On the third day, I meet with Jerry and Tyree together, at a table reserved for families. The walls are covered in Snoopy and Mickey Mouse and a pretty decent Bugs Bunny holding a carrot as a paintbrush. There, our new little family sits and talks and bullshits and watches as another family plays Uno. March 27, 2006, is millions of miles away, happening to three different people. Those people came from contrasting worlds and polar communities, brought together by the happenstance and opportunity of West Philadelphia. Now, we’re bound together by that night, but no longer dragged down by it. Now, there are no nightmares, no anger. Soon, Jerry will be outside again, eating Doritos tacos; Tyree’s up for parole next year. (Mordi has already been released, which is why I don’t visit him.) Our conversation turns to the outside, and with that, the most difficult question: What happens when you’ve spent one-third of your life in prison and you’re not even 30? They both hope to work with at-risk youth, a noble if reasonable goal. Jerry should be fine; he’ll work for his dad’s construction company, a firm safety net underneath. He’s worried about normal things: catching the bus, seeing family members he hasn’t seen in nine years. (Jerry has published a book about his time in jail, a collection of poems and short stories called Even In The Dark The Sun Still Shines. A fellow inmate introduced him to his publisher, Angela Price, whose other titles include erotic fiction about anal sex. Jerry’s expanding her repertoire.) Tyree … I worry for Tyree. He wants to open a barbershop, is taking business classes. I want him to succeed, to flourish for himself and for Lauren. But his voice belies his optimism. He’s practiced his spiel; the question is whether he believes it himself. “I’m gonna hear a lot of no’s, but I just need that one yes. I’m not gonna give myself that excuse to go back to drugs or criminal activity. I gotta lift myself up. “You gotta show them you want it. You gotta be up-front: ‘I made a mistake, a big mistake, and I acknowledge that.’” We talk about the other victims for a bit, and I make sure it’s okay that I keep in contact with the two men, both inside and outside of prison, to check on their progress. As I’m getting ready to leave, I ask if they have any questions for me. “This might sound weird, but would it be cool if we got a picture together?” Tyree asks. The visitors room has a small ad hoc photo booth, which in prison is just a stone wall, a decade-old digital camera and a printer. Jerry and I go first; he flashes a toothy ear-to-ear grin. Tyree steps up and takes my hand. The inmate photographer looks at his first shot and shakes his head. He opens his mouth wide and sticks his tongue through the space where his four front teeth used to be. “Smile!” • THE FOLLOWING DAY, I come to Philadelphia. I pass the spot where Jerry, Mordi and Tyree kidnapped me, retracing the route where my mind tells me I went that night. I go looking for the lot they dropped me in, where the dirty leaves were clean and I was sure I’d die. I spend an hour driving the streets, up Haverford Avenue, down Girard. I sputter along on one-way side streets and through alleys, double-parking when I think something looks familiar. On my phone, I pull up the satellite map, looking for wooded areas and abandoned lots. As I’m ready to give up, I find an overgrown yard, all rusted chains and stooped-over vehicles. It’s lonely; overhead, a lavender empress tree hangs lush from the spring rains. I shimmy to the side of the empty street and lean across the passenger seat, craning to place a memory. There are no cedars, only a needle-less Christmas tree tossed over the fence. I take a few pictures, roll up the window, and head for home. Originally published as “My Kidnappers” in the September 2015 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

– In 2006, three teenagers kidnapped Brad Pearson in Philadelphia and repeatedly threatened to kill him as they drove around looking for an ATM. After scoring some cocaine, they finally let him go, much to the surprise of Pearson, then a senior in college. "I tried counting to eight, but all I could hear was the hammer sliding, the click-clack of a roller coaster approaching the top of a hill," he recounts in Philadelphia magazine of the gun pointed at his head. "I waited to die, and I prayed." He didn't die, however, and police later arrested Jerry Price, Tyree Brown, and Mordi Baskerville. Nine years later, Pearson visits the two who remain in prison, Price and Brown, and writes about it for the magazine. His meetings with his kidnappers are not confrontational, more about Pearson trying to figure out what brought the men to that point. Both are remorseful, and both have plans to work with underprivileged youth upon release. Pearson suffered nightmares at the time, but the kidnapping has since made him a "stronger man," he writes. "March 27, 2006, is millions of miles away, happening to three different people. Those people came from contrasting worlds and polar communities, brought together by the happenstance and opportunity of West Philadelphia. Now, we’re bound together by that night, but no longer dragged down by it. Now, there are no nightmares, no anger." (Click for the full story.)

Grand Island, N.Y. (WKBW) - It was love at first sight between Jason Coronado and Ernie. "He is probably my idea of a perfect dog," Jason Coronado said. Coronado is a UPS driver. Ernie is a pitbull-terrier mix and was living in the Buffalo City Animal Shelter. Coronado was never really planning on getting a dog, but then fate intervened on Oct. 5th. While he was delivering packages, Ernie literally jumped into his life. "Call him up to the truck and he pretty much just hopped up in, and I was like okay," he said. Ernie refused to leave the truck. "He hopped up and just sat there and did not want to leave." Eventually Ernie did get out, and Coronado went on his way. However, it got him thinking about bringing Ernie into his life for good. He discussed it with his family, and everyone was on board. Two days ago, the Coronado's adopted Ernie. "I wanted him to have a good home." It's only been two days, but Ernie follows Coronado all over the house. No training necessary. "He likes to sleep and lounge and he likes to eat treats and he's just a big lap dog." While some people put a dog on the top of their Christmas list, this wish has already come true for the Coronado's. Have a news tip, question or comment? ||||| Shelter Dog Hops Into Random UPS Van — And His Life Is Changed Forever

– Jason Coronado was delivering packages in his job as a UPS driver on Oct. 5 when Ernie, a pitbull-terrier mix, hopped into his truck—and didn't want to leave. "Usually dogs aren't a big fan of the big brown truck," Coronado tells WKBW, but Ernie seemed right at home. The dog was living at New York's Buffalo City Animal Shelter at the time, and was on a walk with a shelter volunteer when they ran across Coronado, who was parked and on a break, the Dodo reports. After they parted ways, Coronado couldn't stop thinking about Ernie. The dog had been waiting to find a home since August, and more than a month after meeting him, Coronado found out via social media that Ernie was still at the shelter. "I wanted him to have a good home," he says, and after discussing it with the rest of his family, they all agreed. Last week, the Coronados officially adopted Ernie, just in time for the holidays. "He is very joyful," Coronado says of the new family member. "I'm upset I didn't take him home earlier." (After another pitbull's owner died, the dog ended up with his favorite UPS driver.)

Bahman Golbarnezhad died following a crash in the men's C4-5 road race on Saturday The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games were brought to a close inside a packed Maracana Stadium on Sunday evening. Singers, dancers and fireworks lit up the iconic stadium before tributes were paid to Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad, who died on Saturday. Sir Philip Craven, International Paralympic Committee president, said the movement was "united in grief". Referring to the success of the Games, Craven said the Rio Paralympics were "uniquely Brazilian and wondrous". Britain finished the Games with 147 medals, 64 of which were gold. They were second behind China, who claimed 107 golds and 239 in total. Craven thanked organisers, athletes and spectators after passing the Paralympic flag to the governor of Tokyo, which hosts the next Games in 2020. Craven was also warmly applauded when bestowing the Paralympic Order - his organisation's highest honour - on the Brazilian city. Standing alongside him, Carlos Nuzman, the president of Rio's organising committee, was cheered when he exclaimed: "Mission accomplished. "The Brazil we love so much has shown the world what it can do. "This celebration started with a dream. It was 20 years in the making. Many thought it was impossible. But not for Rio and Brazil. "The impossible happened. Brazilians never give up." Remembering Bahman Golbarnezhad Iran's sitting volleyball team won gold on Sunday and dedicated it to Golbarnezhad Cyclist Golbarnezhad's death is the first in competition at a summer Olympics or Paralympics since Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen in the 100km team time trial at the 1960 Rome Olympics. "Tonight is a celebration of the last 12 days of sport but it's also a very sombre occasion following Saturday's extremely tragic events," said Craven. "The passing of Bahman Golbarnezhad has affected us all and left the whole Paralympic movement united in grief." As well as the closing ceremony tribute, flags were lowered to half-mast as Iran won gold on Sunday in the sitting volleyball, one of the final events of the Games. Flags have also been lowered around the Paralympic village. An investigation into the crash has begun, the IPC said. GB's successful Games Kadeena Cox has spoken of her determination to compete in Tokyo in four years' time Kadeena Cox, who won gold medals in both athletics and cycling, carried the flag for ParalympicsGB at the closing ceremony. The 25-year-old is the first Briton to win titles in two sports at the same Games since Seoul 1988. Find out how to get into just about any sport with our special guides As flagbearer, Cox led out one of the most successful British Paralympic teams in history, having ensured their best medal haul since 1988. Dame Sarah Storey won her third and GB's 60th gold medal of the Games on Saturday, with the tally reaching 64 golds by the end of the day. During the closing ceremony, Storey was presented to the crowd after being elected to the IPC Athletes' Council. Musician Johnatha Bastos played an electric guitar with his feet during the closing ceremony ||||| Crawl of outlinks from wikipedia.org started March, 2016. These files are currently not publicly accessible. Properties of this collection. It has been several years since the last time we did this. For this collection, several things were done: 1. Turned off duplicate detection. This collection will be complete, as there is a good chance we will share the data, and sharing data with pointers to random other collections, is a complex problem. 2. For the first time, did all the different wikis. The original runs were just against the enwiki. This one, the seed list was built from all 865 collections.

– The Paralympic Games came to an end Sunday night with a closing ceremony before 45,000 spectators at Rio's Maracana stadium filled with tributes to Bahman Golbarnezhad, the Iranian cyclist who died after a crash Saturday, the BBC reports. International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven said the movement is "united in grief," though he praised the "uniquely Brazilian and wondrous" Rio Paralympics. China topped the final medal count with 239 including 107 golds, followed by Great Britain with 147 medals, Ukraine with 117, and the US with 115, including 40 golds. Sunday brought an end to Brazil's 1,192-day run of hosting mega-sports events, which started with soccer's Confederations Cup in 2013 and included the 2014 World Cup, the AP reports. Awarded when Brazil was a rising economic power, the sports pageants focused unprecedented attention on the country—much of it unwanted. As the shows went on, Brazil plunged into a deep recession. A billion-dollar corruption scandal buffeted state-run oil company Petrobras, and President Dilma Rousseff was removed from office in an impeachment trial just days after the Olympics closed. Analysts say it all left a "mixed legacy" and the true impact may not be known for years.

A 58-year-old woman was arrested for trying to run over her daughter's boyfriend, Palm Beach Gardens police said. When police responded to a home at 4429 Crestdale St. on Sept. 20, Kathleen Davis was chasing 33-year-old Michael Sciarra in the front yard with her Mercedes SUV, according to police. After Davis was detained, Sciarra admitted to police that he had a sexual affair with Davis while he was dating her daughter. He eventually told Davis' daughter about the affair, police said. Davis got angry, as the affair damaged the relationship between her and her daughter. Sciarra was inside his home when he heard a lot of "banging" outside, according to police. When he went outside to check it out, he saw Davis throwing eggs at his house and car. He said he told Davis stop and was calling 911 when she got into her Mercedes and starting driving it in his direction. Sciarra said he feared for his life and nearly got hit several times, according to police. When police confronted Davis, she told them she wanted Sciarra "to die." Davis was arrested and facing charges of aggravated assault. However, she was released from jail on Sept. 22 after posting a $3,000 bond. ||||| Police: Woman tries to kill daughter's husband, with whom she had an affair with 'I threw eggs at his car, I wanted to run him over' A Palm Beach Gardens woman is out of jail after being arrested for trying to run over her daughter's husband. Kathleen Davis, 58, was upset when she found out the man she had an affair with, Michael Sciarra, 33, told his wife, Davis' daughter, that the two had an affair, according to a police report. Advertisement +Download WPBF 25 News App: Apple IOS | Android On Sept. 20, Davis showed up at Sciarra's house on Crestdale Street, in Palm Beach Gardens, and threw eggs at his house and vehicle, according to the police report. Sciarra said when he came outside, Davis kept trying to run him over with her Mercedes. When police arrived at the scene around 8:50 p.m., officers said Davis stopped her vehicle and she was questioned. In a police report, it stated Davis admitted to doing what Sciarra claimed because he told her daughter that they had an affair and that it ruined their relationship. +Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter Davis was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She's since gotten out of jail.

– A Florida mom allegedly tried to run down her daughter's husband with her Mercedes after he exposed their affair. The Palm Beach Post reports that Kathleen Regina Davis, 58, told cops she wanted her son-in-law dead after he wrecked her relationship with her daughter by copping to the affair. Palm Beach Gardens police found Davis driving in circles around Michael Sciarra's front yard just before 9pm last Wednesday, allegedly trying to hit him, reports WPBF. She nearly succeeded, the 33-year-old told cops. The assault allegedly began with Davis tossing eggs at his house and cars. CBS12 quotes Sciarra as saying he went outside to investigate the "banging" he heard and saw Davis hurling the eggs. He says he warned her he was going to call 911 and says that's when she got behind the wheel and came after him. Davis was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and released on $3,000 bail two days later. Though some reports say Sciarra and the daughter were dating, the Post says its records search shows that the two were married and are in the process of divorcing. (One of the best online comments ever involves an affair.)

Washington (CNN) Former Nixon White House lawyer John Dean said he thinks Congress will have "little choice" but to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump following a Friday evening court filing involving Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen. "I think what this totality of today's filings show that the House is going to have little choice, the way this is going, other than to start impeachment proceedings," Dean, a CNN contributor, said Friday on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." Dean, who served time in prison for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, was discussing a sentencing memo from the Manhattan US attorney's office, which was the first time prosecutors have said Cohen acted at the direction of Trump when the former fixer made payments to silence women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump prior to his time running for office. Trump has denied the affairs and has not been accused of any crimes related to the payments. But when Cohen pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance violations connected to the payments as well as other charges, he stated in court that he had been directed by Trump. Read More ||||| President Donald Trump talks to media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018, for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base en route to Philadelphia... (Associated Press) President Donald Trump talks to media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018, for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base en route to Philadelphia to attend the Army-Navy Football Game. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, prosecutors have tied President Donald Trump to a federal crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his presidential campaign in 2016. The Justice Department stopped short of accusing Trump of directly committing a crime. Instead, they said in a court filing Friday night that Trump told his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to make illegal payments to buy the silence of two women — porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — who claimed to have had affairs with Trump and threatened his White House bid. Trump has denied having an affair. Cohen has pleaded guilty to several charges, including campaign finance violations, and is awaiting sentencing. Although Trump hasn't been charged with any crimes, the question of whether a president can even be prosecuted while in office is a matter of legal dispute. Here's a look at that long-running legal ambiguity and a few of the main issues at play: DID THE PRESIDENT COMMIT A CRIME? That isn't completely clear. But federal prosecutors didn't accuse Trump in Friday night's court filing of violating the law. However, there was no ambiguity in the court documents that prosecutors believe Cohen's actions were criminal and Trump was directly involved. Prosecutors charged that Cohen arranged the secret payments at the height of the 2016 campaign "in coordination with and at the direction of" Trump. They also alleged Cohen made the payment in order to fend off potential damage to Trump's presidential bid. Federal law requires that any payments that are made "for the purpose of influencing" an election must be reported in campaign finance disclosures. "There is a plausible case against the president," said Rick Hasen, a professor who specializes in election and campaign finance law at the University of California at Irvine. In order to bring charges, prosecutors would have to prove Trump had criminal intent and "willfully violated the law," said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. Something that would be perfectly legal to do as a businessman could take on a different standard as a candidate and campaign finance laws are "very open-ended," he said. Hasen said Trump's lawyers could argue Trump didn't have willfulness to break the law if the payments were completely personal and not connected to the campaign, despite their timing. Some legal experts have also argued that hush-money payments to keep people silent about their affairs are inherently personal, though Hasen said he didn't agree with that argument. ___ CAN A SITTING PRESIDENT BE INDICTED? Legal experts are divided on that question. The Supreme Court has never ruled on whether the president can be indicted or whether the president can be subpoenaed for testimony. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice and guidance to executive branch agencies, has maintained that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Two Justice Department reports, one in 1973 and one in 2000, came to the same conclusion. Those reports essentially concluded that the president's responsibilities are so important that an indictment would pose too many risks for the government to function properly. Trump's lawyers have said that special counsel Robert Mueller plans to adhere to that guidance, though Mueller's office has never independently confirmed that. Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has also said that a president cannot be indicted. ___ COULD TRUMP BE INDICTED ONCE HE LEAVES OFFICE? There would presumably be no bar against charging a president after he leaves the White House. Legal scholars have said that based on the Justice Department's guidance, it would appear that Trump could be charged for wrongdoing during the campaign or as president once he leaves office, but likely not before that. Blackman said the statute of limitations for a campaign finance law violation — like the one Cohen pleaded guilty to — would be five years. The payments to Daniels and McDougal were made in 2016, meaning the statute of limitations would run out in 2021. ___ COULD TRUMP PARDON HIMSELF? Trump has already shown he's not afraid to use his pardon power, particularly for those he has viewed as unfair victims of partisanship. He's pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who was convicted of criminal contempt for disobeying a judge's order, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a Bush administration official convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in a leak case. Courts have never had to answer the question of whether the president can pardon himself. In June, Giuliani told NBC's "Meet the Pres" that while Trump "probably does" have the power, "pardoning himself would be unthinkable and probably lead to immediate impeachment." ||||| The episode recalled a criminal case brought against former Senator John Edwards, Democrat of North Carolina, who while running for president in 2008 sought to cover up an extramarital affair that resulted in pregnancy. He was charged with violating campaign finance laws stemming from money used to hide his pregnant lover, but a trial ended in 2012 with an acquittal on one charge and a mistrial on five others. Mr. Giuliani pointed to that outcome on Saturday to argue that the president should not be similarly charged. “The President is not implicated in campaign finance violations because based on Edwards case and others the payments are not campaign contributions,” Mr. Giuliani wrote on Twitter. “No responsible prosecutor would premise a criminal case on a questionable interpretation of the law.” But Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty under that interpretation of the law, and even if Mr. Trump cannot be charged while in office, the House could still investigate or even seek to impeach him. The framers of the Constitution specifically envisioned impeachment as a remedy for removing a president who obtained office through corrupt means, and legal scholars have long concluded that the threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors” does not necessarily require a statutory crime. If the campaign finance case as laid out by prosecutors is true, Mr. Nadler said, Mr. Trump would be likely to meet the criteria for an impeachable offense, and he said he would instruct his committee to investigate when he takes over in January. But he added that did not necessarily mean that the committee should vote to impeach Mr. Trump. “Is it serious enough to justify impeachment?” he asked. “That is another question.” The strategy of Mr. Trump’s lawyers has been predicated on the assurance by senior Justice Department officials that if Mr. Mueller found evidence that the president broke the law, he would not be indicted while in office. But the hush money investigation is being led by a separate office of prosecutors in New York, and far less time has been spent publicly or privately trying to protect Mr. Trump from that inquiry.

– President Trump suggests that the flurry of late court filings Friday related to the Robert Mueller investigation "totally clears" him. But a man with familiarity in such things has a different view: "I think what this totality of today's filings show (is) that the House is going to have little choice, the way this is going, other than to start impeachment proceedings," former Nixon lawyer John Dean tells CNN. Dean, who served a short prison stint for his role in the Watergate scandal, was referring specifically to a sentencing memo in regard to Michael Cohen that links the president to felony violation of campaign finance rules. The memo says "Individual 1," believed to be Trump, directly instructed Cohen to coordinate illegal payments to two women alleging affairs with Trump. The incoming Democratic chair of the House Judiciary Committee tells the New York Times that such a campaign finance violation would likely amount to an impeachable offense. If what prosecutors say is true, Nadler said he would tell his panel to investigate, though he drew a distinction between such an inquiry and an actual vote to impeach. “Is it serious enough to justify impeachment?” he asked. “That is another question.” All that is separate from a different issue: Could a sitting president be criminally indicted? The AP digs into that, but notes that legal experts are split on the subject and that the Supreme Court has never ruled on it. The story also points out that the court filing Friday does not accuse Trump of committing a crime—though it accuses Cohen of committing a crime and says Trump was involved. (Kellyanne Conway's husband has his own view.)

Hunter Gandee, 14, big man on campus and big brother to Braden, 7, will piggyback his brother for 40 miles to raise awareness about cerebral palsy. Hunter, the president of his junior high's student council and captain of his school's wrestling team wants to raise awareness of the challenges his little brother faces in everyday life. Braden was born with cerebral palsy, a movement disorder that causes physical disability. Hunter and Braden Gandee, the dynamic duo that inspires each other to push to the next level. Hunter has been carrying Braden around on his back since the two were young. It's Braden's favorite form of transportation. "It's how he gets around," mom Danielle told ABC News. But this 40 mile hike won't be like a trip to the grocery store. Hunter will carry nearly 60 pound Braden from the Bedford Junior High wrestling room to the University of Michigan Wrestling room. The duo will leave 8 a.m. June 7, walk for about 25 miles, stay overnight in Milan and finish the last 15 miles the next day. Community members, wrestlers from all over, and veterans of the Disabled Veterans of America are expected to join the cause. Hunter wanted to make clear that this walk was strictly to raise awareness. Those who have wanted to donate have been pointed to the University of Michigan's Cerebral Palsy Research Consortium. Big brother Hunter Gandee wants to raise awareness through "Cerebal Palsy Swagger." Hunter told ABC News he is "very protective" of his little brother. "If he has any problems, I'm right there by his side," Hunter said. Braden told ABC News he was "very, very excited" for the walk. Through "Cerebral Palsy Swagger," the Gandee family hopes research and technology will follow so new equipment to aid Braden and others with cerebral palsy will help them rather than hold them back. "You can't go on the baseball field with a walker," Danielle Gandee said. Mrs. Gandee and her husband hold their children to the same standard, modifying expectations when necessary, but "we're pretty strict," the mom said. "They are expected to do well in school, get good grades." "We don't treat him any different. We push him like we push our other kids," Danielle Gandee said. "Only motor challenges hold him back. We don't let cerebral palsy be an excuse." The mom attributes Braden's happy life, despite his physical struggle, to the strong community they are surrounded with and the closeness of their family. "He's kind of like everybody's little brother," she said. "Everyone looks out for him and plays with him, I don't think we've ever had a situation where a kid has been mean to him." Braden Gandee, 7, standing in front of his locker before class. Braden is also Hunter's number one cheerleader and Hunter's greatest inspiration. Braden is always front row and center at his big brother's wrestling matches. "It gives me that extra boost, whenever I'm in the middle of a match, it just makes me want to try harder to pull out the win. It's a confidence thing for me," Hunter said. "Whenever there is a real emotional, close match, Hunter jumps up, slaps the mat, and says 'I did that for you buddy!'" Mrs. Gandee said. "Their connection, they really are that close," Danielle Gandee explained, "It's not an act. Hunter knows that Braden's got to work very hard, he's the kind of person that is always thinking about other people." There have been quite a few kids with cerebral palsy that have or currently are wrestling. Braden hopes to wrestle in junior high. ||||| Hunter Gandee, 14, has been carrying his 7-year-old brother Braden for years. They've walked around the home, on mountains during family camping trips, and just around the grocery store. But this weekend, the two are embarking on a much longer journey. Hunter will carry Braden for 40 miles, from the gym at Bedford Junior High (where Hunter regularly wrestles) all the way to the gym at the University of Michigan. It's all to raise awareness for cerebral palsy and to broadcast the brothers' Cerebral Palsy Swagger awareness project. The cause has been near and dear to the family's hearts since Braden was diagnosed with cerebral palsy back when he was 3 months old. The condition, which directly affects Braden's brain, impairs his walking, mobility, and general movement. But he has Hunter there to help. "I've been carrying him ever since he got too heavy for my mom," says Hunter. And nothing has separated them since. Their two-day journey, which will start with 25 miles on Saturday, June 7, and end with the final 15 on Sunday, will bring them even closer. More from The Stir: Mom Talks Raising a Son With Cerebral Palsy & Making a Film About It The Stir recently caught up with Hunter to hear all about the brothers' journey ... When did you first notice that Braden was unique? I remember when he was little hearing that my brother was going to have difficulty walking and that he’d be different from most kids. He was happy as a baby, but a lot of kids are. Probably around the time he started going to preschool, when he was 3, I really began to see how different he was from the other kids, not only in his physical differences, but also his attitude and how positive he was. What's your favorite thing about your brother? I think a lot of kids who are not able to walk would sort of give up and not try to pursue their goals in life as much as he has. But for him, it hasn't stopped him. How did Cerebral Palsy Swagger come to be? It started out as a dream my mom had. She dreamed I was carrying him. We went from there. Braden has been using a walker, and it’s one of the nicer walkers out there, but he still has trouble going through gravel, grass, or mulch. I wanted to raise awareness and just show people all the difficulties he has to deal with. What does it mean to you to be able to do this for him and with him? It means a lot to me. Really, Braden’s my inspiration. He’s helped me through tough times. He’s always there for me. It means a lot to be able to give back to him and to give back to other people who have cerebral palsy. You obviously walk a lot together, but what's your favorite way to spend time with Braden? We both really love wrestling. [Hunter is the captain of his wrestling team.] Braden's at every one of my matches, and whenever I need support, I can just look over at him sitting on the mat and I know I can do it. Soon, he'll even be able to start wrestling too, so it'll be something we do together. So what do you most look forward to about the walk? I’m really looking forward to the beginning because it’s going to be pretty exciting seeing how many people are out there to support us. And then the arrival, because we’re arriving at the University of Michigan directly. The wrestling team is going to be there, so I’m pretty hyped for that. What are you doing to prepare? I'm lifting weights at the high school and carrying him as much as I can. Braden weights 52 pounds, and I'm 153, but we've been walking around the house and around our town to get ready. You'll be walking for two days. How will you pass the time? We'll have a lot of people with us, but for me and Braden, we'll just talk. Talk about wrestling, sing to each other, or just talk. I'm excited for the one-on-one time. How is the rest of the family participating? My sister is running our blog, my mom was helping out with the Facebook page, and my dad is doing a little bit of everything. They're going to be there on the weekend too. It looks like we're getting an RV and they're going to drive about a mile ahead and we're going to walk to them. What's next for you? What do you hope to do after this? I'm going to keep raising awareness for as long as I can after this. I probably won't do anything like this anytime again because Braden's going to continue growing and I won't be able to do it. I want to be a biomedical engineer. I want to build a suit that's like a brace that will allow him to move and lift his muscles slightly for him and show him correct movements. No matter what, I'm definitely going to raise awareness for the rest of my life. Has your family ever pulled together like the Gandee family to do something so heartwarming? UPDATE: Hunter and Braden walked this weekend and completed their 40-mile journey in 30 hours, and were joined by over 300 supporters. The Gandee family is not accepting donations, but for anyone interested, donations can be made to the University of Michigan's Cerebral Palsy Research Fund. Image via Cerebral Palsy Swagger/Facebook

– Hunter Gandee has been carrying around his little brother Braden "ever since he got too heavy for my mom," the 14-year-old says. That's meant heaving the now-7-year-old piggyback-style around the house and even on mountains during camping trips, The Stir reports. But this weekend, he'll go a bit further. In what he's calling his Cerebral Palsy Swagger project, Hunter, an avid wrestler, will walk 40 miles, carrying his brother in a special sling, ABC News reported last month. He's doing it to raise awareness about the condition Braden was diagnosed with at 3 months old, Hunter tells The Stir in a new interview. "Braden’s my inspiration," Hunter says. "He's helped me through tough times. He's always there for me. It means a lot to be able to give back to him and to give back to other people who have cerebral palsy." His campaign won't end with the walk. "I want to be a biomedical engineer. I want to build a suit that's like a brace that will allow him to move and lift his muscles slightly for him and show him correct movements," Hunter says. "No matter what, I'm definitely going to raise awareness for the rest of my life." Click for the full interview.

These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer explains his decision to suspend QB J.T. Barrett for one game after Barrett was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Barrett will also lose his scholarship for a term. (1:36) Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett has been suspended one game after being arrested early Saturday morning on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated near campus. The school announced that Barrett was cited with a misdemeanor offense of OVI and will serve the suspension for top-ranked Ohio State's game on Nov. 7 against Minnesota. The defending national champion Buckeyes do not have a game this weekend. Barrett, 20, was arrested after trying to avoid a DUI checkpoint near the Ohio State campus, a source told ESPN. He failed a Breathalyzer test and was released to teammate and fellow quarterback Cardale Jones, according to the source. Editor's Picks Chaos still reigns for Ohio State and its unpredictable QB situation After finally achieving what appeared to be closure at QB, the Buckeyes are once again unsettled at the position after J.T. Barrett was suspended. The arrest was first reported Saturday by ElevenWarriors.com. Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer decided on Barrett's punishment, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told ESPN. Smith also said Barrett will be eligible to return for Ohio State's road game at Illinois on Nov. 14 and its Nov. 21 showdown against No. 6 Michigan State at the Horseshoe. Barrett, a sophomore from Wichita Falls, Texas, had regained the starting job from Jones before last week's 49-7 victory over Rutgers. He took over the offense against Rutgers after Jones started the first seven games of the 2015 season. Barrett completed 14 of 18 passes for 223 yards with three touchdowns in what might have been Ohio State's most impressive victory of the season. Barrett was the starter in 2014 before breaking his ankle in the final regular-season game against rival Michigan. Information from ESPN's Brett McMurphy was used in this report.

– The quarterback for the number-one college football team in the country will miss his next game after he was arrested while allegedly trying to avoid a DUI checkpoint early Saturday, ESPN reports. Ohio State's JT Barrett was cited for misdemeanor operating a vehicle while intoxicated near campus and received a one-game suspension from the team. Since the Buckeyes don't play this weekend, he'll miss the team's Nov. 7 game against Minnesota. According to the Wall Street Journal, underage students cited for DUIs face a two-week suspension. Ohio State's athletic director says the 20-year-old Barrett was only suspended for one week because he was cited for a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Calling in to a series of Wisconsin conservative radio shows Monday, the GOP front-runner encountered a gauntlet of hostility. Credit: Matt York By of the Even before he set foot in Wisconsin, it was clear the Republican war over Donald Trump would have a dynamic all of its own here. Calling in to a series of conservative radio shows Monday, the GOP front-runner encountered a gauntlet of hostility and reproach. “Obviously you’re not going to vote for me, ” Trump told WISN talker Vicki McKenna. After 25 minutes of sparring, he signed off with a sarcastic, “Best of luck to you, Vicki,” and hung up on her, according to McKenna. Tuesday could be just as eventful. Gov. Scott Walker, whom Trump helped drive from the GOP race, will announce whether he’s endorsing one of Trump’s rivals. And Trump will launch his Wisconsin campaign in Janesville, hometown of Paul Ryan, the House speaker who has scolded him for rhetoric unbecoming a Republican. At a key late stage in the race, Trump is facing an unusual confluence of challenging forces in this state: Stiff opposition from conservative media, especially talk radio. High negatives among GOP voters. A chilly relationship with the state’s two leading Republicans, Ryan and Walker, who have favorability ratings in the 70s with their own party’s voters in Wisconsin (Trump’s are in the 40s). The stand-alone nature of Wisconsin’s primary, where the national spotlight, more than a week of on-the-ground campaigning, a statewide anti-Trump ad blitz and a politically engaged, high-turnout electorate make for a volatile environment. And just possibly (though it’s difficult to say for sure) an Upper Midwest culture where Trump’s flamboyant style of personal combat isn’t easily embraced. If the front-runner can prevail in those conditions, it would be a huge blow to the “Stop Trump” movement. But if Trump loses, opponents will crow about his failure to win the kind of white, blue-collar “Rust Belt” state he claims he can wrest from the Democrats in November. “I’m going to be spending a week with you folks, so I look forward to that,” Trump told conservative radio host Charlie Sykes of WTMJ in his first talk radio interview Monday. Sykes wasted little time on pleasantries. “Here in Wisconsin, we value things like civility, decency and actual conservative principles,” the talk show host declared before ripping Trump for his campaign behavior, comparing him to “a 12-year-old bully on the playground,” and suggesting his claim to be a conservative was a “giant fraud.” Trump got another lecture on Wisconsin from McKenna, who held up Walker and state Republicans as a paragon of GOP discipline and unity, suggesting Trump threatened to undo all that by “dividing Republicans.” “You’re in Wisconsin, where it’s a different state, sir, than you might be used to,” she told Trump. “This is a state that pulled together Republican coalitions,” she said. “Scott Walker didn’t win or get the incredible reforms that we were actually able to pass through in a blue-state-turned-purple-state like Wisconsin by dividing Republicans.” Sykes knocked Trump for criticizing Walker’s record in Wisconsin last year and accused him of insulting “just about every prominent conservative writer and thinker in the country.” McKenna fiercely defended the health of the state’s manufacturing sector and derided Trump’s view that trade is killing jobs. “Wisconsin is actually fourth in the Midwest in terms of manufacturing growth,” McKenna said. “We’re not losing manufacturing in Wisconsin!” Trump told McKenna, “I don’t think fourth in the Midwest is very good, because the Midwest is not doing particularly well.” Trump sounded perplexed by the talk radio buzz saw he ran into Monday. “I’m a little surprised that talk show hosts would be supporting somebody. You’d think there’d be a certain impartiality,” he told Green Bay radio host Jerry Bader, a supporter of Trump rival Ted Cruz, as is Sykes. When Sykes asked if he was aware before the interview that Sykes was a member of the “Never Trump” movement, Trump said he hadn’t been. That is strange in one sense (conservative radio hosts here have been bashing Trump for months) but not so strange in another. Trump is stepping into a distinctive political culture, where conservative talk radio, conservative interest groups and the Republican Party have teamed together with unusual effectiveness through years of pitched battle against Democrats, labor and the left. “Look, if you’re going to be the presidential candidate, you have to find a way to unify a whole bunch of people right now who are at each others’ throats,” McKenna told Trump. “And we feel it viscerally here because we went through the (protest) occupation in 2011 and a recall election in 2012. That’s the landscape you’re facing here when you’ve got Republicans acting like ‘recallers’ to other Republicans.” She urged him to “just unify, unify (the party) if you lock this up.” Trump said, “OK … You might not be seeing it now, but believe me I’ll be a unifier.” Then another quarrel broke out over Trump’s recent comments about the wife of Ted Cruz, and the interview came to an abrupt halt. “He just hung up on me,” McKenna said on the air. “That’s OK. He gave me 25 minutes. I mean, that was fun.” Follow Craig Gilbert on Twitter @WisVoter ||||| 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. ||||| During an interview with Wisconsin talk radio host Charles Sykes, presidential candidate Donald Trump excused his history of sexist comments by saying he didn’t plan to run for office at the time. In what turned out to be a very contentious interview, Sykes pointed out that Trump was doing very poorly in the polls among women. “A lot of this has to do with, let’s be honest about this, with conservative women who are repelled by your attitude and your treatment of women,” he argued. Trump urged those women to examine his business record. “I’ve hired tremendous amount of women, women are in my highest executive positions, I pay women in many cases more than I pay men, which is more than most people can say.” So why, despite all that, did he make the comments? “I’ve been a person that’s been in the entertainment business and a very big person in business and I’ve been quoted over the years by everybody… I became a celebrity,” he argued. “Are the rules different for celebrities?” Sykes pressed. “Are celebrities allowed to insult women?” “Well the rules aren’t different, but I never thought I would run for office,” Trump said. “And many people, Howard Stern would interview me and everybody would be having fun, and the women would be laughing.” Listen above, via WMTJ. [Image via screengrab] —— >>Follow Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) on Twitter Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Donald Trump's controversial, guns blazing, outspoken ways have cut him a path to the top of the 2016 GOP heap but the brash billionaire hit a speed bump on Monday in the form of Wisconsin talk radio host Charlie Sykes. SEE ALSO: A tombstone for Donald Trump sprouts up in Central Park Sykes, who hosts his radio show out of Milwaukee, has been an outspoken supporter of the "#NeverTrump" movement and Ted Cruz supporter. And he welcomed the GOP front-runner on to his radio program Monday morning as Trump begins a blitz through the Cheese State ahead of the state's crucial April 5 primary. Problem is, Trump, by his own admission, had no idea that Sykes is a Cruz supporter and found himself on the defensive for a cringe-worthy, 17-minute interview with Sykes. Listen to the whole thing below. Things got off to a rocky start for Trump right away when Sykes, citing Wisconsin's love of "civility, decency, and actual conservative principles," got on the front-runner right away for his recent attacks and threats regarding Ted Cruz's wife. Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016 While Trump tried to spin himself out of a straightforward explanation, Sykes did something few interviewers have done during this election cycle with Trump: he tenaciously hung on and pressed Trump on the topic. As Trump tried to place the blame elsewhere, Sykes kept at it, asking, "If a supporter of another candidate, not the candidate himself, does something despicable, that it’s OK for you, personally, a candidate for president of the United States, to behave in that same way?” For emphasis, Sykes added, “I expect that from a 12-year-old bully on the playground.” Trump to @sykescharlie on Heidi Cruz/Melania: "I thought this was actually a dead issue until I just spoke to you.” Sykes: "Really?" — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) March 28, 2016 Not that Sykes was done. Picking up on a theme, Sykes played a clip of that now-famous ad of women quoting Trump's misogynistic comments and, with Trump on the defensive and hiding behind his celebrity, asked, calmly, "Are the rules different for celebrities? Are celebrities allowed to insult women?" Moving on from there, Sykes turned toward home-cooking, calling Trump out on harsh comments he made about Wisconsin's current state of affairs. With Sykes pushing Trump to ask if he stood by his comments, all Trump could muster was a defense of, "I can only say what I took out of Time magazine," again, trying to place blame elsewhere. I've never seen Trump pushed like this in an interview before https://t.co/HiUIAMKl0o — andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) March 28, 2016 This @SykesCharlie interview with Trump is a lesson in how to respectfully but brutally confront the front runner.https://t.co/01SJH7XAHj — Ben Terris (@bterris) March 28, 2016 The kicker comes toward the end when Trump admits he had no idea that Sykes was such a stringent supporter of the "#NeverTrump" movement — “No, I didn’t know that, but I assume you’re also an intelligent guy. I know you’re an intelligent guy, and you understand what’s going on" — before spinning off on a tangent about NATO. The entire interview is fascinating, not just because Trump squirms, but because of the way Sykes goes after Trump so relentlessly while keeping a calm, quiet control over the proceedings, not allowing Trump's stream-of-consciousness replies to send the interview careening out of control. It's no small feat, and one that deserves a mention in this heated election season. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

– Judging from how he handled Megyn Kelly's questioning, Donald Trump may be about to go to war with more than one conservative radio host in Wisconsin. The candidate got a rough ride when he called radio shows in the state on Monday, with WTMJ host Charlie Sykes calling him a "giant fraud" as a conservative and likening his attacks on Heidi Cruz to the behavior of a "12-year-old bully on the playground," Mashable reports. "Here in Wisconsin, we value things like civility, decency, and actual conservative principles," Sykes told Trump. When Sykes pressed Trump about his history of sexist comments, Trump said he "never thought he would run for office" and stressed that he had always treated women fairly in his business career, Mediaite reports. Toward the end of the Sykes interview, Trump admitted he hadn't known beforehand that the host, a Ted Cruz supporter, was part of the #NeverTrump movement. In another interview, WISN host Vicki McKenna questioned Trump's ability to unify Republicans, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. "This is a state that pulled together Republican coalitions," she said. "Scott Walker didn't win or get the incredible reforms that we were actually able to pass through in a blue-state-turned-purple-state like Wisconsin by dividing Republicans." McKenna said Trump hung up on her when they disagreed about his Heidi Cruz comments.

Photo: Stockbyte/Getty Images There is really only one way I deal with indignation, be it righteous or ridiculous, if I happen to be at a computer when it happens: I take it to Gchat. I find a friend with the little green dot next to their name, and I’m off, maniacally pouring my (often misspelled and typo-ridden) frustrations into the little chat window. Melissa is typing. Melissa has entered text. But it’s all fair. Sooner rather than later, I’ll likely be on the receiving end of a similar rant from a friend, talking (typing?) them down about some irritating thing their boss or boyfriend or whoever did. For me, Gchat has become a near-perfect medium for venting: It’s immediate, it’s intimate, and there’s just something so satisfying about the physical sensation of typing very, very hard, taking out my annoyance onto my poor keyboard. But there are so many alternatives, too. You can text out your anger to a responsive friend, tweet your frustrations to everyone you know (and plenty of others you don’t), or use WhatsApp or Kik or whatever else the generation younger than me is using these days. The point is, it’s possible now to do this kind of ranting practically 24/7, whenever the most minor problem materializes. In the moment, the sensation is pure gratification, an itch blissfully scratched. But what is it doing in the long run? Probably, it’s just making you madder, according to researchers who study anger and venting as a coping mechanism. Venting “just doesn’t work the way people think it does,” said Jeffrey M. Lohr, a psychologist at the University of Arkansas. Most people think that it’s psychologically healthy to let it all out or blow off steam — but if this were true, then after a venting session, you should feel calmer and less angry. But research dating back to the late 1950s shows that the opposite is true. In 2007, Lohr published a paper in The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice that reviewed decades of studies on the effects of venting on subsequent anger. In 1969, for example, a member of a University of Missouri research team gave students instructions on making some simple origami sailboats. But the instructor intentionally talked way too fast, made mistakes in the demonstration, and then didn’t give the students enough time to properly make their little paper boats. Halfway through the instructions, some of the students were given the opportunity to let out their frustrations with the teacher on an evaluation form; the rest of the students just kept listening to the confusing lecture. When their time was up, all the students were given a final evaluation form, which, they were told, would go on the teacher’s permanent record. Whatever that meant. When the researchers reviewed the forms, they discovered that the students who’d already been given a chance to rant about their teacher wrote crueler and angrier remarks about their experience, and reported feeling more hostile toward the instructor than the students who hadn’t filled out the earlier evaluation. “In other words, expressing their anger seemed to preserve rather than reduce the hostile feelings,” Lohr and his co-authors write. Unclear expectations for a project, with instructions delivered too quickly and haphazardly to digest, followed by inadequate time to complete said project? Sounds a lot like everyday frustrations at work. One friend of mine (who asked me not to use his name) used to vent to me off and on throughout the day about how much he hated his boss. He’s since left the company, and he wonders now if he really hated the boss as much as he thought he did, or if Gchatting about his annoyance all day only served to rile him up. The research would suggest it’s likely the latter. There’s even some evidence that letting your anger out in this way could be causing some serious damage to your physical health, as one study published earlier this year linked angry tweets to higher incidence of heart disease. And yet, venting feels so great while you’re in the middle of it, and people sincerely believe that it will make them feel better, according to research by Brad Bushman, a psychology and communication professor who studies aggression at the Ohio State University. It’s a nice bonus when the friend you’re chatting to agrees that you’ve been treated in a most unjust manner, but it’s not always necessary. Another friend told me that when she’s particularly upset at work, she’ll go to Gchat and type her frustrations out, even if her friend isn’t actually online. The complaining itself is the real draw. “People love to vent,” said Bushman. When people get mad, their natural instinct is usually not to do the things that Bushman and Lohr and others who study anger very much wish they would do — that is, behaviors they will calm them down, like slowly counting to ten, taking a walk, or giving the dog or cat some nice head scratches. “Instead, people want to scream, shout, swear, hit, and kick,” Bushman said. It’s fine to voice your anger, and it’s not as if the psychologically superior strategy is to try to just turn it off. “The meaningful part is to say, Okay, now I got that off my chest — what am I going to do about it?” Lohr said. Switching your focus from your emotions to some potential solutions is one way to stop yourself from getting disproportionately worked up about whatever is bugging you. (You can also gently nudge a Gchat-ranting friend in this direction after listening for a little while.) There are better ways than venting to deal with anger, in other words, though it’s convenient that at least one strategy can still be employed via Gchat. ||||| One evening, after a frustrating chat with his boss, Jason Bauman sent an email to a co-worker. He wrote that his supervisor never praised him, only criticized, and said he found this frustrating. He went on for several hundred words. Mr. Bauman, the manager of a cellphone store at the time, complained that his boss was bad at his job. He said the man was jealous because he made less money than his employees. He insisted his boss had no right to give him what he called “a hard time.” ...

– Nothing like a good online vent to blow off a little steam, right? As Melissa Dahl writes for New York, a venting episode on Gchat is "immediate, it's intimate, and there's just something so satisfying about the physical sensation of typing very, very hard, taking out my annoyance onto my poor keyboard." But some researchers say this cathartic release could do more harm than good, the Wall Street Journal notes. Although "e-venting" via email, text, chat, or social media seems like the perfect antidote to a rotten day, studies have shown that people may actually become angrier after they post their online manifesto—and those who do so anonymously may become the most enraged of all. "Just because something makes you feel better doesn't mean it's healthy," Brad Bushman, a psych and communications professor at Ohio State University, tells the Journal. A 2002 study Bushman published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggested just that: He had 600 college students in three groups write an essay on abortion, which was subsequently criticized by another "participant" (really the researchers). Students in the first group were told to hit a punching bag while thinking of their critic, students in the second group were told to hit the bag while thinking about becoming fit, and a third control group simply sat quietly for two minutes. The angriest and most aggressive? Those in the first group, whose venting "did not lead to a more positive mood," the study notes (the second "fit" group wasn't far behind in aggression). But what makes e-venting especially risky? Per the Journal, we vent before we settle down, our posts have the potential to be shared (and ruminated over), and we don't get immediate feedback to maybe calm down. "You can't see the eye rolling," Bushman says. (Someone talk to Charlie Sheen about this.)

GS Lookup - Snapchat GS Lookup - Snapchat is out of order. Since we initially created this tool in Jan, 2014, we've decided it's no longer needed. Sorry. Information about the data previously accessible here: ZDNet, TechCrunch, /r/netsec. ||||| Summary: Snapchat is a textbook example of why responsible disclosure is a failure. On January 1, 2014, an anonymous user announced the release of SnapchatDB and 4.6 million usernames and matched phone numbers in a Hacker News post. The Snapchat accounts - even those marked 'private' - were exposed in a database hack that Snapchat knew about for four months, ignored, then told press last week was only "theoretical." According to SnapchatDB, the leak was made possible with a recently patched, but still useful exploit. Hacking the database wasn't enough to merit a response One week ago in December, we broke news that Researchers at Gibson Security published Snapchat code allowing phone number matching after exploit disclosures ignored. GibSec highlighted several Snapchat exploits and they were arrogantly dismissed by Snapchat, but it looks like someone else has taken GibSec seriously. The SnapchatDB website is gone, but the database was copied, torrented and mirrored (on Mega) widely prior to its removal. Several websites immediately sprung up offering a tool for users to see if they're in the database leak. The source of the first and second disclosures, Gibson Security, created this Snapchat hack lookup tool. The last two digits of each phone number in the hack dump were hidden. But SnapchatDB said full numbers would be revealed for interested parties, indicating the 4.6 million usernames and numbers will likely be sold to spam and phishing operations. The linking of phone numbers to usernames in accounts from major cities within the United States and Canada is a private information disaster that could have been avoided if the company had acted when repeatedly warned. Gibson Security told ZDNet that fixing the threat would have only cost Snapchat ten lines of code. With publication of username matches to phone numbers, malicious entities can now hop-step to brute force account passwords, and cross-match data from other databases to compile profiles across multiple services for stalking, spamming, and more. In the EU, a person's phone number is categorized as personal information, and falls under data protection laws. Responsible disclosure is dead Snapchat joins a long legacy of companies denying responsible disclosure by security researchers, only to be embarrassed when users become victims of the exact targeted attacks whose warnings went ignored. In October, Apple told press that Apple can read your iMessages with an iMessage man-in-the-middle attack (hijacking and changing messages between iPhones in real time). Like Snapchat, Apple downplayed the risks and attempting to discredit responsible security researchers by cavalierly labeling responsible disclosures as "theoretical." In a statement to AllThingsD, Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said: "iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages. The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so." The same day as Apple's dismissal, we published video of the researchers giving us a live demonstration of iMessage interception and alteration between iPhones, directly proving Apple wrong. Snapchat's story is disturbingly egregious; Gibson Security warned Snapchat in August of its security problems, and went public with claims when Snapchat refused to acknowledge what GibSec felt were issues that put users - such as themselves - at serious risk. Snapchat did nothing. On Christmas Day, Gibson Security published Snapchat exploits (only a few of the ones GibSec found) in an attempt to spur Snapchat into action to take user safety and database security seriously. Gibson said it was sick of Snapchat ignoring security researchers. "That vulnerability is completely theoretical." - Microsoft Like Apple Snapchat did not respond to ZDNet's request for comment - despite the fact that we first broke news and published technical information about security researchers' discoveries. In fact, Snapchat admitted to Gibson Security that it first learned about the exploits from our pre-publication email requesting comment about GibSec's disclosures. Both companies only responded to press outlets that have a record of reporting uncritically about the companies. Unfortunately for Snapchat, TechCrunch wasn't buying it. This behavior typifies the irresponsible behavior of companies both new and established when it comes to user security issues - notably different than the companies' behavior about company security issues. In 1992 an early hacking group known as L0pht Heavy Industries posted a quote from Microsoft, "That vulnerability is entirely theoretical." It was from an email exchange between L0pht and Microsoft, when the hackers responsibly disclosed the discovery of a security problem (one of the first buffer overflows) in their software. The quote became the group's tagline, "Making the theoretical practical since 1992." Publication of such a massive user name and number database gives weight to the other serious problems Gibson Security has uncovered. Snapchat has ignored Gibson Security's revelation that a mass registration exploit shows there is no way to verify the validity of Snapchat user accounts - raising questions about Snapchat's actual user numbers, versus inflated reports. Another glaring issue Snapchat has not acknowledged is the direct accusation that Snapchat had lied to its investors, notably Goldman Sachs, about user gender. Snapchat currently has over five open job listings on its website, none of which include security positions. ZDNet reached out to Snapchat prior to publication of this article, but the possibility of Snapchat's response is entirely theoretical. ||||| UPDATE - Jan. 1, 11:54 p.m. ET: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel told Mashable that the company is "working with law enforcement," and will "update when we can." @neeeda @Snapchat working with law enforcement. Will update when we can. — Evan Spiegel (@evanspiegel) January 2, 2014 More than four-and-a-half million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers leaked online Tuesday after anonymous hackers posted the information on a website called SnapchatDB.info, the group confirmed to Mashable Wednesday. The database of information was available for download as an SQL dump or CSV file via SnapchatDB.info, which is currently suspended. View a cached version of the site, here. See also: Use This Tool to Check if Your Snapchat Account Was Compromised "You are downloading 4.6 million users' phone number information, along with their usernames. People tend to use the same username around the web so you can use this information to find phone number information associated with Facebook and Twitter accounts, or simply to figure out the phone numbers of people you wish to get in touch with," the site said. The hackers behind SnapchatDB used a recently published Snapchat API exploit to access the photo-messaging app's usernames and phone numbers. "Our motivation behind the release was to raise the public awareness around the issue, and also put public pressure on Snapchat to get this exploit fixed. It is understandable that tech startups have limited resources but security and privacy should not be a secondary goal. Security matters as much as user experience does," the hackers told Mashable via Bitmessage. "We hope to see that Snapchat patches the exploit, and patches it well this time ... Especially after seeing the magnitude of attention that our leak received, we think that Snapchat will be targeted by other groups if they don't safeguard user security. We expect Snapchat to roll out a proper patch and notify their users and assure them that they will be more careful with their private information from now on." On the site, the SnapchatDB hackers said they censored the last two digits of users' phone numbers "in order to minimize spam and abuse," but that they may agree to release their uncensored database "under certain circumstances." The hackers told Mashable that they chose to suspend the site because their hosting provider was "overwhelmed" by traffic from the public, and don't intend to put it back up again. They also said they have the uncensored Snapchat database "stored in multiple locations." Mirrors and torrents of the database are now widely available online. Gibson Security, Australia-based white-hat hackers, published Snapchat's API and two exploits last week, according to ZDNet. The SnapchatDB hackers then used a "modified version" of a Gibson Security exploit for its late-Tuesday leak. Snapchat addressed the Australian group's disclosure in a short blog post published last Friday. "Theoretically, if someone were able to upload a huge set of phone numbers, like every number in an area code, or every possible number in the U.S., they could create a database of the results and match usernames to phone numbers that way. Over the past year we’ve implemented various safeguards to make it more difficult to do. We recently added additional counter-measures and continue to make improvements to combat spam and abuse," the company said. The SnapchatDB hackers said Snapchat's reluctance to take "the necessary steps to secure user data" compelled the hackers to take action, according to their statement. Gibson Security told Mashable on Wednesday that it was not involved in SnapchatDB's leak. "As much as we were hoping that it wouldn't come about, we felt that something like this was inevitable — Snapchat may have invoked it with their recent blog post about how they had fixed the exploit and that the entire thing was a nonissue." The group posted a tweet Tuesday night responding to the incident. We know nothing about SnapchatDB, but it was a matter of time til something like that happened.Also the exploit works still with minor fixes — Gibson Security (@gibsonsec) January 1, 2014 Snapchat did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Was your Snapchat account compromised? Please share your story and contact info in the comments, below, so our reporter can get in touch. Image: Mashable composite; Mashable, Nina Frazier

– Photo-messaging mobile app Snapchat has had the usernames and phone numbers of 4.6 million users leaked online through a vulnerability highlighted by security researchers just a week ago. The hackers who put the user details online—with the last two digits of phone numbers censored—tell Mashable that they want to "raise the public awareness around the issue, and also put public pressure on Snapchat to get this exploit fixed," though they say full phone numbers could be revealed to interested parties, suggesting the details could be sold to spammers or phishing operations. Snapchat says it is working with law enforcement and will "update when it can" on steps being taken to deal with the leak. Gibson Security, the firm that first highlighted the issue, says its warnings were ignored and Snapchat could have eliminated the threat with just 10 lines of code, ZDNet finds. "We felt that something like this was inevitable," the firm says. "Snapchat may have invoked it with their recent blog post about how they had fixed the exploit and that the entire thing was a nonissue." Snapchat users can check to see if their details were leaked here.

It was meant to be the document that put a lid on the clerical sex abuse scandals that have swept the Roman Catholic world. But instead of quelling fury from within and without the church, the Vatican stoked the anger of liberal Catholics and women's groups by including a provision in its revised decree that made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes in ecclesiastical law. The change put the "offence" on a par with the sex abuse of minors. Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, called the document "one of the most insulting and misogynistic pronouncements that the Vatican has made for a very long time. Why any self-respecting woman would want to remain part of an organisation that regards their full and equal participation as a 'grave sin' is a mystery to me." Vivienne Hayes, the chief executive of the Women's Resource Centre, said the decision to raise women's ordination to the level of a serious crime was "appalling". She added: "This declaration is doubly disempowering for women as it also closes the door on dialogue around women's access to power and decision making, when they are still under-represented in all areas of political, religious and civic life. We would urge the Catholic church to acknowledge that women's rights are not incompatible with religious faith." Ceri Goddard, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "We are sure that the vast majority of the general public will share in our abject horror at the Vatican's decision to categorise the ordination of women as an 'offence' in the same category as paedophilia – deemed to be one of the 'gravest offences a priest can commit'. "This statement follows a series where the Vatican, an institution which yields great influence and power not only in the Catholic community but also wider society, has pitched itself in direct opposition not only to women's rights but to our equal worth and value. We hope this is an issue that the government takes the opportunity to raise if it still feels the impending papal visit is appropriate." The revision of a decree first issued nine years ago was intended to address the issue of clerical sex abuse. Last night it remained unclear why the Vatican had decided to invite further controversy by changing the status of women's ordination in canon law. Since scandals blew up in Germany in January, five Roman Catholic bishops have resigned as evidence has come to light of priests who raped or molested children, and of superiors who turned a blind eye to safeguard the reputation of the church. Data from countries in which church membership is officially registered suggest tens of thousands of Catholics, perhaps hundreds of thousands, have abandoned their faith in disgust. Father Federico Lombardi, the pope's spokesman, stressed that the new rules on sex abuse applied solely to procedures for defrocking priests under canon law. They had no bearing on whether suspected offenders were notified to the civil authorities – he said bishops had already been reminded of their duty to do so. The most important change is to extend the period during which a clergyman can be tried by a church court from 10 to 20 years, dating from the 18th birthday of his victim. Many people who were abused by priests are unable to summon up the courage to come forward until well into adulthood. The new norms also streamline the procedures for dealing with the most urgent and serious cases, enabling bishops to defrock priests without a long, costly trial. They put abuse of the mentally disabled on a level with that of minors. And they introduce a new crime of paedophile pornography, defined as "the acquisition, possession or disclosure" by a clergyman of pornographic images of children below the age of 14. Monsignor Charles Scicluna, who helped overhaul the rules, said: "This gives a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse." Lombardi said the Vatican was working on further instructions "so that the directives it issues on the subject of sexual abuse of minors, either by the clergy or institutions connected with the church, may be increasingly rigorous, coherent and effective". But Barbara Doris of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) said it was tackling the issue the wrong way round. "Defrocking a predator, by definition, is too late," she said. "Severe harm has already been done." ||||| But what astonished many Catholics was the inclusion of the attempt to ordain women in a list of the “more grave delicts,” or offenses, which included pedophilia, as well as heresy, apostasy and schism. The issue, some critics said, was less the ordination of women, which is not discussed seriously inside the church hierarchy, but the Vatican’s suggestion that pedophilia is a comparable crime in a document billed a response to the sexual abuse crisis. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “It is very irritating that they put the increased severity in punishment for abuse and women’s ordination at the same level,” said Christian Weisner, the spokesman for “We Are Church,” a liberal Catholic reform movement founded in 1996 in response to a high-profile sexual abuse case in Austria. “It tells us that the church still understands itself as an environment dominated by men.” The reaction among American Catholics could be measured in some degree by comments from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, a top official in the group, called the document a “welcome statement” even as he took pains to praise the role of women in the church. “The church’s gratitude to women cannot be stated strongly enough,” he said at a news conference in Washington. “Women offer unique insight, creative abilities and unstinting generosity at the very heart of the Catholic Church.” Still, the archbishop added. “The Catholic Church through its long and constant teaching holds that ordination has been, from the beginning, reserved to men, a fact which cannot be changed despite changing times.” At a news conference at the Vatican, Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, the Vatican’s internal prosecutor in charge of handling sexual abuse cases, explained the change on women’s ordination in technical terms. “Sexual abuse and pornography are more grave delicts, they are an egregious violation of moral law,” Monsignor Scicluna said in his first public appearance since the sex abuse crisis hit. “Attempted ordination of women is grave, but on another level, it is a wound that is an attempt against the Catholic faith on the sacramental orders.” The revision codifies a 2007 ruling that made attempting to ordain women an offense punishable with excommunication. The new document said that a priest who tried to ordain a woman could now be defrocked. For more than two decades, polls have shown that large majorities of American Catholics favor allowing women to be ordained as priests, despite the lack of support for it among church leaders. The latest poll of American Catholics by The New York Times and CBS News, released in May, showed that 59 percent favored ordaining women, while 33 percent were opposed. “I think they see us as their worst nightmare and they’re doing as much as they can to stop it,” said Bridget Mary Meehan, one of five American women who say they have been ordained as bishops as part of a tiny movement of women in Europe and the United States who claim to have been ordained as bishops, priests and deacons. The movement, called Roman Catholic Womenpriests, now claims that 100 women have been given ordination ceremonies as priests, deacons or bishops, and 75 of those are Americans, Ms. Meehan said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story At the news conference here unveiling the changes, Monsignor Scicluna said that rules on their own could not eradicate priestly abuse but that the church now had better tools to work toward that. “This gives a signal that we are very, very serious in our commitment to promote safe environments and to offer an adequate response to abuse,” he said. “If more changes are needed, they will be made.” In addition to making the faster administrative procedures for disciplining priests the rule, not the exception, the new norms also added possession of child pornography and sexual abuse of mentally disabled adults to the list of grave crimes. The Vatican also doubled the statute of limitations for abuse cases to 20 years from the victim’s 18th birthday. After that, a priest could be removed from the ministry but not defrocked unless the Vatican lifted the statute of limitations in the case, a right it reserves on a case-by-case basis. Many victims have said they did not feel able to come forward until long after abuse took place. Critics immediately said the revisions did not go far enough. “Given his authority, Benedict could implement meaningful change,” Bishopaccountability.org, which tracks cases of sexual abuse by priests worldwide, said in a statement, referring to Pope Benedict XVI. “He could direct bishops to report every allegation of child sexual abuse to the police, regardless of whether civil law requires them to do so. He could threaten punishment of any bishop or church official who enables or fails to stop a child-molesting priest.” For years, bishops complained to the Vatican about confusion over how to handle sexual abuse cases. In 2001, Pope John Paul II issued a document saying all credible allegations of abuse by priests should be reported to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. But the document was not widely circulated, and the confusion remained. In April, the Vatican for the first time published online guidelines that it said it advised bishops to follow in handling abuse, including reporting all sexual abuse cases to the Vatican and to civil authorities in countries that required mandatory reporting of crimes. But those guidelines do not hold the force of law. The new document did not change that. “It’s not for canonical legislation to get itself involved with civil law,” Monsignor Scicluna said.

– It's not clear why the Vatican decided to classify female priests on a par with pedophiles in their decree on moral and canonical offenses yesterday, but the New York Times speculates it was to shut down those who pitch women in the priesthood as part of the solution to the church's sex-abuse problem. Whatever the motive, the decree has generated a predictable wave of outrage, the Guardian reports: It's "one of the most insulting and misogynistic pronouncements that the Vatican has made for a very long time. Why any self-respecting woman would want to remain part of an organization that regards their full and equal participation as a 'grave sin' is a mystery to me," says the president of the National Secular Society. "Appalling," says the director of the Women's Resource Center. "This declaration is doubly disempowering for women as it also closes the door on dialogue around women's access to power and decision-making, when they are still under-represented in all areas of political, religious and civic life."

Germany's defense minister said Monday he expects Turkey to make a formal request to NATO for Patriot missiles to bolster anti-aircraft defenses along the border with war-wracked Syria. "It may be _ I expect it _ that there will be a request by the Turkish government to NATO today for Patriot missiles to be stationed on the Turkish border," Thomas de Maiziere said ahead of a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels. NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said no such request had been received yet from Ankara, but that if it was it would be considered "as a matter of urgency." "The situation along the Syrian-Turkish border is of great concern," Fogh Rasmussen said as he arrived for a meeting with the European Union's foreign and defense ministers. "We have all plans in place to defend and protect Turkey if needed," he said. "These plans will be adjusted as necessary to ensure effective defense and protection of Turkey, and if we receive a formal request from Turkey to ensure such effective defense and protection that request will be considered as a matter of urgency." Fogh Rasmussen also noted that the deployment of the U.S.-built Patriots would not mean imposing a no-fly zone over Syrian territory, a key demand of Syrian opposition groups. "If we are to deploy Patriot missiles it would be purely a defensive measure to defend and protect Turkey," he said. NATO installed anti-aircraft batteries on Turkish territory during the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars. They were never used. Within the alliance, only the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have Patriots in their arsenals. Turkey's air defenses consist mostly of short-range Rapier and Stinger systems, and U.S.-made Hawk low-to-medium-altitude missiles. Ankara has been looking to acquire a new high-altitude defense system to replace its Cold War-era Nike-Hercules batteries. NATO installed the long-range Patriot batteries on Turkish territory during the 1991 and 2003 Iraq wars. They were never used and were quietly withdrawn a few months later. Within the alliance, only the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have Patriots in their arsenals. The Patriot, which first entered service three decades ago, has been successively upgraded over the years. Although optimized for anti-aircraft defense, advanced versions can also be used against cruise missiles and against medium- and short-range ballistic missiles. They have a maximum range of about 160 kilometers (100 miles) and can reach altitudes of about 80,000 feet. ||||| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey is expected to request on Monday that NATO missiles be placed on its border with Syria to defend against mortar rounds fired from its neighbor, Germany’s defense minister said. Only the United States, the Netherlands and Germany have the appropriate Patriot missile system available. Germany would analyze such a request “with solidarity”, Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. “I expect that there will be a request from the Turkish government today to NATO to deploy Patriot Missiles to the Turkish border,” he told reporters in Brussels, on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defence ministers. “If a partner now asks us for such a measure, it is clear for us that we will face this in an open way and with solidarity.” De Maiziere said the German response would depend on the details of any request. “But if we have a deployment of Patriots on the Turkish border then this will happen with German soldiers.” Related Coverage Syria opposition to make Cairo its HQ: Egyptian news agency Turkey is talking to NATO allies about how to shore up security on its 900-km (560-mile) frontier with Syria after mortar rounds fired from Syria landed inside its territory, increasing concerns about spillover from the civil war. The Dutch defence minister said the Netherlands too was waiting for a Turkish request. “We did not receive a formal request yet,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert told reporters in Brussels. “We are waiting for a formal request.

– Turkey said it wanted Patriot missiles along its border with Syria, and it's set to make that request official today by formally asking NATO for said missiles, Germany's defense minister says. Germany, the Netherlands, and the US are the only countries within NATO that could provide the weaponry, Reuters notes. "If a partner now asks us for such a measure, it is clear for us that we will face this in an open way and with solidarity," says the defense minister. "But if we have a deployment of Patriots on the Turkish border, then this will happen with German soldiers." NATO's secretary-general notes that any missile deployment would not also mean imposing a no-fly zone over Syrian territory, a key demand of Syrian opposition groups, reports the AP. "If we are to deploy Patriot missiles it would be purely a defensive measure to defend and protect Turkey," he said.

Sierra fire reaches Yosemite, threatens towns Its size doubles - thousands of structures in danger Groveland, -- Tuolumne County - Firefighters worked Friday to save thousands of homes in the Sierra foothills as the massive Rim Fire doubled in size from a day earlier and, for the first time, crossed into Yosemite National Park. There was some good news, though: Firefighters gained the upper hand in a battle to save San Francisco's Camp Mather, just a mile west of Yosemite, which has long served as a retreat for city families. The camp, from which 200 seniors were evacuated Tuesday, was in the path of the blaze, which has charred nearly 200 square miles of rugged forest land and altered the late-summer plans of thousands of people. But crews of firefighters held back the flames. LATEST NEWS VIDEOS Now Playing: Now Playing Edmonton Police Chief: ISIS Flag Found In Suspect's Car GeoBeats President Trump Calls Out 'Politically Motivated Ingrates' in Puerto Rico Buzz60 Trump Slams 'Politically Motivated Ingrates' Over Response To Maria In Puerto Rico GeoBeats Photo of OJ Simpson signing release papers KTVU Brief video of OJ Simpson released from prison KTVU Bright flashing lights illuminate skies near Cole Valley sfgate Kito the baboon sfgate Air Force Academy superintendent addresses racist messages at prep school sfgate CHP briefing of police chase, shooting on I-80 in Emeryville sfgate Which generation are you in? sfgate "We're not out of the woods yet," said camp caretaker Paul Spring. "But we're a little safer." That same note of tentative optimism was sounded Friday evening by a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "We are definitely making progress," said Daniel Berlant of Cal Fire. The fire had consumed more than 125,000 acres, he said, but as of Friday evening it was 5 percent contained - up from 2 percent earlier in the day. Still, the damage and danger continued to spread. A small portion of the roughly 2,800 residents of Pine Mountain Lake were under orders to evacuate, while most of the community was advised - but not required - to leave. Residents of nearby Groveland, population 600; Tuolumne City, population 1,800; and the Ponderosa Hill area were also advised to leave. A thick blanket of smoke enveloped the communities. The air smelled like ash. "It's really eerie here," said Pat Wrinkle, 59, who grabbed what he could from his ranch home at Pine Mountain Lake and headed out with his wife and two long-haired dachshunds, Cole and Simba. 2,700 firefighters More than 2,700 state, federal and local firefighters from around the nation had joined the fight against the Rim Fire by Friday evening, and large air tankers battled the blaze from above. But dry weather, rugged terrain and gusty winds limited efforts to carve out containment lines. More than 5,500 homes were threatened, Berlant said, and four homes had burned. At Camp Mather, logs smoldered on either side of the entry road. Foam retardant kept the fire at bay. The popular Strawberry Music Festival, which was scheduled to take place at the site over the Labor Day weekend, has been called off. It's the third time in the festival's 32-year history that fire has canceled the event, which is held twice a year. Organizers said Friday that they're considering rescheduling in October. The camp was one of several evacuated over the past week as the Rim Fire neared. On Friday, officials revealed that a cabin had burned at emptied-out Camp Tawonga, which is popular with Bay Area families, but said other structures there had been spared. Camp Tawonga, located west of Yosemite and Camp Mather and north of Highway 120, was established in 1925 and caters mainly to Jewish families. "The growth of this fire is just something you don't see often," said Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynn Tolmachoff. "If you get one a year, it's unusual. If you get one every 10 years, that may be the norm." The fire also threatened power transmission lines owned by San Francisco and poses a risk to water quality at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the city's water supply. Fearing that ash could pollute the water, city officials announced Friday that they were prepared to tap backup reservoirs. State of emergency Late Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for San Francisco, 150 miles from the fire, acknowledging the threat to the city's power lines and stations in the fire area. He had already declared a state of emergency in Tuolumne County this week, which will help free up money and resources to fight the blaze. The blaze crossed into Yosemite's western boundary Friday, authorities said, and forested land around Lake Eleanor was aflame. The relatively low-elevation section of park was closed to the public, and the park's Highway 120 entrance remained closed. Most of the park is still open and can be reached via Highway 140 from Merced and Highway 41 from Fresno. Park officials said they didn't think the fire would affect visitors - at least anytime soon. On Friday, the blaze was at least 20 miles from popular Yosemite Valley. "If it continues to move in the direction it has in the last day or so, it's just moving into wilderness," said park spokeswoman Kari Cobb. "There's no structures, nothing there." In Groveland, a popular gateway to the park on Highway 120, merchants said tourism had ground to a halt. Jenn Edwards, owner of the Hotel Charlotte, said she was getting phone calls from visitors canceling their vacations. She and her husband, who now have an 8-week-old baby boy, moved to Groveland a year and a half ago from Seattle to open the hotel. "I always thought that in California, you have to worry about earthquakes," she said, "but up here it's fire." ||||| After burning for nearly a week on the edges of California's Yosemite National Park, a massive wildfire of nearly 200 square miles has now crossed into it, and firefighters have barely begun to contain it. In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, the Rim Fire burns near Yosemite National Park, Calif. The wildfire outside Yosemite National Park — one of more than 50 major brush blazes burning... (Associated Press) In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, the Rim Fire burns near Groveland Ranger Station in Groveland, Calif. The wildfire outside Yosemite National Park — one of more than 50 major... (Associated Press) In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, the Rim Fire burns near Groveland Ranger Station in Groveland, Calif. The wildfire outside Yosemite National Park — one of more than 50 major... (Associated Press) Hazy smoke from a wildfire more than 150 miles away near Yosemite National Park descended Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013, on Reno and the downtown casino district. Washoe County Health District officials issued... (Associated Press) The Yosemite Valley, the part of the park frequented by tourists and known around the world for such iconic sights as the Half Dome and El Capitan rock formations and Yosemite falls, remained open, clear of smoke and free from other signs of the fire that remained about 20 miles away. But the blaze was reverberating around the region. It brought a governor's declaration of emergency late Friday for San Francisco 150 miles away because of the threat the fire posed to utility transmission to the city, and caused smoke warnings and event cancellations in Nevada as smoke blew over the Sierra Nevada and across state lines. And the fire had established at least a foothold in Yosemite, with at least 17 of its 196 square miles burning inside the park's broad borders, in a remote area near Lake Eleanor where backpackers seek summer solace. Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said that the park had stopped issuing backcountry permits to backpackers and had warned those who already had them to stay out of the area. She emphasized that the skies over Yosemite Valley were "crystal clear," however. "Right now there are no closures, and no visitor services are being affected in the park," Cobb said. "We just have to take one day at a time." The blaze did, however, pose a threat to the lines and stations that pipe power to the city of San Francisco, so Brown, who had declared an emergency for the fire area earlier in the week, made the unusual move of doing the same for the city across the state. San Francisco gets 85 percent of its water from the Yosemite-area Hetch Hetchy reservoir that is about 4 miles from the fire, though that had yet to be affected. But it was forced to shut down two of its three hydroelectric power stations in the area. The city has so far been able to buy power on the open market and use existing supplies, but further disruptions or damage could have an effect, according to city power officials and the governor's statement. The declaration frees funding and resources to help the city and makes it eligible for more federal funds to help with power shortages and outages or water problems. The 196-square-mile blaze was 5 percent contained and more than 2,000 firefighters were on the lines. It continued to grow in several directions, although "most of the fire activity is pushing to the east right into Yosemite," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Nevada smoke forced officials in several counties to cancel outdoor school activities and issue health advisories, especially for people with respiratory problems. The fire was threatening about 5,500 residences, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The blaze has destroyed four homes and 12 outbuildings in several different areas. The blaze closed a 4-mile stretch of State Route 120, one of three entrances into Yosemite on the west side. Two other western routes and an eastern route were open. Officials issued voluntary evacuation advisories for two new towns _ Tuolumne City, population 1,800, and Ponderosa Hills, a community of several hundred _ which are about five miles from the fire line, Forest Service spokesman Jerry Snyder said. A mandatory evacuation order remained in effect for part of Pine Mountain Lake, a summer gated community a few miles from the fire. "It feels a little bit like a war zone, with helicopters flying overhead, bombers dropping retardant and 10 engine companies stationed on our street," said Ken Codeglia, a retired Pine Mountain Lake resident who decided to stay to protect his house with his own hoses and fire retardant system. "But if the fire gets very hot and firefighters evacuate, I will run with them." Officials previously advised voluntary evacuations of more than a thousand other homes, several organized camps and at least two campgrounds in the area outside the park's boundary. More homes, businesses and hotels are threatened in nearby Groveland, a community of 600 about 5 miles from the fire and 25 miles from the entrance of Yosemite. Usually filled with tourists, the streets are now swarming with firefighters, evacuees, and news crews, said Doug Edwards, owner of Hotel Charlotte on Main Street. "We usually book out six months solid with no vacancies and turn away 30-40 people a night. That's all changed," Edwards said. "All we're getting for the next three weeks is cancellations. It's a huge impact on the community in terms of revenue dollars." The fire is raging in the same region where a 1987 fire killed a firefighter, burned hundreds of thousands of acres, and forced several thousand people out of their homes.

– It's some 150 miles away, but a massive wildfire burning in the Sierra foothills in and around Yosemite National Park has triggered a state of emergency in San Francisco, reports the Chronicle. The Rim Fire threatens transmission lines that carry power to the city, along with the reservoir that serves as its water supply. The fire, now 200 square miles and only 5% contained, has crossed into Yosemite on the park's remote western border, though the Yosemite Valley area most popular with tourists remains open and might emerge unscathed, reports AP. "Right now there are no closures, and no visitor services are being affected in the park," says a spokesperson. "We just have to take one day at a time." More than 2,700 local and federal firefighters were on the scene last night, but strong winds were making things difficult. The Los Angeles Times reports that mountain communities that depend on late summer tourism were being hit hard.

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is now bigger than Wal-Mart, at least when it comes to its value on the stock market. FILE - In this July 24, 2014 file photo, Facebook staff members attend the opening ceremony of their new office in Hong Kong. The world's biggest online social network knocked Wal-Mart, the world's largest... (Associated Press) The world's biggest online social network knocked the world's largest retailer out of the top 10 list of the highest-valued companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index on Monday and the gap widened on Tuesday. While the switch is mostly symbolic — nothing specific happened this week to warrant it, and the difference between the two giants is not that big — it signals investors' insatiable appetite for successful tech stocks. Apple, Microsoft and Google top the list of the highest-valued companies in the U.S., and Facebook looks to be on its way to joining them. A company's market value is calculated by multiplying the number of shares of stock it has in circulation by the current price of one share. Facebook Inc. was valued at $238 billion at the close of trading Tuesday, according to FactSet. Its stock gained $3.14, or 3.7 percent, at $87.88. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was valued at $234 billion. Its stock dipped 22 cents to $72.57. Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, California, has been on a roll this past year, its shares up about 34 percent in the past year compared with just 8.2 percent for the S&P 500 index. Its quarterly results have consistently surpassed expectations. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, meanwhile, asked for investor patience after its most-recent earnings report showed a 7 percent profit decline due to the effects of the strong dollar and higher worker wages and spending on its online operations. Comparing the two companies' financial results, though, shows just how much Wall Street is investing in growth and potential — Facebook — versus existing size and might — Wal-Mart. In the first three months of this year, Facebook's total revenue of $3.54 billion amounted to just a little more than Wal-Mart's total profit for its fiscal first quarter of $3.34 billion. But while Facebook saw revenue grow 42 percent in the same period, Wal-Mart's declined slightly. That said, none of the nine companies that follow Apple in the top 10 come even close to the mighty iPhone and Mac maker, whose market capitalization is about $735 billion. ||||| Thanks to a steadily climbing stock price, Facebook is now more valuable than the world’s biggest retailer and the company that currently sits atop the Fortune 500: Walmart. Facebook’s (FB) shares have gained more than 11% in value so far this year; they are up more than 32% over the past full year. The company’s shares surged 7% in the past week, pushing Facebook’s market value to about $238 billion. That tops Walmart’s (WMT) current market cap of $234 billion, knocking the massive retailer off of the list of the 10 largest companies by market value. Apple (AAPL) is still the most valuable company based on market cap, valued at greater than $735 billion. The last time Walmart ended a year outside the top 10 largest S&P 500 companies based on market cap was in 1997, according to The Wall Street Journal. Walmart’s stock is down more than 15% since the start of the year, despite topping the latest Fortune 500 for the third straight year with nearly half a billion dollars in sales. Last month, though, Walmart joined several other U.S. retailers by reporting quarterly sales figures that fell below Wall Street expectations. Facebook shot up this year’s Fortune 500 rankings, jumping nearly 100 spots to crack the top 250 companies based on annual revenue. Facebook’s 2014 revenue increased by 58% to $12.5 billion. That’s still nearly 40 times less than Walmart’s revenue, which means the social networking company still has a long way to go before it can make a run for Walmart’s spot on the Fortune 500.

– Remember when Facebook's IPO was declared an embarrassing flop? It's a time some people might now prefer to forget—especially those who unloaded their shares for below $20 in 2012. Less than three years later, the social network's shares have surged to $87.88 as of yesterday, pushing Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, out of the top 10 of Standard & Poor's 500 list of the highest-valued companies, the AP reports. A 34% rise over the last year has pushed Facebook's valuation to $238 billion, ahead of Walmart's $234 billion. Walmart, however, is still at the top of the Fortune 500 list of US companies ranked by revenue and Fortune notes that Facebook is a long way from the top 10 of that list: A huge surge in revenue last year put it in the top 250, with $12.5 billion, but that's still less than a 40th of Walmart's revenue. Walmart's profits have been sagging for various reasons, including the strong dollar, but according to the AP, the real reason Facebook has moved ahead is Wall Street's focus on potential—especially for tech firms—over existing revenue. (Walmart has joined other major retailers in ceasing to sell Confederate flag-themed merchandise.)

Man, daughter who died after being pulled from water at Makapuu Tide Pools ID’d The Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the visiting California father and daughter who were killed in the rough surf at the Makapuu Tide Pools on Saturday. Autopsies will be conducted to determine cause of death of Mark Hornor, 46; and his daughter Mina, 6. Both were from Berkeley, Calif. Ocean Safety officials said Mina Hornor was knocked into the ocean by a wave at 11:20 a.m. while walking along the rocky shoreline. Her father apparently went in to save her, said Shayne Enright, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Emergency Services. Lifeguards on personal watercraft found the man unresponsive in the water and brought him to Sandy Beach, where lifeguards on shore began CPR. The lifeguards on the watercraft went back for the girl, who was found unresponsive, and also brought her to Sandy Beach. Both patients were taken to the hospital in critical condition where they later died. Enright said the family consisted of the father and his three daughters. The youngest was 6 and the oldest was about 12. In March of last year, two people, including a 12-year-old girl, had to be rescued in separate incidents after they were injured by waves at the tide pools. In 2011, a father and his 11-year-old daughter drowned at the tide pools. ||||| A series of rogue waves swept a California man and his 6-year-old daughter into the sea, and ultimately to their deaths, at the Makapuu Tide Pools on Saturday. Family members identified the man as Mark Hornor, a 46-year-old lawyer and an avid cyclist from Berkeley, Calif., and his daughter Mina, the youngest of three daughters in the family. The family said Hornor was a sibling of five and that he is remembered by his wife, Jessamy, who is from Hawaii, and their two daughters. Hornor's brother, Matthew, said a large wave first knocked over Mina and as Hornor tried to retrieve her, another large wave took them both out into the sea. The brother said Hornor was no stranger to the water as an avid surfer, and that he was in very good shape. Last year, Hornor biked 900 miles across the United Kingdom for charity, according to the brother. "He was just a fantastic human being, he jumped in tried to save her. And I don't think he wanted to come back empty handed," Matthew Hornor said. Lifeguards rushed to the scene on jet skis, plucked the two from the water and administered CPR after bringing them to a nearby beach. But they remained unresponsive, and were later pronounced dead at a hospital. Witnesses say the events happened in a matter of moments -- and the aftermath was difficult to watch. "There was no movement," said Jamie DeMatoff, who was on the beach when lifeguards were giving the father and daughter CPR. "His body was lifeless just like the little girl. My heart just sank just watching this happen." The deaths prompted officials to renew calls to use caution in the area, which has grown in popularity. "On a day like today, it wasn't for families down there," said Shayne Enright, spokeswoman for the city Emergency Services Department. "Conditions were not favorable. It's too windy, there's a High Surf Advisory. It's extremely dangerous." In recent years, there have been several near-drownings, drownings and other incidents at the spot. Just last month, a teenage girl was seriously injured when a large wave knocked her over. A 12-year-old girl was seriously injured in 2015. And in 2011, a father and his 11-year-old daughter drowned at the tide pools. "We all send out condolences to that family and that's right now what we want to express," said Enright. Meanwhile, the family said they visited the Medical Examiner's Office to see Hornor's body to "give him a kiss on the forehead" but were not allowed to see him until identification was completed. - Janelle Guerrero-Miguel contributed to this report. Copyright 2016 HawaiiNewsNow. All rights reserved. ||||| MAKAPUU, Hawaii - A California man who was an experienced surfer and his daughter died after being swept out to sea from tide pools in Hawaii on Saturday. Officials identified the pair as 46-year-old Mark Hornor and 6-year-old Mina Hornor. Both were from Berkeley, California. Emergency crews responded Saturday to reports that the girl fell into the ocean while walking along the rocky shoreline. Officials said her father jumped in to save her before he also was swept away by the waves. Lifeguards found both victims unresponsive and brought them back to shore. They both were taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died. Witnesses told CBS affiliate KGMB the events happened in a matter of moments, and the aftermath was difficult to watch. "There was no movement," said Jamie DeMatoff, who was on the beach when lifeguards were giving the father and daughter CPR. "His body was lifeless just like the little girl. My heart just sank just watching this happen." JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Hornor's family described him as an avid cyclist and surfer, and said Mina was the youngest of three daughters. "He was just a fantastic human being, he jumped in tried to save her. And I don't think he wanted to come back empty handed," said Hornor's brother, Matthew. The medical examiner will conduct autopsies to determine their causes of death. The Saturday incident comes after a teenage girl was seriously injured after a wave knocked her over last month. Two people, including a 12-year-old girl, had to be rescued in separate incidents in March 2015 after they were injured by the waves at the tide pools. In 2011, a father and his 11-year-old daughter drowned at the tide pools. Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

– A father died trying to rescue his drowning daughter Saturday in Hawaii, CBS News reports. Six-year-old Mina Hornor of Berkeley, California, was walking along the rocks at the Makapuu Tide Pools on Oahu when she fell in the ocean. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser says she was knocked into the water by a wave. Her father, 46-year-old Mark Hornor, jumped in to save her. They were pulled further out to sea by a series of rogue waves, according to Hawaii News Now. By the time lifeguards on jet skis got to them, they were unresponsive. They died after being transported to the hospital. Hornor's brother says Hornor was an experienced surfer and in good physical shape. "He jumped in and tried to save her," Matthew Hornor tells Hawaii News Now. "I don't think he wanted to come back empty handed." Another father and daughter drowned at the Makapuu Tide Pools in 2011, and authorities warn people to be careful in the area. On Saturday, there was a high-surf advisory and a lot of wind. “On a day like today, it wasn't for families down there," a government spokesperson says.

At least 14 people killed in trolleybus explosion, the day after 17 died in another suicide attack at city's railway station At least 14 people have been killed in a suicide bombing on a trolleybus crowded with morning commuters in Volgograd, less than 24 hours after another deadly suicide attack at the city's main train station. The authorities initially said 15 people were dead, but a statement from local authorities subsequently put the toll at 14. Dozens were reported injured, including a one-year-old child who was in a critical condition. The blast ripped apart the trolleybus, leaving a disfigured carcass without the roof and walls. It is the third bombing attack in Volgograd in three months, with most security experts linking the wave of attacks to the pledge by the Chechen jihadist leader Doku Umarov to disrupt the Olympic Games in Sochi, which start in six weeks' time. The explosion occurred as the trolleybus approached a stop near a market and the hospital, where many casualties from the train station attack were taken on Sunday. Russian investigators said the explosion was caused by a male suicide bomber. Local news sites reported that people in Volgograd, a city of more than 1 million inhabitants, were avoiding public transport and walking to work on foot. "For the second day, we are dying – it's a nightmare," a woman near the scene told the Reuters news agency, her voice trembling as she choked back tears. "What are we supposed to do – just walk now?" The attacks sent waves of horror across Russia. Popular writer Sergey Minayev said on Twitter the atmosphere reminded him of 1999, when a series of bombing attacks on apartment blocs shook Moscow. "It's like someone has declared a war on us," he wrote. The death toll from Sunday's attack rose to 17 overnight, with more than 40 injured, some of them still in grave condition. The bomb went off near security gates at the entrance to Volgograd's main train station. The authorities said it was detonated by a suicide bomber but there were conflicting reports about whether the perpetrator was a man or woman. The two attacks will raise fears of a concerted campaign of violence before the Olympics, which start on 7 February in Sochi, about 430 miles south-west of Volgograd. In a video posted on the web in July, Umarov, the leader of insurgents who want to carve an Islamic state out of the north Caucasus, a string of Muslim provinces south of Volgograd, urged militants to use "maximum force" to prevent the games from being held. Two months ago, another bomb killed 10 people on a bus in Volgograd, which is a few hundred miles from the restive north Caucasus region. Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, is also of great symbolic importance for Russians as the site of the bloodiest battle of the second world war – something that north Caucausian jihadist websites were quick to emphasise after the train station blast. Security expert Andrey Soldatov told the Guardian on Sunday the Volgograd tragedy showed that militants from the north Caucasus had sufficient capability and manpower to stage deadly attacks beyond their region. It also means that Russian security bodies will be forced to divert their attention to other regions at a crucial time on the eve of the Olympic Games. ||||| At least 16 people have been killed in a trolley bus blast in Volgograd, emergency services report, only a day after a suicide bomb ripped through the city's railway station, killing 18. Security has been ramped up across the nation. Read our full story of the second Volgograd suicide bombing Monday, January 6 19:54 GMT: A special police squad set to be on duty 24/7 has been created in Volgograd, just over a week after the city was hit by two bombings that left 34 people dead. 70 policemen are set to take part, checking all the transport that enters the city, examining vehicles for drugs and weapons, the official representative of the region’s Interior Ministry Svetlana Smolyaninova told Interfax. 16:35 GMT: A special plane from Russia’s Federal Medicobiological agency has arrived in Saint-Petersburg, bringing a victim of the Volgograd bombings for treatment, the agency’s representative told RIA-Novosti. There are currently 38 people in Volgograd’s hospitals, and 22 people have been sent to Moscow to be hospitalized in the capital. Thursday, January 2 12:58 GMT: The transportation to Moscow of one more person injured in the Volgograd blasts, which was scheduled for today, was delayed until Friday, Jan. 3, reports FMBA press service. It could be connected to the deterioration of the patient’s medical condition, they added. A total of 18 victims of Volgograd attacks are now being treated in Moscow hospitals. On Monday and Tuesday 16 people were flown to Moscow. Two girls were also taken to the capital on Wednesday. 12:34 GMT: According to the investigation's preliminary results, the suicide bombers arrived in Volgograd from one of the republics in Russia’s North Caucasus, a law enforcement source told Interfax news agency. Also, evidence showed that the blast in the Volgograd trolleybus on Monday was carried out by a male suicide bomber, the source added. "A preliminary analysis based on evidence shows that the suicide bombers who blew themselves up at the Volgograd railway station and in Trolleybus No. 15 have not been trained in the Volgograd region. Presumably, they have arrived in Volgograd with a specific task to destabilize the city by suicide bombings, taking a heavy toll in deaths and injuries," he said. 12:03 GMT: Six families of people who died in the Volgograd bombings have each received payments of 2 million rubles ($60,000) from the authorities, while 28 families of people injured in the blasts each received compensation of 200,000 rubles ($6,000). Other families of the victims will receive money as soon as possible, Volgograd Governor Sergey Bozhenov says. 11:10 GMT: Volgograd policeman Dmitry Makovkin, who sacrificed his life shielding people from a suicide bomber's deadly blast at the city's train station on Sunday, has been buried in the city’s central cemetery. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. 10:50 GMT: Five people injured in the Volgograd blasts remain in critical condition, the Russian Ministry of Health says. A total of 64 people are still receiving medical treatment. 10:20 GMT: The investigation into the suicide bombings in Volgograd has already produced its first results, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee announced. Wednesday, January 1 13:26 GMT: Six people injured in the Volgograd blasts remain in critical condition, Interfax reports a medical source as saying. According to the source, 64 people are still receiving medical treatment. 12:11 GMT:The Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) plane with two girls who remain in critical condition after the Volgograd blasts has just landed in Moscow, the Russian Ministry of Health says in a statement. 08:03 GMT: Fifteen more people who now remain in either serious or critical conditions may be flown to Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday, said the head of the FMBA, Vladimir Uiba. He said the people will be transported in small groups of two or three. On Monday and Tuesday 15 people injured in the Volgograd blasts were flown to Moscow hospitals. Two girls were also taken to the capital on Wednesday. 07:28 GMT: Two girls who remain in critical condition after the Volgograd blasts have been transported for further treatment to Moscow by plane from the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA). One of the girls, a three-month-old infant is still in critical condition. The 9-year-old was taken off artificial lung ventilation on Tuesday but her condition also remains critical. Two specially-equipped ambulances took the girls to a plane which was also specially equipped. 06:32 GMT: The counter-terrorism operation in Volgograd, codenamed “Vortex-Anti-Terror” continues into a third day. The operation began on December 30 after the blast in a trolleybus, which followed the bombing of the city’s railway station the day before. Over 3,000 police officers guarded the city streets on New Year’s Eve, local police reported. A total of 4,579 facilities, including 2,700 from the private sector, 112 parking lots and 27 bus stations were checked. 04:46 GMT: President Putin visited one of the hospitals in Volgograd where the injured from twin bomb blasts are being treated. He spoke with the doctors and with some of the injured, wishing them a speedy recovery. Prior to hospital’s visit, Putin laid flowers at the site of Monday’s explosion. A total of 34 people have been killed in the violence that has shaken the southern Russian city. 03:55 GMT: There was no excuse for terrorist attacks committed in Volgograd, the Russian president said early Wednesday. "The hideousness of crimes committed here in Volgograd, needs no additional comments. There is no justification for whatever motivated the criminals’ actions for crimes against civilians, especially women and children," said President Vladimir Putin, opening a meeting on combating terrorism in Volgograd, where he arrived on Wednesday morning. At the same time, Putin pointed out that Russian Special Forces were doing everything to “ensure the safety of civilians, primarily of women and children." Putin discussed measures for battling terrorism with the head of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov and Russian Minister of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Kolokoltsev. Tuesday, December 31 13:45 GMT: Putin declared that Russia would "fiercely and consistently continue the fight against terrorists until their complete annihilation", speaking at a New Year’s reception in the Russian Far East city of Khabarovsk that suffered massive flooding this summer. “This year, we had to face problems, including inhuman terrorist attacks in Volgograd and unprecedented natural disasters in Russia’s Far East,” Putin said. According to the latest data, 34 people were killed in the terrorist attacks in Volgograd, while 72 others were wounded, with 62 of them currently in hospitals, Russia’s Health Ministry reported, as cited by Interfax news agency. 13:05 GMT: Over 150 units of firearms, as well as almost 5 kilograms of drugs, have been seized in Volgograd in a special operation, Interfax reported citing the region’s security forces as saying. Following the terrorist attacks in Volgograd, people have been actively helping the security forces, calling them and reporting on any suspicious objects in the city. 12:37 GMT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the terrorist acts in Volgograd and expressed his condolences in a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that the conversation took place at the request of the Israelis, Itar-Tass reported. 12:10 GMT: The father of the three-month-old girl wounded in the Volgograd trolleybus blast has been found in Volgograd. He has already identified the bodies of the girl’s mother and grandmother, who died in the explosion. The girl’s condition is critical and is causing concern. As soon as it’s stabilized, the baby will be sent to Moscow for treatment. 10:48 GMT: As of Tuesday, over 550 people have donated blood for the wounded in the Volgograd terrorist attacks. Total blood donated was 200 liters, with 400 people participating. The institutions that accept blood donations are set to keep working until all would-be donors have given blood, RIA Novosti news agency reported authorities as saying. My most sincere condolences to the families of those killed in the Volgograd bombings. We mourn with you. http://t.co/mH6US0ZApm — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) December 31, 2013 09:27 GMT: The condition of two girls in intensive care after being wounded in the Volgograd blasts remains critical. Doctors are considering whether the girls will be transferred to Moscow for further treatment. On Tuesday, one of the girls, a 9-year-old, was taken off artificial lung ventilation and is able to breathe herself. Treatment for the second girl, a three-month-old infant, is to be assessed by specialist pediatricians from Moscow who are flying to Volgograd. Five women and two men have already been flown to Moscow for treatment on Tuesday following the two terrorist attacks that struck the southern Russian city. 07:55 GMT: The death toll in the Volgograd trolleybus explosion, the second terrorist attack in two days, has risen to 16 people, Russia’s Health Ministry said. A total of 34 people have been killed in the violence that's shaken the southern Russian city. 07:50 GMT: Volgograd policeman Dmitry Makovkin, who sacrificed his life shielding people from a suicide bomber's deadly blast at the city's train station on Sunday, has been posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. He will be buried January 2. Makovkin died trying to prevent the suicide bomber from entering the railway station. His actions significantly reduced the number of casualties in the attack, investigators say. 07:47 GMT: Additional police troops are now patrolling the streets of Volgograd, with over 5,200 police and Interior Ministry troops engaged, says the representative of the Operational Headquarters in the Volgograd Region, Andrey Philipchuk. “Over 4,795 objects, including 1,606 places from the private sector, have been checked since this morning. Also 500 crowded places, such as railway stations and shopping malls, have been inspected,” he says. The identities of 174 people have been checked in accordance with migration laws, he says. 03:20 GMT: The number of casualties in the two blasts has risen to 33, with another victim from the Sunday railway station blast dying in the hospital, the Ministry of Emergencies said in a statement. Monday, December 30 23:36 GMT: All of the victims of the terrorist blasts have been identified, Emergency Response Unit chief Olga Makarova told reporters. She added that special units of psychologists are working on the scene to assist the relatives of the victims or offer help via a specially set up hotline. 22:00 GMT: The first funeral services for those killed in the Sunday train station bombing will be held on Tuesday for two of the victims, local authorities announced on their website. 21:11 GMT: Over 100 million rubles (US$3 million) is ready to be transferred to families and victims of the two Volgograd explosions, according to the regional government website. Seventeen families have already received 200,000 rubles for the Sunday explosion at the station. 20:50 GMT: UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon expressed his condolences for the Volgograd tragedies in a phone conversation with President Putin. Ban also emphasized the need to for international cooperation in fighting terrorism. Putin concurred, noting that the international community must collaborate to prevent terrorist atrocities from taking place. The Russian leader assured the UN chief that Moscow would work within the framework of international law to pursue those responsible for the bombings. 20:33 GMT: In the city of Saratov, 147 people have donated blood for the victims of Monday’s bombings, local medical officials report. “Today the Regional Blood Transfusion Station received 172 people, 147 of which were admitted for a blood donation from which we harvested more than 70 liters of blood,” local health minister Alexey Danilov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti. The shipment of blood will now be sent to Volgograd. 20:12 GMT: The United Nations Security Council has condemned the terrorist attacks in Volgograd, saying that it is “outraged” by the second suicide bombing in the city within a 24-hour period. “These abhorrent and abominable attacks deliberately targeted places of mass gathering, in particular public transportation,” said the Council. “The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities in this regard.” 19:46 GMT: People in Ukraine are paying respects to the victims of the Volgograd bombings, bringing flowers and candles to Kiev’s central Independence Square, Maidan. В Киеве на Майдане поминают погибших в Волгограде: http://t.co/B68JKjMnerpic.twitter.com/HMDQ5PqzzH — Новая Газета (@novaya_gazeta) December 30, 2013 19:45 GMT: Three of the 14 people killed in the trolleybus bombing remain unidentified, the regional government press office reported. Two of the unidentified bodies are women. 19:42 GMT: The Emergencies Ministry plane has left Volgograd, carrying another seven critically injured victims on board. Earlier on Monday, another plane transported seven wounded people to Moscow hospitals for treatment. 19:34 GMT: The US government has voiced concerns that more attacks might target the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in February. Washington has offered closer cooperation with Russia on providing security. "We're taking lots of security precautions" related to the Winter Games, a US State Department official said. 19:02 GMT: Aleksy Valento, 12, (L), and his cousin Aleksandr Dolgikh, 11, (R), were inside Volgograd’s railway station. The boys were buying tickets for Aleksey’s father, Vladislav Valento, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device. Both Aleksey and Aleksandr died at the scene. Vladislav was hospitalized after losing a leg. Леша Валента, 12 лет и Саша Долгих, 11 лет. Двоюродные братья. Погибли на вокзале, покупали билет с папой Алеши pic.twitter.com/aFrqzhaKce — Ekaterina Simohina (@SimKati) December 30, 2013 18:30 GMT: As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) expresses confidence that Russia will keep the Games “safe and secure,” RT’s Thabang Motsei reports from the Olympic city of Sochi on what is being done to make sure that the Volgograd scenario will not be repeated there. 18:11 GMT: I'm shocked and saddened by the Volgograd attacks. I've written to President Putin to say the UK will help Russia in whatever way we can. — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 30, 2013 17:34 GMT: At least 27 people injured in the Volgograd bus bombing remain in hospital, including an eight-month-old infant. Two people are still in critical condition, the Health Ministry said in its recent statement. 16:50 GMT: A counter-terror operation has been launched in Volgograd, with over 4,000 police and interior troops engaged, according to the national anti-terror committee. More than 260 search groups and 142 investigative squads are operating in the city, paying special attention to railway stations, shopping malls, and other crowded places. Over 1,500 such places have been checked since morning. Eighty-seven people were taken to police stations for refusing to show IDs, bearing arms, resisting the police, and other offenses. 15:53 GMT: The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Tatarstan has allocated a million rubles ($30,471) to the families of those killed or injured in the suicide bombings in Volgograd. “We, the Muslims, should not stay indifferent to other people's grief. Our religion teaches us to help people in trouble. That is why we have decided to transfer a million rubles to the families of people who were killed or injured in the terrorist acts in Volgograd," Mufti Kamil Samigullin said, as cited by the Itar-Tass news agency. 15:46 GMT: All of those detained during the police dispersal operation in central Volgograd have been released without being charged, Gazeta.ru portal reported. A total of 50 people were detained. Earlier today, Gazeta.ru reported that about 200 people had gathered for a “Russian rally against terror” event, organized on social networks. The rally was not authorized, according to the portal’s correspondent. 15:30 GMT: Volgograd railway station has been partly opened for passengers. However, the box-office area and waiting rooms will remain closed till Tuesday. The area of the main entrance where the suicide attack took place has been closed for major reconstruction, Itar-Tass reported. 15:19 GMT: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) remains confident that despite recent suicide attacks, Russia will deliver a ''safe and secure'' games in Sochi in February 7-23. IOC President Thomas Bach has offered his condolences in a letter to President Vladimir Putin, AP reports. Bach said he is ''certain that everything will be done to ensure the security of the athletes and all the participants of the Olympic Games.'' 15:05 GMT: Muscovites are bringing flowers to the representative office of the Volgograd region in the capital. Russians bring flowers & light candles at representative office of Volgograd in Moscow http://t.co/P0ABGxZHGQpic.twitter.com/UADKZj0QiQ — RT (@RT_com) December 30, 2013 15:04 GMT: As the terror threat level in the region has been set at “yellow,” the second highest, for the next 15 days, Volgograd authorities have called on all residents not to use fireworks during the New Year celebrations as a precautionary measure. 15:01 GMT: The responsibility for security in the region lies “personally” on the heads of each and every citizen of the Russian Federation, Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee said after an emergency meeting in Volgograd. 14:55 GMT: The Emergencies Ministry plane has arrived in Volgograd for possible transportation of seriously wounded blast victims. Seven patients were transported to Moscow earlier today. 14:42 GMT: At least five people remain in critical condition in hospitals. Some of the injured are expected to be transported to Moscow hospitals “in due course”, First Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said. For now, relatives of the hospitalized are in constant attendance at the bedsides of those who sustained severe injuries. This video was shot in one of Volgograd’s hospitals. 14:24 GMT: The Russia Foreign Ministry likened the Volgograd bombing to “terrorist attacks” in the US, Syria or elsewhere, organized by groups with the “same motivator”, and vowed not to retreat. The Ministry has expressed “deep appreciation” to all world leaders, who condemned the attacks. Such reaction by heads of states Russia considers as a confirmation of the commitment of the world community to increase the fight against terrorists. 14:21 GMT:“Cynically planned on the eve of New Year celebrations, this strike is another attempt by terrorists to open an internal front, spread panic and chaos, cause inter-religious hatred and conflict in Russian society,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website. 14:17 GMT: A video showing Sunday’s blast inside the Volgograd railway station has been published online by LifeNews TV channel. The 16-second CCTV footage shows an unrecognizable man in dark outfit approaching and then trying to go through the metal detector. The next moment a bomb went off. A total of 17 people were killed in the blast, at least 44 were injured. 13:43 GMT: The Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Moscow has launched a fundraiser to collect money for the families of the bombing victims. “Moscow Mufti Ildar Alyautdinov has personally donated 50,000 rub ($1,520),” the Administration press-service told RIA Novosti. Volunteers from Moscow’s Spiritual Administration of Muslims are planning to go to Volgograd “to provide help and moral support”, the Administration said. In Moscow there will be organized visits to hospitals and blood donor stations if needed. 13:22 GMT: Moscow volunteers have expressed their readiness to abandon festive meals during the holidays to be able to donate blood for those injured in the Volgograd blasts, the Mosvolonter movement said on its website. “On behalf of all volunteers in our city we offer our condolences to the families of victims of the two blasts in Volgograd,” the statement reads. The movement has called on everyone to join them at a blood donor station on January 4-5. 13:05 GMT: The Emergencies Ministry has sent a plane equipped with five medical transportation units. Each of them has four beds and relevant medical equipment needed to fly a patient. The aircraft is also carrying two special ambulances and medical personnel, which will assist with the relief effort in Volgograd. Earlier on Sunday, a similar plane flew seven survivors of the railway station bombing to Moscow. 13:02 GMT: Sergey Avdienko, retired police colonel, former Interpol officer, speaking to RT, said the attacks are "exactly a part of the same chain, including the past explosion in October, the people behind it are the same. It’s quite clear who is behind these attacks – it’s people from a place fairly close to Volgograd; I’m speaking about the Caucasus, where radical Islamic groups thrive. The entire point of doing this, especially on the cusp of the New Year, is to intimidate the population and to destabilize the situation in the country as well, particularly in view of the coming Olympic Games that are going to take place in Sochi, which is about 700 kilometers from Volgograd. The choice of this place for suicide attacks is obvious. It has to do with the history of the place itself. This city was known as Stalingrad in World War II, and to my mind, bringing those horrifying suicide bomb attacks to the town has to do also with the intimidation of the population of this particular place to show that Islamic extremists are aiming at the heart of the Russian nation." 13:00 GMT: Peter Powell, Managing Director of Crisis Management at Visor Consultants told RT that the terrorists concentrate on obvious targets, "and it’s quite clear, even though Volgograd is somehow 400 miles away from the sight of the Winter Olympics. It’s a transport hub for this part of Russia. So transport, communication, economy – all these issues are pretty obvious targets to hit and produce an immediate impact on the Russian public, and not only Russian but also for those who are travelling there next year." 12:47 GMT: Volgograd police are dispersing a crowd of some 200 people who gathered in the city center on a “Russian rally against terror”, organized on the social network, Vkontakte. Over 12,000 people have subscribed for the event. Police are detaining those who turn up because the meeting has not been authorized, Gazeta.ru news portal reported. 12:27 GMT: FSB director Aleksandr Bortnikov said there are "tangible leads" available that could speed along the investigation of the Volgograd bombings. The Ministry of Interior has meanwhile started taking additional security precautions. "Apart from increased security set up in advance of the new year's festivities, the MoE will undertake additional safeguards. More thorough checks are being carried out, especially in more congested, public places, like public transportation hubs," the police said, adding that a number of special units are working the streets, including canines. 12:23 GMT: Moscow will receive another injured person from Volgograd for treatment, ITAR-TASS learned from the Federal Medical-Biological Agency. “A special FMBA flight will land in Moscow after 16:00, delivering a patient with mixed injuries.” The same agency will be dispatching 14 of its specialists to Volgograd on an Emergencies Ministry flight. Aboard the plane will also be two mobile hospital units of the FMBA, the agency said. 12:12 GMT: The United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Michael McFaul, has condemned the suicide attacks in Volgograd on behalf of the US. “All my thoughts and prayers – about victims of these heinous atrocities,” McFaul said on his Twitter account. США решительно осуждают теракты в Волгограде. Все мои мысли и молитвы – о жертвах и пострадавших в результате этих варварских злодеяний. — Michael McFaul (@McFaul) December 30, 2013 12:08 GMT: Volgograd may not as an attractive target for terrorists as Olympic Sochi, but hitting it is still quite painful for Russia, Asher Pirt, Researcher in Russian Affairs for the British East-West Centre, told RT that “Sochi is quite a hard target to base the attack, but places like Volgograd are incredibly significant because of the struggle that went on here in 1943; it’s an important place to attack but sadly it’s weaker than Moscow or Saint Petersburg,” he said. 12:00 GMT: The French government condemns the terrorist attacks in Russia, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “France with all decisiveness condemns the terrorist act, which was conducted this morning in Volgograd. This attack, which targeted civilians and public transport, is a cowardly and barbaric action,” it said. France expressed condolences and its full support to the people of Russia in its fight against terrorism. 11:54 GMT: A representative of the populist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) has proposed canceling a moratorium on the death penalty in Russia for selected offences. "Should the moratorium on the death penalty be canceled, there would be much less crime on the territory of the Russian Federation,” a State Duma deputy, Roman Khudyakov, said. However, the United Russia party has ruled out the possibility of lifting the moratorium. 11:50 GMT: By looks of it, central metro stations near the Kremlin are being evacuated; a cam'man is heading there right now to see what's happening — Irina Galushko (@IrinaGalushkoRT) December 30, 2013 11:44 GMT: FSB director, Aleksandr Bortnikov, who also chairs the anti-terror committee, has arrived to Volgograd. He is expected to hold an emergency meeting soon. 11:37 GMT: A basketball game scheduled for January 6 has been canceled over security reasons. “We can’t risk people’s lives,” Artem Panchenko, General Manager of Volgograd’s Basketball club "Red October" said. 11:21 GMT: Doctors are now reporting 41 injured, 27 of whom are in hospitals. 11:19 GMT: Deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have called on President Putin to impose a nationwide day of mourning and cancel all planned entertainment events, saying all festive activities would be “blasphemous and inappropriate”. A second horrific terror attack in #Volgograd. My thoughts are with victims & their loved ones — AndersFogh Rasmussen (@AndersFoghR) December 30, 2013 11:05 GMT: More than 600 people have volunteered to give blood at the Volgograd regional blood bank, the head doctor Andrey Valikov told RIA Novosti. Despite an overabundance of blood, people keep showing up all the same. The space in the building is not enough, so the line stretches far outside. "There is already enough blood. Our needs are well covered, we have more than enough... but we will not refuse anyone," he said. 11:00 GMT: Russian TV programming has experienced changes after the Volgograd attacks, the various channels' respective press offices told RIA Novosti. The changes had mainly to do with content of a comedic nature, most such programs have been removed and substituted for others. 10:31 GMT: The death toll from the trolley suicide bombing is expected to go up due to the critical condition of many of the injured, Veronika Skvortsova - head of the Russian Ministry of Health, told Interfax. "At this time, there are 14 fatalities already. Twelve people have died on the spot. And that figure is not final, it is expected to grow," she told the Rossiya 24 channel. 10:30 GMT: Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko voiced condolences to Russia over the Volgograd suicide bombings. “We in the Republic of Belarus have learned with great grief the tragic news about the deaths in the terrorist attacks in the city of Volgograd,” Lukashenko’s message to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said. “Individuals behind those inhuman deeds have no excuse,” it added. The Belarus leader wished a speedy recovery to the survivors of the two bombings. 10:25 GMT: The identities of the victims of the railway station bombing have been determined, according to a statement by the governor's office of the Volgograd region, RIA Novosti reports. "At present, all the identities of the of the victims of the railway station blast have been confirmed. Fourteen people have died at the scene, three of them later at hospitals," a statement said, adding that there are 12 men and five women among them. 10:23 GMT: Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko voiced condolences to Russia due to the Volgograd suicide bombings. “We at the Republic of Belarus have learned with great grief the tragic news about the deaths in the terrorist attacks in the city of Volgograd,” Lukashenko’s message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said. “Individuals behind those inhuman deeds have no excuse,” it added. The Belarus leader wished recovery to survivors of the two bombings. People to gather tonight at Volgograd's Moscow regional office to commemorate bombing victims with flowers & candles http://t.co/P0ABGxZHGQ — RT (@RT_com) December 30, 2013 10:09 GMT: Russian security troops killed three militants, who were planning terrorist attacks during the New Year holidays, Russia’s National Antiterrorist Committee reported. The three militants, including a gang leader, were blockaded and killed on Monday in Kabardino-Balkar Republic in Russia’s North Caucasus. All of them were on the federal wanted list for crimes, including the killings of two Penitentiary Service officers, the statement said. A woman with a little girl was in the house at the time it was surrounded. Both were released by the militants and escorted to a safe distance by security forces. The militants refused to surrender and were killed in the ensuing firefight. Two security troops received minor injuries in the operation, the committee said. 10:05 GMT: The suicide bomber behind the bombing of the Volgograd railway station may be Pavel Pechenkin, a security source told Interfax. He was born in the city of Volzhsk in Mari El republic in central Russia. In spring 2012, he joined a Dagestan-based militant gang after converting to Islam and changing his name to Ansar ar-Rusi, the source said. The information was not officially confirmed. A DNA test of the remains of the bomber is currently being conducted. The news agency’s source said Pechenking’s father donated a blood sample to match against that of the terrorist. 10:01 GMT: There is a heavy police presence in town, various officers, including canine units, are performing checks and searches, with particular attention being paid to the migrants, ITAR-TASS reports. 09:47 GMT: The combined total of victims of the Volgograd terror attacks stands at 32, with 72 more people injured, the Emergencies Ministry reported. 09:37 GMT: A million rubles will be given to the families of the victims of the bus blast; others will receive 200,000 to 400,000 rubles, depending on the injuries, authorities have said. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has made the order. 09:33 GMT: Orthodox Christian churches are praying for the victims of the two suicide bombings in Volgograd. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said a special prayer for those currently in hospital in the wake of the attacks, his office reported. Churches throughout Volgograd are holding special services in commemoration of those killed in the bombings and for the health of the survivors. “For years our long-suffering land enjoyed a time of peace and calm. Now some forces are trying to seed panic among our people and instill fear in our souls. That will not happen,” Metropolitan German of Volgograd stated. 09:18 GMT: The Red Square, previously cordoned off because of a suspicious bag, has once again been opened up; the woman who had left the bag was later found to be mentally ill. 09:17 GMT: The Volgograd region has declared a period of mourning, starting on Monday for the victims of the two latest bombings. This is a 48 hour extension of the commemoration, which was originally intended to run from Wednesday to Friday. 09:16 GMT: Russian pole vault champion, Elena Isinbayeva, who was born in Volgograd, says she is shocked by the terrorist attacks on her home city. “I find it difficult to say anything right now. I’m shocked. Nobody among my family or friends suffered, but I am scared, simply scared,” she told Itar-Tass. 09:15 GMT: A doctor at a diagnostics lab told RT that "yesterday, at the time of the blast I was near the railway station. I saw everything. I saw the blast, I saw the bodies, and I helped to evacuate people. Now I’ve come here [to Volgograd’s regional blood center] to donate blood. If it were possible to donate 1 liter, I would have done it. It’s really scary when you see something like this. I’ll never forget it." 09:11 GMT: Authorities have discounted the idea that there was a second device near the trolley blast site. 09:03 GMT: Andrey Valikov, chief doctor at Volgograd’s regional blood center told RT that "after yesterday’s blast we received more than 16 liters of blood. In a short period of time (1-1.5 hours) after the tragedy, hospitals were supplied with blood. We have enough blood and if hospitals need more, they’ll receive it. During the night we received many calls from people who would like to help somehow. Also we had many volunteers who came in the morning, and expect around 300 people to come and donate blood. Though we have enough blood, we’ll accept everyone today and tomorrow; we won’t refuse anyone because we understand that people are trying to help the victims of the terrorist attacks." 09:00 GMT: Moscow's most central point, the Red Square, is currently being evacuated as a safety precaution. A suspicious bag has been discovered, prompting the authorities to cordon off the entire area. 08:53 GMT: Russian Railways advised passengers to arrive early to stations because it ramped up the security checks and screening may take additional time. The company calls on the people to immediately report any suspicious objects to police officers. 08:45 GMT: Vladimir Bugaev, an eyewitness told RT: "I was going home from work, I was giving a lift to a woman, to a co-worker of mine who lives nearby. As I was turning around I heard an exploration. I was already waiting in a queue and another driver asked me “What’s happening?”. Somebody said “There must be an explosion somewhere”. We heard a cry a way ahead, I drove up to save some children but I was told the only wounded person there was a driver. So I drove up to a driver, his name was Sergey. I was told the person who was selling tickets for the trolley bus was dead. I saw about six dead bodies myself." Another eyewitness, Evgeniy Volchansky, said that "we saw debris, remains of bodies, there was very strong smell of things burning and of TNT. Very soon the police showed up and representatives of the governor, investigative activities started, there were a lot of people trying to offer help." 08:41 GMT: Vladimir Markin of the investigative committee has confirmed the connection to between the Sunday and Monday bombings. UPDATE: Two terrorist acts in Volgograd prepared in one place - investigators http://t.co/P0ABGxZHGQpic.twitter.com/XMmJClV65L — RT (@RT_com) December 30, 2013 08:40 GMT: President Putin has given new orders to boost security measures across the entire country, with special attention paid to Volgograd, the anti-terror committee said. 08:31 GMT: The death toll rises to 14 people. 27 are now hospitalized, two of whom are in critical condition. 08:30 GMT: An explosion equal in strength to 4 kilograms of TNT took place in the attack, according to the investigative committee. 08:00 GMT: The president of Russia's Olympic Committee, Aleksandr Zhukov told ITAR-TASS that "as far as the Olympics in Sochi are concerned, all precautionary measures have been taken... I don't think any further measures in the aftermath of the Volgograd terror attack are going to be taken, we are confident that everything that could have been done, was." Among the security measures are special spectator ID cards and other state-of-the-art technologies. 07:50 GMT: Arthur Atayev, Russia’s Institute of Strategic Research told RT that "the purpose is to destabilize all of Southern Russia, especially in the run up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Those behind the attack pursue the goal of showing to their own investors in turn that terrorism, jihadism is bearing fruit, it's profitable and has a foothold in Southern Russia. Right now it’s very difficult to sort out who the specific sponsors or clients are, but if you analyze the terrorist underground in the North Caucuses or in the world in general, you can come to the conclusion that those customers are part of a complicated chain, and if you go to the top, you arrive at certain political forces that are located outside Russia and they have been launching destabilizing processes in the country for a long time in order to reduce its foreign policy influence and also the influence of the Federal state in Russian regions." 07:45 GMT: The aftermath of the deadly trolley blast. 07:42 GMT: The number of dead has risen to 13 people, an ITAR-TASS source reported. Cell phone cam footage, however, is being collected from bystanders. 07:41 GMT: The bus was from a time before video surveillance started to be used in public transportation, complicating the investigation of how the situation transpired inside at the time of the blast. 07:40 GMT: The number of wounded in the trolley bus incident has risen to 28 people, 22 of which have been hospitalized. A five to six-month old child is in critical condition, a spokesman told the Rossiya 24 channel. 07:30 GMT: Coroners have identified 17 victims of the Sunday blast at the railway station - among them two children, sources tell Interfax. 07:26 GMT: Aleksey Popov, former member of an Alpha Special Forces unit, believes one possible reason for the bombing could be to dissuade people from coming to the Sochi Winter Olympics. "All the attacks in Volgograd are a part of the same chain. Terrorists try to spread fear ahead of the Winter Olympics so that people become scared to go to Sochi. No wonder they have chosen the holiday season to make it even more painful for the people and to draw plenty of world attention. But I believe it won’t have any effect on the Olympics and the people who were planning to come will still do it. They are safety because almost $2 billion was allocated to security measures, that’s even more than the sum for London." 07:12 GMT: Gordon Hahn of the Center of International Strategy told RT the reason that other major cities might not have been targeted in the two blasts: "It’s harder to penetrate there, so they decided it will be easy to strike Russian city closer to the North Caucuses. Suicide bomb attacks are carried out in Russia by mujahidin. It’s very likely that a group affiliated with the Caucasus Emirate could be involved and we talked about ethnic Russian suicide bombers, which these organizations try to recruit." "Another possible perpetrator is a mujahidin who converted into Islam about a decade ago and eventually joined the mujahidin. He is a former Russian military person by the name of Pavel Kosolapov and he is from Volgograd. He was involved in a train bombing back in 2007 and suspected of several other bombings. He also claims he is responsible for a train bombing in 2009. He was silent since then so we can consider the possibility that he was planning the 'big show' all these years." 07:10 GMT: Volgograd emergency help phone lines have been set up. 07:05 GMT: CCTV cam footage is being collected by security services. 07:00 GMT: Rumors of other terror attacks in Volgograd - namely the tram blast or the attack that supposedly occurred at the 'Monolith' factory - are completely unfounded, Svetlana Smolyanova, head spokeswoman for the Volgograd Region interior ministry told Interfax. "There are no other bombings to report. People have constantly been phoning in with questions regarding that, but there's nothing to confirm the rumors." 06:58 GMT: Moscow security has likewise been ramped up, regional security head Aleksey Mayorov tells Interfax. 06:50 GMT: A number of companies in Volgograd are contributing to the transportation, providing commuters with rides to work. People are terrified of using public transportation services. 06:41 GMT: The FSB now officially says there is a strong chance today's trolley bus blast is connected to yesterday afternoon's railway station suicide bombing. 06:40 GMT: The Ministry of Health now puts the number of injured at 25. Doctors from a special unit dealing with catastrophic-accident injuries are soon to arrive. 06:37 GMT: An eyewitness told reporters that there is currently a "transportation breakdown" in Volgograd, it is at a standstill. «В Волгограде транспортный коллапс, со связью также беда» - очевидец в интервью RT http://t.co/PhKqSptxyMpic.twitter.com/xorbbkwvgp — RT на русском (@RT_russian) December 30, 2013 06:36 GMT: Alina Averyasova, eyewitness: [before the blast] everything was as usual up until the blast itself. Just before the blast everything was calm and peaceful. We were sleeping at home because today is a holiday. And just after the blast panic took off. 06:31 GMT: 06:30 GMT: Eyewitness, Alina Averyasova, says that "at the moment of the explosion I was asleep, I woke up because of an enormous blast. I heard the glass shattering in the first two stories of the building. I looked out the window, it was still dark, and I saw a bus that was ripped by a blast and people were running away from it screaming. Some of them were wounded, a lot of people were panicking... Within minutes a police car and an ambulance and a fire engine drove up. All the roads and streets were sealed off, nobody could approach the area, people got evacuated, nobody could approach. Police came over and started looking for a bomb nearby. this is all that I saw and I was very scared." 06:26 GMT: The blast was of such magnitude that it shattered the windows on neighboring shops and apartment buildings, authorities tell reporters. 06:25 GMT: Burns and multiple traumas have been sustained by the victims of the trolley blast. Moscow is standing by to receive more wounded, if the need arises, health ministry head Veronika Skvortsova told RIA Novosti. 06:18 GMT: FSB director, Aleksandr Botnikov, has been ordered by the President to fly to the scene, RIA Novosti reports. 06:20 GMT: The situation is being handled effectively - no shortage in medicine has been reported and efforts by emergency services are proving to be quite effective. 06:16 GMT: The number of fatalities varies from at least 10 to 15 at this point, as official sources differ on the matter. 06:13 GMT: Ministry of Health spokesperson said a child has been badly injured and is in critical condition. 06:06 GMT: The Emergencies Ministry has strongly tightened security in Volgograd. Teams of psychologists and other doctors are also being dispatched to the scene of the blast, the ministry reported. Their plane is to leave Moscow at 10:30AM local time. 06:00 GMT:"We are terrified. Everyone disembarked from buses and trams to walk on foot. I live 200 meters away from that place, I was just passing it on my way to work," Sergey Stukalov, an eyewitness, told RIA Novosti. Sergey also said that the blast occurred on the No.15 trolley route, connecting a suburb to Volgograd's downtown area. 05:55 GMT: Panic has spread on Twitter, describing yet another blast - this time in a busy tram. However, the rumors have since been proven false. 05:50 GMT:"The people are in a state of shock and bewilderment. A second terrorist attack in two days....a third in recent months. I was there 15 minutes after the explosion occurred," Artem Tolkachev, an eyewitness, told Life News. 05:47 GMT: В результате взрыва троллейбуса в Волгограде погибли 15 человек, 23 пострадали (ФОТО) http://t.co/PhKqSptxyMpic.twitter.com/GNh1FGmMan — RT на русском (@RT_russian) December 30, 2013 05:43 GMT: The death toll from the blast has risen to 15 people, with a further 23 receiving injuries, the Volgograd Region's vice-governor Vasiliy Galushin told Interfax. "The emergency services have reacted very swiftly. All those injured have been taken to hospitals, as their identities are being determined," he said. 05:41 GMT: НАК: Наиболее вероятная версия взрыва в Волгограде – подрыв взрывного устройства в салоне троллейбуса (ФОТО) pic.twitter.com/XKj7wPZee7 — RT на русском (@RT_russian) December 30, 2013 05:37 GMT: According to witness reports to ITAR-TASS, there were many students on the bus. "There was a loud 'pop', then a flash, everything was enveloped in smoke," one female witness said, describing the sudden realization. 05:34 GMT: The Investigative Committee now puts the number of injured at 15. 05:30 GMT: In describing the character of the blast, ITAR-TASS law enforcement sources have said that it appears to be a suicide attack, "judging from the body fragments characteristic of such a bombing." 05:28 GMT: President Vladimir Putin has met with the head of Russia's FSB, Aleksandr Bortnikov, who has briefed him on the situation, the Kremlin press office reported. 05:25 GMT: 05:23 GMT: The Investigative Committee's spokesman has informed the press the incident is being treated as an act of terror. 05:21 GMT: Bodies were seen scattered next to the vehicle, which has been split nearly in half by the powerful blast, which took place as the trolley was passing one of the city's busy markets. 05:17 GMT: Police are currently at the scene investigating. Правоохранители считают, что новый теракт в Волгограде схож по почерку с 2 предыдущими (ФОТО) http://t.co/PhKqSptxyMpic.twitter.com/NNoZIoFuwX — RT на русском (@RT_russian) December 30, 2013 05:00 GMT: Authorities have reason to believe the trolley blast may also be a terrorist act, as the signature closely matches the one witnessed in yesterday's railway station bombing, the Investigative Committee told RIA Novosti 05:00 GMT: A trolley bus blast has claimed 10 lives in Volgograd, just one day after 17 lives were lost in the city's railway station explosion in a suicide bombing.

– A second major terrorist attack in the space of 24 hours has shaken the Russian city of Volgograd, less than six weeks before the start of the Sochi Olympics. Authorities say at least 14 people were killed in an apparent suicide attack on an electric trolleybus close to a hospital where victims of yesterday's suicide attack in a railway station were being treated, the Guardian reports, describing a "disfigured" bus left without a roof or walls. Another 41 have been injured, reports RT. Officials say they believe the two attacks are linked, though no group has claimed responsibility. But the Guardian notes that security experts are drawing a link between the attacks—which now number three in three months—to Chechen jihadist leader Doku Umarov, who has vowed to interfere with the Games. RT notes a Volgograd basketball game scheduled for next Monday has pre-emptively been canceled over security fears.

Pete Davidson deletes social media accounts following Ariana Grande ‘split’ (Picture: FilmMagic) Pete Davidson has deleted his social media presence following rumours that he has broken up with Ariana Grande. The pair have yet to confirm or deny their split, however TMZ reported that they have amicably decided to both go their separate ways – after only getting engaged earlier this year. Pete returned to Instagram at the start of the month, and posted a blurry snap of what appeared to be himself. In the caption he told his 2.5million followers: ‘Hooray romano’. And it appeared his then gal Ari was overjoyed to see his return to the gram as she teased the 24-year-old in the comments. Pete returned to Instagram at the start of the month, and posted a blurry snap of what appeared to be himself (Picture: Getty Images) Writing to the Saturday Night Live star, the Dangerous Woman songstress joked: ‘Where is the mixtape? This is sick and ur page looks cool never post again (sic).’ Advertisement Advertisement And Pete didn’t seem to mind her jibe as he replied: ‘U have the coolest ig (sic),’ with a water droplet emoji. Back in July, the comedian decided to delete all of the pictures off his Instagram, after claiming that he didn’t want to be on social media any more. In a post shared on his story, he said: ‘No nothing happened. No there’s nothing cryptic about anything. I just don’t wanna be on Instagram anymore. Back in July, the comedian decided to delete all of the pictures off his Instagram (Picture: WireImage) ‘Or on any social media platform. ‘The internet is an evil place and it doesn’t make me feel good. Why should I spend any time on negative energy when my real life is fucking lit. ‘The fact that I even have to say this proves my point. I love you all and I’m sure I’ll be back at some point.’ Pete and Ari had a whirlwind romance that saw them engaged after dating for just two months. It’s thought that Ariana met Pete when she recently hosted SNL and the pair got close after she ended her relationship with rapper Mac. They confirmed their relationship shortly before this, with a cute picture of them dressed up like Harry Potter characters. Got a story? If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Ariana Grande ‘splits from Pete Davidson’ months after engagement MORE: Pete Davidson raises questions as he covers up Ariana Grande tattoo ||||| Ariana Grande Engaged to Pete Davidson Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson Are Engaged Breaking News Ariana Grande's whirlwind romance with Pete Davidson just got that much more serious ... we've learned the two are engaged. Sources tell us Pete popped the question to Ariana in the last week ... and she, of course, said yes. The pair started officially dating just over a month ago -- following Ariana's split from rapper Mac Miller. Things have heated up quickly between the two, with Pete getting two Ariana-inspired tattoos earlier this month. Both Pete and Ariana are 24 ... it's the first engagement for both of them. Pete's also coming off a recent breakup ... he split with "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator Larry David's daughter, Cazzie David, recently. It's unclear exactly when Pete and Ariana met ... she was the musical guest and host for 'SNL' in March 2016. Congrats! ||||| They may have only been together for a few months, by Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande have wasted no time in making their love permanent with lots and lots of tattoos. 1. THEIR MATCHING CLOUDS Get push notifications with news, features and more. Before the couple had even publicly confirmed their relationship, Davidson and Grande decided to wear their hearts on their sleeves … by inking matching tiny clouds on their fingers. The comedian showed off his new ink in a portrait on Instagram, while fans spotted Grande’s during a concert in May. Kevin Mazur/Getty 2. PETE’S DANGEROUS WOMAN-THEMED INK Shortly after their new relationship made headlines, the Saturday Night Live star’s tattoo artist showed off a pair of new Grande-themed tattoos on social media. London Reese/Instagram First — and most famously — Davidson had a bunny-eared mask tattooed behind his ear, reminiscent of the mask that Grande wears on the cover of her Dangerous Woman album. He followed that up with a rendering of the initials “AG” on his finger, to really drive home who his heart now belongs to. In October, fans noticed that the bunny-eared mask had been altered and changed into a large heart tattoo with a small lowercase “a” next to the design. According to Page Six, he transformed his tattoo to match Grande, who has a large heart tattoo on her body (we’re unclear where). 3. ‘REBORN’ In June, the couple celebrated their engagement by getting the word “reborn” inked onto their thumbs. Davidson showed off his “reborn” tat — and Grande’s massive engagement ring — on Instagram, along with the caption “u know what you’d dream it be like? it’s better than that.” 4. ‘H2GKMO’ A few days later, the engaged couple followed that up with another set of matching tattoos: They both got “H2GKMO” inked on their right thumbs, which is an abbreviation of Grande’s favorite saying, “Honest to God, knock me out.” Ariana Grande/Instagram 5. ‘ALWAYS’ A few days after that, Grande debuted the word “always” on her rib cage, which some fans think is an homage to the couple’s shared love of Harry Potter. (The ink is just barely visible in a few photos she’s posted on her Instagram page; it’s located on the front of her rib cage, right under her bikini top.) Though she hasn’t properly showed off the ink on social media, it is believed that the tattoo was done in Davidson’s handwriting, because these two are truly more in love than anyone else in the world. 6. ‘PETE’ The singer did away with subtlety completely at the end of June, when she got her fiancé’s name inked on her ring finger, just below the massive, $93,000 pear-shaped diamond that Davidson gave her. (Grande also named a song on Sweetener after Davidson as well.) 7. ‘8418’ Grande’s most recent Davidson-themed ink is the number “8418,” which she placed on her ankle. The tattoo matches one that the comedian has on his arm, commemorating his late father’s FDNY badge number. Robert Kamau/GC Images; Robert Kamau/GC Images Davidson’s father was a firefighter who died in 9/11, and the comedian recently stated on Instagram that he “would be so happy” about his engagement to Grande and “would love” her if he was still around. Splash News; Jason Merritt/Getty 8. ‘Mille Tendresse’ In September Davidson got the same French phrase as Grande (popularized by Breakfast at Tiffany’s), “mille tendresse” on the back of his neck to coordinate with his girl. ||||| (CNN) The romance between "Sweetener" singer Ariana Grande and "SNL" performer Pete Davidson has turned sour. The couple, whose whirlwind romance-turned-engagement powered the celebrity gossip machine through the summer, has split, a source close to the singer tells CNN. Davidson confirmed their engagement in June . They had been dating a few weeks at the time. Pete Davidson: I'm the 'luckiest guy in the world' The pair met when Grande guest hosted "SNL" in 2014. Davidson and Grande began dating shortly after she broke up with late rapper Mac Miller. The pair was never shy about sharing affection for one another publicly, especially on social media. The early weeks of their courtship were filled with fawning Instagram posts. Once their engagement went public, they spoke openly about their fast affection for one another. "The day I met her, I was like, 'Hey, I'll marry you tomorrow,' " Davidson recalled. "She was calling my bluff. I sent her a picture [of engagement rings]. I was like, 'Do you like any of these?' She was like, 'Those are my favorite ones,' and I was like, 'Sick.' " The couple moved in together after their engagement. Grande was also happy to speak about her blissful life with Davidson. In a song titled "Pete Davidson" from her most recent album, Grande sang: "Universe must have my back, fell from the sky into my lap/And I know you know that you're my soulmate and all that." Davidson commented about the song on the season premiere of "SNL," joking -- somewhat eerily -- about the royalties he receives from the tune. "You know, I don't even get royalties for that 'Pete Davidson' song?" he said. "Like, if we break up, and we won't -- we will -- but we won't. I'm kidding. But in 10 years if, God forbid, that ever happened, there will be a song called 'Pete Davidson' playing in speakers at K-Mart and I'll be working there." Not everyone was supportive of the couple's relationship. The "Saturday Night Live" star told Howard Stern last month that he received death threats over dating Grande. "Someone wanted to shoot me in the face because she's so hot," Davidson told Stern. "Do you know how insane that is? I was like, 'Am I that ugly that people want to shoot me in the face?'" Davidson also faced backlash for making a joke about tampering with Grande's birth control on "SNL." Personal struggles Before entering into a seemingly bliss-filled love story, both Grande and Davidson were open about their personal struggles. Davidson spoke about his mental health issues just last week during Weekend Update. And Grande told British Vogue in May that she was still suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome stemming from the suicide bombing that killed 22 people at her 2017 concert in Manchester, United Kingdom. Grande has also recently been contending with undisclosed personal issues that reportedly prompted the singer to take a break from work to focus on her well-being. On Saturday, Grande had been scheduled to perform at a fundraiser for cancer research, but pulled out of the event. Her manager Scooter Braun alluded to her in a speech at the gathering, saying Grande was going through a difficult time. Mac Miller, whom Grande dated for two years, died unexpectedly in September. In a tribute, Grande called Miller her "dearest friend." CNN's Chloe Melas and Megan Thomas contributed to this report. ||||| Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson Splitsville Engagement Off Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson Split, Engagement Called Off EXCLUSIVE Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson are dunzo as a couple, and their engagement has officially been called off ... TMZ has learned. Sources close to the former couple tell us AG and PD split this weekend, with both parties acknowledging that it simply was not the right time for their relationship to take off. We're told the two still have love for each other, but things are over romantically. Ariana and Pete announced their surprise engagement earlier this year in June -- just a few weeks after they were reported to be just casually dating. TMZ broke the story ... Grande's engagement ring cost right around $100k. Grande's recently expressed she was going through a rough patch, tweeting a lot of personal messages and saying she needs a break from the public spotlight and asking "can i pls have one okay day. just one. pls." As for Davidson, he's continued to appear on SNL, even mentioning his former fiancee in a couple sketches. The last time we saw them together was just last week. Our source says while things may be done for the couple for now, the two aren't ruling out the possibility of anything in the future. ||||| Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson Mac Miller's Death Was Breaking Point Mac Miller's Death Was Breaking Point for Ariana Grande & Pete Davidson EXCLUSIVE Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson hit a life-changing fork in the road last month when Mac Miller died -- and his death was the tipping point that led to their split ... TMZ has learned. Sources close to AG and PD tell us ... Ariana was in an incredibly dark place following her ex-boyfriend's apparent fatal overdose. She didn't blame herself -- she feels she did everything she could to get him sober -- but it left her an emotional wreck. In the aftermath of Mac's death, our sources say Ariana realized a couple of things -- she couldn't be fully invested in her relationship with Pete, and she had rushed into a looming marriage way too fast by getting engaged. TMZ broke the story ... Ariana and Pete broke things off this weekend and called off their engagement. She never signaled things were bad. In fact ... Ariana was at 'SNL' Saturday supporting Pete and nothing seemed amiss. Folks who were there say they looked all boo'd up, kissing and holding each other backstage. Something clearly snapped Sunday. Neither have commented on the breakup. ||||| That sound you hear is thousands of hearts breaking. Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson fans took to Twitter on Sunday, October 14, to express their thoughts after news broke of the couple’s split. As Us Weekly previously reported, the singer, 25, and the Saturday Night Live star, 24, called it quits over the weekend, ending their engagement after just four months. “It happened this weekend,” a source told Us. “They realized it happened too quick and too early. The wedding is off, but they’re working things out. They’re not officially done yet.” “am i surprised that pete and ariana broke up? no. but am i supposed to be happy about that? no. imagine how she is doing right now,” one fan tweeted. ” if you’re celebrating ariana and pete splitting, you don’t care about ariana’s happiness. Bye,” another wrote. But some thought it was a good thing that the pair, who got engaged in June, just weeks after they started dating, had ended their romance. “Pete davidson now he can say whatever he want without Ariana stans calling him out,” one commenter tweeted. “Who gets custody of Piggy Smalls?” asked another of the pet pig the pair recently adopted. “She’s going to date Post Malone next,” one fan suggested. Another Grande fan asked about “Pete Davidson” the song on the “No Tears Left to Cry” singer’s new album. “It’s one of the best songs on sweetener but the name’s gotta go.” One fan created a Go Fund Me for the comedian, calling it “Pete Davidson Homeless” and seeking to raise $2,500. “As you may all know, Pete Davidson and his fiance have recently broken up. He will need somewhere to sleep tonight.” Davidson moved into Grande’s multimillion-dollar apartment in NYC shortly after they got engaged. See more reactions below. All my moods at everyone who really thought Ari and Pete.. would last after he disrespected her in so many ways 🗿 pic.twitter.com/vaJTfGwbzN — Mara| love yourself ♡ (@bangitmara) October 14, 2018 Ariana : me and pete broke it off , i’m gonna just die 🙁 Arianators: pic.twitter.com/e4HldyxWHG — 🦂 (@BECARDIVENOM) October 14, 2018 wait some of y’all really thought pete & ariana would last? pic.twitter.com/PFtj07ORLz — GirlReligion (@girlreligionco) October 14, 2018 Ariana and Pete got matching tattoos a WEEK into their relationship. pic.twitter.com/o0U5NpAz9x — Chadwickanda (@ObamaKnowles) October 14, 2018 ariana running into pete when she hosts SNL from now on pic.twitter.com/ZJOx0mt7a8 — ً (@undemis) October 14, 2018 For all the inside details on the biggest celebrity stories and scoop this week, subscribe to our new podcast "Us Weekly's Hot Hollywood" below! Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics and more delivered straight to your inbox! Want stories like these delivered straight to your phone? Download the Us Weekly iPhone app now! ||||| After a quick and passionate romance, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson, have officially called it quits. Confused how their PDA-filled love ended seemingly before it even began? Here's everything you need to know about their relationship from start to finish: December 5, 2018: It looks like Pete isn't happy to see Ari promoting her new song, "Thank U, Next" as he blocked her from Instagram. Pete blocked Ariana after their big breakup, which is why she wasn't able to see his recent post about mental health and bullies until about a day later. A fan sent her a screenshot of the post and Ari revealed that he blocked her. Twitter Ari then defended Pete after seeing his post. Many of her fans have been going after him after the release of her recent song, "Thank U, Next," which Ari said, "I will always have irrevocable love for him and if you've gotten any other impression from my recent work, you might have missed the point." Instagram November 16, 2018: Neither Ariana nor Pete have kept too quiet about their breakup, but Ari's recent tweet storm may take the cake for the most savage comments regarding the end to their engagement (yes, I'm counting "Thank U, Next"). When Ari tweeted a black heart to one of her fans, they responded asking "is the black heart some sort of tea or am I reaching," to which Ari responded "u reachin reachin baby." u reaching reachin baby. — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 16, 2018 But that wasn't the end of the exchange. Ari double tweeted the fan writing, "jk I'm empty and my heart is black no so." jk i’m empty and my heart is black now so — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 16, 2018 Ummmm, did Ari just accuse Pete of turning her heart black? Yeah, I think so. Later, when fans were obviously surprised by this sad news, Ariana backtracked...kind of. kiiiiiiddding (i’m not kidding) kiiiiiiiiddding relax — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) November 16, 2018 "Kiiiiiiddding (i’m not kidding) kiiiiiiiiddding relax." Convincing! Before long, Ari was back to using her fave emoji (the black heart). Whether it's a representation of her actual heart or not, who knows? She may just like it cause it's sleek af. November 6, 2018: Ever since they broke up last month, both Ari and Pete have been scrambling to cover up the tattoos they got together. After originally placing a black heart over his Dangerous Woman bunny mask tat, Pete has now inked over another Ari symbol on his body. In an Instagram story shared by his friend Ricky Velez, Pete is seen holding a baby. While the baby is cute and all, our eyes went directly to the giant arrow on his left hand. Instagram The arrow used to be a tattoo that read "H2GKMO" which stands for "honest to god knock me out," a phrase popularized by Ariana. Now, it's just a big, black arrow. We wonder what tat Pete will take down next? Maybe the grande "Grande" ink on his side. November 3, 2018: According to TMZ, when Ariana and Pete broke up, they agreed to not discuss their relationship in public. Obviously, Pete didn't follow through with that agreement, making jokes on stage at a comedy club a few weeks ago, and asking singer Maggie Rogers to marry him in an Saturday Night Live promo. Apparently, the latter really upset Ariana, and when Pete heard that, he decided he didn't want to go through with a sketch planned for the show that addressed the breakup. He did, however, make a statement during the show's news segment, Weekend Update. "I know some of you are curious about the breakup, but the truth is, it's nobody's business, but sometimes things just don't work and that's OK," he said. "[Ariana's] a wonderful, strong person and I genuinely wish her all the happiness in the world." He then encouraged viewers to go out and vote. The statement is surprisingly mature for Pete, who often hides behind his comedy when dealing with hardship. November 2, 2018: Ariana is not here for jokes about her relationship, even if they come from her ex-fiancé. In a recent promo video for SNL, Pete Davidson jokingly proposes to musical guest Maggie Rogers. Maggie immediately turns him down and Pete replies back with, "0 for 3," likely referring to his previous relationship with Cazzie David and Ari. Check out the promo below: Soon after the video was posted, Ariana posted several tweets shading Pete. She has since deleted them but the screenshots of them are below: Twitter "For someone who claims to hate relevancy u sure love clinging to it huh," she wrote. She also retweeted a tweet that said, "tag yourself, I'm Maggie," likely referencing to Maggie rejecting him in the video. Twitter She also posted a final tweet saying, "thank you, next," clearly showing signs that she's moving on from Pete. Twitter Sorry, not sorry, Pete. October 31, 2018: It looks like Ariana is making her breakup a little more permanent. While many fans were hoping that this split would just be for a short while, Ariana just took a big step in distancing herself from her ex-fiancé and covered up one of her tattoos of him. In a new post on her Instagram story, Ariana showed off new ink in the same spot she got her "reborn" tattoo. Pete also has the same tattoo and revealed that it was a reference to a Kid Cudi song. Instagram Ariana previously covered up her tattoos with bandaids for the Wicked 15th anniversary special. While we can't see if Ari has also covered up her other Pete tattoos, it wouldn't be surprising to see some new ink on her soon. October 30, 2018: Two weeks after getting dumped by Ariana, Pete is back to smiling! We're so happy to see those pearly whites again after days upon days of mopey Pete. Of course, we don't blame him for being sad about the breakup — we were too, but we're glad to see he's feeling at least a little better. The comedian was spotted enjoying himself at a Halloween event in Staten Island. According to pics obtained by TMZ, he was especially excited to see one festive pup. He even snapped a selfie with the dog! According to TMZ, Pete was "super friendly to everyone and seemed to be in a very good mood." Happy to hear it, Pete! October 24, 2018: While we're still reeling from Ari and Pete's breakup, according to People, the stars' inner circles are happy to see the relationship come to an end. "[Ariana's loved ones] always thought the engagement to Pete happened way too quickly," a source told People. "They didn’t want her to get married to Pete. And Ariana never got to the wedding planning stage. It was all way too soon." The couple's breakup is obviously really sad, but Ari is apparently handling everything pretty well. "Actually, much better than expected," according to People. And it's not only Ariana's family that was happy to see the relationship end, but also Pete's. “Everyone on both sides are relieved it’s over.” OK, then maybe it's time I get over it too. October 20, 2018: Pete Davidson has finally addressed his split with Ariana Grande, and, in classic Pete fashion, he did it through comedy. As he cohosted a comedy show "Judd and Pete for America" with Producer Judd Apatow, he took advantage of his spotlight onstage to reach out for help. "Does anybody have any open rooms?" He asked the audience. "Looking for a roommate?" He also admitted that he wasn't exactly happy to be at the event. "There's a lot going on," he said, according to E!. During his set, Pete also discussed the fate of his Ariana tattoos. "Um, I've been covering a bunch of tattoos, that's fun," he said. As we know, Pete isn't the only one shielding tattoos from the relationship. Ariana placed a bandaid over her "Pete" tat when she performed at the Wicked 15th Anniversary Special recently. "So, obviously you know I, we broke up or whatever but when me and her first got engaged we got tattoos," he continued. "And it was like in a magazine like, 'Was Pete Davidson stupid?' And 93% of it said yes," Pete said about the public's perception of his tattoos. "So my boy, he was like, 'Don't listen to that sh*t man. They're literally f*king haters.' And I'm like, 'yeah, f*k that. I'm not stupid.' And the other day we were in my kitchen and he was like, 'Yo bro. Turns out you were stupid.'" The comedy event benefited Swing Left, a political group created in the wake of President Trump's election. Judd Apatow joked that he made Pete attend the event, despite the circumstance, because it was for an important cause. "I care more about America than your feelings, I do," Judd joked. "I care more about America than Pete's feelings." "I feel like I am America," Pete responded. "I'm a good guy that just keeps getting kicked in the d*ck." October 19, 2018: Get ready, Ari and Pete fans, cause it looks like things might not be over after all. A source told People that there's still a chance they'll get back together soon. "They’re very unpredictable," the source said. "It’s over for now but in a few days it wouldn’t be shocking to see them all over each other again." Hopefully this means we'll be hearing good news from them soon! October 17, 2018: Couples deal with a breakup in different ways, but it seems like Ariana is doing just fine. Ariana seemed to be living her best life as she recorded her part for the Wicked 15th Anniversary special. She even got to meet one of her idols, Idina Menzel, during the shoot. She also posted about her anxiety and how it almost kept her from performing at the event. In photos from the event, Ari's engagement ring was missing, confirming reports that she returned it to Pete Davidson. She even covered up her Pete Davidson tattoos with bandaids, according to TMZ. Does this mean she's already in the process of getting them removed?! Meanwhile, Pete Davidson cancelled an appearance at Temple University's "Comedy Night Live," where he was expected to perform a stand-up set on Wednesday. According to Entertainment Tonight, he dropped out due to "personal reasons." Looks like Pete might be taking their breakup a little harder than Ariana... October 16, 2018: While we're still holding out hope that couple gets back together, it looks like things are officially over (for now). According to TMZ, Ariana has returned the ring back to Pete Davidson, but there is one thing in particular that she gets to keep. Ariana is keeping Piggy Smallz as she was the one who originally bought it in the first place. As for Pete's tattoo of their beloved pet pig...well, he might get rid of that now that they're officially split. October 15, 2018: Things might have not been going so well for the couple for a while as Ariana cancelled an appearance just before her split was announced. Ariana was supposed to perform at the F*ck Cancer Barbara Berlanti Heroes Gala, which is run by her manager Scooter Braun. "Someone that I am very close to could not be here today because of things that she is going through," Scooter told the crowd, according to People. "She couldn’t be here today, and while I was frustrated, being a manager, my wife, being who she always is, said to me, 'She needs this time.'" While she cancelled her appearance at the gala, she did confirm that she will be performing at the Wicked 15th Anniversary special in her first post since her split. October 14, 2018: After 5 months together, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson have reportedly called it quits. TMZ was the first to report that the couple have broken up. According to People, a source close to the couple said, "it was way too much too soon. It’s not shocking to anyone." The couple hasn't officially confirmed their break up. Pete Davidson recently deleted his Instagram account, while Ariana has remained quiet on her social media accounts. October 10, 2018: Pete Davidson was spotted with some new ink and the placement is causing some Ari fans to freak out. According to Page Six, Pete recently covered up his Dangerous Woman tattoo he had on his neck and turned it into a heart. While the reason behind the coverup isn't known yet, a source told Page Six that the new heart tattoo matches one of Ari's many tattoos. He also got a new tattoo featuring a small "A" next to the heart, likely for Ariana's name. Pete previously got the tattoo back in June, so it's kind of surprising to see him cover it up so quickly. At least Ari and Pete are still going strong. October 9, 2018: While it's still unclear whether or not Hailey Baldwin and Justin Bieber are protecting their respective fortunes and signing a prenup, we at least have a definitive answer for Pete and Ari. According to People, the pair is almost done finalizing their prenuptial agreement, if it's not already finished! For those who don't know, a prenup establishes rights to property in the event of a divorce. So, if Pete and Ari get call it quits, they will walk away with all the money, homes, etc. that they entered the marriage with. The topic actually came up recently on Saturday Night Live when Weekend Update host, Colin Jost, asked Pete about the prenup situation. Pete responded that he wanted to sign the agreement. “Obviously I wanted one, you know, so God forbid we split up and then she takes half my sneakers,” he said. According to In Style, Ariana is worth $45 million. She can thank album sales, tours, and various sponsorship deals for her fortune. On the other hand, Pete is worth about $3 million, racking up the money for his role on SNL as well as various movies throughout the years. And then, of course, there are the sneakers. September 29, 2018: Saturday Night Live is officially back on the air and nothing was off-limits during the first episode of the show's 44th season premiere. Pete Davidson's summer was one of the biggest topics during the episode and he even appeared during the Weekend Update segment to let everyone know how it went. "I got engaged and no one could believe it. I can’t believe it," he said. "I get it, she’s the number 1 pop star in the world and I’m that guy from SNL that everyone thinks is in desperate need for new blood." "Do you remember when that whole city pretended that kid was Batman because he was sick? That’s what this feels like," he joked. Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost asked Pete if they were planning to have a prenup. "Obviously I wanted one, you know, so God forbid we split up and then she takes half my sneakers," he joked. "No look, I’m totally comfortable being with a successful woman, I think it’s dope. I live at her place. She pays 60 grand for rent and all I have to do is stock the fridge." Pete also said that he has a plan to make sure that Ariana stays with him. "Last night I switched her birth control with Tic Tacs," he said, which caused a lot of frightened gasps from the audience. "I believe in us and all, but I just want to make sure that she can’t go anywhere." Of course, fans were not so happy with the joke. pete davidson just joked about switching ariana’s birth control with tic tacs. really. — marisa kabas (@MarisaKabas) September 30, 2018 did pete davidson just make a joke about switching ariana’s birth control with tic tacs so she’d get pregnant and would be obligated to stay with him .....wut — kara ✨ (@kyloporg) September 30, 2018 Generally I thought Pete Davidson was funny, but until birth control sabotage stops being a common form of abuse and a way abusers trap women in dangergous relationships, I'm not going to laugh at that joke #SNLPremiere — Ariel Rose (@ArielRoseV) September 30, 2018 September 27, 2018: Last week, fans collectively went, "Aw!" when they saw that Pete and Ariana had adopted an adorable baby pig. Instagram Now, Pete is opening up about the story of why the got the cute pet and it's hilarious! Pete went on Late Night With Seth Meyers and obviously Seth wanted to know about the "big step" the couple took together. "This girl, like, she was like, 'I want a pig,'" Pete told Seth. "And then an hour later it was just there. You know what I mean? Like, I'm still trying, to get, like, a Propecia refill….This chick got a pig in a f--king hour." Pete explained that Piggy Smallz (yeah, that's his name) has doubled in size in the past week (OK, we need new pics then, please). Not only has the pet grown, but he has also started to act up a little. "The first two days it was like really new and, like, didn't move much," Pete said. "But then, now, it's starting to bite and, you know, start to do stuff like [headbutt]. Because it's a pig." Despite Piggy's newfound aggression, Pete still loves his new pet. "I love it! I want it to get big and fat." Well, you're in luck Pete! Because I'm pretty sure that's what pigs do. September 24, 2018: In a recent interview with radio personality Howard Stern, Pete revealed that he received a death threat when his relationship with Ariana went public. "I got a death threat," he explained. "Someone wanted to shoot me in the face because [Ariana's] so hot. Do you know how insane that is? I was like, 'Am I that ugly that people want to shoot me in the face?' They’re like, 'No, f*ck this guy,' I’m like, 'What did I do?'" Pete is no longer "on the internet," as he explained in the interview. Meaning, much like Selena Gomez, he doesn't have the password to his own Instagram account. "I don't have my password," he said. "I have an account in case I have to do something, but I don't know how to go on there. I can't. I don't f*cking care. It makes me feel weird about myself... If I post something I like and then people just sh*t all over it, it was like, 'You’re asking for it.'" September 20, 2018: The couple has been taking things slow recently, especially after the death of Mac Miller, which led them to skip the Emmys. Laying low will be a little harder for Pete now that SNL will be returning for its 44th season this weekend. In honor of its return, Pete posted a video on his Instagram, the first one he has posted since his social media break. In it, paparazzi can be seen taking photos and trying to talk with him. After making some light conversation with them, Pete yells "welcome home" until the video ends. "@nbcsnl back next week. f**k the internet tho..." he captioned the photo. Looks like he might not be so happy to be back after all... August 29, 2018: While we've all loved Ariana and Pete's relationship since the beginning, it took Pete's mother, Amy Waters Davison, a little more time to warm up to it. According to a source from Us Weekly, “Pete’s mother was very nervous about his relationship with Ariana when they started dating." This was mostly due to his previous mental health issues and his diagnosis of borderline personality disorder back in 2016. "She knows her son goes through manic episodes and thought he was rushing into a relationship and would wind up getting hurt." However, time as showed that the two really love each other and they are in it for the long haul. “Pete’s mom has grown to love Ariana and can see how much she loves Pete,” said the source. “It has gotten better now that she knows Ariana better.” Now, the Grande-Davidson crew is a big, happy family. We can't wait to see them all unite at the wedding! August 27, 2018: Pete and Ariana are currently on tour together as Ariana performs her Sweetener sessions. Before she took the stage to perform songs from her new album, Pete had the chance to introduce her and, of course, he told a joke while he was up there. "Are you guys ready to start the show? Alright, coming to the stage — I can’t believe she talks to me — but give it up for Ariana Grande," he said, according to US Weekly. US Weekly also reports that the couple couldn't take their eyes off each other all night, even when Ariana was performing. "Pete just seemed very in awe of her and very proud of her," a source told US Weekly. "He stood on the side of the stage [during the show] and she would occasionally blow him kisses." Ariana's LA show is the final Sweetener session in the US. The next one will be on September 4 in London, which means we'll likely see them together before Pete starts working on the next season of Saturday Night Live. August 23, 2018: Freshman at Auburn University got a special treat when Pete Davidson stopped by as their speaker for their welcome week. Pete was even joined by Ariana Grande, although, she didn't go up on stage. During the Q&A section of his set, a brave student asked him the question we all wanted to ask: "What’s it liked being engaged to Ariana?," Pete repeated, according to People. "It’s like what you would think it would be like but like a 100 times sicker. I’m a very, very happy boy who is very, very loved and I’m very lucky. And my d*ck‘s forever hard." Well, okay then... After his show, Ari posted a cute photo of the two of them backstage wearing matching Auburn sweaters. Instagram August 20, 2018: Ariana and Pete seriously couldn't keep their hands off each other at the MTV Video Music Awards red carpet. Getty Images Kevin Mazur So, when Ariana accepted the award for Best Pop Video, fans waited patiently to listen to her thank fiancé Pete. He has been supporting her endlessly since they got together, even wearing a bracelet with her new initials to the awards. She went through everyone, literally EVERYONE on her list before looking Pete in his eyes across the crowded hall and saying, "Pete Davidson, thank you for existing." Ah, young love. The PDA did not stop on the red carpet, however. The two kept kissing throughout the show, planting a BIG one on each other when Ariana won Best Pop Video for "No Tears Left to Cry." Fans went crazy over the resulting gif, which showed an extremely intimate moment between the two lovebirds. this gif saved my life https://t.co/Tze4cMwJ5J — tamara (@tbyarianagb) August 21, 2018 Now that's true love if I've ever seen it. After the show, Ariana hosted a Sweetner session, performing songs off her new album for some lucky fans. Of course, kissing was had between the couple at this event as well. Fans went wild as the two embraced in front of the crowd. And finally, Ariana performed "Pete Davidson" in front of Pete Davidson which was kind of beautiful. August 17, 2018: Ariana chatted with Ebro Darden on Apple's Beats 1 about everything from her fiancé, Pete Davidson, to dealing with anxiety after the shooting at her Manchester concert. After playing her dedication song to the attacks, "Get Well Soon," Ariana broke down crying in the studio. "I just wanted to give people a hug musically and I feel like the lyrics can be kind of corny when I talk about wanting to hug you and stuff, but I really do," she explained. Ariana also discussed getting over her fears after the shooting and going back on tour for her fans. "You try not to give into fear because obviously that’s the whole point of being here," she explained. "That was the point of finishing my tour, to set an example for my fans who were fearless enough to show up to the f*cking shows." Despite getting over some fears, the singer admitted to still facing constant anxiety when it comes to her very public life. "I don’t like to have security come with me everywhere. I don’t like those things. It makes me feel inhuman. It makes me feel weird and I don’t like it. I know people are just trying to take care of me, but I want to escape with my friends and run around and be free...but you think about it differently when sh*t like that happens." Things took a lighter turn when Ebro asked Ariana about Pete. Ariana said that while the wedding won't be for at least five months, it will be sooner than five years, and while she isn't thinking about kids right now, eventually she'll probably want about three. Ebro then asked the singer if she's going to hyphenate her last name to become Ariana Grande-Davidson, something that isn't too foreign to Ariana, whose last name is currently hyphenated as Grande-Butera. While she said she is going to hyphenate Pete's last name, professionally, she would like to eventually just go by Ariana. "Isn't that sick?" She asked. "I feel like it’s got a ring to it.” For now though, she's going to remain Ariana Grande, a tribute to her late grandfather who loved the name. "I think of him with everything I do and he was so proud of our name." We also found out we may have been pronouncing Ariana's name wrong this whole time! “My grandpa said Grande," she said, pronouncing it Grand-e. "My brother kind of changed it to Grande because Grand-e was kind of like, I guess the Americanized version of it." August 16, 2018: Sweetener is almost here and Ariana recently hung out with James Corden to do some carpool karaoke before the big release. While she sang some of her biggest hits like "God is a Woman" and "Dangerous Woman," Corden asked her what was the weirdest thing she every heard about herself. "Tons of pregnancy stuff. People really want me to be pregnant. They always want me – they want it. They want it so bad. Every other week, there’s like another pregnancy thing." Looks like all those pregnancy rumors are not true (not like we really believed them anyway). Sadly, Ari didn't open up about her relationship with Pete Davidson, but hopefully we'll be seeing more cute moments between the couple very soon. July 31, 2018: Pete was spotted with his Ariana Grande "Dangerous Woman" tattoo covered up and fans were scrambling for some answers. Luckily, everything seems to be going well in paradise as he actually covered it up for his new movie, Big Time Adolescence, according to TMZ. Even Pete's makeup artist reassured fans that everything is alright between the couple, writing on her Facebook, "Trust me, they are in LOVE." July 30, 2018: Previously a fan called out Ariana for naming a song on her upcoming album "Pete," after her new fiancé. A fan argued that Ariana shouldn't name the song after Pete since they have only been together for a few months, to which Ariana responded,"He's my fiancé. This is my album. I'm an honest and emotional artist and human being and if my openness in my work isn't for you, that's OK; I won't be offended. Still wishing y'all all the love in the world." Now, it has been revealed that Ariana has changed the name of the song, but not to please that one angry fan. The official title of the track formally known as "Pete" is now, "Pete Davidson." In case you got it confused with another guy named Pete. When a fan asked about the name change on Twitter, Ariana responded saying: i like the way it looks i love his name and i love him music lasts forever. it’ll outlive any tattoo, any memory, any anything, even myself so i want my love for him and how i feel to be a part of that — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) July 30, 2018 Ok, that is beautiful. July 23, 2018: After they both left social media due to intense backlash from fans and the public, Ariana released a behind the scenes video for her song "God is a Woman" and it features tons of cute moments between her and Pete Davidson. The two shared a kiss and Ariana adorably said, "that's my fiancé," as she walked in front of the camera. Watch the video below: July 12, 2018: Ariana got to show off her new manicure on Instagram but it was actually her new tattoo that has everyone talking. In a sweet tribute to her new fiancé, Ariana got Pete's name tattooed on her left ring finger, right next to her engagement ring. While we all know who she's engaged to, it's still a sweet little reminder of her future husband. July 5, 2018: Ariana responded to fan questions and was asked about Pete's joke about the Manchester Arena bombing that recently resurfaced. this has been v tough & conflicting on my heart. he uses comedy to help ppl feel better ab how f-ed up things in this world are. we all deal w trauma differently. I of course didn’t find it funny. it was months ago & his intention wasn’t/ is never malicious but it was unfortunate i hear and respect you always i hear and respect you all always. — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) July 5, 2018 Pete has yet to apologize or make a statement about the joke, although, it's probably safe to say that the couple had a long talk about it recently. July 2, 2018: One of Pete's old jokes has recently resurfaced and it has a not-so-funny connection with Ariana. Last fall, Pete performed at a benefit to support victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. During his set, Pete joked about the Manchester Arena bombing at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people. "Britney Spears didn’t have a terrorist attack at her concert," Pete joked. A source close to Pete has since come to defend the comedian saying that the joke is being taken out of context. "He lost his dad in 9/11 and is close with other victims of violent tragedies. As a way of coping he turns to humor," the source told People. "He’s obviously sensitive to tragedy as he lost his own father and his intention is to just make people laugh." While it's unknown if Ariana has heard the joke, things seem to going fine between the couple as they posted photos of each other the day before. July 1, 2018: Ariana got a brand new tattoo in honor of Pete's dad. While walking around New York City with her fiancé earlier this week, fans noticed a new tattoo of the numbers "8148" on her foot for the first time. 8148 was the badge number that Pete's dad, Scott Davidson, had worn when he was a firefighter. Scott Davidson died during the September 11 attacks and Pete also has a similar tattoo of his dad's badge numbers as well. Getty Images Pete Davidson also showed off his newly dyed hair in an Instagram post. Posing right next to Ariana, the two are sporting face masks but it's really Pate's new blonde hair that stole the show. Check out his new hair below: June 28, 2018: Ariana is throwing it back this Thursday by singing along with a song from her first album Yours Truly called "You'll Never Know." While it was a nice treat to see her singing one of her classics, it was her sweater that stole the show as it featured a picture of Pete. Check out the sweater below: pete is on ariana’s sweater (via Ariana Grande’s IG story) pic.twitter.com/1zRb0kyZfi — daily pete davidson (@davidsonsource) June 29, 2018 June 27, 2018: The birthday festivities continue for Ariana. The couple and some of their friends decided to hit a karaoke bar (as any normal Grammy-nominated vocalist does) and sing some of their favorite tunes together. Ariana got to channel her inner Beyoncé and perform the only cover of "Love on Top" that might be acceptable on this planet. imagine being at a karaoke bar and it’s your turn to sing but you’re going up after ariana grande... pic.twitter.com/3r3JneFHOa — zach 🌫 (@nyczach) June 27, 2018 Pete decided to join in on the next song and performed Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life." Pete looked like he was having a lot of fun singing next to his future wife. ariana grande and pete davidson doing evanescence karaoke is how we all know that this is true love pic.twitter.com/RZedDblUuO — xx (@xxheathheathxx) June 27, 2018 Let's hope that Pete joins Ariana on her next tour so we could see them perform this song all the time. June 26, 2018: Happy birthday, Ariana! Thanks to her family and friends, the singer had a big bash to celebrate her 25th birthday. Pete also joined in the festivities and even posted a cute Instagram in honor of the birthday girl. Just when fans thought that was the only birthday post Pete had up his sleeve, he posted another one on his Instagram. Ariana posted several photos from her big bash on her Instagram page, but there was one photo that got all her fans talking and it wasn't even from the party. Instagram If you didn't believe in their relationship before, this is all you need to believe in them now. June 22, 2018: Ariana and Pete aren't hiding their love, especially on social media. Ariana posted a new video on her Instagram stories featuring her straddling her fiancée while singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King. Anyone can definitely feel the love between them, especially Pete. June 21, 2018: Ariana Grande answered some interesting questions during her Twitter Q&A and probably gave a little too much information about her fiancé. A fan asked Ariana how long Pete is, referring to the song on the album. Ariana jokingly replied back saying 10 inches, before mentioning that the actual song is a little more than a minute. Ariana also replied back to rumors that she is pregnant with Pete's child and that's why they're in a rush to get married. One fan photoshopped her Sweetener album cover to make it seem like she's rolling her eyes. mood for the next few years til i’m actually ready #fertilequeen — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) June 22, 2018 Another fan even told her that they would make cute kids together and she replied back saying they're not in a rush to have children. oh absolutely but ......... innnnnnnaaaaawhile 🙈 — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) June 22, 2018 June 20, 2018: Pete Davidson has finally confirmed his engagement with Ariana, even though we've all known the truth all along. Pete stopped by The Tonight Show to talk about his new movie Set it Up. Jimmy Fallon mentioned to Pete that he didn't have to get engaged in order to be a guest on the show. "But I did though," Pete replied. When asked how his engagement to Ariana is going, Pete said, "Yeah, I feel like I won a contest. So sick. It’s f*cking lit, Jimmy." Watch more of Pete's interview below: June 18, 2018: H2GKMO, everyone! Pete and Ariana just went and got tattoos together (along with some of Ariana's friends). Ariana decided to get one of her favorite Twitter phrase, H2GKMO, which means "honest to god, knock me out." Ariana showed off her new ink on her Instagram story. It's unknown if Pete also got the same phrase, but he did show off some new ink in honor of Kid Cudi's new album. Clearly, the couple that gets inked together, stays together. June 17, 2018: Just when this relationship couldn't get any sketchier, TMZ is now reporting that Pete and Cazzie were actually on a break when he got together with Ariana. It seems like it's all good though, as Ariana posted on her Instagram later that day and hinted that her and Pete may have taken another big step in their relationship and moved into a new apartment together. Instagram Ariana answered some fan questions on Twitter about her new album. She recently posted a clip of a song on her Instagram page earlier in the day. During her Twitter Q&A, Ariana revealed that the new track is actually called "Pete." Twitter She also shared that she had several options for the song's title, but decided to name it after her new fiancé instead. A fan also tried to come after her for naming the song after Pete, but she clapped back with one final tweet. "'pete' girl we know you love him but are you dumb," the fan tweeted out. Another fan came to her defense and pointed out that Ariana really doesn't care anymore. "forreal. the truth is :coffee: i been the f*ck thru it and life’s too short to be cryptic n sh*t about something as beautiful as this love I’m in. so ǝʇǝԀ it is." June 15, 2018: Pete posts another photo of him and Ariana, this time focusing on their hands including that special ring on her finger with the caption, "u know what you’d dream it be like ? it’s better than that." Ariana posts a video of her singing along to her new single "Bed" on her Instagram story. She also shows off engagement ring and later posts a second video of her with Pete. Instagram June 14, 2018: Some friends of the couple are now talking about their big engagement. Nick Cannon revealed to Entertainment Tonight that Pete had called him before the engagement. Pete and Nick used to work together when Pete was part of the Wild N' Out team for several seasons. "He called before he was going to do it, and I said, 'Salud!'" Nick told Entertainment Tonight. "He was really excited, so I was like, 'I love it, man. Keep it going.' Love is in the air!" Nick has also said that he has already congratulated the Wild N' Out album on his engagement and is even open to taking part in the wedding. "I think they're outstanding. They're young people in love and you can't knock that. It's like The Notebook," Nick said. "I'm up for all weddings. I'll officiate. I don't know how long they'll last if you let me do it, but I'm up for it." Ariana's Sam & Cat co-star Jennette McCurdy also talked to Entertainment Tonight about the newly engaged couple and said that Pete is absolutely perfect for Ariana. "They seem like they're a great fit," she said. "From what I know of her, he seems like exactly a good person for her." She also said that Pete fits Ariana's type when it comes to guys. "Tattoos! She always likes the tattoos. And humor, of course." June 11, 2018: Rumors start spreading that the couple has taken things to the next level and are now engaged. While Ariana and Pete have yet to officially confirm their engagement, Ariana did reply back to a fan's tweet which seems to prove that the rumors are true. HAHAHAHAHAHH HES BEEN BRIEFED — Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) June 12, 2018 Later that day, they were spotted together at Disneyland, possibly celebrating the big news, and riding Space Mountain together. Another one of Pete's exes, Carly Aquilino, shared various text conversations on her Instagram story with her reaction to Pete's engagement. Instagram She also posted a second conversation featuring her sending a heart emoji to someone without a reply back and the caption, "my love life going great." Instagram Pete and Carly dated back in 2015, before he started dating Cazzie. June 2, 2018: Pete gets two new tattoos in honor of his new bae. One of them features Ariana's initials "AG" and the second is Ariana's signature bunny ears from her Dangerous Woman era. June 1, 2018: Cazzie David posts a new photo on Instagram of her on vacation in Africa with the caption, "Been in Africa, what’d I miss ??" May 30, 2018: The couple makes their relationship Instagram official after Pete posts a picture on his account featuring him and Ariana in Gryffindor and Slytherin robes. May 23, 2018: Ariana opens up about leaving a toxic relationship after it was reported that Mac Miller was arrested for drunk driving after crashing his car and fleeing the scene. "I will continue to pray from the bottom of my heart that he figures it all out and that any other woman in this position does as well," she wrote. May 20, 2018: Pete attends the Billboard Music Awards, where Ariana performed her new single, "No Tears Left to Cry." "After Ariana’s performance, they were backstage and he had his arm around her," a source told People. "They seemed very lovey-dovey. He was hanging out with her and her friends. She seemed quite smitten." May 18, 2018: Bossip is the first to report that Grande and Davidson are officially a couple. May 17, 2018: Pete goes to tattoo artist Jon Mesa to get his tattoo of Cazzie covered. May 16, 2018: Pete revealed that he and longtime girlfriend, Cazzie David, have broken up on Open Late with Peter Rosenberg. The couple started dating in 2016. May 12, 2018: Ariana and Pete are seen together at a Saturday Night Live afterparty, according to Us Weekly. She's also seen with the same cloud phone case that Pete was spotted holding earlier. May 9, 2018: TMZ reports that Ariana and Mac Miller have broken up after 2 years of dating. According to sources, the couple broke up due to conflicting schedules and still plan to stay close friends. Tamara Fuentes is the Entertainment Editor at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!

– They were engaged within weeks of dating, and even got matching tattoos. Now, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson may have some ink to cover up. TMZ, which broke the news of their marriage plans in June, is now reporting on the demise of those plans, with sources telling the site the couple broke up over the weekend, and that Grande ended things. A source confirms to CNN that the two are done, though TMZ notes the couple believed "it simply was not the right time for their relationship to take off." "They realized it happened too quick and too early," a source tells Us Weekly. "The wedding is off, but they're working things out. They're not officially done yet." The 25-year-old singer detailed recent struggles on social media after the death of ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, who died last month of an apparent drug overdose; TMZ reports that that was the breaking point. Fans of the 24-year-old Davidson—who has apparently deleted his Instagram account, per Metro—meanwhile, are commiserating: One even started a GoFundMe for him. "He will need somewhere to sleep tonight," noted the fundraising effort, which was seeking to bring in $2,500 and has since been taken down.

This combo of images shows messages that were displayed on the Direct Pay section of the IRS website on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. At bottom is the initial message about the outage and at top is the updated... (Associated Press) This combo of images shows messages that were displayed on the Direct Pay section of the IRS website on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. At bottom is the initial message about the outage and at top is the updated message. The IRS said on its website that its online payment system became unavailable at 2:50... (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the outage of the IRS payment website (all times local): 7:40 p.m. The IRS is giving all taxpayers an extra day to file after its website went down on deadline day. The agency announced that individuals and businesses with a filing or payment that was due Tuesday now have until midnight Wednesday. It said no additional paperwork is needed to get the extension. The agency's website for making payments and gaining access to other key services crashed amid the filing flood. The website appeared to be back to normal late Tuesday. ___ 4:30 p.m. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says Americans who have been unable to pay their taxes Tuesday because the IRS payment website is down will receive an extension when the site is working again. The website has been down most of the day and wasn't operational as of 4:30 p.m. EDT. Mnuchin commented on the outage when asked by reporters after an event in Derry, New Hampshire, where he promoted the Trump tax overhaul along with Ivanka Trump. Mnuchin described the problem as a "high-volume technical issue" that the IRS is attempting to resolve. Tax day falls on April 17 this year because April 15 was a Sunday and April 16 was Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, D.C. ___ 4:10 p.m. The IRS website where people can pay their taxes and access other key services has been down for most the day, frustrating last-minute tax filers. A message on the website about the outage indicates the agency still expects Americans to pay their taxes on time. The IRS did not give an immediate explanation for the failure but said in a statement that "certain IRS systems are experiencing technical difficulties." The agency also said that taxpayers should filing their tax returns as they normally would. The problem is, electronic filing is the most popular way to file. Tax day falls on April 17 this year because April 15 was a Sunday and April 16 was Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, D.C. ||||| This combo of images shows messages that were displayed on the Direct Pay section of the IRS website on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. At bottom is the initial message about the outage and at top is the updated... (Associated Press) This combo of images shows messages that were displayed on the Direct Pay section of the IRS website on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. At bottom is the initial message about the outage and at top is the updated message. The IRS said on its website that its online payment system became unavailable at 2:50... (Associated Press) Americans who waited until the last day to pay their taxes online got an unwelcome surprise: The IRS website to make payments and access other key services is down. The IRS still expects Americans to pay their taxes but U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says extensions will be granted to those impacted when the site is up again. The IRS said in a statement that "certain IRS systems are experiencing technical difficulties." It also said that at this point, the problem appears to be a hardware issue. The agency advised taxpayers to "continue filing their tax returns as they normally would." The problem is, electronic filing is the most popular way to file. And the IRS offered no immediate solution but said the returns will be processed when feasible. However, Mnuchin who oversees the IRS, said that they expect the direct pay system to go up shortly. "We'll make sure taxpayers have extensions once the system comes up to make sure they can use it and it in no way impacts people paying their taxes," he told reporters in New Hampshire. "It was just a technical issue we're working through. A high volume technical issue that impacted the system." Pages on the IRS website (www.irs.gov) used to view account information, make a direct payment or set up a payment plan were all not functioning most of the day Tuesday. It's unclear when and why the failure occurred. But it appears, based on a message on the site, that the online payment system became unavailable at 2:50 A.M. ET that morning. It's unclear how many people were impacted Tuesday but, by comparison, about 5 million tax returns were filed on the final day of last year's tax season. The IRS snafu also caused problems for popular third-party tax preparers such as Turbo Tax and H&R Block. Both said that they will hold onto customer tax returns and file them as soon as the IRS system reopens. Tax day falls on April 17 this year because April 15 was a Sunday and April 16 was Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, D.C. IRS Acting Commissioner David Kautter testified during a House Oversight Hearing Tuesday that a number of systems are down at the moment and that the agency is working to resolve the issue. Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow offered a deadpan reaction when asked about the failure. "The IRS is crashing? Sounds horrible. Really bad," he said during a briefing with reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida. "I hope it gets fixed." The IRS typically recommends that taxpayers use electronic filing to avoid common mistakes. Online filing is quicker than dropping something in the mail — when the site works, of course. ___ Jill Colvin in West Palm Beach, Florida and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

– The IRS is giving all taxpayers an extra day to file after its website went down on deadline day, the AP reports. The agency announced that individuals and businesses with a filing or payment that was due Tuesday now have until midnight Wednesday. It said no additional paperwork is needed to get the extension. The IRS website to make payments and access other key services was down much of Tuesday, though it appeared to be back to normal late in the day. The IRS said in a statement that "certain IRS systems are experiencing technical difficulties." It also said that at this point, the problem appears to be a hardware issue. The agency advised taxpayers to "continue filing their tax returns as they normally would." Pages on the IRS website used to view account information, make a direct payment or set up a payment plan were all not functioning most of the day Tuesday, the AP reports. It's unclear when and why the failure occurred. But it appears, based on a message on the site, that the online payment system became unavailable at 2:50am ET that morning. It's unclear how many people were impacted Tuesday but, by comparison, about 5 million tax returns were filed on the final day of last year's tax season. The IRS snafu also caused problems for popular third-party tax preparers such as Turbo Tax and H&R Block. Both said that they will hold onto customer tax returns and file them as soon as the IRS system reopened. Tax day fell on April 17 this year because April 15 was a Sunday and April 16 was Emancipation Day, a holiday in Washington, DC.

Flowers decorate a fence outside Ft. Hood's east gate in Killeen, Texas, in honor of those killed and wounded in Wednesday's shooting. (Tamir Kalifa / Associated Press / ) FT. HOOD, Texas — Military investigators provided a step-by-step account Monday of the shooting at this massive central Texas Army base last week that left three soldiers and the gunman dead and 16 wounded. They also confirmed that a dispute precipitated the deadly incident. Officials had already shared the attack's basic chronology: Spc. Ivan Lopez, 34, opened fire about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, traveling from building to building and firing from his car until encountering a female military police officer, who shot at him before he took his own life. A spokesman for the military’s Criminal Investigation Division provided more details Monday about Lopez’s movements, but said the soldier's motive remains a mystery. “We may never know why,” spokesman Chris Grey said. Grey did not identify any of the other soldiers involved as he retraced Lopez’s movements using a large map based on an analysis of the crime scene, evidence and interviews with more than 1,000 people. He said the attack began after Lopez was involved in a “verbal altercation concerning his request for leave and the processing of his request at his unit’s administrative office." Within minutes of the argument, Lopez brandished a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and shot several soldiers at the administrative building, one of whom was killed. He then climbed into his car and drove slowly off, heading the wrong way down a nearby street, according to witnesses. He fired from his vehicle at two soldiers standing behind a building, wounding one. Lopez then parked outside the motor pool office where he worked. Once inside, Lopez opened fire, wounding three more soldiers, one of whom later died. He left and drove toward a medical building, shooting through the windshield of an oncoming car and wounding the passenger, another soldier. At the medical building, Lopez shot and wounded a soldier outside, then killed the soldier on duty at the front desk and wounded another soldier before he left. He then drove to a nearby parking lot where he approached a female military police officer. The two spoke briefly. When Lopez wielded his pistol, she drew her weapon and fired a single round. Autopsy results show Lopez was not struck by that bullet. Instead, he placed his pistol to his head and shot himself. The entire incident unfolded in about eight minutes. In that time, Lopez fired more than 35 rounds, Grey said. Lopez had no criminal record, he said. Investigators think that Lopez acted alone and that the attack was unrelated to terrorism, unlike the last mass shooting at Ft. Hood in 2009 by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who said he was defending the Taliban when he killed 13 fellow soldiers and wounded more than 30. Grey said investigators finished work at the crime scene Monday. “We sincerely hope that our efforts to diligently seek the truth will in some small way provide comfort to the families of the deceased and wounded,” Grey said. Three sergeants were killed in the attack: Danny Ferguson, 39, of Mulberry, Fla.; Timothy Owens, 37, of Effingham, Ill.; and Carlos Lazaney, 38, of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Their bodies were being transported home this week, Col. Paul P. Reese said at Monday’s briefing. Grey did not say where each of the soldiers was killed, but Ferguson had worked in transportation administration, Owens in the motor pool and Lazaney in a medical brigade, according to military records. ||||| Specialist Lopez’s assault started at about 4 p.m. inside the administrative office of his unit, the 49th Transportation Battalion, said Chris Grey, a spokesman for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command, the lead agency investigating the shooting. Investigators have not yet established a clear motive, but the catalyst appeared to be an argument Specialist Lopez had with soldiers from his unit about his request for a leave of absence to attend to family matters. In that argument, he expressed anger over the processing of the request, officials said. One of the soldiers in that meeting, Sgt. Jonathan Westbrook, described the specialist as “irate.” Minutes after the altercation, Specialist Lopez left the building and then returned, firing multiple rounds from his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Sergeant Westbrook, who had served in Afghanistan, was one of the first people he shot. “He came back and fired shots,” Sergeant Westbrook, who was shot four times but survived, said in a telephone interview with WJTV, a television station in his home state of Mississippi. “The next thing going through my head was my family: my wife, my children, my mom, my dad. Make sure that I can get safe so I can stay alive for them, and that’s what I did. And through the grace of God, I came out of there alive.” Image Specialist Ivan A. Lopez, in a photo from his Facebook page. In that one building, Specialist Lopez killed one soldier and wounded Sergeant Westbrook and nine others. The soldier he killed there appears to have been Sgt. First Class Daniel M. Ferguson, 39, of Mulberry, Fla., who, along with Sergeant Westbrook, had possibly been involved in the argument with Specialist Lopez about his leave request. Sergeant Ferguson may have saved a number of other soldiers’ lives before he died. He was in a room filled with other soldiers when Specialist Lopez tried to force his way through a door that could not be locked. Sergeant Ferguson, a Bronze Star recipient who deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, pressed his body against the door, preventing Specialist Lopez from gaining entry, his fiancée told a Florida television station. Specialist Lopez then shot him through the door.

– Specialist Ivan Lopez fired at least 35 shots during his 8-minute rampage at Fort Hood military base, killing three of his fellow soldiers and wounding 16, military investigators say in a detailed account of the shooting. The military has also confirmed that the shooting began after Lopez had an argument at his unit's administrative office over a leave request to deal with family matters, the New York Times reports. He returned with a gun minutes later and killed one person in the office and wounded nine others. Investigators believed the soldier killed in the office had been involved in the leave argument. After the office shooting, Lopez drove to the motor pool building where he worked and opened fire inside, killing one soldier from his unit and wounding two others. He then drove to a medical building, firing as he went, and killed one more soldier inside. "We do not know why he entered that building, and we may never know why," a spokesman for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command says. The spokesman says retracing the gunman's movements involved interviews with more than 1,000 soldiers, reports the Los Angeles Times. While Lopez's motive is still unclear, "we sincerely hope that our efforts to diligently seek the truth will in some small way provide comfort to the families of the deceased and wounded," he says.

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter Hollywood (CBSMiami) – The voicemail messages left on Gov. Rick Scott’s personal cellphone by a Hollywood nursing home where at least 11 people have died following Hurricane Irma, were deleted, according to the governor’s office. There were a total of four voicemails left during the 36 hours before the first patient died, and they would have been a critical piece of evidence in the ongoing investigation into the patient deaths. Natasha Anderson, a vice president with The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, says she called the governor’s cellphone to say the nursing home needed “immediate assistance” in restoring the power to their air conditioning system. Scott said at no time did anyone from the nursing home suggest there was a crisis or that patients were in danger. In response to CBS4’s request for copies of the voicemails, a spokeswoman with the governor’s office, wrote in an email: “The voicemails were not retained because the information from each voicemail was collected by the Governor’s staff and given to the proper agency for handling.” The Governor has cut off Medicaid and Medicare funding for the nursing home and suspended its license. The Governor’s actions, however, have also come under scrutiny. In the week leading up to Irma, Gov. Scott held a series of conference calls with emergency managers as well as hospital and nursing home officials. During those conference calls he gave out his cellphone number and said if any of the healthcare centers experienced trouble they should call him at that number and he would work to resolve their problem. Hurricane Irma hit South Florida Sunday September 10 and the nursing home lost some power around 3 p.m. The 152-bed facility located in Hollywood, Florida, has two transformers supplying power to the nursing home. One transformer handles life and safety systems while the second supports the air conditioning system. The storm only knocked out power to the air conditioning system. On September 10, at 3:49 p.m, administrators contacted Florida Power and Light with an emergency request to restore power. According to nursing home officials, FPL said they would have crews dispatched the next morning. By the evening of September 11, after repeated calls to FPL, Anderson, the nursing home officials, dialed the cellphone number provided by Scott. It went straight to voicemail. Anderson made three additional calls to Scott’s cellphone on September 12. The governor’s office says the calls were returned by someone from the state Department of Health and that the nursing home was told that if they had anyone in distress they should call 911 for help. The nursing home also spoke to the emergency operations center in Tallahassee, which notified the nursing home that their FPL repair order would be “escalated.” Between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Wednesday September 13, patients at the nursing suffered myriad health issues and during that time at least five of the patients died. State officials say temperatures inside the nursing home were high and that some of the dead registered body temperatures as high as 109 degrees. The nursing home was then evacuated and at least a half dozen patients would die in the hours and days that followed. The cause of death is still being determined. The governor’s office said the voicemails were deleted in accordance with the state’s public records law. The existence of the voice mail messages is irrelevant, officials said. “None of this changes the fact that this facility chose not to call 911 or evacuate their patients to the hospital across the street to save lives,” a spokeswoman noted. ||||| “We had no idea the extent of what was going on until we literally sent people room to room to check on people,” said Dr. Randy Katz, the hospital’s chairman of emergency medicine. Many of the families heard something was wrong for the first time that morning when they turned on their televisions. A friend called Ms. Craig. I don’t want to scare you, she told Ms. Craig, but turn on CNN. Ms. Craig was thinking, “What did I do?” she said in an interview, breaking off to sob. She blamed herself for putting her mother in the home. She prayed: “Oh God, please don’t let my mother be dead.” “I just imagined her wanting me there with her,” she said, “looking at the door, wondering when I was going to get her out of the heat.” When she found her mother in the hospital just before noon, she had a fever of 102 degrees, an IV in each arm and a catheter. Her hair was matted; a whitish crust, like dried milk, glazed her hairline, her neck and the skin around her ears. She whimpered, and jumped at Ms. Craig’s touch. “She was not the lady that I left on Thursday,” Ms. Craig said. “I trusted them. I trusted them, and they failed my mother.” That morning — three days after Irma, a few hours after Ms. Hibbard died and soon after everyone else was evacuated — someone from the power company arrived at Hollywood Hills to fix the transformer. It took 15 minutes to get the air-conditioning back on. ||||| More Videos 1:31 'We are working. Not the government; we are.' Puerto Rico cleans up after Hurricane Maria Pause 4:36 Details emerge about officer-involved shooting in Palmetto 0:42 Hurricane Irma floods area near Myakka River State Park 0:21 Southernmost Point monument in Key West is slammed by waves as Hurricane Irma arrives 1:27 New York Gov. Cuomo tours the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico 4:24 Miami Heat players react to President Trump's comments during media day 7:39 Review | MTV's 'Siesta Key' Episode 7: Back to Siesta ... I mean Sarasota 1:14 Palmetto resident describes hearing officer-involved shooting 3:03 Irma's damage to SRQ minimal other than canceled flights 0:31 Ricky Martin joins adds his voice to those asking for help for Puerto Rico Video Link copy Embed Code copy Facebook Twitter Email The conditions inside the Hollywood nursing home where 11 died Carmen Veroy’s 89-year-old parents, Libia and Gabriel Giraldo, survived the ordeal — but Veroy said she could not fathom the overheated conditions in the rehab center until her sister sent her a video of the hallway scene during a visit Tuesday night. Carmen Veroy’s 89-year-old parents, Libia and Gabriel Giraldo, survived the ordeal — but Veroy said she could not fathom the overheated conditions in the rehab center until her sister sent her a video of the hallway scene during a visit Tuesday night. The Veroy Family Carmen Veroy’s 89-year-old parents, Libia and Gabriel Giraldo, survived the ordeal — but Veroy said she could not fathom the overheated conditions in the rehab center until her sister sent her a video of the hallway scene during a visit Tuesday night. The Veroy Family

– At least 11 people have died since Hurricane Irma knocked out the air conditioning at their Florida nursing home. Florida Gov. Rick Scott ended funding for The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and suspended its license in the wake of the deaths. Now CBS Miami reports four voicemail messages left on Scott's personal cellphone by nursing home staff in the 36 hours before the first resident died were deleted. The Rehabilitation Center says those messages would have been important evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation. Before Irma made landfall, Scott instructed nursing home officials to call his cellphone if there was trouble. The vice president of The Rehabilitation Center says she did just that four times, asking for "immediate assistance" to get power restored for the air conditioning system. State officials say some of the residents had body temperatures up to 109 degrees when they died. The New York Times reports one 84-year-old appeared to have steam rising from her legs when she arrived at the hospital. A woman whose father went through an AC-less weekend at the nursing home earlier this year tells the Bradenton Herald—which has a deep look at the nursing home before and after Irma—the place was a "hellhole" and "torture chamber." “When the heat gets up to a certain level, the patients are not breathing right because they are boiling up inside," she says. A spokesperson for Scott's office says they were within their rights to delete the voicemail messages, which were immaterial anyway because "this facility chose not to call 911 or evacuate their patients to the hospital across the street to save lives."

Egypt's embattled revolution faces one of its sternest tests on Saturday, as the country goes to the polls to elect its first post-Mubarak president amid a whirlwind of popular disillusionment and an unprecedented constitutional crisis. As heavyweights from across the political spectrum queued up to condemn what they described as a "blatant coup" by the old regime – a reference to three critical legal moves over the past week that appear designed to entrench military rule – and protesters returned once again to Tahrir Square, Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei told the Guardian that his nation was on the verge of seeing a "new emperor" ascend to the throne. "We are in a total mess, a confused process that – assuming good intentions – has led us nowhere except the place we were at 18 months ago [when Mubarak fell], but under even more adverse conditions," said the opposition figurehead who withdrew from the presidential race earlier this year, arguing that a fair vote could not be held while the country remained in the grip of a violent junta. "We are going to elect a president in the next couple of days without a constitution and without a parliament. He will be a new emperor, holding both legislative and executive authority and with the right to enact laws and even amend the constitution as he sees fit." Following an emergency late-night meeting, the Muslim Brotherhood – whose candidate Mohamed Morsi is pitted against Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander and Mubarak's final prime minister, in the two-day presidential run-off vote – announced it was ignoring widespread calls to quit the electoral game in light of the constitutional uncertainty and vowed instead to fight on at the ballot box. "We are now facing a heinous coup, shamelessly aborting the revolution," claimed the political Islamists in a statement, as confirmation came through that the Brotherhood-dominated parliament had been dissolved by Mubarak-appointed judges. "Everyone knows we are facing a defining moment and a critical turning point," the statement continued, before going on to call for a "million-man march" to polling stations in an effort to hand Morsi victory and revitalise the struggle for change. "We will continue," Essam al-Erian, a senior Brotherhood official, told the Guardian. "This is our battle, the battle of the people, and voting for Mohamed Morsi means victory for the revolution." He went on to argue that a Morsi withdrawal would hand legitimacy to Shafiq and surrender the opportunity to expose electoral fraud, adding that "now that we have democracy, we must guard it". But many would question what sort of democracy Egypt is really enjoying, ahead of elections that are being conducted in a carefully manipulated climate of fear and division. Some high-profile commentators, including ElBaradei and author Alaa al-Aswany, have announced they will not be casting a ballot, echoing a grassroots boycott movement that has been steadily building up steam in recent days. ElBaradei, often viewed as a unifying figure by both secular and Islamist forces, issued one of his harshest condemnations yet of the Brotherhood and demanded to know why they were taking part in the poll at all. "The Brotherhood have not served themselves well – they have scared people right, left and centre with some of the extremist views put forward from them and other Islamist groups," he argued. "The Brotherhood should have realised that the vote they got at the parliamentary elections was not a true reflection of their support in the street – it was the product of a specific set of political conditions at the time. They should have reached out to other segments of society and built a broad coalition but they haven't done that – they started by saying we want to be part of big cake but they ended up wanting to have the whole cake for themselves." ElBaradei also spoke out against the "leaderless" vision of Egypt's revolutionary youth, claiming that the failure to delegate authority and produce a unifying set of demands had proved a "mortal mistake". On Wednesday Egypt's judiciary issued a decree extending the military's power to arbitrarily investigate and detain civilians, a move which Amnesty International labelled as "legally sanctioned abuse". With no constitution or parliament in place to check presidential power, critics fear that a Shafiq victory will deliver Egypt an army-backed autocrat with even stronger powers than Mubarak. But some analysts believe the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf), which assumed control of the country when Mubarak was overthrown in February of last year, has overplayed its hand. "In many ways the military have got more actual hard power right now in Egypt than they've had at any time since 1954," said Michael Hanna, an Egypt expert at the Century Foundation. "The day after Mubarak was toppled, the military enjoyed honorary sainthood and nobody wanted to question them. With that kind of soft power they could have found a way to protect their authority and privileges, but instead they went down a route which has ensured the role of the armed forces is now a live issue in the body politic in a way that it never was before." As darkness fell on Friday night, defeated pro-revolutionary election candidate Abdel Munim Aboul Fotouh declared that "the regime has not gone" and led a protest march across the capital which culminated in Tahrir Square. But with only hours to go before the polling stations opened their doors, demonstrator numbers were relatively thin compared to previous revolutionary rallies. "The revolutionaries are stuck because the Brotherhood are loath to join any protests – doing so would be a boon for Shafiq – and street mobilisations just help reinforce the counter-revolutionary narrative," said Hanna. "Ultimately protests in Tahrir have been normalised to the extent that they're no longer a menace to the status quo." ||||| CAIRO — Voters cast ballots on Saturday for the first competitively elected leader in Egypt ’s history, even as a last-minute grab for power by its ruling generals raised questions about whether the election would be a milestone in the transition to democracy or a facade obscuring the re-emergence of the old order. Voters faced a stark choice between two faces of the past: Ahmed Shafik, a former air force general and stalwart of former President Hosni Mubarak who promised to restore order and thwart the rise of an Islamist theocracy, or Mohamed Morsi, a veteran of the once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood campaigning as a defender of the revolution against a return of the Mubarak-era autocracy. The ruling military council that took power after Mr. Mubarak’s ouster 16 months ago had pledged that this weekend’s two-day presidential runoff would be the final step in the transition to civilian government before the generals were to cede power. The day before the vote, however, they dissolved the democratically elected, Islamist-led Parliament that had been the chief accomplishment of the revolt so far. Acting on a rushed ruling by a court of Mubarak-appointed judges, they declared they would be the sole lawmakers, even after a new president is elected. And they began drawing up a new interim constitution that would define the power of the president whom voters were choosing on Saturday. “This is the end stage of the whole transition,” said Mahmoud Ismail, 27, a political activist in the Nile Delta who said he would vote for Mr. Morsi. “To be or not to be.” The military’s seizure of Parliament precluded the possibility of the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood taking control of both the legislature and the presidency. Now, if Mr. Morsi wins, he will face a prolonged struggle for power against the generals, while Mr. Shafik — who had long been considered one of Mr. Mubarak’s likely successors — could emerge as a new military-backed strongman unrestrained by either a constitution or Parliament. Mr. Shafik, Mr. Mubarak’s last prime minister, has made no public comment on the dissolution of Parliament. He cast his ballot on Saturday in the style of his former boss, arriving at a polling place in an upscale suburb surrounded by a heavy guard of military and police officers. The lines were pushed aside and guards immediately closed the facility for his private use. Crowds of his supporters were waiting both inside and outside the polling place. “The Brotherhood is dissolved,” they chanted, cheering at the dissolution of the Brotherhood-led Parliament. State media reported that a cameraman in a military vehicle filmed Mr. Shafik’s trip to the ballot box, apparently to preserve it for posterity. Mr. Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood sought Saturday to cast the election as the last chance to beat back the full revival of the Mubarak government. He waited in line for more than two hours in the nearly 100-degree heat to cast his vote in the Nile Delta town of Zagazig, where he used to teach engineering. “God is great,” a throng of supporters cried as he emerged, and he shouted over them to salute those killed while demonstrating against Mr. Mubarak. “Today is the day of the martyrs,” he declared. “There is no place at all for Mubarak’s helpers.” Across Egypt, the streets were calm, but enthusiasm was low and turnout had fallen sharply from the first round. The two candidates, however, revved up the battle-tested political machines that helped them advance past last month’s first round of voting. Mr. Morsi turned to the Brotherhood’s system of local cells and charities built over 84 years of preaching and politics. Mr. Shafik, who surged to roughly tie Mr. Morsi in the first round of voting, scarcely a month after he announced his campaign, relied instead on the network of local power brokers, including retired army officers and former leaders in Mr. Mubarak’s defunct ruling party. David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and Kareem Fahim from Menoufia, Egypt. Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting from Cairo, and Dina Salah Amer and Liam Stack from Menoufia. ||||| Egyptians expressed wariness Saturday as they lined up in sweltering heat to vote in the runoff election for a replacement for ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. In sharp contrast to recent elections, the mood in Cairo and across the country was largely tense as Egyptians contemplated the polarizing choice between Mohamed Morsi, a conservative Islamist, and Ahmed Shafiq, who was Mubarak’s last prime minister. With the country’s lower house of parliament dissolved, the constitution suspended and the revolution pronounced all but dead, the outcome of the presidential vote that continues Sunday could not be more consequential. “This is a decisive moment, but nobody feels confident about anything,” said Samia, 45, a Shafiq supporter who asked to be identified by her first name because of her government job. “It’s like rolling the dice and hoping for the best.” The runoff began two days after a court ruling led to the dissolution of the lower house of Egypt’s Islamist-dominated parliament, a move that activists and some leading political figures described as a soft military coup. A small movement of boycotters urged voters to spoil their ballots in what they saw as an illegitimate election under military rule. The once-repressed Muslim Brotherhood has thrived since the revolt that overthrew Mubarak. The group dominated the parliament and took a sizable share of the seats in a body tasked with writing a new constitution. After the dissolution of the lower house of parliament this week, though, the military junta assumed all legislative powers. Military chiefs are soon expected to appoint a new constitutional assembly and issue a decree outlining the powers of the presidency. That means the Brotherhood’s sole hope of remaining politically powerful in the short run lies with Morsi. On Saturday, the Brotherhood appeared to be laying the groundwork to cry fraud if Shafiq is pronounced the winner. The group released a statement listing alleged violations, including military conscripts voting illegally and the arrest of revolutionaries holding pictures of slain protesters outside polling stations. However, the Brotherhood did not claim widespread fraud and expressed confidence that Morsi would win. The group’s political wing had harsh words for Egypt’s military. Dissolving parliament “confirms the desire of the military to take all authority against popular will,” a statement from the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party said. It said only a popular referendum could disband parliament. The statement called the move “an attack on the great Egyptian Revolution” and warned that the party would not honor the military’s decree about presidential powers. “Egyptians, defend your will, continue to vote heavily,” the statement said. “Remember the blood of the martyrs and the pain of the injured and do not allow in any way the return of the tyrannical and despotic regime that has always despised the Egyptian people.” Egypt’s transition has been marred by division among liberals, leftists and Islamists as well as what many see as the military rulers’ intention to protect their economic and political interests at the cost of democracy. This week, the Justice Ministry effectively put the nation under martial law, authorizing the military police to arrest any citizen suspected of a wide range of crimes. After voting in his home province of Sharqiya, Morsi promised a crowd of supporters, “I will lead you to the new Egypt and stability.” “With our soul, with our blood, we’re with you, Morsi,” men chanted, thronging around the black sport-utility vehicle that carried the candidate. In contrast, Shafiq slipped in through a side door of his polling station in suburban Cairo. The school was sealed off while he voted, and the former prime minister left with little fanfare. Turnout appeared high in some parts of the country but relatively low in the capital. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m., and some Egyptians waited more than an hour to slip their ballots into plastic bins. Final results are expected Thursday. About 150,000 security officers guarded polling stations across the country. The balloting comes about 16 months after millions of Egyptians revolted against Mubarak’s repressive rule. But since his ouster, many here have grown weary of unending protests, flashes of violence and a faltering economy. In Cairo’s working-class neighborhood of Imbaba, veiled women lined up outside a schoolhouse. “Before, everyone was happy,” said Fatima Soliman, 50. “Now nobody is happy.” When asked who she would vote for, she scanned the crowd warily and whispered, “Shafiq.” To the north, “No to Shafiq” was scrawled in black paint at a school being used as a polling station in the suburban Cairo neighborhood of Shubra el-Kheima. Inside, voters trickled in under the watchful eye of military officers. Morsi Ismail, 70, said he was thrilled that parliament had been disbanded. The Brotherhood, he said, “was trying to control all our institutions.” Rudji Mohamed, a 39-year-old upholstery repairman, was unwilling to say who he voted for but made it clear he was disheartened by the dissolution of parliament. “We lived under repression for 30 years,” he said. Special correspondents Hassan el Naggar and Ingy Hassieb contributed to this report.

– Egyptians began voting today to determine who will be the first president in the post-Mubarak era, but the mood is anything but celebratory. This week's stunning move by military leaders to dissolve parliament and essentially consolidate power has overshadowed the race between the two candidates, which is in itself what the Washington Post calls a "polarizing choice." Voters will pick either former Mubarak Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq or Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi. "We are in a total mess," Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBardei tells the Guardian. "We are going to elect a president in the next couple of days without a constitution and without a parliament. He will be a new emperor, holding both legislative and executive authority and with the right to enact laws and even amend the constitution as he sees fit." The New York Times' David Kirkpatrick sees it a little differently, writing that the winner will initially "compete with the generals for power and influence." Voting ends tomorrow.

President Donald Trump had been had been silent about now-former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon in the hours after chief of staff John Kelly formally fired him. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump thanks Bannon for his 'service,' praises Breitbart return President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked Steve Bannon for his "service," a day after ousting him as the White House chief strategist. "I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton - it was great! Thanks S," Trump tweeted. Story Continued Below Trump later followed-up on his praise for Bannon, saying his former chief strategist will be a crucial force now that he has returned to Breitbart News, the populist right-wing news site he led prior to joining Trump's campaign, as their executive chairman. "Steve Bannon will be a tough and smart new voice at @BreitbartNews...maybe even better than ever before. Fake News needs the competition!," Trump wrote on Twitter. Trump had been silent about Bannon, his former campaign CEO, in the hours after chief of staff John Kelly formally fired him. Bannon, a populist firebrand, had grown increasingly isolated in the West Wing and Trump had grown tired of his behavior and tactics. The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. Earlier in the week, Trump had offered lukewarm words about the bomb-thrower, saying, “Mr. Bannon came on very late." When asked whether he still had confidence in his chief strategist, he added: “We'll see what happens with Mr. Bannon.” Bannon on Friday returned to Breitbart News as executive chairman, where he is expected to create havoc from the outside, though Bannon said he will work to further Trump's agenda at the conservative news site. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| President Trump on Saturday predicted his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who left the White House on Friday, will give the "fake news media" some much-needed rivalry. “Steve Bannon will be a tough and smart new voice at @BreitbartNews... maybe even better than ever before,” Trump tweeted. “Fake News needs the competition!” Bannon returned to work late Friday as executive chairman at Breitbart News and chaired its evening editorial meeting Friday, the site said. The former adviser, who had a rocky 12-month tenure with Trump, said he plans to go “to war” for the president in his outside role. “If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents -- on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America,” Bannon told Bloomberg on Friday. Earlier Saturday, the president made his first public comments about Bannon’s departure from the White House. “I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning. “He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton -- it was great! Thanks S.” To be sure, Bannon’s campaign message of economic nationalism, which promised more U.S. jobs and better international trade deals, helped Trump in the final months of his campaign defeat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a come-from-behind victory. However, Bannon apparently clashed with other administration officials and advisers -- including Trump daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner -- who purportedly pushed for a more global agenda. some critics have argued that Breitbart News is a platform for white nationalists. Speculation about Bannon’s departure escalated in recent weeks, as Trump’s national approval rating dropped. And calls for his departure appeared to increase after Trump said “both sides” were to blame for the violent clashes at a rally last weekend in Charlottesville, Va., that was organized by white supremacists and in which a counter-protester was killed. Trump has purportedly been upset for months about new stories saying Bannon was the brains and genius behind his improbable White House victory. Earlier this week, he declined to confirm that Bannon’s place in the administration was secure, despite acknowledging his importance. “We’ll see,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "I like Mr. Bannon. He's a friend of mine. … He's a good person and I think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly." Trump, who last week also condemned white supremacism and neo Nazism, said Bannon was not a “racist,” and that he didn’t help him craft his responses to the deadly Charlottesville protests.

– "I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton - it was great! Thanks S," President Trump tweeted Saturday, commenting on his former chief strategist for the first time since the latter was removed from the White House. Politico notes that the tweet had a rosier tone than Trump took earlier this week when asked about Bannon's future, with the president saying, "Bannon came on very late" in the campaign, and, "We'll see what happens." In another Bannon tweet, the president wrote that Bannon "will be a tough and smart new voice at @BreitbartNews...maybe even better than ever before. Fake News needs the competition!" Fox News reports Trump had reportedly spent the past few months angered that Bannon was getting credit as the "brains" behind his political success. Meanwhile, Bannon has already returned to his former employer, Breitbart News, and vowed to go "to war for Trump."

John H. Przybyla (Photo: Contributed) FRIENDSHIP — A 75-year-old Friendship man facing a 10th offense drunken driving charge told a deputy he smelled like alcohol because he had just eaten beer-battered fish. John H. Przybyla is scheduled to make his preliminary hearing on the charge Jan. 21 in Adams County Circuit Court. He waived his right to a speedy hearing during a Dec. 2 initial appearance. According to the criminal complaint, at 2:27 p.m. Oct. 12, an Adams County deputy saw a vehicle make a U-turn on Highway 13 in Dell Prairie. The deputy followed the vehicle and saw that it had a broken tail lamp. The deputy checked the license plate and learned Przybyla owned the vehicle, and he had a revoked driver's license. As Przybyla went around a curve in the highway, the deputy saw Przybyla's vehicle go over the centerline, according to the complaint. He stopped the vehicle. The deputy asked Przybyla to put out the cigarette Przybyla was smoking. The deputy then noticed an odor of intoxicants coming from Przybyla's breath, according to the complaint. When the deputy asked Przybyla how much he had been drinking, Przybyla replied he had not been drinking. Przybyla said he had been at a fish fry on Highway 82 and had eaten beer-battered fish, according to the complaint. The deputy arrested Przybyla and took him to Moundview Memorial Hospital in Adams. Przybyla refused to take a blood test, stating it was against his religion, according to the complaint. The deputy contacted a court commissioner, who granted a warrant. Przybyla fought the blood test, and deputies had to restrain Przybyla for hospital staff members to get the blood. The results weren't available Tuesday, but a preliminary breath test done by the deputy showed a 0.062 blood-alcohol concentration. For Wisconsin residents with three or more drunken driving convictions, the legal limit is 0.02 percent. You may contact reporter Karen Madden at 715-423-7200, ext. 6729, or follow her on Twitter: @wrtkmadden Read or Share this story: http://wrtnews.co/1Ac70tW ||||| MILWAUKEE A Wisconsin man told a sheriff's deputy he had not been drinking, but rather eating beer-battered fish when he was pulled over for what could be his 10th drunken driving offense, according to an incident report released on Wednesday. John Przybyla, 73, of Friendship, Wisconsin, was stopped for a broken tail light and erratic driving on Oct. 12 by a deputy who then smelled alcohol on his breath and saw that his eyes were blood shot, according to an incident report released by the Adams County Sheriff's Department. The deputy asked Przybyla how much he had had to drink. Przybyla replied that he had not been drinking and instead had eaten beer-battered fish at a fish fry, the report said. Przybyla was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test and a breath test showed he had been drinking, the report said. Przybyla was first convicted of drunken driving in 1994. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 21 in Adams County Circuit Court, where Przybyla faces his 10th drunken driving offense, according to online court records. (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Sandra Maler)

– It was all the fish's fault, a Wisconsin man with nine drunk-driving convictions told officers when he was stopped for driving erratically. According to a police incident report, John Przybyla had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol, but when a deputy asked the 75-year-old how much he had had to drink, Przybyla claimed he had only eaten beer-battered fish, Reuters reports. Przybyla—whose driver's license had been revoked—was arrested after failing a field sobriety test and taken to the hospital, where a warrant had to be obtained for a blood test after he claimed it was against his religion, reports the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune. His drunk-driving convictions go back to 1994; his next court hearing is in January. (Earlier this year, a man found on a convenience store rooftop at 3am gave police three implausible explanations for what he was doing up there.)

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators have arrested three former Diamond Bar elementary school PTA members in connection with an alleged ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 40 people out $1 million. Maricela Barajas, 41, and Juliana Menefee, 50, both of Diamond Bar were arrested Tuesday at their homes. Also arrested in the case was Eva Perez, 51, who serving an 11-year state prison sentence after pleading guilty in San Bernardino County court last year to multiple felony counts of grand theft in connection with the same scheme. Barajas, Menefee and Perez each face at least 20 counts of grand theft and securities fraud. If convicted on all counts, each faces up to 20 years in state prison, authorities said. As members of the the Armstrong Elementary School PTA, the women were able to gain the trust of many of their victims during school events and at social functions, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker. The victims believed they were investing in the AltaDena Dairy company, a firm the women said would get high rates of return because they had exclusive rights to distribute those products at Disneyland, Disney Hotels and to small retailers, Parker said. ||||| MARICELA BARAJAS JULIANA MENEFEE EVA PEREZ DIAMOND BAR - Three former members of a local PTA were arrested for allegedly running an investment scam that defrauded more than 40 people out of millions. Investigators said the suspects earned the trust of their victims as members of the Neil A. Armstrong Elementary School PTA in Diamond Bar. Two of the suspects, 41-year-old Maricela Barajas and 50-year-old Juliana Menefee, were arrested Tuesday at their Diamond Bar homes. The third suspect, 51-year-old Eva Perez, is already serving an 11-year sentence in prison for a fraud case in San Bernardino County. She is facing additional charges from this case. Deputies said she has residences in Chino and Diamond Bar. The arrests came after a six month investigation by the sheriff's Commercial Crimes Bureau. The suspects allegedly claimed to have the exclusive rights to sell AltaDena Dairy products at Disneyland, Disney Hotels and to small retailers and promised investors returns of up to 100 percent. About $14 million was collected during the scheme from 2008 to 2010. Of that an estimated $10 million was returned to investors to keep new money coming in while the suspects allegedly kept about $4 million, according to investigators. Detectives think the suspects used the money on lavish vacations, expensive hotels, new cars, and at casinos in California and Nevada. None of the money has been recovered. The alleged scheme started to unravel when the investors pressed for Advertisement payment. Detective said the suspects organized meetings and attempted to pacify investors by explaining the delays in payment were a result of an internal audit of the business. By then one of the victims reported the scheme to the sheriff's Walnut/Diamond Bar station. Sheriff's officials said many of the investors took out second mortgages on their homes, maxed out their credit cards and invested their life savings. All transactions were done in cash and the losses ranged from $5,000 to $208,000. The victims came from all over the Southland: Chino, Diamond Bar, Gardena, Granada Hills, Lawndale, Los Angeles, North Hollywood, Norwalk, Pacoima, Pico Rivera, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Redondo Beach, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Fe Springs, South Gate, Torrance, Whittier, Wilmington, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Barajas and Menefee were being held at the sheriff's San Dimas station in lieu of $500,000 bail. Both are scheduled for a Wednesday arraignment at Pomona Superior Court. — From staff and wire reports

– Look out, Bernie Madoff: A trio of mothers in a well-to-do suburb of Los Angeles have been charged with scamming other parents out of millions. Police say the women, all members of an elementary school PTA, ran a $14 million Ponzi scheme by simply winning the trust of victims at school events and social functions, the Pasadena Star-News reports. Prosecutors say the suspects, who promised investors very high rates of return, paid out $10 million to keep new investors coming in and kept around $4 million for themselves. "Like all ponzi or pyramid schemes, they ran out of people to provide an infusion of cash to keep things going and they collapse(d)," an LA County Sheriff's spokesman tells the LA Times. Investigators say many of the 40-plus victims lost their life savings. The moms have been charged with multiple counts of grand theft and securities fraud and face up to 20 years each in prison if convicted.

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Maggie Fox A little-known virus new to the Americas is spreading and may be causing deadly birth defects, health officials say. It’s called Zika virus, and it’s moving across much of Brazil and north into Central America, carried by the same mosquitoes that carry other viruses such as dengue and yellow fever. Health officials thought Zika was pretty harmless, causing a pesky fever and muscle aches, but Brazilian health officials say it may be causing a birth defect called microcephaly, too. The Pan American Health Organization, an arm of the World Health Organization, has issued an alert about it. Microcephaly can be caused by a number of syndromes and its main symptom is a smaller-than-usual brain and head. Viruses such as German measles, chickenpox or cytomegalovirus can cause it if the mother’s infected during pregnancy, and there is no cure. The rate of cases has doubled in Brazil this year over previous years, PAHO says. “As of 30 November 2015, 1,248 cases of microcephaly, including seven deaths, have been reported in 14 states of Brazil, which are under investigation,” the organization said. "The number is increasing day by day," virologists Silvia Sardi and Gubio Soares Campos of Brazil's Federal University of Bahia, who have been tracking the virus, said in an email to NBC News. "It is becoming a serious problem, principally in poor areas, where the control of mosquitoes is a hard task," they added. “We know that there has been a huge increase in the number of cases of microcephaly. We know that Brazil has had Zika as well." “From what I understand there very definitely is something significant going on with microcephaly,” Dr. Ann Powers, a viral specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is helping with the investigation. But just because two things are going on at the same time does not necessarily mean they are connected. “We want to be sure that there is very sound scientific information to show whether there is a link or not because we don’t want people worrying unnecessarily,” Powers told NBC News. “We know that there has been a huge increase in the number of cases of microcephaly. We know that Brazil has had Zika as well. We are not certain of the overlap.” There is a little evidence, PAHO says. Tests of two pregnant women suggested the virus was in their amniotic fluid – the warm bath that cushions unborn babies inside the mother. Ultrasound had suggested the babies had microcephaly. Over the past year or so Zika’s been circulating in French Polynesia, as well, and health authorities there found an unusual increase in defects in the brains and spines of unborn and newborn babies. ”The French Polynesia health authorities hypothesize that Zika virus infection may be associated with these abnormalities if mothers are infected with the virus during the first or second trimester of pregnancy,” PAHO said. Zika had not normally been thought to cause serious illness. While it’s commonly seen in Africa, the south Pacific and parts of Asia, it has only recently come to South America, via Chile’s Easter Island. Now it’s been seen in El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela. And it’s killed at least three people, Brazil’s Ministry of Health says: a man who was healthy except for having had lupus, a healthy 16-year-old-girl, and a newborn with microcephaly. If these deaths are confirmed, they’d be the first ever attributed to Zika. CDC says only about one in five people infected with Zika virus become ill and the most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, or red eyes. “Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, pain behind the eyes, and vomiting,” CDC says. However, the virus is difficult to test for, Powers said, and can be mixed up with dengue, a similar virus, which can be fatal. “There is a lot we don’t know about this virus." “There is a lot we don’t know about this virus. It hasn’t until the last few years been a significant human pathogen,” she said. The good news is that people don’t infect one another – the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which lives in tropical regions, carries it. The Zika virus doesn’t appear to infect animals, which means it’s less likely to spread than, say, West Nile virus, which infects birds and which spread across all of the Americas in just a few years after it was first introduced in 1999. So now Zika has joined chikungunya and dengue as viruses to avoid in areas where Aedes aegypti live – which includes much of central and south America, with the occasional cases also in south Florida and south Texas, as well as Hawaii. “If you are traveling to an area where there known transmission, take precautions to avoid mosquito bites,” Powers advised. Those precautions include using insect repellants such as DEET – which CDC says is safe for pregnant women to use – wearing long pants and sleeves and staying indoors behinds screens. ||||| A rare tropical disease called Zika has made its way to the Americas recently, causing a big outbreak in Brazil and spreading to at least eight other countries. Scientists are still learning about this disease, which has long been thought to be pretty mild. But it's getting attention because Zika has also been linked to several deaths and terrible birth defects like microcephaly, which causes babies' brains and heads to stop growing to full size. Though it's still not known whether the virus caused any of this, the World Health Organization and its regional outfit the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are warning doctors and patients to be on the lookout for Zika. Here's what we know and don't know so far. What do we know about Zika? The Zika virus is transmitted to humans by the same type of mosquito (Aedes) that transmits the dengue and chikungunya viruses. Zika produces very mild symptoms — rash, headaches, pain in the bones, and fever — that usually show up between three and 12 days after a mosquito bite. These symptoms usually go away within a week, and one in four people don’t even develop any symptoms after being infected with the virus. This means people don’t usually go to the doctor for Zika, and many cases go unnoticed. There’s also no vaccine or treatment for the virus, so doctors just work on controlling and alleviating its symptoms. Part of the reason the virus hasn't gotten a lot of attention is that the mortality rate for Zika is also extremely low, and researchers don't think of it as a very deadly virus. Though Zika was first discovered in 1947 (in the Zika forest in Uganda), it hasn't bothered humans much in all these years. "There have only been about 14 or 15 cases documented until 2007," said Dr. Marcos Espinal, the director of communicable diseases at PAHO. That's when there was the first big Zika outbreak, reported in the Yap Island in Micronesia. Other Pacific Islands — Fiji, Vanuatu — and Australia have had periodic outbreaks since. In 2014, the virus made an appearance in the Americas, arriving in the Easter Islands, and since then it’s shown up in nine countries, including Mexico and Brazil. On December 1, PAHO issued an alert about the threat to the Americas, asking public health officials and doctors to be on the lookout for cases. There's a risk that people or mosquitoes carrying the disease will come into the US, so you might be hearing more about Zika in the news very soon. What don’t we know? Because it's so rare and hard to detect, there's still a lot to learn about Zika. The most pressing question about the virus is whether it causes serious developmental disorders like microcephaly, the congenital condition that's associated with a small head and incomplete brain development. There's a bit of panic about this link in Brazil right now because some of the regions with the most Zika cases have also seen an uptick in microcephaly births. Espinal said that researchers from the CDC and the Brazilian health authorities are investigating the link, but right now it's unclear whether the two are related. He explained that microcephaly can be caused by many different factors — including other viruses or Down syndrome — and researchers still don't know whether Zika can even cross the placental barrier in mothers. "There’s an ecological link there, but causality is very difficult to determine and we need more research," he added. There’s a chance that Zika causes Guillain-Barré syndrome, a very rare neurological syndrome that's been showing up in some Zika patients. But again, all researchers have now is a potential link — and more research needs to be done. Finally, there may be more to learn about how deadly Zika can be. Researchers have long believed Zika is a mild virus. (As one microbiologist put it, it's "a lamb, not a lion.") But the virus has been linked to at least seven deaths in Brazil as of November 30. Again, correlation is not causation. As Espinal said, "Zika has a very, very low mortality rate." But it's possible this virus is deadlier than scientists previously thought. Why are people talking about Zika now? Because of the current outbreak in Latin America. In February 2014, Zika was detected in Chile on Easter Island. In May 2015, Brazil confirmed its own cases. As of this October, there have been more than 1,200 cases in 14 states in Brazil. Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Panama, Suriname, and Venezuela have recently reported cases, too. So that’s why the PAHO just issued an alert about the threat, telling countries to be on the watch for the disease and any unusual birth patterns with babies. Only about 1,000 of the 60,000 cases so far have been confirmed, said Espinal, "so it's important to strengthen surveillance for Zika — to do surveillance and look for congenital abnormalities." Countries are also being advised to take measures to destroy mosquito breeding sites and raise public awareness about the virus. Is it true moms in Brazil should avoid having babies? There's a lot of panic in the news right now, especially in Brazil. Some local health officials have reportedly suggested that women there avoid getting pregnant until more is known about Zika. Espinal said there's just not enough evidence right now to justify avoiding pregnancy. PAHO is recommending pregnant women follow up with their doctors but nothing more drastic. "There’s no need to panic. We need to evaluate the data because we don't know the answers to many questions about Zika. We don't even know if the virus crosses the placental barrier." How can you protect yourself? There are no travel restrictions for countries experiencing Zika outbreaks, but public health officials are suggesting the following for those in affected regions: ||||| What is Microcephaly? Microcephaly is a medical condition in which the circumference of the head is smaller than normal because the brain has not developed properly or has stopped growing. Microcephaly can be present at birth or it may develop in the first few years of life. It is most often caused by genetic abnormalities that interfere with the growth of the cerebral cortex during the early months of fetal development. Babies may also be born with microcephaly if, during pregnancy, their mother abused drugs or alcohol; became infected with a cytomegalovirus, rubella (German measles), varicella (chicken pox) virus, or possibly Zika virus; was exposed to certain toxic chemicals; or had untreated phenylketonuria (PKU, a harmful buildup of the amino acid phenylalanine in the blood). Microcephaly is associated with Down’s syndrome, chromosomal syndromes, and neurometabolic syndromes. With viral-induced brain injury, such as with the Zika virus, there is often widespread tissue and cell death leading to brain shrinkage rather than simply impaired growth. The Zika virus is also associated with retinal lesions in about a third of cases, often leading to blindness. Depending on the severity of the accompanying syndrome, children with microcephaly may have impaired cognitive development, delayed motor functions and speech, facial distortions, dwarfism or short stature, hyperactivity, seizures, difficulties with coordination and balance, and other brain or neurological abnormalities. Is there any treatment? There is no treatment for microcephaly that can return a child’s head to a normal size or shape. Treatment focuses on ways to decrease the impact of the associated deformities and neurological disabilities. Children with microcephaly and developmental delays are usually evaluated by a pediatric neurologist and followed by a medical management team. Early childhood intervention programs that involve physical, speech, and occupational therapists help to maximize abilities and minimize dysfunction. Medications are often used to control seizures, hyperactivity, and neuromuscular symptoms. Genetic counseling may help families understand the risk for microcephaly in subsequent pregnancies. What is the prognosis? Some children with microcephaly will have normal intelligence and a head that will grow bigger, but they may track below the normal growth curves for head circumference. Some children may have only mild disability, while those with more severe cases may face significant learning disabilities, cognitive delays, or develop other neurological disorders. Many, if not most, cases of Zika microcephaly will be very severe, possibly requiring lifelong intensive care. What research is being done? The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), one of several institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and funds research aimed at understanding normal brain development, as well as disease-related disorders of the brain and nervous system. Other NIH institutes and centers also support research on disorders that may affect development. Among several projects, scientists are studying genetic mechanisms and identifying novel genes involved with brain development. Animal models are helping scientists to better understand the pathology of human disease, and to discover how the sizes of tissues and organs are impacted by developmental variability. Other researchers hope to gain a better understanding of normal brain development and the molecular and cellular mechanisms of microcephaly.

– It’s no secret: Mosquitoes are out to get you. More than a million people worldwide die from mosquito-borne maladies annually, according to the American Mosquito Control Association. And now those bloodsuckers have a new weapon in their arsenal: the heretofore rare Zika virus that is sweeping north in South America, NBC News reports. Typically more or less harmless—causing, at worst, mild symptoms in one out of five people infected—health officials in Brazil now say the virus may be linked to a serious birth defect. In that country, Vox reports, regions with the most cases of Zika also have had an increase in microcephaly, which prevents babies’ heads and brains from growing to full size. "There very definitely is something significant going on with microcephaly," CDC viral specialist Ann Powers tells NBC. However, she adds, it is not clear if the increase in cases of the birth defect is connected to Zika. According to the Pan American Health Organization, tests suggest the virus was in the amniotic fluid of two pregnant women. Ultrasounds in the same women show their babies may have microcephaly. And the virus has been linked to at least seven deaths in Brazil as of Nov. 30, Vox reports. Discovered in 1947 in Uganda's Zika forest, the first notable outbreak of the virus didn’t occur until 2007 in Micronesia. It arrived in the Americas last year, and has since been seen as far north as Mexico, according to Vox. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries Zika, NBC reports, lives in much of central and south America, as well as south Florida and Texas, and Hawaii. (At least scientists have developed malaria-proof mosquitoes.)

In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama promised that, for the first time ever, American taxpayers would be able to go online and see exactly how their federal tax dollars are spent. And for the third year in a row, he’s keeping that promise. Just enter a few pieces of information below, and the Taxpayer Receipt gives you a breakdown of how your tax dollars are spent on priorities like education, veterans benefits, or health care. Learn more about President Obama's plan to grow our economy. ||||| (CNN) -- Monday is tax day, and in case you're wondering where your money went last year, President Barack Obama is eager to let you know. He's giving you a detailed receipt. For the third year, taxpayers can visit the White House website for the nitty-gritty on how the government spends tax dollars from American households. To see your 2012 contributions to the nation's military, Social Security, health care, community development, agriculture and NASA, among others, visit the site for the year's "taxpayer receipt." "You deserve to know how your tax dollars are being spent," White House spokeswoman Colleen Curtis said in a statement. Any politics involved? The annual public disclosure comes amid a tussle among the president, Democratic legislators and their Republican counterparts over 2014 budget proposals. Legislators from both parties have slammed each other's proposals, as well as that of the president. In his budget, Obama has taken the red pen to social spending items dear to liberal Democrats in his own base and handed bigger tax invoices to the wealthy and corporations, something Republicans have resisted. Read: Democrats object to cuts His proposed reductions on Social Security and Medicare spending have caused consternation among some of Obama's supporters, who argue it will leave vulnerable Americans without enough support. Meanwhile, Republicans have also protested the proposed revenue increases and the fact the budget doesn't balance. The $3.8 trillion proposal aims to cut deficits by $1.8 trillion over the next decade. Read: Republicans object to Obama's budget proposal What do we pay the most for? Spending on the military and health care programs take up the bulk of federal income tax revenues, according to the White House. A married couple with one child making $50,000 a year -- roughly the median household income in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau -- paid an average of $995 in federal income taxes in 2012, just 1.99%. This does not include Social Security and Medicare taxes. Nearly a quarter of income taxes, $245.17, went to a category labeled "National Defense." A slightly smaller sum, $223.38, or 22.45%, was spent on "health care." Ongoing military operations, such as the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, swallow the largest sum of defense spending, laying claim to more than 10% of taxpayer dollars, the White House said. Medicare and Medicaid, programs for the country's seniors and poor respectively, take up nearly all of the "heath care" spending category in the income tax breakdown. This does not include the separate Medicare Tax of $725, or 1.45%, levied on the family used as an example. But there is other combined military and social spending included in other parts of taxpayer receipt, such as an entry for "Veterans Benefits" and a separate one for military retirement and disability. The federal government spends comparatively little on education and the promotion of science and technology. Together, they all receive less than 5% of expenditures. This includes NASA's budget. A major exception is the development and construction of weapons technology, which weighs in at 7.62% of total federal expenditures. The biggest tax by far is the workers' contributions to Social Security, which weigh in at $2,100 for a family of three earning a median income of $50,000 per year. That's 4.2% of the family's gross income and is more than its federal income and Medicare taxes taken together. How big are taxes and deficits? Over the past 40 years, the federal budget deficit has amounted to 3.1% of gross domestic product per year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That was well under the rate of inflation as measured by the labor department's consumer price index for half of those years. At 3.3%, deficits are predicted to be slightly higher over the next 10 years, as rising health care and retirement costs notch up federal spending, the budget office said. Budget deficits in the U.S. and much of the West surged with the onset of the world economic crisis in 2008, but began dropping in 2012, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. U.S. tax revenues -- including Social Security and Medicare -- have amounted to 18% of GDP over the past 40 years and are expected to rise slightly to 19% of annual GDP for the next 10 years, the budget office said. The rate of U.S. income taxes as a percentage of GDP is lower compared to most developed nations, according to the World Bank.

– As you file your 1040, the White House wants you to know just how those dollars are being spent—so, for the third year in a row, it's offering a website to calculate just that. At the 2012 Federal Taxpayer Receipt, you enter your Social Security, Medicare, and income tax payments to learn what you spent where. The site offers specifics as President Obama pushes a budget that has drawn criticism from officials on both sides of the aisle, CNN notes. CNN reviews the tax bill of a married couple with one kid, making the approximate median US income: some $50,000 a year. That family spends 1.99% of its income on income tax. The biggest portion of that, about a quarter, goes to defense spending—largely on current military operations. Some 22.45% of income tax heads to health care, the site says. Meanwhile, 1.45% of the family's household income goes to the Medicare tax. But the largest chunk, some 4.2% of income, goes to the Social Security tax.

The government has officially shut down. The partisan gridlock in Washington proved insurmountable, as House Republicans continue to insist on changing, delaying or defunding Obamacare as the price for keeping the government open, while Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama firmly rejected that position. Text Size - + reset Reid: No conference until House passes clean CR Boehner: Obamacare a bill Americans 'don't want, cant afford' Shutdown: Who's to blame? It’s the first government shutdown since 1996, when Newt Gingrich was the House speaker and Bill Clinton was president. The House and Senate stayed in session until the wee hours Tuesday morning, but there is no clear path toward solving the budgetary impasse. (POLITICO's full government shutdown coverage) In a sign of just how entrenched Washington is, Congress is fighting over just a few months of government funding. Sometime in November or December, Congress and the White House will have to agree on a longer-term funding bill to last into 2014. This is just the first fiscal fight of the fall. The debt ceiling must be lifted by Oct. 17. Stripping Obamacare of its funding has been a centerpiece of the House Republican Conference since the party took the majority in 2010. But this is the first time the GOP has declined to fund government because of the law. Obamacare’s health-insurance exchanges opened as planned Tuesday. The majority of polls show Republicans will bear the blame for this shutdown. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has privately warned House Republicans that they could lose their majority in 2014 as a result of shutting down the government. House Republicans’ last-ditch effort Monday night was to try to pass a bill that would allow the leadership to appoint negotiators to a House-Senate conference committee to hash out an agreement on government funding. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would only assign negotiators if the GOP first passed a six-week funding bill without any changes to the Affordable Care Act. (WATCH: Shutdown: Democrats vs. Republicans) The Senate won’t wait for the House to pass it’s motion to go to conference. About midnight, Reid said the upper chamber would retire for the night and reconvene at 9:30 a.m. “This is a very sad day for our country,” Reid said on the Senate floor. The House has “some jerry-rigged thing about going to conference. It is embarrassing that these people are elected to represent the country are representing the tea party.” The high-stakes legislative back-and-forth lasted for several days. The House first passed a funding bill two weeks ago, which defunded the health care law. The Senate responded by changing the legislation to fully fund the law. The House then passed several versions of its own bill to keep the fund the government — but with several caveats: first, defunding Obamacare; then a full year delay of Obamacare and a repeal of the medical device tax; then, a delay of Obamacare’s individual mandate and the cancelation of health-insurance subsidies for Capitol Hill lawmakers, aides and administration employees. The Senate dismissed each attempt. (WATCH: Boehner 'confident' House will pass CR) Several Senate Republicans said they ultimately expected their colleagues in the House to arrive at something Senate Democrats can pass to keep the government’s lights on — but not on before the government shut down. There was one bipartisan bright spot. The Senate unanimously passed a bill Monday to keep military troops paid during a shutdown, and the president signed it just a few hours before midnight. “When the House sends things that do have an attraction to members maybe we’ll see a difference,” said Sen. Richard Burr (R) of North Carolina. “We’ll go into a shutdown tomorrow and we’ll figure out how to get out of it. I think it will take a few days.” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a chief critic of the House’s attempts to attack Obamacare during the government funding debate, said he’d sign onto a clean spending bill if given the chance — and expected sometime soon he would get one. “Yeah because we can’t win. That’s going to happen sooner or later,” McCain said. ||||| Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Border Patrol officers, prison guards and air traffic controllers were told they may not be paid for their work during the shutdown. They will be paid, as will other workers who are deemed essential, but their pay may be delayed This version has been corrected. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) talks with reporters after meeting with the House Republican caucus on the eighth day of the government shutdown. House Republican leaders pressed demands for negotiations with Senate Democrats and President Obama over bills to fund the government and raise the federal debt limit, but they would not say what they are seeking in those negotiations. Oct. 8, 2013 House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) talks with reporters after meeting with the House Republican caucus on the eighth day of the government shutdown. House Republican leaders pressed demands for negotiations with Senate Democrats and President Obama over bills to fund the government and raise the federal debt limit, but they would not say what they are seeking in those negotiations. Melina Mara/The Washington Post With no agreement on a funding bill in sight, Republicans and Democrats continue to spar on Capitol Hill, while federal workers sit at home and the American public watches as an even more critical deadline on raising the federal debt limit nears. The Senate rejected House amendments to a short-term spending bill Monday, pushing the government toward its first shutdown in nearly two decades. The Senate rejected House amendments to a short-term spending bill Monday, pushing the government toward its first shutdown in nearly two decades. by Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane The U.S. government began to shut down for the first time in 17 years early Tuesday, after a Congress bitterly divided over President Obama’s signature health-care initiative failed to reach agreement to fund federal agencies. Hours before a midnight deadline, the Republican House passed its third proposal in two weeks to fund the government for a matter of weeks. Like the previous plans, the new one sought to undermine the Affordable Care Act, this time by delaying enforcement of the “individual mandate,” a cornerstone of the law that requires all Americans to obtain health insurance. The new measure also sought to strip lawmakers and their aides of long-standing government health benefits. The Democratic-led Senate quickly rejected that plan on a party-line vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) urged House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to abandon the assault on the health-care law and pass a simple bill to keep the government open. Otherwise, Reid warned, “the responsibility for this Republican government shutdown will rest squarely on his shoulders.” Boehner refused to yield. He instead won approval, in a 1 a.m. largely party-line roll call, requesting a special House-Senate committee to meet in the coming days to resolve differences between the two parties, leaving in limbo the fate of millions of federal workers and the services they provide. Shortly before midnight, the White House budget office issued a memo instructing agencies to “execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations.” The impasse means 800,000 federal workers will be furloughed Tuesday. National parks, monuments and museums, as well as most federal offices, will close. Tens of thousands of air-traffic controllers, prison guards and Border Patrol agents will be required to serve, but their pay may be delayed. And many congressional hearings — including one scheduled for Tuesday on last month’s Washington Navy Yard shootings — will be postponed. In a last-minute ray of hope for active-duty troops, Congress on Monday approved and sent to the White House an agreement to keep issuing military paychecks. But Obama warned that the broader economy, which is finally starting to recover from the shocks of the past six years, would take a substantial hit if congressional gridlock shutters “America’s largest employer.” “Keeping the people’s government open is not a concession to me. Keeping vital services running and hundreds of thousands of Americans on the job is not something you ‘give’ to the other side. It’s our basic responsibility,” Obama said in a statement Monday evening at the White House. Privately, senior Republicans predicted that the closure would last at least a week. A fraction of today’s House Republicans were on Capitol Hill in 1995 and 1996 when a Republican-led Congress last shut down the government in a dispute over the budget with a Democratic president. Younger lawmakers don’t remember the pain the shutdown caused constituents, senior Republicans said. And many of them now question the conventional wisdom that the closures weakened the GOP presidential candidate in 1996 and nearly cost the party control of the House. Democrats predicted that if the shutdown stretches into the weekend, the government-funding dispute could be rolled into an even more serious battle over the $16.7 trillion federal debt limit. The Treasury Department will begin running short of cash to pay the nation’s bills as soon as Oct. 17 unless Congress approves additional borrowing authority. With so little time remaining to avoid what would be the nation’s first default, Democratic aides predicted that negotiations to reopen the government may be merged into the debt-limit talks. On Monday evening, Obama telephoned Boehner to urge him to reconsider his stance on the health-care law. In a call that lasted nearly 10 minutes, according to Boehner’s office, the president reiterated his insistence that there would be no negotiations over the debt limit, and that Congress must pay the bills it has incurred. Boehner responded by mocking Obama in a speech on the House floor. “ ‘I’m not going to negotiate,’ ” he said, quoting Obama. “I would say to the president: This is not about me. It’s not about Republicans here in Congress. It’s about fairness.” The speech drew applause for the embattled speaker, who argued passionately that Republicans were merely seeking “fairness” for working people. Obama has delayed a mandate for employers to insure workers and delayed other requirements for big unions, Boehner said. “Yet they stick our constituents with a bill they don’t like and a bill they can’t afford,” he said. Despite the show of unity, Republicans on both sides of the Capitol remain deeply divided about the attack on the health-care law. In the House, a group of more moderate Republicans was seething about the decision to bow to the forces that oppose the Affordable Care Act, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and his allies on the right, including such outside groups as Heritage Action for America. On Monday, some publicly urged Boehner to drop the issue and seek the help of House Democrats to pass the simple government-funding bill that the Senate approved last week. “I don’t want to shut down the government,” said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), who is trying to become her state’s first GOP senator since the 1950s, adding that she was inclined to support a “clean” funding bill. Frustrations also were simmering among Senate Republicans, who complained that House leaders were pressing the attack in direct opposition to public opinion. Polls show that voters overwhelmingly disapprove of using the threat of a shutdown to defund the health-care law and that blame for a shutdown will fall squarely on Republicans. “By wanting to repeal Obamacare using this method, it defies what the popular will is,” said Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, who campaigned last year on behalf of his party’s national ticket. “I campaigned in 2012 all over this country for months: ‘Repeal and replace Obamacare.’ That was not the mandate of the voters,” McCain said. “If they wanted to repeal Obamacare, the 2012 election would have been probably significantly different.” Adding to the tension Monday was Boehner’s decision to add the provision that would strip lawmakers, congressional staff members and White House aides of the employer subsidies for health insurance they have received for many years. Now that lawmakers and their aides must join the new health-insurance exchanges, some conservative groups have criticized the subsidies, worth about $5,000 a year for individual coverage and $10,000 for families, as a “special exemption” from the new law. By including the provision, House leaders hoped to attract conservative support and put pressure on Senate Democrats, who faced the choice of shutting down the government to protect their own perks. “On what flooding peninsula can you stand when it’s a question of delaying the individual mandate, ending member subsidies and funding the government?” said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). If Reid kills it, “the senators he’s going to protect become the subject of incredible scrutiny.” Even some Republicans were uneasy about the prospect of dealing their aides — and some of their colleagues — the equivalent of a big pay cut. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) called it an “outrage,” adding that Boehner had worked directly with Reid and the Obama administration to make sure the subsidies would stay in place when congressional employees join the exchanges next year. Boehner and his team presented the proposal to rank-and-file Republicans in a closed-door meeting Monday. For more than an hour and a half, lawmakers argued about the plan. They emerged with an unusual number of public dissenters, including Rep. Peter T. King (N.Y.), one of a dozen Republicans who ultimately voted against the proposal. “I don’t want to be the facilitator of a disastrous process and plan,” he said. Still, most Republicans endorsed the deal, even if somewhat reluctantly. “I think this is a principled call by leadership and it has the support of the con­ference,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), one of Boehner’s closest friends. Democrats, meanwhile, were united against any attempt by Republicans to extract concessions now, especially with the larger fight over the debt limit swiftly approaching. “The bottom line is very simple,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). “You negotiate on this, they will up the ante for the debt limit.” Ed O’Keefe, Rosalind S. Helderman, Jackie Kucinich and Jeff Simon contributed to this report.

– The question is no longer, "Will the government shut down?" It's, "How long will the shutdown last?" After an evening of back-and-forth bills between the House and Senate, the clock has run out, and the government indeed began shutting down at midnight for the first time in 17 years, reports the Washington Post. That means about 800,000 federal workers will be furloughed immediately, and a host of government services will be suspended. (The mail will still be delivered.) Lawmakers did manage one thing: The Senate unanimously passed a measure that makes sure US troops will get paid during the shutdown, reports Politico. Tonight's political ping-pong began when House Republicans voted in favor of an amendment to the spending bill that would delay ObamaCare's individual mandate for one year and wipe out a health-insurance subsidy for members of Congress, their staffers, and the president. The vote was 228-201; the Senate promptly rejected the House bill and sent it back. Rather than try to jam another doomed bill through, John Boehner instead opted to appoint a committee to try to hash out differences between the two parties over the next few days.

Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com ||||| The work environment inside Google's Manhattan headquarters is an example of how the company uses data analysis to try to keep workers healthy, happy and ultimately uninterested in the lure of competitors. The work environment inside Google's Manhattan headquarters is an example of how the company uses data analysis to try to keep workers healthy, happy and ultimately uninterested in the lure of competitors. Yana Paskova/For The Washington Post Last year Google had an M&M problem. So as it does with most dilemmas, the Internet giant put its data wizards into action. Employees were eating too much of the free candy and that, the firm surmised, might hinder efforts to keep workers healthy and happy. So in what could be called Project M&M, a special ops force of behavioral science PhDs conducted surveys of snacking patterns, collected data on the proximity of M&M bins to any given employee, consulted academic papers on food psychology, and launched an experiment. What if the company kept the chocolates hidden in opaque containers but prominently displayed dried figs, pistachios and other healthful snacks in glass jars? The results: In the New York office alone, employees consumed 3.1 million fewer calories from M&Ms over seven weeks. That’s a decrease of nine vending machine-size packages of M&Ms for each of the office’s 2,000 employees. The titan of Internet data is taking its own medicine, using the data analysis that has helped the company produce $55 billion in revenue each year to improve the morale and productivity of its 40,000 employees. Many tech companies offer perks such as free snacks or cafeteria food. But at Google, almost every benefit is broken down into crunchable, poll-able or graphicable data, including salaries, the length of maternity leave, the size of the plates used at the food bar or even the squishy goal of workplace happiness. Google says it’s too hard to prove that the M&M experiment directly led to a svelter staff or whether employees felt happier just because they were eating less of the calorie-packed snack. It won’t talk about how many people leave the company each year. But the Mountain View, Calif., firm often ranks high on best places to work surveys by Fortune magazine and other business publications. And the company credits efforts like the M&M project as a testament to the benefits of science over feel-good ideas or gut instinct that have dominated human resource philosophy. “Data can be a way at getting to the truth. When people talk about data, it becomes an abstract of machines, robots and terabytes of information. But really, it’s just facts; numbers that describe a reality,” said Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of People Operations, the group overseeing most human resource issues. Of course, the use of data doesn’t negate a manager’s instinct or common sense, he said. In August of last year, Google started giving death benefits because it was “the right thing to do,” Bock said — a decision that was not based on an in-depth data analysis. The benefit grants the partners of deceased employees half of that person’s pay for a full decade. But too often, Bock said, leaders at other firms rely on what feels right without considering the truths that can be laid bare in the collection of data. Some workplace experts question the lengths that Google is going to analyze every corner of its offices. Some of the lab experiments are remarkably obvious. If you put out more free fruit, of course it will be taken. And some analysts question whether the free meals, napping stations and inexpensive massages make people stay in the office longer, perpetuating a work-obsessed culture that has eaten into family life and community. “You have to question the expectations behind such perks. If they are giving you dinner and lunch, you are probably not expected to leave at that time. Perks aren’t just about fun and games,” said Miriam Salpeter, owner of Keppie Careers, a job search and social media consulting firm. “They may have really good motives, but for a for-profit business, the motives are ultimately to make a profit, and everyone is a cog in that wheel for creating the good ideas, useful tools and other things the company is creating.” Yet other experts say Google is trying to signal that it cares about employees. And in a dour economy where pensions, health care and other core benefits are being cut to the bone, Google’s efforts are welcomed by new employees. “There may be a symbolic importance in the M&Ms, where an employee could interpret the experiment as part of a culture that cares for them, where leaders are connected to its people,” said John Nelson, a career expert and author of “What Color is My Parachute for Retirement.” For Google, it’s more than just the candy that employees consume. In another case, the company tried to get workers to drink more water. So it stashed bottled water on eye-level shelves and behind clear glass. It then put sugary sodas on the bottom shelves of refrigerators and behind frosted glass. After several weeks, water consumption increased 47 percent while the calories consumed by drinking sugary beverages fell 7 percent. Some of these results were displayed on signs in hallways and in the cafeterias for Google’s stats-loving employees. In a follow-up survey, Google said 70 percent of its 40,000 employees said they like knowing nutritional facts. In the New York office alone, there are four full cafeterias and 35 “microkitchens.” Co-founder Sergey Brin insists that every Google employee be no more than 200 feet away from free food. The idea is that eating brings people together, and new products and services could be imagined when engineers and business leaders meet at kitchens and dining halls. But even the plates at the food bars have been Google-ized. To get people to eat smaller portions, the staff experimented with plate sizes, providing a big one and a small one. Nearly one-third of employees chose the smaller plates and didn’t go back for more servings. When Google posted the result in cafeteria signs, the overall use of small plates increased a further 50 percent. This helped the company’s goal of reducing the calories consumed by its workers. “With a company as big as Google, you have to start small to make a difference. We apply the same level of rigor, analysis and experimentation on people as we do the tech side,” said Jennifer Kurkoski, a PhD in organizational behavior and a member of Google’s HR team commonly called “People Ops” within the company. Engineering manager Mike Harm said he doubts the free banana chips and granola would make the difference in deciding where someone works. But Harm, who has been working on Google’s cloud storage app for six years, admits he likes the paternal nudge of Google putting dried seaweed snacks and ripened pears within easy grasp. Chocolate peanut butter cups and potato chips are still available. But they are stashed in drawers. “What I love is that I don’t have to ever think twice about the coffee beans in this machine being stocked,” he said banging on a high-end Italian espresso maker in one of the New York office’s kitchens. “It’s removing the obstacles of my day to just let me focus on what I want to do.” “It’s about the work, not the fact that I get free food. I have a Manhattan apartment; I can afford to buy Pringles at the corner market,” he added, munching on air-popped plain popcorn. Inside Google’s offices, the energy is as kinetic as the streets of Manhattan. Employees dart down halls on scooters. Hallways are busy with fast-walking employees cradling MacBooks in their arms. In the Watertower Cafe, one of the cafeterias, murals of the cityscape blend with massive windows that open into views of Manhattan rooftops. Planters of live ferns and rocks are scattered throughout the dining area so that it feels like al fresco dining. Even New York’s famously gritty subway air vents have been re-created. On one floor, designers put wads of chewed gum, dust and dirt under the ornamental vents to make them look authentic. The company won’t say how much it spends on such perks. It’s guarded about its People Ops team, which began in 2006 as the company exploded in size. And it won’t disclose the number of people who worked on the M&M project. Spokeswoman Chrissy Persico said Google does not use such benefits to keep people in the office. Yet the effects are clear to engineers such as Alex Golynski, who was grabbing a heaping cup of raspberries and espresso from a Lego-inspired micro-kitchen near his cubicle on a recent afternoon. Golynski darts around the office in one of the freely available Google scooters. He would have picked fruit over M&Ms even if the candy were easy to reach, he said. And he’s never stopped to think much about the nutritional data displayed about the candy. “The food is convenient,” said Golynski, who has worked on search engineering for five years. “So I spend time at my desk,” he added, scooting away. Sarah Halzack contributed to this report. ||||| People Operations Be the champions of Google's culture. Made up of equal parts HR professionals, former consultants and analysts, we’re the champions of Google’s colorful culture. In People Operations (you probably know us better as "Human Resources"), we "find them, grow them, and keep them" - bringing the world’s most innovative people to Google and building programs that help them thrive. Whether recruiting the next great Googler, refining our core programs, developing talent or simply looking for ways to inject more fun into the lives of our Googlers, we bring a data-driven approach that is reinventing the human resources field.

– Should you ever doubt Google's analytical prowess, just re-read this article. The Washington Post takes a look at Project M&M, which is exactly what you think it couldn't possibly be: the company's analysis of its employees' perceived over-consumption of the free candy, to the detriment of their health and happiness. Google's People Operations group (overseers of all things HR) dug in, collecting data on how close employees sit to the candy, reading up on academic papers related to food psychology, and conducting a test: M&Ms were moved into opaque containers, while dried fruit and nuts were stored in clear glass. It apparently had an effect: Over seven weeks, the New York office's 2,000 employees ate 3.1 million fewer M&M-supplied calories. No word on a corresponding increase in fruit/nut calories, but the tech giant does, of course, know how many employees are likely glad it did the analysis: a survey showed 70% of its 40,000-strong workforce liked being privy to nutritional facts like these. More food facts for non-Googlers to salivate over: That NYC office features four cafeterias and 35 "microkitchens," in keeping with the rule that employees are no more than 200 feet away from free food at all times. The one number Google won't give up? How many people worked on the M&M project. Fun side note: The Wall Street Journal reports M&Ms became a Google staple thanks to the company's first employee, Craig Silverstein.

A missing Los Angeles teenager was sexually assaulted, kept in a metal box and forced to process marijuana for her two captors, according to a federal criminal complaint filed this week. Prosecutors said the girl was held by Ryan Balletto, 30, and Patrick Pearmain, 24, who are charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, using a minor in a drug operation and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. According to prosecutors, the case was blown open when a Los Angeles police detective called Lake County sheriff’s officials asking about a connection between Balletto and the girl. UPDATES: Pot farm raid reveals horrifying tale of teen's captivity An initial visit to the Balletto’s 680-acre property in Lake County by deputies on April 29 turned up nothing. But the next day, the girl called sheriff’s deputies back on a cellphone, court documents show. The girl told authorities she was doing “OK” and was with Balletto in Sacramento. Authorities traced the cellphone to West Sacramento, where police found the girl in a hotel with Pearmain. Police arrested the two. Police also allegedly found a bag full of marijuana, prescription drugs, condoms and a pregnancy test. Pearmain also had a notebook on him that had an apparent script for the girl to read to police over the phone, authorities claim. Sketches of a marijuana greenhouse and a list of supplies were also found. DOCUMENT: Read the criminal complaint The girl told authorities she was having consensual sex with both men, which officials noted is not legally possible given her age. She said the men told her they were on a “mission” with the marijuana and that they were holding her because she was so good at “trimming” or processing it for drying. On May 1, authorities raided Balletto’s rural home and his second home in Lakeport. On the rural property, which the girl knew as “the farm,” investigators found a metal box with holes in it. Spray painted on the outside was the first initial of the teenage girl’s name and inside was a decal that “depicted an animal skull surrounding the shadow image of a human skull with the logo ‘Bone Collector,’” according to the court documents. Human hair was found inside, prosecutors said. The girl said she was kept in the box for a total of three days and was given water through a hose. The box was hoisted into the air and tilted at an angle so when water was poured inside it would wash the girl and clean human waste out of the box, court documents say. Authorities said they also found a poem signed by the girl inside describing life in the box. Elsewhere on the property, investigators found sex toys and a wooden-framed “rack” to hoist and immobilize people. It was used for sexual bondage and sadomasochism, authorities said. A white towel below the rack had blood on it, according to prosecutors. Outside of Pearmain’s trailer on the property, authorities also found a pile of “well-worn” disassembled wood, metal and leather. UPDATES: Pot farm raid reveals horrifying tale of teen's captivity More than 1,200 marijuana plants were found on the property and destroyed, according to court documents. There are indications the girl may not have been the only victim. During a search of the Lakeport property, authorities found a ponytail of human hair inside Balletto’s gun safe, along with 17 guns and $4,000 in cash. Balletto’s girlfriend was staying at the home with their five children, officials said. The two face 10 years to life in prison but have yet to be charged in the alleged abuse of the teen. ALSO: Amanda Bynes' mental-health hold extended San Diego Mayor Bob Filner to enter therapy after harassment claims Abcarian: If Zimmerman 'got away with murder,' how 'stand your ground' law helped Joseph.serna@latimes.com @josephserna ||||| July 25, 2013 9:20 PM Get Breaking News First Receive News, Politics, and Entertainment Headlines Each Morning. Sign Up SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — Authorities said a 15-year-old girl was forced to work on a marijuana grow and sexually abused by two men in Northern California who allegedly locked her in a metal toolbox for days. The allegations against 30-year-old Ryan Balletto and 24-year-old Patrick Pearmain are outlined in a criminal complaint that was unsealed in federal court in San Francisco. Authorities alleged Balletto and Pearmain used the girl to cut marijuana buds at a Lake County property and had sex with her. The box where the girl was held captive was right next to a trailer on the grow operation property. The girl told police she spent at least 3 days locked inside the 4 by 2-foot case. Near the box, officers said they also found a noose and a rack to hold someone against their will, as well as other sex devices related to bondage. The girl told police that the men called her a “trooper” because she didn’t scream while being locked inside the box. The feds were already investigating the grow operation when the LAPD called Lake County authorities alerting them that a girl who had been reported missing in Los Angeles might have been kidnapped and held in Clearlake against her will. Along with more than a thousand marijuana plants, the cops also confiscated a stash of weapons, which they described as “the largest and most sophisticated bulk of weapons seized in recent Lake county Sheriff’s Office history.” As for the girl, authorities said she’s in a safe place now. One law enforcement source told KPIX 5 that there is some indication there may be more victims. The feds are asking if anyone else has been victimized by the suspects to alert the department of homeland security. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Balletto and Pearmain had retained attorneys. (Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

– Police shut down a big pot farm in California's Lake County, but the two men arrested are expected to face far more horrific charges. Authorities say the men kept a 15-year-old girl in a metal box on the farm, reports the Los Angeles Times. They had sex with her, and held her so she could help process the marijuana, say police. The 4- by- 2-foot box had air holes so she could breathe, and one paragraph in the LAT story is especially tough to take: "The girl said she was kept in the box for a total of three days and was given water through a hose. The box was hoisted into the air and tilted at an angle so when water was poured inside it would wash the girl and clean human waste out of the box, court documents say. " In addition to destroying more than 1,000 pot plants, police confiscated a massive cache of weapons and all kinds of sex and bondage equipment, reports CBS San Francisco. Ryan Balletto, 30, and Patrick Pearmain, 24, are charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana, using a minor in a drug operation, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. So far, no charges have been filed regarding the teen's abuse. Lake County authorities unraveled the case when the LAPD called and asked about a possible connection between the missing girl and Balletto.

London, England (CNN) -- A Saudi prince was found guilty Tuesday of murdering an aide at a London hotel in February, in a case prosecutors said had a sexual element. Prince Saud Abdulaziz Bin Nasser Al Saud was found guilty of both murder and grievous bodily harm in the killing of Bandar Abdulaziz. Abdulaziz died after a severe beating left him with swelling and bruising of the brain and fractured ribs and neck. He also had bite marks on his face, ears and arm. The prince had not denied killing the aide, but said he had not intended to do so. He is due to be sentenced Wednesday and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He did not take the stand in his own defense. Because the prince did not deny killing Abdulaziz, the jury's job was to determine if he was guilty of murder or manslaughter. To do that, jurors had to determine the prince's state of mind and his intent at the time he killed Abdulaziz. The jury took just over an hour and a half Tuesday to reach its verdict. The prince -- who is both a grandson and a great-nephew of Saudi King Abdullah, since his parents are cousins -- showed no reaction as the jury's unanimous verdict was read in court. Police said after the verdict that the prince had shown no remorse when he was questioned about his servant's death, instead "concocting a story" about how he died. "When that was found to be a pack of lies, he tried to claim diplomatic immunity," but did not qualify for it, John McFarlane of London's Metropolitan Police told journalists outside the court Tuesday. Prosecutors said the prince's systematic mistreatment of the victim had a sexual element. The bitings suffered by Abdulaziz were not a factor in his death, but had "an obvious sexual connotation," prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw said in his opening statement two weeks ago. The two men were in London earlier this year as Al Saud took in Morocco, the Maldives and other European cities on a long global holiday with Abdulaziz as his companion. Al Saud's lawyer, John Kelsey-Fry, said in his closing argument Monday that Al Saud "must live with the consequences" of having killed Abdulaziz, but he never intended to harm him. Kelsey-Fry reminded the jury that a pathologist had been unable to determine how Abdulaziz died but that only one of his injuries, by itself, could have killed him -- a compression of the neck, the barrister said, that could have been caused when Al Saud grabbed Abdulaziz briefly by the throat. An "awful, reprehensible, culpable act," he said, "but an act of murder?" Kelsey-Fry also challenged the prosecution's assertion that the defendant and the victim had a master-servant relationship, telling the jury that the two men had "enjoyed a genuine friendship." He also disputed suggestions from the prosecutor and several witnesses that the prince and his aide had a gay relationship. During their visit to London, the two men shared a hotel room, went shopping together and stayed out late in bars and nightclubs. Earlier in the day, prosecutor Laidlaw presented his closing argument. He told the jury they might consider drawing an "adverse inference" from the prince's refusal to face questions. The case "cries out for an explanation," he said, adding that the jury might care to reflect on how the prince might have answered questions about the nature of his relationship with Abdulaziz, why it was that he attacked him on more than one occasion, his account of what happened the night his aide died and why it was that he waited hours before informing anyone of his death. When he did contact authorities, Al Saud said that Abdulaziz had been assaulted by robbers three weeks earlier. He is a man, said Laidlaw, "incapable of telling the truth." CNN's Andrew Carey contributed to this report. ||||| A Saudi prince who beat and strangled his servant to death at the culmination of a campaign of "sadistic" abuse is facing a life sentence after being convicted of murder. Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, a grandson of the billionaire king of Saudi Arabia, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of killing Bandar Abdulaziz at their five-star hotel suite in central London. Saud had been drinking champagne and cocktails when he bit the 32-year-old hard on both cheeks during the attack in February. The pair had just returned from a Valentine's night out. The 34-year-old prince was found guilty of murder today after the jury had deliberated for an hour and 35 minutes. He showed no reaction as the verdict was returned. The court had heard that the murder of Abdulaziz was the final act in a "deeply abusive" master-servant relationship in which the prince carried out frequent attacks on his aide "for his own personal gratification". Jurors were told that by the early hours of 15 February, Abdulaziz was so worn down and injured – having suffered a "cauliflower" ear and swollen eye from previous assaults – that he let Saud kill him without a fight. The prince then spent hours on the phone to a mysterious contact in Saudi Arabia trying to decide how to cover up what he had done. He ordered two glasses of milk and bottled water on room service as he set about dragging the body into the bed and trying to clean up the blood. It was only about 12 hours later, after a chauffeur had received a call from Saudi Arabia telling him to go to the £259-a-night Landmark hotel, that the body was discovered in room 312. The prince claimed he had woken in the afternoon to find he could not revive his friend – by then stiff with rigor mortis – and explained his injuries by saying he had been attacked and robbed of €3,000 in London's Edgware Road a few weeks before. Detectives took him to the area to try to retrace the route, but as they did so, other officers who were reviewing CCTV at the hotel found footage of Saud mercilessly attacking his aide in a lift on 22 January. When he was then taken to Paddington Green police station and arrested, Saudi officials tried to claim he had diplomatic immunity, but this was scotched by a check of Foreign Office records. Saud tried to cover up the true nature of his relationship with his servant, claiming they were "friends and equals", but a porter at the Marylebone hotel where they had stayed said Abdulaziz was treated "like a slave". The prince also claimed he was heterosexual and had a girlfriend in Saudi Arabia, but he had booked appointments with at least two male escorts and one gay masseur, and looked at hundreds of images of men on gay websites. Photographs of Abdulaziz in "compromising" positions were found on his phone. Saud had denied killing his servant until shortly before the trial, before finally admitting that he had caused his death. Jurors rejected a claim by his barrister, John Kelsey-Fry QC, that Saud was guilty only of manslaughter. The prince was convicted of murder and a second count of grievous bodily harm with intent relating to the attack in the lift. Sources said detectives in the case had received little help after requests for information were sent through Interpol to their Saudi colleagues. Saud's lawyers also failed in a last-ditch attempt to stop details of his encounters with male escorts being revealed during the trial. In a sign of the anxiety about his sexuality becoming public, the prince's lawyers had initially argued that the legal argument about the escorts should be held behind closed doors. Kelsey-Fry said Saud had already faced abuse from Islamic fundamentalists being held alongside him at Belmarsh prison. The court heard that homosexuality remains a capital offence in Saudi Arabia, and the country in which the acts take place has little relevance to prosecution under the country's sharia law. Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane said: "The defendant used his position of power, money and authority over his victim Bandar to abuse him over an extended period of time. "CCTV recovered clearly shows Bandar was subjected to assaults in the hotel. The injuries which were noted by the pathologist clearly show Bandar was the victim of many more assaults over an extended period of time. This verdict clearly shows no-one, regardless of their position, is above the law." Saud was remanded in custody to be sentenced tomorrow.

– A Saudi prince who beat, strangled, and bit his servant to death in a London hotel has been found guilty of murder. Prosecutors, who showed video of the prince kicking and punching the servant inside a hotel elevator, said the savage killing was linked to sex, CNN notes. The prince, who tried and failed to gain diplomatic immunity, faces a possible life sentence in a British jail, and a possible death sentence—for homosexuality, not murder—if he is deported to Saudi Arabia.

The sign appears to be part of a superhero-themed marketing campaign that is not related to guns. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post) Walmart is apologizing after a photo of a back-to-school sign over a glass firearms display in one of its stores rocketed across social media. “Own the school year like a hero,” the Walmart sign read. One Twitter user had a simple question for Walmart, the largest retailer of firearms and ammunition in the United States: “What are you suggesting?” The sign appears to be part of an ongoing superhero-themed marketing campaign that is not related to guns. The photo appeared to create confusion within the company, whose explanation for the store’s location was at odds with a woman claiming to have seen and photographed the display. Charles Crowson, a spokesman for Walmart, told The Washington Post that the chain’s operations team is working to identify the store in question, which involves looking for what the company is calling “patient zero” — the first photo of the display. Crowson said the display and the configuration of the store suggest the photo is legitimate. It was not clear whether the sign was placed there by an employee or a shopper. “What’s seen in this photograph would never be acceptable in our stores,” he said in a statement. “We regret this situation and are looking into how it could have happened.” He declined to comment on the connection critics were making between guns and mass shootings on school campuses. [Walmart blasted after an online ad includes the n-word] Crowson said early indications that the sign was at a store in Evansville, Ind., were incorrect. But Leeanna May, who told The Post she took the photo, insisted it was true. May said she was in Evansville on an early-morning shopping trip Wednesday with her husband when they walked by the sporting goods section, where May spotted what she called a “disgusting” display. “We have already lost so many innocent lives to guns,” she said, adding that she drew an immediate connection between firearms and school shootings. May said she alerted store employees but could not find a manager. “People don’t seem to honestly care,” she said. Walmart’s Twitter account replied to dozens of angry comments about the photo. In what appears to be the first reply over the incident, the company tweeted May, whose account is now private, at 8:17 a.m. Wednesday morning to ask the location of the store. We appreciate you letting us know about this display. Which store location was this? -Vik — Walmart (@Walmart) August 9, 2017 I'm happy to tell you our store manager Christina has removed the sign from the display. Thanks again for alerting us to this. -Vik — Walmart (@Walmart) August 9, 2017 After May said that the store was in Evansville, the company replied at 9:33 a.m. to say: “I’m happy to tell you our store manager Christina has removed the sign from the display. Thanks again for alerting us to this.” Crowson reiterated Wednesday that the company does not believe this sign was at the Evansville store after a review of photographs and surveillance video, which concluded the configuration of the sporting goods section was “not consistent” with the photo. The display is yet another marketing-related mishap for the megachain. In July, Walmart was blasted for using a racist term to describe a wig cap sold on its online store. The third-party item’s color was listed as “n—– brown.” Walmart also drew fire ahead of Sept. 11 last year, when a Panama City Beach, Fla., store used Coca-Cola products to build an American flag display with two black towers, signifying the World Trade Center under a banner image of the New York skyline with a message “WE WILL NEVER FORGET.” Read more: Tourists stumbled upon a car crash — then saw the driver drag a body into the woods ‘Long time coming’: Army returns remains of Arapaho children who died at assimilation school

– Retailers are currently in the middle of the back-to-school frenzy, but Walmart is taking heat after someone snapped a photo of a glass display case filled with guns underneath a sign that reads, "Own the school year like a hero." CNNMoney reports that picture has gone viral on social media and that Walmart is now scrambling to identify the store in question and do damage control. Reaction online has, in general, not been positive, with many drawing the line between the display and school shootings. One Twitter user asked, "... what are you suggesting?" Wednesday, with Walmart's official Twitter account replying: "We hear you. This was horrible and we removed the sign as soon as we found out." The Washington Post notes the sign appears to have come from a separate, non-gun-linked Walmart campaign, and that corporate is trying to figure out if a worker placed the sign near guns or a shopper did. "What's seen in this photograph would never be acceptable in our stores," a Walmart rep says. Walmart is hedging on where the store in question is located. But Leeanna May, the woman who says she took the photo, claims it's in Evansville, Ind., and that she spotted the "disgusting" display while shopping with her husband Wednesday. "We have already lost so many innocent lives to guns," she says. (Walmart had issues around a racial slur last month.)

Photograph by Mary Evans/LUCASFILM/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection Updated 3:08 pm EST President Barack Obama is no Jedi knight, and no Vulcan — by his own accounts today. And he’s certainly not both. It would seem that to cross “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” in one reference, as the commander-in-chief did today at the White House, is best not done. At the same time, one expert tells us, Obama may have been on to something. There was Obama this morning, apparently mixing up his Spocks and Solos after meeting with congressional leaders in an apparently-futile meeting to dodge the budget cuts of sequestration. “I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington,” the president said, “that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should, somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right.” Instantly Twitter lit up in high snark that the president had confused two of the most famous tactics of science fiction — the Jedi mind trick and the Vulcan mind meld — sparking “geek outrage” Yet something triggered in my mind, stored in the files of years of sci-fi fandom, that perhaps the president wasn’t actually incorrect. Maybe Twitter was wrong. And somehow, I think LucasFilm was expecting my call. Here’s the verdict, according to those who should know: Obama was actually — probably inadvertently — right. There is such a thing in Star Wars books and spinoffs as a Jedi battle meld, according to Pablo Hidalgo, who goes by the informal title of “Star Wars guru” at LucasFilm. In such a battle meld, those fluent in the Force link their minds toward a common purpose at a time of great conflict. And though Hidalgo — chuckling throughout the entire interview — suspects it was probably a mixup of of Star Wars and Star Trek, he can’t be 100 percent sure. While there’s no evidence the president of the United States reads or has read Star Wars books, or is conversant in extended Star Wars lore, Hidalgo said, “he may have tipped off deeper knowledge than anyone may have suspected.” Twitter is still on the case: Ease The Geek Rage: Obama’s Technically Right, There Is a Jedi Meld tcrn.ch/Z2P4y7 by @ferenstein — TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) March 1, 2013 Even Spock weighs in: Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress. LLAP — Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) March 1, 2013 And finally the White House, with some more mixing of Wars and Trek: ||||| Topics: Barack Obama, White House, Star Trek, Star Wars, slideshow, Politics News In a press conference Friday, President Obama outraged nerds everywhere when he mixed up his “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” references and referred to a “Jedi mind meld.” The comment quickly took hold of the Internet (and spawned the hashtag #ObamaSciFiQuotes). Even the White House riffed on the mix-up with a tweet that (probably) intentionally confused the two franchises again: Despite this, Obama has pretty strong nerd cred. Here’s a look back at the best of those moments: ||||| Star Trek actress, Nichelle Nichols posts this image, on twitter of herself and President Obama in the Oval Office, Feb. 29, 2012. In March of 2013, President Obama conflated a Star Wars Jedi reference with a Star Trek Vulcan reference. (Twitter/@realnichelle) Update at 3:36 from ABC's Jonathan Karl: The White House really likes this "Jedi Mind Meld" thing. Here is the photo they have just tweeted out, with Obama as Dr. Spock decrying the "illogical". Keep in mind, of course, the Jedi were in Star Wars, not Star Trek, but you get the point … And here's what the original Dr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy had to say: Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress. LLAP — Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) March 1, 2013 Original Post: It had no real bearing on his press conference about the very serious matter of the U.S. deficit and the upcoming sequester, but the President showed himself to be neither committed Trekkie nor Star Wars fanboy at a White House press conference today. Related: Obama, Republicans Fail to Avert Sequester After an hour-long meeting between Democrats and Republicans ended without any resolution to the dreaded sequester that is set to kick in today, a reporter asked the president why he didn't lock congressional leaders in a room and make them work until there was a deal. Here's how he responded: I am not a dictator, I'm the president. So ultimately, if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, we need to go to catch a plane, I can't have Secret Service block the doorway, right? (Cross talk.) No, no, I understand. And - and I - and I - I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that's been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, that most people agree I'm presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don't take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right. Well, you know, they're elected. We have a - a constitutional system of government. The speaker of the House and the leader of the Senate and all those folks have responsibilities. What I can do is I can make the best possible case for why we need to do the right thing. I can speak to the American people about the consequences of the decisions this Congress is making or the lack of decision-making by Congress. Wait. Jedi mind meld? There are Jedi mind tricks, of course, from Star Wars. And there is Vulcan Mind Meld, from Star Trek. But in equating the two, the president erred. He mixed Star Wars and Star Trek. The people who spend a lot of time on Twitter in the middle of the day, naturally got immediately diverted from sequestration and decided instead to poke fun at the Sci-Fi / Fantasy conflagration by the commander-in-chief. How about that Beatle's Album Exile on Main Street? How ever did the Yankees overcome the ' Curse of the Bambino?' Of course, there is an argument that he could be forgiven for the mix-up. The two franchises will now sort of be linked since Star Trek reboot director J.J. Abrams is signed on to direct a Star Wars reboot. Related: The Force Will Be With J.J. Abrams If America can bring Star Wars and Star Trek together like that, why can't she fix the deficit? Obama complained that Republicans won't negotiate with him. House Speaker John Boehner, appearing at his own press conference up on Capitol Hill, said Republicans wouldn't accept any more addition revenue - taxes - as part of any deficit reduction plan. They accepted some earlier this year as part of a deal to extend Bush era tax cuts for most Americans. He rattled off the things he would accept as long as Republicans would accept still more revenue. "Give me an example of what I'm suppose to do," he said to a reporter, suggesting the White House and Republicans just can't find an earthly way to agree. So maybe he could use a bit of the Force to achieve a bit of mind meld. Endnote: Oh, and by the way, a writer at Bloomberg has the sense to call Lucasfilm and ask if a "Jedi Mind Meld" was actually a thing. Turns out there is reference in the larger Star Wars universe to a "Jedi Mind Meld," but we doubt if that's what Obama had in mind. From Bloomberg:

– As the Twitter-verse made abundantly clear today, President Obama mixed up his Star Trek/Star Wars references in the heat of the sequester moment. If you missed, Obama complained that he couldn't "do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what's right," reports ABC News. It should be, as countless tweets pointed out, either a Jedi mind trick (Star Wars) or a Vulcan mind meld (Star Trek). Some of the reaction: "Only a Vulcan mind meld will help with this congress," tweeted the man himself, Leonard Nimoy. The White House got in on the act, tweeting a photo under the "JediMindMeld" hashtag with the intro, "We must bring balance to the force." Bloomberg makes the case that Obama was, probably by accident, kind of correct because spinoff books talk about a "Jedi battle meld." Salon offers a slideshow to bolster Obama's nerd cred, including one of him giving the Vulcan salute with Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lt. Uhura.

OAKLAND — A former student at a small Christian college opened fire in the middle of a classroom, leaving seven people dead in one of California's worst mass killings.Authorities and witnesses described the suspect, identified as 43-year-old One L. Goh, as calmly spraying bullets around the classroom of Oikos University on Monday morning, seemingly without discrimination."He stood up and began shooting," Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said Monday evening. Goh allegedly then left the classroom and continued his attack. "Shots were fired throughout the building," Jordan added.Oakland shooting: An article in Section A on April 3 about a gunman killing seven people Monday at Oikos University in Oakland said that a shooting last year at a Seal Beach salon killed nine people. In the Seal Beach shooting, eight people died and one was critically injured. —Paul Singh, whose sister was one of three wounded, told Reuters that the shooter instructed students: "Get in line and I'm going to kill you all."Tashi Wangchuk said his wife, a nursing student, locked the door to her classroom and turned off the lights after hearing the gunfire. The gunman, he told the Associated Press, "banged on the door several times and started shooting outside," breaking the glass on the door before moving on.There were about 35 students inside the college at the time. Like Wangchuk's wife, many locked doors when they heard the gunfire and screaming. This made it difficult for authorities to evacuate the school and to reach some victims, whose bodies blocked the doors, Jordan said."We had to force our way into some rooms," he added.The rampage unfolded on live television in the Bay Area, which included aerial shots of SWAT officers moving through the campus in an industrial area near Oakland International Airport. The video showed officers carrying wounded people out and the grim scene of bodies covered by blankets.Goh was arrested about two hours after the shooting in front of a Safeway supermarket in an Alameda shopping center a few miles away. Jordan said Goh allegedly commandeered a car to get to the shopping center. Witnesses told KGO-TV that Goh told a supermarket security guard that he had shot several people and wanted to talk to police. A Safeway spokeswoman declined comment, referring all questions to local police.Police said they don't know if the gunman was targeting specific victims or what the motive might be. It was unclear why he left the school, though some reports said he either dropped out or was expelled. It was not immediately clear how and why Goh had made his way into a classroom Monday.The first word of trouble reached authorities shortly after 10:30 a.m., when a caller told emergency dispatchers of a woman bleeding on the ground outside the little-known college, police said. By the time the first officers arrived three minutes later, 911 lines were flooded with terrified calls from inside the school's single-story brick building situated in a light industry and business park.Heavily armed police and rescue personnel swarmed the neighborhood. Specialized SWAT teams made entry into the school, where officers hurried many unharmed people to safety and carried victims outside.Five people died at the scene. Two others died after being transported to hospitals. The three injured did not suffer life-threatening injuries, police said."Today was an unprecedented tragedy, shocking and senseless," Jordan said at a news conference. "No words can express the gravity of this incident."Investigators had not yet interviewed Goh, nor formally charged him with the shooting. They offered little information about him, saying only that he was a naturalized citizen from Korea and did not appear to have a criminal past. He lived in Virginia before moving to Oakland.The school remained a crime scene Monday night as investigators continued the painstaking work of processing what Jordan described as "a very bloody scene with lots of evidence." ||||| One wounded woman cowered in the bushes after the gunman opened fire on the campus of a small Christian university. One student hid in a locked classroom as the shooter banged on the door. Another heard the shots and ran to safety. Bodies lie covered on the grass as Oakland Police work near Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 2, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Oikos University in California Monday, killing at least... (Associated Press) An Oakland police officer approaches the entrance to Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 2, 2012. A suspect was detained Monday in a shooting attack at a California Christian university... (Associated Press) Map locates Oikos University in Oakland California, where five people are shot. (Associated Press) A body rests outside a coroner's van outside Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 2, 2012. A gunman opened fire at the university, killing at least five people, law enforcement sources close... (Associated Press) Oakland Police cover bodies near Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 2, 2012. A gunman opened fire at Oikos University in California Monday, killing at least five people, law enforcement... (Associated Press) All within an hour Monday, police said, a 43-year-old former student named One L. Goh walked into Oikos University, and began a rampage that left seven people dead and three people wounded, trapped some in the building and forced others to flee for their lives. It was an "extremely chaotic scene," police Chief Howard Jordan said. Soon after the shooting, heavily armed officers swarmed the tiny college of fewer than 100 students in a large industrial park near the Oakland airport. For a time, police believed the gunman could still be inside. But he wasn't. Instead, officers said he apparently drove about three miles from campus before surrendering to officers inside a supermarket. "It's going to take us a few days to put the pieces together," Jordan said. "We do not have a motive." Those connected to the school, including the founder and several students, described the gunman as a former nursing student. The chief said Goh is a South Korean national who's a former student of the university. Police first received a 911 call at 10:33 a.m. reporting a woman on the ground bleeding. As more calls came in from the school, the first arriving officer found a victim suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound, he said. More officers arrived and formed a perimeter around the school on the belief that the suspect was still inside, he said. "Potential victims remained inside the building either trapped by a locked door which officers were unable to open," Jordan said. Others were unable to flee because they were injured, he said. Jordan said there were about 35 people in or near the building when gunfire broke out. Of the seven fatalities, five died at the scene and another two at the hospital. The wounded victims are in stable condition, and at least one person has been released from the hospital. "This unprecedented tragedy was shocking and senseless," Jordan said. Art Richards said he was driving by the university on his way to pick up a friend when he spotted a woman hiding in the bushes. He pulled over, and when he approached her, she said, "I'm shot" and showed him her arm. "She had a piece of her arm hanging out," Richards said, noting that she was wounded near the elbow. As police arrived, Richards said he heard 10 gunshots coming from inside the building. The female victim told him that she saw the gunman shoot one person point-blank in the chest and one in the head. Tashi Wangchuk, whose wife attended the school and witnessed the shooting, said he was told by police that the gunman first shot a woman at the front desk, then continued shooting randomly in classrooms. Wangchuk said his wife, Dechen Wangzom, was in her vocational nursing class when she heard gunshots. She locked the door and turned off the lights, Wangchuk said he was told by his wife, who was still being questioned by police Monday afternoon. The gunman "banged on the door several times and started shooting outside and left," he said. Wangchuk said no one was hurt inside his wife's classroom, but that the gunman shot out the glass in the door. He said she did not know the man. "She's a hero," he said of his wife. Television footage showed bloodied victims on stretchers being loaded into ambulances. Several bodies covered in sheets were laid out on a patch of grass at the school. One body could be seen being loaded into a van. Myung Soon Ma, the school's secretary, said she could not provide any details about what happened at the private school, which serves the Korean community with courses from theology to Asian medicine. "I feel really sad, so I cannot talk right now," she said, speaking from her home. At Highland Hospital, Dawinder Kaur's family told the Oakland Tribune that she was being treated for a gunshot to her elbow. The 19-year-old U.S. Army Reservist told her family that that the gunman was a student in her nursing class who had been absent for months before returning Monday. The gunman entered the classroom and ordered students to line up against the wall. When he showed his gun, students began running and he opened fire, her family said. "She told me that a guy went crazy and she got shot," brother Paul Singh told the newspaper. "She was running. She was crying; she was bleeding, it was wrong." Pastor Jong Kim, who founded the school about 10 years ago, told the newspaper that he did not know if the shooter was expelled or dropped out. Kim said he heard about 30 rapid-fire gunshots in the building. "I stayed in my office," he said. Deborah Lee, who was in an English language class, said she heard five to six gunshots at first. "The teacher said, `Run,' and we run," she said. "I was OK, because I know God protects me. I'm not afraid of him." Goh fled from the school in a Honda Accord that belonged to one of the victims, Jordan told the San Francisco Chronicle. The suspect was detained at a Safeway supermarket about three miles from the university, about an hour after the shooting. A security guard at the supermarket approached the man because he was acting suspiciously, KGO-TV reported. The man told the guard that he needed to talk to police because he shot people, and the guard called authorities. "He didn't look like he had a sign of relief on him. He didn't look like he had much of any emotion on his face," said Lisa Resler, who was buying fruit at Safeway with her 4-year-old daughter when she saw the man. Goh also called his father soon after the shooting and told him what happened, the police chief said. The father also called authorities, Jordan said. Police went to the Westlake Christian Terrace senior housing complex on Monday afternoon to speak with a relative of Goh, Nam Ko Young, who's believed to be the man's father, said Young's neighbor, Barbara Ferguson. Young was seen leaving with police Monday afternoon. A staff member was sent to shut the television blaring news in the empty apartment, Ferguson said. Ferguson said she's seen Goh and Young in the lobby and exchanged hellos in the past but that she doesn't know them well. The suspect's brother was killed in a car accident last year in Virginia while on active duty in the U.S. Army, according to Stars and Stripes newspaper. The suspect attended the funeral of Sgt. Su Wan Ko in Centreville, Va., after the March 8, 2011, accident. Jerry Sung, the university's accountant, said the school offers courses in both Korean and English to less than 100 students. He said the campus consists of one building. Sung said many of its students go on to work in nursing and ministry. "The founder felt there was a need for theology and nursing courses for Korean-Americans who were newer to the community," Sung said. "He felt they would feel more comfortable if they had Korean-American professors." ___ Associated Press writers Louise Chu, Garance Burke and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights "We have to draw together, uniting for peace," a woman says at service Forensic investigators are at the scene of the shooting Police are searching for the weapon the gunman used "This was a calculated, cold-blooded execution," Oakland police chief says Mourners packed church pews Tuesday at a memorial service for seven victims slain in a shooting rampage at a small religious college in Oakland, California. "We realize that at this time we have to draw together, uniting for peace, praying for peace in our city, and praying to stop the violence," said a woman who introduced various parts of the service. Meanwhile, authorities continued searching for the weapon a gunman used Monday when he killed seven people execution-style at Oikos University. Accused shooter One Goh gave some details to investigators about Monday's attack, but refused to say where he disposed of the gun, police said. Investigators had narrowed their search for the weapon and were combing a shoreline park area Tuesday, police spokeswoman Johnna Watson told reporters. Forensic investigators were still at the scene of the shooting Tuesday, she said. Police plan to present the case to the district attorney for possible charges sometime this week, she said. "It's a large investigation. We want to be thorough," she said. One Goh Goh was being held Tuesday in Alameda County's Santa Rita Jail pending an initial appearance in court this week. The 43-year-old former student at the college "does not appear to be remorseful at all," Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said. Police: Suspect was angry over college expulsion Goh told authorities that he was upset about being expelled from Oikos University this year, Jordan said. Investigators believe Goh walked into the single-story building housing the university Monday morning, took a secretary hostage and went looking for a particular female administrator, who was not there, Jordan told CNN. Goh took the secretary into the classroom, but when he realized the administrator was not there, he shot her and ordered the students to line up against the wall. Not all of them cooperated, Jordan said, and so he began shooting. "I'm going to kill you all," the gunman said, according to CNN affiliate KTLA. JUST WATCHED Suspect detained in California shooting Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Suspect detained in California shooting 01:36 JUST WATCHED Oikos shooting witness discusses rampage Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Oikos shooting witness discusses rampage 01:47 JUST WATCHED Campus shooter target was female admin. Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Campus shooter target was female admin. 06:50 JUST WATCHED Seven dead following university shooting Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Seven dead following university shooting 02:05 "This was a calculated, cold-blooded execution in the classroom," Jordan said. The suspect "just felt a certain urge to inflict pain on them," he said. After the shooting, the man left the classroom, reloaded his semiautomatic weapon and returned, firing into several classrooms, Jordan said. He ended his rampage by driving off in a victim's car, police said. In all, seven people were killed and three were wounded. "This happened within minutes," Jordan said. "We don't think the victims had any opportunity to resist, any opportunity to surrender." The suspect was arrested a short time after the shooting, when he surrendered to police at a grocery store in the Oakland suburb of Alameda, Jordan said. Goh offered no resistance when arrested, Jordan said, and was "very cooperative, very matter-of-fact, very calm." Under questioning, Goh "remembered very good details" about the incident, he said. "He planned this several weeks in advance," Jordan told KTVU on Tuesday. "He was so upset he went out and purchased a weapon and had every intent to kill people yesterday." All three of those wounded were released from Oakland's Highland Hospital on Monday night, spokeswoman Monique Binkley Smith said Tuesday. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan condemned the violence. "No American mayor wants to have this situation," she said. "It seems over the last decade, we've gotten used to seeing senseless mass killings like this, and we'll have to question the availability of guns and the need for other services in our community." Investigators have determined that the gun they believe Goh used was obtained legally in California, but details about the weapon's purchase were still under investigation, Watson said. Harrowing descriptions of chaotic scenes inside and outside the college emerged Tuesday. Audio recordings of police radio exchanges released Tuesday include a dispatcher describing reports of shots coming from inside the building. "People are running out, screaming," she says. "There's a female bleeding down on the ground, face down on the concrete," a dispatcher says. An officer at the scene describes a man who has a gunshot wound to his head. "We were able to extricate one body, a victim from the building, the victim still has a faint pulse. We're waking her up now," another officer says. Art Richards told CNN he was on his way to pick up a friend and thought the commotion outside the school was caused by a car accident. Then, he said, a woman emerged from bushes and told him she had been shot. "I was kind of mind-boggled," he said, but the woman showed him her arm. "She had a good little piece, a chunk of her arm, missing." Police handcuffed one man outside the school, but the woman told authorities he was not the shooter, Richards said. "Right after that, close to seven, eight, nine shots rang out," he said. "Everybody got down. The police took cover. We took cover." A few minutes after that, the first body was brought out, he said. "They were just pulling out bodies after bodies." Brian Snow said he was at a nearby credit union when shots rang out. "I went outside and the cops were coming and like 'Don't move, don't move,' and it started getting chaotic. ... A pedestrian came out with a bullet hole," he said. Meanwhile, inside the college, survivors hid behind locked doors or desks as gunfire erupted. Tashi Wangzon said that his wife, a student there, heard the shots, then locked the door to her classroom and turned off the lights. "The man with the gun later came toward the room and, at the time, he fired several rounds at the door," Wangzon told KGO. "Then he left (when he thought nobody was there)." Lucas Garcia, who was teaching an English class at the college when the rampage began, told KGO that he counted about six gunshots from a nearby nursing classroom and heard someone yell, "He's got a gun." Garcia said he got his students out of the building while the gunfire continued. What is Oikos University? The college caters to the Korean-American Christian community but also has students from diverse backgrounds. It offers degrees in theology, music, nursing and Asian medicine, according to its website. The victims of Monday's shooting ranged in age from 21 to 40 and were from countries including Korea, Nepal, Nigeria and the Philippines, Jordan said. With the exception of the secretary, all the victims were students. Of those killed, six were women and one was a man, but Jordan said investigators do not know whether Goh was targeting women. Quan, Oakland's mayor, said most of the victims appeared to be from the city's Korean-American community, and the city was working to find multilingual counselors to help survivors. Community and faith leaders were scheduled to attend Tuesday's memorial, and they hope to develop a strategy for dealing with the situation, said June Lee, executive director of the Oakland-based Korean Community Center of the East Bay. "We're looking for a way to help the families and the community that are impacted by this incident," she said. Civic and church leaders will try to come up with a community strategy to deal with the tragedy, she said. But she stressed the importance of not stigmatizing Koreans or Asians. "This is all new to us. We don't want to stigmatize whatever the issue is. ... We need to identify the issues first," she said. ||||| The former nursing student who authorities say gunned down seven people at an Oakland Christian college left behind a string of debts and minor traffic citations in his former home state of Virginia, where he was evicted from one apartment complex. He also kept hunting and fishing licenses there for several years. One Goh, 43, lived in Springfield and Hayes, Va., before moving to California, where he lived in Castro Valley and Oakland. He attended Oikos University before being kicked out several months ago. Last year, Goh lost two family members, his mother and a brother. His brother, U.S. Army Sgt. Su Wan Ko, died in March 2011 in an auto wreck in Virginia while on special forces training. His mother, Oak Chul Kim, died a year ago in Seoul, where she moved after leaving Oakland, according to her former neighbors in Oakland. His father, Young Nam Ko, had been living in Oakland but recently moved, the neighbors said. The suspect has another brother, Su Kwon Ko, who lives in Centreville, Va. Virginia records show a string of judgments and liens against Goh, including an eviction from the Yorkview Apartments on Jacqueline Drive in Hayes, Va., where he owed $1,300 back rent at the time he left. He had federal tax liens in 2006 and 2009 totaling more than $23,000, although he managed to pay some of his tax debt. This article appeared on page A - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle

– The suspected shooter accused of killing seven people on a Christian college campus in Oakland, one of the worst mass killings in California's history, has been identified as 43-year-old One L. Goh, a naturalized citizen from Korea, the Los Angeles Times reports. Goh was upset after having been dismissed from Oikos University, the police chief tells CNN. He reportedly walked into a classroom and told students, "Get in line and I'm going to kill you all" before lining them up and shooting them. "This was a calculated, cold-blooded execution in the classroom," the police chief says. Goh had recently lost his mother, who died in Seoul, and his brother, a US Army sergeant who was killed in a car crash during special forces training, the San Francisco Chronicle adds. He was also in debt and had judgments and liens against him for back rent and back taxes, and he was once evicted in Virginia, where he used to live. He surrendered to police a few hours after the shooting at a nearby supermarket, where he had driven in one of the victim's cars, the AP reports. Goh reportedly admitted the shootings to both a security guard at the store as well as his father, via phone. Three other people received non-life-threatening injuries during the rampage and are in stable condition; at least one has already been released.

Experimental organism The experiments were conducted at the Bifengxia Chinese Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in the Sichuan province of China. Data were collected during the breeding season (1 February–1 May) of 2012 and 2013. Giant pandas were housed in concrete walled, open-air enclosures (8 × 25 m) that contained various forms of environmental enrichment (for example, climbing platforms, water features and trees, and so on) and an indoor enclosure area (3 × 8 m). All enclosures had three barred ‘howdy’ windows and a circular barred gate located on the long sides of the enclosure (eight potential interaction windows, four per side). Thus, giant pandas were able to interact through cage bars with neighbouring individuals in adjoining enclosures, but opportunities for physical contact were limited. Enclosures were arranged in a large U-shape so giant pandas could be moved freely between pens for mate pairings. In this configuration, giant pandas shared walls with two other animals, allowing for dichotomous choice tests to be performed before mate pairings, except for animals residing in the end enclosures, which only had one neighbour. All experiments were conducted during the breeding season between February and April of 2012–2013. Giant pandas were exposed to natural light conditions. Giant pandas were fed a diet of local bamboo supplemented with bread, high-fiber biscuits, carrots and apples. Animal care and use guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists (Animal Care and Use Committee 1998; Assurance #: A3675-01) were followed by all facility operators. Mate familiarity Throughout this paper we use the term mate dyad to refer to male–female pairs introduced via a dichotomous choice test and subsequently for an attempted mating. Studbooks and veterinary records were consulted to determine if mate dyads had previously produced litters successfully41, 42. As familiarity has been shown to affect mate preference39, we collected data on several factors that may indicate familiarity between mate dyads that were obtained from studbook and veterinary records or from accurate recording of enclosure moves throughout the year. Factors included: previous offspring production with the potential mate (binary response variable: yes=1, no=0), familiarity status during the year before breeding (number of days in adjoining enclosures), familiarity status during the month before breeding (in days), familiarity status directly before breeding (number of contiguous days animals were neighbouring each other). Familiarity status directly before breeding was highly variable ranging from 30 min to 10 days. Mate preference As described above, female and male giant pandas included in mate preference trials were housed between conspecifics of the opposite sex and at least one of these neighbours was designated as a potential mate for that season as designated by the species survival plan. Mate preference behaviour was scored 1–3 days before an opposite sex conspecific was introduced to the focal animal for mating. All occurrences of the focal animal’s behaviours as defined below were scored for 30 min during the active period between 0730 and 1,100 hours. Pre-mating behaviours known to be important indicators of impending oestrus in females and sexual arousal in males were recorded: scent-marking, urination, water play, rolling, feeding activity, activity level, interest and interaction with opposite sex conspecifics, chirping, bleating, masturbation, tail up (female only), lordosis (female only), backward walking (female only), penile erection (male only) and foot scraping (male only). Also included were behaviours that may indicate negative interactions such as aggression through attempted physical attacks, lack of interest in opposite sex conspecifics, moaning, barking, growling, roaring and avoidance. Animals were defined as preferred if the focal animal directed >60% of its total behaviours toward one particular potential mate. If the focal giant panda did not demonstrate such a preference they were excluded from the study and further analysis (N=5). The observations were conducted with a single-blind trial protocol, wherein observers were naive to the identity of the conspecific that would be paired with the focal giant panda. These experimental manipulations resulted in three data sets used for analyses: (1) female focal animal mate preference trials (N=41); (2) male focal animal mate preference trials (N=40); and (3) mutual mate preference trials obtained from the above trials (N=26 mate dyads). For the third data set, ‘mutual mate preference’, we divided mating dyads into four possible mating categories as outlined above. Mating procedure Here we define mate pairings as the introduction of a specific male to a specific female for the purpose of breeding. All pairings were governed by genetic recommendations from the species survival plan; thus, some pairings were consistent with the giant panda’s behavioural preference and some were not. Mating was always attempted first with the priority male according to the genetic management plan even if animals appeared indifferent or slightly aggressive toward the potential mate, but mating introductions were not attempted where excessive aggression was observed. Female oestrus status was determined using enzyme-immunoassay for oestrogen metabolites (estrone-3-glucuronide) previously validated on urine43. Urine samples were collected via syringe from the enclosure floor ~3 days a week and stored at −20 °C until analysis at the CCRCGP laboratory. During the peri-ovulatory period urine samples were collected daily. Ovulation is indicated by a>6-fold elevation of oestrogen above baseline levels, followed by a return to baseline43. All mating introductions were conducted during this peri-ovulatory period including the day before, the day of, and the day following presumed ovulation. Males were introduced to female pens for mating between 0900 and 1,100 hours. Mating sessions lasted on average 15.5 min but ranged from 3 to 75 min. If either animal’s behaviour was aggressive, animal care staff removed the male immediately to prevent injury or death. After a mating session, males were moved back to their enclosures and subsequently placed with a different female until all females had been mated to their recommended males. This method resulted in females being introduced to 1–4 males and having on average 4 (but as many as 9) mating opportunities each breeding season. As a fail-safe, female giant pandas are often artificially inseminated following natural breeding. If paternity was in question, the CCRCGP established the father using DNA obtained from hair samples and amplified using the polymerase chain reaction to analyze microsatellite loci after the methods of Zhang et al.44. All cubs used in this study had confirmed paternity. Response variables and additional independent variables We monitored several response variables indicative of reproductive performance: whether a mating attempt failed or succeeded (that is, copulation occurred with intromission), whether cubs were produced, and whether cubs were hand raised or mother raised. In addition to familiarity and mate preference measures, we consulted veterinary and husbandry records to acquire additional independent variables that might influence reproductive performance: provenance (captive- versus wild-born), rearing history, age, morphometric measurements of size and mass, and measures of recent mating history. Data analyses All statistical significance tests done in the manuscript were two sided. Although a formal power analysis was not performed, we sought to include the largest sample size available for this species. From past experience with behavioural research with this species, we determined that this sample size would be sufficient to detect a biologically meaningful result. Before analysis variables were examined for normality, linearity and homoscedasticity. Although the distribution for some data sets deviated modestly from normality, GLMM is robust to such deviations within the explanatory variables, thus, no transformations were conducted for ease of interpretation45, 46. We used a GLMM with a logit link and binomial error distribution to test whether the independent variables explained significant variance in the probability of intromission success, cub production and maternal care. Female and male identity were modelled as random effects. We ran GLMM through a step-wise exclusion method in which the least significant predictor variable (P≥0.05) was sequentially removed from the model until the final significant model was revealed47. Models were compared using penalized log likelihood scores (BIC48). Following standard practices for GLMM, all variables included in the final model are reported as substantive contributors to model outcome, including those that do not attain significant P values; this is done on theoretical grounds addressing the historical over-reliance on P values, specifically when using GLMM in this context25. We analysed three measures of reproductive performance using GLMM in SPSS (SPSS 19.0 for Mac OS X). The first response variable was whether a mating attempt resulted in copulation (binary response variable: yes=1, no=0; GLMM with logit link function). The second response variable was whether cubs were produced (binary response variable: yes=1, no=0; model with logit link function). The third response variable was whether or not a female raised her cub or humans intervened and hand raised the cub due to maternal abandonment or incompetence (binary response variable: hand reared=1, mother reared=0; model with logit link function). The potential explanatory variables/factors that could affect the success of a mating attempt were: previous litter production with the potential mate (binary response variable: yes=1, no=0), familiarity status directly before mating sessions (in contiguous days animals were neighbouring each other), mate preference status (binary response variable: preferred=1, non-preferred=0), focal animal birth location (that is, provenance; binary response variable: captive=1, wild=0), focal animal rearing (binary response variable: mother=1, hand=0), female age (years), female mass (kilograms), female length (centimeters), female height (centimeters), male age (years), male mass (kilograms), male length (centimeters) and male height (centimeters). Some variables showed a high degree of intercorrelation. Since even small to modest intercorrelations between explanatory variables can lead to significantly different (and often erroneous conclusion) in GLMMs49, 50, we have retained the variable with the most relevance to the hypothesis and most normal distribution for analysis. For example, male mass was significantly and highly correlated with male length (r=−0.59, P<0.001) and height (r=−0.64, P<0.001). Thus, male mass was the only factor used to describe male size. Likewise, female mass was significantly correlated with female length (r=0.22, P=0.05) and height (r=−0.29, P=0.03), and therefore, female mass was the only factor used to describe female size. All explanatory variables were then fitted in all possible combinations to create a list of explanatory models. We used the BIC to rank the explanatory models. Regression analyses generally assume that all observations are independent; however, this is not the case for pairwise data, where the same individual may be involved in multiple mating attempts. Even though dyads could potentially be considered independent observations because a specific mating dyad never occurred more than once in our data set, we accounted for dyadic non-independence by including giant panda ID as a random effect in our analyses51, 52. There were 11 unique male giant pandas and 27 unique female giant pandas represented in our data set. Male age ranged from 6 to 14 while female age ranged from 5 to 18. For the purpose of graphing, we ran χ2 tests to analyze differences between preferred and non-preferred mates on intromission success, cub production and maternal care for both male and female giant pandas in R Studio (Version 0.98.981; R Studio Inc. 2009-2013; R Version 3.0.2). For the mutual mate preference data analyses we tested mating dyad reproductive performance measurements using one-way ANOVAs with a single factor using the four mating combinations as treatments (P–P, P–NP, NP–P, NP–NP) using R Studio (Version 0.98.981; R Studio Inc. 2009-2013; R Version 3.0.2). The ANOVAs that were significant or trending toward significance (P≤0.07) were followed by Tukey HD post hoc tests to examine mean differences between treatments while controlling for familywise error. ||||| Giant panda cubs are more likely when mom and dad find "love," new research suggests. Here, a cub eats bamboo shoots at the Bifengxia Chinese Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan, China. There's a secret to making panda babies, and it looks a little bit like love. Pandas are more likely to produce young when they have a preference for the partner they're meant to mate with, a new study finds. If "love" is too strong a word for this preference, it's safe to say that panda lust, at least, plays a role in reproductive success. In a new study published Tuesday (Dec. 15) in the journal Nature Communications, researchers allowed pandas to pick their own mates by letting them observe a pair of opposite-sex bears through barriers in a special enclosure. Bears showed their romantic interest by making chirping noises and scent-marking near their preferred partner. This freedom of choice turned out to have a major effect on the likelihood of pandas reproducing. Overall, mutual attraction raised the rates of successful mating and cub-rearing from around zero percent when the two bears weren't interested in one another to 75 percent when they were both attracted. [Photos: A Panda Cub Grows Up] Data broken down by gender illustrates the effect. When a female was paired for mating purposes with a male she preferred, the pair had successful sex 70 percent of the time, compared with only about 30 percent of the time when fertile females were placed with a male they weren't interested in. Females gave birth to a cub 90 percent of the time when a preferred male was the father versus 40 percent of the time when they mated with a non-preferred male. And 100 percent of pandas who copulated with a preferred male cared for their offspring, a number that dropped to 80 percent in pandas whose offspring were fathered by unappealing mates. Male choice mattered, too — a surprising finding, given that females that do all the gestation and rearing are generally thought to be pickier than males who invest less of themselves. But panda males invest considerable time and energy in wooing females in the wild and fending off rival males, researcher Meghan Martin-Wintle of the Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global and PDXWildlife in Portland and her colleagues wrote. Thus, they have to be choosy about which female pandas they pursue. When males got busy with a preferred female, they completed the sex act more than 70 percent of the time, compared with only about 30 percent of the time when mating with an unappealing female. Mating resulted in cubs almost 80 percent of the time when males picked a female they liked, but only 60 percent of the time when they had to mate with a non-preferred partner. And panda moms seemed influenced by whether the male had seen them as a good match: When males mated with a preferred partner, that female reared her cub more than 90 percent of the time. When the male fathered a cub with a female he didn't prefer, the likelihood of maternal care dropped to less than 70 percent. Overall, the researchers found, mutual attraction can improve panda reproduction. Giving pandas free reign over their mate choices, however, may be tougher than it sounds. Conservation breeders have to be careful to ensure genetic variability in endangered species like pandas, which are few in number. But if breeders were to pre-screen bears for genetic diversity and then check in on how the pandas respond to one another, that would allow for "the best of both worlds," Martin-Wintle and her colleagues wrote. The research was conducted at the Bifengxia Chinese Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan, China. China is working to reintroduce pandas into the wild, a goal that will require breeding more pandas than in the past. To meet this goal, the researchers wrote, biologists will need a better of understanding of how pandas reproduce on their own in the wild. Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| Giant panda cubs playing in the panda kindergarten at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) Bifengxia base in Sichuan, China. Credit: PDXWildlife intern Grace Russell. Worried about the low sex drive of giant pandas in zoos, scientists have tried many things to get them in the mood—not least Viagra and "panda porn". When all else failed, they have often had to rely on artificial insemination to ensure the endangered black and white creatures have cubs. On Tuesday, a study suggested the answer may be a lot simpler and, perhaps, more obvious—let the pandas choose their own mates. "Giant pandas paired with preferred partners have significantly higher copulation and birth rates," researchers noted in the journal Nature Communications. Generally, pandas in captivity are presented with a mate chosen by scientists based on the animals' "genetic profile". The goal is to minimise inbreeding and expand the DNA pool. But the result is often frustrating, with the animals having to be coaxed through human intervention to show even the slightest sexual interest in the mate thrust upon them. A team from the United States and China ran a test at the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province, to see if being allowed to choose their own partner might make a difference. Male and female pandas were housed in enclosures with animals of the opposite sex on either side. They were allowed limited physical interaction with their neighbours through cage bars. The video will load shortly A male and female giant panda interacting along the enclosure barriers prior to breeding introductions at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) Bifengxia base in Sichuan, China. Credit: San Diego Zoo and PDXWildlife researcher Meghan Martin-Wintle, lead author on the research article. Scientists measured the animals' "mate preference behaviour", which included different forms of playfulness and bond-forming, as well as sexual arousal. "Negative" interactions could include signs of aggression or a mere lack of interest. The animals were then introduced to each other for mating—with both preferred and non-preferred partners. "The highest reproductive performance was seen when both males and females showed mutual preference," the researchers found. The results should come as no big surprise—ever since Charles Darwin published his theory of sexual selection in 1859, scientists have understood that mate selection is key to animal reproduction. Conservation 'not in a test tube' "Mate incompatibility can impede captive breeding programmes by reducing reproductive rates," wrote the study authors. "It is therefore surprising that mate preferences have not figured more prominently in captive breeding programmes." The findings may help China better spend its limited conservation budget, the scientists added. "The future of conservation breeding will not take place in a test tube," they wrote. The most cost-effective way to get captive animals to produce offspring is to breed them naturally, and "to do that requires better understanding of natural mating behaviour", they concluded. "Mate choice has an important role to play in conservation." The authors said their study was the first to "rigorously examine" the effects of mate preference in giant pandas. Pandas have only a brief breeding season from around March to May—and females become fertile only about two to three days a year, producing a cub approximately every 24 months. Conservation group WWF estimates there are only around 1,600 giant pandas left in the wild in south-central China. Explore further: Giant panda in Thailand pregnant, says zoo

– The scientist who invents a Tinder for giant pandas may just single-handedly save the endangered species. A study published Tuesday in Nature Communications found that pandas are much more likely to successfully mate when they're attracted to each other. It seems like an obvious conclusion, and that's why why researchers found it "surprising that mate preferences have not figured more prominently in captive breeding programs," Phys.org reports. Instead scientists have tried everything from Viagra to artificial insemination to "panda porn" to bring the endangered animals back from the brink. "Our findings highlight that mate preference and other aspects of informed behavioral management could make the difference between success and failure of these programs," the study states. Live Science reports researchers let pandas choose between two possible mates using various signs of attraction, indifference, or aggression. Pandas that were mutually attracted to each other had a 75% likelihood of successfully reproducing. Without any attraction, the odds were closer to 0%. Those odds improved when even one panda—male or female—showed signs of attraction. While this seems like an easy solution to breeding issues, scientists still have to address the problem of genetic diversity in a small population. Researchers recommend screening prospective mates for genetics first then letting pandas choose. According to Phys.org, they believe this could make breeding programs both more successful and cost-effective.

Your article has been sent. A rare October snowstorm could dump to a foot of snow Saturday in areas of Central and Western Massachusetts, the National Weather Service warned today. Two to six inches of snow are expected closer to the coast, the weather service said. In addition to weighing down tree limbs and power lines with heavy, wet snow, the storm will also rake the state with strong winds and pound the coast with moderate flooding, forecasters warned. Communities as close to Boston as Stow and Littleton could get 4 to 5 inches, said Bill Simpson, a weather service meteorologist. Boston itself could get 1 to 3 inches. On Saturday, the area will start seeing cold rain around noon, Simpson said. Snow will form in the afternoon in higher interior areas, where the snowfall is expected to be highest. In Boston and elsewhere along the coast, rain won’t switch to snow until after sunset. “The brunt of it will happen through the late evening,” Simpson said. After that, precipitation will taper off, and the storm will be “pretty much over with by Sunday morning.” Forecasters say October snowstorms are rare but not unheard-of. Could this storm be a recordbreaker? The biggest October snow ever recorded in Boston was 1.1 inches on Oct. 29, 2005. So it wouldn’t take much snow in Boston to break the record. The biggest October snow in Worcester was 7.5 inches on Oct. 10, 1979, the weather service said. In Eastern Massachusetts, the snow will be teamed with strong winds, forecasters said. They issued a high wind watch warning of winds gusting between 45 and 55 miles per hour in the area. On the Cape and islands, gusts could reach 60 miles per hour. Today will be the calm before Saturday’s storm, sunny, with temperatures in the mid-40s. Skies tonight will be mostly clear as temperatures plummet, reaching the lower 20s to mid-30s, depending on the area. After the storm, on Sunday, conditions will be dry, and Boston will see increasing afternoon sunshine. Temperatures will reach the low to mid 40s. Halloween will be similar to today: sunny and cold. Temperatures will reach around 50. Each day after that, Simpson said, there will be a gradual warming trend through Thursday as temperatures again reach normal for this time of year - around 57 degrees. Officials around the state are preparing for the snow. “All of our district highway directors are preparing their staff,” said Cyndi Roy, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. “The staff is inspecting equipment to make sure it’s ready to go.” The DOT has also enlisted contractors to help out with the salting, sanding, and plowing. She added that the MBTA and Massport both have plans ready for the snow and ice. NStar is also prepared to serve their customers in the storm, and they will be activating an emergency response plan as of Thursday afternoon, said Mike Durand, spokesman for NStar. NStar will open regional service centers as storm response headquarters, add extra line crews and support staff, and also add staff to the customer call center, he said. “Once the most heavily impacted areas of service territory are known, we’re able to relocate NStar crews from one part of our territory to another as necessary,” he said. If forecasts continue to call for snow, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency plans to activate the State Emergency Operations Center around 6 p.m. Saturday. “We’ll start at 6 p.m. and then go as long as needed,” said Peter Judge, spokesman for MEMA. ||||| In this Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 photo, a pedestrian walks in a burst of moderate snow in front of the Vernon, Conn., Town Hall during the first snowfall of the season. More snow is forecast in the Northeast... (Associated Press) In this Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 photo, a pedestrian walks in a burst of moderate snow in front of the Vernon, Conn., Town Hall during the first snowfall of the season. More snow is forecast in the Northeast... (Associated Press) Steve Hoffman had expected to sell a lot of fall fertilizer this weekend at his hardware store in Hebron but instead spent Friday moving bags of ice melting pellets. A storm moving up the East Coast was expected to combine with a cold air mass and dump anywhere from a dusting of snow to about 10 inches Saturday in parts of the Northeast. "We're stocked up and we've already sold a few shovels," Hoffman said. "We actually had one guy come in and buy a roof rake." National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said the rake probably won't be needed, but October snowfall records could be broken in parts of southern New England, especially at higher elevations. The October record for southern New England is 7.5 inches in Worcester in 1979. The most snow will likely hit the Massachusetts Berkshires, the Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut, and southwestern New Hampshire, Simpson said. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned residents that they could lose power. The storm could bring more than 6 inches of snow to parts of Maine beginning Saturday night. In Pennsylvania, 6 to 10 inches could fall at higher elevations, including the Laurel Highlands in the southwestern part of the state and the Pocono Mountains in the northeastern part. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh could see a coating. "This is very, very unusual," said John LaCorte, a National Weather Service meteorologist in State College, Pa. "It has all the look and feel of a classic midwinter nor'easter. It's going to be very dangerous." The last major widespread snowstorm in Pennsylvania this early was in 1972, LaCorte said. In New England, the first measurable snow usually falls in early December, and normal highs for late October are in the mid-50s. "This is just wrong," said Dee Lund of East Hampton, who was at a Glastonbury garage getting four new tires put on her car before a weekend road trip to New Hampshire. Lund said that after last winter's record snowfall, which left a 12-foot snow bank outside her house, she'd been hoping for a reprieve. The good news, Simpson said, is that relatively warm water temperatures along the Atlantic seaboard would keep the snowfall totals much lower along the coast and in cities such as Boston. Temperatures should return to the mid-50s by midweek. "This doesn't mean our winter is going to be terrible," he said. "You can't get any correlation from a two-day event." Not everyone was lamenting the arrival of winter. Dan Patrylak, 79 of Glastonbury had just moved back to New England from Arizona and was picking up two new ice scrapers for his car. He said he was kind of looking forward to seeing snow on the ground again. "In Phoenix, it's 113 all summer long," he said. "So, it just depends on where you are and what the weather is and you learn to accept that. Whatever it is, I'm going to be ready for it."

– The Northeast is preparing for an early taste of winter tomorrow: Central and western Massachusetts could see a foot of snow, reports the Boston Globe, and the governor of Connecticut has warned residents they might lose power. Much of the East Coast is in the path: Parts of Maine could get 6 inches, while higher elevations in Pennsylvania could get 10, notes AP. Higher temperatures in New York City mean the city will probably get only an inch, reports Bloomberg. But it will still be plenty cold for Occupy Wall Streeters now that their generators are gone. "This is very, very unusual," says a National Weather Service meteorologist. "It has all the look and feel of a classic midwinter nor'easter. It's going to be very dangerous."

Using a porcupine’s quill, several small pieces of paper, a strip of polyester film, and a small metal pick that resembled a dental tool, Museum of Fine Arts conservator Pam Hatchfield carefully plucked history from a box Tuesday night. The box was a time capsule, many of its items first placed beneath the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House 220 years ago to mark the start of the building’s construction. The history came in many forms. There were five neatly folded newspapers, a collection of 23 coins dating as far back as 1652, a medal depicting George Washington, a replica of Colonial records, and a silver plate commemorating the erection of the new State House. Advertisement “This cornerstone of a building intended for the use of the legislative and executive branches of the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was laid by his Excellency Samuel Adams, Esquire, governor of the said Commonwealth,” said Michael Comeau, executive director of the Massachusetts Archives, reading from the plate’s inscription. Get Fast Forward in your inbox: Forget yesterday's news. Get what you need today in this early-morning email. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here Paul Revere helped Adams plant the plate and other relics, he read. So did William Scollay, a colonel in the Revolutionary War. “How cool,” Comeau said, “is that.” The unveiling, before a bank of television cameras and a collection of dignitaries including departing Governor Deval Patrick, came just a month after Hatchfield, lying on a muddy wooden plank at the State House, spent six hours carefully chipping the time capsule from the underside of the cornerstone. The contents were not a surprise. They had been carefully cataloged after a group of workers building an addition to the State House stumbled upon them in 1855. But the detail — the partially obscured names of the newspapers, the “quar.dol” notation on one of the coins, the wording of the silver plate’s inscription — inspired delight as Hatchfield dug deeper and deeper into the box. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Pam Hatchfield, a conservator at the Museum of Fine Arts, held a silver plaque that was inside the time capsule. Advertisement “This is what we as conservators live for,” she said. There was considerable ceremony surrounding the unveiling, which took place in the museum’s Art of the Americas wing, in front of Thomas Sully’s grand painting, “The Passage of the Delaware,” depicting George Washington on horseback in 1776. But there was far more pageantry surrounding the original placement of the time capsule. On July 4, 1795, 15 white horses — one for each state of the union — pulled the cornerstone for the new State House through the streets of Boston to the building site. Adams arrived with an escort of fusiliers. And amid a 15-gun salute, the governor, Revere, and Scollay placed the original contents of the capsule, sandwiched between two sheets of lead. Adams dedicated the building to core principles that should “there be fixed, unimpaired, in full vigor, till time shall be no more.” Advertisement After the workers came across the time capsule in 1855, its contents were cleaned and cataloged. Officials added newspapers and coins from their own era, placed everything in a brass box, and put it in a carved depression in a new stone in the original spot. The new capsule would remain there for 159 years, from the administration of Know-Nothing Governor Henry Gardner, through the tenure of Republican Governor Calvin Coolidge, and deep into the second term of Democrat Patrick. But in May, water marks discovered in a section of the State House basement once used for loading coal prompted a water infiltration investigation. And officials identified the cornerstone as an area of concern. At about 4:30 in the afternoon on a cold December day, after her arduous efforts to free the capsule, MFA conservator Hatchfield sat up to applause, holding a small box turned green with time. The capsule, a little smaller than a cigar box, was taken to the museum by State Police escort. And three days later, conservationists X-rayed it in the museum’s high-tech research laboratory. The images appeared to show the objects described in an 1855 account of the reburial. There were a few mysteries, though. There appeared to be an extra coin in the box. What was it? And while the X-rays suggested the items were in good condition, it was difficult to know. Would there be signs of corrosion on the coins, which were washed in nitric acid before they were reburied in 1855? And would the newspapers be in good condition? The unveiling found the newspapers — what looked like an old copy of the Boston Bee, perhaps two copies of the old Traveller, and a couple of unknowns — in relatively good shape. Some of the coins appeared corroded. The mystery of the extra coin had not been solved as of Tuesday evening. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Secretary of State William Galvin, who is also chairman of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, second from left, pointed to an object as Governor Deval Patrick, center, looked on. All of the attention, if exciting, was a bit jarring for the conservationists overseeing the project. “We very rarely work under the klieg lights,” said Hatchfield, in an interview Tuesday afternoon, describing a profession that prizes careful, almost “glacial” restorative work. There was considerable anxiety, in the run-up to the unveiling, that Hatchfield would have to halt the opening mid-lift and send everyone home disappointed. What if the newspapers were stuck to the top of the box? The sticking was minimal. Now that the capsule has been opened, a number of questions face state officials and MFA preservationists. How much to restore coins whose condition, however poor, is an important piece of history? Should the newspapers be unfolded or left as they are? Should the state add some 21st-century items to the time capsule or not? Secretary of State William Galvin said that’s up for debate, though he suggested he did not want to “taint” the historical feel of the capsule with new materials. Galvin said the MFA will probably display the items from the time capsule later this year. Then, he said, he would like to stash it in the cornerstone of the State House once again. David Scharfenberg can be reached at david.scharfenberg @globe.com . Follow him on Twitter at @dscharfGlobe ||||| The oldest time capsule discovered in the country that dates back to 1795 was opened Tuesday in Boston as history buffs waited to get a glimpse of items from the nation's infancy. Pamela Hatchfield, head of objects conservation at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, first removed the lid then inspected a newspaper, after loosening the screws beforehand for about four or five hours, she said. "This is clearly a newspaper and it’s really packed in there," Hatchfield said, wearing gloves and a white coat and using tools including a porcupine quill and a dentist's probe. She also found 24 coins in various denominations dating from the 1650s to the 1850s, when the capsule was opened then resealed. The folded newspapers appeared to be in very good condition but it was not possible to tell the dates or what news was being reported. A silver plate at the bottom contained information about the laying of the cornerstone box, which was done by then Gov. Samuel Adams assisted by Paul Revere. American Revolution patriot Revere and Adams originally placed the relic under a cornerstone of the Boston Statehouse in 1795. Another item removed. Assorted morning papers of the day?These appear to be 19th century. pic.twitter.com/1HzWgTq28j — Ben Edwards (@BostonHistory) January 6, 2015 Steven Senne/AP Photo The time capsule was removed from the Massachusetts State House cornerstone Dec. 11, along with miscellaneous coins. The time capsule, which was X-rayed at the MFA Dec. 14, weighs 10 pounds and measures 5.5 inches by 7.5 inches by 1.5 inches, officials said. Steven Senne/AP Photo Museum and state officials removed its contents for the first time since 1855, when its contents were documented and cleaned, officials said. Additional materials were added then to the time capsule, which was placed in brass and plastered into the underside of the granite cornerstone. Steven Senne/AP Photo "X-rays revealed what is believed to be a collection of silver and copper coins (dating from 1652 and 1855); an engraved silver plate; a copper medal depicting George Washington; newspapers; the seal of the Commonwealth; cards; and a title page from the Massachusetts Colony Records," the MFA said in a statement last month. "These objects were described in the 1855 account of the reburying ceremony."

– The contents of a time capsule laid to rest amid great fanfare in 1795 were very carefully inspected in Boston last night. Museum of Fine Arts conservator Pam Hatchfield used tools such as a porcupine quill to pluck items from America's oldest time capsule, which was placed in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts Statehouse by Paul Revere, Sam Adams, and others after a 15-gun salute to honor the 15 US states, ABC reports. The capsule, which last saw the light of day in 1855, was removed as part of a building maintenance project in December. The contents—including coins from as far back as 1652, a medal depicting George Washington, a title page from the Massachusetts Colony records, an engraved silver plate, and five newspapers—were cataloged after the 1855 opening, but last night's inspection offered new details, including the names of the newspapers and the inscription on the plate, which commemorated the building of the Statehouse, the Boston Globe reports. Some of the items were added in 1855, but Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin says he would rather not "taint" the historical box with 21st-century souvenirs when it's placed back in the cornerstone later this year after the museum displays the contents.

An undergraduate student at Harvard is suing the school for undertaking an investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman, claiming the university is overstepping its authority by taking up a campus disciplinary process against him since the alleged rape took place “hundreds of miles away” and doesn’t involve another Harvard student. The student, identified only as “John Doe” in the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, is calling for Harvard to stop its investigation and is seeking $75,000 in damages, according to the complaint. In the lawsuit, Doe alleges that Harvard has disregarded its own policies and acted “arbitrarily, capriciously, maliciously,” and in “bad faith” with the decision to investigate the allegations against him: [E]ach of these terms aptly describes Harvard’s decision to railroad Mr. Doe into a campus proceeding that could result in him being suspended or even expelled—even though the sexual assault alleged against him did not take place at or near any Harvard property (indeed, in took place hundreds of miles away from Harvard), did not take place during the academic year (indeed, it took place more than sixteen months ago and not in connection with any Harvard program), does not involve a complainant (or even any witness) with any connection to Harvard, and in fact apparently does not involve any other connection with Harvard whatsoever. Advertisement A spokeswoman for Harvard declined to comment on the lawsuit or the temporary restraining order Doe filed against the university to halt the school’s investigation. According to the lawsuit, Doe enrolled as an undergraduate in the college’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in August 2016 and during the summer of 2017 was “living in a city hundreds of miles away from Harvard, working at an internship.” It was during that time that Doe met a woman, identified as “Jane Roe” in the lawsuit, who was also spending the summer in the city working as an intern. According to the suit, on the night of July 22, 2017, Doe went to a party at the apartment where Roe, who is not a Harvard student, was living with roommates, and the two engaged in sexual activity. Roe alleges she did not consent and that he raped her. Doe’s suit called the allegations “categorically false.” According to the lawsuit, Roe filed a complaint with the local police department, and prosecutors ultimately declined to prosecute the case. In March 2018, she filed a civil personal injury lawsuit against Doe, which remains pending. In October, Doe learned that Harvard’s Office of Dispute Resolution was opening an investigation into “whether he had committed sexual assault in violation of Harvard’s Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment [Policy].” Advertisement In the suit, Doe and his lawyers point out that the university’s sexual and gender-based harassment policy applies when misconduct occurs on Harvard property, if the conduct took place in connection with a school program or activity off-campus, or if the conduct “may have the effect of creating a hostile environment for a member of the University community.” “Harvard’s proposed campus proceeding is not about vindicating or protecting Ms. Roe, or any other member of the Harvard community, because no one is claiming that Mr. Doe presents a danger to Ms. Roe while he is at Harvard (or elsewhere), nor does he present any danger to any other Harvard student,” the lawsuit states. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the college within the university where Doe is enrolled, has its own policy on sexual and gender-based harassment, which states the college has the expectation that all students will “behave in a mature and responsible manner” both on and off campus, stating that “sexual and gender-based misconduct are in direct opposition to our community values.” “[S]exual and gender-based misconduct are not tolerated by the FAS even when, because they do not have the effect of creating a hostile environment for a member of the University community, they fall outside the jurisdiction of the University Policy,” the FAS policy reads. In his suit, Doe alleges that the investigation undertaken by FAS cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of the university’s policy. “FAS’s decision to investigate Mr. Doe is causing, and will continue to cause, Harvard to be in violation of its own policy, not to mention is causing, and will continue to cause, Harvard to inflict substantial damage on Mr. Doe,” the lawsuit reads. “In short, Harvard has violated its own contractual and common law obligations— including the obligations embodied in its own sexual misconduct policies and procedures.” Advertisement A hearing for the case is set for Dec. 11. ||||| University Hall. A Harvard undergraduate has filed suit against the University charging it overstepped when it opened an investigation this October into allegations he raped a non-Harvard student in an apartment building located hundreds of miles from campus in summer 2017. The unnamed male student, dubbed “John Doe” in the complaint, filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. He contends that Harvard does not have the authority to open an investigation into sexual assault allegations levied by a non-Harvard student regarding an incident that did not take place on University property. He is demanding Harvard cease to investigate him and pay him $75,000 in damages, as well as compensate him for any costs incurred during litigation. Doe’s suit states that, during summer 2017, Doe and “Jane Roe” — the unnamed woman he allegedly raped — were both working internships “in a city hundreds of miles away from Harvard.” That city was almost certainly Washington, D.C. Additional court filings state that the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department investigated the alleged assault but ultimately decided not to prosecute the case. Advertisement Doe wrote in his suit against Harvard that he is currently facing a civil lawsuit filed by Roe. The University’s Office for Dispute Resolution opened an investigation into Doe in October 2018, according to Doe’s complaint. ODR handles all allegations of sexual or gender-based harassment at Harvard in keeping with Title IX, a federal anti-sex discrimination law. In arguing ODR does not have the jurisdiction to investigate his case, Doe pointed to University policies related to sexual and gender-based harassment. Those policies — available online — apply only to misconduct perpetrated by University affiliates while on campus or in connection with University-recognized activities. The policy also covers harassment that may create a “hostile environment” for other Harvard affiliates. Doe, though, is likely subject to both University policy and guidelines followed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as a student of the College. The University's overarching policy — which Doe referenced — does not preclude schools within Harvard from producing and enforcing their own, more expansive sets of rules. FAS policies and procedures are broader in scope than comparable University policies. Per its guidelines, FAS may hold all students to the expectation that they behave in a “in a mature and responsible manner” no matter where they are. “It is the expectation of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that all students, whether or not they are on campus or are currently enrolled in a degree program, will behave in a mature and responsible manner,” the policy reads. “Consistent with this principle, sexual and gender-based misconduct are not tolerated by the FAS even when, because they do not have the effect of creating a hostile environment for a member of the University community, they fall outside the jurisdiction of the University Policy.” Recent federal Title IX guidelines proposed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could complicate Doe’s suit. The new rules, released by the department on Nov. 16, limit the scope of acts of sexual harassment universities are required to investigate. Specifically, the rules stipulate schools are not required to open investigations into alleged acts of sexual misconduct that took place outside the bounds of a school "program or activity." In his complaint, Doe charges Harvard with two counts: breach of contract and breach of covenant of faith and fair dealing. He alleges that, in allowing him to attend classes in exchange for “substantial amounts of money,” Harvard created a reasonable expectation that Doe would earn a degree from the school. One possible outcome of an ODR investigation is expulsion. “Harvard has breached, and is breaching, its contractual obligations by subjecting Mr. Doe to a disciplinary process that—in the ways, and for the reasons, set out above—is arbitrary, capricious, malicious, and being conducted in bad faith,” the complaint states. Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane declined to comment. The complaint states that Doe met Roe on the night of July 22, 2017 at a party held at Roe’s apartment. There, they “engaged in sexual activity,” to which Doe alleges Roe consented. Roe, however, alleges Doe raped her, according to the lawsuit. The suit states Roe later filed a complaint with the local police department. Roe filed a civil personal injury suit against Doe in March 2018. That suit is currently ongoing. Doe states that ODR informed him that the investigation into him is based on Roe’s allegations. In an email submitted as an exhibit in the lawsuit, Ilissa K. Povich, ODR senior investigator, wrote that the College Title IX coordinator filed the case, then reached out to Roe to ask her to participate as a complainant in the investigation. After first questioning ODR’s jurisdiction, Doe asked Povich to temporarily suspend the investigation pending the results of the lawsuit filed in March by Roe. Doe stated a simultaneous ODR investigation would have a “serious impact” on his ability to defend himself in the ongoing civil case, according to the complaint. But Povich rejected this request, stating that Harvard University Police Department confirmed with D.C. police that law enforcement did not plan to investigate the allegations, according to an email filed as an exhibit. Though FAS policy allows the school to pause an investigation in order to avoid interfering with active criminal investigations, it does not mention the possibility of deferring an investigation to accommodate ongoing civil litigation. In his complaint, Doe states that the ODR investigation is unnecessary because Roe is already “assured of having her day in court” through her civil suit. He adds that, in that suit, Doe “will be entitled to all the protections of a defendant in a civil case,” including subpoena power and the right to cross-examine Roe and other witnesses. On Nov. 15, Harvard temporarily paused its investigation into Doe, the complaint states. It reopened the investigation on Nov. 27 “with no changes to its existing procedures” and requested an interview with Doe the next day, according to the complaint. Doe noted in his complaint that the temporary suspension of the investigation coincided with the Education Department’s release of new Title IX guidelines — “rules with which Harvard’s current proceedings do not comply,” the suit reads. University spokesperson Melodie L. Jackson did not respond to questions regarding Harvard’s decision to pause the investigation and whether it related to DeVos’s new guidelines. In addition to filing a motion requesting a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, Doe has filed a motion to proceed with the case under a pseudonym. Judge Indira Talwani ’82, who is presiding over the case, set a date of Dec. 11 for a hearing on Doe’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. Correction: Dec. 8, 2018 A previous version of this article incorrectly indicated that the new Title IX rules proposed in November 2018 would forbid universities from opening investigations into alleged acts of sexual misconduct that took place outside the bounds of a school “program or activity.” In fact, the new rules would merely stipulate schools are not required to open investigations into alleged acts of sexual misconduct that took place outside the bounds of a school "program or activity." —Staff writer Angela N. Fu can be reached at angela.fu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @angelanfu. —Staff writer Molly C. McCafferty can be reached at molly.mccafferty@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @mollmccaff.

– Harvard University is investigating an alleged rape, and it's being sued in an attempt to stop it. The Boston Globe has the backstory: "John Doe" enrolled at Harvard in August 2016; that next summer, while interning "in a city hundreds of miles away from Harvard" he met "Jane Roe," who is not a Harvard student. Based on court filings, the Harvard Crimson reports that city was likely Washington, DC. While there, the two on July 22 had a sexual encounter that he says she consented to and she says she didn't. Prosecutors decided not to take the case, and a civil personal injury suit filed by Roe in March 2018 is pending. Where Harvard comes into play: The school's Office of Dispute Resolution in October began an investigation to determine "whether he had committed sexual assault in violation of Harvard’s Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment [Policy]." That policy itself is at the crux of Doe's suit against the school; he argues the policy is in force under certain scenarios: If the incident occurred on Harvard property, if there was an off-campus connection (ie, at a program sponsored by Harvard), or if the conduct could "creat[e] a hostile environment for a member of the University community." Those scenarios don't apply, he argues, and he filed a civil suit Wednesday seeking a halt to Harvard's probe and $75,000 in damages. The suit describes Harvard's disciplinary process against Doe as "arbitrary, capricious, malicious, and being conducted in bad faith." Read the full Globe article for more; it digs into some discrepancies between Harvard's overarching policy and that of the specific college Doe is enrolled at: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. (Almost 50 years later, a Harvard student's murder is solved.)

Image copyright Reuters Carlos Ghosn has been ousted after nearly two decades at the helm of Japanese carmaker Nissan, following allegations of financial misconduct. He has been accused by Nissan of under-reporting his salary and using company assets for personal use. But some see it as part of the firm's attempt to rebalance power in its alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi, which Mr Ghosn also chairs. The 64-year-old was the architect of the tie-up between the three firms. The board also voted to remove senior executive Greg Kelly. Nissan's board issued a statement which said the decision to dismiss the two men was unanimous. The board's mission was "to minimise the potential impact and confusion on the day-to-day cooperation among the Alliance partners", it added. Mr Ghosn and Mr Kelly remain in custody in Tokyo. What are the accusations? Nissan has accused Mr Ghosn of "significant acts of misconduct", including under-reporting his pay package and personal use of company assets. On Monday, the firm said it had been conducting an internal investigation for several months, prompted by a whistleblower. Nissan also accused Mr Kelly of having been "deeply involved" in the misconduct. Prosecutors have said the two men conspired to understate Mr Ghosn's compensation, starting in 2010. Mr Ghosn is accused of filing annual securities reports containing fake statements, which could mean up to 10 years in prison, or a fine of 10m yen, or both. Broadcaster NHK has also reported, citing unnamed sources, that Nissan spent millions of dollars on luxury homes in four countries without legitimate business justifications. Millions of dollars had been spent to purchase and renovate the homes in Brazil, Lebanon, France and the Netherlands, NHK said. Mr Ghosn has not been charged. What happens next? Japanese news agency Kyodo is reporting that Nissan's chief executive Hiroto Saikawa will take over as interim chairman. He promised earlier this week that Nissan would try to "stabilise the situation, and normalise day-to-day operations" for staff and business partners. Nissan's board said it would establish a committee to look at appointing a permanent successor to Mr Ghosn. Mitsubishi Motors will meet to discuss Mr Ghosn's role there next week. Two days ago Renault's board said it was appointing a temporary deputy chief executive to take over the running of the French car firm. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Nissan's Hiroto Saikawa said he believed the misconduct "went on for a long period" Who is Carlos Ghosn? His hero status was so big that his life was serialised in one of Japan's famous cartoon comic books The Brazilian-born boss of Lebanese descent and a French citizen says his background left him with a feeling of being different, which helped him adapt to new cultures In France he was known as Le Cost Killer, a comment on the deep cuts he made to revive Renault He was once tipped as a potential president of Lebanon, a move he eventually dismissed because he already had "too many jobs" In a 2011 poll of people the Japanese would like to run their country Mr Ghosn came seventh, in front of Barack Obama (ninth) Will the Alliance survive this? The future of the Nissan-Mitsubishi-Renault partnership remains unclear in the aftermath of the allegations. Before his arrest Mr Ghosn was seeking to strengthen it, according to the according to the Financial Times. The paper reported that he had been planning a merger between Renault and Nissan - a deal which Nissan's board opposed. But sources told the BBC that a full merger - to create a single company - "was never on the cards". Despite selling fewer vehicles, Renault has a 43% shareholding in Nissan, while Nissan's stake in Renault is only 15%. Prior to Thursday's board meeting, Nissan boss Mr Saikawa insisted the partnership would "not be affected" by the arrest of Mr Ghosn and Mr Kelly. But Mitsubishi Motors chief executive Osamu Masuko said the alliance would be difficult to manage without Mr Ghosn. ||||| TOKYO — Nissan’s board of directors voted unanimously to remove Carlos Ghosn as its chairman on Thursday, three days after he was arrested on allegations of underreporting his income to government regulators over a period of several years. The board’s vote was a grim rebuke of Mr. Ghosn, one of the car industry’s most powerful leaders and the man who saved Nissan nearly 20 years ago. The board met for four hours and issued a short statement that sought to telegraph stability even amid the sudden leadership upheaval. It emphasized that its alliance with Renault, Nissan’s largest shareholder, was a priority, and that it would consider having an outside adviser review its corporate governance and its director compensation system. The board said it acted to confirm “that the longstanding Alliance partnership with Renault remains unchanged and that the mission is to minimize the potential impact and confusion on the day-to-day cooperation” with alliance partners.

– Nissan has followed up on its promise to remove Chairman Carlos Ghosn. The auto company's board voted Thursday to oust its arrested leader, accused of underreporting his income by more than $44 million, and senior executive Greg Kelly, who was allegedly involved in the scheme, per the BBC. The 64-year-old Ghosn, who headed a three-firm alliance, remains chairman and CEO of Renault, though Mitsubishi has asked its board to remove him. Per the New York Times, Nissan's move won't be official until a full shareholder vote, which is required for such a removal under Japanese corporate law. (More on Ghosn's alleged crimes here.)

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- For weeks, said Army Col. John V. Bogdan, the man in charge of Guantanamo’s detention facilities, he had tried to bring the crisis to a peaceful resolution. Since early February, a little more than six months after he took over command here, detainees had been protesting their treatment. Those in the communal Camp Six had covered video cameras with empty cereal boxes and other items, preventing U.S. officials from monitoring their movements. More than 100 detainees were participating in a hunger strike, the detainees' lawyers had been telling the press and military officials. The military, however, downplayed the severity of the protest, placing the number of hunger strikers, initially, at just a half-dozen. One spokesman told CBS News in mid-March that the idea of a mass hunger strike at the prison was an “utter fabrication," and said prisoners were “in fact eating handfuls of trail mix, nuts, and other food.” Guards pointed to scraps of pita bread and peanut butter in trash bags as evidence that the hunger strike wasn't real. "We had no urgent need to get in there," Bogdan told reporters in April. "We had no evidence of any threat or harm or risk to the detainees. It was a little bit of a waiting game." A detainee shown in Camp Six's medical clinic in April. As the protest dragged on, however, U.S. officials feared they were losing control. The head of Camp Six acknowledged in late March that the pantries inside the communal blocks were getting low on food, which was “beginning to be a problem.” Medical personnel gradually raised the official number of recognized hunger strikers -- up to 43 by mid-April. Negotiations had gotten nowhere. The detainees wanted changes to the way the guards handled their copies of the Quran, but Bogdan would not consider their demands until the cameras were uncovered. “I don’t reinforce bad behavior,” he said. “The deal was uncover the cameras, comply with rules, follow the rules, and then we would address anything that might be legitimate.” Bogdan decided he had had enough. At 5:10 a.m. on April 13, a contingent of guards in riot gear stormed Camp Six and forced the detainees into their individual cells. The guards had trained for the mission for weeks. They fired rubber pellets at the detainees. Two guards wearing helmets were knocked in the head -- one with a squeegee handle, the other with a heavy metal bar from exercise equipment -- but resistance from the detainees, who were spread out in several of Camp Six’s cellblocks, wasn’t widespread. The raid was over in a matter of minutes, leaving five detainees injured. "We were trying to be patient and work with them and give them the opportunity to comply," Bogdan told reporters from The Huffington Post and three other news organizations shortly after the raid. "We hit the point where I thought we were accepting too much risk, and I felt it was time to take action." The raid gave U.S. officials control of the facility again. But they soon discovered that, out of sight behind the disabled camera lenses, the detainees' lawyers had been right -- the situation was far worse than they had acknowledged. The military's medical personnel now say that 100 detainees have been participating in the hunger strike since before the raid. In one cell, officials found a detainee near death from hunger and thirst. An empty Camp Six cell block that was previously occupied by detainees living in a communal setting. Twenty-three detainees are currently being force-fed. At least twice a day, guards in riot gear tie each detainee to a chair or bed, and medical personnel force a tube up his nose and down his throat, and pump a can of Ensure or other dietary supplement into his stomach. There are so many detainees being force-fed that Guantanamo's medical personnel are working around the clock to keep up with the demand, and approximately 40 additional medical personnel just arrived in Guantanamo to help deal with the growing crisis. "There will be more than one death,” predicted the military's Muslim adviser, who would identify himself only by his first name, Zak. The night after the raid, a detainee in Camp Six tried to commit suicide, choking himself with his own shirt. The night before, a Camp Five detainee tried to do the same. “I can’t find the words to describe the suffering I am going through,” Mohammed al-Zarnouqi, a citizen of Yemen who said he had been on hunger strike since Jan. 19, wrote in a March 25 letter to his legal team. “You can only imagine how a hunger striker with his weak body is treated in a harsh way,” he wrote. He said that when he was taken to the medical clinic in March, guards threw him to the concrete floor, causing him to hit his head. “Six to seven soldiers press my back, bend my legs in the knee area and tie my hands with shackles," he wrote. “Really, now it is just pain everywhere. I don’t want to die in Guantánamo,” Younous Chekkouri, a detainee from Morocco, told his lawyer in early April. He said he had lost 30 pounds. According to the detainees, the hunger strike began as a protest against the way military personnel were handling prisoner Qurans. The military disputes the allegations. Regardless of why the hunger strike started, however, there’s general consensus about why it continues. “The problem is the indefinite detention,” said Carlos Warner, a federal public defender representing several Guantanamo detainees. Photos of President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on display at the headquarters of Guantanamo's Joint Detention Group. Eleven years after the first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo, 166 remain, with no end in sight. More than half -- 86 -- have been cleared for transfer to other countries, but the process has been snarled by a mix of congressionally imposed restrictions and executive branch inaction. Even if President Barack Obama did have the power to close Guantanamo unilaterally, doing so would not necessarily mean that the detainees would be set free in other countries. William Lietzau, the top detainee policy official at the Pentagon, told The New York Times recently that he doesn’t believe the number of detainees being held without charges would “change radically,” even if legislative restrictions were removed. But the lack of progress, especially given Obama's promise to close Guantanamo, has worn on the detainees. They were reportedly particularly upset after Obama failed to mention Guantanamo during his State of the Union address in February. The mass hunger strike began a few weeks later -- the last resort of desperate men seeking attention. "I just hope that because of the pain we are suffering, the eyes of the world will once again look to Guantánamo before it is too late," one prisoner, Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, wrote in The New York Times last month, detailing his experience of being force-fed. After 11 years, he continues to be held at Guantanamo because the Obama administration refuses to send detainees home to Yemen while the country remains a hotbed of terrorism. Accounts like his did turn public attention toward Guantanamo, at least briefly. A day after al Hasan Moqbel's op-ed was published, the Boston Marathon bombings shocked the nation and pushed Guantanamo off the front pages -- the same week the military granted reporters access to the prison facilities for the first time in weeks. Now, however, with the crisis in Boston eased, attention is slowly shifting back to the detainees. Obama renewed his commitment to close Guantanamo during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday. "I don't want these individuals to die," Obama said of the hunger strikers. "Obviously the Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can. But I think all of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this? Why are we doing this?" Guantanamo, Obama said, is a "lingering problem that is not going to get better, it's going to get worse. It's going to fester." Such unease about its continued existence is at odds with the development of Guantanamo from a temporary detention facility into a more robust prison camp. The military has spent millions of dollars in recent years on a state-of-the-art courthouse, housing for lawyers, guards and other personnel, and improved facilities for the detainees. A new chapel is under construction, and the sports center is being refurbished. The Pentagon is requesting nearly $200 million for upgrades at Guantanamo, including replacing the secretive Camp Seven that houses high-value detainees. As the military tells it, prisoners in Guantanamo's Camp Six had it about as good as prisoners being held indefinitely without charges possibly could. Their communal pods had big-screen televisions, microwaves, refrigerators, and 22-hour access to a large outdoor recreation yard. That soccer field, about half the size of an American football field, was accessible to detainees via a secured walkway that minimized contact, and conflict, with guards. Detainees could move freely within their communal blocks for most of the day and could eat, pray, and even play video games together. FIFA soccer on PlayStation 3 was a hit, while Angry Birds “was kind of popular at the beginning, but it just stopped,” a library tech named Milton, who agreed to be identified only by his first name, told reporters. DVDs of "Everybody Loves Raymond" were also a hit, and Milton was making his way through "Friends" to decide whether it was appropriate, but was concerned that Jennifer Aniston may be too scantily clad. DVDs on the shelves of Guantanamo's detainee library. “We were ready to give them their own DVD player just before they started covering cameras,” said Zak, the Muslim adviser. “We bought that shipment six months ago, nine months ago. We worked on it to get the money.” Bogdan, who took charge of Guantanamo's detention facilities in June 2012, decided to crack down on some of the freedoms and comforts of the communal cellblock, however. Detainees have told their lawyers that Bogdan directed the guards to confiscate personal items, crank up the air conditioning to make the cells uncomfortably cold, and search Qurans for contraband. “I will bring this camp to how it was in the old times. I’ve got kids at home and I know how to deal with kids,” Bogdan reportedly said, according to a detainee. Bogdan has defended his actions, saying that guards had allowed some of the rules to slip in previous years and that he was simply enforcing official procedures. “We have a constantly rotating guard force. So when you have a guard force that’s been in for a while and then a new one comes on, the newer guard force is going to be a little more, for the lack of a better word, by the book,” Bogdan said. Prison officials found an iPod in Camp Six after the raid that they believe a guard snuck in, and other electronic contraband has been found in the past. Capt. John, an Army reservist who had worked in Louisiana prisons and detention facilities when not on active duty and declined to provide his last name, said he was shocked by the conditions when he took charge of Camp Six in January. "I've never been in a civilian prison that looked anything like the communal here,” John said, standing inside a communal block he said had been packed with books, cases of bottled water, trash and “all sorts of items” the detainees had hoarded until the raid. “In a civilian facility, you’ll have some level of control. And if they live in communal, it really is compliant, they lock down when you tell them to lock down. They move when you tell them to move. But not necessarily here.” The officer in charge of Camp Six stands inside a sparsely populated block. Detainees would use sticks to poke at guards observing them from a “sally port,” the cage that links each block to the rest of the prison, he said. While the detainees have been trying to protest being held indefinitely without charges, the military is trying to keep Guantanamo guards focused on the idea that the detainees are terrorists who need to be locked up. Some of the military personnel now at Guantanamo are as young as 18, and were just children when the Sept. 11 attacks took place. To bring them up to speed, and to give those deployed to Guantanamo a better sense of why they’re there, FBI counterterrorism officials hold periodic unclassified briefings open to members of the military. A recent April briefing, which helped explain the role allegedly played by five detainees on trial in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, featured recordings of 911 calls from victims in the World Trade Center, which attendees said left many participants in tears. Additionally, guards at Guantanamo -- like all other members of the military -- are barred from doing their own research on Wikileaks, and in theory any news websites that present information from Wikileaks. Such research may tell them more about the detainees. The consequence of accepting the government's side of the story and excluding everything else is a strict us vs. them mentality. “Many of the guards are not informed about the details of the situation at Guantanamo or the legal process of it, that there are some people who are cleared for release. They’re kept away from all that,” said Omar Deghayes, a former Guantanamo detainee who was released in 2007 after a five-year incarceration. “They tell them these are the worst of the worst. All they know is ‘Oh, these people are connected to Sept. 11.’ That’s the mindframe.” "We have the keys at the end of the day, they are on the other side of the cell,” states a sign hanging in the Camp Six observation room, where guards monitor detainees via cameras. A Guantanamo guard monitors prison cells in Camp Six. Zak, the Muslim adviser, said the hunger strike began when a small group of detainees he described as troublemakers convinced the others to join the protest, because living relatively comfortably “is not going to remind the world” about Guantanamo Bay. “We never stopped improving the living conditions. We got to the point where detainees are living comfortably, nobody is shooting at us, we eat meat, we eat chicken, and they were telling their families that,” Zak said. “The 10 percent of the detainees got up and said, ‘Come on, guys, you’ve been asleep since 2008.’ Everybody was bragging about how good life was and everything, people in the outside world say, ‘How can I talk about your case, how can I move your case if you’re just living comfortably?’” Zak said. The hunger strike hasn’t halted the production of those meals the detainees were allegedly writing home about. In an aging kitchen without air conditioning overlooking the Caribbean Sea, four military contractors in hairnets continue to spoon meals -- spiced beef, tomatoes and rice on the day reporters visited, one of six meals on the rotating menu -- into white styrofoam containers. Each prisoner's inmate number, along with any dietary restrictions, is written on each container in black marker. Before the raid, staffers prepared much of the food buffet-style. But now that the detainees have been restricted to their cells, it's served almost entirely as individual portions, which also helps the medical personnel monitor the status of the hunger strikers. Most of the meals are stacked into insulated containers and driven a quarter-mile east to Camp Five and Camp Six, where, hours later, they’ll be tossed into the garbage, uneaten. “Nothing changed at our end,” said Sam Scott, who’s been working food prep since 2003, of the daily meal routine. “It bothers me,” she said of the ongoing hunger strike, “but we cannot do nothing about it.” A medical staffer shows cans of Ensure used to force-feed detainees. A different kind of meal is now prepared for the hunger-striking detainees who are in the worst shape. At least twice a day, military personnel pump a can of liquid nutritional supplement -- Ensure, Pulmocare, Glucerna or TwoCal HN -- into the stomachs of those being force-fed. Camp Six’s medical personnel used to give the detainees their choice of Ensure -- butter pecan, vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. Now, those being force-fed are not allowed to select the flavor they’ll have hosed into their stomachs. “Detainees have the right to peacefully protest,” said Guantanamo spokesman Lt. Col. Samuel House. But, he said, “We will not allow a detainee to starve themselves to death, and we will continue to treat each person humanely." Fayiz al Kandari, one of the detainees being force-feed, complained through his lawyer, Carlos Warner, that medical officials were using a feeding tube that was too large, and that he was not able to breathe. He said that his request for the doctors to use a smaller tube was denied. Roughly two-thirds of those being force-fed “accept their nutritional supplement voluntarily,” according to House, meaning the emaciated men don’t actively fight the inevitable. Even those detainees who cooperate are strapped down into a chair with built-in restraints for the arms, legs and torso. Those who refuse to go to the medical facility are strapped to their beds and force-fed inside their cells. “It’s not a violent resistance,” one medical staffer in Camp Six said the day reporters visited. Nevertheless, medical personnel are accompanied at all times by guards in riot gear. John Bodgan speaks with reporters in April. Deghayes, the former Guantanamo detainee, who was on a hunger strike for a few weeks during his time at the prison, described the debilitating effects of slow starvation. “It’s more difficult than if you were not a prisoner, because you’re in an isolated cell and all you have is nothing but walls,” Deghayes told The Huffington Post. “You become very hungry, you become very sick. ... You lose your senses, you can’t think properly, you have pain in your head and everywhere of course, you think about food. It’s difficult. It comes to a point where you can’t stand anymore.” While there are potential health risks to force-feeding -- collapsed lungs, infections, pneumonia -- the military in theory may continue the practice for years. One detainee at Guantanamo has been force-fed daily since 2005. But force-feeding -- while in line with the practices of civilian penitentiaries controlled by the federal Bureau of Prisons -- puts the U.S. government at odds with much of the medical and international community. Force-feeding, the American Medical Association wrote in a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in late April, "violates core ethical values of the medical profession" because every "competent patient has the right to refuse medical intervention, including life-sustaining interventions." The International Committee of the Red Cross also disagrees with force-feedings. Neither side seems to have an easy solution for ending the hunger strike. Military officials at Guantanamo nearly universally dismiss the complaints of detainees. "They'll protest a variety of things, from what time the rec yard needs to be sanitized ... to how many calories was in the yogurt they got that day," said Capt. John, the officer in charge of Camp Six. “They were asking to be released from Gitmo,” said Bogdan. “I can’t do that.” Bogdan said he still wants to shift Camp Six back to communal living. It will be a slow process. "Communal's not gone," Bogdan said. "It'll be a while before we're back in a communal environment again, because I see this as a vetting, screening process to determine exactly who we think can go into a communal environment, and follow the rules and be compliant. And that's not a short process." But Carlos Warner warned that no amount of limited freedoms -- books, DVDs, video games and outdoor soccer -- would satisfy men whose true desire is a resolution of their indefinite detention. “If you think keeping them in those conditions and proceeding in the way that you are is going to cause the strike to end, you’re wrong," Warner said. "You’re driving their resolve deeper." This story appears in Issue 52 of our weekly iPad magazine, Huffington, in the iTunes App store, available Friday, June 7. ||||| Young soldiers at Guantanamo Bay would have been in grade school when the 9/11 attacks occurred. But the government is making sure the terrorist attacks are fresh in their minds. The FBI now holds briefings for military personnel stationed at Guantanamo about the attacks and their connection to the island prison. Five detainees are currently being tried for their role in plotting 9/11. There are 161 other prisoners there too, about half of whom have been cleared for transfer. The presentation includes details about the hijackings, videos of the World Trade Center, and recordings of 9-1-1 calls from the towers. We received eight pages of the FBI’s 17-slide PowerPoint presentation after filing a Freedom of Information Act request. We filed the request after a Huffington Post report cited the briefings, saying they “left many participants in tears.” The presentation is marked “law enforcement sensitive,” and the FBI said they withheld nine slides to protect law enforcement tactics. The audio and video clips used in the lessons were originally exhibits from the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, currently serving a life sentence in federal prison in Colorado for his role in the attacks. (The clips are stored at a court website, which advises listener discretion.) Spokespeople for the FBI and the military at Guantanamo did not respond to requests for more details about the briefings, so it’s not clear how often they are given, or when they started. The released slides also don’t show anything about current detainees, so we don’t know how the FBI relates them to 9/11.

– It's been almost 12 years since the 9/11 attacks, which presents the US military with an unusual concern: Many of its guards at Guantanamo Bay were just kids when the attacks happened. To make sure they fully grasp the seriousness of their duties, the military conducts briefings—or "history lessons" in the words of ProPublica—on the attacks. They consist of a 17-slide PowerPoint presentation that includes information on the hijackers, photos of the destruction, and 9-1-1 calls from the towers. ProPublica got eight of the pages in a Freedom of Information Act request (none have anything more than routine info), and the FBI held back the other nine over security concerns. Of the 166 detainees at Gitmo, five are currently on trial for allegedly helping plot the 9/11 attacks. ProPublica made the FOIA request after seeing a mention of the briefings in the Huffington Post, which says they "left many participants in tears." Click to see the slides as part of ProPublica's full article.

The case of a Tijuana teenager who died screaming and going into convulsions after sipping liquid methamphetamine while in federal custody at the San Ysidro Port of Entry has been settled with a $1 million payment to his family members. The agreement in San Diego federal court came more than three years after Cruz Marcelino Velázquez Acevedo, 16, was referred for secondary inspection after crossing into the United States through the pedestrian lanes on the evening of Nov. 18, 2013. He died more than two hours later, just before 9 p.m., in the emergency room at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, after taking as many as four sips of the amber liquid that he carried in two juice bottles inside his knapsack. Claiming initially that it was apple juice that he had purchased in Mexico, Velázquez drank the liquid in the presence of two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, according to documents filed in federal court. The lawsuit alleged that “the two agents told a young man to drink the liquid to prove to them that it was fruit juice and not a drug,” said Eugene Iredale, attorney for the teenager’s family. “He did that, and as a result, he died.” Attorneys for the two officers named in the complaint did not respond to queries about the lawsuit, which alleged wrongful death, assault and battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The settlement was reached in January. Valerie Baird and Adrian Parellon, the officers named in the complaint, continue to be employed by CBP in San Diego, the agency said Friday in a statement. “Although, we are not able to speak about this specific case, training and the evaluation of CBP policies and procedures are consistently reviewed as needed,” the statement said. Both Iredale and the Mexican Consulate in San Diego confirmed the monetary payment. Family members of the late teenager were reluctant to come forward and unavailable for comment, Iredale said. “It’s never enough when you lose a human life,” said Marcela Celorio, the Mexican Consul General in San Diego, who called it a “high visibility case” for the Mexican government. “The family lost their son, and the father was very committed to finding justice,” Celorio said. “What’s important is that the family is at peace … with the agreement that was reached.” At the time of his death, Velázquez was a high school student in Tijuana who did not have a previous criminal record. Iredale said that “we believe he was paid some small amount of money, the going rate is $100 or $200, that they gave the kids to cross the border” with drugs. Evidence in the case included sworn statements as well as CBP video footage that showed the teen communicating through hand signs with the two CBP officers in the secondary inspection area. “I don’t think they deliberately set out to kill the boy,” Iredale said. “But they did, in telling him to drink it in order to prove to themselves — or have him prove to them — that it was in fact what he said it was as opposed to a drug, which is what they suspected.” Iredale cited testimony from another CBP officer alleging that Baird had told her: “Oh my God, I told him to drink it, I asked him what it was, he said it was juice, I said, ‘Well then prove it.’” The incident began on a Monday night, at about 6:40 p.m., when the teenager reached the front of the San Ysidro pedestrian line. Velázquez told an officer in the primary inspection booth that he was crossing to visit an uncle in San Ysidro. The officer said he noticed the bottles filled with liquid, but “the primary reason I referred Velazquez to secondary is because of his rapid speech and due to the fact that he was shaking so uncontrollably.” It was in the secondary area that Velázquez drank the liquid. Iredale said that it was only after the teenager had taken sips that one of the officers, Baird, opted to test the liquid by putting drops on a screwdriver to see if they would crystallize — a test that is not sanctioned by CBP. “They have many test kits … they are readily available” at the port, Iredale said, but those were not used. It was minutes later that Baird noticed that the teenager began to sweat and appear nervous, according to a court document. She called for a canine officer and dog, which alerted to drugs on the teen’s body. He was taken to a security office, where he admitted that there were “chemicals” inside the bottles, the document said. As his condition rapidly deteriorated, he was taken by ambulance to Sharp Chula Vista Hospital, where he died. The Medical Examiner’s Office report stated that Velázquez died of “acute methamphetamine intoxication,” and ruled the death an accident. Attorneys for both Baird and Parellon argued that they are shielded by qualified immunity, which means reasonable officers shouldn’t be held liable unless their actions were obviously incompetent or that they knowingly violated the law. “Although it is obvious in hindsight that Cruz acted recklessly in drinking from the bottle and that may have been attributable to his age and poor judgment, that fact does not alter the analysis. … There must also be coercive or deceptive tactics employed by officers to exploit a suspect’s vulnerabilities. No such tactics were used in this case,” Perallon’s attorney, Barton Hegeler, wrote in a motion for summary judgment. Each officer denied allegations of forcing or egging on Velázquez to drink from the bottle, saying the other had prodded the teenager to do so, according to court documents. In one document, Baird stated that Perallon “allegedly spoke to (Velázquez) in Spanish, asking him to drink from one of the bottles, ‘to prove that it was juice.’” But Perallon gave a different account, according to a statement. Perallon said he had been translating for Baird, and told her that the teen said he was willing to drink from the bottle. Perallon said Baird then responded, “if that’s what you want to do.” When Velázquez “made what appeared to be hand signals seeking approval to drink … Baird responded with a similar gesture signaling ‘it’s okay,’” according to Parellon’s statement. Staff writer Kristina Davis contributed to this story. sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com @sandradibble UPDATES: 5:30 p.m.: This story was updated with additional details. ||||| Cruz Velazquez Acevedo began convulsing shortly after he drank the liquid methamphetamine he’d brought with him from Tijuana, Mexico. The 16-year-old had just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to San Diego and was going through the San Ysidro Port of Entry. He was carrying two bottles of liquid that he claimed was apple juice. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told him to drink it to prove he wasn’t lying, court records say. The teen took four sips. Then, he began sweating profusely. He screamed and clenched his fists. In a matter of minutes, his temperature soared to 105 degrees, his family’s attorney said. His pulse reached an alarming rate of 220 beats per minute — more than twice the normal rate for adults. “Mi corazón! Mi corazón!” Acevedo screamed, according to court records — “My heart! My heart!” He was dead about two hours later. Now, more than three years after his death, the United States has agreed to pay Acevedo’s family $1 million in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought against two border officers and the U.S. government. [Thousands of ICE detainees claim they were forced into labor, a violation of anti-slavery laws] Cruz Velazquez Acevedo, 16, died in 2013 after U.S. Border Protection officers told him to drink liquid methamphetamine, according to a legal complaint. (Courtesy of Eugene Iredale) The family’s attorney, Eugene Iredale, acknowledged that the teen did something wrong when he tried to bring drugs into the United States on Nov. 18, 2013. “But he’s a 16-year-old boy with all the immaturity and bad judgment that might be characteristic of any 16-year-old kid,” Iredale told The Washington Post. “He was basically a good boy, he had no record, but he did something stupid. In any event, the worst that would’ve happened to him is that he would’ve been arrested and put in a juvenile facility for some period of time. … “It wasn’t a death penalty case. To cause him to die in a horrible way that he did is something that is execrable.” Iredale said he does not know where or how Acevedo got the drugs, or why he brought them into the United States. “It’s typical for people who are drug smugglers to approach kids and offer them $150 to smuggle drugs across the border,” he said. “We’re never going to know in this case because Cruz died. He knows it’s something he shouldn’t be bringing.” Acevedo crossed the border through the pedestrian entrance at the San Ysidro Port of Entry at about 6:40 p.m. on that November night. Iredale said the teen was carrying his passport and his border crossing card, which allows Mexican citizens to enter the United States and travel within a certain distance for tourism purposes. In California and Texas, the distance is up to 25 miles from the border; New Mexico and Arizona allow noncitizens to travel for up to 55 miles and 75 miles, respectively. The two Border Protection officers, Adrian Perallon and Valerie Baird, believed the teen was carrying a deadly controlled substance, but they “coerced and intimidated” him into drinking the liquid, according to a complaint. The boy was taken to a hospital almost an hour after he had sipped the methamphetamine. He was pronounced dead just before 9 p.m. Iredale called the officers’ treatment of Acevedo “the most inhuman kind of cruelty.” [These California teachers mocked students for skipping school on immigrant boycott day] “I’m not prepared to say they knew for certain that it was going to kill him. … It’s obvious that they suspected from the beginning that it’s meth,” Iredale said. “Playing a cruel joke on a child is not something that’s justifiable in any way. They have test kits available that would’ve given results in two to three minutes.” Iredale said the officers did test the liquid for drugs, but only after the teen started overdosing. He also cited testimony by another border officer who said Baird confessed minutes after the incident. “I asked him what it was, he said it was juice,” Baird told the other border officer, according to Iredale. “I said to him then, ‘prove it.’ ” Perallon and Baird are still employed by the Customs and Border Protection in San Diego, the agency said in a statement. “Although we are not able to speak about this specific case, training and the evaluation of CBP policies and procedures are consistently reviewed as needed,” the statement said. Iredale said Acevedo’s death prompted an internal affairs investigation, but neither officer was disciplined. When asked about the internal affairs investigation, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said the agency had no further comment. Richard Tolles, an attorney for Baird, said his client and Perallon had sought a summary judgment on the case and were waiting for a hearing on their requests when the government decided to settle. Perallon’s attorney did not return a call from The Washington Post. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of California declined to comment. [California chief justice to ICE: Stop ‘stalking’ immigrants at courthouses] The complaint alleged violations of constitutional rights, including the right to not be subjected to punishment without due process. It also accused government officials of not adequately training border officers. Tolles said there was no misconduct on his client’s part “that would’ve risen to the level of denial of due process.” “There is no violation of any clearly established constitutional right,” he said. In a motion to dismiss filed on behalf of Baird in 2015, her attorneys said Acevedo wasn’t a U.S. citizen and had no connections with the United States that entitled him to any constitutional rights. “Nonresident aliens are entitled to constitutional protections only if they have substantial voluntary connections with the United States,” the attorneys argued. Iredale said the settlement was the result of several conversations between the parties. The money has been paid to Acevedo’s parents, Iredale said. A previous version of this story, citing the complaint, incorrectly referred to the defendants as agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The defendants are Border Protection officers who work at the port of entry in Southern California. Read more: What the U.S. learned from turning away refugees who fled the Nazis A severely injured Iraqi toddler has been in the U.S. for three months — without his parents Federal agents conduct immigration enforcement raids in at least six states ||||| A teenager died at the busiest border crossing in the world after drinking an amber-colored liquid in front of federal agents. NBC 7's Elena Gomez reports. The family of a teenager killed after drinking an amber-colored liquid -- which turned out to be liquid methamphetamine - in front of federal agents at the U.S.-Mexico Border will receive $1 million in a settlement, according to court documents. The family had argued the teen was "coerced and intimidated" into drinking the liquid then was taken into custody instead of being given medical attention. A medical examiner had ruled his death an accident. The settlement comes three years after the death of Cruz Marcelino Velazquez Acevedo, 16, of Tijuana. On Nov. 18, 2013, Acevedo was stopped by agents after he entered the U.S. from Mexico on foot at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Border Wall May Face Resistance on Tribal Land President Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border may hit a snag if the Tohono O'odham Nation decides it doesn't want it on its land. While the U.S. government owns the actual border, 2.7 million acres of southern Arizona, with some 75 miles along the border, are sovereign tribal land. (Published Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017) At the primary checkpoints, agents asked the teen about two containers he was carrying. When an agent asked what was in the bottles, Acevedo called the liquid a juice, according to the lawsuit filed by his family. "The agent took a capful and poured it on the counter, because he thought if it was liquid methamphetamine it would instantly evaporate and leave behind crystals," according to the lawsuit. When it did not immediately evaporate, agents sent Acevedo to a secondary inspection point. The agent was later told by his supervisor that this was not a proper, safe test for detecting meth in liquid, according to the suit filed by the family. At secondary inspection, the teenager was questioned again, according to the lawsuit. Acevedo once again explained the bottles contained juice, but agents believed they contained controlled substances. The family claims in the lawsuit that agents "coerced and intimidated Cruz into taking a big sip from one of the bottles." A previous Medical Examiner report said Acevedo voluntarily took a sip. A K-9 then came into the room and alerted agents that Acevedo had controlled substances, according to the lawsuit. Agents then handcuffed Acevedo and took him into custody. "Despite the fact that they knew Acevedo had ingested drugs, agents did not take Cruz for medical attention," the lawsuit states. Shortly after, Acevedo began sweating, and then "screaming in pain and clenching his fists," according to the suit. In the lawsuit, the family alleges that Acevedo began yelling "the chemicals" in Spanish and then, "Mi corazon! Mi corazon!", or "My heart! My heart!" He began to seize uncontrollably, according to the suit. Agents called paramedics, who had to sedate the teen before transporting him to Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at the hospital several hours later, according to the Medical Examiner. The ME ruled his death an accident. Agents said they ran tests on the liquid that tested positive for liquid methamphetamine. When asked about the potency of methamphetamine in a liquid form, a member of the UCSD Poison Control center said the substance can show life-threatening side effects within minutes because it hits the stomach quickly. In a settlement with the agency, the family received $1 million. U. S. Customs and Border Patrol authorities released the following statement in response to the settlement: “Although, we are not able to speak about this specific case, training and the evaluation of CBP policies and procedures are consistently reviewed as needed.”

– Customs and Border Protection has paid $1 million to the family of a Mexican teen who died three years ago after sipping liquid meth at the US-Mexico border. Cruz Marcelino Velázquez Acevedo, 16, was traveling through the pedestrian entrance at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Nov. 18, 2013, when border officers discovered two jars of amber liquid inside his knapsack, reports the San Diego Union Tribune. The Tijuana high school student said the liquid was juice, according to his family's lawyer, Eugene Iredale. But officers Adrian Perallon and Valerie Baird told him "to drink the liquid to prove [it]," Iredale says. The boy took four sips of what turned out to be liquid meth and began "screaming in pain," reports NBC San Diego. Acevedo died of acute methamphetamine intoxication two hours later. And though Iredale suspects he was paid a small sum to carry the drugs, he was "basically a good boy" who was treated with "the most inhuman kind of cruelty," he tells the Washington Post. "To cause him to die in a horrible way that he did is something that is execrable," especially as officers could have tested the liquid easily, he adds. While "it's never enough when you lose a human life," the Mexican Consul General in San Diego notes Acevedo's family is "at peace" with the $1 million settlement reached in January after a lawsuit accused Parallon and Baird of wrongful death and other crimes. Both officers remain at work with Customs and Border Protection. (Officers previously found a Mexican snail statue stuffed with meth.)

The Republican National Committee is rolling out a plan to review what worked and what didn't for the party in the 2012 cycle, appointing five people at the top of a committee that will make recommendations on things like demographics, messaging and fundraising. The Growth and Opportunity Project is going to be chaired by RNC committee member Henry Barbour, longtime Jeb Bush adviser and political operative Sally Bradshaw, former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, Puerto Rico RNC committee member Zori Fonalledas, and South Carolina RNC member Glenn McCall. Priebus, who is running for a second term, is holding a call with committee members to roll out the plan this afternoon. The plan is to focus on: campaign mechanics, fundraising, demographics, messaging, outside groups, campaign finance, the national primary process and, last but not least, what the successful Democratic efforts revealed about the way forward, and recommend plans for the way forward, sources familiar with the plan said. Priebus had told a large group of donors in New York last week that the review would be conducted outside the building and would not be led by RNC staff. But sources familiar with the project said that there are 2 RNC senior staffers, Ben Kay and Sara Armstrong, assigned to the project as support staff, saying the goal between them and the RNC members involved was to have, as one source said, "both inside and outside influence" to bring in a several different points of view. Still, the source insisted that "the GOP has problems but they are solvable. We have to look at what we are doing right and what we’re doing wrong and lay out our vision and plans for Americans so everyone knows what we stand for. 2010 was the biggest mid-term win for one party since the 1938 election. Our ideas still resonate, but we need to examine what’s working and what isn’t. We have 30 Governors right now, but we want to listen and learn so we do better in presidential years as well." Still, given the complaints about the party, the composition of the committee includes at least one Priebus ally - Barbour - and others with ties to Bush-world. It includes demographic diversity, but less so ideologically. Officials said the review will include a broad swath of people within the party, including donors and grassroots members, but it remains to be seen how conservative activists react. The main focus of the review is inclusion of new voters for future victories, the sources said, calling the eight areas of review an initial start, with other areas getting talked about as time goes on. There will be "informal discussions with small and large groups," and formal sit-downs and conference calls. They will look to give Priebus a review in the coming months, the source said. The RNC isn’t the only group assessing how 2012 went so terribly wrong. The high command of American Crossroads, the most powerful of the GOP SuperPACs, met last week in Washington, Republican sources tell POLITICO. Heavyweight advisers Haley Barbour, Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove were all in town for the meeting, which featured a discussion of the campaign and the first extensive conversation about how the group should approach the 2014 mid-terms. The group is not expected to play a role in the two 2013 gubernatorial races, deferring to the RGA, but is considering how to shape the next round of congressional elections. At the top of the agenda: influencing candidate selection in GOP primaries. But before they turn completely to 2014, Crossroads is still diagnosing last month’s results. The group digested a series of 2012 memos mixed brutal analysis with some self-reassurance. In the first category, pollster Glen Bolger bluntly warned in top paragraph of his memo that the GOP is in danger of becoming a party that can only win in non-presidential years when the composition of the electorate doesn’t reflect the country. Pointing to Republican’s difficulties with Hispanics, Bolger, who is partners with Mitt Romney’s 2012 pollster, wrote: "the Republican Party is in danger of becoming the 'Win In Off Years Only Party' unless we make a full-throated improvement with Hispanic voters. And, we have to admit it is us, not them." Yet even as they attempt to learn from what happened, Crossroads also is preparing to make clear to their donors that they weren’t blind to the difficulties of Romney’s winning the presidency. One of the internal memos prepared for the meeting detailed on a state-by-state basis the group’s final polling in each state and the actual results. Their surveys were closer to the outcome than Romney’s internal data. Last week’s pow-wow was something of a prelude before Crossroads comes up with their final report on 2012, which is expected to take place after the first of the year. * This post and its headline have been updated ||||| 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. ||||| Pop quiz, hotshot. You’re in a nationally televised debate for the presidency, at a time of tremendous economic hardship, trying to endear yourself to a socially conservative audience in Iowa. What do you do? What do you do? Well, if you’re Mitt Romney, apparently the answer is high-stakes gambling. Romney actually challenged Rick Perry to a ten thousand dollar bet onstage. Really. It’s a shame, too, because Romney had just won the crowd over with his opposition to the Newt Gingrich Moonraker project we all just learned about. In Romney’s defense, he didn’t really have another move, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry was pressing him on his inconsistent positions on the individual insurance mandate. “I’m listening,” Perry said. “I’m hearing you say all the right things. But I read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in Massachusetts, which should be the model for the country — I know it came out of the reprint of the book, but, you know, I’m just saying, you were for individual mandates, my friend.” “You know what, you’ve raised that before, Rick. and you’re wrong,” a testy Romney replied. It was true then, it’s true now…” Perry said. “Rick, I’ll tell you what, 10,000 bucks, $10,000 bet,” Romney said, extending a hand. Perry hesitated, left Romney hanging. “I’m not in the betting business.” Romney continues to insist that he never posited his mandate as a national solution, but as readers of this site well know, that simply isn’t true. I’ll bet a fiddle of gold. Here’s the clip, from ABC News: Please enable Javascript to watch. Update: ABC’s Jake Tapper fact checks the bet and has reaction to it below:

– Front-runner Newt Gingrich took a few licks but stood his ground tonight at the GOP presidential debate in Iowa, Politico reports. After Romney described himself as a businessman—not a politician like Gingrich—Newt fired back: "Let's be candid. The only reason you didn't become a career politician is because you lost to Ted Kennedy in 1994." After the audience "ooohed," Romney returned fire: "Losing to Teddy Kennedy was probably the best thing I could have done for preparing me for the job I’m seeking," the New York Times reports. In other highlights: Gingrich repeated his position that Washington should let illegals stay in the US under certain strict conditions. "That's not amnesty," he said. Romney countered that Gingrich's plan "will then create another magnet that draws people into our country illegally"—but didn't say he would try to deport illegal immigrants. Gingrich defended his remark that Palestinians are an "invented people," and said it's time people admit that Israel is a nation under fire from "terrorists." Countered Romney: "You don't speak for Israel. If Bibi Netanyahu wants to say what you said, let him say it." Bachmann called Gingrich part of the problem and referred to him and Romney as "Newt Romney"—meaning their policies are basically the same. "If you want a difference, Michele Bachmann is the proven conservative," Bachmann said. "It's not Newt Romney." Rick Perry attacked Gingrich's character by saying that "if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner." Gingrich has been married three times, and admitted to cheating on his second wife. Replied Newt: "It is a real issue. People have to look at the person to whom they are going to loan the presidency." Fact Check: Gingrich said he has never supported cap and trade to curb pollution, but he did favor it in 2007 on PBS' "Frontline." Romney and Michele Bachmann almost agreed on the payroll tax cut. Bachmann said she opposes extending the tax for another year, and Romney agreed, calling it a "little Band-Aid." But he also supported a one-year extension: "It's a temporary tax cut and it will help people in a very difficult time." Romney actually challenged Perry to a $10,000 bet, Mediaite reports. Perry accused Romney of supporting individual insurance mandates, and Romney denied it: "Rick, I’ll tell you what, 10,000 bucks, $10,000 bet," he said, and offered a hand. Perry retorted, “I’m not in the betting business." All the candidates except Romney talked about economic setbacks they had endured in life. Gingrich mentioned growing up "above a gas station" and referred to the struggles of his family business, Gingrich Productions. (He didn't mention the $500,000 line of credit he and his wife had at Tiffany's.) Click here for post-debate reactions on the winners and losers.

Who doesn't love a good celebrity marriage proposal? And the exciting news is made even better by a beautiful, embarrassingly expensive rock. J.Lo's 8.5-karat ring cost singer Marc Anthony a whopping one million dollars -- and that only got the couple at the number nine spot. ||||| Who doesn't love a good celebrity marriage proposal? And the exciting news is made even better by a beautiful, embarrassingly expensive rock. J.Lo's 8.5-karat ring cost singer Marc Anthony a whopping one million dollars -- and that only got the couple at the number nine spot. Check out the celebrities with the most expensive engagement rings in the video above.

– Justin Timberlake reportedly put a ring on it. Natalie Portman flashed a diamond engagement ring—now surrounded by what are reported to be wedding diamonds—at the Oscars. Will these rings go down in history as Hollywood's priciest? Only if they can beat out these 10 engagement rings, handed by celebrities to their one true love ... at the time. Of the 10 reported by the Huffington Post, only six are still together. Wonder who kept the ring? Beyonce: Jay-Z's got 99 problems ... but being cheap ain't one. The 18-karat ring he gave the singer clocks in at $5 million. Paris Hilton: Yep, the celebutante who has never been married is No. 2 on the list. Which of her failed relationships brought the goods? Her 2005 engagement to shipping heir Paris Latsis, which, though brief, was sweetened by a 24-karat $4.7 million ring. Melania Knauss-Trump: The Donald didn't disappoint, handing wife No. 3 a $3 million 15-karat ring Mariah Carey: She has twins with Nick Cannon, but got a 59-diamond ring first, valued at more than $2 million. Kim Kardashian: It hurts, we know, but she grabs the No. 5 spot thanks to Kris Humphries, whose 20-karat ring cost $2M. Click for the rest of the list, which includes a freshly split couple.

MEXICO CITY — The increasing drug and organized-crime violence in Central America has led the Peace Corps to pull out of Honduras and stop sending new volunteers to Guatemala and El Salvador, the organization announced Wednesday. Peace Corps officials said they had taken stock of the worsening conditions and decided to withdraw their 158 volunteers from Honduras in January and scuttle plans to send 29 recruits to complete their training. “We are going to conduct a full review of the program,” Aaron S. Williams, the director of the Peace Corps, said in a statement. In Guatemala and El Salvador, officials decided to keep the 335 volunteers already in those countries but not to send the 76 recruits who were to begin training there next month. The trainees will be sent to other countries, the corps said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Kristina Edmunson, a Peace Corps spokeswoman in Washington, said the moves stemmed from “comprehensive safety and security concerns” rather than any specific threat or incident. However, Peace Corps Journals, an online portal for blogs by Peace Corps volunteers, has an entry referring to a volunteer’s being shot in an armed robbery. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. There was no immediate reaction from the governments. All three countries have endured a rash of violence primarily related to drug traffickers using Central America as a staging point to ship cocaine to the United States from South America. ||||| Image caption Concerns over security are high in Honduras which has the world's highest murder rate The US Peace Corps is pulling out of Honduras amid concerns over rising violence linked to organised crime. The corps said it would withdraw its 158 volunteers from Honduras in January while it reviewed the security situation. Training for new volunteers is also being halted in El Salvador and Guatemala. Central America has seen a rise in drug-related violence, largely blamed on the presence of Mexican cartels. The region is a key staging point for trafficking drugs from South America to the US market. The Peace Corps said its current volunteers in Honduras were safe but would be brought back home in January. "The safety and security of all Peace Corps volunteers is the agency's highest priority," Peace Corps Director Aaron S Williams said in a statement. "During this time, we are going to conduct a full review of the programme." The Peace Corps has not mentioned any specific threats but Honduras suffers the world's highest murder rate - 82 killings per 100,000 people a year. The army is currently taking on policing duties in response to a wave of violence. There are 222 and 113 volunteers currently serving in Guatemala and El Salvador respectively and these will remain in place. But the Peace Corps has cancelled training classes for new recruits in these countries and will send them elsewhere. The Peace Corps has operated in Honduras and Guatemala since 1963, sending several thousand Americans to work on projects there. It had a presence in El Salvador from 1962-1979, returning in 1993 after the end of the country's civil war. The Peace Corps has sent more than 200,000 Americans to serve in 139 countries since it was founded in 1961.

– Life in Honduras is no walk in the park: The country sees some 20 homicides daily, giving it the unfortunate title of Central America's most dangerous country. And so the Peace Corps has decided to pull out. Though it says the 158 volunteers it has in the country are safe, they will all return home next month. The Peace Corps, which has had a presence in the country since 1963, will then "conduct a full review of the program," says its director. Though it didn't provide details on any specific threats it may have identified, the BBC reports that drug trafficking and organized crime, and the violence that surrounds them, are on the rise—there, and throughout Central America. And that's causing the Peace Corps to exercise caution elsewhere in the region. Though the 335 volunteers currently placed in El Salvador and Guatemala will remain there, it will not dispatch new volunteers to those countries. The 76 who were supposed to start their training there in January will be reassigned to other countries, reports the New York Times. Click to read one volunteer's reaction to the news.

But "25," the follow-up to the hit "21," is all but certain to be a blockbuster. The first single, "Hello," sold a record 1.1 million copies in its first week of release, and its video has more than 415 million views. ||||| For Adele’s legions of fans, as well as for the music industry at large, a big question has hung over the release of “25,” her first album in nearly five years. The album is all but certain to be a gigantic hit, but would Adele make it available for streaming on services like Spotify and Apple Music? An answer emerged on Thursday, after weeks of speculation: No. With less than 24 hours before the release of the album on Friday, the major digital music services were informed that “25” would not be available for streaming, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans. A spokesman for Adele declined to comment. Streaming has taken hold as the fastest-growing part of the music business and the format that record executives and technology mavens alike point to as the future of listening. But it remains controversial among many artists over royalty payments and issues of control. Most artists have no choice but to opt for streaming and accede to the terms set by the services. But Adele, along with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, are viewed as among the very few superstar acts with enough leverage to set the terms for how they want their music to be consumed.

– Adele's 25, her first album in nearly five years, will soon be blasting from every commercial, shopping mall, and cellphone from here to Timbuktu. But there's one place you won't be hearing it: streaming online. The New York Times reports 25 will not be available on Spotify, Apple Music, or any other digital streaming service when it's released Friday, a decision streaming services weren't made aware of until Thursday. "We love and respect Adele, as do her 24 million fans on Spotify," the Los Angeles Times quotes a statement from Spotify. "We hope that she will give those fans the opportunity to enjoy 25 on Spotify alongside 19 and 21 very soon." 25 is expected to be a mega-hit for the music industry, with experts predicting 2.5 million copies sold in the first week, the New York Times reports. That would be the best first week since 'N Sync 15 years ago. Tyler Goldman, CEO of French streaming company Deezer, tells the Los Angeles Times keeping 25 off streaming services might help Adele's sales in the immediate future, but it won't slow down paid streaming services, which are pretty much the only growth area in the music industry. "It's not like users want to go back to downloads and CDs," he says.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A deal to evacuate insurgents from the Old City of Homs in central Syria hit a snag on Thursday when rebels in Aleppo Province refused to allow all of a humanitarian convoy to enter two villages they had blockaded, as called for under a pact between the government and the rebels, opposition activists and a pro-government television channel reported. The problems came as insurgents in the northern city of Aleppo set off an enormous explosion that leveled the historic Carlton Hotel, facing the city’s ancient citadel, where government troops had been billeted. Clouds of dust and debris towered above the citadel’s ramparts, underscoring the insurgents’ vow to continue the fight and their ability to carry out damaging attacks despite retreating from Homs. The Islamic Front, the insurgent coalition that claimed responsibility for the blast, also controls territory where the aid convoys were blocked from entering the villages of Nubol and Zahra. Its members are among those who have objected to the deal on the grounds that rebels should make no compromise with the government. Continue reading the main story Video The government was preventing the last busload of fighters from leaving Homs’s Old City until the aid was allowed to reach the villages, the Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen reported, leaving the completion of the deal in limbo. Several hundred fighters remained in the Old City after nearly 1,000 left on Wednesday for insurgent-held areas in northern Homs Province. Scores of prisoners and hostages held by rebels in Aleppo and Latakia Provinces have been released. The problems on Thursday highlighted the challenges of carrying out a deal that requires cooperation from far-flung, disconnected insurgent groups. The accord, which provides for rebels to leave the blockaded Old City with their weapons and hand over the symbolic territory to the government, has been seen as a turning point for both sides after a nearly two-year standoff that has reduced fighters and civilians in the center of Homs, once called the “city of the revolution,” to eating grass. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Despite the hitches, several more busloads of rebels arrived in northern Homs and could be seen, in videos posted online, smiling and hugging in apparent relief. The governor, Talal Barazi, toured a damaged square just outside the Old City with television cameras, vowing against a backdrop of blackened buildings, “When the armed men leave the Old City of Homs, we will rebuild the city in no time.” Mr. Barazi did not address the presence of increasingly pro-government militias, some of whose members have expressed anger at anything short of total defeat for the insurgents. He said that a similar evacuation deal was in the works for the last rebel-held neighborhood in Homs, Hay al-Waer, an area of high-rises on the city’s outskirts. Some 200,000 people in the neighborhood, half of them displaced from elsewhere, remain under a government blockade and shelling. Saying a process of reconciliation was underway, Mr. Barazi and state television correspondents were careful to describe those departing as gunmen or fighters, not terrorists, as official news media have typically called the entire armed opposition. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Advertisement Continue reading the main story With Mr. Barazi on state television was Yacoub El Hillo, the senior United Nations official in Syria, who praised the deal as a way of calming the conflict. United Nations vehicles accompanied the departing insurgents and the aid convoy, along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. Ahmad al-Ali, a member of a local government committee in Homs, told state television: “We won. We are standing here in the heart of Homs, and all the unwanted are leaving the town.” Some opponents of the government have described the deal as a way of pushing people opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, disproportionately Sunni Muslims, out of Homs, and have expressed concern that the demographic makeup of the diverse city, Syria’s third largest, is being altered. It was unclear why the convoy to the Aleppo villages had failed. Some reports said that insurgents had wanted to allow in only a few trucks, but that the government had refused to let the convoy go farther unless all 12 trucks were allowed. Jamal Awad, a local official from Zahra who fled to a Damascus suburb, said in a telephone interview that the first truck had been stopped by insurgents, emptied and forced to go back. “Our men in the village were watching what was happening” through binoculars, he said. “They saw the armed group quarreling.” But in an indication that other aspects of the deal were moving forward, Mr. Awad said insurgents had released 13 of the 63 civilians abducted from a bus months ago. State television said that insurgents had freed at least 40 women and children in Latakia Province after killing numerous civilians there last year in villages populated by the Alawite minority, to which Mr. Assad belongs. The massacre was documented by Human Rights Watch. In Aleppo, the Islamic Front declared that the attack on the hotel, by fighters who tunneled underneath it, had killed 50 soldiers and was a response to the indiscriminate bombing that has killed hundreds of civilians in the province in recent months. The front, an Islamist coalition that includes many groups that broke off from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, said the attack was a prelude to a “large-scale operation” meant to secure territorial gains. A state television reporter was shown in front of what was left of the hotel: a hill of large stone blocks where just the tops of palm trees, which once stood in the hotel courtyard, poked through. He said that soldiers had been posted there but that there was no sign of rescue activity. SANA, the state news agency, did not mention casualties, but said that the “enormous attack” had destroyed historical sites and that explosives had been detonated “under archaeological buildings.” The Carlton was built as a hospital in the era of Ottoman rule before World War I. According to residents, government forces had lived there for two years, using it as a base for sniper and mortar attacks and to hold positions in the citadel. Insurgents, too, operate in Aleppo’s sprawling medieval Old City, drawing government bombardment that has severely damaged the area. The United Nations has called on all sides to stop bombing historic sites and using them as bases. The tactic of tunneling under opponents’ fortifications has a nearly 900-year pedigree in Aleppo: When Crusaders besieged a Muslim-held castle there in 1131, the premature collapse of a siege tunnel killed their leader, Count Joscelin I of Edessa. In video images posted on YouTube, the Islamic Front showed what it said was a similar attack this week on a government outpost in Idlib, southwest of Aleppo. The images showed a huge blast in which the group said 35 government soldiers had died. ||||| BEIRUT (AP) — A rebel-claimed bombing Thursday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo leveled a hotel near the ancient Citadel that government troops used as a military base, along with several other buildings, activists and militants said. This Wednesday, May 7, 2014 photo provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee of Khalidiya Neighborhood in Homs, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other... (Associated Press) This Wednesday, May 7, 2014 photo provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee of Khalidiya Neighborhood in Homs, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other... (Associated Press) In this Wednesday, May 7, 2014 photo provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee of Khalidiya Neighborhood in Homs, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other... (Associated Press) This Wednesday, May 7, 2014 photo provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee of Khalidiya Neighborhood in Homs, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other... (Associated Press) This Wednesday, May 7, 2014 photo provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee of Khalidiya Neighborhood in Homs, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other... (Associated Press) In this image made from amateur video released by Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebels board a bus to leave Homs, Syria, Wednesday, May... (Associated Press) In this image made from amateur video released by Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrian rebels board a bus to leave Homs, Syria, Wednesday, May... (Associated Press) This Wednesday, May 7, 2014 photo provided by the anti-government activist group Coordination Committee of Khalidiya Neighborhood in Homs, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other... (Associated Press) Syrian state television said the explosion struck a government-held area on the edge of a contested neighborhood in old part of Aleppo. The television report identified the hotel as the Carlton Citadel hotel. The attack in Aleppo is a significant blow to President Bashar Assad's government in the north as his troops prepare to regain control of the central city of Homs following last week's cease-fire agreement after a fierce, two-year battle with the rebels trying to oust him. No such agreement appears to be in sight in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial hub. The city has been carved up into opposition- and government-held areas since the rebels launched an offensive there in mid-2012, capturing territory along Syria's northern border with Turkey. In recent months, government aircraft relentlessly has bombed rebel-held areas of the city and the opposition fighters have hit back, firing mortars into government-held areas. The rebels also have detonated car bombs in residential areas, killing dozens of people. Thursday's attack targeted a government-held area on the edge of a contested neighborhood in an old part of Aleppo. The country's official news service said terrorists — a term the government uses for rebels — dug up tunnels under Aleppo ancient district and detonated explosives there. A local activist group called the Sham News Network also reported the blast, saying that Assad's troops were based in the hotel. The Islamic Front rebel group claimed responsibility for the blast. A statement posted on its official Twitter account Thursday said that its "fighters this morning leveled the Carlton Hotel barracks in Old Aleppo and a number of buildings near it, killing 50 soldiers." It did not say how it knew how many soldiers died. The Islamic Front is an alliance of several Islamic groups fighting to topple Assad. Many of its fighters have joined the Front after breaking away from the Western-backed Syrian Free Army last year. Another activist group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Islamic Front fighters planted a huge amount of explosives in a tunnel they dug below the hotel and detonated it remotely. It said the hotel was completely destroyed in the blast and that there were casualties among the troops. Meanwhile Thursday, more rebels were expected to leave the central city of Homs as an evacuation of opposition fighters moves into its second day. Homs Gov. Talal Barazi told Syrian state TV late Wednesday that that the evacuation process is being conducted in "positive atmosphere." He said Homs will be declared a "secure" city once the army moves in later Thursday. Barazi was seen touring Homs on Lebanon's Al-Manar TV, which is owned by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah has been battling rebels in Syria alongside government troops for months. A reporter with Syrian state TV was seen broadcasting live from an entrance to Homs Old City. Standing near the city's main square known as the Clock Square, the reporter interviewed a priest who said he hoped people in the city would be safe again. The Observatory, which has been documenting Syria's 3-year-old conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said that about 250 opposition fighters remain in the old districts of Homs, where they have been holed up under a crippling government siege for more than two years. The Observatory's head, Rami Abdurrahman, said more than 960 left the city Wednesday. The rebels agreed to a cease-fire deal Friday as part of the evacuation. An activist in Homs who goes with the name of Beibares Tellawi told The Associated Press that seven buses went into a once-besieged area of Homs on Thursday to take the remaining rebels out of the city. "The siege of old Homs will be over in a few hours," Tellawi said via Skype. "We expect that everyone left inside will leave today." In exchange for the rebels' safe departure from Homs, the opposition fighters have released 70 people who had been held by gunmen in various areas, including in Aleppo and in the costal province of Latakia, Barazi said. Syria's uprising began with largely peaceful protests and has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones, pitting largely Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's government that is dominated by Alawites, a sect of Shiite Islam. Islamic extremists, including foreign fighters and Syrian rebels who have taken up hard-line al-Qaida-style ideologies, have played an increasingly prominent role among fighters, dampening the West's support for the rebellion to overthrow Assad. ___ Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Yasmin Saker in Beirut contributed to this report

– Islamic militants destroyed an Aleppo hotel used by Syrian government troops today by tunneling underneath the building and planting explosives there, the New York Times reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the government soldiers suffered casualties in the attack on the Carlton Citadel, where they had been based for two years, but there are no details yet on how many. The Islamic Front rebel group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, says 50 died, the AP reports. The explosives were linked to remote detonators, and according to the state news agency, other historical sites were also leveled today in the same way. The Observatory says Islamist forces tunneled from rebel-held areas to the destroyed sites; various parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, are held by both sides. One activist says government troops were using the Carlton to launch mortar and sniper attacks. The Islamic Front is an alliance of Islamic groups; many of its fighters broke away from the Western-backed Syrian Free Army last year. Little more than a month ago, a similar tunnel attack was staged in Aleppo, but that hotel was only damaged and government troops were able to continue using it. Today's attack comes a day after rebels began evacuating Homs, marking "a de-facto end of the rebellion" in the city once considered the "capital of the revolution."

Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Alex Seitz-Wald PHILADELPHIA — Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been ousted as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee on the eve of the party's convention. It's an abrupt end to a chairmanship marked by controversy, which came to a head this weekend following revelations from leaked internal emails. "Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as Party Chair at the end of this convention," Wasserman Schultz said in a lengthy statement Sunday announcing her resignation, referring to her desire to unify the party. Wasserman Schultz said she plans to step down at the end of the convention, though some Democrats are already saying she may not last that long. "As Party Chair, this week I will open and close the Convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," Wasserman Schultz added. Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge has been selected to serve as chair of the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Monday. Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Donna Brazile will serve as Interim Chair through the election, a DNC spokesperson said on Twitter. As recently as Friday, there was no sign of trouble and Wasserman Schultz was set to lead the convention, according to sources. Wasserman Schultz spoke at two Hillary Clinton rallies in Florida Friday and Saturday, including the one where presumptive vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine appeared publicly for the first time. But opposition to Wasserman Schultz, both public and private, had been gaining steam following the publication late last week of leaked emails which seemed to show a plot by DNC officials to damage Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. The revelations created doubts from various sectors of the party about how Wasserman Schultz could oversee a convention meant to showcase party unity. By late Saturday, opposition inside the party "spread like wildfire," according to a Democratic source close to the matter. It resulted in a tense confrontation Sunday when officials told Wasserman Schultz she had to go. Wasserman Schultz had become toxic to supporters of Sanders, who accused her of rigging the Democratic presidential nominating process in favor of Clinton. Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Richard Drew / AP In a statement, Sanders said that Wasserman Schultz had made "the right decision" but repeated his criticism of the party for what he describes as the DNC putting its thumb on the scale during the primary contest. "Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party," he said. "While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race." But starting even before that, many Democrats had privately lost confidence in her leadership. "She's essentially a pariah in every corner of the party," said one veteran Democratic strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal politics. "This has needed to happen for a long time." For instance in late May, after a news report that Democrats were considering ousting Wasserman Schultz, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called her to say he would not put out a statement defending her. Wasserman Schultz also overrode the White House and the Clinton campaign in her choice of communications director for the DNC last fall. The key role went vacant for five months as the various parties tried to find a candidate acceptable to her, with some allies criticizing the process and outcome. Even Clinton allies questioned the DNC's heavy-handed approach to dealing with the Sanders campaign during a data breach incident in December, worrying that it would undermine the credibility of a nominating process they hoped to win. Wasserman Schultz had already effectively lost control of the DNC after Clinton's campaign inserted operative Brandon Davis to run operations on a day-to-day basis. The Clinton campaign also recently sent a second staffer, Adam Parkhomenko, from its Brooklyn headquarters to serve in a senior role on the committee. But internal DNC emails posted online by Wikileaks late last week became the catalyst for her official removal. One email showed the party's finance chairman suggesting the DNC use what they assumed to be Sanders' atheism against him in Kentucky and West Virginia, religious states where it might not play well. Others showed Wasserman Schultz criticizing Sanders for not being a member of the party and saying he would never be president. The emails were apparently stolen by hackers working for the Russian government, and Clinton officials have said their posting is an attempt to sway the election for Donald Trump. The emails implicate other DNC officials, including CEO Amy Dacey, a close Wasserman Schultz ally who is well respected by other Democrats, and communications department officials. Meanwhile, Wasserman Schultz is facing a surprisingly tough congressional reelection campaign back home in Florida against a primary candidate backed by Sanders. Wasserman Schultz, who began her tenure as chair in 2011, proved herself to be a prodigious fundraiser for fellow Delegates and an effective party surrogate and attack dog. "I want to thank my longtime friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her leadership of the Democratic National Committee over the past five years," Clinton said a statement accepting the chairwoman's resignation. Wasserman Schultz served as a co-chair of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and Clinton said Sunday that the Floridian will serve as "honorary chair" of her campaign's 50-state program and continue to serve as a surrogate for her campaign nationally and in Florida. Her detractors inside the party had resigned themselves to Wasserman Schultz's leadership through November, comforted by the fact that she had been marginalized by Clinton aides. Even some critics in the Clinton campaign and White House thought it would be better to keep Wasserman Schultz than to risk presenting an image of disunity by forcing her out. On Sunday, critics passed around a tweet Wasserman Schultz sent last week to her counterpart at the Republican National Committee, Reince Preibus. "Hey @Reince — I'm in Cleveland if you need another chair to help keep your convention in order," she wrote. Priebus, who faced his own challenges managing a fractured party at the GOP's convention in Cleveland last week, told reporters Sunday that Wasserman Schultz's resignation was "inevitable," adding "it shows what an uphill climb the Democrats are facing this week in unifying the party." ||||| (CNN) The Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday without its outgoing Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, following a chaotic scene at a morning meeting where she was loudly jeered by Bernie Sanders supporters. "I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," Wasserman Schultz told the Sun Sentinel newspaper in an interview. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is also the Democratic National Committee's secretary, handled the gaveling instead. "Delegates, alternatives, standing committee members and all of our honored Democrats and other guests here in Philadelphia and all of you who have joined us by television, radio and online, here in the United States and around the world," she said, "I hereby call the 47th quadrennial Democratic National Convention to order." Wasserman Schultz will also not speak tonight or throughout the duration of the convention, a Democrat close to her says. She will remain in Philadelphia until Friday when she formally steps down as leader of the committee. Wasserman Schultz changed her plans as the fallout deepened from leaked DNC emails that appeared to show the committee favoring presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Sanders during the primary. It became clear Monday that the convention floor could erupt in anger if she gaveled the convention into session or sought to speak. And the Democratic National Committee issued an apology to Sanders moments after the convention opened, likely hoping to help soothe tensions heading into the week. "On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Sen. Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the statement said. "These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process. The DNC does not -- and will not -- tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. Individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the DNC is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again." The morning Florida delegate meeting descended into chaos when Wasserman Schultz took the stage, with critics holding up signs with the word "emails," and Sanders supporters booing the congresswoman loudly, even after she began speaking. "We have to make sure that we move forward together in a unified way," Wasserman Schultz said during brief remarks. "We know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive, we know that is not the Florida that we know. The Florida that we know is going to make sure that we continue to make jobs." The audience was roughly half supportive of Wasserman Schultz and half detractors, though the angry participants were louder than the other half. Those attendees began to chant, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" while Wasserman Schultz was speaking. Sanders tried to quell some of his dissatisfied supporters at a rally before his expected speech Monday. "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," Sanders said, which prompted some attendees to shout him down. JUST WATCHED Sanders booed after voicing support for Clinton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sanders booed after voicing support for Clinton 01:18 Alternate plans Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday she is stepping down as chairwoman of the DNC at the end of the party's convention. The drama reinforced concerns about Democratic party unity. Former Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver tried to show a unified Democratic Party on Monday, the morning after Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation. "This happened, we knew it happened then, now is the time to go forward,' Weaver told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" on Monday. "Now is the time to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump." Wasserman Schultz talked with both President Barack Obama and Clinton before making announcing her upcoming resignation, a Democratic source said. "Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals [which include electing Clinton president] is to step down as Party Chair at the end of this convention," Wasserman Schultz said in the statement. "As party chair, this week I will open and close the Convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," she said. JUST WATCHED Sanders campaign manager: We must elect Clinton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sanders campaign manager: We must elect Clinton 00:56 DNC Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile will serve as interim chair through the election. She had been a CNN political commentator, but CNN and Brazile have mutually agreed to suspend their contract, effective immediately, although she will remain on air during the convention week in an unpaid capacity, CNN said. CNN will revisit the contract once Brazile concludes her role. Separately, a Democratic operative said Hispanic leaders close to Clinton and her high command were discussing Housing Secretary Julian Castro as a possible successor to Wasserman Schultz at the DNC helm, among a number of other candidates whose name are being mentioned. Chants of "Debbie is done!" and "Debbie resigned!" broke out at a pro-Sanders rally Sunday in Philadelphia after the news was announced. Party officials decided Saturday that Wasserman Schultz would not have a major speaking role or preside over daily convention proceedings this week. The DNC Rules Committee has named Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, as permanent chair of the convention, according to a DNC source. She will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed. "She's been quarantined," another top Democrat said of Wasserman Schultz, following a meeting Saturday night but before her announcement that she was leaving. Both sides of the aisle react Obama issued a statement, saying, "For the last eight years, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had my back. This afternoon, I called her to let her know that I am grateful." And Clinton thanked Wasserman Schultz for her leadership of the party. "I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year's historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week's events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership," Clinton said. After slamming Wasserman Schultz as "highly overrated," Trump, speaking at a rally in Roanoke, Virginia, knocked Clinton for being disloyal to the soon-to-be former DNC chair. "How about that for disloyalty in terms of Hillary Clinton. Because Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been so much for Hillary Clinton," Trump said. "These politicians. There's no loyalty there. No loyalty. None whatsoever." "It gets a little heat and they fire her," Trump said. "Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary and Hillary threw her under a bus and it didn't take more than five minutes to make that decision." Wasserman's Republican counterpart, Reince Priebus, said, "I think the day's events show really the uphill climb Democrats face this week." "The extreme left will not be satisfied by one person's resignation," the Republican party national chairman added. Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said Clinton should follow Wasserman Schultz out the door. "Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned over her failure to secure the DNC's email servers and the rigged system she set up with the Clinton campaign," he said in a statement. "Now Hillary Clinton should follow Wasserman Schultz's lead and drop out over her failure to safeguard top secret, classified information both on her unauthorized home server and while traveling abroad." Weaver called Wasserman Schultz's departure a win on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" on Sunday. "I think what the signal was today is that the voices of Bernie Sanders supporters have been heard," he said. "And other people, frankly, in the party, Hillary Clinton supporters, who felt this was the last straw, that she had to go, and this shows they have been heard and gives us opportunity to move forward toward November -- united to deal with the problem of Donald Trump." Wasserman Schultz's stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, but her removal from the convention stage comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails. One email appears to show DNC staffers asking how they can reference Sanders' faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters. Another seems to depict an attorney advising the committee on how to defend Clinton against an accusation by the Sanders campaign of not living up to a joint fundraising agreement. JUST WATCHED Sanders: No question DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sanders: No question DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton 02:08 Before the announcement, Sanders on Sunday told Tapper the release of the DNC emails that show its staffers working against him underscores the position he's held for months: Wasserman Schultz needs to go. "I don't think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC, not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and I don't think her leadership style is doing that," Sanders told Tapper on "State of the Union," on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. "I am not an atheist," he said. "But aside from all of that, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying: The function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates -- to be fair and even-minded." He added: "But again, we discussed this many, many months ago, on this show, so what is revealed now is not a shock to me." ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

– Embattled Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday that she will step down, CNN reports. The announcement that she will resign following the party convention, which begins Monday, comes on the heels of leaked emails that appear to show that DNC officials were working to sabotage Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Wasserman Schultz's role at the convention already had been reduced to simply opening and closing the event. "I am confident that the strong team in place will lead our party effectively through this election to elect Hillary Clinton as our 45th president," she said in a statement, adding, "Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention." Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge will chair the convention, the New York Daily News reports. And, per NBC News, Vice Chair Donna Brazile will steer the DNC through the election as interim chair. "I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year's historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week's events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership," Clinton said in a statement. Republican nominee Donald Trump tweeted, "I always said that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was overrated. The Dems Convention is cracking up and Bernie is exhausted, no energy left!"

Miley Cyrus‘ controversial twerking display with Robin Thicke at the VMAs left her on-again, off-again fiancé Liam Hemsworth humiliated, and it could spell doom for the four-year relationship. “The VMAs is the straw that will break him,” a source predicted to Life & Style. “He wants out of the relationship.” Compounding matters for the worse, according to the source, is the chorus of voices from the Aussie actor’s camp urging him to end things with the Hannah Montana star for good. PHOTOS: Miley Cyrus Sticks Out Her Tongue & Shows Off Her Abs “All of his family and management are begging him to break it off and publicly move on.” The couple was last seen publicly at the Los Angeles premiere of his movie Paranoia Aug. 8. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| "Me and Robin [Thicke,] the whole time said, 'You know we're about to make history right now.'" In an exclusive clip provided to MTV News by a crew filming a previously announced documentary, Miley Cyrus has addressed, for the first time, reaction to her performance at last Sunday's Video Music Awards. Cyrus had one goal in mind when she agreed to perform: to give folks something to talk about... not just now, but for years to come. And so far, it looks like she's accomplished that goal. In the days since the VMAs, her daring performance of "We Can't Stop" has dominated discussion. It's been subject to criticisms and critiques, called "hyper-sexualized," "the nadir of American Civilization," "an exaggerated spectacle meant to subvert pop-culture sexism," and just about everything in between. Yet, it also drew praise for embodying the signature style and swagger of the VMAs, and for boldly going to places pop has rarely dared. It was a polarizing performance, one that made parents nervous and had pundits' pulses pounding ... yet, also thrilled her fans, inspired no shortage of memorable memes and bested Beyonce's Super Bowl mark for most tweets per minute. In short, it became a moment, one that instantly told you which side of the generational divide you stood on. And because of that, "We Can't Stop" may very well be on its way to joining the ranks of other VMA performances that touched nerves, rankled reactionaries and have come to define a time and place in pop: Think Madonna's iconic "Like A Virgin" or Britney's "Oops ... I Did It Again," performances that were strident, defiant and certainly scandalous in context. But while those stars learned there was a price that came with provocation, Miley isn't about to back down. She did what she came to do, nailed it, and feels great about it. "What's amazing is I think now, we're three days later and people are still talking about it. They're over thinking it," she says. "You're thinking about it more than I thought about it when I did it. Like, I didn't even think about it 'cause that's just me." And, to that point, Cyrus isn't going to let her detractors hold her back. She's doing things her way, defining her career on her own terms. After all, though she may be just 20 years old, she certainly knows a thing or two about pop history. "I don't pay attention to the negative because I've seen this play out so many times," Miley asks, "How many times have we seen this play out in pop music?" "Madonna's done it. Britney's done it. Every VMA performance, that's what you're looking for; you're wanting to make history."

– Because flaunting her butt to the world twice in as many days apparently wasn't extreme enough, Miley Cyrus took to Twitter Wednesday to tell this charming story: "Just called this paparazzi a C***. So before he makes breaking 'news' out if it. Ill just say it. Ha-Ha #C***" Her version, of course, did not include the asterisks. As for the aforementioned butt-flaunting (er, twerking) at the VMAs, Cyrus discussed it earlier this week. "Me and Robin [Thicke,] the whole time said, 'You know we're about to make history right now,'" she says in an interview obtained by MTV, though she doesn't explain what was so history-making about their performance. "Madonna's done it. Britney's done it. Every VMA performance, that's what you're looking for; you're wanting to make history." (Meanwhile, Radar reports that her twerking could have an unfortunate consequence.)

Citation: Lipsitch M, Galvani AP (2014) Ethical Alternatives to Experiments with Novel Potential Pandemic Pathogens. PLoS Med 11(5): e1001646. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001646 Published: May 20, 2014 Copyright: © 2014 Lipsitch, Galvani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by awards from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, number 5U54GM088558 to ML and U01 GM087719 to AG. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences or the National Institutes of Health. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: ML reports consulting income or honoraria from the following sources within the past five years: Novartis, Pfizer (pharmaceutical companies); AIR Worldwide, i3 Innovus, and Outcome Sciences (risk assessment and consulting companies). None of these relationships is ongoing. He has research grants with Pfizer (active) and PATH Vaccine Solutions (pending). AG reports consulting income from Vitality (a health insurer) and AIR Worldwide (a risk assessment company). ML is a member of the Editorial Board of PLOS Medicine. Abbreviations: BSL, biosafety level; DURC, dual use research of concern; HHS, US Department of Health and Human Services; PPP, potential pandemic pathogen Provenance: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. Summary Points “Gain of function” experiments involving the creation and manipulation of novel potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs) deserve ethical scrutiny regarding the acceptability of the risks of accidental or deliberate release and global spread. The Nuremberg Code, a seminal statement of clinical research ethics, mandates that experiments that pose a risk to human life should be undertaken only if they provide humanitarian benefits that sufficiently offset the risks and if these benefits are unachievable by safer means. A novel PPP research program of moderate size would pose substantial risks to human life, even optimistically assuming a low probability that a pandemic would ensue from a laboratory accident. Alternative approaches would not only be safer but would also be more effective at improving surveillance and vaccine design, the two purported benefits of gain-of-function experiments to create novel, mammalian-transmissible influenza strains. A rigorous, quantitative, impartial risk–benefit assessment should precede further novel PPP experimentation. In the case of influenza, we anticipate that such a risk assessment will show that the risks are unjustifiable. Given the risk of a global pandemic posed by such experiments, this risk assessment should be part of a broader international discussion involving multiple stakeholders and not dominated by those with an interest in performing or funding such research. Two recent publications reporting the creation of ferret-transmissible influenza A/H5N1 viruses [1],[2] are controversial examples of research that aims to produce, sequence and characterize “potential pandemic pathogens” (PPPs) [3], novel infectious agents with known or likely efficient transmission among humans, with significant virulence, and for which there is limited population immunity. There is a quantifiable possibility that these novel pathogens could be accidentally or deliberately released. Exacerbating the immunological vulnerability of human populations to PPPs is the potential for rapid global dissemination via ever-increasing human mobility. The dangers are not just hypothetical. The H1N1 influenza strain responsible for significant morbidity and mortality around the world from 1977 to 2009 is thought to have originated from a laboratory accident [4]. Risk evaluations surrounding biomedical research have not kept pace with scientific innovations in methodology and application. This gap is particularly disconcerting when research involves the construction of PPPs that pose risks of accidental release and global spread. We argue here that accepted principles of biomedical research ethics present a high bar to PPP experiments, requiring that risks arising from such experiments be compensated by benefits to public health not achievable by safer approaches. Focusing on influenza, the object of most current PPP experimentation, we further argue that there are safer experimental approaches that are both more scientifically informative and more straightforward to translate into improved public health through enhanced surveillance, prevention, and treatment of influenza. Influenza “Gain of Function” Experiments: Prototypical Examples of Potential Pandemic Pathogen Studies Although several pathogens may be categorized as PPPs (see Box 1), “gain of function” experiments involving influenza strains modified to be PPPs are expanding [5]–[7] (Box 2), and hence of immediate concern. In addition to the two controversial studies recently published, studies with H5N1 [8], H7N9 [9], and H7N1 [10] have used similar ferret passage protocols, while still others have created mammalian-transmissible strains in vitro, followed by in vivo analysis [11],[12]. Related studies have genetically combined less pathogenic zoonotic avian viruses, such as H9N2, with human seasonal influenza viruses to generate strains that exhibit enhanced transmissibility, and to which humans would be immunologically susceptible [13]–[15]. Box 1. Scope for Heightened Ethical Scrutiny of Potential Pandemic Pathogen Experiments This article describes the responsible ethical scrutiny that should be applied to experimental studies creating or employing PPPs. We define PPPs as infectious agents with four characteristics: Having known or likely efficient transmission among humans Significantly virulent Unmitigated by preexisting population immunity Genetically distinct from pathogens currently circulating These criteria define pathogens on which experimentation would pose a risk of sparking a pandemic, placing the human population at risk of morbidity or mortality, over and above the background risk of a naturally occurring pandemic. The paradigm case is the creation of variants of influenza A/H5N1 that are readily transmissible between ferrets, a model for human transmission. Such criteria would likely be applicable to experimentation with human isolates of smallpox or SARS, since these pathogens are no longer known to be circulating naturally. In the future, the list may expand [57]. We do not advocate the necessity of heightened scrutiny for isolation and characterization of naturally occurring pathogens, such as wild-type H5N1 or H7N9, consistent with the HHS framework for evaluating gain-of-function studies of H5N1 viruses, which exempts characterization of naturally occurring viruses [33]. Box 2. Gain of Function: What's in a Name? The recent ferret transmission experiments with influenza A viruses have been termed “gain of function” experiments because they involve engineering viruses that gain transmissibility in ferrets. Gain of function is a common and important approach in biological experimentation, and is not by itself cause for concern [58]. However, the elevated concern over these experiments arises from the particular function that is gained. Ferret transmission is thought to be a good [59],[60] (albeit imperfect [61],[62]) model for human-to-human transmission. Consequently, strains resulting from selection for heightened ferret transmission are likely to be similarly transmissible by humans via respiratory droplets, a prerequisite for pandemic spread. In combination with demonstrated virulence for humans, this particular gain of function presents unique risks and raises special ethical issues. These studies have typically been conducted in biosafety level (BSL) 3 or 3+ containment facilities. Laboratory-associated infections in BSL3 facilities are conservatively estimated to occur at a rate of two per 1,000 laboratory-years [3],[16] in the United States, where protocols and enforcement are relatively stringent. Globally, high-containment laboratories have variable standards and enforcement [17]. Experimentation in less-regulated or unregulated laboratories, with the attendant risks of accidental or deliberate release, is facilitated by the publication of sequence and functional data on PPPs, even if the original research was conducted with state-of-the-art safety and security [18]. From the conservative estimate of the rate of laboratory-associated infections of two per 1,000 laboratory-years [3],[16], it follows that a moderate research program of ten laboratories at US BSL3 standards for a decade would run a nearly 20% risk of resulting in at least one laboratory-acquired infection, which, in turn, may initiate a chain of transmission. The probability that a laboratory-acquired influenza infection would lead to extensive spread has been estimated to be at least 10% [19]. Simple branching process models suggest a probability of an outbreak arising from an accidental influenza infection in the range of 5% to 60% [20],[21]. Such probabilities cannot be ignored when multiplied by the potential devastation of an influenza pandemic [22],[23], even if the resulting strain were substantially attenuated from the observed virulence of highly pathogenic influenza A/H5N1 [24], the subject of much of the published PPP work to date. We advocate a dispassionate review of pertinent evidence and calculations of the probabilities and magnitudes of potential risks parameterized for specific PPP research programs. Ethical Frameworks for Novel Potential Pandemic Pathogens Thus far, experiments with novel PPPs have been assessed in the context of “dual use research of concern” (DURC), a designation for “research that could be used for good or bad purposes” [25]. Within the broader category of DURC, PPP experimentation raises ethical issues that deserve more extensive evaluation than other DURC, because the scale of risk posed by PPPs is much greater. While DURC by definition presents a risk of malevolent use, the impact of the accidental release of many agents involved in DURC—anthrax, hemorrhagic fever viruses, and, most recently, a novel Clostridium botulinum toxin [26],[27] –is constrained by transmission mode or limited host susceptibility. The magnitude of accidental risk for a novel PPP is much greater. The Nuremberg Code, a seminal document in clinical research ethics, specifies that in research conducted on human participants, “the degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.” More broadly, 74 national academies of science have stated: “Scientists have an obligation to do no harm. They should always take into consideration the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their own activities” [28]. The ethical principles underlying both guidelines would seem to apply a fortiori to research that imposes far-reaching risk to the public [29]. Given the global nature of influenza transmission, and thus implications beyond a country's borders, international agreement regarding acceptable risks is needed. Ethical constructs and risk evaluations must be tailored to scientific advances in methodology and application. Limited attention has been paid to the ethics of scientific experiments that pose risks beyond identified human participants [30]–[32]. On a practical level, however, the spirit of the Nuremberg Code's “humanitarian importance” criterion is embodied in the recent frameworks for evaluating PPP experiments from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the primary sponsor of such experiments to date. The HHS frameworks for studies anticipated to create mammalian-transmissible H5N1 [33] and H7N9 [34],[35] viruses specify that the risks and benefits should be weighed. The Nuremberg Code's second point states: “The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature.” When projecting the benefits of experiments that put human life at risk, therefore, it is critical to compare against alternatives. What unique public health benefits do PPP experiments offer relative to the benefits of investing equivalent resources in alternative research strategies? If there are unique benefits to novel PPP experiments, do they justify the risks entailed? This concept, too, is partially incorporated in the HHS frameworks, which permit funding of H5N1 [33] or H7N9 [34],[35] transmissibility gain-of-function experiments only if “there are no feasible alternative methods to address the same scientific question in a manner that poses less risk than does the proposed approach” [33]. The Nuremberg Code suggests a broader criterion: that PPP experiments should be performed if the public health benefits envisaged cannot be obtained by safer methods. We argue that alternative scientific approaches are not only less risky, but also more likely to generate results that can be readily translated into public health benefits. Challenges in Translating Understanding of Influenza Transmission into Public Health Practice Proponents of PPP experimentation cite two main benefits of such studies: improving our interpretation of surveillance data to detect dangerous viruses and facilitating vaccine development against future natural pandemics. Both claims have been disputed. The vaccine claim has been denied by vaccine developers, who note that many, if not all, vaccines have been developed without a detailed molecular understanding of transmission [36]. Advocates of PPP experimentation further argue that creating potentially pandemic strains of a particular virus, e.g., A/H5N1, could facilitate the production and stockpiling of vaccines against that variant. However, given that PPP experiments inevitably consider only a few possible genetic pathways to transmissibility, and that the precise correspondence between transmissibility in the ferret model and human transmissibility remains uncertain, we can never know whether PPP experimentation would hit upon the antigenic composition of the next pandemic strain that will emerge from nature. Indeed, as described below, it is clear that there is no one-to-one mapping between a few genetic changes in a virus and its transmissibility. By contrast, universal influenza vaccines currently in preclinical and clinical trials [37] may, with further development, prove to be more worthwhile to stockpile for the purposes of pandemic preparedness than an assortment of vaccines targeting antigenic variants manufactured via PPP experimentation. Current surveillance is likely inadequate to detect an emerging pandemic strain before it is too late [29],[38], regardless of any warnings that PPP experimentation might generate about potentially worrisome mutations. Between 2008 and 2013, over 1,580 highly pathogenic avian influenza (almost all H5N1) outbreaks, involving over 5 million birds, were reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health [39]. The US National Center for Biotechnology Information Influenza Virus Resource [40] received about 1,400 complete or partial avian H5N1 virus sequences over this period [41]. Most of these sequences were over eight months old by the time they were publicly available in the Influenza Virus Resource. Similar considerations apply to GISAID's EpiFlu Database, the other major influenza virus sequence database [42]. Given that birds [43], like humans [44], harbor a genetically diverse quasispecies of influenza variants, it is highly unlikely that such limited surveillance could detect a pandemic viral sequence and, furthermore, spur effective mitigation actions, before the worrisome variant was already widespread in birds. As an example of the limited public health response even when a dangerous virus has been observed, consider the global response to H7N9 avian influenza, which has proven zoonotic potential and has probably been repeatedly transmitted from human to human [45]. Isolates from human cases reveal efficient binding to human sialic acid receptors and airborne transmission in ferrets [9] and guinea pigs [46]. These indicators of pandemic potential are much stronger than sequence comparisons with engineered viruses could provide, yet most live bird markets in China remain open, and human cases continue to emerge [47]. Given these realities, it is difficult to envision how a surveillance signal alone would prompt swifter actions than these existing warning signs for H7N9 have. In short, the benefits for public health of the scientific findings from PPP experimentation are speculative at best. Alternative Approaches: Safer and More Promising The prominent role of epistasis in influenza biology suggests that alternative approaches to studying the phenotypic impact of mutations on mammalian transmissibility would be not only less risky, but also more informative. In vivo replication and transmission of influenza in humans depend on myriad interdependent factors, including the binding affinity between hemagglutinin and human sialic acids, the ability of the virion to fuse with the endosomal membrane at the appropriate pH and temperature, as well as the stability of various viral proteins [11],[51],[53],[54]. Each of these traits, in turn, is not simply determined by the presence or absence of individual amino acids at particular sites, but by biophysical properties arising from the interaction of many sites within and between proteins [50],[51]. Consequently, the challenge of predicting transmissibility hinges on understanding the genetic determinants of each trait, coupled with the interactions of the traits from which the higher-level phenotype of transmissibility arises. An array of safer approaches (Table 2) to studying influenza pathogenesis and transmission focus on dissecting these interactions. Some approaches start with sequence analysis and molecular dynamics modeling, which are intrinsically safe. The experimental evaluation of hypotheses raised by such studies may use viral components rather than the entire infectious virus, making these experiments simultaneously safer and more precise and mechanistic than engineering PPPs. Furthermore, these approaches are typically less costly than PPP experimentation, facilitating phenotypic evaluation of a greater diversity and abundance of genetic variants. Ultimately, studies with intact viruses will be necessary for a full understanding of human transmissibility, a phenotype of a whole virus. Elucidating the evolutionary trajectory through which existing seasonal (former pandemic) viruses became transmissible from avian precursors is safer than PPP experimentation, given that there is preexisting population immunity to seasonal strains, the products of such evolution. PPT PowerPoint slide PowerPoint slide PNG larger image ( ) larger image ( ) TIFF original image ( ) Download: Table 2. Safer approaches to studying human adaptation of influenza A viruses, and more generally to improving vaccines and therapeutics. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001646.t002 More generally, it should be remembered that the public health goal is to curtail influenza pandemics and seasonal transmission [55],[56]. Exploring basic biology is just one scientific means to this end. Other approaches, such as developing universal influenza vaccines and novel antiviral drugs and strategies to enhance host responses, as well as improving technologies for rapid vaccine manufacture, are being pursued without risks of PPP release (Table 2). Paths Forward We urge that proposals for any future experiments on PPPs be evaluated according to quantitative risk–benefit analysis guided by the principles of the Nuremberg Code. Indeed, HHS frameworks require a risk–benefit analysis to approve gain-of-function experimentation on H5N1 and H7N9 [33]–[35] viruses, yet no such analysis has been made public, if it has been conducted. Other funding and regulatory agencies, which have not yet called for a risk–benefit analysis, should require one as well. In biomedical grant review processes, proposals compete for limited funding, and most proposals that could advance science are never supported, because of budget constraints or because funding agencies conclude that there are more promising, safer, more humane, or otherwise superior ways to achieve scientific goals. PPP experimentation poses a significant risk to public health, arguably the highest level of risk posed by any biomedical research. Such experiments should be assessed on the basis of their marginal benefits, compared to those of safer approaches. In the case of influenza, given the higher throughput and lower cost of alternatives, we believe the benefits of alternative approaches will be greater than those of novel PPP experimentation, yet without the risks–thereby negating the justification for taking such risks. Similarly, careful consideration should be given to analyses of novel PPP experiments beyond the study of influenza, as these are proposed. Funders and regulators should evaluate the balance of risks and benefits before further novel PPP experiments are undertaken. Acknowledgments The authors thank Ilaria Capua, Sarah Cobey, Norman Daniels, Dylan George, Yonatan Grad, James Hammitt, Meira Levinson, Katrina Lythgoe, Richard Malley, Daniel Markovits, Jonathan Moreno, Michael Osterholm, Steven Riley, and Colin Russell for helpful discussions and comments on earlier drafts. ||||| Public health experts have warned that controversial experiments on mutant viruses could put human lives in danger by unleashing an accidental pandemic. Several groups of scientists around the world are creating and altering viruses to understand how natural strains might evolve into more lethal forms that spread easily among humans. But in a report published on Tuesday, researchers at Harvard and Yale universities in the US argue that the benefits of the work are outweighed by the risk of pathogenic strains escaping from laboratories and spreading around the world. They calculate that if 10 high-containment labs in the US performed such experiments for 10 years, the chance of at least one person becoming infected was nearly 20%. If an infected person left the laboratory, the virus might then spread more widely. "We are not saying this is going to happen, but when the potential is a pandemic, even a small chance is something you have to weigh very heavily," said Marc Lipsitch, an epidemiologist at Harvard School of Public Health, who wrote the report with Alison Galvani, an epidemiologist at Yale. The report threatens to reignite a crisis in science that erupted in 2012 when a US biosecurity panel ruled that two separate studies on mutant bird flu were too dangerous to publish. They described the creation of new mutant strains that spread among ferrets – a proxy for humans – held in neighbouring cages. One fear was that the recipe for the pathogens might fall into the hands of bioterrorists. Those studies, led by Ron Fouchier at Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam, and Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin-Madison respectively, were eventually published after months of delays. Other researchers have now begun similar experiments. Both Fouchier and Kawaoka criticised the latest report, published in Plos Medicine, and said their work had full ethical, safety and security approval, with the risks and benefits taken into account. Last year, the US government, which funds most of the controversial work, revised its guidelines for "dual-use research of concern", or DURC. Under the new rules, work can be funded if the potential benefits are substantial and the risks considered to be manageable. But Lipsitch said there was no evidence that the risks and benefits had been weighed up properly. "To my knowledge, no such thing has been done, but funding for these experiments continues," he said. Lipsitch said that the US government and other funding bodies must commission comprehensive risk assessments from independent experts before deciding which studies to support. Lipsitch and Galvani are most concerned about what are called gain-of-function studies, which aim to create highly virulent strains of viruses in secure laboratories so their genetic codes can be studied. Mutations that make a respiratory virus lodge in the throat, for example, can make the virus more transmissible through coughing. The rational for gain-of-function studies is twofold. If scientists can work out which mutations make a virus more dangerous to people, they can improve surveillance by looking out for those mutations in natural strains. The work might also help to steer vaccine development. But Lipsitch argues that neither justification stands up: surveillance is not good enough to use the information, and vaccine developers can do without it, he says. Rather than creating dangerous viruses in high-containment laboratories, Lipsitch and Galvani urge scientists to pursue alternative routes, for example, comparisons of seasonal human flu strains and other respiratory viruses that have jumped from animals into humans. These are not only safer, the authors claim, but the studies are scientifically sound, because they do not rely on small numbers of animals. The report was roundly rejected by Fouchier and Kawaoka, two of the leading scientists in gain-of-function studies. Fouchier said the authors were wrong on both points they made – that alternative experiments could provide answers about the transmissibility of viruses, and that the risk of an outbreak or pandemic was high. "The research agenda they propose is important and currently ongoing, but alone will never lead to solid conclusions about mammalian adaptation and transmission: the proof of the pudding will need to come from gain-of-function studies using infectious viruses. This is why the department of health and human services has approved our research, taking into account all ethical, safety and security issues, and weighing the risks of the research against the benefits," Fouchier said. He said the authors had misinterpreted published data to arrive at their risk of someone picking up a virus in the laboratory. "The truth is that scientific research has never triggered a virus pandemic." Lipsitch and Galvani point out that a flu strain that spread around the world from 1977 to 2009 was probably released in a laboratory accident. Kawaoka was similarly unimpressed with the report. "The authors imply that gain-of-function studies are going on without proper reviews. This is not so and suggests they do not understand how highly regulated this work is and the approvals and planning required to conduct this research," he said. "This commentary lists many experiments they think we should be doing. We are doing many of those experiments already." Simon Wain-Hobson, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said that scientists working on the controversial virus studies should be less defensive. "There are times when we have to open up and face our critics. Marc is articulating what many of us feel is obvious," he said.

– Scientific testing is great—except when it has the potential to unleash a global pandemic. That's the word from a new study that warns experiments on mutant viruses could do more harm than good. Scientists around the world are creating new viruses or changing existing ones to better understand how strains evolve and spread, but that's a big problem, say Harvard and Yale researchers. If 10 labs in the US performed high-containment experiments for 10 years, they estimate about a 20% chance that at least one person would become infected and a 1% chance that it would escape the lab, USA Today reports. "We are not saying this is going to happen, but when the potential is a pandemic, even a small chance is something you have to weigh very heavily," says a Harvard epidemiologist as quoted in the Guardian. Scientists who study bird flu immediately criticized the study, saying their research provides insights that would be otherwise impossible. Two of those quoted created an airborne strain of avian flu in 2012 that was transmissible to mammals, a controversial feat whose details were published only after much debate.

Sorry — didn’t mean to fire you! Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer accidentally started swinging the ax last week, as bureaucratic snafus resulted in dozens of employees losing their jobs, sources told The Post’s James Covert. “They put people on firing lists who they didn’t mean to — people who were lower on the performance scale but who weren’t meant to get fired,” an insider explained. “But no one told the managers, and then they had the conversations, and it was like, ‘Oops.’ ” The screwups — which may have affected as many as 30 employees, according to one source — didn’t go over well with some team supervisors, according to insiders. “This is the only person who does this job — how could you do this?” was a common complaint, a source said. “There is zero truth to this rumor,” a Yahoo! spokeswoman commented. ||||| Crawl of outlinks from wikipedia.org started March, 2016. These files are currently not publicly accessible. Properties of this collection. It has been several years since the last time we did this. For this collection, several things were done: 1. Turned off duplicate detection. This collection will be complete, as there is a good chance we will share the data, and sharing data with pointers to random other collections, is a complex problem. 2. For the first time, did all the different wikis. The original runs were just against the enwiki. This one, the seed list was built from all 865 collections. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO — One of Marissa Mayer’s signature policies as chief executive of Yahoo has been the quarterly performance review, in which every employee at the company is ranked on a scale of 1 to 5. The ratings have been used to fire hundreds of employees since Ms. Mayer joined the company in mid-2012. Now, as Ms. Mayer prepares to announce a streamlining plan on Tuesday that is likely to involve even more job cuts, one former manager who lost his job is challenging the entire system as discriminatory and a violation of federal and California laws governing mass layoffs. In a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Gregory Anderson, an editor who oversaw Yahoo’s autos, homes, shopping, small business and travel sites in Sunnyvale, Calif., until he was fired in November 2014, alleges that the company’s senior managers routinely manipulated the rating system to fire hundreds of people without just cause to achieve the company’s financial goals. Mr. Anderson said the cuts, including what his boss said was the firing of about 600 other low-performing Yahoo employees at the time of his termination, amounted to illegal mass layoffs. ||||| FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2014, file photo, Yahoo president and CEO Marissa Mayer speaks during the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Yahoo reports financial earnings on Tuesday, Feb.... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2014, file photo, Yahoo president and CEO Marissa Mayer speaks during the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Yahoo reports financial earnings on Tuesday, Feb.... (Associated Press) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is laying off about 1,700 employees and shedding some of its excess baggage in a shake-up likely to determine whether CEO Marissa Mayer can save her own job. The long-anticipated purge, announced Tuesday, will jettison about 15 percent of Yahoo's workforce along with an assortment of services that Mayer decided aren't worth the time and money that the Internet company has been putting into them. Mayer hopes to sell some of Yahoo's unwanted services for about $1 billion, though she didn't identify which ones. In an apparent concession to some shareholders, Mayer also said Yahoo's board will mull "strategic alternatives" that could result in the sale of all the company's Internet operations. Analysts have speculated that Verizon, AT&T and Comcast might be interested in buying Yahoo's main business, despite years of deterioration. Mayer expressed confidence that her plan to run Yahoo as a smaller, more focused company "will dramatically brighten our future and improve our competitiveness, and attractiveness to users, advertisers, and partners." This cost-cutting overhaul might be Mayer's last chance to persuade restless shareholders that she has figured out how to revive the Internet company's growth after three-and-half years of futility. Some of Yahoo's most outspoken shareholders, such as SpringOwl Asset Management, already have concluded that Mayer should be laid off, too. Mayer, a former rising star at Google who helped Google eclipse Yahoo, has given no indication she intends to leave. Even after the mass firings are completed by the end of March, Yahoo will still have about 9,000 workers — three times the roughly 3,000 people that SpringOwl believes the company should be employing, based on its steadily declining revenue. "We would like to see a higher stock price, and we think Marissa and her current management team have become a hindrance to that," said Eric Jackson, SpringOwl's managing director. He declined to disclose the size of SpringOwl's Yahoo investment. Yahoo's stock dipped 25 cents to $28.81 in extended trading after details of Mayer's latest turnaround attempt came out. Yahoo's revenue has been shrinking through most of Mayer's reign, even though she has spent more than $3 billion buying more than 40 companies, while bringing in new talent and developing mobile applications and other services designed to attract more traffic and advertisers. The decline has persisted while advertisers have been steadily increasing their digital marketing efforts. Most of that money has been flowing to Google and Facebook — two companies once far smaller than the now 20-year-old Yahoo Inc.

– A fired Yahoo employee is suing the tech company, claiming—among other things—that it discriminates against men, partially resulting in his termination, Ars Technica reports. According to the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo editorial director Gregory Anderson was told in 2014 that he was in the bottom 5% of employees based on quarterly performance reviews and was being fired. Prior to his firing, which he partly blames on gender discrimination, he claims he was given a raise and promoted; he had been with the company four years. "[Chief marketing officer Kathy] Savitt has publicly expressed support for increasing the number of women in media and has intentionally hired and promoted women because of their gender, while terminating, demoting, or laying off male employees because of their gender," Ars Technica quotes Anderson's lawyer. Anderson's lawsuit, which "itemize[s] the damages at $5 million," his lawyer tells Bloomberg, blames Yahoo's quarterly review process—in which managers rank employees on a scale of zero to five—for allowing firings "to be made on the basis of personal biases and stereotyping." In addition, the lawsuit alleges that the process favors women. Quarterly reviews were implemented by Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer in 2012, the New York Times reports. Recently, they may be responsible for the inadvertent firing of up to 30 employees at the end of last month, the New York Post reports. "They put people on firing lists who they didn’t mean to—people who were lower on the performance scale but who weren’t meant to get fired,” an inside source says. Managers ended up firing the employees by mistake. A Yahoo spokesperson denies it. Yahoo announced Tuesday it will be laying off 1,700 employees.

Illinois' largest high school district violated federal law by barring a transgender student from using the girls' locker room, authorities concluded Monday. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights spent nearly two years investigating Palatine-based Township High School District 211 and found "a preponderance of evidence" that school officials did not comply with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. The student, who has identified as a girl for a number of years, filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights in late 2013 after she was denied unrestricted access to the girls' locker room. District and federal officials negotiated for months, and a solution appeared imminent as recently as last week, when the district put up privacy curtains in the locker room. But talks stalled after school officials said the student would be required to use the private area, as opposed to offering her a choice to use it. Although the student said she intends to use the private area or a locker room bathroom stall to change, the stipulation constitutes "blatant discrimination," said John Knight, director of the LGBT and AIDS Project at ACLU of Illinois, which is representing the student. "It's not voluntary, it's mandatory for her," Knight said. "It's one thing to say to all the girls, 'You can choose if you want some extra privacy,' but it's another thing to say, 'You, and you alone, must use them.' That sends a pretty strong signal to her that she's not accepted and the district does not see her as girl." For the student at the center of the federal complaint and all other transgender students at the district's five high schools, the staff changes their names, genders and pronouns on school records. Transgender students also are allowed to use the bathrooms of their identified gender and play on the sports team of that gender, school officials said. But officials drew the line at the locker room, citing the privacy rights of the other 12,000-plus students in the district. As a compromise, the district installed four privacy curtains in unused areas of the locker room and another one around the shower, but because the district would compel the student to use them, federal officials deemed the solution insufficient. The dispute highlights a controversy that a growing number of school districts face as they struggle with an issue that few parents of today's teens encountered. The Department of Education has settled two similar allegations of discrimination of transgender students in California, with both districts eventually agreeing to allow the students to use female-designated facilities. The student's family first contacted District 211 when she was still in eighth grade and was told by the superintendent at the time that she would not be allowed to use a restroom stall in the girls' locker room, according the Office for Civil Rights' investigation. Instead, the student had to use a separate, single-occupancy restroom for physical education, swimming class and sports. "Student A has not only received an unequal opportunity to benefit from the District's educational program, but has also experienced an ongoing sense of isolation and ostracism throughout her high school enrollment at the school," according to the letter from the Office for Civil Rights. The student told federal authorities that she takes a circuitous route to get to the gym to avoid standing out. She said she was once the only person in a gym uniform because she was not with the rest of the class when the teacher informed the students they did not need to change. Another time, the student, who plays for the school on a girls' sports team, said she broke down in tears after her coaches reprimanded her for using the locker room to change. The coach told her some students felt uncomfortable dressing in front of her. "All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities — this is a basic civil right," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls' locker room." Superintendent Daniel Cates remains adamant that the district is not in violation of the law and warned that the Obama administration's position "is a serious overreach with precedent-setting implications." "The students in our schools are teenagers, not adults, and one's gender is not the same as one's anatomy," Cates said in a statement. "Boys and girls are in separate locker rooms — where there are open changing areas and open shower facilities — for a reason." He went on to emphasize that the district's position should not be seen as discriminatory, saying, "We celebrate and honor differences among all students and we condemn any vitriolic messages that disparage transgender identity or transgender students in any way." The federal response came as no surprise to district officials, who held a news conference three weeks ago to get ahead of the announcement. At the time, Cates said he hoped to "work collaboratively with the OCR and (that) reasonableness will prevail." The district has 30 days to reach an agreement with authorities or risk having their federal educational funding suspended or even terminated. The case also could be referred to the Department of Justice. The student, whom the ACLU said does not want to be identified for privacy reasons, said in a statement that the federal ruling "makes clear that what my school did was wrong." "This decision makes me extremely happy — because of what it means for me, personally, and for countless others," she said. "The district's policy stigmatized me, often making me feel like I was not a 'normal person.'" deldeib@tribpub.com Twitter @deldeib ||||| Feds find Dist. 211 transgender policy discriminatory hello Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 is violating the anti-discriminatory Title IX law by denying a transgender student who identifies as female unrestricted access to a girls' locker room, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights ruled Monday. The OCR issued a letter informing District 211 that it has 30 days to conform with the office's understanding of Title IX requirements or face enforcement action. "All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities -- this is a basic civil right," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said in a written statement. "Unfortunately, Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls' locker room. The district can provide access to this student while also respecting all students' privacy. We encourage the district to comply with the law and resolve this case." The exact nature of an enforcement action was not immediately clear Monday, but school officials admit their position could cost the district some or all of its Title IX funding. Last year, the district received $6 million in Title IX money. Under its policy, District 211 is providing a separate changing area for transgender students within the locker rooms of the gender with which they identify. District 211 released a written statement Monday disputing the OCR ruling and stating confidence in the legality of its policies. "The policy that OCR seeks to impose on District 211 is a serious overreach with precedent-setting implications," the statement reads. "District 211 continues to believe that what we offer is reasonable and honors every student's dignity. While the district will continue what have been productive settlement negotiations with OCR, the district is prepared to engage in all avenues of due process to determine whether our position of honoring the rights of all the students is within the law. "We celebrate and honor differences among all students and we condemn any vitriolic messages that disparage transgender identity or transgender students in any way," the district's statement continues. "We believe that this particular moment can be one of unification as we strive to create environments that ensure sensitivity, inclusiveness and dignity for ALL students." The OCR became involved last year when a District 211 student who has identified as female for several years filed a complaint about the district limiting her access to locker rooms. Through her representatives with the American Civil Liberties Union, the student said the OCR ruling made Monday a good day for all students. "This decision makes me extremely happy -- because of what it means for me, personally, and for countless others," the statement reads. "The district's policy stigmatized me, often making me feel like I was not a 'normal' person. "The Department of Education's decision makes clear that what my school did was wrong," the student continued. "I hope no other student, anywhere, is forced to confront this indignity. It is a good day for all students, but especially those who are transgender all across the nation." John Knight, director of the LGBT & HIV Project of the ACLU of Illinois, said the student only wants to be treated like any other student. "The district's insistence on separating my client from other students is blatant discrimination," Knight said in a written statement. "Rather than approaching this issue with sensitivity and dignity, the district has attempted to justify its conduct by challenging my client's identity as a girl." Knight said very few students fully undress in locker rooms these days, and that even when changing into or out of bathing suits there are measures that can be taken -- as with a towel -- to protect their privacy without having to be in an entirely separated space. ||||| A northwest suburban school district has 30 days to allow a transgender high school student use of the girls’ locker room or face legal action by the U.S. Department of Education. The Education Department on Monday released a copy of a letter to Township High School District 211 in Palatine from the department’s Office of Civil Rights in a case that has drawn a national spotlight due to implications for schools nationwide. “All students deserve the opportunity to participate equally in school programs and activities – this is a basic civil right. Unfortunately, Township High School District 211 is not following the law because the district continues to deny a female student the right to use the girls’ locker room,” Catherine Lhamon, the department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. District 211 has maintained that complying with the ruling — stemming from a federal complaint filed in December 2013 by the student’s family — would violate the privacy rights of other students. The Office of Civil Rights has called the district’s position discriminatory, threatening litigation and enforcement action, including potential loss of federal education funding. District 211 received $6 million in federal funding last year. The district says it has offered the transgender student access to the girls’ locker room if she agrees to use private space within that locker room for changing or showering during physical education classes and after-school activities. The student’s family rejects that option. Neither the student — a male who is transitioning to female — nor the high school the student attends, are being identified. The Office of Civil Rights, in its letter on Monday, reveals that the transgender student has agreed to use the private space if granted unrestricted access to the locker room. “The district can provide access to this student while also respecting all students’ privacy. We encourage the district to comply with the law and resolve this case,” said Lhamon. The sticking point is that the district cannot require the student to use that private space. And after months of back and forth, the Office of Civil Rights has now given the district 30 days to comply. On Monday, the district dug in its heels. “We do not agree … and remain strong in our belief that the district’s course of action, including private changing stations in our locker rooms, appropriately serves the dignity and privacy of all students,” district administration said in a statement. “We recognize that this is an emerging and critical matter for school districts nationwide,” the statement continued. “The policy that OCR seeks to impose on District 211 is a serious overreach with precedent-setting implications. The district is prepared to engage in all avenues of due process to determine whether our position of honoring the rights of all the students is within the law.” Headquartered in Palatine, District 211 serves nearly 12,500 students from Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Inverness and Schaumburg, and parts of seven other northwestern suburbs, in five high schools and two alternative high schools. The significance of the outcome has led both the district and Education Department to take their cases to the media, first with District 211 Supt. Daniel E. Cates holding a press conference with local and national media about the case on Oct. 12; then the Education Department, which initially declined to discuss the case, now arguing it publicly. “OCR has engaged in extensive negotiations with the district to resolve the Title IX violation in this case,” states the letter, which is signed by Education Department Regional Director Adele Rapport. “The evidence establishes that, for more than two school years, the district has denied Student A access to the girls’ locker rooms at the school, and offered only separate facilities to change clothes for her PE classes and athletics activities. The district has asserted its interests in balancing the rights of all students, including the constitutional privacy interests of high school students. … The school’s students have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a locker room setting,” the letter continues. “Student A has consistently made clear that she would use the privacy curtains to change if allowed access to the girls’ locker rooms,” Rapport writes. “Thus, the evidence establishes that, given Student A’s stated intention to change privately, the district could afford equal access to its locker rooms. If an agreement is not reached within 30 calendar days … OCR must follow … the issuance of a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action.”

– A Chicago-area high school district that wouldn't let a transgender student use the girls locker room violated her civil rights and federal law, according to the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The department has told Township High School District 211 that it has 30 days to comply with anti-discrimination law Title IX and allow the student, who identifies as a girl, to use the locker room, reports the Chicago Sun-Times, which notes that the long-running case has attracted a lot of attention because of its implications for school districts across the country. The school district maintains that allowing the student to use the girls locker room would violate the privacy rights of other students. The civil rights complaint was filed two years ago and a deal was almost reached last week, when the district used curtains to create a private area in the locker room, reports the Chicago Tribune. The student agreed to use the area to change, but a spokesman for the ACLU of Illinois, which is representing her, tells the Tribune that the case went ahead because the district made it clear that the student would be required to use the private area, which amounts to "blatant discrimination"—and sends the message that she is not accepted. In a statement, the student said she had been "stigmatized" and the ruling made Monday a "good day for all students, but especially those who are transgender all across the nation," reports the Daily Herald. (The White House now has a transgender official.)

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. By Janelle Griffith Human bones discovered in the basement of a New York home have been identified as those of a man who had been missing for nearly six decades, authorities said Wednesday. His death is now being investigated as a homicide. Police say George Carroll's son and two grandsons found his remains on Oct. 30 while excavating the basement of the home in Lake Grove, New York. Autopsy results released this week confirmed the remains were of George Carroll and found that his skull had been fractured by blunt force trauma, which may have occurred posthumously, authorities said. Carroll's son, Michael, 57, is the current homeowner of the property once owned by his father and mother, Dorothy Carroll, who died in 1998. There had long been rumors in the family that George Carroll might be buried in the basement, the police said, citing Carroll family members. Carroll, a Korean War veteran, had been missing since 1961, authorities said. Dorothy Carroll never gave her four children a straight answer about what happened to their father before her death, police said. Suffolk County police said no one ever filed a missing-persons report for George Carroll. Michael Carroll and his two adults sons excavated the basement of the home on suspicion they might find the remains there. ||||| Human remains discovered under the basement of a Long Island home have officially been identified as the homeowner who went missing 57 years ago.Police say George Carroll's adult son and his two grandchildren found his remains while excavating the basement of the home on Olive Street in Lake Grove in October.Carroll had been missing since 1961, six years after the family bought the home.Officials said Wednesday that the remains have been identified as Carroll, and his death is being investigated as a homicide.The victim's son, Michael Carroll, told Eyewitness News in October that it had been rumored in the family for years that his father may have been buried in the basement. He disappeared when Michael was 8 months old, and the apparent story was he left "to do something" and never returned."It didn't just come up overnight, it's something that's been talked about for years," he said. "This is something as we grew up, you know. We heard multiple stories."The excavation of the basement began a few years ago, but Michael Carroll said it became too dangerous and had to be stopped. It resumed recently with better search technology, but Michael Carroll's sons Christopher and Michael Jr. took over after Michael Sr. suffered a stroke. That is when the remains were found around cement walls.Steven Carroll was just 5 years old when his father disappeared. He said the family consulted psychics over the years and interviewed people who live in the neighborhood, but it wasn't until they were adults that the search intensified."There really wasn't much talk about it," he said. "But we became curious as adults as to where he might be."DNA testing had to be used to identify the remains, so at the time when the remains were discovered, Michael couldn't say for sure it was his father. But he believed it was."I feel great that my dad is free from that crappy hole," he said.He said his dad fought in the Korean War and that he would like to bury him at Calverton National Cemetery."I want him to be a soldier," he said. "I want him to get what he needs."The remains were found about 6 to 8 feet down, and Michael said he wasn't surprised when he found them. He said he always believed his dad was in basement."In my mind, I always felt that I was going to find that," he said. "I'm glad this is over and I don't have to break up my house anymore."He said he had an idea who may be responsible. He wouldn't elaborate, but he said anyone who may have been involved is long dead.There was never a missing persons report filed for George Carroll. The mother is deceased, but family members say she didn't talk much about George. They believe it was because she was trying to protect them.Michael and Steven also have two sisters, who were 7 and 9 when their father disappeared.---------- ||||| Down in the basement of Michael Carroll’s childhood home in Lake Grove on Long Island, the psychic pointed to the cement floor. "He went to the right spot and said, ‘The energy is here,’” Michael told the New York Post in November. Michael was not sure he bought it. As he would explain later, he was a science guy — a respiratory therapist. But he knew the house held its own secrets. As fanciful as the clairvoyant’s premonition might sound, the otherworldly vibes would prove to be spot on. Six feet below the basement floor of the suburban house was the answer to a family mystery that had been haunting Michael and his three siblings for decades. In 1961, when he was just 8 months old, his father, George Carroll, vanished. After decades of rumors and speculation, consultations with psychics and paranormal investigators, Michael — who had purchased the home from his mother before her death in 1998 — cracked into the basement floor about three years ago. On Oct. 30, Michael and his two grown sons discovered a full skeleton. This week, Suffolk County officials announced the body did belong to George Carroll, Newsday reported. “I took a chance. I could have done this whole thing and found nothing, and then I would have had a whole messed-up basement,” Michael told Long Island’s News 12. “I have a messed-up basement. But I’m really glad we found what we found. It puts my family at ease.” But the identification only solves half of the family’s puzzle. According to the Suffolk County medical examiner, George was murdered, the victim of blunt-force trauma to the head. A missing father is now a homicide investigation. “There’s so many open ends here,” Michael told News 12. “There’s a story behind the story behind the story.” Time travel back to 1961: President John F. Kennedy was sworn into office. “West Side Story” splashed onto movie theater screens. The U.S.S.R.’s Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. And on Long Island, Korean War veteran George Carroll lived in a small cottage on an isolated wooded road called Olive Street with his wife, Dorothy, and four children — Patricia, 9, Jean, 7, Steven, 5, and Michael, 8 months. Then, George was gone. His wife would say only that he walked out one day and never returned. “It wasn’t really much talked about, but we became curious as adults as to where he might be,” Michael’s older brother, Steven, told New York’s NBC 4 in November. “I was always told, ‘Don’t ask,’” Michael told the New York Post. “So I stopped asking.” Rumors replaced facts for the Carroll children when it came to their father. According to Newsday, some family members said George had run away to return to Korea. Others suggested he was killed — and buried in the basement. The area was under construction around the time he went missing. Not long after George disappeared, a man named Richard Darress moved into the Olive Street home. He eventually married Dorothy, and they had a son together. Darress and Dorothy divorced in the early 1980s, Newsday reported, and Darress moved to a Mexican city near the Texas border. He died earlier this year, according to the paper. Michael eventually bought his childhood home. Additions were constructed onto the original cottage. Olive Street filled up with new houses. But Michael still wondered about his missing father. Living now in the house where he grew up, he also was reminded of the old rumors about what might be under the basement. He called in a psychic and a team of paranormal investigators, he told the New York Post. Three years ago, he started digging. He worked alone. As Michael told Newsday, he eventually used ground-penetrating radar to analyze the basement floor. The reading indicated something six feet below. The project went in fits and starts. At one point earlier this year, Michael was afraid he would upset the foundation of the whole house. But he kept going. This summer, when he was felled by a stroke, he had his two grown sons take over. “I told my kids, ‘Guys come on over here and help me out. You’ve been watching me do this, you get in there,’” he told News 12. “I think they felt bad for me because they knew this was important to me.” On Oct. 30, one of his sons trudged upstairs to tell Michael there was something he should see. “It’s not easy for me to get up and down the stairs,” he explained. “I actually did get into the hole where they were digging.” Michael recognized human remains. “I felt total peace,” he said. “I felt vindication for my dad. I felt like he was dancing in heaven.” The next day, after informing his family, Michael reported the find to authorities — on Halloween. “The DNA was extremely well-preserved within the skeletal remains, even after almost 60 years,” Suffolk County Medical Examiner Michael Caplan told Newsday on Wednesday. With this week’s positive identification, Carroll says his family would like to inter his father in a graveyard with the full honor of a combat veteran. Authorities continue to investigate the homicide. Suffolk County police say no one ever filed a missing person’s report about George’s 1961 disappearance. Law enforcement officials have also indicated they would have liked to interview the deceased Darress. The Carroll children, however, say they don’t want to speculate or theorize about how George ended up where he did. “I feel great that my dad is finally free from that crappy hole,” Michael said.

– When he was growing up, Michael Carroll's mother told him and his three siblings that their father had walked out one day in 1961 and never returned. But George Carroll was just feet away the entire time, buried more than six feet below the basement of their Long Island home. Authorities say that bones Michael Carroll and his two grown sons found while digging in the basement on Oct. 30 have been identified as George Carroll, whose death is now being treated as a homicide, NBC News reports. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner's office says he suffered blunt-force trauma to the head that fractured his skull, though the injury may been inflicted after his death. Michael Carroll, who was just eight months old when his father disappeared, bought the house from his mother in the 1980s. She died in 1998. He says that growing up, he was told not to ask about his father, though there were multiple family rumors—including one that George Carroll had been buried in the basement of the Lake Grove home, the Washington Post reports. Michael Carroll says he has an idea who might have killed his father—who was never reported missing—but anybody involved is long dead, ABC7 reports. He says he would like his father, a Korean War veteran, to be buried at Calverton National Cemetery. " I want him to be a soldier," he says. "I want him to get what he needs." (The body of another long-missing person was recently found in another Long Island basement.)

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery forwarded at least eight sexually explicit emails to an employee in the state attorney general's office who later shared them with more than a dozen others, emails reviewed by The Morning Call show. McCaffery is the first judicial figure whose name has surfaced in an unfolding controversy over state employees' sharing the emails that Attorney General Kathleen Kane's staff found in a review of the Jerry Sandusky grand jury investigation. Gov. Tom Corbett and Chief Justice Ron Castille have demanded that Kane provide them copies of all emails that are part of her review so they can check for any involvement by anyone in their respective branches of government. The emails first surfaced publicly as a result of right-to-know requests by various Pennsylvania media, including The Morning Call. Kane released only a portion of those emails to the media last week, stating they were found in the email accounts of eight former attorney general staffers. It is not publicly known how many sexually explicit emails exist and how many people received them. McCaffery is identified as recipient or sender of 54 emails reviewed by The Morning Call, and the emails show the judge sent them from a personal Comcast account that now appears to be inactive. The emails are part of an extensive email chain, with some including photos of nude centerfolds, sex videos, sex jokes and political humor. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF PENNSYL Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF PENNSYL) Three of the sexually explicit emails that McCaffery forwarded — on the Comcast email account outside of work hours — match emails Kane allowed the media to view last week in response to the media requests. McCaffery, interviewed briefly at his home in Philadelphia late Wednesday, declined to speak about the sexually explicit emails. "Not only do I not have any comment, since when does the news media pry into personal emails?" He then asked a Morning Call reporter to leave his property. Kane, a Democrat, has named eight men her office said received sexually explicit emails. All eight either work in Corbett's Republican administration or have criticized Kane's leadership style, prosecutorial decisions and her internal review of the grand jury investigation of Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach who is in prison for child sex abuse. After receiving emails, McCaffery forwarded some of them with subject lines "tan lines XXX" and "centerfold," but most of the emails reviewed by the newspaper and bearing McCaffery's name were not sexually explicit. The 54 emails reviewed by The Morning Call include a list of recipients and time stamps that show they were received and forwarded on multiple dates in 2008 and 2009. The sexually explicit emails originated in each case with one of several men who emailed McCaffery, who then forwarded the email to former Philadelphia police officers. (McCaffery was a police officer for 20 years before becoming a judge in 1993.) One of the former officers, then working in the attorney general's office, forwarded the email to more than a dozen people. Of the 54 emails, in addition to the eight with sexually explicit images, two others are jokes with a sexual theme. The number of recipients of the sexually explicit emails varies from 20 to 54. Many worked or still work in the attorney general's office, but others work in other state agencies, or in county or local governments. The email chain includes non-sexual messages, including some with pet advice, news about loved ones, nature photos, military praise. There also was political humor about President Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan and former Gov. Ed Rendell. When Kane set up the showing of the emails for media on Friday, she and her staff said they could release only the names of eight former employees. Kane's spokeswoman, Renee Martin, said Kane could not release more names for personnel reasons and because of possible connections to a separate grand jury probe. Martin said the new material the media and governor's office will receive will only include the email thread of the eight men previously identified. All other names on the email thread are being redacted for liability reasons, she said. As to the emails reviewed by The Morning Call, Martin said: "I know nothing about those emails." She previously said the office cannot release the names of unionized employees who were on the email because it is a personnel matter under a collective bargaining agreement. But some of the people on the emails The Morning Call reviewed are supervisors who serve at the will of the attorney general. Martin said Wednesday it is not illegal for adults to send or receive pornography depicting adults. The records Kane shared with reporters were images and videos that were allegedly contained in emails found in the in-boxes of the eight former employees between 2008 and 2010. The material did not indicate who sent the emails or when. Nor did it show whether the workers opened them. The records Kane shared also did not include the list of email recipients or time stamps to show how and when the emails were sent. Castille declined to comment Wednesday. In statements made Monday during a phone interview with reporters, he said a judge should not be fraternizing too closely with either prosecutors or defense attorneys by sending personal emails of any kind. Defense attorneys can seek to have a judge removed from a case involving the attorney general's office if the judge's name is in the sexually explicit emails, he said. "The requirement is to be a neutral arbitrator of cases," he said. "You cannot be sending pornographic emails to another agency." Also Monday, Castille said his request deals with jurists who might have received or sent the emails. The request is based on Philadelphia Inquirer reports hinting at judges who have possibly been part of the email exchanges, he said. A judge could be in violation of judicial rules of conduct for sending pornographic emails on government-owned computers or personal computers, Castille said. Castille did not mention any justice by name. ||||| FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett makes remarks during a news conference after a Penn State Board of Trustees meeting in this Nov. 10, 2011 file photo taken in State College, Pa. Corbett disclosed... (Associated Press) FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett makes remarks during a news conference after a Penn State Board of Trustees meeting in this Nov. 10, 2011 file photo taken in State College, Pa. Corbett disclosed... (Associated Press) HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A widening scandal over the exchange of emails containing pornography by current and former members of the attorney general's office has gripped the Pennsylvania Capitol all week. Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court chief justice demanded information on whether any judges were part of the exchanges. Gov. Tom Corbett, who was attorney general when the emails were exchanged, was forced to defend his management of the office as he campaigns for a second term. And on Thursday, two top officials who followed Corbett from the attorney general's office into his gubernatorial administration resigned. Corbett disclosed the resignations of Environmental Protection Secretary Christopher Abruzzo and Glenn Parno, a top lawyer in the Department of Environmental Protection, in separate announcements hours apart, just as the attorney general's office was releasing copies of their email messages to the governor's office and news organizations. Their departures came a week after Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office identified them as being among eight ex-employees who sent or received hundreds of pornographic images or videos in emails that were discovered during Kane's review of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse prosecution. All eight men, who also include state police Commissioner Frank Noonan, worked under Corbett while he was the state's elected attorney general from 2005 to 2011. Corbett had requested details on the emails in question before determining if the four men employed in his administration should keep their jobs. Kane is a Democrat who took office last year. Corbett, a Republican, is in the closing weeks of an uphill re-election campaign against Democrat Tom Wolf. A review of the heavily redacted emails revealed an abundance of comments that were sexually suggestive, mostly about photographs that were originally attached to the emails but were not included in the released material. Some of the more than 300 emails that the attorney general's office says Noonan received bore sexually tinged subject lines, such as "Bikini Wax Job." Another message, received by some but not all of the participants, included a slur used against people of Arab descent and others who wear headdresses. Others expressed insensitive remarks about gays. Abruzzo did not mention the emails in his resignation letter, which was released by Corbett's office. He wrote that he had not been given an opportunity to review any evidence to support the assertions against him but that he did not want the allegations to become "a distraction" for the Corbett administration. "While I have no recollection of the specific accounts described by the media, I accept full responsibility for any lack of judgment I may have exhibited in 2009," he wrote. "I do not condone that behavior and it is not a reflection of the person or professional that I am." The letter was Abruzzo's first public comment on the emails. Abruzzo, 48, started in the attorney general's office in 1996 and advanced to oversee its drug-related prosecutions. When Corbett became governor in 2011, he made Abruzzo one of his deputy chiefs of staff and, later, environmental protection secretary, a Cabinet post. Noonan, who is directing the manhunt for a fugitive suspected of killing a state trooper and wounding another in an ambush at a northeastern Pennsylvania barracks, has not commented. The attorney general's office said Noonan received more 300 of the emails, but Corbett said records indicate that "he did not participate in opening, originating, forwarding or replying to any message." No reason was given for Parno's resignation.

– Unwise work move: sending emails with subject lines like "Bikini Wax Job." Or so a group of current and former employees of Pennsylvania's attorney general's office have learned. The porn email scandal broke last week, when current Attorney General Kathleen Kane revealed that during a review of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse prosecution, it was discovered that at least eight state officials sent or received hundreds of pornographic pictures or videos. All eight worked under current Gov. Tom Corbett, who was attorney general at the time the emails were exchanged. Yesterday, two top officials who had moved on to work in Corbett's gubernatorial administration—Environmental Protection Secretary Christopher Abruzzo and Glenn Parno, a top lawyer in the Department of Environmental Protection—resigned, the AP reports. In Abruzzo's resignation letter, he wrote he has "no recollection of the specific accounts described by the media" but does not want to be a "distraction" as Corbett seeks re-election; no reason was given for Parno's resignation. Also implicated in the scandal is state police Commissioner Frank Noonan, who has yet to comment on the case. Corbett says records indicate Noonan "did not participate in opening, originating, forwarding, or replying to any message," though the AG's office claims Noonan received more than 300 of the emails, including one with the aforementioned subject line. Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court chief justice is demanding to know whether any judges were included in the email exchanges. The Allentown Morning Call reported this week that Justice Seamus McCaffery allegedly forwarded at least eight of the emails (with subject lines including "tan lines XXX" and "centerfold") to an AG's office employee, who then distributed them further.

Everything was going well for Myron W. Chisem, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent since 2007.One of his daughters was off to college, the other was on her way there, and his son, the youngest of his three children, had decided he wanted to move in with dad.The 14-year-old was doing well in school, loved playing video games, and even visited the library with Chisem every so often, said Shawn Butler, Chisem's friend."In his eyes, everything was peachy, lovely," Butler said.But late Wednesday, authorities said, the 14-year-old fatally shot his 42-year-old father, striking him once in the head from their Carson backyard as Chisem sat in the family room. The son called 911, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said, and deputies found Chisem's ICE-issued handgun in the frontyard. About eight hours later, the teen was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder."This was a domestic violence incident," Lt. Holly Francisco said. Authorities did not identify Chisem's son and said the motive was unclear.Butler, 41, met Chisem in naval training in 1991 and served with him as a member of ICE. He said there "was never any indication" of trouble between Chisem and his son. He said the boy had moved in with his father less than a year ago after a family agreement."They had a great relationship," Butler said. "He was very proud of his son. He loved him very much.... All the time I had been around them I had never seen any kind of issues of tension between them."Francisco said Chisem's girlfriend also lived in the home, but she returned to the 19300 block of Broadacres Avenue after police arrived. Authorities said that after questioning the teen and the woman for most of the night, the boy was arrested about 5 a.m. Thursday.As a coroner's van arrived at about 7:30 a.m., about a dozen agents wearing blue ICE jackets gathered outside the home. One sat on a ledge with his head in his hands, while others talked quietly among themselves.All stood in a line, shoulder to shoulder, as the body, draped in an American flag, was wheeled out on a gurney. Moments later, the agents returned to their cars, turned on their emergency lights and, in an impromptu procession, escorted the van carrying Chisem's body to the coroner's office."This is a difficult time for the family and loved ones of the agent, and for everyone at ICE," said ICE Director John Morton . "Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers."It was the second fatal shooting of an ICE agent in the Los Angeles area this year. In February, a confrontation between agents at the Glenn M. Anderson Building in Long Beach erupted in gunfire that left one agent dead and another seriously injured.Three ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents were shot in the Northern California town of Petaluma while executing a warrant just after 4 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said the agents' wounds were not life-threatening and added that the injured agents were able to take the shooter, who was also the arrest target, into custody.She said ICE would defer questions about weapons safety protocol because of the Sheriff's Department's ongoing investigation into Chisem's slaying.Meanwhile, residents of Chisem's quiet Carson neighborhood were reeling as the caution tape came down and the TV trucks drove away Thursday morning.Stephanie Love, who lives three doors down from the agent's home, said Chisem moved into the neighborhood about a year ago. Many others have lived on the street for 20 years or more, she said."I grew up in this neighborhood," said Love, 32. "We don't have things like this happen. This is a shock to everybody because this is the type of neighborhood everyone wants to move into." ||||| View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com. Updated at 2:50 p.m. ET: The 14-year-old son of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Myron W. Chisem was arrested Thursday morning after the agent was shot dead through the back of his head in the family room of his Carson, Calif., home. Authorities from the city about 16 miles south of downtown Los Angeles responded to a 911 call about 9 p.m. Wednesday. The caller told dispatchers his father had been shot. "We do believe (the son) made the 911 call," said Lt. Holly Francisco. For more, visit NBCLosAngeles.com Chisem, an ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agent, was identified as the victim, according to an ICE statement obtained by NBC News. ICE is part of the Department of Homeland security. A Navy veteran, Chisem, 42, had been assigned to the HSI Los Angeles Office since he joined the agency in 2007. He is a native of Torrance, Calif., the agency said. Nick Ut / AP U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wait for the coroner's van at the Carson, Calif., home of slain ICE agent Myron W. Chisem. His 14-year-old son was arrested in the shooting death. A preliminary investigation indicated the fatal round was fired from outside the home and through a window, investigators said. The agent's service weapon was used in the shooting, according to investigators. No motive was offered. A news helicopter showed ICE agents lining the driveway and saluting as the body, covered by an American flag, was wheeled to a coroner's van. "This is a difficult time for ICE, especially for the family and loved ones of the agent. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers," ICE Director John Morton said in a statement. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

– The 14-year-old son of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has been busted in the killing of his dad in their southern California home. Myron Chisem, 42, was shot in the head with a gun fired from the backyard through the window of his family room in Carson. Chisem's son called 911 and was arrested for the killing hours later, reports the Los Angles Times. Chisem's service revolver was used in the killing, reports MSNBC. The motive was unclear, said officials. Those who knew the family said the teen and the father of three seemed to have a great relationship. Chisem "was very proud of his son. He loved him very much," said a friend. Chisem, a Navy vet, was an ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agent, according to officials. His body, covered with a flag, was wheeled out of his home yesterday as other ICE agents saluted. "This is a difficult time for ICE, especially for the family and loved ones of the agent," said an ICE spokesman. Another ICE agent was killed by a co-worker earlier this year in a workplace confrontation in Long Beach, according to officials. Three agents were injured yesterday in northern California when they were shot while executing a warrant.

A 6-year-old Eustis boy reportedly died of rabies Sunday at an Orlando hospital after being scratched by a sick bat that Lake County officials said had been living in his home. Henry Roque confirmed his son Ryker Roque’s death to NBC News after previously telling the “Today” show that Ryker became infected when the bat scratched him. Lake County deputies responded to the Eustis home about two weeks ago after they were told the family’s pit bull may have had rabies. When they arrived, somebody told them the residents were at the hospital with their son, who had been scratched by a bat, sheriff’s Maj. Chris Delibro said. “We’re told the bat had been in the house for a week or two prior to the boy going to the hospital,” Delibro said. During that time, authorities said the bat may have come in contact with the dog. Deputies didn’t see the bat, but they took the pit bull and a cat to the Sheriff’s Office’s animal shelter for testing. Delibro did not know the results of the tests. Henry Roque said in an interview with the “Today” show that he found the sick bat and put it in a bucket. He told Ryker not to touch it, but Ryker did and was scratched, the father told the show. After the scratch, Henry Roque said in the interview, he washed the wound but didn’t take Ryker to the hospital because the boy cried when he was told he would need shots. About a week later, the 6-year-old complained of a headache and numbness in his fingers. Then the family took him to the hospital, but reportedly it was too late for him to receive shots. “That’s my buddy, he’s my boy, he’s my everything,” Henry Roque said in the “Today” interview. “He tells all his friends ‘My daddy will fix anything.’ I can’t fix that. I’ve never loved anything or anybody so much in my life. Ever.” Attempts by the Orlando Sentinel to reach the family weren’t successful, but a GoFundMe page raising money for medical expenses said Monday, “We are so sad to say that Ryker lost his fight last night...our little baby is now an angel.” Rabies deaths in the United States are rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 2008 and 2017, only 23 cases have been reported, and the number of deaths blamed on the disease has declined since the 1970s, according to the agency. Most rabies hosts are wild carnivores and bats. Orange County Health Department spokesman Kent Donahue said people should avoid touching wildlife. “If you believe you may have been exposed to rabies, contact your health care provider and your county health department immediately,” Donahue said in an email. “If an exposure occurred, it is important to administer treatment right away.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5002. Or follow him on Twitter @byryangillespie and like his coverage on Facebook @byryangillespie. 3 arrested after Osceola County woman killed in botched murder-for-hire plot, sheriff says » ||||| Boy undergoes experimental treatment for rabies after bat bite A 6-year-old boy in Florida is undergoing a treatment, known as the Milwaukee protocol, after being diagnosed with rabies. The boy will be put into a medically-induced coma and given a cocktail of drugs to force his body to make its own antibodies. NBC’s Maya Rodriguez reports for TODAY from Orlando. ||||| Ryker Roque is undergoing experimental treatment after being diagnosed with rabies. A 6-year-old Florida boy who was undergoing experimental treatment after being diagnosed with rabies has died. Ryker Roque passed away in an Orlando hospital, his father said Monday. Roque had been undergoing the treatment, called the Milwaukee protocol, after he was scratched by a bat. His father, Henry Roque, had found the sick bat and put it in a bucket, telling his son not to touch it. "So, apparently he put his hand in there and touched it and he said it only scratched him, so I frantically googled it real quick and it says to wash his hands with soap, hot water for five minutes," Henry Roque told NBC News. When Ryker complained of numb fingers and a headache a week later, he was rushed to the hospital. Ryker was put into a medically induced coma, forcing his body to create its own specialized antibodies to fight off the illness. The treatment has only worked twice in the U.S. and 18 times around the world. ||||| Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter / Updated / Source: NBC News By Maggie Fox A 6-year-old Florida boy fighting rabies has died, his father said Sunday. Ryker Roque was being kept under anesthesia in an Orlando hospital in a desperate bid to save him from the deadliest virus there is. The family was trying an experimental technique called the Milwaukee protocol, which has saved at least two other children in the U.S. and 18 people around the world, according to its inventor, Dr. Rodney Willoughby of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. It started when Ryker's father, Henry Roque, found a sick bat. "(I) found a bat, put it in a little bucket, put it on the porch and I had asked my son, 'don't touch it under any circumstances'," Roque told NBC News. "So, apparently he put his hand in there and touched it and he said it only scratched him, so I frantically googled it real quick and it says to wash his hands with soap, hot water for five minutes." They knew they should have taken Ryker for immediate medical attention but relented when Ryker cried at the thought of getting shots. A week or so later, Ryker complained of numb fingers and a headache. Henry feared he'd hit his head while playing and rushed him to the hospital. When Henry Roque mentioned the bat, doctors became alarmed. "I mean, alarms, bells, whistles went off," he said. "They went frantically looking for the other doctors to tell them that it was a bat and how severe it was. And then they all came in. We had a conference and they explained to me that it's almost always lethal." Rabies can be prevented if someone is vaccinated before they start developing symptoms. But once symptoms start to show, the disease has spread to the brain and is virtually impossible to stop. When reached last week, Willoughby, a pediatrician, said he could not comment Ryker’s case but said he regularly consults with medical teams trying to save rabies victims around the world. Ryker Roque, 6, has been diagnosed with severe rabies from a bat bite. gofundme.com/ryker-medical-bills The first person saved this way was Jeanna Giese, who was 15 in 2004 when she developed rabies. Willoughby’s protocol, which included sedation and treatment with antiviral drugs, cured her. “She’s doing wonderfully,” Willoughby said. “She never even missed a school year.” Giese even overcame the damage done to her brain by the virus. “She’s married, she had twin children,” he said. “She’s doing so well I never hear from her.” Any mammal can get rabies, and the disease causes horrible symptoms as the virus attacks the nervous system. It can make an animal aggressive and violent and can cause severe pain. Victims eventually fall into a coma and die when they can no longer breathe properly. Globally, the World Health Organization says 55,000 people die of rabies every year, with dogs the source of 99 percent of these fatal bites. People can survive if vaccinated immediately after a bite or other exposure to rabies. But the few U.S. cases are usually in children who have been bitten by bats and either do not realize they were bitten — bats have tiny teeth — or are unable to say so. The incubation period can be months, so sometimes by the time symptoms start, it's hard for people and especially small children to even remember if they were near a bat. Rabies vaccine supplies are tight in the U.S., so people cannot get a vaccine unless they have been exposed, usually via an animal bite, or have a high risk of bites. “It’s almost never too late to take shots if you have had a real exposure to an animal,” Willoughby said. NBC News producers Lisa Lampkin, Meredith Amor and Craig Stanley and correspondent Maya Rodriguez contributed to this story.

– Ryker Roque told his friends his father could "fix anything." Rabies was one thing that proved beyond him. Six-year-old Ryker died at a Florida hospital Sunday, weeks after putting his hand in a bucket holding a bat his father had found, reports NBC News. Henry Roque says he specifically told his son not to touch the bat, but Ryker didn't listen, and ended up with a scratch. With his son in tears at the thought of getting a vaccine shot in case the bat had rabies, Roque avoided the hospital and thoroughly washed the scratch instead. It wasn't enough. A week later, Ryker told his parents he had a headache and his fingers were numb. "I picked him up and I put him on the ground and he fell right to the floor," Roque tells Today. "I could not believe this … I said 'Walk for me, Ryker,' and he couldn't walk." At a hospital, doctors told Roque that Ryker indeed had rabies and that cases are almost always fatal once symptoms appear. Doctors hoped placing the boy in a medically induced coma might allow his body to fight off the virus in an experimental treatment known as the Milwaukee protocol, which has saved two other children in the US, per NBC Miami. But that wasn't enough, either. Experts are now warning people to seek out a life-saving vaccine immediately after exposure to rabies and to limit possible exposure. In this case, the infected bat may have been in the Roque family's home for "a week or two prior to the boy going to the hospital," a Lake County sheriff tells the Orlando Sentinel. He adds a dog and cat were taken from the home to be tested for rabies, with the results not yet clear. (Rabies killed a woman shortly after she gave birth.)

A teenager who “zigzagged” through Russell Square in central London stabbing random strangers has admitted killing an American tourist and injuring five others. Zakaria Bulhan, 19, killed Darlene Horton, 64, a retired special needs teacher, and injured other holidaymakers and theatregoers on the evening of 3 August last year, the Old Bailey heard on Monday. Police were at the scene within six minutes as initial fears were of a terrorist attack in a square near to where one of the devices in the 7/7 bombings was detonated. But Bulhan, who has no previous convictions, was found to have been experiencing a psychotic episode. He denied murder but admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility. He pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder, but admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Martin Hoenisch, Lillie Sellentin, David Imber, Bernard Hepplewhite and Yovel Lewkowski. The pleas were accepted by the prosecution. The court heard that Bulhan was having an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attacks. Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said the case had been considered at the highest level and it was decided it was right to accept the pleas. Mr Justice Spencer ordered attempted murder charges to lie on file. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Darlene Horton had been due to fly back to the US with her husband hours after the incident on 3 August 2016. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA The court heard that at 10.30pm on 3 August Bulhan was seen “moving in an erratic fashion” along the pavement and armed with a large kitchen knife. Heywood said Sellentin, 23, from Australia, saw an individual “smiling and skipping” along the road and watched as he skipped towards an older couple in front of her – Hepplewhite 65, from London, and a Canadian friend he had been visiting the theatre with. Bulhan appeared to have something in his clenched fist and seemed to skip and wave his arms in a swaying motion. He swerved towards Hepplewhite who shouted: “Ouch.” Heywood said Bulhan skipped on towards Sellentin, who had also been visiting the theatre. She tried to move out of his way but he jumped towards her and she thought she had been punched in her ribcage. Someone shouted: “He’s got a knife,” and Hepplewhite and Sellentin looked down to see blood and realised they had been stabbed, the judge heard. Horton was walking with her husband, Richard Wagner, the court was told, when he became aware of a commotion and suddenly a black male rushed past them and his wife said: “Ouch.” Wagner, a professor, shouted a warning to others and chased Bulhan. The couple had been to a restaurant on their last night in London before they were due to fly back to the US. Hoenisch, 59, also an American, who had arrived in London with his wife on holiday that day, saw Bulhan running at them and raised his right arm to protect himself, then felt a sharp pain in his side as he was stabbed below his armpit. Imber, 40, an Australian on holiday, was stabbed in his ribcage, and described Bulhan as having a “crazed smile”. Lewkowski, 18, who was visiting from Israel and was with her grandfather, felt a pain as Bulhan appeared to bump into her, the court heard. One witness said he saw the man inserting the knife into Horton’s back “up to the hilt” and shouting angrily in foreign language. Horton was pronounced dead at scene. Bulhan was Tasered and then arrested by armed police. One officer said he could hear him muttering “Allah, Allah, Allah”, while others found a pamphlet entitled “Fortress of the Muslim” in the pocket of his tracksuit trousers. The judge was told that these two details were not considered relevant to the attack. In police interviews Bulhan said he did not know why he had committed the offences. Five of the victims sustained non-fatal injuries and had made good recoveries. However, Horton received a stab wound to the back that penetrated her left lung and heart, sustaining “a devastating injury from which she died at the scene”, said Heywood. Bulhan, who was born in Norway after his parents emigrated from Somalia, is the second of three children. He was living in Tooting, south London, with his mother, siblings and stepfather at the time of the attacks. He dropped out of college in April 2016 and “began to behave in an odd fashion”, the court heard. After a number of consultations with his GP, he was referred to a community mental health team. He was being treated for low mood and anxiety, the court heard. His mother was so concerned about his rising aggression she removed knives from the kitchen. Bulhan, held at Broadmoor hospital since his arrest, had been experiencing auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions. He believed he was being followed and the devil had told him to kill, the court heard. He said he had been hearing “cunning and manipulative” voices before the attacks, and believed magic spells were put on him when people spat in his direction, one psychiatrist reported. Another psychiatrist diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia. Of the stabbings Bulhan told one psychiatrist: “I can’t remember and I don’t want to.” Bulhan, who is to be sentenced on Tuesday, faces imprisonment or a hospital order. John Jones QC, defending, said the teenager had experienced mental illness since 15 and that had “reached a crescendo” in August last year. Arguing that Bulhan and the public would be better served if a hospital order was granted, Jones added that although Bulhan had no recollection of the stabbings, he had “an appreciation of the harm caused” and expressed “remorse, and complete regret and profound sorrow” for what he had done. Horton’s widower said in a victim impact statement: “Losing Darlene, my wife and best friend, under these circumstances is as bad as you might imagine it to be, if not worse. As bad as I feel for my loss, I feel worse for the loss experienced by my two daughters.” The family had suffered an unspeakable tragedy because of “potentially unknowable deficiencies in our system of identifying and treating individuals with mental illness”, he added. “As a result, a potential killer was allowed to walk the streets.” After Bulhan’s guilty pleas, DI Tony Lyons, of the Metropolitan police’s homicide and major crime command, said: “Bulhan’s actions caused an enormous amount of fear and distress with initial concerns this incident may be linked to terrorism. This was quickly found out not to be the case and we now know Bulhan was suffering a severe episode of mental illness. He clearly poses an enormous risk to the general public and I hope he can now get the help he needs.” The officer said thoughts must remain “with Bulhan’s victims who were simply enjoying a night out on a summer’s evening when they were subjected to this terrifying ordeal. And, of course, the friends and family of Darlene Horton who so sadly lost her life.” The hearing continues. ||||| Image copyright Met Police Image caption Zakaria Bulhan admitted the charges on the first day of his trial A knife attacker has admitted killing a US tourist and wounding five others in a rampage in central London. Nineteen-year-old Zakaria Bulhan carried out the attack in Russell Square on 3 August last year. Retired teacher Darlene Horton, 64, was visiting the city with her husband when she was killed. Bulhan pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and charges of wounding. The teenager, from Tooting, south-west London, had been charged with murder and attempted murder, but the court accepted his plea. The court heard he was suffering an "acute" episode of paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attacks. Image copyright Metropolitan Police Image caption Darlene Horton was visiting London with her husband, Richard Wagner, a university professor from Florida Mother-of-two Ms Horton was due to return home to Tallahassee the day after the attack. The knife penetrated her left lung and heart when she was stabbed in the back. She died at the scene. Lillie Sellentin, David Imber, Martin Hoenisch, Bernard Hepplewhite and Yovel Lewronski were all injured in the rampage. The court heard they have all recovered well from their injuries. 'Unreal experience' Mr Hoenisch, a retired fireman from Las Vegas, was visiting London with his wife Laurie Kelly when he was injured in the attack. He said on Facebook it was a "very unreal experience" and he was "still very saddened about the woman who was killed". Ms Lewronski, 18, who was stabbed in the upper arm, was visiting London from Tel Aviv. She wrote on the social media site that she did not know whether to call it "luck or fate" that she escaped death. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption CCTV shows police chasing Zakaria Bulhan moments after his attack Image copyright Rehana Azam Image caption Emergency services were pictured at the scene in the aftermath of the attack The Old Bailey was told Bulhan had been seen "moving in an erratic fashion" in Russell Square. "Without warning or provocation, the man stabbed six people in relatively quick succession, saying nothing to any of them, moving on after each stabbing towards his next victim," said prosecutor Mark Heywood QC. 'Definitely me' Bulhan screamed and ran away when police ordered him to stand still and drop the knife. He fell to the floor when officers Tasered him. Police said when Bulhan was interviewed, he refused to take part in an identification parade but said: "It was definitely me." Mr Heywood said the case had been considered "at the highest level" before it was decided to accept his pleas. His defence said he had an "appreciation of the harm he has caused and of the suffering he has inflicted". 'I came close to shooting him' A firearms officer has revealed he nearly shot Zakaria Bulhan to try to cut off his escape route following the stabbings in Russell Square. The officer, who was speaking anonymously, said his first thought when the reports came in was of terrorism as "you hear Russell Square and you think of the [7 July] bombings". The officer, who had only been in the unit for five weeks, went with his partner to Bedford Place to cut off Bulhan's escape route. "He was running at pace with the knife raised and kept looking back at us every time we were screaming to stop," he said. As Bulhan headed towards the British Museum, the officer said a "pre-emptive strike" with a Taser had to be made before the teenager could hurt anyone else. He said he was "very close" to shooting Bulhan dead, saying: "It had to be a pre-emptive strike. We could not let him get around the corner." John Jones QC told the court that Bulhan had expressed "complete regret and profound sorrow" for what he had done. Mr Justice Spencer ordered the attempted murder charges to lie on file. The court heard that months before the killing Bulhan had dropped out of college because of his mental state. In March last year he had been referred for treatment for his mental health and his behaviour deteriorated leading up to the August attack. Bulhan will be sentenced on Tuesday.

– A 19-year-old man has admitted killing an American tourist and wounding five other people during a stabbing rampage in London last year. Zakaria Bulhan, a Somali-Norwegian who moved to Britain as a child, had been charged with murder and attempted murder but a court accepted his guilty pleas to manslaughter and wounding at a hearing Monday, the Guardian reports. The court was told Bulhan was having an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia and believed the devil was talking to him when he killed Darlene Horton, a retired teacher from Florida who was visiting London with her husband, on Aug. 3. Bulhan will be sentenced Tuesday and could be sent either to prison or a mental hospital, the BBC reports.

The so-called "affluenza" teen wants another break. The Texas teenager who killed four people in a 2013 drunken-driving wreck is asking the state's Supreme Court to throw out his current two-year jail sentence. Ethan Couch was initially sentenced to 10-years probation after successfully arguing that his spoiled childhood was to blame for the accident. However, he later violated his probation by drinking and partying, and fled to Mexico. Couch was later apprehended and last year was given the two-year sentence, 180 days for each victim. Father of 'affluenza teen' avoids jail time for impersonating cop "Affluenza" teen Ethan Couch is serving a two-year jail sentence. (POOL/POOL) His lawyers argue that the judge only had jurisdiction over criminal cases and that juvenile matters are civil. Ethan Couch's lawyers also tried for the teen's release last year, but was rejected by a judge. At the time, they asked for the removal of District Judge Wayne Salvant from the case. The teen, who was 16 at the time, crashed his pickup truck into a crowd of people on June 15, 2013. The group was trying to help another driver. The teen killed four people in a drunken-driving wreck in 2013. (Tarrant County Sheriff's Office) His lawyers said that he was not responsible because he was coddled as a child by his wealthy parents, and initially avoided jail time. 'Affluenza' teen's request to get judge removed is denied Couch would skip parole meetings and bolted to Mexico with his mother. Tonya Couch could face up to 10 years in prison for helping her son elude law enforcement officials. Just a few months ago Ethan Couch's father Fred avoided jail time for impersonating a Texas police officer in 2014. With News Wire Services Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| facebook twitter email Share More Videos 1:06 Peaches ripe for the pickin' Pause 0:31 Tarrant County's 10 Most Wanted Criminals, July 5 2:31 Fallen Dallas officers remembered at memorial dedication 6:29 'Our world has been turned upside down' 2:21 Emergency team jumps into action to rescue stranded teen 6:00 Swift water rescue team pulls teen from creek in North Richland Hills 0:33 Video: North Fort Worth neighborhood floods 0:36 Several hundred pounds of fireworks confiscated in Fort Worth 1:41 Firsthand tour of Las Vegas Trail 1:39 Possum Kingdom Lake recovers from wildfires and drought Share Video Video link: Select Embed code: Select facebook facebook twitter twitter email Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced the 'affluenza' teen to nearly two years in jail on concurrent terms on Wednesday in a Fort Worth courtroom. Pool video Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced the 'affluenza' teen to nearly two years in jail on concurrent terms on Wednesday in a Fort Worth courtroom. Pool video ||||| Lawyers for a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving crash have turned to the Texas Supreme Court in an effort to secure his release from jail. The motion filed Friday on behalf of 19-year-old Ethan Couch argues that a judge had no authority to sentence Couch to nearly two years in jail after his case was moved from juvenile to adult court. Couch's attorneys argue that the judge only had jurisdiction over criminal cases and that juvenile matters are civil. Couch was given 10 years' probation after killing four people in a 2013 crash. He later violated his probation. RAW VIDEO: Judge's Ruling in Couch Hearing During his first appearance in adult court Wednesday, a North Texas teen who used an "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken driving crash was ordered to spend nearly two years behind bars as part of his probation. (Published Wednesday, April 13, 2016) A defense expert invoked the term "affluenza" in arguing during the sentencing phase of the teenager's trial that he was coddled into a sense of irresponsibility. Copyright Associated Press

– Lawyers for Ethan Couch are asking the Texas state Supreme Court to release the "affluenza teen" from jail, NBC DFW reports. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a judge sentenced Couch to 720 days in jail last April after he skipped a probation check-in and ran to Mexico with his mother. The pair went on the lam following the release of a video that apparently showed Couch partying in violation of his parole. Lawyers for Couch say the judge didn't have the authority to sentence Couch to jail time because the judge only has purview over criminal cases. They say Couch's is a civil case because it originated in juvenile court, the New York Daily News reports. Couch's case was transferred to adult court when he turned 19. Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation in 2013 when he crashed his pickup truck into a group of people helping a disabled vehicle. Couch was drunk at the time, and four of the people died. A psychologist defending Couch said the teen never learned the difference between right and wrong and was suffering from "affluenza" thanks to his rich upbringing. Couch's lawyers filed the motion to release him from jail last Friday. The motion has already been denied twice in lower courts.

We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter? Yes ||||| Amy Schumer dropped a lot of Benjamins with a $1,000 tip for the bartenders at "Hamilton" on Saturday night. The “Trainwreck” star’s generous tip for a $77 bill left Broadway hit “Hamilton’s” bar staff speechless, Madeleine DeJohn, an aspiring actor and bartender at the theater, told the Daily News. The $1,000 tip Amy Schumer left for the "Hamilton" bar staff. (madeleinedejohn via Instagram) “I was very touched, it was just something so generous and so kind that you don’t see every day,” she said. The mega-tip wasn’t Schumer’s first helping hand for the bar staff at “Hamilton,” DeJohn said. The last time the comedian showed up at the bar, she gave an $80 tip for a $40 bill, the bartender told The News. 'HAMILTON' WINS BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM AT GRAMMYS When DeJohn thanked the actress then for the generosity, Schumer told her, “I’ve been there, I get it,” the bartender recalled. Amy Schumer in the audience for Broadway's hit musical "Hamilton." (@amyschumer via Instagram) Amy Schumer also took a photo with the cast when she went to see "Hamilton." (@amyschumer via Instagram) Schumer, who waited tables and worked as a bartender in New York City before her career took off, gave the “Hamilton” bar staff the biggest tip they had ever seen before, the employee said. Schumer, who used to be a bartender and waitress, left the largest tip these bartenders have ever seen. (Ben Gabbe/Getty Images) There had been plenty of celebrities in the audience for “Hamilton” before, including Beyonce, Jay Z, Kanye West and Michelle Obama, but none had left a tip as high as Schumer did, she said. “I’d like to think if I become that successful, that I can do the same,” DeJohn said. “She’s been one of us. She reminded me that there’s still a lot of good in the world.” AMY SCHUMER AND HER LITTLE SISTER ARE INSEPARABLE The $1,000 tip was split up among the six staffers who were working the bar that night, all who are also aspiring actors. DeJohn said she hopes Schumer returns to the theater to see “Hamilton” again — not for a repeat of the massive tip, but so she can thank the comedian in person.

– Amy Schumer took in a Broadway play and bought a few drinks Saturday night—and she left an ample tip to thank the bartenders for a fun night out. The comedian placed a $1,000 gratuity on top of her $77 bar bill at a showing of Hamilton, leaving the wait staff "touched" at Schumer's generosity, one of the bartenders tells the New York Daily News. Madeleine DeJohn adds that the last time Schumer showed up there, she left an $80 tip on a $40 tab. Not even other high-profile guests such as Jay Z or Michelle Obama have tipped as well as Schumer, says DeJohn, who posted a pic on Instagram of the receipt with Schumer's big tip. "I'd like to think if I become that successful, that I can do the same," DeJohn notes. "She’s been one of us. She reminded me that there's still a lot of good in the world." (The Daily News points out Schumer used to bartend and wait tables in the Big Apple before hitting it big.) The six bartenders working that night, who will divvy up the tip among themselves, posted a message to Schumer on Twitter, thanking her for "making our night." Schumer noted in her own tweet: "lots of love to my fellow bartenders and artists. I'm grateful to them and the cast and crew for another great night." (Schumer is also a fierce gun-control advocate.)

The Sea of Galilee boat is the most famous artifact that we can now associate with this newly discovered town. It dates back to either the first century B.C. or A.D. Although the boat was uncovered in 1986 the discovery of the town means we now know it was found on the ancient town's shoreline. A town dating back more than 2,000 years has been discovered on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel's Ginosar valley. The ancient town may be Dalmanutha (also spelled Dalmanoutha), described in the Gospel of Mark as the place Jesus sailed to after miraculously feeding 4,000 people by multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread, said Ken Dark, of the University of Reading in the U.K., whose team discovered the town during a field survey. The archaeologists also determined that a famous boat, dating to around 2,000 years ago, and uncovered in 1986, was found on the shoreline of the newly discovered town. The boat was reported on two decades ago but the discovery of the town provides new information on what lay close to it. The evidence the team found suggests the town was prosperous in ancient times. "Vessel glass and amphora hint at wealth," Dark wrote in an article published in the most recent edition of the journal Palestine Exploration Quarterly, while "weights and stone anchors, along with the access to beaches suitable for landing boats — and, of course, the first-century boat … all imply an involvement with fishing." [Photos: 4,000-Year-Old Structure Hidden Under Sea of Galilee] The architectural remains and pottery suggest that Jews and those following a polytheistic religion lived side by side in the community. In addition, the researchers found that the southern side of the newly discovered town lies only about 500 feet (150 meters) away from another ancient town known as Magdala. View looking southwest showing the mountains bounding the Ginosar Valley in Israel. Archaeologists found pottery remains, cubes known as tesserae and, in the modern town, architectural fragments indicating a town flourished in the area from the second or first century B.C. until after the fifth century A.D. Credit: Photo copyright Dr. Ken Dark Architecture and pottery Fields between the modern-day town of Migdal and the sea coast contained hundreds of pottery pieces dating from as early as the second or first century B.C. to up to some point after the fifth century A.D., the time of the Byzantine Empire, the archaeologists found. The artifacts suggest the town survived for many centuries. Also among their finds were cubes known as tesserae and limestone vessel fragments, which were "associated with Jewish purity practices in the early Roman period," indicating the presence of a Jewish community in the town, Dark told LiveScience in an email. Some of the most impressive finds, however, were not made in the fields but rather in modern-day Migdal itself. The archaeologists found dozens of examples of ancient architectural remains, some of which the modern-day townspeople had turned into seats or garden ornaments, or simply left lying on the ground. In one instance, the researchers found more than 40 basalt ashlar blocks in a single garden. After talking to the local people, and trying to identify the source and date of the findings, the researchers determined that many of the architectural remains came from the local area and likely were part of this newly discovered town. [Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World] Roman column fragments, along with the top of a rotary quern (for grinding), lying on the side of a road in the modern-day town of Migdal and believed to be part of a newfound ancient town. Credit: Photo copyright Dr. Ken Dark These remains included a number of ancient column fragments, including examples of capitals (the top of columns) carved in a Corinthian style. "This settlement may have contained masonry buildings, some with mosaic floors and architectural stonework," Dark wrote in his paper. The finds also included a pagan altar, made of light-gray limestone and used in religious rituals by those of a polytheistic faith, Dark said. Is it Dalmanutha? In the New Testament, Dalmanutha is mentioned only briefly in the Gospel of Mark. The gospel says that after feeding 4,000 people by miraculously multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread, Jesus "got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha. The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, 'Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.'Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side." (Mark 8:10-13, New International Version) Dark isn't certain the newly discovered town is Dalmanutha, but there is evidence to support the idea. From the remains found, researchers can tell the newly discovered town would have been a sizable, thriving location in the first century A.D., and the name Dalmanutha has not been firmly linked to a known archaeological site. It's likely that the newly found town's name is among the few place-names already identified by other researchers relating to the Ginosar valley shore, and one of those places is Dalmanutha, Dark said. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience. ||||| (Helen Bond) A week or so ago we welcomed Dr Ken Dark from the University of Reading to Edinburgh. Ken is an archaeologist with a great deal of experience in all things to do with the Roman Empire, and we were particularly interested to hear of his experiences in mapping the area around Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. The two extended lectures were extremely lively and we all learnt a great deal from them. I was particularly struck by the difference in archaeology between Romanized Sepphoris and Nazareth; it was also news to me that there was no road between Nazareth and Sepphoris – clearly this puts some question marks over reconstructions that have Jesus continually making his way over to the city. By way of contrast, there was a good road between Nazareth (which Ken portrayed as a small Jewish regional town rather than a hamlet) and the larger and more Romanized towns around the the Sea of Galilee. Sumaries of the two lecturesare posted below. Archaeology of Roman-Period Nazareth Recent work by the Nazareth Archaeological Project (established in 2004) is transforming our understanding of first-century Nazareth and its hinterland, by applying modern archaeological methods and theory to its study for this first time. In Nahal Zippori, the broad valley between Nazareth and Sepphoris, survey has revealed a pattern of many small agricultural settlements, probably established at, or just before, the start of the Roman period. Those closer to Nazareth seem to have used only artefacts produced in what are known to have been Jewish contexts, but those closer to Sepphoris used a much wider range of material, including imported goods. This, along with other evidence, strongly suggests that a Roman-period cultural boundary existed between communities nearer Sepphoris and those nearer Nazareth, casting doubt on many recent interpretations of the relationship between the two centres. Turning to Nazareth itself, a reinvestigation of the archaeological site below the present Sisters of Nazareth convent, just across the street from the Church of the Annunciation, has demonstrated a long sequence of activity from the Roman period onward. This begins with an exceptionally well-preserved domestic building, probably a ‘courtyard house’, dating to the first century. The structure was disused within that century, and burials, including an almost-complete kokhim tomb of mid- to late- first-century form, dug in its immediate vicinity. Later, the site was used for the largest Byzantine church yet identified in Nazareth, with the earlier house and tombs contained and venerated in its crypt. The church may well be the ‘lost’ Church of the Nutrition, referred to in the seventh-century Insular Latin text De Locis Sanctis. Bibliography: K.R.Dark ‘The Sisters of Nazareth site and the archaeology of Early Roman period Nazareth’ The Antiquaries Journal 92, 2012, 1-28. K.R.Dark ‘The Byzantine and Crusader Church of the Nutrition in Nazareth rediscovered’ Palestine Exploration Quarterly 144.3, 2012, 164-184. K.R.Dark ‘The Roman-Period and Byzantine Landscape between Sepphoris and Nazareth’ Palestine Exploration Quarterly 140.2, 2008, 87-102. Dalmanutha Discovered? First-Century Fishing, Farming and Urbanization around the Sea of Galilee While there has been much archaeological work on Roman-period and Byzantine settlement around the Sea of Galilee, little synthesis of this has taken place. Both material and written evidence suggest a distinctive economic system, in which local communities developed a specialised fishing ‘industry’ alongside agricultural production, but this has seldom been studied in its own right. Indeed, the valley of Ginosar, which has the best farmland around the ‘sea’, has been largely neglected by archaeologists, except for the urban site to its extreme south-east identified by Franciscan scholars as Magdala, and the famous first-century ship discovered on its shoreline. A new research project is synthesising existing data and using air- and satellite-photography to re-examine the area, combined with the first extensive archaeological survey of the Ginosar valley. The latter has identified a very large, but previously-unrecognised, Late Hellenistic, Roman-period, and later, settlement between the modern town of Migdal (on the western side of the valley) and the coast, just south of Kibbutz Ginosar. It is hard to imagine that a Roman-period coastal community of this size is nowhere mentioned in textual sources, and the site might be identified with one of the unlocated toponyms known from the Bible, perhaps the Dalmanutha of Mark 8:10. Bibliography: K.R.Dark (forthcoming in 2013) ‘Archaeological Evidence for a Previously Unrecognised Town near the Sea of Galilee’ Palestine Exploration Quarterly 141.3

– Sometimes, archaeologists discover a sweater; other times, they uncover entire towns. The latter turns out to be the case in Israel, where a town has been found—and it could be one mentioned in a well-known Bible story. LiveScience reports that it was found along the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee, and British archaeologists suggest that it is Dalmanutha, a place that factors into the Gospel of Mark's recounting of Jesus feeding a great crowd of people with just a few fish and loaves of bread: Dalmanutha is where he briefly sailed after that miracle. The archaeologists made their discovery during a field survey, and team lead Ken Dark theorizes it is indeed Dalmanutha, and one reason he gives is that artifacts collected there indicate it was an active city at the start of the Common Era. In a June lecture Dark gave at the University of Edinburgh, he further explained his thought process, as summarized on the blog of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins: "It is hard to imagine that a Roman-period coastal community of this size is nowhere mentioned in textual sources, and the site might be identified with one of the unlocated toponyms known from the Bible, perhaps the Dalmanutha of Mark 8:10." (In other news in the region, archaeologists recently found a treasure trove in Jerusalem.)

Only a few minutes ago, the entire music industry stood on a stage in a collective display of how rich and out of touch they are. They think you are willing to pay up to double the price of other streaming music services to pay for their streaming music service, because they are crazy. Imagine this: canceling your Spotify subscription, and paying $20 for a Tidal subscription instead. It's more expensive because it's "higher quality" and "artist-owned," which is important because Usher, Daft Punk, and Madonna have been living in wretched penury for far too long, and it's time for people to give back. The modern-day Our Gang (which counted among its members not only the aforementioned supernovas, but also Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Chris Martin, and Jack White) held a "keynote" to promote Tidal, the already extant European streaming company Jay Z recently purchased for $56 million because he's bored. Jay Z and Beyonce (also present, beaming) dug up an old email thread (SUBJ: SURPRISE BRUNCH PARTY SATURDAY!), hit reply-all, and look at how many of their family friends turned out to stand on stage, visibly uncomfortable, and listen to Alicia Keys give an incoherent speech. At the conclusion of Keys' statement, which merged the rarely combined traits of being about an app and quoting Nietzsche, the artists all signed some sort of "declaration" one by one. I don't know what the document said—it was probably just a blank piece of paper, or perhaps an original copy of the Declaration of Independence that Deadmau5 received as a White Elephant gift. When it came time for Madonna to sign, she put her whole leg up on the table, as if to say to the world World, I'm MADONNA and yes I am not too old to move my leg this way. No one is going to use Tidal. These dummies! In case you had any lingering sympathy for the struggling mega-famous recording artist, here's a video they made to make you hate them: "We're going to change the course of history," Jay Z says on camera. Then he and his friends raise a champagne toast to the glorious future. ||||| Tidal, the high-definition music streaming service acquired by rapper and music mogul Jay-Z, is gearing up for its official relaunch under new ownership later today, and it will be doing so by reportedly making a move to snag new releases by some of the biggest musicians of the moment including Kanye West, Madonna and Daft Punk, ahead of rival services like Spotify and Beats. The company has been sending out invites for a press conference being held at 5pm Eastern time today, in which Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter “will announce a commitment to a new direction for the music industry from both a creative and business perspective.” While there is not much detail being provided officially, unofficially we’ve heard that the company will be using the event to confirm the first big-name artists to stream music exclusively on the Tidal platform. What might those artists be doing on Tidal? Not an ordinary streaming deal, it seems. Over the weekend, the Swedish blog Breakit reported — citing sources close to the deal — that Tidal’s plan of attack will be to ink first-window deals with the artists, where Tidal would get first releases of tracks from big-name artists ahead of any other digital streaming services. This would be exclusive, but only for a period: Spotify, Deezer and others would eventually also get these tracks, but only later. This is not unlike how services like Netflix often get films after they have gone through cinema and DVD release windows, and subsequently what Vessel is trying to do to upend that. For those of you who browse social networks or follow music news, the list of artists gathering around Tidal shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: a swathe of big-name musicians — including Madonna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Arcade Fire, Calvin Harris and others are using the #tidalforall hashtag on sites like Twitter and Instagram, as well as sending out messages or just changing their profile to a turquoise blue color to support the service. It’s a pretty strong bet that the artists that all started sending these out around midnight Eastern time will be among those involved in some way in the news today. It would also follow on the heels of Taylor Swift’s catalog coming to Tidal last week — minus her 1989 album. This is not an exclusive deal but lays the groundwork for other Swift music to make its way to Tidal first. What’s the pull for these artists? It’s partly the Jay-Z connection. His Roc Nation agency works with a long list of musicians to provide publishing, management, label and other services, with Tidal becoming yet another string on Roc Nation’s bow as a one-stop music distribution shop. On the other hand, from what we understand, Tidal is also offering a more attractive set of terms to musicians than other streaming services — often agreeing to payouts of twice as much as its rivals. (We’ve asked to see if we can get more concrete numbers to support the claim.) With many artists complaining that digital music is not providing decent enough returns, the later of these could be a deal maker for Tidal. The big question is whether artists are willing to make the bet on payouts-per-stream over that of visibility: right now Tidal has only 35,000 subscribers paying $19.99 per month across the markets in which it is active, which include the U.S. and UK. By comparison, Spotify noted 15 million paying subscribers in January of this year. Tidal also offers a standard definition service at $9.99. While Jay-Z won agreement this month from Aspiro shareholders to buy Tidal for $54 million, the shares are not due to transfer until mid-April, we understand. ||||| Musicians including Beyoncé and Madonna show support for rapper as he overhauls service designed to make more money for artists He has sold 100m records, founded a business empire worth upwards of $520m (£350m) and married Beyoncé. Now, Jay Z, backed by a roll call of A-list friends, is fronting the relaunch of a music streaming website heralded as the first real challenger to Spotify. Kanye West, Rihanna, Coldplay, Madonna, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and more threw their weight behind the rapper at a press ­conference last night where he unveiled the new look for Tidal, a streaming site originally launched by Norwegian firm Aspiro in October 2014 and acquired for $56m earlier this month by a company controlled by the music mogul. It is planned that Tidal will compete with Spotify and upcoming streaming services from Apple and YouTube by offering exclusive music from prominent artists, including studio sessions and demo tracks, while giving them new ways to communicate with fans. Musicians including Beyoncé, Deadmau5, Nicki Minaj and Jack White replaced their Twitter profile pictures with blank blue images while tweeting the #TIDALforALL hashtag ahead of the event in a show of online support. “Together, we can turn the tide and make music history. Start by turning your profile picture blue,” Kanye West tweeted ahead of the event. Alicia Keys described Tidal as “the first artist-owned global music and entertainment platform” and promised to “create a better service and a better experience for both fans and artists … where we will deliver exclusive experiences that cannot be found anywhere else”. Tidal’s key selling point so far has been its “lossless” quality streams, for which the company charges a monthly subscription of £19.99 – double its rivals. It is available in 31 countries, with six more to follow by the end of June. By the end of 2014, Tidal had 500,000 paying users. It will launch a £9.99 subscription model alongside its existing one. Under Jay Z, Tidal’s strategy will include encouraging artists to lobby their labels to “window” new releases for at least a week, meaning they will be exclusive to Tidal for that period. He told Billboard: “We didn’t like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow. Will artists make more money? Even if it means less profit for our bottom line, absolutely. That’s easy for us. We can do that. Less profit for our bottom line, more money for the artist; fantastic.” The company is not alone in this desire. Apple is planning to relaunch its currently US-only Beats Music streaming service worldwide later in 2015, and has been courting artists and labels intensely to secure exclusives. With Google also waving its own chequebook – it struck a deal for a month-long exclusive on Take That’s latest album for its Google Play Music service in November 2014 – there is set to be a bidding war for new albums by prominent artists. Spotify has signed its own exclusives in the past with artists including ­Metallica and Led Zeppelin, and remains ­defiant that its scale – it is the biggest subscription streaming service, with 15 million paying customers and another 45 million free users – will ensure it does not miss out on new albums for long. “We want all the world’s music on our service, but there has been sporadic windowing on Spotify since it was ­created. We know from experience that these things happen, they come and go,” said Spotify’s head of communications and public policy, Jonathan Prince. “We continue to grow exponentially by delivering a great product for our users and the artists they love. Recent releases by Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Madonna and others show how critical it is for artists and labels to be on Spotify for their own success.” Spotify is currently under pressure from some major music labels, ­Universal Music Group in particular, to convert more of its free users into ­paying ­subscribers. Some artists – including ­Taylor Swift, who pulled her music from Spotify – have also criticised the free streaming model. Tidal will sidestep those arguments, since it does not have a free tier, a ­strategy also likely to be adopted by Apple. Swift’s back catalogue is already available on Tidal, as it is on all other paid-for streaming services. “This has never been changed. Big Machine Records [Swift’s label] believes music has value and we do not believe Taylor’s music should be made available for free,” a spokesman for Swift said. Not everyone is convinced that Tidal will revolutionise the music streaming market. “This isn’t about transforming the streaming market, or suddenly taking it into the mainstream. I think Tidal is aiming to compete around, rather than with, Spotify,” Mark Mulligan of music industry consultancy MIDiA Research told the Guardian. “It is aiming for a higher spending slice of the music ­aficionado market. Primarily this is about opening up new market segments, and the positioning is smart: it is creating an aspirational brand, which ties in well with the urban music community.” Exclusivity is key to that ­ambition. But, despite Jay Z’s impressive ­contacts book, labels will make the final ­decisions on such deals. For now, at least. One report ahead of Tidal’s relaunch suggested that Jay Z sees the company as a modern day music ­equivalent of United Artists, the ­Hollywood studio founded in 1919 by a group of actors and directors as a way to control their own output. Tidal’s long-term plan may be to sign big artists as their label deals run out, in which case it could become a rival not just to Apple and Spotify, but to major labels Universal, Sony and Warner. ||||| Jay Z doesn’t give many interviews. In conversation, he often pauses mid-sentence, considers, rewinds, slices and reshapes his answer, choosing a more appropriate word or analogy that draws a finer point before revealing it to the interviewer. What’s commonly assumed is a mistrust of the press may just be that unlike his work in the studio or onstage, Jay Z doesn’t ultimately control the final result of an interview, and therefore treads more carefully while giving one. Jay Z's Tidal Teaser Video Features Madonna, Beyonce, Jack White, & More And yet on the occasion of his recent $56 million purchase of Aspiro, a publicly traded Swedish tech company, and the blockbuster announcement that he is partnering in the venture, in both the spiritual and financial sense of the word, with music’s biggest names -- including giants from the world of hip-hop (Kanye West, Nicki Minaj), R&B; (Beyoncé, Rihanna), dance (Madonna, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk), rock (Jack White, Coldplay) and country (Jason Aldean) -- he sat with Billboard a few days before the March 30 announcement in an effort to explain his motives for a purchase that the industry has greeted with a raised eyebrow. Jay Z's Tidal Planning Flashy New York Event While it would be easy to dismiss the idea that a small company with 500,000 subscribers and a twice-the-price high-definition capability could ever compete on a cursory level with Goliaths like Spotify (60 million subscribers, 15 million of them paid) and the soon-to-relaunch Beats Music, one must consider the possibility that what he’s proposing isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. According to Jay Z, and judging from the #TIDALforALL social media campaign that launched in March 30’s early morning hours, his primary goal is to change a broken compensation system and to bend the accepted limits of what’s offered for streaming, including song snippets, loose ideas and video. And by offering more money he will, in theory, force other streaming companies to follow suit. Much like his music that has occasionally served as a social agitator, Tidal, which is initially a playground for A-list performers, is Jay Z’s way of resetting music’s value proposition. None of the top-tier artists, who all reportedly own an equal share of the company, need the money, which make them the perfect delivery mechanism for his message: that musicians have had enough of streaming’s microscopic payouts and the labels’ helpless shrugs. Whether the industry itself has had enough remains to be seen. Billboard: When did it first occur to you to get into the streaming business? Jay Z: A year-and-a-half ago. We saw the movement and how everything was going and figured that this could possibly be the last music format that we see in this lifetime. We didn’t like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow and if, you know, the very least we did was make people wake up and try to improve the free vs. paid system, and promote fair trade, then it would be a win for us anyway. Musicians have long complained that streaming has rendered music virtually worthless. It doesn’t sound like you’re solely driven by financial reasons, but also by a desire to reset the value proposition of music. That’s correct, absolutely, and when I spoke to every single person involved that’s what I said. Music is … imagine your life without music. It’s a very valuable part of your life, and like I said, that’s why we got in this business. It seems to be going the other way. People are not respecting the music, and [are] devaluing it and devaluing what it really means. People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap, and it’s good water. But they’re OK paying for it. It’s just the mind-set right now. In some ways music is probably closer to priceless than worthless. Yes. The experiences that I’ve had growing up with music, you know, I couldn’t trade them for any money in the world. Dancing in the living room to enjoy myself. “Enjoy Yourself,” Michael Jackson. Those moments and just that feeling of joy, it’s priceless, like you said. Someone of your stature can make this case to the other streaming services. Did you try that before you decided to buy in? Yeah, we talked to every single service and we explored all the options, including creating a white label with a service. But at the end of the day we figured if we’re going to shape this thing the way we see it then we need to have independence. And that became a better proposition for us -- not an easier one, mind you. The list of your partners is going to surprise quite a few people. How did you get them involved? Was it as simple as going out and saying, “This is our chance to turn the tide against this thing that’s happening”? Yeah, pretty much. I talked to everyone one on one about music and about what they would like to see in a service, and how would they like this to go. I wanted to know if they were willing to take a chance, since everyone’s names are attached and their reputations, too. And I just believe as long as we’re on the side of right, and we’re in this for the right reasons, it will work. It’s just a big opportunity for everyone -- not a thing that belongs to any one person. That’s not fair, that’s not a democratic process, and that isn’t the idea behind it. Isn’t another of your goals to make sure the revenue makes its way down the food chain to content creators? Definitely. For someone like me, I can go on tour. But what about the people working on the record, the content creators and not just the artists? If they’re not being compensated properly, then I think we’ll lose some writers and producers and people like that who depend on fair trade. Some would probably have to take another job, and I think we’ll lose some great writers in the process. Is it fair? No. If you put in work, everyone else, you go to work you get paid. That’s fair trade. It’s what our country is built on. I’m just saying the producers and people who work on music are getting left out -- that’s when it starts getting criminal. It’s like you’re working hard and you’re not receiving. In any other business people would be standing before Congress. They have antitrust laws against this kind of behavior. It almost seems like when it applies to music no one really cares who’s cheated. It’s so disorganized; it’s so disconnected from reality. What made Aspiro the company to help you make this statement? Was it anything to do with the fact that it’s a smaller, foreign company that you could buy more quietly? That had a bit to do with it. We had to move pretty quietly because we wanted to do it right without interference. But … the service [also] offers high-quality audio and video. Again, we’re talking about respecting the music and respecting the art … and we can’t play around with that, so we need something that’s authentic and honest. That made it pretty attractive pretty quickly, that the sound quality was so high, and I would know, because I’ve personally heard 70 mixes of a single record, you know what I'm saying? So the least I can do is try to present that to the public the way that the artist intended. Are you going after the high-end audiophile or just people who care enough about music to pay almost twice as much for the service? We want it to be open to everyone. So yeah, that would be part of it, but the pricing will be tiered, because we want to present it to as many people as possible. But it definitely appeals to people who really care about the music and want to hear it the way it’s intended. And hopefully some day with technology we figure out how to deliver that high-def sound, maybe even in a $9.99 model. Who knows what the future holds. Do you think video is going to play a big part in separating you from the other streaming services? That’s certainly a differentiator, and we’ll have high-quality videos and hopefully we’ll see something that we haven’t seen before. Have you been talking to phone carriers and audio partners? We’ve heard AT&T; and Skullcandy... We’ve been speaking to a lot of people. To single someone out wouldn’t be fair for them or us. So, Tidal launches today. Creatively, what do you hope happens, beginning tomorrow? Artists come here and start making songs 18 minutes long, or whatever. I know this is going to sound crazy, but maybe they start attempting to make a “Like a Rolling Stone,” you know, a song that doesn’t have a recognizable hook, but is still considered one of the greatest songs of all time, the freedom that this platform will allow art to flourish here. And we’re encouraging people to put it in any format they like. It doesn't have to be three minutes and 30 seconds. What if it’s a minute and 17, what if it’s 11; you know, just break format. What if it’s just four minutes of just music and then you start rapping? It sounds more like you’re envisioning it as a creative collective, or a salon, where artists can try things out and let the audience decide if that’s a direction they should continue in. That’s right. That’s a pretty persuasive sort of pitch to make to an artist. Did the first tier immediately get it, or was there some resistance? I think there was a bit of nervousness because of how things work: This is something new and unknown. But at the core everyone was super-excited at the idea. Like “Yes, let’s do this. Let’s not only create a place that has great music — let’s protect the future generation of artists.” I think this thing changes the world for them. It makes everything different, you know? Between those things it was like, “We have to do this, we are almost charged in this position to do it.” So, you’re an owner and a musician. Are you hoping that the other services will begin to adopt this attitude, or are you content because if they don’t adopt this you’ll have your own point of differentiation? I think the goals are the same. Like when the tide rises, all the boats rise. That’s the first thing I said to the group was, “If for nothing else, then we just caused people to look inside their organization and say, ‘Yeah, let’s work on this, let’s work on audio, and let’s work on a pay system.’ ” I already see the conversations, I already see how it’s changing -- and it may have changed anyway because that’s just the natural process when things are wrong -- but I think we sped it up already, and we’re not even out yet. I already see the discussions and the scrambling. And we haven’t even begun. Each first-tier person has equity in the company? Yes. Is it the same equity across the board? Yes. We’re super-transparent, and I think that’s part of it. We want to be transparent, we want to give people their data; they can see it. If somebody streams your record in Iowa, you see it. No more shell games. Just transparency. So the founding members all got the same equity, and now we have a second round and everyone gets the same in that one as well, but it’s not as large as the first tier. We want to keep it going. We want to make this thing successful and then create another round and another round. That’s the dream, that’s the utopia. Everyone is sharing in it; everyone is some kind of owner in it in some kind of way. What’s been the response from the labels? I think the labels were a bit suspicious that we were creating a record company. It’s not a record company; if anything, it’s a record store. I have a record company. I don’t want another label. I’m happy with what I’m doing. But some were suspicious. We had talks, like, “Man, you guys also ought to bless this talent. We want you to be involved in this thing as well.” Again, we’re not even against other streaming companies. We want everyone to do well. We just want to carve out our section and let our voice be heard. So yeah, I think there is a bit of paranoia in the beginning and there may still be, and I think we’ll work through that because it will be a very difficult thing for a label to tell artists when they’re streaming their music everywhere else that they won’t stream it on an artist-owned platform. I don’t see how any label can stand in front of anyone and justify that. The stature of artists you have aligned with virtually assures that freedom. Are the artists going to provide exclusive tracks or release windows on future work? Well, it’s up to the artist. You know, there’s a thing now, it’s called the album cycle. You put your single out, promote it, then another single -- I think that now for an artist an album cycle doesn’t have to end. They’re on Instagram and Twitter and all these things, so we’re just talking about ways of extending that album cycle, and it could be anything. What if it’s a video offering tickets to the next concert, or what if it’s audio or video of the recording process? It could be anything. It could be them at home listening to songs that inspire them. Anything they want to offer, you know; just be as creative as possible, that’s the only charge, really. Make it look really good and make everyone that consumes it think, “Man, I got something really great.” Treat the people with respect; make it memorable. The music industry is obviously cynical. When you came out with your vision, musicians aside, what was the response from the business community? I think they were receptive but thought that there was no way I could pull it off. You know: “That’s what’s supposed to happen, but no way you’re going to do that.” Still, today I can’t imagine that [Creative Artists Agency] is not having a meeting with their artists [and saying], “Let’s figure out how to do something together.” But I think it’s so hard to get done. I think it’s so hard because of ego. I think it just was a moment in time and we felt like, “Yes, this is the thing that if it works we’ll be successful, but if it worked, then the music business will also be successful.” And I think that was so appealing. But the answer was yes, people are like, “That’s what should happen, but you’ll never get it done.” Is that part of what’s driving you? When was the last time you were the underdog in a fight? I don’t know; I feel like that all the time. I feel like I’m always pushing envelopes. I feel like I couldn’t get a record deal; I feel like, you know, when Hot 97 [New York] was the big station, I was the first one on Power 105 [New York]. When The Source was the biggest magazine, I was first one on the cover of XXL. Twelve months from now, what would be your definition of success with Tidal? It doesn’t sound like it’s a financial benchmark. If everyone says, “Wow, so many things have changed. This has gotten better. I like what's happening.” If Aloe Blacc and his writers, the guys he wrote with, are not seeing a $4,000 check from 168 million streams. They did their job, they worked, they done it. The people loved it, the people consumed it. Where’d it go? People didn’t pay or stream Aloe Blacc’s music for it to turn into vapor and go into the air. Where is it? If in 12 months everyone is having that discussion and a dialogue, and everyone is understanding that streaming’s not a bad thing, I’m happy. Let’s embrace what’s coming up next. When the biggest distributor of downloads says they’re going to start a streaming company, I mean, I don’t know what more you need to know that it’s the next format. You have a long-standing relationship with Jimmy Iovine. Have you been in contact with him since the news has started trickling out? Yeah, of course. My thing with Jimmy is, “Listen, Jimmy; you’re Jimmy Iovine, and you’re Apple, and truthfully, you're great. You guys are going to do great things with Beats, but … you know, I don’t have to lose in order for you guys to win, and let’s just remember that.” Again, I’m not angry. I actually told him, “Yo, you should be helping me. This is for the artist. These are people that you supported your whole life. You know, this is good.” Have you heard the rumor that he’s trying to lure people from your first-tier group by offering them more money upfront? I think that’s just his competitive nature, and I don’t know if he’s looking at the bigger picture: That it’s not about me and it’s not about him; it’s about the future of the music business. When you were starting your career, if streaming was the pre-eminent revenue vehicle for recorded music, would you have still pursued music? Maybe. But I think that the people that work behind the scenes maybe wouldn’t have. Can you say definitively that they are going to make more money from Tidal than Spotify? It’s not me against Spotify, but for us, you know, just the idea of the way we came into it, with everyone having equity, will open the dialogue — whether it be with the labels, the publishers or whoever, I think it’s those sorts of conversations that need to be had, and again, not by forcing anyone to do it. We're not forcing anyone to do anything, we're just introducing ideas, and I don't know, maybe someone else comes up with the idea. Maybe someone from the label comes up with the idea, maybe a lawyer; someone finds a bunch of different things that we think will work. Will artists make more money? Even if it means less profit for our bottom line, absolutely. That’s easy for us. We can do that. Less profit for our bottom line, more money for the artist; fantastic. Let’s do that today. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Peter Bowes reports: "Some of the biggest names in the industry have a stake in the company" Some of the biggest names in entertainment have re-launched the music subscription service Tidal, which they are billing as the first artist-owned platform for music and video. At an event in New York on Monday, Madonna, Beyonce, Kanye West, and 13 other performers announced they had become co-owners of Tidal. The service launched last October, but was recently bought by rapper Jay Z. It is hoping to compete with the likes of Spotify, Deezer and Google Play. However Tidal offers 25 million music tracks, fewer than the 30 million offered by many rival services. As well as a standard subscription for $9.99 a month, Tidal offers a "high fidelity" option for $19.99, which claims to deliver better sound quality. Image copyright AFP Image caption Alicia Keys said they would make history Singer Alicia Keys spoke on behalf of the artists as they all lined up on stage at Skylight at Moynihan Station in Manhattan. Describing the event as a "graduation", she said the artists hoped Tidal would alter musical evolution. "So we come together before you on this day, March 30th, 2015, with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be another one of those moments in time, a moment that will forever change the course of music history." Their mission, she said, goes beyond commerce and technology. "Our intent is to preserve music's importance in our lives,'' she said. Notably, the majority of the company will be owned by artists, a symbolic move in a business where musicians often have little control over how their work is distributed and consumed. Jay Z's strategy will include encouraging artists to lobby their labels to give Tidal new music a week in advance of other services, giving it a short window of exclusivity. He told Billboard: "We didn't like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow. "Will artists make more money? Even if it means less profit for our bottom line, absolutely. That's easy for us. We can do that. Less profit for our bottom line, more money for the artist; fantastic."

– Jay Z relaunched the Tidal music streaming service last night at a New York City event with more than a dozen other co-owners, including Beyonce, Daft Punk, Madonna, Rihanna, Jack White, and Alicia Keys, who said the assembled artists hoped the launch would be a "moment that will forever change the course of music history," the BBC reports. More on the service, which inspired artists to turn their social media profiles blue: The big difference with Tidal, Jay Z says, is that it's owned by artists and will treat artists with respect. "The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value," he tells the New York Times. "Water is free. Music is $6, but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap—it's a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist." The Times reports that he recently paid $56 million for the service. Tidal, which currently has around 35,000 subscribers paying $19.99 a month for a "high fidelity" service that promises better sound quality, also has a standard $9.99 option, reports TechCrunch, which says sources are claiming the service is paying artists twice as much as rivals like Spotify. Including the standard service, Tidal had around 500,000 subscribers by the end of last year, according to the Guardian, which notes that unlike Spotify, it offers no free tier. Jay Z says part of the aim is to make sure people lower down the food chain than artists get a fair deal. The "producers and people who work on music are getting left out—that's when it starts getting criminal. It's like you're working hard and you're not receiving," he tells Billboard. "In any other business, people would be standing before Congress. They have antitrust laws against this kind of behavior. It almost seems like when it applies to music, no one really cares who's cheated." Tidal may not be able to overtake Spotify, which counts 15 million paying customers among its 60 million users, but analysts say that might not be its goal. "It is aiming for a higher spending slice of the music ­aficionado market," an industry consultant tells the Guardian. "Primarily this is about opening up new market segments, and the positioning is smart: It is creating an aspirational brand, which ties in well with the urban music community." Skeptics include Sam Biddle at Gawker, who was not impressed by the "bonkers" relaunch event. The artists involved "think you are willing to pay up to double the price of other streaming music services to pay for their streaming music service, because they are crazy," he writes.

No Better Time tells of a young, driven mathematical genius who wrote a set of algorithms that would create a faster, better Internet. It's the story of a beautiful friendship between a loud, irreverent student and his soft-spoken MIT professor, of a husband and father who spent years struggling to make ends meet only to become a billionaire almost overnight with the success of Akamai Technologies, the Internet content delivery network he cofounded with his mentor. Danny Lewin's brilliant but brief life is largely unknown because, until now, those closest to him have guarded their memories and quietly mourned their loss. For Lewin was almost certainly the first victim of 9/11, stabbed to death at age 31 while trying to overpower the terrorists who would eventually fly American Flight 11 into the World Trade Center. But ironically it was 9/11 that proved the ultimate test for Lewin's vision—while phone communication failed and web traffic surged as never before, the critical news and government sites that relied on Akamai—and the technology pioneered by Danny Lewin—remained up and running. ||||| Photo courtesy Boston Globe In 2013, in an excerpt adapted from Molly Knight Raskin's book, Slate told the story of Danny Lewin, who in trying to stop the hijacking for Flight 11 became the first victim of 9/11. This year, we once again remember the man whose legacy lingered long after his death. This essay is adapted from No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet by Molly Knight Raskin, from Da Capo Press. Just before 8 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 took off from Boston’s Logan Airport. Bound nonstop for Los Angeles, the flight was just one of more than 40,000 scheduled to crisscross the country that day. The plane was partially full—81 passengers, nine crewmembers, and two pilots. Many of its passengers were traveling for work on the daily scheduled flight, including 31-year-old Internet entrepreneur Danny Lewin. Advertisement The plane headed due west and held on course for 16 minutes until it passed Worcester, Mass.* Then, instead of taking a southerly turn, it swung to the north and failed to climb to its assigned cruising altitude. Around this time, a bloody hijacking began onboard. Five terrorists, all of them wielding box cutters and knives, commandeered the plane and steered it into New York airspace. At 8:46 a.m., the Boeing 767 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 11 was the first of four planes to be hijacked the day of the attacks, killing everyone on board and hundreds more when it caused the collapse of the North Tower. But before any of the horror unfolded that day, a little-known act of heroism is likely to have taken place on Flight 11 when Lewin—an Israeli-American who served in one of the most elite counterterrorism units of the Israel Defense Force (IDF)—rose from his seat and engaged in a struggle with one of the terrorists to try to thwart the hijacking. During the struggle Lewin was killed, making him the very first victim of the 9/11 attacks. Until now, Lewin’s story has remained untold—mainly out of respect for friends and family who closely guarded their memories of the brilliant commando turned computer scientist. In addition, the official reports of what happened on Flight 11 were, for some time, conflicting and confusing. A memo mistakenly released by the Federal Aviation Administration stated that terrorist Satam al-Suqami shot and killed Lewin with a single bullet around 9:20 a.m. (obviously inaccurate, as the plane crashed at 8:46 a.m.). But almost as soon as the memo was leaked, FAA officials claimed it was written in error and that Lewin had been stabbed, not shot. The 9/11 Commission concurred in its final report, issued four years later, offering a more detailed summary: Based on dozens of interviews with those who spoke with two of the plane’s flight attendants during the hijacking, the commission determined that al-Suqami most likely killed Lewin by slashing his throat from behind as he attempted, single-handedly, to try to stop the hijacking. The time of his death was reported to be somewhere between 8:15 and 8:20 a.m. “He was the first victim of the first war of the 21st century,” says Marco Greenberg, Lewin’s best friend. Advertisement But that act of heroism was not the only way Lewin made his presence felt on that terrible, unique, awful day. In a tragic twist of irony, the algorithms he helped develop, and the company he co-founded—Akamai Technologies—helped the Internet survive that day’s crush of traffic— the Web equivalent of a 100-year flood. Born in Denver, Lewin moved to Israel with his family in 1984. The move happened totally against his will; his father, Charles, had become an ardent Zionist and relocated his family to “make aliyah,” a term used to describe the repatriation of Jews to Israel. Lewin was just 14 years old, and he was furious at his family’s sudden uprooting. During his first few months in Israel he struggled to learn the language and make friends. Instead of rebelling, however, Lewin turned to his two greatest assets—his physical strength and superior intellect. Sailing through his classes at a Jerusalem technology school and spending all his spare time at a local gym, Lewin fought to fit in with the tough sabras, and in time he succeeded. By age 18 he was signing up for military service in the IDF, where he joined the ranks of the country’s most elite counterterrorism unit, Sayeret Mat’kal. Because of the unit’s code of silence, the details of Lewin’s exploits in Sayeret Mat’kal are not known. But it is known that he spent three years training to combat terrorism on top-secret missions. After rising to the rank of captain, Lewin decided to return to graduate school to pursue his interest in math and computer science. He studied at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), then MIT, where he’d been accepted on a full scholarship. It was at MIT that Lewin came up with an idea for his master’s thesis that he believed had the potential to change the way the burgeoning Internet worked. In the mid-‘90s, a time when the greatest impediment to the growth of the Internet was congestion, Lewin wrote a set of algorithms he called “consistent hashing.” The idea that his thesis work could speed up the delivery of content on the massive, tangled channels that formed the Internet was audacious, but with the encouragement of his mentor—MIT professor Tom Leighton—he pursued it. By 1998, the two mathematicians had taken a complex set of algorithms, patented them, and created Akamai, a company that still today uses its intelligent software to deliver content quickly and efficiently on the Internet. By 1999, the company had grown from just a few engineers in an office near MIT to a hot tech company boasting a worldwide network of servers and big name customers including Yahoo, Apple, and CNN. Its October 1999 IPO made Lewin and Leighton overnight billionaires, but Lewin had almost no time to enjoy his early, explosive success. First came the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and with it an around-the-clock struggle to keep Akamai afloat. Then came 9/11. Advertisement On the morning of 9/11, Lewin was scheduled to travel to Los Angeles for a business meeting for Akamai. Just after dawn, he kissed his wife and kids goodbye and drove to Logan to catch Flight 11. He was sleep-deprived, having spent most of the night occupied with the grim task of laying people off to save Akamai. Yet he remained cheerful and energetic, calling the office from the tarmac and chatting with Akamai’s attorney until the moment the flight attendants asked him to shut down for takeoff. The moment Lewin’s friends, family and co-workers learned of his death, they say they had no doubts about what happened during his final moments. Before any facts or official reports about the events of 9/11 had been released, everyone who knew him well believed with certainty that he tried to stop the terrorists from carrying out the hijacking. It wasn’t just the fact that he was physically imposing; sheer muscle from head to toe. It was also the fact that Lewin was a trained warrior who never went down without a fight. Because of Akamai, almost every major news site remained up and running that day, a feat that proved everything Danny promised to be possible. Today, Akamai is responsible for more than 30 percent of the world’s Internet traffic, and for keeping giants like iTunes and Facebook running smoothly. But it isn’t just Akamai that Danny Lewin left behind. He left a family, all of whom continue to mourn his loss and honor him in everyday life. He left behind countless friends and co-workers, many of them battle-hardened warriors in business or the military. To this day, most of them still can’t speak about him without choking back tears for the buoyant, brilliant computer scientist who changed their lives and inspired them never to fall behind. ||||| Despite the fact that the markets were no longer betting on Akamai, company executives chose Las Vegas for their 2001 sales kickoff. To mark the official launch of EdgeSuite, they flew several dozen employees and advisors out to Sin City for a few days at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino. As VP of sales, John Sconyers said that, despite the market downturn, the mood was celebratory. Akamai had a new service, and with it the promise of new customers. They were in Vegas, and for a time, they felt like big winners. “We were just pinching ourselves,” Sconyers recalled. “It was an unbelievable experience.” Employees, customers and members of the company’s board were put up in swank suites and handed substantial wads of cash to gamble. Ironically, it was the only time Dwight Gibbs of the Motley Fool recalled any sort of dispute with founder Danny Lewin, who insisted that Gibbs, a member of the company’s customer advisory board, stay in an upscale suite. “I said I didn’t like the optics . . . Danny would hear none of it,” Gibbs explained. “It was a mild kerfuffle, and eventually Danny won. I should have given in immediately. It would have saved us both a lot of time.” The featured event of the sales kickoff was a speech by Lewin, the mathematical genius who had created a set of algorithms to foster a faster, better Internet, who announced the official launch of EdgeSuite with much fanfare. Notwithstanding the reality of the plunging markets, he was ebullient and optimistic. “Isn’t EdgeSuite a crappy name?” he asked, pausing for a laugh. “Luckily, we use it to our advantage. Microsoft also told me EdgeSuite was a crappy name, but they said we also have a crappy name so [they] respect companies with crappy names. So we should keep it even though it sucks.” Lewin acknowledged the company’s losses, but pumped up the mood with a reminder of how far they had come. “When markets go down, they also go up, and when the upturn comes, we can be a hundred billion dollar company. Seriously, we can be. “Our attitude, which has been true since the beginning, is that we set these massive goals. Going out a year ago and saying we’ll deploy thousands of servers at the edges of the Internet and sign up thousands of customers was kind of a crazy thing for a few people sitting in an office at MIT. We had to work like maniacs and pull all kinds of crazy stunts to make that work, but that’s how we work—we set huge goals.” With his boyish smile, eyes ablaze with excitement, Lewin declared, “No matter what happens, we will not lose. We refuse to lose.” Although none of Akamai’s executives, including Lewin, were the type to go out on the town, Las Vegas beckoned. Many enjoyed a few late nights, and two employees eloped. Then they all flew home and the work started all over again. And in the new climate of uncertainty, this meant working harder than ever before. It meant more business trips, more hours at the office. In short, it meant a lot of Akamai’s employees were almost never at home. “I got sucked in, Danny got sucked in, and we both sucked each other in, and you never escape that,” recalled Leighton. For some who had families, the absence of work-life balance began to take a toll. Spouses complained, relationships outside work fractured, and some couples split. “It’s hard to stay married when you’re in that life because you’re working all the time, and when you’re home you’re still in work mode,” said Earl Galleher, who left Akamai in early 2000. “But it was also so exciting, and we knew we were in this time that wouldn’t last forever. Even in the moment, we’d say this may never happen again in our lifetimes, and we’d just go [on working].” They could rationalize the grueling schedule with the promise of a big payout. But even life-altering economics wasn’t enough to make some marriages work, including Lewin’s. As a result, he and Anne separated temporarily, and he moved out of the family home. To many co-workers and friends, the fracturing of his relationship with Anne didn’t come as a surprise. While he always counted her and the boys as his top priority, Lewin’s primary commitment—for the better part of two years—had been Akamai. “No one was spending a ton of time with anyone outside the office—this was all we did,” said Jonathan Seelig. “The company had an impact on everyone’s personal lives.” In some ways, Lewin’s flirtation with freedom could have been the result of losing his adolescence in an unwanted move to Israel. Friends say that, with no time to enjoy young adulthood—like summers spent at the beach or parties in college dorms—Lewin had an unsatisfied need to cut loose and enjoy his status as a high roller at the top of the boom. In July 2001, Enterprise Systems named him to its list of top ten leaders in technology, writing: “Lewin has the power to determine his company’s future in what will likely be one of the most fiercely competitive IT markets over the next two years—content delivery. While a down economy has made companies reluctant to take on the expense of innovative technologies, analysts still see a huge market for solutions that speed the transmission of data over the Internet. If Lewin continues to drive innovation at Akamai, the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm could be in position to reap the profits when demand starts to pick up in this space.” While Lewin never let his money inflate his ego, he did have a lot of it. In April 2001, Forbes magazine ranked him number 72 out of its “The 100 highest Rollers”—an annual list of top-earning titans in high-tech, topped that year by Bill Gates. At age 30, Lewin’s net worth was $285.9 million. Just below him was Leighton, 44, worth $284.3 million. The text read, “These guys [Leighton and Lewin] can freestyle algorithms in their sleep. Plus, Lewin’s experience in the Israel Defense Forces should come in hand as the battle for Internet content delivery gets bloodier…” Lewin used some of his money to buy a new home, which he lived in for some time without Anne. It was a bachelor pad, outfitted with a hot tub and a Sony sound system. But Lewin also set up a room for Eitan and Itamar, his commitment to his sons unwavering. he hosted a few parties and bought a few more motorcycles—BMWs and Harleys. And, for a time, Lewin also started dating other women. The fact that Lewin strayed from Anne wasn’t talked about much at Akamai. There was the occasional whisper; people had a sense of what was happening almost as soon as Anne stopped coming by. But there was too much pressure for anyone to really stop and judge. They were worried about their stock equity, their countless hours at the office, even the future of their jobs at Akamai. Saving Akamai from the crash became so labor-intensive that Lewin didn’t even have much time to enjoy his flirtation with a single life—or even a life of great wealth. By the spring of 2001, friends and family were having a hard time connecting with Lewin by cell or email—he was always too busy. For the first time in years, Greenberg and Lewin went months without speaking. Sometime that spring, Lewin sent Greenberg a brief note saying he was sorry. “I’ve been a bad friend,” he wrote. Greenberg didn’t need an apology. He knew Lewin was fighting to keep Akamai, and his personal life, afloat. By April, no measure of confidence could keep the feeble markets from taking a toll. The company carried out its first layoff, eliminating more than 180 jobs, or 14 percent of its work force. At the same time, Akamai warned that its revenue for the first quarter and the full year would fall well short of earlier expectations. In an official statement, the company said its business suffered because of general economic weakness as well as “continuing fallout among dot-com customers.” Lewin was beginning to feel the strain, and upped the pressure on his staff. On May 8, at 10:30 p.m., he sent a four-page e-mail to his project management team. In it, he hammered home the belief that they needed to reassess their “leadership” roles for the company to make its goals of 150 new customers and an average $20K in monthly recurring revenue. From: danny@akamai.com Talking about how to lead people can be a little “cheesy” at times however, in my experience you need to get over the discomfort and create a plan to lead—just like you would create any plan of action… There are a zillion things a great leader does to create and lead a team…I want to focus on the ones I believe are the most important. There are only three: 1. Lead by example 2. Suffer together 3. Hold people accountable and get rid of non-performers. If a team needs to work weekends to be successful—the leader will work weekends, holidays and nights. In July, Forbes ran a story under the headline “Akamai’s new Internet turbocharger saves Web sites money. Can it save Akamai, too?” It summed up Akamai’s predicament well: With Akamai stock down from $327 just 18 months ago to $7.60, Conrades badly needs this bet to pay off. Last quarter the company lost 150 dot-com customers, more than 10% of its base, with another 50 expected to drop away this quarter. Conrades has no margin for error. If edgeSuite doesn’t catch on his firm will become yet another footnote in the history of dot-com madness. By summer 2001, Akamai’s stock was so low (at $5) that Leighton recalled a conversation with Lewin in which they both thought how great it would be for it to go back up to at least $20. “Neither of us ever got really down. And the one percent of the time one of us did, the other would smack the other around a bit,” said Leighton. “But the reality at that time was that things looked rough and we weren’t going to escape it.” It might have been the fight to keep Akamai alive, or maybe it was just some strange, inexplicable combination of circumstances that collided sometime late that summer, but Lewin gained a much greater perspective on his life outside Akamai. First came a visit from his mother and father, the first one Charles had made since Danny, Anne, and the boys left Israel five years earlier. When asked why he didn’t visit more often, Charles Lewin said very little, noting his decision was rooted in “principle.” Friends of Danny’s speculated that to leave Israel, to him, would be to leave the life he created for his family when he made the bold decision to make aliyah. He didn’t want to endorse a life for Danny of some big-moneyed businessman, trapped in the culture of wealth that exploded in the dot-com boom. Of course, Peggy Lewin, who often visited Cambridge, disagreed, calling Charles’ decision one made “out of stubbornness.” Danny had made several trips to Israel that year to see his family, but friends say he desperately wanted his father to come to Cambridge and see what he had built. He wanted him to be proud. Peggy didn’t know exactly why Charles changed his mind. Nor, for that matter, did Charles. In the first week of September 2001, Charles and Peggy arrived in Boston for a long weekend. They toured Akamai, walked around Cambridge, and talked over a lot of what life had thrown at them over the course of five years. Looking back on the visit, Charles said, “Things occur that we don’t understand in the usual frame of our understandings, and my going there was one of them.” He added, “It was something b’siyata dishmaya [with the help of heaven].” One evening during that same week, Lewin called Seelig, who was then living in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, and asked if he could drop by. It was late in the evening—sometime around 10 or 11 p.m.—but it had been months since Seelig had the opportunity to talk to Lewin outside of Akamai, so he welcomed him in. Over beers and a game of pool, Lewin and Seelig caught up on everything—work, life, family. Seelig recalled that Lewin seemed to have an unusual sense of peace about him. Lewin told Seelig that the visit from his parents, particularly the chance to see Charles in Cambridge, was monumental. He also told Seelig that he thought he’d figured out how to make his marriage work and that he wanted to spend more time with Anne and his sons. He stayed until past midnight, and when he left, Seelig had the distinct sense that something in Lewin had changed. “I remember him leaving and that I thought, ‘That felt really good,’” Seelig noted. “He seemed so grounded and stable.” With more layoffs ahead, it was a terrible week for Akamai, but Lewin approached the tumult with his usual cheer and buoyancy. He was scared—the stock had plummeted and a few of Akamai’s customers were on the verge of collapse—but he didn’t show it. On September 10, Lewin called a meeting at Akamai for more than a dozen employees. In a conference room, Lewin offered up a new vision for the company, one that was clear and well planned. “Danny was very focused,” observed Julia Austin, who was still in charge of the engineering team. “He told us that we were going to shift direction and talked about where we were going next as a company.” At the end of the meeting, which lasted well over eight hours, Austin and her co-workers—somewhat daunted by the task at hand—tried to convince Lewin to change his plan to travel to Los Angeles the next day and stay in Cambridge to shepherd the layoffs and restructuring. Lewin opened his Blackberry and, for a moment, seemed to consider it, but then said he couldn’t, adding, “You guys will be fine.” Later that evening, Leighton and Lewin got together for the grim task of eliminating approximately 500 of the company’s 1,500 employees. Both of them knew it was just the first round; by their estimates, Akamai would have to downsize at least 500 more for any chance of survival. Then they’d have to handle the issue of morale; they’d have to convince those who remained that the ship wasn’t sinking. “I remember that night distinctly. It was a horrible, horrible night,” Leighton said. “We recruited these people. They were our friends, and we’d all worked so hard together.” Leighton said Lewin was emotionally drained by the layoffs. He’d personally hired so many staffers, and he agonized over the decision of whom to let go. Leighton and Lewin worked through the night, and as the hours ticked by, they talked not just as business partners, but also as friends. “It had been an unusual week for Danny in some respects. “A lot had transpired and he had definitely reached some closure on a bunch of issues related to his family,” said Leighton. “It was good that he had that opportunity to have his parents visit and that his Dad was here. he had a sense of peace.” Leighton also recalled Lewin talking about a motorcycle accident he’d had a few weeks earlier, when a car swerved and hit him, causing a minor injury to his shoulder. Lewin said that instead of approaching the driver and knocking him out, he realized he was in pain and that it would be better to just back off. “It was a surprising thing for him, because he was always on top as it were, and there was always this sense that no one could hurt him,” said Leighton. “He did say that he’d come to grips with his own mortality in some sense.” It was not until 2 or 3 a.m. on September 10 that Lewin and Leighton wrapped up their work. Lewin had a flight to catch to California in just a few hours, so he said goodbye to Leighton. Late that night, Lewin chose to return to the home he shared with Anne and the boys. In the weeks prior to this, he and Anne had begun to reconcile, and just recently decided to give their marriage another chance. The two of them hoped, Anne said, to remain together for the rest of their lives. * * * Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, Lewin kissed Anne goodbye and drove from his home to Boston’s Logan International Airport. He arrived just in time to catch American Airlines Flight 11, scheduled for departure at 8 a.m. and bound, nonstop, for Los Angeles. It was a trip he had taken so many times—more than thirty in the past year—that he knew the flight crew by name, the numbers of the most comfortable seats, and the makes and models of the aircrafts. The plane was partially full—81 passengers, 9 crew members, and 2 pilots, Captain John Ogonowski and First Officer Thomas McGuinness. Like Lewin, many of the passengers seated in business class were traveling for work on the daily scheduled flight: a television producer, actress, photographer and several businessmen. But Lewin was a standout among them, dressed more like a college kid—in his Gap blue jeans, t-shirt, and grey Nike sneakers—than an Internet entrepreneur. Lewin settled into his seat, 9B, and pulled out his Blackberry to make a phone call before departure. Co-workers say Lewin almost always made calls up until the moment one of the flight attendants reprimanded him for failing to shut down his device. Around 7:30 a.m., with the plane still sitting on the runway, he called Akamai’s in-house attorney, David Judson. Lewin knew Judson was an early riser and often one of the first to arrive at the office. He wanted to check on some paperwork Judson had been preparing for an upcoming deal. Judson said Lewin sounded full of energy despite the sleepless night and looming layoffs. They spoke for about fifteen minutes, until Lewin abruptly ended the call in preparation for takeoff. “I’ve gotta go,” Lewin told Judson. “They’re telling me I have to hang up my phone.” American Airlines Flight 11 took off from Logan on schedule at 7:59 a.m. The plane headed due west and held on course for sixteen minutes until it passed Worcester, Massachusetts. Then, instead of taking a southerly turn, it suddenly swung to the north. Just before 8:14 a.m. the plane failed to climb to its assigned cruising altitude of 29,000 feet. At this point, it’s possible Lewin suspected—perhaps before anyone else on the flight—that something terrible was about to happen. Having trained in the IDF’s most elite counter terrorism unit, he had learned to identify signs of attacks well before they were carried out. He also knew conversational Arabic, enough to have picked up on verbal cues if the five Middle Eastern passengers gave any. Around 8:15 a.m. a bloody hijacking began on board. Five terrorists—all of them wielding box cutters and knives—rose from their seats in business class and began to threaten passengers and the crew. Most of what we know about the hijacking comes from reports by two flight attendants in the coach cabin, Betty Ong and Madeline “Amy” Sweeney, who calmly and courageously relayed details of the hijacking as it unfolded to authorities on the ground. At 8:19 a.m., Ong told flight control, “The cockpit is not answering, somebody’s stabbed in business class—and I think there’s Mace—that we can’t breathe—I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.” In a separate call, Sweeney reported the plane had been hijacked and two flight attendants had been stabbed. Sweeney also confirmed that a passenger in business class had been stabbed to death, his throat slashed by one of the terrorists. The passenger, she said, was sitting in 9B—the seat assigned to Danny Lewin. Based on the evidence gathered from these phone calls and authorities on the ground, the 9/11 Commission Report concluded that, in those first twenty minutes of the flight, Mohamed Atta—the only terrorist on board trained to fly a jet—probably moved to the cockpit from his business-class seat (located within arm’s reach of Lewin’s seat), possibly accompanied by Abdulaziz al-Omari. As this was happening, according to the report, Lewin, who was seated in the row just behind Atta and Omari, was stabbed in the neck by one of the hijackers—probably Satam al-Suqami, who was seated directly behind Lewin, out of view. Between 8:25 and 8:32, in accordance with the FAA protocol, Boston Center managers started notifying their chain of command that AA Flight 11 had been hijacked and was heading toward New York Center’s airspace. At 8:44, Sweeney made her last call to ground control: “Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent . . . We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low.” Seconds later, Sweeney said, “Oh, my God, we are way too low.” Silence. At 8:46 a.m., the Boeing 767 slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board. Excerpted with permission from “No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet,” by Molly Knight Raskin. Available from Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2013. ||||| (CNN) -- Even by MIT standards, says Tom Leighton, Danny Lewin was special. "He was really exceptionally smart. MIT has a lot of really smart people, and Danny stood out even among that rarified environment," says Leighton, who was then one of Lewin's professors at the Massachusetts school's computer science laboratory. "He liked working on the hardest problems, as opposed to the easier ones, because they would make more of a difference." That kind of determination drove Lewin throughout his short life. He was an American who joined the Israeli army and served in an elite unit, though he could have avoided the military altogether. He was a mathematician who could have had a stellar academic career but decided to jump into business. Most importantly, in the late '90s he saw a solution to what was then called the "World Wide Wait" and, with his company Akamai Technologies -- co-founded with Leighton -- made the Web faster and more efficient. (Disclosure: CNN was an early Akamai client and remains one to this day.) Lewin died on September 11, 2001, at age 31. He was on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, and was almost certainly the first person killed in the attacks on that horrible day. His life is now the subject of a new biography, "No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, the Genius Who Transformed the Internet." If you've never heard of Lewin, you're not alone, says the book's author, Molly Knight Raskin. That was partly due to his low-profile life and business -- Akamai is an infrastructure company, and Lewin wasn't flashy with his instant dot-com millions -- and partly because his friends and family shied away from publicity. But she believes it's a life that deserves to be celebrated. Even at 31, she says, he'd already accomplished so much. There were so many different elements, she says -- his military service, his business leadership, his intellect, his savvy -- and she wanted to convey some of that energy to others. "It was about the way he lived," she says. "I felt like if he was motivating me as much, I felt like I could do the same for readers." 'Like lighting a fire' From the beginning, Lewin seemed destined for big things. Even as a child he was an accomplished violinist, performer and athlete. He loved computers, too, learning to program an Apple II his father brought home in 1979. He was 9. In 1984, his family decided to move to Israel, and Lewin grew up near Jerusalem. He often spent as much time weightlifting as on his schoolwork, the book notes; nevertheless he aced his classes while developing an enviable physique. The latter would serve him well when he joined the Israel Defense Forces and tried out for the Sayeret Matkal, the secretive unit known for the famed 1976 rescue raid on Uganda's Entebbe Airport. Israel was key to shaping Lewin's temperament, says Raskin. "Moving to Israel was like lighting a fire under (his) drive," she says. "He wanted to squeeze every last drop out of every minute out of every hour out of every day." The imprint of the country's intensity and its people's blunt manner were obvious to anyone who met him years later. Some Akamai colleagues found him abrasive, and Lewin -- who had a fondness for words -- joked about being "obstreperous." But he was also terrifically loyal, supportive of staff and worked as hard as anybody. "He was motivating, so if he did kick you in the butt and tell you to work harder, generally people responded very well to that," Leighton recalls. "People wanted to 'take the hill' if he was saying that's what we've got to do." It was enough to impress Leighton, the academic who says in the book that he would have been perfectly happy to spend the rest of his life solving proofs. What attracted him to enter the private sector was "a chance for us to make a difference in the real world," he says in a phone interview. "In the area where we worked, in algorithms and the theoretical side of computer science, often that work is good, deep work, but it doesn't change the world. It doesn't impact people directly," adds Leighton, now the CEO of Akamai. "With this work, we thought it would have relevance in the real world, and make the Internet be faster, more reliable, more secure. It was a chance that was pretty rare for us." 'His potential was limitless' You have to remember that the Web we use today -- with practically instantaneous results, broadband-fueled streaming video and at-your-fingertips devices -- was practically unimaginable when Akamai was founded in 1998. Back then, with dial-up access and overworked servers, a page load could be as interminable as the drip of molasses. And so Akamai -- the name comes from the Hawaiian for "smart" or "clever" -- was born. But even with its killer app, which lowered the possibility of crashing servers, there was no guarantee of success, even in the late-'90s dot-com era. Indeed, Akamai's first attempt at impressing the venture capitalists who fund such dreams, the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition, fell short. That only pushed Lewin to work harder. The company struck pay dirt on an unlikely day, March 11, 1999. That Thursday two events shook the Web: The opening of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and the first streaming of the trailer for "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace." While servers crashed all over the country, Akamai-supported machines handled the surge, and the company started taking off. The next two years were boom and bust -- for the Internet and for Akamai. In the aftermath of the company's October 1999 IPO, Lewin and Leighton were briefly paper billionaires. The stock scaled $300 a share. Then came the crash of 2000. Dozens of dot-com companies folded. By 2001, Akamai stock was selling for less than $5. Leighton says Lewin never lost his concentration. "We were both pretty focused on getting the job done, and that was true whether the stock was at 350 bucks or 50 cents," he says "It was positive reinforcement. If one of us got worried about a problem, the other would step in and say, here's how we're going to get past this one and here's why it's going to work out." 9/11 Nevertheless, things were particularly grim on September 10, 2001. Leighton remembers a session stretching late into the evening in which the executives had to decide whom to lay off, including some friends and colleagues who had been with them almost since the beginning. The next morning Lewin had to fly from Boston to Los Angeles. "He probably barely got an hour of sleep before getting on board the next morning," Leighton remembers. Lewin was sitting in seat 9B. With his Israeli military training and understanding of Arabic, he may have figured out what was going on, perhaps even tried to stop it. According to flight attendants' calls relayed to authorities on the ground, the first passenger to be killed was seated in 9B. He was stabbed to death. Friends have always pondered the what-ifs. Lewin may have finished his Ph.D., something that always nagged at him. Friends thought he could have entered Israeli politics. Or he could have become a high-tech household name, like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. "Those who knew him feel like the world was robbed," says Raskin. "He was always searching for something greater." Leighton, who helped keep Akamai going in the dark days after Lewin's death, wonders as well. Akamai has since become a multibillion-dollar company active in cybersecurity. Perhaps Lewin would have gone that direction, using both his mathematical mind and his military training to fight terrorism. We'll never know. "I think he could have done whatever he decided he wanted to do," says Leighton. "I think his potential was limitless."

– On the 12th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Internet is remembering one of its own: Danny Lewin, an Internet genius who was also likely the very first victim of the day, and whose story is just now fully coming to light. Slate and Salon are featuring excerpts from a new biography of Lewin by Molly Knight Raskin. He was born in Denver, but moved to Israel with his family at age 14, where he attended a technology school and later signed up for the Israeli Defense Force, serving as a commando in an elite counterterrorism unit. He eventually ended up at MIT on a full scholarship, and while there he wrote algorithms to make web content delivery quicker and more efficient. "MIT has a lot of really smart people, and Danny stood out even among that rarified environment," one of his professors tells CNN. Based on those algorithms, Lewin and that professor founded software company Akamai; he was taking American Airlines Flight 11 to a business meeting on September 11. After the hijacking began, Lewin, 31—who Raskin suggests could have suspected something was amiss before anyone else, because of his IDF training and knowledge of conversational Arabic—got up and struggled with one of the terrorists. Per a 9/11 Commission report issued four years after the attack and based largely on the info two flight attendants relayed to authorities, Satam al-Suqami most likely killed Lewin from behind, by slashing his throat. He died between 8:15am and 8:20am, and the plane slammed into the World Trade Center at 8:46am. "He was the first victim of the first war of the 21st century," says Lewin's best friend. Akamai, now a multibillion-dollar business, was struggling on September 11—but, Raskin notes, most major news sites managed to stay up and running amid the avalanche of traffic that day because of it. Click for more on Lewin.

Fairborn mayor Dan Kirkpatrick has confirmed a major reason for Wright State withdrawing from the debate was security concerns around Wright State being an open campus. HASAN ABDUL-KARIM/STAFF Fairborn mayor Dan Kirkpatrick has confirmed a major reason for Wright State withdrawing from the debate was security concerns around Wright State being an open campus. HASAN ABDUL-KARIM/STAFF By Lynn Hulsey Staff Writer Wright State President David Hopkins announced Tuesday the university has withdrawn from hosting the first presidential debate in September. WSU cited rising costs and lackluster fundraising Costs rose well over $8 million University informed Commission on Presidential Debates at noon WSU in an internal remediation to overcome budget deficit RELATED: Wright State cancels presidential debate: 5 things to know UPDATE @ 2:32 p.m. Hofstra University has offered to allow 15 Wright State students to attend the first presidential debate at the Hempstead, N.Y., campus, which replaces WSU as host of the debate, according to Wright State President David Hopkins. “What a very generous offer. I really, really appreciate that,” Hopkins said a day after announcing that Wright State was withdrawing as host of the debate. Hopkins said Wednesday that university donors will be asked to cover the costs for the students, who will be chosen by lottery. Hopkins on Tuesday announced that he had told the Commission on Presidential Debates that Wright State could no longer serve as host of the Sept. 26 debate, the first of four in the general election. Hopkins cited rising security costs that were driving estimated costs up from the $5 million he anticipated to as much as $11 million. He said the university had not been able to convince donors to contribute enough to cover the cost, and the financially strapped university could not afford to cover the cost of a debate. UPDATE @11:47 a.m. Fairborn mayor Dan Kirkpatrick has confirmed a major reason for Wright State withdrawing from the debate was security concerns around Wright State being an open campus. He said officials were confident the Nutter Center could be secured through checkpoints, security guards and fence, but with all the students and community members on campus, it did not feel safe. UPDATE @ 3:34 p.m. The planned presidential debate at Wright State University had been expected to generate about $14 million in economic impact for the immediate area near the Nutter Center, a local official said. “As we expanded it, obviously this impact was to ripple throughout the entire region with an estimated economic impact of approximately $25 million dollars,” said Paul Newman Jr., the Fairborn Chamber of Commerce executive director. Newman said he believes it was a difficult decision for Wright State and David Hopkins, the university president. However, Newman was surprised by the decision and had no warning the university was thinking about pulling out from hosting the event. Wright State President Hopkins had repeatedly vowed he would not fund the debate through university reserves, which have plummeted from $162 million in 2012 to a projected $40 million by 2018 as school officials have spent more than they were taking in. Wright State is cutting $18.9 million more from reserves over the next two years and planning $27.7 million in budget cuts, including $8 million through staff attrition. WSU trustees also raised tuition for graduate and out-of-state students. TIMELINE: Wright State University and the presidential debate UPDATE @ 2:58 p.m. The president of Wright State’s faculty union, Martin Kich, said cancelling the debate was probably for the best. “I think It’s unfortunate we’ve gotten two months away from it and we have to pull the plug on it. I don’t think that makes anyone look good. But if the alternative is we would be left with a sizeable financial liability because of this, then I think it’s the smart thing to do,” he said. Kich said he felt the university was low-balling what the debate was actually going to cost. “Under ideal circumstances, I think it would be a nice thing for the university to host this kind of an event, but given the financial issues the university is grappling with, from the start this seemed like a kind of dubious proposition.” RELATED: No debate for Wright State — community reacts UPDATE @ 2:45 p.m. In a release Tuesday, the Wright State Board of Trustees Chair Michael Bridges said the board fully supports Hopkins’ decision. “It’s the responsible thing to do,” Bridges said in a release. “While the community has been overwhelmingly supportive of Wright State hosting the debate, the safety and security of the campus and community is of paramount importance.” Unlike private universities that have hosted debates in the past, Wright State cannot restrict public access to its campus, which added to the security challenges, the university said. “We were fully aware of the challenges and were prepared to meet them when we decided to host the debate, but things have changed,” Hopkins said. “The current national environment has made security even more critical.” UPDATE @ 2:23 p.m. The Commission on Presidential Debates posted this announcement on its website: “In light of Wright State University’s announcement of earlier today, the September 26, 2016 Presidential Debate will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. The Commission very much appreciates Wright State’s efforts. Hofstra University served very successfully as a presidential debate site in 2012. On September 23, 2015, the Commission announced that Hofstra University had agreed to serve as an alternate site this debate cycle if needed. The Commission looks forward to working with Hofstra once again.” $2 million in gifts and pledges will be utilized for student and debate related activities. @daytondailynews@WHIORadio — Kara Driscoll (@karadriscollcox) July 19, 2016 UPDATE @ 2:13 p.m. “We’re not going to shut down the educational institution,” Hopkins said. Wright State was one of four host universities chosen this year by the the commission, a non-profit in charge of producing the General Election debates. Earlier this month, officials said the debate was expensive, but worth it. DOWNLOAD OUR MOBILE APPS FOR LATEST BREAKING NEWS UPDATE @ 2:09 p.m. Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said he had not spoken with anyone at Wright State University on Tuesday. He had sent some people from his office to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention to check out the security layout on Monday. “I’m convinced we could have had enough manpower, where’s the money coming from I wouldn’t have any idea,” he said. “We would’ve been able to get the manpower, but fundraising is always an issue.” Fischer said he didn’t remember exactly how many law enforcement personnel would have been needed to cover the event. “With everything going on, every time something happens, the number has to get bigger because you never know what to anticipate,” he said UPDATE @ 2:01 p.m. “I really wanted this experience for our students,” Hopkins said in a news conference. The escalating security concerns have caused the financial costs to rise too much, Hopkins said. The university was expecting to pay about $3.5 million when planning first started, but now it’s exceeded $8 million, he said. Hopkins said with the nature surrounding this presidential election, the costs were too high. “We went into this in good faith,” Hopkins said. Hopkins talks about safety. pic.twitter.com/64yKmAyNZt — Kara Driscoll (@karadriscollcox) July 19, 2016 EARLIER REPORT WSU President David Hopkins said Tuesday that Wright State is withdrawing as host of first presidential debate scheduled for Sept. 26 at Nutter Center. He cited escalating costs for security and the inability to raise enough money from community and state to cover what could be as much as $8 million to host the event. Hopkins said Tuesday in an exclusive interview that he was motivated in part by security concerns raised by the recent attack in Nice, France. “I can’t assure the safety of our students and the community,” Hopkins said. Hopkins informed the Commission on Presidential Debates at noon today, and hopes to recoup at least some of the $2 million fee that was paid to the Commission in advance. Approximately $500,000 had been spent already on Nutter Center upgrades. University will lose some of the $2.5 million they've invested in hosting the debate. — Kara Driscoll (@karadriscollcox) July 19, 2016 The university has raised about $3.5 million in contributions, state funding and in-kind pledges. The university is in an internal remediation plan to overcome its budget deficit, and that also played a role in the decision, Hopkins said. “I can’t dip into more reserves to do this debate,” Hopkins said. “I’m not going to do this when we’re in remediation.” Hopkins said his board of trustees has been supportive and understands the concerns about of spiraling costs and safety. “I wanted it so much for our students,” Hopkins said. “I hate this decision. It hurts my heart.” ||||| Cleveland (CNN) Wright State University is pulling out of its presidential debate scheduled for September 26, and the debate will move to Hofstra University, sources confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. Wright State University President David Hopkins told the Dayton Daily News, which first reported the story , that the university decided to pull out of the debate due to rising security concerns and costs. He said insufficient fundraising forced the university to pull out of the debate, which could have cost the university as much as $8 million, according to the Daily News. Hofstra University, which hosted a presidential debate in 2012, will instead host the first debate between the general election candidates. Read More

– Ohio's Wright State University was scheduled to host the first presidential debate of the general election Sept. 26—until it announced Tuesday it wouldn't be doing that. “This has been a very difficult decision to make but I am confident that it is the right one,” Politico quotes WSU president David Hopkins as saying. According to Dayton Daily News, Hopkins cited rising costs and security as reasons for pulling out. It was originally expected to cost WSU $3.5 million to host the debate, but that had increased to more than $8 million recently. That price increase comes at a time when WSU is already planning more than $27 million in budget cuts. “Given the financial issues the university is grappling with, from the start this seemed like a kind of dubious proposition,” faculty union president Martin Kich says. Security was also becoming an issue for WSU. “Over the last few weeks we have had a growing concern over what it would take to guarantee the safety and security of our campus," Politico quotes Hopkins as saying. Unlike private universities that have hosted debates in the past, WSU couldn't legally close its campus to the public during the debate, making security more difficult. WSU will probably lose at least some of the $2.5 million it has already put toward hosting the debate. “I really wanted this experience for our students,” the Daily News quotes Hopkins as saying. The debate will now be held at New York's Hofstra University, which hosted a presidential debate in 2012 and had agreed to be a backup this year, CNN reports. The other two scheduled presidential debates will take place at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Unbridled Kentuckians Decide It's Time For A Kick-Ass New Slogan toggle caption KentuckyForKentucky/KentuckyForKentucky Kentucky is known for horse racing, bourbon and college basketball. And if a couple of creative advertising professionals have any say in the matter, the Bluegrass State will be world renowned for something else. They want the state to replace its current slogan, Unbridled Spirit, with a new one — Kentucky Kicks Ass. In a five-minute online video, Kentucky natives Griffin VanMeter and Whit Hiler stand on the steps of the state Capitol and make their case. "Go ahead and Google 'unbridled spirit' and you know what you come up with? Horseback riding lessons — in San Antonio," VanMeter says in the video. VanMeter and Hiler work for different advertising firms, but two years ago, the two and another friend started a Facebook page called Kentucky for Kentucky with the goal of crowd-funding a Super Bowl ad focused entirely on the state. They weren't able to reach the $3.5 million needed for the commercial, but Hiler considers the project a success. The Kentucky Kick Ass campaign video. YouTube "Everybody was saying 'kick ass,' " Hiler says. "That was our thing on our Facebook page, and so that seemed logical when we came up with the idea of rebranding the state." Kentucky adopted the Unbridled Spirit slogan in 2004 and incorporated it into marketing materials, government stationary and license plates. But VanMeter says that the state's message is not something people would actually use in normal conversation. "You have to stand out, and you have to take risks if you want to do this branding and to get noticed," he says. "And you need mantras that people can rally behind." Tourism slogans come and go. Last year, Florida unveiled "Must Be the Sunshine" and Connecticut wants you to know that it's "Still Revolutionary." When the Kentucky Kicks Ass campaign launched, VanMeter wasn't sure how officials would respond. "Maybe the state will just write us a check and be like, 'You guys are awesome,' and give us a key to the state of Kentucky. Um ..." he says jokingly. They didn't get a key to the state, but the guys did catch the attention of national press. A state tourism spokesman told USA Today that officials would not endorse the "kick ass" phraseology because the campaign organizers have a "different constituency. Which is no one." Fans of the edgy campaign fired back at the state for its stiff response, and officials have softened their opinion. Enlarge this image toggle caption Ed Reinke/AP Ed Reinke/AP "I think that they probably have a pretty good constituency," Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear says. "I think it's fun. I think these guys are very innovative and they're attracting a lot of attention, good attention, for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. So I urge them on in all of their innovative thinking." Officially, Kentucky is sticking with Unbridled Spirit, but VanMeter and Hiler were able to sit down and discuss the campaign with state tourism officials. They're now selling T-shirts and prints of their slogan to customers all over the world; apparently there are people in England and Japan who also think Kentucky "kicks ass." ||||| Does Kentucky need a kick-ass makeover? A print ad for Kentucky's new "kick ass" campaign. (Photo: Kentucky for Kentucky) What comes to mind when you think about Kentucky? (Assuming you do think about Kentucky, that is.) I'm betting fried chicken, bourbon and horse racing. But some grassroots marketers are pushing to supplant those Bluegrass State images with this sentiment: Kentucky Kicks Ass. (That's "kicks ass" as in "We're really cool," as opposed to "kicks ass" as in "We're aiming a boot at your unsuspecting rear end.") The proposed slogan has a certain redneck swagger, unlike the considerably more demure "Kentucky — Unbridled Spirit," which has been the state's tagline since 2005. A group of advertising guys who dub themselves Kentucky for Kentucky coined the slogan — along with ad prototypes, a video and T-shirts — declaring it "unexpected and bold … coming from a state that's considered to be fairly conservative." State officials have a different view. "We certainly would not sanction or endorse that phraseology," says state tourism department spokesman Pat Stipes. "These guys are Kentucky natives and they love the state. But they have a different constituency. Which is no one." State slogans are tricky. They're supposed to lure tourists and new businesses, and, as the Kentucky Kicks Ass creators stress in their promotional video, foster state spirit and quash stereotypes. (Cue the mullet-coiffed shirtless guy leaning against a pickup.) But capturing the essence of a place in a few short words is a daunting challenge. RELATED: WTF? Controversial tourism slogan bites the dust Some state slogans are simple commands: "Explore Minnesota." Some are grandiose: "North Dakota: Legendary." Some raise questions: "North Carolina: A Better Place to Be." (Better than where?) One of the most enduring, "Virginia Is for Lovers" has been around for 43 years. It was coined in 1969 (eight years before another stalwart, "I LOVE NY") and was the brainchild of a $100-a-week copywriter who paired two irresistible concepts — travel and romance. But the essential question: Do these slogans work? Not really, Cornell University marketing professor Chekitan Dev told me a few years back. Two reasons for failure: They don't truly differentiate a place, and the destinations often can't back up their claims. So whether Kentucky really kicks ass, is in the eye — or some more nether region — of the beholder. Not that it matters. The odds that Kentucky Kicks Ass will replace Kentucky — Unbridled Spirit are " zero," Stipes says. Perhaps. But the Kentucky for Kentucky guys can dream, can't they? "Go ahead and Google "Unbridled Spirit," challenges Griffin VanMeter in the group's promotional video. "You know what you come up with? Horseback riding lessons. In San Antonio." Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/V6AqFh

– Kentucky's current slogan is "Unbridled Spirit," but two creative advertising professionals don't think that quite sums up what's so great about the state. Their idea for a new slogan: "Kentucky Kicks Ass," NPR reports. Griffin VanMeter and Whit Hiler, both Kentucky natives, explain in a video making their case that if you Google "Unbridled Spirit," what you get is a link for "horseback riding lessons—in San Antonio." It's a "lame-ass tagline," VanMeter declares. But ask any Kentuckian to describe his state, and he'll say it kicks ass. Hence the proposed new slogan. When VanMeter and Hiler first started floating the idea, they didn't have much official support. ("We certainly would not sanction or endorse that phraseology," a state tourism department spokesman told USA Today earlier this month, adding that VanMeter and Hiler "have a different constituency. Which is no one.") But there's plenty of support among the people, and some officials seem to be softening: Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear now tells NPR he thinks the proposed slogan is "fun."

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, one of the four authors of the GOP memo released Friday, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that he believes a surveillance warrant for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page would not have ever been authorized without the existence of the controversial "Steele dossier." Gowdy's comments come on the heels of the Friday release of a memo drafted by Gowdy, House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and two investigators on the committee. The memo, declassified by President Trump and released by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee Friday, outlines how Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants were obtained for former Trump campaign official Carter Page, and what relationship the Trump dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele had with those FISA warrant applications. Gowdy said the public will "never know" if the surveillance against Page was justified, saying the warrants relied on three pieces of information -- the dossier, a reference to a Yahoo News article and other information available to the FISA court judges who approved warrants. But, Gowdy, the only Republican on the House Intelligence Committee who has seen the actual FISA warrant applications -- Nunes has not -- emphasized that the memo does not discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump associates. "Not to me, it doesn't, and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it," Gowdy said, asked if the memo has an impact on the Russia probe. "There is a Russia investigation without a dossier." The dossier has "nothing to do" with the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, and a Russian lawyer, Gowdy noted. Gowdy also said the dossier did not form the basis for the case against George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign aid who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about foreign contacts. The dossier has nothing to do with obstruction of justice, Gowdy noted. "So there's going to be a Russia probe, even without a dossier," he said. Meanwhile, Gowdy said "it would" concern him if President Trump makes any move to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The South Carolina Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said he has confidence in the deputy attorney general, of whom Mr. Trump has been publicly critical, and he would be concerned if the commander-in-chief attempts to fire him. "It would. Again, I'm not in the Senate. I don't have advice and consent. And the president has not sought my counsel on this," Gowdy told CBS News' White House and senior foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. Pressed as to whether he thinks Rosenstein should be fired, based on the information he has seen in compiling the memo, Gowdy said no. Rep. Gowdy says Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein should not be fired "I don't," Gowdy said. "I think it is fair to ask the deputy attorney general, what did you know at the time you signed one of the applications? I think it is fair to ask, what FISA reforms are you going to implement to make sure we don't have this fact pattern come up again? I don't judge people based on a single decision that they make throughout the course of an otherwise really stellar career." Gowdy also expressed confidence in FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom President Trump selected to replace fired FBI Director James Comey last May. "I've had my differences with Rod Rosenstein and I still think that he is fully capable of helping run a Justice Department that we can all have confidence in," Gowdy said. "I'm actually really impressed with Chris Wray and I say that even though we are on totally opposite sides of this issue and probably will always be. He doesn't think the memo should have been publicly disseminated. I have real questions about the process that the bureau went through in 2016, but I also think he's the person to lead the bureau. I think he's doing a good job." Gowdy went on to express his support for Mueller, whose investigation he said is independent. "Well I'm actually in a really small group, I think, of Republicans that think that this FISA process is suspect and wrong and should not have taken place. But you still have a Russia investigation even without it," Gowdy said. "So I don't know how many other Republicans feel that way. I am on record as saying I support Bob Mueller 100 percent. I think you would have a Russia -- look, Russia tried to interfere with our election in 2016 with or without a dossier. So you need an investigation into Russia. You need an investigation into the Trump Tower and the Cambridge Analytica email, separate and apart from the dossier. So those are not connected issues to me. They may be for Republicans, but they're not for me. I say investigate everything Russia did but admit that this was a really sloppy process that you engaged in to surveil a U.S. citizen." Gowdy's claims would seem to conflict with Mr. Trump, who took to Twitter Saturday morning to claim the GOP memo "totally vindicates 'Trump.'" The president frequently describes the Russia probe as a "witch hunt," and did so on Saturday morning. Gowdy also opened up about his upcoming departure from Congress. His announcement that he would not run for reelection in 2018 sent shockwaves throughout Washington. "You know, I'm just -- I enjoy the justice system more. I enjoy being fair," Gowdy said, explaining the reason for his departure. "I enjoy the pursuit of fairness as a virtue and I'm just more comfortable in that system. My wife hates it when I say this but I was a pretty good prosecutor, I think. But I've been a pretty lousy politician. So, I've done it for seven years. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to do it but it's time for me to -- whatever time I've got left, I want to spend it in the justice system because that's where my heart is." You can watch Gowdy's interview with Margaret Brennan on Sunday on "Face the Nation" (@FaceTheNation). Click here to check your local listings. ||||| The release of the contentious memo by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Friday underscored the partisan firestorm swirling around the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. President Trump Donald John TrumpBaldwin returns to 'SNL' as Trump and admits presidency is just 'a four- year cash grab' Maxine Waters: Republicans 'intimidated' by Trump Trump: Pruitt 'doing a great job' MORE declared Saturday that the memo, which alleges abuses by the FBI and Justice Department in obtaining a surveillance order on a former Trump campaign adviser, "totally vindicates" him in the Russia probe. But Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee argue that the document fails to disclose the full scope of the Justice Department's warrant application and intentionally omits facts that would put the matter in the proper context. ADVERTISEMENT They're pushing to release their own memo on the subject — a rebuttal they say would reveal the partisan nature of the GOP document and knock down allegations that FBI and Justice Department officials acted inappropriately. The GOP memo alleges that federal law enforcement officials relied heavily on a controversial opposition research dossier in their application for a warrant to surveil Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. According to the memo, the Justice Department failed to disclose that the research contained in the dossier was financed by political sources, and that its author, a former British intelligence agent, was biased against Trump. Now, House Intelligence Committee members from both sides of the aisle are set to take to the Sunday morning news shows to discuss the GOP memo and the future of the Russia investigation. On the Democratic side, Rep. Adam Schiff Adam Bennett SchiffThe Daily Beast sues Justice Department for records on Nunes memo Overnight Tech: Latest on shooting at YouTube | Facebook deletes more Russian accounts | Trump keeps up attack on Amazon | Senators press Grindr on privacy Gowdy: Congressional investigators ‘leak like the Gossip Girls’ MORE (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the Intelligence panel, will appear on ABC's "This Week." Two other Intelligence Committee Democrats, Reps. Eric Swalwell Eric Michael SwalwellMarch for Our Lives to leave empty seats for lawmakers at town halls Dem rep: Trump congratulating Putin is 'like congratulating the Harlem Globetrotters' Dem lawmaker: McCabe's firing part of conspiracy to undermine Mueller MORE (Calif.) and Jim Himes James (Jim) Andres HimesOvernight Cybersecurity: House Intel votes to release Russia report | House lawmakers demand Zuckerberg testify | Senators unveil updated election cyber bill House Intel votes to release report in Russia probe Intel Dem: 'Putin thanks his lucky stars' for Trump's attacks on FBI MORE (Conn.), are set to go on "Fox News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union" respectively. At the same time, Rep. Trey Gowdy Harold (Trey) Watson GowdyOversight chairman probes Pruitt's -a-night condo deal DOJ agrees to allow 'extraordinary' access to FISA applications Gowdy: 'I don't have a lot to show for the last seven years' in Congress MORE (R-S.C.) will be on CBS's "Face the Nation," Rep. Chris Stewart Christopher (Chris) Douglas StewartGOP rep: Probably time for more regulation on Facebook GOP rep: We’re going to show the CIA ‘got it wrong’ on Russia trying to help Trump Utah GOP wrestles with party purity MORE (R-Utah) will be on "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Brad Wenstrup Brad Robert WenstrupThe Memo: Trump doubles down amid some GOP doubts Lawmakers dispute ‘vindication’ for Trump in Intel memo House Intelligence Dem: Use of Steele dossier in FISA application 'small and insignificant' MORE (R-Ohio) will be on "State of the Union" and Rep. Will Hurd William Ballard HurdProposal to use Pentagon funds for border wall is ill advised DCCC adds first black candidates to list of top candidates Overnight Cybersecurity: Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica attracts scrutiny | House passes cyber response team bill | What to know about Russian cyberattacks on energy grid MORE (R-Texas) will be on "This Week." All are members of the House Intelligence Committee. Here's the full lineup: NBC's "Meet the Press": Reince Priebus Reinhold (Reince) Richard PriebusKudlow jokes he’s ‘gotta beat’ Scaramucci's White House tenure The Memo: Kelly said to be losing influence with Trump Trump’s zeal for administration firings denigrates public servants MORE, Trump's former chief of staff, will be on the show. Former CIA Director John Brennan John Owen BrennanBrennan rips Trump: 'Your self adoration is disgraceful' Ex-CIA chief: Trump’s VA nominee will hurt our veterans Rand Paul live tweets his reading of spending bill MORE will appear, as well. "Fox News Sunday": Stewart and Swalwell will both make appearances, as will Leon Panetta, a former CIA director and Defense secretary. CBS's "Face the Nation": Gowdy will be on. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Health's infectious disease unit, will also make an appearance. CNN's "State of the Union": Himes and Wenstrup will make appearances. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinTexas GOP lawmaker visits Venezuela to meet with Maduro Democrats question ICE standards for detaining pregnant women Overnight Finance: Markets freak then rally after dueling China, US tariffs | Private sector adds 241k jobs in March | Tech rivalries spill into Washington MORE (D-Ill.) and Rep. Karen Bass Karen Ruth BassDem rep on Trump tweet: ‘An embarrassment on the international stage’ Sunday Shows preview: Debate over memo takes spotlight in Washington Dem rips GOP lawmaker for calling for FBI 'purge': Maybe he needs a history lesson MORE (D-Calif.) will also be on the show. ABC's "This Week": Schiff and Hurd are set to make appearances.

– The memo released Friday by the House Intelligence Committee that alleges FBI and DOJ overreach has dominated the news cycle this week, and Sunday morning's news shows kept it top of mind, per the Hill. Some takes from both sides of the aisle: GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who revealed this week he won't run for re-election, showed up on CBS' Face the Nation to stress that the memo doesn't undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. "Not to me, it doesn't, and I was pretty integrally involved in the drafting of it," Gowdy said, per CBS News, which notes Gowdy is the only Republican on the HIC who's actually read the FISA warrant applications the memo cites. "I'm actually in a really small group … of Republicans that think that this FISA process is suspect and wrong and should not have taken place. But you still have a Russia investigation even without it." He added he doesn't think Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein should be fired based on what was said in the memo and that "I am on record as saying I support Bob Mueller 100%." He also commented on his own departure from Congress: "My wife hates it when I say this, but I was a pretty good prosecutor, I think. But I've been a pretty lousy politician." Read on for more from Dick Durbin and Reince Priebus.

Getty Images Former Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mori on the prototype model of Honda’s ‘Uni-Cub.’ Honda Motor Co. unveiled its latest electric vehicle Tuesday, but it is unlike any of the cars and motorcycles the company is best known for. Rather, the UNI-CUB single-seat, unicycle-like vehicle looks something like a vacuum cleaner with a bicycle saddle mounted on top. Indeed, viewed from the side, its black-and-white color scheme makes it look strikingly like a penguin. Honda’s new personal mobility device is guided by a small wheel that protrudes from the back. It is intended to be used to get around the inside of large buildings like airports and museums. It was developed based on Honda’s earlier robotic personal transport device, the U3-X, which was unveiled three years ago. On the UNI-CUB, riders move backward and forward, side-to-side or diagonally at a top speed of six kilometers per hour just by shifting their weight. It is latest product of the robotic technologies Honda has been developing, the most recognizable example of which is probably the ASIMO humanoid robot, which appeared in 2000. Honda plans to sell the UNI-CUB on a commercial basis. As a step toward this, it will begin testing it in cooperation with Japan’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Asked about his impressions of riding the UNI-CUB, the museum’s director, Mamoru Mohri — a former astronaut with NASA’s space shuttle program–described it as “floaty,” and “like being in zero-gravity.” The UNI-CUB’s main competitor among personal mobility devices will likely be the Segway Human Transporter, which has been around since 2001. The Segway has two wheels about the size of those on an electric scooter that support a platform on which the rider stands. The device is controlled with a bicycle-like handlebar that comes up to chest height. The Segway can be used both indoors and outdoors. Honda’s engineers say the UNI-CUB has its advantages. The rider’s hands are always free, and the saddle-style package makes it easy for the feet to reach the ground. Such features are important for “harmony” when weaving between and around walkers, they say. But the UNI-CUB’s developers are most interested in how much value potential users will find in the vehicle, which will ultimately determine its price. An indication might be the price of the Segway, which costs around Y750,000 ($9,300). ||||| The people mover has gotten an upgrade: On Tuesday, Honda announced its new Uni-Cub, a personal mobility device that lets you glide around the office or the aquarium perched comfortably on what looks like a trash compactor on wheels. Like the Segway, the Uni-Cub allows the rider to control it simply by shifting her weight forward, backward or side to side. Unlike the Segway, it is small enough to be used indoors. A promotional video for the Uni-Cub shows thin attractive people using it to glide down office hallways, and in and out of elevators. It looks very elegant, but one wonders why these thin attractive people need a mobility device in the first place. Another prize point for Honda -- when sitting on a Uni-Cub the rider is just below eye level of most pedestrians and just above eye level of someone seated on a normal chair. "This configuration promotes harmony between the rider and others, letting the rider travel freely and comfortably inside facilities among moving people," the company said in a news release. The Uni-Cub is not on the market yet, but Honda said in June it will start testing the device at Japan's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. It is powered by a lithium-ion battery and has a maximum speed of about 4 miles an hour. The Uni-Cub also has a nifty wheel design -- Honda calls it the Honda Omni Traction Drive System -- that allows the device to move forward and side to side with a small two-wheel configuration. As you can see in the video above, the rider and the device are not much wider than a person would be walking. The question, of course, is who would want such a thing. Because there is no seat back, the Uni-Cub does not seem to be a replacement for the mobility scooters you see older people using in grocery stores and in Las Vegas. And recent news on obesity makes it pretty clear that we should all be walking more, rather than less. ALSO: How to buy a single share of Facebook stock Zuckerberg inspired pinstripe hoodie: Opening bell worthy? Apple Retina display said to be heading to MacBook Air and iMac

– Watch out, Segway, there's a new player in the high-end scooter game. Honda has revealed the Uni-Cub, a personal mobility device that, like the Segway, is driven by shifting one's weight. It "looks like a trash compactor on wheels," reports the Los Angeles Times. (The Wall Street Journal thinks it's more like a "vacuum cleaner with a bicycle saddle mounted on top.") The big difference between the Uni-Cub and the Segway is that the Uni-Cub is compact enough to be used indoors, say at large airports or museums. When seated on it, the rider is between the eye level of a pedestrian and a person in a chair. "This configuration promotes harmony between the rider and others, letting the rider travel freely and comfortably inside facilities among moving people," Honda said in a statement. The Uni-Cub runs on a lithium-ion battery and can hit a max speed of 4 miles per hour. No word yet on when it'll be available, but testing of the gadget will begin in June.

Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke joined forces for a controversial performance, while 'N Sync reunited -- if briefly. The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards aired Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on MTV from Brooklyn's Barclays Center, with Justin Timberlake taking home the night's top prize of Video of the Year for "Mirrors." "This is amazing," Timberlake said, "'cause it's so personal for me." PHOTOS: MTV VMAs Red Carpet Arrivals Lady Gaga opened the ceremony with the world-premiere performance of "Applause" (and a whopping five costume changes during her performance alone). Other artists to hit the stage included Kanye West, Bruno Mars, Drake and a collabo from Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, which set Twitter into a frenzy from the over-the-top, teddy-bear-and-grinding-filled performance. Cyrus, introduced by Saturday Night Live cast member Vanessa Bayer doing her best Cyrus impression, set tongues wagging when she stripped down to a nude-colored two-piece and danced suggestively with Thicke. Timberlake brought his former boy band 'N Sync to the stage while accepting the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award from presenter Jimmy Fallon. After a medley of his biggest solo hits, including "Take Back the Night," "SexyBack," "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body," JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick emerged from below the stage for a brief rendition of 'N Sync's "Girlfriend" and "Bye Bye Bye." As quickly as they arrived, they descended again and Timberlake tied up the performance on his own with his 20/20 Experience hits "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors." PHOTOS: MTV Video Music Awards 2013: The Nominees Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jared Leto, Emeli Sande and A$AP Rocky were among the show's presenters, with DJ Cassidy as the official DJ. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis performed their gay rights anthem "Same Love" with vocalist Mary Lambert after winning the Moonman for Best Video With a Message. Surprising the audience, Jennifer Hudson joined in the performance and engaged Lambert in a vocal back-and-forth onstage. "I really wanted to win the Best Rap Video, but this Moonman right here stands for so much more," said Macklemore during his acceptance speech. The duo won the award for Best Rap Video earlier in the evening and, off-camera, their "Can't Hold Us" won Best Cinematography. "Gay rights are human rights, there is no separation," he added of the recent legal victory in California over Prop 8. "To watch this song in the last year spread across the world is a testament to what is happening right now in American on the forefront of equality." Introducing the Seattle-based rapper was Jason Collins, the NBA player who came out earlier this year. Standing next to A$AP Rocky, Collins said: “The only way things change is when you stand up for what you believe in." Complete Winners List: MTV VMAs Comic Kevin Hart appeared multiple times during the broadcast to crack jokes, but was quick to clarify that he wasn't the night's official host. "They just keep asking me to do stuff," he explained. "I'm just up here to talk about some stuff right now." Hart hosted last year's ceremony at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. In standard fashion, Swift also made a pointed dig at one of her exes. While accepting the honor of Best Female Video for "I Knew You Were Trouble," Swift thanked the man who inspired the song, saying that he "knows exactly who he is." "Now I got one of these," she said with a big grin, holding her Moonman high in the air. Katy Perry closed out the show with a live rendition of "Roar" from the Brooklyn Bridge. For a complete list of winners, click here. And to see THR's complete VMAs coverage, click here. Email: Sophie.Schillaci@THR.com Twitter: @SophieSchillaci ||||| Taylor Swift's "shut the fuck up"—memorialized here in GIF form—was directed at her ex-boyfriend, One Direction's Harry Styles, who was at that moment on stage. But it's a pretty good review of the entire VMA experience: Get More: 2013 VMA, Artists.MTV, Music Or, if that doesn't do it for you, there's this shot of the Smith family, reacting to Lady Gaga's performance: (Note that, despite what Twitter tells you, the Smith clan is not watching Miley Cyrus' bugged-out performance. If you watch the video of Cyrus' bit, you can see Will is, in fact, totally into it, around 2:53, nodding his head like a goofball. Jaden looks super bored.) Or, if neither of those do it for you in the summing-up-the-VMAs department, there's this shot of One Direction and Rihanna, actually taken during the already-infamous Miley Cyrus performance: Someone needs to take MTV around the back and put it out of its misery. ||||| Video Video Image Oh Miley God Miley Cyrus' recent performance at the MTV Music awards raised more than a few eyebrows. Courtesy: MTV Miley and that famous 'twerk' Miley Cyrus performed an almost X rated dance with Robin Thicke at Video Music Awards. Courtesy MVA/Vine THERE'S awards ceremony shock value and then there's Miley Cyrus. The 20-year-old singer took raunchy performances to a whole new cringe-worthy level at the MTV Video Music Awards today shocking fans with an explicit display of tongue-wagging, twerking and grinding. While the singer has been keen to shed her teen sweetheart image, we'd like to think there are other ways of doing it. Cyrus, who was on stage to perform her latest single We Can't Stop first entered the stage from inside a giant teddy bear in a tiny one-piece. Thrusting her tongue out at the audience as if she's been struck down with a case of rabies, the performance only got more bizarre from there. Surrounded by a gaggle of dancing care bears the star then hip-thrusted and gyrated her way around the stage, provocatively gesturing towards her crotch at regular intervals. Pulling moves that should only be seen in a really bad porno, the star turned it up a notch when Robin Thicke entered the stage to perform a duet of his single Blurred Lines. And just when you thought her outfit couldn't get any skimpier, Cyrus ripped off the garment to dance around in her undies with an oversized foam hand reminiscent of the Coles "Down, Down" adverts. Cyrus then danced around Thicke in her "underwear" before twerking on his crotch and rubbing her "Coles" foam finger across his privates. Naturally, Twitter exploded immediately after the performance, with many expressing their disgust at her racy display. How violated do u think that foam finger Miley Cyrus was using feels? #VMAs — Sarah Fraser (@heyfrase) August 26, 2013 Raise your hand if you feel personally victimized by Miley Cyrus' VMA performance. — FAT AMY (@RelatableQuote) August 26, 2013 The only thing that could top Miley Cyrus is if they bust Amanda Bynes out in a straight jacket and let her free to attack Drake. #MTVVMAs — Lexi Patides (@LexiPatides) August 26, 2013 Stars including Rihanna and One Direction looked on as bewildered as most of the audience. The reaction of Will Smith's family summed up what most were thinking as they shielded their eyes and dropped their jaws. But the performance, however shocking, wasn't entirely unexpected. Speaking with MTV before the show, Cyrus promised a "crazier" VMA moment than the infamous Britney and Madonna lip lock of 2003 and boy did we get it. "We've got better in store for you guys, it's going be even crazier than the kiss," she declared. "This is just the beginning of my movement." Hold onto your hats folks, if this is just the start, we're not sure we really want to see what else Miley has in store. ||||| The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, which aired live on Sunday night from Brooklyn's Barclays Center for the first time ever, had one thing on its mind: performance, performance, performance. 'NSync reunited. Lady Gaga re-emerged. And Katy Perry delivered a knockout punch. In fact, there were more performances than awards given out (fewer than 10 awards were handed out during the two-and-a-half hour show). See 'NSync's Music Video Evolution From 'I Want You Back' to 'Girlfriend' For the awards that were given out, it was a mixed bag of winners, with no single artist dominating. However, Justin Timberlake took home the night's two biggest awards, and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis walked away with two as well. Lady Gaga opened the show with new single "Applause," her first major performance since canceling the tail-end of her "Born This Way Ball" tour and undergoing hip surgery in February. Keeping in line with her latest performance-art persona, she seamlessly changed in and out of elaborate costumes and wigs several times throughout the song – from an all-white Flying Nun-type outfit to a black-sequined leotard to a string bikini made out of seashells – while seemingly lip-syncing her way through the song. But the night belonged to Justin Timberlake, who was presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, performing for a solid 15 minutes to celebrate the win, including a brief reunion with his former group 'NSync. He also walked away with the biggest award of the night, Video of the Year, for "Mirrors." It was Timberlake's first performance at the VMAs in six years, and the first time he's performed with 'NSync since 2003. The reunion was a mere 90 seconds, with the group singing and dancing to two of its biggest hits: "Bye Bye Bye" and "Girlfriend." The rest of the time Timberlake performed solo, singing a medley of his hits, from "Like I Love You" and "Cry Me a River" to "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors." In his acceptance speech, he made a point to say that he wanted to "share the award" with his former bandmates, jokingly adding, "We can keep it at my house." The most moving performance of the night, however, came from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (featuring Mary Lambert and joined onstage by Jennifer Hudson), who sang "Same Love" soon after winner the award for Best Video With a Social Message for its pro-gay marriage stance. During the acceptance speech, Macklemore said, "To watch this song spread across the world is a testament to what is happening right now in America on the forefront of equality. Gay rights are human rights; there is no separation." The duo also won Best Hip-Hop Video for "Can't Hold Us," featuring Ray Dalton. But not all of the night's performances were winners. Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke did a haphazard (and at times cringe-worthy) mash-up of "We Can't Stop" and "Blurred Lines" that featured giant dancing teddy bears and Cyrus twerking and groping Thicke. And Kanye West gave a dark performance of "Blood on the Leaves" where he mostly appeared in silhouette against a backdrop of trees and was heavily bleeped for offensive language. Both Cyrus and Thicke walked away empty-handed, despite being nominated in three categories each and having some of the biggest hits of the summer. West wasn't nominated at all. The Best Song of the Summer award went to One Direction for "Best Song Ever," which beat out Cyrus' "We Can't Stop," Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." Meanwhile, Taylor Swift won Best Female Video for "I Knew You Were Trouble." During her speech, she alluded to her short-lived fling with One Direction's Harry Styles, saying, "I want to thank the person who inspired this song – who knows exactly who he is – 'cause now I got one of these," as the camera awkwardly cut to Styles. The show ended with Katy Perry doing a fun, boxing-themed take on her latest hit single "Roar," from under the Brooklyn Bridge. The complete list of winners is below. (All of the categories were based on viewer votes, except for the Video Vanguard Award.) Video of the Year: Justin Timberlake, "Mirrors" Best Song of the Summer: One Direction, "Best Song Ever" Best Female Video: Taylor Swift, "I Knew You Were Trouble" Best Male Video: Bruno Mars, "Locked Out of Heaven" Best Pop Video: Selena Gomez, "Come and Get It" Best Hip-Hop Video: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton, "Can't Hold Us" Best Rock Video: 30 Seconds to Mars, "Up in the Air" (announced during pre-show) Best Collaboration: Pink featuring Nate Ruess, "Give Me a Reason" (announced during pre-show) Best Video With a Social Message: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Mary Lambert, "Same Love" Artist to Watch: Austin Mahone Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award: Justin Timberlake ||||| Katy Perry may have been wearing an embesllished leopard dress from Emanuel Ungaro’s upcoming Fall 2013 collection, but all anyone could look at on the red carpet was the singer's bedazzled, multi-colored grill. She even made a "Roar" face in honor of her latest single. Let's take a closer look at that. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: SEE ALSO: The Most Outrageous Outfits At MTV's Video Music Awards [PHOTOS] ||||| "Rough, tough and ready to rumble" is right. Katy Perry delivered an uproar-worthy rendition of her hit single "Roar" underneath the Brooklyn Bridge in an epic closing performance to this year's Video Music Awards. "I like to have the last word," Perry told MTV News' Christina Garibaldi earlier Sunday of having the honor of closing out the show. And it was one heck of a last word. Perry rode into New York's Brooklyn Bridge Park in the back of a golden semitruck — yes, the one that takes up the better part of a city block and has her name, album title and release date painted on the side — wearing a maroon silk boxing robe with "LIONNESS" splashed across the back. PHOTOS: Katy Perry Gets Some Selfie Action On The VMA Red Carpet! Of course, the whole ensemble was topped off with cornrows and the gold-plated microphone — brass knuckles included— that Perry unveiled on Instagram this week. And, since we all know that no boxing workout is complete without a little rope-skipping, there was a jump-roping interlude. Never one to disappoint fans, Perry brought ring girls as well, clad in skimpy maroon bikinis and holding up "Game Over" signs to signal the end of another VMA year. Before the show, Perry told MTV News that she wasn't shy about showing a more fierce side of herself now. Her fans, she said, had grown up as much as she had in the three years since the candy-coated "Teenage Dream" era. "They're like, 'eww, Katy, cotton candy, gross.'" she said. "I can't do that anymore." Of "Roar," she explained that that foe she was facing in the performance's boxing ring may as well have been herself. "It's a song about standing up for yourself, who can be the biggest bully in the equation -- yourself...[It] can get in your way," she said. "It's a song about speaking up for yourself and having the strength to do that." ||||| Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards didn't fulfill one big promise: Daft Punk's supposed VMA performance -- which would have followed a fumbled booking and cancellation on the "Colbert Report" -- never happened. The French electro demi-gods were supposed to perform on Colbert's show earlier in August, but cancelled because they had also been booked to appear at the Barclays Center. Though they didn't perform, they were joined by Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers (who appear on "Get Lucky") to present the award for Best Female Video to Taylor Swift for "I Knew You Were Trouble." The Huffington Post reached out to reps for MTV and Daft Punk and will update this post if comment is received. A 1-minute preview of a video for "Lose Yourself to Dance," another song off "Random Access Memories" which features Nile Rodgers and Pharrell, did debut: Daft Punk aside, MTV pulled out all the stops in terms of booking performers for this year's One Direction-hosted VMAs. The network brought Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Robin Thicke, Miley Cyrus, Macklemore, Kanye West and more to Brooklyn. Perry performed from a "secret" location that was not disclosed prior to showtime, and Timberlake joined in an *NSYNC reunion that celebrated his Michael Jackson Vanguard Award win. Live updates from the night are available below the following gallery. live blog Oldest Newest ||||| 'You inspired me!' Taylor Swift takes a dig at Harry Styles as she wins MTV VMA… then mouths 'shut the f*** up' as he gets on stage She can't help but take digs at her ex Harry Styles at nearly every awards show. And Taylor Swift continued the trend as she appeared to back-handedly thank the One Direction singer for their failed romance after receiving an award for Best Female Video at the MTV VMAs on Sunday. The 23-year-old was given the honour for her song I Knew You Were Trouble, which was penned with Styles in mind after she felt spurned by the handsome Brit, 19, following their first of two attempts at a romance. Scroll down for video and a list of winners However, it looked like his bandmates Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson were finding it quite amusing as they smirked at each other at Harry's expense. C ontinuing to shield their iden tity, the duo known as Da ft Punk, hit the stage in matching s p arkling jackets and futuristic chrome helmets that conveniently served to mask their real faces. Fitting in with the DJs, Pharrell also wore a glittering jacket as he smiled broadly while proffering the honour to Swift. The winning moment: The 23-year-old singer was thrilled as she was announced the victor, while pal Selena Gomez sat by Quite the presenters: Taylor was given the award by Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams But it was not the only odd moment for Taylor regarding her ex on Sunday. Styles' band One Direction were the presenters for Best Pop Video, and when the boys walked on stage the 22 singer appeared to mouth an obscenity: 'Shut the f*** up'. It was unclear if the words actually left Taylor's mouth, but it was certainly consistent with her swipe at Harry later in the evening. Controversial: Swift is thought to have mouth an obscenity when Styles hit the stage to present an award Unimpressed: Taylor reacts as she watches her ex Harry accept Song Of The Summer with his bandmates Straight face: Taylor fixes her eyes on Harry as One Direction accept their award for Song Of The Summer The feelings mutual: Justin Timberlake and Taylor grabbed a quick chat A little secret: Justin came in close to whisper something in the 22 singer's ear Meanwhile, Taylor was channelling Marilyn Monroe glamour with her hair done in delicate blonde curls. Completing the country singer's old Hollywood '50s ensemble was a black gown featuring a plunging neckline. Meanwhile, Taylor sent out a strong message to ex-boyfriend Harry at the Grammys earlier this year. Presenting a winner: The Everything Has Changed singer handed off a gong to Bruno Mars Happy man: Austin Mahone stole a snap with Taylor Congratulations: Drake gave the country singer a hug as she walked to the winner's podium Sharing a laugh: Taylor and Selena shared a private joke The gong: Swift won for Best Female Video In an apparent dig at her former British love, the singer adopted an English accent as she pretended to speak on her phone mid-performance during a rendition of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. 'I'm sorry, I'm busy opening the Grammys and we're never getting back together,' she quipped, seemingly mocking Styles. The interlude punctuated an incredible performance by the singer, who parted from Harry in early January after a holiday to the British Virgin Islands went sour. Posing with the big guy: The pop star was clearly happy with her astronaut Old Hollywood glamour: The country singer seemed to channel Marilyn Munroe in a revealing black gown The boys: Harry Styles posed with his One Direction bandmates on the VMA red carpet, including Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan Taylor wrote the song after the pair briefly dated in Spring 2012, but ended their flirtation when he was photographed kissing American model Emma Ostily in New Zealand that April. By November, they had given their romance another try and spent New Year's together in New York City. But just a few days later, they split after rowing on holiday in the Caribbean, with their romance lasting just two months. Better times: Harry and Taylor pictured in New York near the end of their romance in February ||||| And thus ends another MTV Video Music Awards. This year's show was no disappointment. We laughed, we cringed, we twerked and we GIFed our hearts out. There were several notable performances including Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Macklemore. But a rather raunchy performance from Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke almost melted the Internet and an 'N Sync reunion brought down Brooklyn. Both Lady Gaga and Video Vanguard Award-winner Justin Timberlake traveled through their former alter egos during their respective performances, with Gaga switching wigs several times and Timberlake singing tunes from his first album. And Taylor Swift even threw major shade at an ex-boyfriend after scoring a Moon Man. The red carpet fashions weren't as notable as past years, especially since Gaga opted for a simple black dress, instead of a meat dress or egg. But she made up for it with revealing seashell underwear during her show-opening performance. All in all, we can't complain. In case you missed any of the wild two hours, relive the best moments, presented in GIFs for your pleasure. VMAs 2013 2013 MTV VMAs Image: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for MTV

– Pole dance? That's so 2009. Miley Cyrus outdid herself at the MTV Video Music Awards last night with a twerking performance that left the audience feeling violated, Australia's News Network reports. Cyrus started out wearing practically nothing, then managed to find a way to strip down even further from there. She spent much of the performance with her tongue sticking out and, when Robin Thicke took the stage for a duet, she added a foam finger that, of course, she used rather suggestively. "Raise your hand if you feel personally victimized by Miley Cyrus' VMA performance," reads one representative tweet. (If you can't handle actually watching the video, click for some GIFs that sum it up.) More big talkers from last night's awards: Taylor Swift could not let an opportunity to publicly shame ex Harry Styles pass her by, the Daily Mail reports. Upon winning Best Female Video for "I Knew You Were Trouble," reportedly inspired by her relationship with the One Direction boy bander, Swift ended her acceptance speech with, "I also want to thank the person who inspired this song, who knows exactly who he is, because now I've got one of these!" The camera, of course, then panned to Styles. Earlier, when One Direction presented an award, Swift was captured appearing to mouth the words, "Shut the f--- up." As promised, *NSYNC reunited ... for 90 seconds, which came in the middle of Justin Timberlake's epic 15-minute performance, Rolling Stone reports. Timberlake won the big Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, and said he wanted to "share" it with his former bandmates ... but "we can keep it at my house," he added. Lady Gaga wore a clamshell bra and gave her first big performance since her hip surgery, though she appeared to be lip-syncing, Rolling Stone notes. Gawker has a fantastic screenshot of Will Smith and family reacting to her performance. Katy Perry wore a multicolored grill and closed the show by performing "Roar" in a boxing ring under the Brooklyn Bridge. The night's biggest winners were Timberlake (who also won Video of the Year) and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who won Best Hip-Hop Video for "Can't Hold Us" and Best Video With a Social Message for gay rights anthem "Same Love." The duo performed the song along with Mary Lambert and, in a surprise appearance, Jennifer Hudson, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "To watch this song in the last year spread across the world is a testament to what is happening right now in America on the forefront of equality," Macklemore said while accepting the award. And one moment that had everyone talking because it didn't happen: Daft Punk was supposed to offer up a "surprise" performance (in fact, that's why they bailed on Stephen Colbert earlier this month), but that never came to pass, the Huffington Post reports (though the group did present the aforementioned award to Swift).

Among the cache of documents from Osama bin Laden’s bookshelf released to the public Tuesday is a curious letter, apparently written by the late al-Qaeda founder, enjoining the American people to undertake a “great revolution for freedom,” liberating the then-recently inaugurated President Barack Obama from the chokehold of lobbyists, allowing him to take action against both corporate control and climate change. The letter, which is unsigned but the Office of the Director of National Intelligence attributes to bin Laden, is addressed “to the American people […] specifically to those who support real change, especially the youth.” The main topic of the letter, bin Laden wrote, “is the overwhelming control of capital […] and its effect on the ongoing war between us.” The letter is undated, but references to current events place its writing early in Obama’s first term. The somewhat disjointed address touches on a wide range of topics, including a court decision (possibly the January 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling), which he described as a “decision by the court in favor of corporations to intervene in the political arena” and “not [a victory] for the American people except for the big corporations.” In the letter, bin Laden blamed the “tyranny of the control of capital by large companies” for the 2007-2008 economic crisis. “Your financial system in its totality was about to collapse within 48 hours had not the administration reverted to using taxpayer’s money to rescue the vultures by using the assets of the victims,” he wrote. Rampant capitalism, he argued, was also to blame for the Iraq War and the United States’ unflagging support of Israel: Iraq was invaded in response to pressure from capitalists with greed for black gold, and you continue to support the oppressive Israelis in their occupation of our Palestine in response to pressures on your administration by a Jewish lobby backed by enormous financial capabilities. The letter asserts that the then-new administration of President Obama was unlikely to effect a change in policies, noting the insidious influence of lobbyists in American politics, and the adverse effect corporate interests have on national security and the American economy at large: The course of the policies of the present administration in several areas clearly reveals that whoever enters the White House, even with good intentions to safeguard the peoples’ interest, is no more than a train operator. His only task is to keep the train on the tracks that are laid down by the lobbyists in New York and Washington to serve their interests first, even if it is counter to your security and economy. Any president who tries to move the train from the lobbyist’s tracks to a track for the American people’s interests will confront very strong opposition and pressures from the lobbyists. As the letter goes on, bin Laden explains the need for a “great revolution” to release President Obama from corporate control in order to take action on climate change: The way for change and freeing yourselves from the pressure of lobbyists is not through the Republican or the Democratic parties, but through undertaking a great revolution for freedom: not to free Iraq from Saddam Hussein but to free the White House and to free [President Barack Obama] so he can implement the change you seek. It does not only include improvement of your economic situation and ensure your security, but more importantly, helps him in making a rational decision to save humanity from the harmful [greenhouse] gases that threaten its destiny. Osama bin Laden’s concern about climate change was also apparent in documents made public last May. The letter was among the documents seized from bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by Navy SEALs Team Six in 2011 during the same operation in which the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks was killed. It was translated into English from the original Arabic, submitted to lengthy interagency review, declassified, and made public Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It is the second tranche of such documents to be declassified and released. The first batch was released last May; the next is expected to be released later this year. The letter signs off by advising that, “The United States shall pay for its arrogance with the blood of Christians and their funds.” [image via Wikicommons] Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden wrote a letter calling on the American people to help President Barack Obama fight “catastrophic” climate change and “save humanity”, in the latest evidence of his worries about environmental issues, newly released documents show A previously unreleased video of slain former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is seen in this still image taken from a video released on September 12, 2011. REUTERS/SITE Monitoring Service via Reuters TV The letter was among materials that were seized in the May 2, 2011, U.S. raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan that killed the al Qaeda chief and which were released on Tuesday by the Obama administration. The undated, unsigned letter “to the American people,” which U.S. intelligence officials attributed to bin Laden, appeared to have been written shortly after Obama began his first term in 2009, based on the letter’s references to events. Bin Laden’s preoccupation with climate change also emerged as a theme in the first tranche of documents from the raid that was declassified in May 2015, as well as in an audio recording released via the al Jazeera network in January 2010. In the rambling letter made public Tuesday, bin Laden blamed the 2007-8 U.S. financial crisis on corporate control of capital and corporate lobbyists, and the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He called on Americans to launch “a great revolution for freedom” to liberate the U.S. president from those influences. That would enable Obama to make “a rational decision to save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny,” bin Laden continued. In a separate letter, bin Laden urged a close aide to launch a media campaign for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that included a call for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Bin Laden contended that the world would be better off fighting climate change than waging what he claimed was a war against Islam. “...the world should put its efforts into attempting to reduce the release of gases,” said the undated, unsigned letter to someone identified as Shaykh Mahmud that U.S. intelligence officials said they believed was written by bin Laden. “This is a struggle between two of the largest cultures on Earth, and it is in the shadow of catastrophic climate conditions.”

– Climate change activists seeking drastic change have an ally about as welcome as a mountain of burning tires: Osama bin Laden. In a newly released letter seized during the 2011 raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader, he urges Americans to launch a "great revolution for freedom" to untether President Obama from the influences of corporate lobbyists and fight climate change, Reuters reports. Getting rid of lobbyists would let Obama make "a rational decision to save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny," he writes. The rambling letter, which is addressed "especially [to] the youth" of America, appears to date from early in Obama's first term and includes references to the 2008 economic crisis, Mediaite reports. Bin Laden apparently wasn't a fan of bank bailouts: America's financial system was 48 hours away from collapse when the administration used taxpayer money to "rescue the vultures by using the assets of the victims," he writes. In another letter, he argues that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be a good way to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, saying the world "should put its efforts into attempting to reduce the release of gases" instead of fighting Islam. Both letters are unsigned, but US intelligence officials have attributed them to bin Laden. Also among the documents released Tuesday: a handwritten will that explained where his millions should go. (An earlier release of bin Laden letters included love notes and warnings about sinister dentists.)

Two CEO advisers walked away from President Trump on Thursday. Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger said he will step down from Trump's business advisory council, protesting the president's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate deal. "Protecting our planet and driving economic growth are critical to our future, and they aren't mutually exclusive," Iger said in a statement. "I deeply disagree with the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement." He also posted his decision on Twitter, saying he'd resigned from Trump's business council "as a matter of principle." As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal. — Robert Iger (@RobertIger) June 1, 2017 A few hours earlier, Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said he would quit the same panel. "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk said. Related: Elon Musk to Trump: You quit Paris, so I quit you Iger served on Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of business leaders who offer the president advice. But he hasn't attended any of the meetings. "I've not been able to attend the two meetings that it has had due to conflicts -- one vacation and one a Disney board meeting," Iger told CNNMoney last week. Related: Top CEOs tell the CEO president: You're wrong on Paris Iger has aligned with the president on some issues, but clashed on others. The CEO has voiced his support for tax reform, but articulated a different vision on immigration. "I don't believe we can close our borders," he told CNNMoney. "I do believe we need a very strong policy when it comes to security and safety, of course, but I think there's a way to have both." All told, three executives have quit the advisory panel, which was established in December. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick left in February, under pressure after Trump instituted a temporary ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. Top executives have been fiercely critical of Trump's decision on the Paris accord. Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff, Microsoft (MSFT) President Brad Smith, Google (GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg all took to social media Thursday to express their disappointment. -- Molly Shiels contributed to this report. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| On gun control, after the Las Vegas massacre — in which one Disney employee was shot dead and another was shot in the lung — Mr. Iger said, “In this day and age, we get outraged when an athlete doesn’t stand for the national anthem — where’s the outrage here?” Then there was the presidential question, which his inquisitor, the Vanity Fair writer Nick Bilton, posed while noting that he had been asked to avoid the subject. Wincing a bit, the executive mentioned that his wife, the journalist Willow Bay, didn’t love the idea, before saying of his post-Disney future, “I’ll figure it out when I have to figure it out.” (Mr. Iger is scheduled to step down from Disney in 2019.) It wasn’t a “yes,” but it wasn’t a “no,” either. I had the chance to catch up with Mr. Iger at a Vanity Fair after-party at the Bouchon Bistro, an outpost for the media and show business elite in Beverly Hills. I cornered Mr. Iger while he was sitting on a couch drinking a glass of white wine, as waiters delivered trays of lamb sliders and shrimp cocktail to a crowd that included Monica Lewinsky, the HBO chief Richard Plepler and Walter Isaacson, the Aspen Institute president and Steve Jobs biographer. Brooklyn-born and Long Island-bred, Mr. Iger started out as a production assistant and worked his way up the Disney ladder, with a compensation package of $43.9 million last year. He has a slight New York accent that could help offset his otherwise polished presentation, if he were to run for public office. I told him I had never seen Disney, or a Disney chief executive, so deep in the political mix. Mr. Iger himself, after all, quit his post on a White House advisory council, in protest of Mr. Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords. In September, he called the president’s decision to rescind the Obama-era program allowing the children of undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States — officially called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA — “cruel and misguided.” (Adding to the sense that Mr. Iger has politics on the brain, records show he switched his party registration from Democrat to no party preference last year.)

– It’s official: President Trump has weighed in on the Roseanne controversy. He tweeted Wednesday, “Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that 'ABC does not tolerate comments like those' made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call?" Trump has some history with the Disney CEO: Last June, Iger quit Trump’s business advisory council in response to the White House’s decision to exit the Paris climate agreement, per CNN. Iger has spoken out from time to time on hot-button political issues, a departure from Disney's long-standing reluctance to weigh in on such topics, as the New York Times detailed in an October profile. (Barr blamed her racist tweet against Jarrett on Ambien; the drug's maker burned her in response.)

Clutch, gas, buzz, shift, clutch, gas, buzz, shift. More on Motortrend.com: 2016 Ford Mustang GT First Test Review Repeat as necessary. This week, Ford let me test the first-ever haptic shifter knob on a Shelby GT500 . The elegantly simple device vibrates every time the car’s engine hits 3000 rpm, reminding the driver it's time to change gears. Really, it’s a more modern dash-mounted shift light some cars have to tell a driver they are holding a gear too long. The vibration is clearly noticeable, even on the GT500 , and feels about the equivalent of being blown up on Call of Duty. But this particular device also uses an LED screen on the top of the shift knob to tell you what gear the car has engaged. Made from printed plastic, an LED screen, and the vibrating motor stolen from an Xbox 360 controller, the high-tech shifter handle was created by Zach Nelson, a Ford mechanical engineer who has been working on the company’s new Open XC program. Made from printed plastic, an LED screen, and the vibrating motor stolen from an Xbox 360 controller, the high-tech shifter handle was created by Zach Nelson, a Ford mechanical engineer who has been working on the company’s new Open XC program. Open XC allows developers to connect to Ford cars and trucks through the car’s diagnostic port and read real-time data about the car via a Bluetooth connection. Once the device, slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, is connected to the port, Nelson could read dozens of data points on a Bluetooth-enabled touch pad. “I only needed three data points for this device, the car’s engine speed, vehicle speed and what gear it is in,” he said. But lots more information is available. If Nelson wanted to, he could make the shifter knob change colors to match the LCD interior lighting, which on the Mustang can be one of five colors. The shifter knob can also be set to provide guidance on how to drive more efficiently or how to extract maximum performance. I, however, could not tell which mode we were in during my short drive, since I was simply trying to get the revs high enough to make the device buzz again. It worked flawlessly. “This could be used to help drivers keep their eyes on the road and might even help teach some people to drive a stick,” Nelson said. “This could be used to help drivers keep their eyes on the road and might even help teach some people to drive a stick,” Nelson said. Indeed. But more importantly, the shifter knob demonstrates how agile the new program Ford created is and how the open-source philosophy creates a new kind of collaboration for an automaker. Whereas in the past a device like this may have cost millions and taken years to build, Nelson began developing this shifter handle in earnest three months ago. “There is really this great group engagement,” Nelson said, “where you can see what people are doing and work together.” Ford has not said whether the vibrating shifter knob will ever go into production but the plans to make them will be available on OpenXC's site. “Based on the nature of open source tools, our goal is to provide innovation such as the haptic shift knob to the open source community,” said Craig Daitch, a Ford spokesman. Open-source programs are nothing new to the rest of the world. Computer programmers and software developers have a long tradition of sharing information and creating platforms where crowdsourcing and testing make a program better. Automakers, however, have traditionally held all of this information very close to their vests, relying on either in-house talent or contractors to create new technology. Now, nearly anyone can contribute. What Ford has done is give developers easy access to a lot of the information cars create so they can find interesting things to do with the info. It’s worth noting the device does not control the vehicle, but rather allows access to that information. It’s the difference between knowing the gas pedal is pushed 19 percent down and being able to push the gas pedal down 19 percent. Thousands of developers have already joined the OpenXC program, which began in September 2011, Daitch said. Other current projects include a backup camera that uses a simple web cam; a night-vision camera that taps into the car’s infrared collision cameras; a Bluetooth head-up display; and a retro gauge that can display vehicle data drivers normally can’t see. Nelson said other automakers could use the system created by Ford to apply to their vehicles as well. “Just change the code so it can read that carmaker’s data,” Nelson said, “and let more people see what they can come up with.” ||||| Manual transmissions are better. Period. End of story. Yes, yes, we know. Sequential and dual-clutch transmissions change gears faster than any mortal possibly can, which is why even Porsche — Porsche — requires paddles instead of a proper lever in its flagship model. But unless your name is Sebastian Vettel or Sebastian Loeb, driving isn’t about putting down the fastest time. It’s about having the most fun. And on that score, flicking a lever always beats squeezing a paddle. Of course, properly shifting a car is a skill, one increasingly being lost as automatics and — gasp! — CVTs become the norm. Which is why we’re stoked to hear an engineer at Ford has made it easier than ever for n00bs to learn how to properly row their own gears. Zach Nelson, a junior engineer at Ford, ripped the haptic feedback motor out of an Xbox 360 controller and put it inside a custom shifter he printed on a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic. He installed an Arduino controller and connected an Android tablet with a mini-USB port and a Bluetooth receiver, then tapped the Mustang’s on-board diagnostic system using Ford’s open source OpenXC software platform. That gave Nelson reams of real-time data to play with, including engine speed (RPM, for you non-car guys) and accelerator position. Using that information, the shift knob can be programmed to vibrate as the engine approaches redline (good for performance runs) or its most efficient shift point (for better fuel economy). It can even be programmed to tell an absolute beginner when to shift, in case the howl of a 5.0 approaching 7,000 RPM isn’t a big enough clue. “The vibrating knob can be installed onto the stock shift lever, and I’ve tested it on several vehicles including Mustang and Focus ST,” Nelson said. “I decided to have a little fun with it and installed an LED display on top that shows the gear position.” Ford’s release of OpenXC is one of the first in the industry and could be a boon for aftermarket companies to develop new, innovative apps that tap into the vehicle’s system for information, while not allowing modifications to the core software, keeping things safe and secure. And if you want to build it yourself, all you need is some cash, some code, and a trip to Staples. ||||| The phrase "car modification" bring to mind images of grease-stained burly persons clad in oil-spotted coveralls, toiling away at the aluminum and steel heart of some piece of American muscle. Those who coax more out of a vehicle are seen as artisans. Their canvas is an engine block. Their studio, a garage.Zac Nelson doesn't quite fit that stereotype. He may be the son of an ironworker who grew up in a home full of engines in various states of assembly, but now, as a research engineer at Ford, Nelson works in a pristine fluorescent-white office, wears neatly-pressed slacks and shirts, and manipulates lines of code instead of valve timing. While Nelson spent his early years at MIT fabricating and welding the chassis for a Forumla SAE car, his senior project focused on software—designing algorithms and microcontrollers for an adjustable headrest."I'm pretty familiar with the metallurgy and mechanics of materials, but the electrical side of engineering is a new frontier for me," says Nelson, who graduated from MIT this past September.In this respect, Nelson is part of a new class of automotive mechanics that seek to improve the automobile with data sets and text editors instead of wrenches and milling machines. "Look around any high school. For every person who modifies an engine there are about five to ten people who are doing complex coding on a laptop," says K. Venkatesh Prasad, group and senior technical leader of vehicle design and infotronics within Ford's Research and Innovation department.In his first major project for Ford, Nelson zeroed in on the shift knob. "Historically speaking, [the shift knob] has just been a piece of plastic," he tells PopMech. "Maybe there's some metal weights in it for feel and performance, but other than that there's no electronics—it's not really considered a smart device."Using a 3D printer, two vibration motors scavenged from an Xbox 360 control, and the Ford-developed OpenXC platform—software that can translate signals generated by a car's controller area network (CAN) into usable programming code, much like an API for autos—Nelson created a shift knob that vibrates at the ideal moment to change gears. And unlike the aftermarket shift lights commonly found in racing cockpits, Nelson's "haptic shift knob" isn't tied to a static RPM. Connected to the shifter is tablet running an Android app that constantly compares engine speed and accelerator position to the car's torque curve. Hit the gas hard and the knob will wait until later in the RPM range to signal a gear change. Go easy and it'll find a shift point that's more economical. In a way, while Nelson's is tinkering with the car, he's also altering driver behavior.Released to the public at the Consumer Electronics Show this past January, OpenXC is Ford's way of luring Silicon Valley into the automotive sphere. "There's a lot of people who can write apps," says Prasad, who left a research position at the Menlo Park, Calif.-based RICOH Innovations for Ford in 1996. "What OpenXC does is open up cars to people who want to do pure software work."Fittingly, Prasad has Silicon Valley-sized ambitions for the software platform. One example he gives: an app that aggregates wiper blade usage pulled from OpenXC to provide accurate localized weather reports that even the National Weather Service cannot rival. "The fact that you have a wiper blade that's turned on is really valuable information, especially if you can aggregate a four or five of those data points a mile or so up the road," he says.The catch is getting those four or five data points. While a user can download the OpenXC software and tinker with the API for free, harnessing the power of your car's data (and in Prasad's example, the data of other cars) requires a $110 vehicle interface (VI), a piece of hardware that reads CAN signals and translates them into values you can plug into a program. Even more restrictive is the VI's firmware, which is only compatible with Ford's CAN (CANbus signals differ from manufacturer to manufacturer).According to Prasad, other manufacturers haven't joined forces with Ford on OpenXC, despite it's open-source nature. He cooly encourages them to. "Everyone is welcome, and it only gets stronger when other manufacturers get involved," he says. "I can't speak on their behalf, but it's up to them. They're more than welcome to take a look."Nelson's haptic shifter is a good example of what can be accomplished by exploiting vehicle data, but the only projects currently listed on the OpenXC website are from Ford employees or interns. It remains to be seen what will arise organically from OpenXC. "The future is the future," Prasad says. "So who knows."

– A young engineer at Ford is on a mission to demystify the manual transmission—and his tools include a 3D printer, a tablet computer, and an Xbox 360 controller. Zach Nelson printed out a shift knob and popped the Xbox's vibrating mechanism inside. Using Ford's open-source software and a tablet, he was able to gather information on a Mustang's engine speed, accelerator position, and more, Wired reports. That made it possible to program the shifter to vibrate at helpful moments—identifying, for instance, the moment when shifting will ensure top fuel efficiency. So what do the experts think of all this? At MotorTrend, Scott Burgess calls the design "elegantly simple," and he applauds Ford's open-source software, called OpenXC. "The open-source philosophy creates a new kind of collaboration for an automaker," he writes. Nelson was able to make the gadget in about three months, and the design will be available online. Indeed, as Popular Mechanics puts it, "code monkeys—not grease monkeys—are the future of car modification." Click for one carjacker who could have really used Nelson's invention.

Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Lindsay Lohan crashed the celebrity-packed DeLeon Tequila two-year anniversary party at the Chateau Marmont on Sunday and was asked to leave. A source said the sober-looking starlet talked her way into the bash, which featured a performance by the Kills, and hung out with Marilyn Manson. Lohan’s rep said, “She did not crash, she is friends with Jamie Hince from the Kills. She came to visit him and went home.” But DeLeon CEO Brent Hocking confirmed, “Lindsay was not invited . . . I advised Chateau management she wasn’t invited and that it wasn’t a good idea for her to be there, given her history.” ||||| By Jose Lambiet Radar Executive Editor Troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan allegedly grabbed the wrist of a woman who tried to take a picture of her about 2 a.m. Sunday in a Hollywood nightclub, RadarOnline.com has learned. Then, someone in Lohan’s entourage reportedly grabbed the Nikon point-and-shoot camera from the hands of the fan and dumped it into a bucket of ice used to chill booze bottles. PHOTOS: Lindsay Poses With Marilyn Manson The camera’s damaged, but RadarOnline has the exclusive photo that sparked the ruckus. “We didn’t press charges because we thought it was funny at first,” said an eyewitness who asked not to be identified. He and three friends, including the owner of the camera, sat for an hour at a table next to Lohan’s. “We all were drunk. But then we figured out when we got home that the camera was broken because water seeped in. The memory card, though, was still good.” PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan At Women’s Center For Community Service The incident occurred at the new Paul & Andre Hollywood nightclub. In the photo Lohan, 24, who last week escaped serious time behind bars after pleading no contest to a theft, can be seen sitting on the back of the couch while her friends are partying. According to the source, so was Lohan! “Lindsay appeared to be ‘belligerently drunk,’” the source said. “She and her people were doing shots of something all night. She looked like she was falling all over the place. She was being stupid. PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Leaves Gjelina Restaurant “When she grabbed my friend’s wrist, another woman who was with Lindsay grabbed the camera. She kept saying ‘I need that camera’ over and over again. So the woman got it and sunk it into the ice buket.” The spywitness said there was no other incident. PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Poses As Vampire In Photo Shoot “We were sorta leaving and we didn’t want to cause any more trouble,” he said. Lohan could be flirting with disaster. On May 11, an exasperated judge in Los Angeles sentenced her to three years probation and psychological counseling. Another probation violation could land the star of Mean Girls in jail for months. PHOTOS: Lindsay Lohan Attends Tyler Shields Gallery Opening Said Lohan’s new publicist, Steve Honig: “I don’t have any knowledge of this alleged incident whatsoever.” RELATED STORIES: Lindsay Lohan Hires New Publicist To Rehab Image Michael Lohan Says He Will Pay Lindsay’s $135K Legal Bill Britney May Have To Undergo Psych Exam ||||| photo op This Might Just Be the Saddest Picture in the Whole World Let's make a list of the things about this photograph that are depressing, shall we? 1) It's a picture of Lindsay Lohan and Marilyn Manson. Just, that. 2) It was taken at a party for DeLeon, a brand of tequila. (Lindsay, for those of you lucky enough not to know, has substance struggles so severe that she's faced jail time over them.) 3) While Lohan is making a sort of standard Rose McGowan–trouty-mouth, Manson is making — what is that, unsatisfying-cunnilingus mouth? 4) Both of them appear to have sort of given up in the makeup department. Is there anything sadder than a 42-year-old man giving up on eyeshadow? 5) It appears that they are participating in this photo willingly.

– Lindsay Lohan’s weekend festivities were apparently so epic that stories are still trickling out today. Most notably, the troubled starlet crashed the DeLeon Tequila anniversary party at one of her favorite hangouts, the Chateau Marmont. A source tells the New York Post that Lohan was asked to leave, which the DeLeon CEO confirms: “I advised Chateau management she wasn't invited and that it wasn't a good idea for her to be there, given her history.” But she still had time for some wacky hijinx involving Marilyn Manson, with whom the Sun reports she got along famously. And don’t worry: Even though she made the ill-advised move of bringing her underage sister along to the tequila party, she insists to E! she was not drinking. (But the night before, a source tells Radar she went to a Hollywood nightclub and got “belligerently drunk” and was “falling all over the place,” then grabbed the wrist of someone who tried to take her picture around 2am Sunday.) Click to see another, even worse photo of Lohan with Manson, along with five reasons it may very well be “the saddest picture in the whole world.”

Legendary legal eagle Alan Dershowitz says he was stunned that George Zimmerman's defense lawyer told a "knock-knock joke" during his opening statement to the jury in the Trayvon Martin case. The Harvard law professor, who was unavailable for comment early Tuesday, told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV that he found the incident to be inappropriate for a murder trial. "This is a murder case,” Dershowitz said. “The victim's family is sitting in the courtroom with tears in their eyes and he's telling a knock-knock joke? I just don’t get it.” Dershowitz, well-known in legal circles for winning an acquittal of Claus von Bulow in the case that inspired the film “Reversal of Fortune,” even recommended that attorney Don West consider a new line of work. "If a student ever did that in a mock court in my class, I would … ask him are you in the right school? Maybe you want to be a stand-up comedian or an entertainer,” he continued. “And, by the way, if you do, come up with better jokes." Dershowitz also told CNN that Zimmerman should consider filing a motion requesting a mistrial due to West’s remarks. “I would be furious at my lawyer unless the lawyer told him he was going to open with that joke,” Dershowitz told Piers Morgan on Monday. “In fact, I would ask my other lawyer to make a motion for a mistrial to start all over again.” During opening statements on Monday, State Attorney John Guy repeated obscenities Zimmerman, 29, said to a police dispatcher just before the deadly confrontation with the 17-year-old Martin. He quoted Zimmerman as saying that Martin was one of the "f------ punks" who "always get away." West, meanwhile, opened with a knock-knock joke in reference to the difficulty of selecting a jury for such a widely publicized case. "Knock. Knock," West said. "Who is there?" "George Zimmerman." "George Zimmerman who?" "All right, good. You're on the jury." Dershowitz said the “only saving grace” to the joke was that apparently no one laughed. "It wasn’t very funny," Dershowitz told Newsmax TV. "But I don’t get that. This is such a serious case … You have to be so dead serious. You're the defense lawyer. You're standing between yourself and the defendant and if the jury doesn’t like you, the jury's not going to like the defendant. "And everything in this case comes down to George Zimmerman's credibility." Zimmerman faces life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, as the black teenager walked from a convenience store through the gated townhouse community where he was staying in Sanford, Fla. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Defense lawyer apologizes for telling joke during opening statements Father of Trayvon Martin cries in courtroom; George Zimmerman shows no emotion Did Zimmerman commit 2nd degree murder when he killed Martin? Or was it self-defense? 62% in a CNN poll say the charges against Zimmerman are "probably" or "definitely" true A prosecuting attorney greeted the jury in the George Zimmerman trial Monday with a quote full of expletives, while his adversary decided it was appropriate to tell jurors a knock-knock joke. And that was just the beginning of opening statements in Zimmerman's long-anticipated murder trial. In a case that has ignited national debate about gun laws and race relations, Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, is accused of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012 in Sanford, Florida. Prosecutor John Guy's first words to the six-woman jury may have raised a few eyebrows. "Good morning. 'F*****g punks, these a******s all get away,'" Guy quoted Zimmerman. "These were the words in this grown man's mouth as he followed this boy that he didn't know. Those were his words, not mine." Just Watched Zimmerman trial: Drama on day 1 replay More Videos ... Zimmerman trial: Drama on day 1 02:55 PLAY VIDEO Just Watched Zimmerman jury: Women and guns replay More Videos ... Zimmerman jury: Women and guns 01:55 PLAY VIDEO Just Watched Judge rules no audio experts to testify replay More Videos ... Judge rules no audio experts to testify 03:08 PLAY VIDEO Just Watched Judge decides 911 calls are out replay More Videos ... Judge decides 911 calls are out 04:44 PLAY VIDEO Zimmerman, Guy said, "got out of his car with a pistol and two flashlights to follow Trayvon Benjamin Martin, who was walking home from a 7-Eleven, armed" with a fruit drink and a bag of candy. Eventually the two became entangled on the ground in a fight. A witness has said Martin was on top of Zimmerman, Guy said. "The defendant claims that while Trayvon Martin was on top of him, he said, 'you are going to die tonight,'" said Guy. "Nobody heard that." Guy told jurors that no witnesses saw what happened the night of the shooting from beginning to end. Witnesses only saw "slices" of what happened, he said. "We are confident that at the end of this trial you will know in your head, in your heart, in your stomach that George Zimmerman did not shoot Trayvon Martin because he had to," Guy said. "He shot him for the worst of all reasons, because he wanted to." Fast facts: Trayvon Martin shooting In the first day of testimony, jurors heard witnesses recount Martin's trip to the convenience store, Zimmerman's call complaining about a suspicious person walking through his neighborhood before Martin's killing, and a call from the previous August, in which Zimmerman reported an alleged burglary to police. Proceedings ended for the day when defense attorney Mark O'Mara objected to the earlier call, which prosecutors argued was necessary to explain Zimmerman's remark about burglars who "get away." The Martin family sat watching the proceedings behind State Attorney Angela Corey. Before witness testimony began, Judge Debra Nelson denied a defense request that Martin's father, Tracy Martin, leave the courtroom. Tracy Martin is a potential witness, and potential witnesses can be forced to sit outside of the courtroom to keep their testimony from being tainted by other witnesses. But the next-of-kin of victims are allowed to remain in court even if they're expected to testify. O'Mara also accused Tracy Martin of using an obscenity toward a friend of Zimmerman's while holding the door for him during a hearing two weeks ago. The friend, Timothy Tucholski, testified that he hadn't wanted to make an issue of it before. "I wasn't planning on coming up here. I don't want to be sitting here," he said. Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – A photo posted online Monday, December 3, shows George Zimmerman with blood on his nose and lips. His attorneys say it was taken the night unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman, 28, faces second-degree murder charges in the death of Martin in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. Other evidence photos were released earlier this year: Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense. Martin's attorneys say he was shot and killed "in cold blood." Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – Zimmerman said that before he shot the teenager, he was "assaulted (by Martin) and his head was struck on the pavement," according to a police report. Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – According to a fire department report, Zimmerman had "abrasions to his forehead," "bleeding/tenderness to his nose" and a "small laceration to the back of his head" when he was treated at the scene. Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – In a photo released by the Sanford Police Department, Zimmerman's hands appear to be unmarked. Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – Prosecutors allege Zimmerman unjustly killed Martin, an unarmed teenager, after profiling him. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty and claims self-defense. Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – Zimmerman's gun is displayed. The shooting raised questions about gun laws, as well as the merit of the "stand your ground" law in Florida and similar laws in other states. Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – Crime scene photos released by the Sanford Police Department show Trayvon Martin's cell phone at the scene of the shooting. Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – Evidence marker 2 shows a plastic sack found at the crime scene. Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: Trayvon Martin evidence 10 photos Trayvon Martin evidence – A can of Arizona iced tea was found on the ground at the Martin crime scene. Hide Caption 10 of 10 EXPAND GALLERY Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – Memorials to Trayvon Martin grow daily outside The Retreat at Twin Lakes, the gated Sanford, Florida, community where neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed the unarmed teen February 26. The death has sparked protests across the country and brought unwanted attention to Sanford, a town north of Orlando. Hide Caption 1 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – Sanford's main roads are dotted with mini strip malls in between patches of what remains of central Florida's agricultural history. Views about the Martin case depend on which streets you stand on in Sanford. Hide Caption 2 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – "I don't see Sanford as being a prejudiced town by any means," said Michelle Simoneaux, left, manager of downtown's Colonial Room Restaurant and Fountain. "This could happen anywhere, but it doesn't happen every day. " Hide Caption 3 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – A neighborhood watch sign marks the gated community where Martin died. Zimmerman has said he killed the teen in self-defense, police said. Hide Caption 4 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – Members of the Goldsboro community play a game under an oak tree. Goldsboro was one of Florida's earliest towns incorporated by African-Americans before Sanford absorbed it and took over in 1911. Residents speak of frequent police patrols in the area and other cases similar to Martin's. Hide Caption 5 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – A protest sign painted on the window of a car at a housing project calls for Zimmerman's arrest. For some, the Martin case has become a rallying cry, a chance to air what they believe are years of grievances. Hide Caption 6 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – The Martin killing has been the subject of intense coverage in local newspapers as well as the national media. Hide Caption 7 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – Longtime resident Myranette Boynton, 58, says she thinks the attention to Sanford will make a difference. "This occasion has happened too many times, and enough is enough," Boynton says from the banks of Lake Monroe. "Trayvon is not the only one, but Trayvon should be the last one." Hide Caption 8 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – A handwritten card lies among the memorial gifts outside the neighborhood where the high schooler died. Hide Caption 9 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – A woman strolls through the downtown area. Many residents say they wonder whether Sanford will forever be known as the place where an unarmed black teen was killed while heading home from the store. Hide Caption 10 of 11 Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing 11 photos Stigma for town in Trayvon Martin killing – Signs about the shooting have been posted throughout the Florida city, and the message is clear: People want answers. Hide Caption 11 of 11 EXPAND GALLERY Just Watched Are these Trayvon Martin's screams? replay More Videos ... Are these Trayvon Martin's screams? 03:34 PLAY VIDEO 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Supporters of Trayvon Martin rally in New York's Union Square during a "Million Hoodie March" on Wednesday, March 21. Trayvon, 17, was shot to death February 26 while walking in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch leader, said he shot the teen in self-defense. Hide Caption 1 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Trayvon Martin supporters block traffic as they march through Union Square on Wednesday. Many of the demonstrators wore hoodies and carried Skittles, the candy Martin left his father's fiancee' house to buy the night he was killed. Zimmerman has not been arrested. A police report describes him as a white male; his family says he is Hispanic. Hide Caption 2 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mother, hugs a supporter at the March. "Our son is your son," Fulton, told the crowd. "This is not about a black-and-white thing. This is about a right-and-wrong thing. Justice for Trayvon!" Hide Caption 3 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Demonstrators of all races crowded into Union Square for the Million Hoodie March. Hide Caption 4 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Hundreds of demonstrators marched in Union Square. Protests are also scheduled for Thursday in Sanford, Florida. Hide Caption 5 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Demonstrators chant at the Million Hoodie March in New York. Hide Caption 6 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – The shooting and police response in Trayvon's case is fueling outrage that has reached well beyond Sanford, a racially mixed community 16 miles northeast of Orlando. Hide Caption 7 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Protestors flood the streets and block traffic as they march on W. 14th Street. Hide Caption 8 of 9 'Million Hoodie March' 9 photos 'Million Hoodie March' – Passengers on a bus take photos of the demonstrators. Hide Caption 9 of 9 EXPAND GALLERY But Nelson denied the request, and Martin remained in court -- but Zimmerman's parents were covered by the rule regarding potential witnesses and had to sit outside, as did Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for Martin's parents. At one point, Martin's father began crying as Guy detailed how officers tried to save his son's life. Zimmerman has mostly stared straight ahead without any signs of emotion. Following Guy's statement, defense attorney Don West came forward to woo the jury. As he began, he told a knock-knock joke. But it failed to win a laugh. "Knock knock. Who's there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? Good, you're on the jury," he said. Later, West apologized. "No more bad jokes, I promise that," he told jurors. "I was convinced it was the delivery." West quickly got on with the business of making his case: that Zimmerman was forced to act in self-defense to save his own life. "The evidence will show this is a sad case; no monsters here. ... George Zimmerman is not guilty of murder. He shot Trayvon Martin after he was viciously attacked." With the help of PowerPoint visuals, West spent hours hammering home his argument. He broke down Zimmerman's 911 call in which he first reported seeing Martin and told about following him. "Little did George Zimmerman know at the time in less than 10 minutes from him first seeing Travyon Martin that he, George Zimmerman, would be suckered punched in the face, have his head pounded on concrete and wind up shooting and tragically killing Trayvon Martin," West told jurors. West also deconstructed a 911 call a neighbor made, in which it is possible to hear screams and a shot in the background that West said was the sound of the fatal bullet. As the dramatic recording audio filled the courtroom, Zimmerman showed no emotion. Martin's mother left the courtroom. "At the moment this actually became physical was that Trayvon Martin -- I will use my words -- that Trayvon Martin decided to confront George Zimmerman," West said. "That instead of going home. He had plenty of time. This is, what, 60 or 70 yards. Plenty of time. He could've gone back and forth four or five times." West quoted a witness named John Good who described the fight. "He called it a 'ground and pound' by Martin, who he said was on top of Zimmerman, beating him." "He saw enough that this was serious," West said. Zimmerman cried out for help, looked at Good and said, "help me." But the beating continued while Good went inside his home to call 911, West said. There was a shot. Shortly afterward, according to West, Zimmerman said Martin "was beating me up, and I shot him." West also disputed the prosecution's claim that Martin was unarmed. "Travyon Martin armed himself with the concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman's head," said West. "No different than if he picked up a brick or smashed his head against a wall. That is a deadly weapon." West showed jurors photos taken of Zimmerman after the fight. "What you can really see in these pictures that you will have in evidence are the lumps," West said. "The big knots on each side of his head. Consistent with having his head slammed into concrete." All-female jury to try Zimmerman Among the first prosecution witnessed called was the 911 dispatcher who took Zimmerman's call before the shooting. Seat Noffke testified that he was trained to give general commands instead of direct orders to people. When Zimmerman said he was following Martin, Noffke told him, "Okay we don't need you to do that." Noffke told the prosecutor he's liable for any direct orders he gives someone. On cross-examination, defense attorney O'Mara pointed out that Noffke asked Zimmerman, "Which way is he running?" "If you tell somebody twice to let you know if the person that they're concerned about is doing anything else -- do you think they're going to keep their eye on them?" asked O'Mara. "I can't answer that," said Noffke. "You did tell him twice to let you know if that guy did anything else," said O'Mara. "Yes sir," said Noffke. Noffke went on to say he only wanted a location of the suspect for officers and that he never told Zimmerman to follow or keep his eye on Martin. Shortly before court got under way, Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, spoke to reporters, asking people to "pray for me and my family because I don't want any other mother to experience what I'm going through now." Judge: No state expert testimony on 911 calls Martin was black, and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. In a CNN poll released Monday morning, 62% of respondents say the charges against Zimmerman are probably or definitely true.

– George Zimmerman's attorney wasn't going to let the prosecutor have all the fun with his profanity-laced opening statement yesterday. Don West decided to make a splash in his opening as well—with the world's most awful knock-knock joke. After urging the jury to hold the joke against him rather than Zimmerman, he said. "Knock knock. Who's there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? All right, good, you're on the jury!" The response: crickets. West later apologized, CNN reports. "No more bad jokes, I promise that," he said. "I was convinced it was the delivery." But the moment of attempted humor could be a big deal; Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz thinks Zimmerman could use it as grounds to request a mistrial. "The victim's family is sitting in the courtroom with tears in their eyes and he's telling a knock-knock joke?" Dershowitz told NewsMax TV, according to Fox News. "If a student ever did that in a mock court in my class, I would … ask him are you in the right school? Maybe you want to be a stand-up comedian. ... And, by the way, if you do, come up with better jokes."

Cardi B Gives Birth to Baby Girl!!! Cardi B Gives Birth to Baby Girl Kulture Kiari Cephus Breaking News Cardi B's a new mama after delivering a beautiful baby girl into the world. Cardi had her daughter, Kulture Kiari Cephus, Tuesday night in an Atlanta hospital, named partly after hubby/daddy Offset's real name -- Kiari Cephus -- who was by her side the whole time. TMZ broke the story in February ... members of Cardi's team were telling people she was pregnant during Super Bowl weekend, but the rapper went to ridiculously great lengths to keep her growing bump under wraps. She finally made the big reveal during her performance on 'SNL' in April. Cardi was determined to keep working as long as possible, and followed through by rocking the Coachella stage while very preggo. This is Cardi B's first child, and Offset's fourth. As we first reported, Cardi and the Migos rapper were secretly married back in September, but they're still planning to throw a wedding party later this year. Congrats!! ||||| Cardi B is making mommy moves! The 25-year-old rapper (whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar) and husband Offset of Migos welcomed their first child together, daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus, on Tuesday, July 10, Cardi B announced on Instagram Wednesday alongside a nude maternity photo. The baby girl is the first child for Cardi B and the fourth for Offset (birth name Kiari Cephus), who has three children from previous relationships: sons Jordan and Kody and daughter Kalea Marie. The birth of their daughter comes two weeks after the new mom confirmed that she and Offset, 26, secretly tied the knot this past September. “Well now since you lil [nosy] f—s know at least ya can stop saying I had a baby out of wedlock,” Cardi B tweeted on June 25. Want all the latest pregnancy and birth announcements, plus celebrity mom blogs? Click here to get those and more in the PEOPLE Babies newsletter. Cardi B and Offset John Parra/Telemundo/NBCU Photo Bank RELATED GALLERY: Cardi B and Offset’s Road to Marriage: The Comprehensive (but Still Super Short) Guide After months of speculation, Cardi B confirmed her pregnancy on Saturday Night Live in April when she proudly debuted her baby bump during the second performance as musical guest. In May, the “Bodak Yellow” hit-maker came clean about the sex of her baby on the way on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show after host Howard Stern asked her directly, “Do you know what you’re having … what are you having?” “Yes. I’m having a girl,” Cardi B replied. Cardi B had dropped a hint that her baby on the way would be a little girl while catching up with The New York Times ahead of the Met Gala, where she repeatedly referred to the new addition as “she.” Cardi B at the 2018 Met Gala Courtesy Erika La Pearl Cardi B performing at Coachella Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella RELATED: Pregnant Cardi B Twerks to Celebrate Second No. 1 Single, Sings About Being Ready to “Give Birth” During a May appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Invasion of Privacy rapper revealed that Offset had already come up with the perfect moniker for their new addition. “My dude named the baby,” she said. “I really like the name.” She also joked that the sexy moves she broke out for her Coachella performance were responsible for the pregnancy. “I was just trying to show the world how I got pregnant in the first place,” the star said about clips of herself twerking and dancing on the ground at the festival, adding about one pose, “Like that, that’s how it happened. That’s where I [was] that day.” In April, Cardi B confirmed she knew exactly when her baby was conceived while talking to Power 105.1’s show The Breakfast Club. “No, it wasn’t planned. It was just one night … it was a good night … that one night, it had to be that night,” she said. Cardi B and Offset Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images RELATED GALLERY: Oh, Baby! All the Celeb Parents Who’ve Shared Stories About Conceiving Their Kids In her interview with The Breakfast Club, Cardi B also admitted it “disgusts” her that people have reached out to her online to more or less tell her that motherhood will ruin her professional success. “It just really bothers me and it disgusts me because I see a lot of women online like, ‘Oh I feel sorry for you, oh your career is over,’ ” she said. “As a woman, why can’t I have both? Why do I gotta choose a career or a baby? Like, why can’t I have both? I want both.” The rapper admitted she “kinda, sorta” considered terminating her pregnancy for a short time, “But then I didn’t want to deal with the whole abortion thing. I just didn’t want to.” “And it’s just like, ‘You know what? I’m a grown woman. I’m 25 years old. I’m gonna say this in the most humblest way … I’m a schmillionaire, you know what I’m saying? And I’m prepared for this.’ ” Cardi B performing on Saturday Night Live Youtube RELATED VIDEO: Cardi B Says Offset Has Picked Baby’s Name as Rapper Hilariously Reveals “How [She] Got Pregnant” In early June, Cardi B clapped back after receiving critical comments on social media after a video surfaced of Offset smoking while standing next to the then-mom-to-be at what appears to be a club. At one point in the video, a large cloud of smoke can be seen traveling from Offset to in front of where Cardi B was standing. “SINCE YA CARE AND ARE SO CONCERN about my baby … Hit me in my DM for my registry and send me some [Pampers] and baby formula,” she quipped, adding alongside four crying-laughing emojis, “Don’t just comment like you care about my baby show it!! SEND THEM PAMPERS!” In another comment, she wrote, “My child is great i be in the OBGYN faithfully but since you so concern about the health you want to split these medical bills with me?” adding, “I figure you would since you sound so concern about health.” RELATED: Pregnant Cardi B to Stop Performing as “Shorty Keeps Growing”: “I Can Barely Breathe Now” The new parents — who got engaged in late October onstage at Power 99’s Powerhouse concert in Philadelphia, weeks after they secretly wed — graced the cover of Rolling Stone‘s July issue, where they opened up about their plans for their daughter. “I want a lit baby shower. My baby shower’s not starting at no 5:00. My s— is going to start at 9 p.m. because that’s how I celebrate, that’s how Caribbean people celebrate,” she told the magazine, laughing. “I don’t like baby showers that be at 5 p.m. in the backyard, eating, cooking hors d’oeuvres. Nah,” added Cardi B. “S—, I might even drink some red wine. Red wine’s healthy, right?” RELATED: These Are the Lavish Items Reportedly on Cardi B’s Baby Registry — Including a Mini Bentley! And the rapper got her wish. On June 26, the spouses celebrated their baby girl on the way at an extravagant shower in Atlanta, with a theme of Bardi Shower: A Bronx Fairytale. Alongside an exclusive set of photos, Vogue received details on the shower from its event planner, Karleen Roy, which she described to the outlet as “a magical and imaginary Bronx land fit for the quintessential baby girl … only this time there is a plot twist in this lavish story: It’s a magical, whimsical land, but FOR THE CULTURE!” Cardi B and Offset's baby shower Cardi B/Facebook Cardi B and Offset's baby shower Offset/Instagram RELATED: Kris Jenner Offers to Be Cardi B’s Midwife After Pregnant Rapper Confirms Secret Wedding C.Wayman Floral & Events provided the more than 25,000 flowers, which were used to build various animal sculptures, subway-car models, a 16-foot decorative piece and more. Vogue reported the night’s entertainment was provided by the Ballethnic dance company and hip-hop orchestra group Orchestra Noir, while guests noshed on refreshments like piraguas, soul food, coquito cocktails and a five-tier cake with as many flavors. The baby girl’s extensive library setup included children’s books like Viva, Frida and Buenas Noches, Luna, and the on-site “Bardi Baby Bodega” offered multiple items for parents such as bottles and diapers wrapped in pink ribbon. Guests went home with purple baby blankets, which Vogue described as “a nod to the epic self portrait shawl Cardi once wore to the airport.” RELATED: Offset Isn’t Intimidated by Cardi B’s Accomplishments: “I Wanted Real, I Also Wanted Successful” Of her baby girl, the “I Like It” rapper promised in her Rolling Stone interview that she’s “going to tell her everything” as she grows up — no secrets and no games. ” ‘You have a choice. I could maintain you. I could spoil you if you go to college. Or if you want to be independent, go ahead. When you a teenager and you 18, 19, you can’t get no job that pays you more than $200 a week,’ ” Cardi B explained of a potential future conversation. ” ‘You want to become a stripper? ‘Cause I became a stripper ’cause I ain’t have no choice. You gonna be getting your ass smacked by n—s that have less money than you, less of an education than you, but they going to feel like they better than you because they feel like you need them. You want to live like that?’ ” she added. “That’s how I’m going to talk to my kid.”

– An infant's cries follow wedding bells for Cardi B and fellow hip-hop artist Offset. The pair welcomed daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus Tuesday at a hospital in Atlanta, reports TMZ. It's the first child for 25-year-old Cardi B, who revealed her pregnancy on Saturday Night Live in April, and fourth for her 26-year-old hubby, real name Kiara Kendrell Cephus, whom she secretly married in September. Cardi B, real name Belcalis Almanzar, confirmed the birth in a Wednesday Instagram post showing the rapper posing while pregnant, apparently in imitation of Beyonce's 2017 maternity shoot, per People.

Where does Hillary Clinton Stand? On April 12, 2015 former senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced her run for President of the United States. Find out where the democratic candidate stands on immigration, ISIS, the minimum wage and gay marriage. Video by Natalie ||||| will turn over her private email server and a backup thumb drive to the Justice Department, her spokesman confirmed Tuesday. The news comes just hours after the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General told Congress that her email server contained emails that have now been classified “top secret.” Spokesman Nick Merrill said Clinton “pledged to cooperate with the government’s security inquiry.” ADVERTISEMENT “She directed her team to give her email server that was used during her tenure as Secretary to the Department of Justice, as well as a thumb drive containing copies of her emails already provided to the State Department,” Merrill said in a statement provided to The Hill. “If there are more questions, we will continue to address them.” The statement added that Clinton has worked with State to "ensure that her emails are stored in a safe and secure manner." While Clinton turned over the emails she deemed work-related, she deleted a similar amount that her team said were strictly personal. Clinton’s use of her personal email server has dogged her since before she entered the presidential race, and some Democrats have worried that it has contributed to her fledgling poll numbers on trustworthiness. July polling from the swing states of Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia found that the majority of voters in all three states didn’t find her honest or trustworthy. And national polls from June found the same trend. That led to significant criticism from Republicans — specifically House Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) — who have called on Clinton to turn over her server to ensure that she didn’t delete any emails that should have been turned over. Clinton and her team have bucked those repeated calls to relinquish control of her email server, asserting that she had already turned over any email that could be related to her role as secretary of State. “We don’t think we have to do that,” Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director, said in July on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked whether Clinton needs to turn the server over to show that she’s trustworthy. It is unclear whether those deleted emails can be retrieved from the server. Merrill emphasized that Clinton has already provided the State Department with 55,000 pages of work emails in an initial inquiry.

– Hillary Clinton has agreed to turn over her private email server to the Justice Department, though it may not be worth much to investigators. As the Hill reports, it's not clear whether any of the emails that Clinton deleted after deeming them private can be recovered. She says she already has turned over the rest of the emails, related to her work as secretary of state. A spokesperson says Clinton also will turn over a thumb drive that has copies of the latter emails. Meanwhile, McClatchy reports on another complication: The intelligence community's inspector general told members of Congress "that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications—more sensitive than previously known." The story says that some of Clinton's top aides are being drawn into the investigation.

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Linda Givetash China summoned the U.S. ambassador on Sunday after warning Canada of "grave consequences" if a top executive of leading tech giant Huawei isn't released from detention on a U.S. arrest warrant. Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng met with U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad to lodge a "strong protest" against the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, the ministry said in a statement. Le urged the United States to withdraw its arrest warrant and warned the ambassador that further measures will depend on U.S. actions, the statement said. Meng faces extradition to the United States after being arrested in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Dec. 1. A bail hearing is set to resume on Monday. Le's meeting with Branstad follows a similar meeting with Canadian Ambassador John McCallum. Le told the state media outlet Xinhua News Agency on Saturday that he warned Canada should release Meng immediately or face "grave consequences" for violating Meng's rights and ignoring the law, calling the arrest "unreasonable, unconscionable, and vile in nature." Meng's arrest came just as U.S.-China trade tensions showed signs of easing, with President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreeing to hold off on new tariffs to give more time for officials to reach an agreement. But the arrest, which happened on the same day as the Trump-Xi meeting, caused markets to nosedive as fears of a prolonged trade war were renewed. On Sunday, the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily said that while China would not "cause trouble," it also did not fear trouble and that nobody should underestimate China's determination on this case. "Only if the Canadian side corrects its mistake and immediately stops infringing upon the lawful, legitimate rights of a Chinese citizen and gives a proper accounting to the Chinese people can it avoid paying a heavy price for this," it said in an editorial. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denied there were any political motivations or interference in Meng's arrest at a press conference last week. "We respect the independence of our judicial processes," he said. Meng first appeared in a Vancouver court Friday for a bail hearing. The court heard that the U.S. government believes she lied about her ties to a Hong Kong company that tried to circumvent trade sanctions against Iran. A lawyer for the Canadian Justice Department told a Vancouver judge that Meng misled U.S. banks to believe her company had no ties to Skycom Tech, which tried to sell American computer equipment to an Iranian mobile phone company. American investigators believe Skycom works as a subsidiary of Huawei, Canadian authorities said. Meng faces up to 30 years in prison in the United States, making her an extreme flight risk, according to the Canadian government lawyer. But Meng's attorney David Martin said she would submit to electronic monitoring and wouldn't skip bail. The hearing is expected to continue Monday to determine whether Meng will remain in custody. Huawei, which recently passed Apple as the second-biggest maker of cellphones after Samsung Electronics, has been the target of deepening U.S. security concerns. Under Trump and his predecessor, Barack Obama, Washington has pressured European countries and other allies to limit use of its technology. Huawei's founder and Meng's father, Ren Zhengfei, is a former Chinese army engineer and part of the country's political elite. The U.S. sees Huawei and smaller Chinese tech suppliers as possible fronts for Chinese spying and as commercial competitors. The Trump administration says they benefit from improper subsidies and market barriers. Trump's tariff hikes this year on Chinese imports stemmed from complaints Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. But American officials also worry more broadly about Chinese plans for state-led industry development they believe may erode U.S. industrial leadership. U.S. leaders are also concerned that Beijing is using the growth of Chinese business abroad to gain strategic leverage. ||||| In this courtroom sketch, Meng Wanzhou, right, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, sits beside a translator during a bail hearing at British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, on Friday,... (Associated Press) In this courtroom sketch, Meng Wanzhou, right, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, sits beside a translator during a bail hearing at British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018. Meng faces extradition to the U.S. on charges of trying to evade U.S. sanctions... (Associated Press) BEIJING (AP) — China summoned the U.S. ambassador to Beijing on Sunday to protest the detention of an executive of Chinese electronics giant Huawei in Canada at Washington's behest and demanded Washington cancel an order for her arrest. The official Xinhua News Agency said Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng "lodged solemn representations and strong protests" with Ambassador Terry Branstad against the detention of Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou. Meng, who is reportedly suspected of trying to evade U.S. trade curbs on Iran, was detained on Dec. 1 while changing planes in Vancouver, Canada. The Xinhua report quoted Le as calling Meng's detention "extremely egregious" and demanded the U.S. vacate an order for her arrest. It quoted Le as calling for the U.S. to "immediately correct its wrong actions" and said it would take further steps based on Washington's response. The move followed the summoning of Canadian Ambassador John McCallum on Saturday over Meng's detention and a similar protest warning of "grave consequences" if she is not released. Huawei is the biggest global supplier of network gear for phone and internet companies and has been the target of deepening U.S. security concerns over its ties to the Chinese government. The U.S. has pressured European countries and other allies to limit use of its technology, warning they could be opening themselves up to surveillance and theft of information. Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that Chinese pressure on Canada's government won't work. "Perhaps because the Chinese state controls its judicial system, Beijing sometimes has difficulty understanding or believing that courts can be independent in a rule-of-law country. There's no point in pressuring the Canadian government. Judges will decide," Paris tweeted in response to the comments from Beijing. A Canadian prosecutor urged a Vancouver court to deny bail to Meng, whose case is shaking up U.S.-China relations and spooking global financial markets. Meng, also the daughter of Huawei's founder, was detained at the request of the U.S. during a layover at the Vancouver airport on the same day that President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed over dinner to a 90-day cease-fire in a trade dispute that threatens to disrupt global commerce. The U.S. alleges that Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. It also says that Meng and Huawei misled American banks about its business dealings in Iran. The surprise arrest raises doubts about whether the trade truce will hold and whether the world's two biggest economies can resolve the complicated issues that divide them. Canadian prosecutor John Gibb-Carsley said in a court hearing Friday that a warrant had been issued for Meng's arrest in New York on Aug. 22. He said Meng, arrested en route to Mexico from Hong Kong, was aware of the investigation and had been avoiding the United States for months, even though her teenage son goes to school in Boston. Gibb-Carsley alleged that Huawei had done business in Iran through a Hong Kong company called Skycom. Meng, he said, had misled U.S. banks into thinking that Huawei and Skycom were separate when, in fact, "Skycom was Huawei." Meng has contended that Huawei sold Skycom in 2009. In urging the court to reject Meng's bail request, Gibb-Carsley said the Huawei executive had vast resources and a strong incentive to bolt: She's facing fraud charges in the United States that could put her in prison for 30 years. The hearing will resume Monday. Huawei, in a brief statement emailed to The Associated Press, said that "we have every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach the right conclusion." Canadian officials have declined to comment on Chinese threats of retaliation over the case, instead emphasizing the independence of Canada's judiciary along with the importance of Ottawa's relationship with Beijing. Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said Canada "has assured China that due process is absolutely being followed in Canada, that consular access for China to Ms. Meng will absolutely be provided." "We are a rule-of-law country and we will be following our laws as we have thus far in this matter and as we will continue to do," Freeland said Friday. While protesting what it calls Canada's violation of Meng's human rights, China's ruling Communist Party stands accused of mass incarcerations of its Muslim minority without due process, locking up those exercising their right to free speech and refusing to allow foreign citizens to leave the country in order to bring pressure on their relatives accused of financial crimes. The party also takes the lead in prosecutions of those accused of corruption or other crimes in a highly opaque process, without supervision from the court system or independent bodies. ___ Associated Press writer Robert Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

– China wasted little time in summoning the US ambassador to Beijing on Sunday to protest the detention of a Huawei executive in Canada—immediately on the heels of warning Canadian envoy John McCallum that there would be "grave consequences" if Meng Wanzhou is not released. Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng "lodged solemn representations and strong protests" with Ambassador Terry Branstad, calling the arrest "extremely egregious" and demanding that the US "immediately correct its wrong actions," reports the AP via the official Xinhua News Agency. A Communist Party editorial took it further, notes NBC News, saying "only if the Canadian side corrects its mistake and immediately stops infringing upon the lawful, legitimate rights of a Chinese citizen ... can it avoid paying a heavy price for this." Roland Paris, former foreign policy adviser to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, shrugged off the pressure. "Perhaps because the Chinese state controls its judicial system, Beijing sometimes has difficulty understanding or believing that courts can be independent in a rule-of-law country. There's no point in pressuring the Canadian government. Judges will decide," Paris tweeted. Canadian prosecutor John Gibb-Carsley said in court Friday that a warrant had been issued for Meng's arrest in New York on Aug. 22. He said Meng was aware and had been avoiding the US for months. Gibb-Carsley said the Huawei executive had vast resources and a strong incentive to bolt: She's facing fraud charges in the US that could put her in prison for 30 years. The hearing will resume Monday. Huawei, in a statement, said "we have every confidence that the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will reach the right conclusion."

CINCINNATI (AP) — The 96-year-old Cincinnati surgeon credited with developing his namesake Heimlich maneuver recently used the emergency technique for the first time himself to save a woman choking on food at his senior living center. Dr. Henry Heimlich told The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://cin.ci/1U0lAx2) in an interview Thursday he has demonstrated the well-known maneuver many times through the years but had never before used it on a person who was choking. An employee at the Deupree House in Cincinnati where Heimlich lives says the retired chest surgeon was in the room when an 87-year-old woman began choking. The employee says Heimlich dislodged a piece of hamburger from the woman's airway and she quickly recovered. Heimlich says it made him appreciate how wonderful it has been "to be able to save all those lives." ___ Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com ||||| CLOSE Dr. Henry Heimlich, 96, on saving Patty Ris, 87, at Deupree House in Cincy owned by Episcopal Retirement Services ERS. Provided/AndyHemmer.com PR Patty Ris (Photo: Provided/AndyHemmer.com PR) Monday might not have been the first time Dr. Henry Heimlich performed his namesake medical procedure on a live choking victim. But the woman who survived the incident said she's thankful the 96-year-old Cincinnati resident sprung into action on her behalf. Heimlich told The Enquirer Thursday his encounter with Patty Ris at the Deupree House senior living facility, where they both live, was the first time he ever performed it on a person needing immediate aid. However, several published reports in the early 2000s from news outlets ranging from the BBC to the Chicago Sun-Times show interviews with Heimlich describing himself using the maneuver. In one interview, he said he helped a man at the former private dining club, the Banker's Club, in Downtown Cincinnati in 2001. Heimlich is credited with popularizing the technique designed to help clear the blocked airway of a choking victim. Since the doctor and Jewish Hospital researchers developed the technique in the 1970s, the Heimlich maneuver is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives. Here is what those involved say happened on Monday: There were about 125 people in the dining room just before 7 p.m. when Perry Gaines, maître d’ for the Deupree House dining room, said Ris began choking. He was alerted to the incident by a staff member who ran into the kitchen to find him. "I saw someone standing behind her as she sat down," Gaines said. "Sometimes residents try to help in medical situations but we tend to discourage it. But I noticed it was Dr. Heimlich and he was doing the maneuver. ... I stepped back and let Dr. Heimlich continue on. "She coughed up some of the food she was having trouble with," Gaines said. "Dr. Heimlich sat down and we gave her a little water to drink, but she still had trouble breathing. He proceeded to do it a second time. After a couple minutes, he sat down and everyone kept eating. She seemed like she fine." Gaines said the entire incident lasted less than 10 minutes. "I ordered a hamburger and the next thing I knew, I couldn't breathe I was choking so hard," Ris said in a recorded video provided by a public relations firm to The Enquirer. "And it's Dr. Heimlich next to me. So he did the Heimlich maneuver." Julia Dolle, a dining room server, said she was in the dining room during the choking incident and saw Heimlich providing aid to Ris for several minutes. "We were amazed," Dolle said. Gaines echoed Dolle's amazement. "When I saw Dr. Heimlich doing his own maneuver, I knew it was historic," Gaines said. "At his age, that's a very physical type of activity. To see him do it is a fascinating thing. The whole dining room, you could hear a needle drop." Ris said she wrote Heimlich a thank-you note for saving her life afterward. It read, she recalled in the video: "God put me in this seat next to you." Heimlich spoke to The Enquirer on Thursday night. “When I used it, and she recovered quickly,” he said, “it made me appreciate how wonderful it has been to be able to save all those lives.” Bryan Reynolds, a spokesman for Episcopal Retirement Services, which owns the Deupree House, said Thursday Heimlich is very active for his age and has lived at the Hyde Park senior facility for about six years. He swims and exercises regularly. Cincinnati.com initially published a story late Thursday about the incident, quoting Heimlich as saying this was the first time he'd ever performed his own maneuver on someone. But then one of his sons, Peter Heimlich, reached out to media organizations pointing out the existence of articles roughly 15 years ago. Another son, local attorney Phil Heimlich, said he doesn't recall those media reports. "All I can say is none of us had a recollection of it," Phil Heimlich said. "If dad did it, I would’ve heard about it." It isn't the first time Heimlich's statements have been challenged. In 2003, The Enquirer reported that Romanian surgeon Dr. Dan Gavriliu disputed statements from the Cincinnati doctor that he developed an operation that uses a section of the stomach to bypass the esophagus. The Romanian doctor claimed Heimlich took credit for a procedure he developed years earlier. Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/1VkVWs2

– The 96-year-old surgeon credited with developing his namesake Heimlich maneuver recently used the technique for the first time himself to save a woman at his senior living center, reports AP. Dr. Henry Heimlich tells the Cincinnati Enquirer that while he had demonstrated the well-known maneuver many times through the years, he had never used it on a person in an actual emergency. That changed when an 87-year-old woman began choking on a piece of hamburger at the Deupree House in Cincinnati. As it turns out, the retired chest surgeon happened to be in the room—and he knew just what to do. “When I used it, and she recovered quickly, it made me appreciate how wonderful it has been to be able to save all those lives," he tells the Enquirer.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing county officials in Alabama who told a Christian woman to remove her headscarf for her driver's license photo. Yvonne Allen of Tuskeegee says the clerk insisted that only Muslim women are allowed to cover their hair. The ACLU's suit filed Tuesday in Montgomery federal court says Lee County Clerk Becky Frayer and her supervisor, Probate Judge Bill English, are violating her religious freedom rights under the U.S. and state constitutions by refusing her repeated requests to take a new picture with her hair covered. English did not immediately return a message seeking comment. ||||| Yvonne Allen says she wears a headscarf because she believes her Christian faith requires it. But the Tuskegee woman says she was ordered by Lee County officials to take the headscarf off when she went to get her drivers' license renewed in December, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Alabama on Allen's behalf. Lee County officials told Allen there are religious exemptions for head coverings but claimed it only applied to Muslims, the lawsuit states. She was also "ridiculed" by the probate staff for her belief, the lawsuit claims. "I was devastated when they forced me to remove my headscarf to take my driver license photo," Allen stated in an ACLU press statement. "Revealing my hair to others is disobedient to God. I should have the same right as people of other faiths to be accommodated for my religious beliefs." Alabama Law Enforcement Agency rules provide a religious accommodation for such headgear to be worn in driver license photos as long as it does not cover the face. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order Lee County officials to allow Allen to retake her driver license photo with her headscarf and to award Allen damages and attorneys' fees. The lawsuit names Lee County Probate Judge Bill English and Chief Clerk Becky Frayer as defendants. Frayer declined comment Tuesday and English had not responded to a request for comment prior to publication of this story. Lee County's refusal to grant Allen a religious accommodation is in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment to the state constitution, according to the lawsuit. "The county's interpretation of state rules blatantly violates the First Amendment," said Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. "The government cannot discriminate between faiths in granting religious accommodations." Allen v English Filing ||||| NOTE - August 30, 2016: This post originally ran in April 2016. Today the ACLU and ACLU of Alabama filed a federal lawsuit on Ms. Allen’s behalf, arguing that Lee County’s refusal to provide a religious accommodation to Ms. Allen violates her rights under the Alabama Constitution and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit asks the court to order Lee County officials to allow Ms. Allen to retake her driver license photo with her headscarf. I have always been a spiritual being. Even as a young child I would spend countless hours delving into the tattered pages of my Bible. Though I often have failed, I have tried to remain obedient to God and his Word. But last December, at the Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles, my faith was tested in a way that was humiliating and demeaning. In accordance with my Christian faith, I cover my hair with a headscarf, but the DMV refused to take my driver license photo unless I removed it. The DMV officials said only Muslims were allowed to keep their headscarves on for photos. I didn’t know what to do. Without question, I believe that Muslim women should not have to violate their faith just to take a driver license photo, but neither should Christian women. I couldn’t believe that DMV officials could discriminate against me in this way, and it turns out, they can’t. On Friday, the ACLU and ACLU of Alabama sent the state a letter, informing officials that what the DMV did was wrong and unconstitutional. The government can’t provide a religious accommodation to members of one faith while denying the same right to those of other faiths. Wearing a headscarf is an integral part of my Christian beliefs. In 2011, I moved with my children to Alabama after the end of a 12-year relationship with their father. I was lost, confused, hurt, and broken. But I turned to God and spent hours in prayer and study. During that time, it became clear to me that, to be obedient to God’s Word and show my submission to him, I had to cover my hair on a daily basis. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul speaks very clearly without ambiguity about this. I have followed this command every day since and believe that removing my headscarf in public is extremely shameful and dishonors God. Yet on that December day at the Lee County DMV office, I was forced into doing just that — or else officials said they would not renew my driver license, which was set to expire. As I posed for the photo, the clerk told me that I would have to remove my head covering and eyeglasses. I replied, “No ma’am, I don’t uncover my hair.” She asked me, “Is it for religious purposes?” I smiled, “Yes, ma’am.” She then asked, “Are you Muslim?” I responded, “No, Ma’am, I am Christian.” She abruptly stated, “No, then you need to uncover your hair. Only Muslim women have the right to cover their hair in their driver license photos.” I was horrified. A friend who had accompanied me saw the look on my face and quickly explained, “Ma’am she doesn’t uncover her hair ever.” The clerk, in a smug and condescending tone, replied, “You are not a Muslim, and Christian women don’t cover their hair.” I raised the issue with the clerk’s supervisor, but she too claimed that the rule was policy, adding that she was a Christian and does not cover her hair. I told the supervisor that while she is entitled to her interpretation of the Bible, so am I. She would not relent. With no other choice — I could not be without a valid driver license — I agreed to remove my headscarf for the photo. I first politely asked whether the clerk could close the door while my hair was uncovered. She refused. With tears in my eyes and utter disgust in my belly, I took the picture. As I have aged, life has handed me many challenges, prompting me to seek solace and guidance in the Bible and my faith. That did not change with the incident at the DMV. But I also knew that I could not stop there; I could not allow the DMV to discriminate against me or others, and that’s why I contacted the American Civil Liberties Union to help me vindicate my right to assert my religious beliefs and have them respected by the government. I hope that the DMV officials will do the right thing without the need for litigation by allowing me to retake my photo with my headscarf and putting in place policies that ensure that no else endures the same treatment I did.

– The ACLU filed a lawsuit this week alleging that an Alabama county clerk and her supervisor violated a Christian woman's religious freedom rights under both federal and state constitutions when they required that the woman remove her head scarf for her driver's license photo in spite of repeated requests that she be allowed to keep her hair covered, reports Fox News. Yvonne Allen wrote about the ordeal on an ACLU blog in April, saying her faith "was tested in a way that was humiliating and demeaning." Wearing a headscarf on a daily basis is, Allen writes, an "integral" part of her Christian faith; she says that in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul "speaks very clearly without ambiguity" on the matter. Allen says that when she explained to DMV staff last December that she is Christian, she was told that the religious exemption only applies to Muslims and was later "ridiculed" by the probate staff, reports Al.com. Allen decided to take action because, as an ACLU executive director puts it, "The government cannot discriminate between faiths in granting religious accommodations." The state's law enforcement agency allows for religious accommodation for headgear in driver's license photos so long as the face is not hidden. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to allow the photo to be retaken with the headscarf on, and to grant Allen damages and attorneys' fees. (This Christian professor was suspended for wearing a hijab.)

In 2015, for the first time in 10 years, the death rate in the United States went up. According to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2015 there were 729.5 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 723.5 in 2014. (This is the age-adjusted death rate, by the way, so it accounts for the increasing likelihood of death as people age.) The last time the death rate went up, in 2005, it was by a smaller amount—from 813.7 in 2004 to 815—and it seems to have been due to a rough bout of the flu. Bumps aside, generally, the trend since 1999 (and since the 1930s, really) has been downward. This, too, could be a blip. Or it could be a sign of a serious issue that’s turning the tide. Or several serious issues. It’s not clear exactly what caused the increase. Many different causes of death also increased during the 2014-2015 period—Parkinson’s disease, strokes, homicide, Alzheimer’s, chronic liver disease, and firearm injuries among them. Suicide deaths also increased from 2014 to 2015, continuing a troubling upward trend. Between 1999 and 2014, the suicide rate in the U.S. went up by 24 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another prime suspect is drug overdoses, deaths from which have gone up by 137 percent since 2000 (and which also increased in this new analysis). This is largely driven by the opioid addiction epidemic; overdose deaths from opioids specifically have gone up by 200 percent since 2000. Drug overdoses are deeply tied to another surprising trend in the U.S.: the rising death rates among middle-aged white Americans. As my colleague Olga Khazan has reported, many of these are what have been called “despair deaths”—drug overdoses, yes, but also suicide and liver disease. And this demographic is also starting to get diseases that usually cause death in older people, like heart disease and diabetes. Exactly which of these trends, or what combination thereof, can account for the recent death rate rise remains to be seen, but when an entire country’s population reverses direction like this, it merits investigating. ||||| Story highlights Death rates haven't gone up since 2005, which was a bad flu season More people are dying from Alzheimer's, suicide, homicide, firearm deaths, hypertension and drug overdoses It's too soon to know whether it is a trend (CNN) Americans died at a higher rate in 2015, news that comes as a surprise to experts who are used to seeing a decline in the number of deaths. The age-adjusted death rate was 729.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2015, compared with 723.2 in 2014. That might not sound like much, but an increase in the overall rate is incredibly rare. The last time we saw significant upticks in the death rate was 2005, when there was an especially bad flu season. There was also an increase in 1993, but that was in the pre-protease inhibitor era, when more people were dying from HIV. There was a small increase in 1999 as well. It may be too early to tell what's driving the current trend, which is based on preliminary research gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics from last year's death records. Death rates have improved over the years due to advances in modern medicine, public safety improvements such as seat belt laws and a decline in the number of people who take up smoking. Better disease management has also helped. Though cancer deaths have stayed about the same, last year's uptick in deaths seems to be concentrated in a handful of diseases. There were more deaths in people who have Alzheimer's, chronic lower respiratory disease, Parkinson's, stroke, septicemia and hypertension. Deaths from preventable causes, such as firearm deaths and homicides, seem to be up. There were also more suicides, drug overdoses, falls and accidents. Read More ||||| U.S. births declined and the death rate rose last year in a sign of continuing pressure on the country’s population growth, newly released federal figures show. Preliminary numbers out Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show there were 3.98 million births in the U.S. in 2015. That is down 0.3% from 2014 and reverses a one-year rebound when the number of births rose slightly. The data showed a sharp drop in births among teens, which fell 8% to their lowest level since the government began tracking them decades ago. Women ages 15 to 19 notched a birthrate of 22.3 births per 1,000 women. That is down 64% since its most recent peak in 1991, with most of the decline happening in the past eight years. “That is very atypical,” said Brady Hamilton, a statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. What is expected to worry some demographers is that the total number of U.S. births was lower than they projected, affirming concerns the country is struggling to recover from a childbearing slowdown sparked by the start of the recession in 2007. Women in their 20s had fewer babies in 2015, while the birthrate for those in their 30s and early 40s rose last year. Births decreased for white women, were flat for black females and increased among Hispanic women. The birth figures follow another set of preliminary data released this week showing the U.S. death rate rose for the first time since 2005. The CDC found the mortality rate was 729.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2015, up from 723.2 in 2014 when adjusted for the age distribution of the population. A main factor was the death rate for heart disease increased slightly after declining each year since 1993. A rise in deaths from stroke and Alzheimer’s disease also contributed to the increase. Data for deaths from drug overdoses and suicide weren’t complete for the year, though early figures showed those climbed as well. “We’re in a period where population growth has been a bit slower,” said Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Research Center. “To keep the labor force growing, we’re going to need to have pretty healthy levels of immigration.”

– Life was slightly deadlier for Americans in 2015 than it was in 2014. CNN reports the death rate for the US in 2015 was 729.5 deaths per 100,000 people. That's up from 723.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2014. Those rates have been adjusted to account for a population that's aging overall, according to the Atlantic. The higher death rate reverses a largely downhill trend that's been going on since the 1930s. The last time the death rate went up was in 2005. There were also blips in 1999 and 1993. But there's a chance a deadlier 2015 is a sign of a new trend, not an anomaly. Suicide rates went up 24% between 1999 and 2014, and drug overdoses are up 137% since 2000. Also up in 2015: deaths from guns, homicides, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, hypertension, and more. The rise in the death rate corresponds with a drop in the US birth rate. The Wall Street Journal reports there were 3.98 million births in the US in 2015. That's down 0.3% from 2004. Teen births were at their lowest point in decades, dropping 64% since 1991. Birth rates were down for both black and white women but up for Hispanic women. “We’re in a period where population growth has been a bit slower,” Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at the Pew Research Center, tells the Journal. “To keep the labor force growing, we’re going to need to have pretty healthy levels of immigration.”