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RELATED PHOTOS: Katy Perry’s Most Outrageous Twitpics
While Charles’ partnership with the brand kicks off today, we’ll have to wait until later this month to see him debut the brand’s new mascara designed to work on all lash types, CoverGirl So Lashy! Just wrapped another great @COVERGIRL shoot. Honored to have the pleasure to announce the very first COVERBOY, James Charles! Follow him @JCharlesBeauty!" According to a press release from the brand, all CoverGirls “are role models and boundary-breakers, fearlessly expressing themselves, standing up for what they believe, and redefining what it means to be beautiful,” and who better to embody that ethos than Instagram sensation James Charles. One year ago, he boldly chose to launch his Instagram to the world, using transformative, dynamic makeup looks to showcase the many facets of his personality, serving as an inspiration to anyone who might have been afraid to do the same.”
James Charles has racked up over 400,000 followers in just one year of posting, thanks to masterful skills and an extensive array of looks, ranging from wild...
... to just plain stunning. | – If a woman can be president, who's to say a man can't be a CoverGirl. On Tuesday, the makeup company's current spokesperson, Katy Perry, announced James Charles as the first ever "CoverBoy" on her Instagram page. Charles, a 17-year-old "aspiring makeup artist," started using makeup only a year ago but has already amassed more than 430,000 followers on Instagram, the Huffington Post reports. According to People, Charles will appear in TV, print, and digital ads for "So Lashy" mascara later this month and will work with CoverGirl through 2017. "I am so thankful and excited," Charles posted on Instagram. "And yes I know I have lipstick on my teeth. It was a looonnnnggg day." CoverGirl says it wants to work with "role models and boundary-breakers, fearlessly expressing themselves, standing up for what they believe, and redefining what it means to be beautiful," Teen Vogue reports. The company calls Charles an inspiration. Teen Vogue is definitely on board, stating: "We're firm believers that anyone on the gender spectrum should be able to share their passion for makeup without facing outdated stereotypes and negative judgement." E! Online puts it more succinctly: "Work, boy, work!" (This woman did her makeup to distract herself from a 10-hour labor.) |
Pia Farrenkopf had set up her bills to be paid automatically through a bank account, a neighbor cut her grass and her mail was sent to a nearby post office while her body sat for years in the back seat of a vehicle in her Pontiac, Michigan, garage. Robert Gerds, administrator for the Oakland County medical examiner’s office, said Farrenkopf’s family was notified Tuesday of the positive identification and her body has been released. "We have spent the day making arrangements and getting all paperwork filled out so that we may finally bring Pia home," Farrenkopf's niece wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. Farrenkopf stopped working in 2008 and the last withdrawal from the account was in March 2013, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in March. | – Pia Farrenkopf had a poodle named Baby and a cat named Bungee, had traveled the world, and—though estranged from family and friends—was described as kind and private. And now, DNA has positively identified Farrenkopf as the mummified body found in the backseat of her Jeep in March. “This has brought some closure for our family, knowing we may finally lay Pia to rest,” says a message posted to Facebook on July 15. However, officials still don’t know how Farrenkopf died, MLive.com reports—her badly decomposed body was missing the heart, liver, and lungs, which are usually used to determine cause of death, and mummified muscle didn’t yield any results in a toxicology test, the Oakland County Deputy Medical Examiner explains to the Detroit Free Press. “The possibility of hypothermia or any drug or chemical intoxication cannot be ruled out,” he says. Though the death was treated initially as a homicide, investigators have found no evidence that the Pontiac, Michigan, woman—who would have turned 50 this year—was murdered, the Times Herald adds. Her assumed time of death has been pinned down, however, by subpoenaing bank, health, and phone records, which indicate she died in early 2009. Reuters reports that investigators also found out Farrenkopf was seen alive in early 2009. She’d stopped working in 2008 and, following her death, her bills were paid automatically; the money ran out last year, eventually leading to her discovery. |
Necco sales have spiked more than 50% more than 82%. Embed this Source: Bulk candy sales from CandyStore.com
Short for New England Confectionary Company (“Co”), Necco is the maker of Necco Wafers, Mary Janes, Clark Bars, Candy Buttons, Squirrel Nut Zippers and more beloved old-fashioned candy. Those candy hearts with little amorous messages on them are a Valentine's Day staple, and Sapers says Sugar Heaven will buy up as many as it can if it looks like NECCO won't survive. It's like people say they're chalky or whatever," Haugh says. At Sugar Heaven in Somerville, Mass., David Sapers points out that there is a lot more NECCO on his shelves than just those controversial wafers. The flavors have been described as “tropical drywall,” “plaster surprise,” and “attic citrus.” One Twitter commentator calls it a candy that “only a psychopath would like.”
And yet, like anything appreciated only after it... The classic roll has an incongruous mix of flavors, including orange, licorice and clove. I still have a fine collection of Red Ryders & I watch the movie “A Christmas Story” every Christmas & still eat the occasional wafer. If you’re making chalkboard art, then by all means. "They're definitely not a normal thing for people to love. That's the best thing in the entire world," Scannell says. | – CandyStore.com is calling it "the Great NECCO Wafer Panic," and that's no exaggeration. Terrified by reports that the New England Confectionery Co. may soon be out of business, fans of the candy company's sugar wafers are stocking up, with one woman offering to exchange her 2003 Honda Accord for CandyStore.com's hefty stash. The offer was refused, so she bought 48 rolls instead, reports the Boston Globe. Jon Prince of CandyFavorites.com tells NPR that another fan tried to buy his entire stock of NECCO Wafers and cried after learning sales were being limited. "They said they couldn't imagine a world without their NECCO wafers," says Prince. Of course, not everyone loves the wafers, which come in flavors like chocolate, clove, and licorice. "I mean, it is really like chewing on chalk," one man tells NPR. More likely to be missed are NECCO's conversation hearts, always a hit around Valentine's Day. A few weeks after this year's holiday, NECCO said it would be forced to close—meaning 395 lost jobs at its factory in Revere, Mass.—unless it found a buyer by May. NECCO sales on CandyStore.com have jumped 82% in the aftermath, while wafer sales have spiked 150%. The turnaround might not be enough to save NECCO, but "who knows, NECCO wafers might make a comeback the way Twinkies did," Revere's mayor tells the Wall Street Journal. |
New Charlie Sheen Texts: 'The Beast Is Alive'
Now officially fired from Two and a Half Men as of Monday, Charlie Sheen is gearing up for his confrontation with Warner Bros.In a text to PEOPLE, Sheen writes: "Put yourself in my shoes for one warlock nanosecond. | – If you were hoping that Charlie Sheen’s long overdue firing might get the tiger-blood-drinking star off your television set and computer screen for a while … no such luck. Sheen reacted to his ouster in plenty of predictably bizarre ways, which the Hollywood Reporter helpfully rounds up: He drank out of a bottle labeled “Tiger Blood” while waving around a machete on the roof of Live Nation. He released another episode of Sheen’s Korner, which involved him smoking a cigarette out of his nose. He texted People the following: There is “war to wage … The winds are howling tonight. The gods are hungry. The beast is alive. And awake. And deadly.” Meanwhile, TMZ snagged a copy of the letter Warner Brothers sent to Sheen’s lawyer justifying his firing, and New York actually read all 11 pages. Buried amidst the obvious (“Your client … appears to be very ill”), the magazine found some new details. Though Sheen claims he was always ready for work, the letter says he frequently “had difficulty remembering his lines and hitting his marks.” Perhaps even more damning, the letter claims there actually was—despite what Sheen has said—a morals clause in his contract, which he violated by “furnishing cocaine to others.” Click for photos of Sheen waving his machete. |
Doral police arrested Christian David Guevara and charged him with strong arm robbery. They say he threw a 17-year-old girl to the ground and took her iPhone when she wasn’t able to produce cash he demanded. | – Fidel Castro, ragtag communist revolutionary? Not according to a new book that chronicles his alleged luxurious lifestyle and drug-smuggling into the United States. A former bodyguard to Castro, Juan Reinaldo Sanchez—who fled Cuba in 2008 and has made similar allegations before—describes them fully in The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo. In a juicy New York Post excerpt, Sanchez claims that he overheard Castro meeting with a loyal general, José Abrantes, about drug trafficking: "What business!" Sanchez writes, with co-writer Axel Gylden. "Very simply, a huge drug-trafficking transaction was being carried out at the highest echelons of the state." According to the book, Castro and Gen. Abrantes discussed smuggling cocaine into the US. Castro's reasoning: "If the Yanks were stupid enough to use drugs that came from Colombia, not only was that not his problem ... it served his revolutionary objectives in the sense that it corrupted and destabilized American society," the book reads. Sanchez also accuses Castro of covering up his involvement by engineering sham trials that led to the deaths of two devoted officers, including Abrantes; this fueled the alcoholism of brother Raul, who feared he would be next. Imprisoned in Cuba for two years before fleeing, Sanchez has already accused Castro of secretly living a luxurious life that includes an 88-foot yacht and a Caribbean getaway island, the Miami Herald reported last year. |
A network rep claims that the decision to not move forward with the animated comedy came before an anonymous woman alleged that the former 'Silicon Valley' star sexually assaulted her in 2001. Comedy Central has canceled T.J. Miller's animated series The Gorburger Show after one season. News of the cancellation came Tuesday, the same day the former Silicon Valley star was accused of sexual assault and violence by an anonymous woman in a Daily Beast story, though a rep for the network claims that the decision to not move forward with a second season of the show predated the allegations, with one source noting it happened in July. The woman alleges that while she and Miller were seeing each other in college at George Washington University in 2001, the actor strangled her and punched her in the mouth during sex. She also said he penetrated her anally without her consent, and later did the same with a beer bottle. Miller has denied the claims, writing in a statement with his wife, Kate, that the woman is "using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations." The married couple added that they think it is "unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators. We stand together and will not allow this person to take advantage of a serious movement toward gender equality by allowing her to use this moment to muddy the water with an unrelated personal agenda." Miller executive produced and starred on the eight-episode comedy, which aired from April 9-June 4 on Comedy Central. The actor-comedian voiced the host of the show, a giant blue space monster who has invaded a Japanese morning talk show and held its staff hostage as he attempts to understand what it means to be human by interviewing celebrities and musical artists. Guests included Rob Corddry, Larry King, Tig Notaro, Drew Pinsky and Reggie Watts. The alien puppet talk show was created by Ryan K. McNeal and Josh Martin, with the pair writing, directing and executive producing the comedy alongside Sean Boyle for Funny or Die. The Gorburger Show previously ran for two seasons and 19 episodes on Funny or Die before moving to HBO as a pilot in 2015 and eventually landing at the Viacom-owned network earlier this year. Elsewhere, Miller has a number of films coming up. Among them: Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon 3, Kristen Stewart starrer Underwater and Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 2. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox declined to comment on the allegations. Meanwhile, DreamWorks and Underwater producer Chernin Entertainment did not respond to requests for comment. Miller made headlines when he abruptly left Silicon Valley, the breakout HBO comedy on which he played fan-favorite Erlich Bachman for four seasons. In a wide-ranging exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the time, Miller took shots at executive producer Alec Berg ("I don't know how smart [Alec] is. He went to Harvard, and we all know those kids are fucking idiots. That Crimson trash") and star Thomas Middleditch ("I'm not sitting here saying, 'I need more lines. I'm not funny enough.' I'm not Thomas Middleditch"), and explained that he was leaving the hit series because he'd rather "parasail into the Cannes Film Festival for The Emoji Movie because that's the next new funny thing that will make people laugh." | – Comic and Silicon Valley star TJ Miller is the latest celeb accused of sexual assault, but he and his wife have issued a joint statement strongly denying the allegations. The Daily Beast first reported the accusations, made by an anonymous woman who knew Miller from their days at George Washington University more than a decade ago. She claims Miller assaulted her in two separate incidents: In the first, she says he punched her in the mouth during consensual sex, fracturing a tooth. In the second, she says he forcefully choked her during sex and "anally penetrated me without my consent." On Instagram, Miller denies the claims, which were addressed by a student court at the time, though the school will not divulge the outcome. “We met this woman over a decade ago while studying together in college, she attempted to break us up back then by plotting for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations," writes Miller with his wife, Kate. He adds that he's sure an investigation would clear him. Miller also accuses the woman of "using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations." Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter notes that Comedy Central announced Tuesday it was canceling Miller's animated series, The Gorburger Show, after one season. However, a network rep says the move is not related to the new controversy. |
Herrera, of the 2400 block of South Marshall Boulevard, was dead at the scene. The youngest person killed during one of the bloodiest weekends in Chicago this year, 15-year-old Michael Westley, was fatally shot by a police officer Sunday night. The rash of violent crime came as Chicago has seen a large dip in overall homicide and shooting numbers so far this year. When asked whether this weekend's shooting numbers cast doubt on the department's crime-fighting strategies, Chicago police spokesman Adam Collins insisted they are working, noting the city has so far in 2013 posted its lowest homicide totals in years. Collins also reiterated a position that police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has expressed publicly throughout the year when discussing the department's crime-fighting efforts. We're halfway through one of the least-deadly years in recent Chicago homicide history, but here's a reminder that summer is just getting started: at least 41 were shot and 7 killed in Chicago this weekend. Earlier Saturday, about 10:50 p.m., Ricardo Herrera, 21, was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in the Little Village neighborhood when a gunman opened fire in the 2500 block of South Ridgeway Avenue. What's perhaps most striking about the Tribune report is the amount of residue from the violence still left on the streets, which they describe as "literally stained:"
"In the city’s Little Village neighborhood, 15 lit memorial candles stood in blood...About five miles away, a long trail of blood remained splattered in a Northwest Side alley — and on the bumper of a nearby car — where 16-year-old Kevin Rivera tried to run from a gunman on a bicycle, authorities told the Tribune." He was killed late Saturday when a gunman on a bicycle shot Rivera as he walked in an alley not far from his home on the 1500 block of North Keystone. He collapsed down the block from where he was shot about 11:45 p.m. Friends and family gathered Sunday outside the Humboldt Park home of Kevin Rivera to sign a poster and light candles to remember the 16-year-old. Victims this weekend include Kevin Rivera, a 16-year-old who tried to flee gunmen on his bike; Ricardo Herrera, 21; Todd Wood, 40, who was killed in a mass shooting at a club (two others were wounded); Cortez Wilberton, 31; Jamal Jones, 19; and Antwon Johnson, 24, who was shot by police:
"[Johnson was shot] after he raised a 9-millimeter handgun in their direction after bailing from a moving car and falling, police said. His mother disputed that account. "It's not true," said Stacy Liberty. “How could someone have a gun and point it to you if they’re already on the ground?” Liberty said the car had been lurching down the block because the people in the car were trying to identify an address. The presence of a police car behind them must have made Johnson nervous, his mother said." "He hasn’t been in trouble in a while," said Liberty, who rushed to the scene and recalled seeing her son's lifeless body in the alley. A few minutes after midnight Sunday, 40-year-old Todd Wood, of the 8100 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, was killed and three others were wounded when a gunman walked up to the open door of the club in the 900 block of East 79th Street in the Chatham neighborhood and opened fire. Three others were wounded in that attack, police said. Cortez Wilberton, 31, of the 200 block of South Lavergne Avenue, was fatally shot about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. A former gang member, Wilberton had a lengthy criminal record that included at least 30 arrests, according to court records. Still recovering from reconstructive surgery, he mostly stayed indoors at night but was gunned down at 1:35 a.m. on the 200 block of South Keeler Avenue in the Austin neighborhood. Her son, Jamal Jones, was shot at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday while riding his bike home from a family member's house through the 7400 block of South Parnell Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood, police and relatives said. Jones, of the 8800 block of South Yale Avenue, died about an hour later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. And when Jamal Jones's family went to the scene where the 19-year-old was shot, they found his bike still there, along with needles left behind from the paramedics. “While we’ve had fewer murders to date this year than any year since the mid-1960s, there’s more work to be done and we won’t rest until everyone in Chicago enjoys the same sense of safety,” Collins wrote. | – The news out of Chicago just five days ago was encouraging: after a murder-riddled 2012, this year's murder rate had plummeted to a level not seen in 50 years. Today, the news is of a darker nature. Between Friday afternoon and Sunday, a total of 46 people were shot in the city, seven fatally, per the Tribune. (Other sources put the tally slightly lower.) The stat does represent a sort of improvement: The Tribune reports that around this time last year, those numbers were 53 and nine, respectively. And the Atlantic Wire notes that a deadlier weekend has already occurred in 2013: January closed with eight deaths. The youngest victim, 16-year-old Kevin Rivera, apparently tried to flee from a gunman on a bicycle late Saturday. The dead teen's family was just two weeks away from a move from their sometimes dangerous Hermosa neighborhood. |
LIMA (Reuters) - Prosecutors in Peru suspect that a Canadian man murdered a revered indigenous medicine woman in an Amazonian village last week before being lynched in retribution, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said on Tuesday. Funeral of Olivia Arevalo, an 81-year-old indigenous shaman of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe who was shot dead near her home in Ucayali, in Pucallpa, Peru April 21, 2018. REUTERS/ Hugo Enrique Alejos
Olivia Arevalo, an 81-year-old shaman of the Shipibo-Conibo tribe, was shot to death near her home in the region of Ucayali on Thursday, prompting outrage from villagers who blamed Sebastian Woodroffe, a native of Vancouver Island. Prosecutors had initially been pursuing several potential leads into who killed Arevalo. But their main hypotheses now is that Woodroffe murdered Arevalo because he was upset that her son had not repaid him 14,000 soles ($4,335), said Ricardo Jimenez, the head of a regional group of prosecutors. Authorities found a document showing that Woodroffe bought a gun on April 3 from a police officer, Jimenez said, adding that the police officer is now being sought for questioning. A witness also testified that a silver-colored pistol fell from a backpack that Woodroffe was carrying as villagers grabbed him before the lynching, Jimenez said. “We want to see if that weapon actually existed. We haven’t found it yet but we’re looking,” Jimenez said. “With the new evidence that has appeared, he is the main suspect.”
Neither Woodroffe’s nor Arevalo’s family could be reached for comment. Police officers carry the body of Sebastian Woodroffe, a 41-year-old Canadian citizen, who was beaten and strangled with a rope in the jungle region of Ucayali on Friday after members of an indigenous community accused him of killing a revered medicine woman, in Pucallpa, Peru April 21, 2018. REUTERS/ Hugo Enrique Alejos
Arevalo was considered a wealth of knowledge about Amazonian plants and native traditions. Yarrow Willard, a friend of Woodroffe’s in Canada, said Woodroffe was not violent and had never used a gun. “He was a loving father and kind man who was not capable of the crimes he was accused of,” Willard said in an email. Willard said Woodroffe had gone to Peru “seeking healing as he was feeling troubled and slightly lost.”
The case has spotlighted surging tourism in Peru’s Amazon related to the hallucinogenic plant brew ayahuasca, which has long been used by tribes in spiritual and healing rituals and is now popular among foreigners seeking vivid spiritual experiences or help with addiction. Woodroffe traveled to Peru to learn about ayahuasca and plant medicine so he could become an addictions counselor, according to his post on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com. Tests of Woodroffe’s remains are expected to determine if he fired a weapon or was intoxicated before dying. Authorities have expedited the laboratory work and results are now expected this week, instead of in more than two weeks as initially estimated, Jimenez said. Two men sought by police for allegedly lynching Woodroffe appear to have fled, Jimenez said. In 2015, a Canadian killed a friend in self-defense during an ayahuasca session. In 2012, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen died after taking the drug and workers at an ayahuasca retreat tried to hide his body. | – The Canadian man lynched in the Amazon last Thursday is the No. 1 suspect in the death of an octogenarian shaman, prosecutors say. Reuters reports on the new evidence that brought them to that conclusion: a silver-colored pistol prosecutor Ricardo Jimenez says Sebastian Woodroffe purchased in early April. They were told by a witness that the pistol tumbled out of the 41-year-old's backpack when locals, angry over Olivia Arevalo's death, grabbed him; he was subsequently lynched. Jimenez says no weapon has been found, but "he is the main suspect." As for a motive, Jimenez says Arevalo's son owed Woodroffe nearly $4,500, though Jimenez told the BBC Arevalo's family claims Woodroffe became enraged when Arevalo wouldn't conduct an ayahuasca ceremony for him. Meanwhile, the AP reports Peru's attorney general has ordered two suspects be arrested in connection with Woodroffe's death. It adds forensic experts are examining the Canadian's remains to see if there is any evidence of his shooting Arevalo. (This ayahuasca ceremony ended in death in 2015.) |
Planned Parenthood filed a racketeering lawsuit against anti-abortion activist David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress group on Thursday, calling the group "a complex criminal enterprise conceived and executed by anti-abortion extremists." In July, the CMP began releasing edited videos of conversations with Planned Parenthood doctors, secretly recorded by anti-abortion activists posing as medical tissue firm officials. The videos claimed they exposed illegal sales of fetal tissues by Planned Parenthood to a tissue bank called Stem Express, as well as illegal abortion procedures. Planned Parenthood denied the claims, which sparked Congressional hearings and investigations in 10 states, and released a report calling the videos deceptive. Now the women's health organization, which performs about one-third of all abortions nationwide, is filing suit in the Northern California federal district against the CMP. "The express aim of the enterprise — which stretched over years and involved fake companies, fake identifications, and large-scale illegal taping — was a to demonize Planned Parenthood," the lawsuit says. "Planned Parenthood provides high-quality compassionate care and has done nothing wrong," said Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, in a briefing on the lawsuit. "Game on," Daleiden told BuzzFeed News by email. "I look forward to taking the depositions of all the Planned Parenthood CEOs who profited off of their business relationship with StemExpress." Racketeering lawsuits typically ask for triple damages, and the lawsuit asks for payments for Planned Parenthood's increased security costs and penalties for violation of confidentiality agreements. Three people died in a shooting at a Colorado clinic in November, and Planned Parenthood cited death threats as a result of the videos. In addition to Daleiden, Planned Parenthood named prominent anti-abortion activist Troy Newman of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue in the suit, as well as some CMP activists whose names were previously undisclosed by the group. | – The undercover "sting" videos targeting Planned Parenthood were part of a "complex criminal enterprise" created by "anti-abortion extremists," according to a federal lawsuit filed by the organization. The lawsuit filed Thursday against an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress accuses the group of committing fraud and breaking racketeering laws to obtain videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing the transfer of organs from aborted fetuses, Reuters reports. The lawsuit states that the group's activities lasted years and involved the use of fake government IDs, the creation of a fake company, and "large-scale illegal taping" as part of an effort to "demonize Planned Parenthood." "The people behind this fraud lied and broke the law in order to spread malicious lies," Planned Parenthood executive vice president Dawn Laguens tells the AP. "This lawsuit exposes the elaborate, illegal conspiracy designed to block women's access to safe and legal abortion." She says no Planned Parenthood staff were involved in any wrongdoing. "My response is: Game on," Center for Medical Progress founder David Daleiden tells BuzzFeed, adding that he is looking forward to "taking the depositions of all the Planned Parenthood CEOs" that he claims profited from tissue sales. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, and Planned Parenthood lawyer Beth Parker tells the AP that the amount will include the cost of extra security for clinics. |
Arguably, the only widely-known soccer player remaining in the 2018 World Cup is Brazil’s Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior. His rolling on the field during a game against Serbia, after being knocked by an opponent, has become both a meme and a hashtag. It's not often that a commercial can be super relevant and timely, but somehow, the team behind advertising for KFC in South Africa was ready to turn a great World Cup moment into a bit of marketing genius. #NeymarRolling is all the rage these days. Absolutely unreal advertisement from KFC South Africa 😂🤣pic.twitter.com/5MqGJkDB6L — Jack Grimse (@JackGrimse) July 5, 2018
Diving, the term for soccer players trying to trick referees into thinking that they’re injured, is a controversial tactic aimed at getting referees to call fouls, which can lead to penalty kicks, or yellow or red cards. The World Cup has been on everyone’s lips lately but it’s Neymar's elaborate diving, rolling and flopping that has been dominating conversations. | – Neymar's histrionics on the soccer field have become legendary, but now they may also prove lucrative—at least for KFC South Africa, if its latest ad draws people into its restaurants. Fortune reports on the chain's minute-long spot, which shows a soccer player flailing and rolling after he falls during a play. He rolls right out of the stadium, through town, and right to the door of KFC, where he's suddenly able to stand to place his order. See it here. The spot doesn't reference Neymar by name, but the Brazilian superstar has been known to do some theatrical rolls of his own—see here. Sports Illustrated and USA Today think KFC is clearly mocking Neymar, though EWN suggests the ad came out at the start of the tournament, prompting it to ask, "Did KFC Predict Neymar Flopping"? |
Senators have voted to pass the federal government's bill legalizing recreational marijuana by a vote of 52-29, with two abstentions, paving the way for a fully legal cannabis market within eight to 12 weeks. Independent Sen. André Pratte, who disagrees with the government's decision to force provinces to accept home cultivation, said he was angry the bill passed without the major amendments posed by the Senate. The conflict between the elected House of Commons and the unelected Senate ramped up last week with the government’s rejection of several key Senate amendments — most notably one linked to home cultivation. The legislation -- an electoral promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party --allows adults in Canada to legally possess and use small amounts of recreational cannabis. Some critics say the penalties are too harsh and not proportional to similar laws like those around selling alcohol to minors. However, the government's own task force recommended 18, warning that setting the age limit too high could continue to encourage youth to buy marijuana on the illegal market. Among the 13 amendments that the federal Liberals rejected were the proposal to allow the provinces and territories to ban home-grown marijuana, and a proposed change to prohibit pot producers from distributing branded merchandise. A spokesperson for Manitoba’s justice minister told Global News on Tuesday that the minister is “satisfied that provinces have the legal authority to restrict home grown cannabis, up to and including prohibition” and that the Manitoba would be “willing to defend our position if challenged.”
WATCH: How teach province is tackling marijuana legalization
READ MORE: Quebec premier won’t rule out legal challenge if Ottawa allows home-grown cannabis
Impaired driving bill still languishing
One other complication also remains: the government’s second marijuana bill, linked to drug-impaired driving. That window of time between when the bill passes and when it becomes federal law is to allow for the provinces, territories, municipalities, police forces, and other stakeholders to make sure their piece of the pot pie is operating in accordance with the new rules. Quebec, Manitoba and Nunavut have all decided they don’t want to allow home grows, in spite of the federal government’s desire to permit four plants per household. <a href="https://t.co/y9CKJo7054">https://t.co/y9CKJo7054</a> —@LindaFrum
Another significant Senate amendment quashed by the government would have banned the distribution of branded "swag" by pot companies, such as T-shirts, hats and phone cases that display a company logo. On Monday, the government gave notice of its position on the Senate changes, stating that it “respectfully disagrees” with these two changes. | – Canadian lawmakers have taken the final step toward legalizing recreational marijuana—and it will become official as soon as Queen Elizabeth II's representative signs off on it. A bill ending the country's 95-year prohibition on cannabis passed Canada's Senate by a vote of 52 to 29, CTV reports. After royal assent is granted—which could happen as soon as Wednesday—the government will set a date for the new law, Bill C-45, to come into force. The bill grants provinces a "buffer period" of eight to 12 weeks to prepare for legal marijuana sales, meaning Canadians over 18 could be able to buy legal pot as soon as September, the CBC reports. Canadians will also be allowed to grow small amounts of pot for recreational use. Independent Sen. Tony Dean, the bill's Senate sponsor, said he was feeling "great," Global News reports. "We've just witnessed a historic vote for Canada. The end of 90 years of prohibition," he said. He added that it is now time to start addressing the harms of cannabis and the $7 billion illegal market, an approach echoed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana - and for criminals to reap the profits," he tweeted. "Today, we change that." The bill makes Canada only the second country, after Uruguay, to legalize recreational use of cannabis nationwide, reports the BBC. (Canadian pot growers started ramping up production last year.) |
FILE - This Wednesday, May 23, 2018 satellite file image provided by DigitalGlobe, shows the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea. North Korea has carried out what it says is the demolition of its nuclear... (Associated Press)
PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea (AP) — North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area. The planned closing was previously announced by leader Kim Jong Un ahead of his planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next month. The North's decision to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site has generally been seen as a welcome gesture by Kim to set a positive tone ahead of the summit. Even so, it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trump's demands for real denuclearization. By bringing in the foreign media, mainly television networks, the North is apparently hoping to have images of the closing — including explosions to collapse tunnel entrances — broadcast around the world. The group included an Associated Press Television crew. The North did not invite international inspectors to the ceremony, which limits its value as a serious concession. | – North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area, reports the AP. The planned closing was previously announced by Kim Jong Un ahead of his planned summit with President Trump next month. Sky News correspondent Tom Cheshire was on hand, and described it thusly: "We hiked up into the mountains and watched the detonation from about 500 meters away. ... There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud." The North's decision to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site has generally been seen as a welcome gesture by Kim to set a positive tone ahead of the summit. Even so, it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trump's demands for real denuclearization. By bringing in the foreign media, mainly television networks, the North is apparently hoping to have images of the closing—including explosions to collapse tunnel entrances—broadcast around the world. The group included an AP television crew. The North did not invite international inspectors to the ceremony, which limits its value as a serious concession. (Pyongyang is apparently all over the place on Thursday.) |
CAIRO (AP) — An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning. The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State group, which now holds territory along the border of Syria and Iraq. The video ended with an Islamic State fighter threatening a man they identified as an American. "Obama, you have started your aerial bombard of Shams (Syria), which keep on striking our people, so it is only right that we strike the next of your people," a masked militant said. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the video's authenticity, though it was released in the same manner as other Islamic State group videos. This is the fourth such video released by the Islamic State group. The full beheadings are not shown in the videos, but the British-accented, English-speaking militant holds a long knife and appears to begin cutting the three men, American reporters James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines. Henning, 47, nicknamed "Gadget," had joined an aid convoy and was taken captive on Dec. 26, shortly after crossing the border between Turkey and Syria. | – ISIS today released another video showing the beheading of a hostage, this time British citizen Alan Henning, reports AP. The video follows the same pattern as the previous three, in which an Islamic State fighter rants against the West. At the end of the video, the militant threatens an American aid worker who has been identified as Peter Kassig, a former US Army veteran who became a volunteer in the Mideast. "Obama, you have started your aerial bombard of Shams (Syria), which keep on striking our people, so it is only right that we strike the next of your people," says the militant. Henning, a taxi driver, was captured in Syria last year while delivering food and water as a volunteer to people affected by the civil war, reports CNN. His wife had pleaded publicly for his release. |
The President’s Executive Order falls squarely within his lawful authority in seeking to protect our Nation’s security, and the Department will continue to defend this Executive Order in the courts.”
(Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)
Watson was one of three federal judges to hear arguments Wednesday about the ban, though he was the first to issue an opinion. A federal judge in Maryland says he will issue a ruling in a lawsuit challenging President... (Associated Press)
The Latest on legal challenges to the Trump administration's revised travel ban (all times Pacific unless noted):
12:50 p.m.
A federal judge in Hawaii has put President Donald Trump's revised travel ban on hold. In a blistering 43-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson pointed to Trump’s own comments and those of his close advisers as evidence that his order was meant to discriminate against Muslims and declared there was a “strong likelihood of success” that those suing would prove the directive violated the Constitution. "The illogic of the Government’s contentions is palpable," wrote Watson, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “The notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed.”
Early Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland issued a second, narrower injunction against the measure — suspending only the portion that stopped the issuance of visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries. The judge spent much of the Wednesday hearing grilling the lawyers about two seemingly conflicting federal laws on immigration — one which gives the president the authority to keep any class of aliens out of the country, and another that forbids the government from discriminating on the basis of nationality when it comes to issuing immigrant visas. At a rally in Nashville on Wednesday, Trump called the Hawaii court ruling “terrible” and asked a cheering crowd whether the ruling was “done by a judge for political reasons.” He said the administration would fight the case “as far as it needs to go,” including up to the Supreme Court, and rued that he had been persuaded to sign a “watered-down version” of his first travel ban. I think we should go back to the first one and go all the way which is what I wanted to do in the first place." Show me the right way to do it legally.’ ”
Watson also pointed to a recent Fox News appearance by Stephen Miller, in which the president’s senior policy adviser said the new ban would have “mostly minor technical differences” from the previous iteration frozen by the courts, and Americans would see “the same basic policy outcome for the country.”
“These plainly-worded statements, made in the months leading up to and contemporaneous with the signing of the Executive Order, and, in many cases, made by the Executive himself, betray the Executive Order’s stated secular purpose,” Watson wrote. “The danger is clear, the law is clear, the need for my executive order is clear.”
Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said in a statement: “The Department of Justice strongly disagrees with the federal district court’s ruling, which is flawed both in reasoning and in scope. Trump effectively abandoned the earlier, broader version of his travel ban order after the bulk of it was blocked by another federal judge and a three-judge appeals court panel declined to allow Trump to restore it. "The President’s actions might have been more aggressive than those of his predecessors, but that was his prerogative," Judge Jay Bybee and four other Republican-appointed appeals judges wrote in a dissent from the decision not to reconsider the appeals court's earlier ruling. The administration could have defended the first ban in court — though it chose instead to rewrite the president’s executive order in such a way that it might be more defensible. In that case, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang also pointed to statements by Trump and his advisers made that, in Chuang’s opinion, indicated the executive order was “the realization of the long-envisioned Muslim ban.”
“These statements, which include explicit, direct statements of President Trump’s animus toward Muslims and intention to impose a ban on Muslims entering the United States, present a convincing case that the First Executive Order was issued to accomplish, as nearly as possible, President Trump’s promised Muslim ban,” Chuang wrote. Watson's ruling — applicable "in all places, including the United States" — blocked two core provisions of Trump's redrafted order: a 90-day halt in issuance of visas to citizens of six majority-Muslim countries and a 120-day halt of refugee admissions from around the globe. The judge's 43-page decision was issued about two hours after a court session in Honolulu during which he heard arguments over the legality of the revised order, which Trump signed last week. A federal judge in Hawaii on Wednesday issued a sweeping freeze of President Trump’s new executive order hours before it would have temporarily barred the issuance of new visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of new refugees. The rulings followed a series of four court hearings on Trump's revised travel ban held in the hours before it was set to take effect. In addition to the court sessions in Honolulu and Greenbelt, Maryland, two hearings took place in
Seattle, where U.S. District Court Judge James Robart listened to arguments on a suit filed by individuals in Washington state and their family members abroad. In addition, a group of about half a dozen states asked Robart, the same judge who issued the injunction last month blocking Trump's first travel ban, to declare that his initial ruling covers the president's replacement order. Ferguson said Robart should consider Washington state's new emergency motion for a temporary restraining order if he doesn't see fit to issue an order in the case by the rights group or to rule immediately on a prior motion by Washington state. Several individuals and groups including the American Civil Liberties Union originally filed the lawsuit in February over the initial ban, which was blocked in court and later revised. “They bear the burden of showing irreparable harm … and there is no harm at all,” said the acting U.S. solicitor general, Jeffrey Wall, who argued on behalf of the government in Greenbelt, Md., in the morning and by phone in Hawaii in the afternoon. Justice Department lawyers argued that Trump was well within his authority to impose the ban, which was necessary for national security, and that those challenging it had raised only speculative harms. The Maryland suit was filed last month by two refugee aid groups, the International Refugee Assistance Project and HIAS, a Jewish charity that facilitates refugee resettlement in the U.S. for the federal government. Bob Ferguson, the Washington state attorney general who asked Robart to block the measure, called the Hawaii ruling “fantastic news.” Justin Cox, a staff attorney for the National Immigration Law Center who argued for a restraining order in the case in Maryland, said, “This is absolutely a victory and should be celebrated as such, especially because the court held that the plaintiffs, that Hawaii was likely to succeed on its establishment clause claim which essentially is that the primary purpose of the executive order is to discriminate against Muslims.”
Cox said while the judge did not halt the order entirely, he blocked the crucial sections — those halting the issuance of new visas and suspending the refugee program. Lornet Turnbull in Seattle contributed to this report. | – A federal judge in Hawaii blocked President Trump's revised travel ban just hours before it was set to go into effect across the country, the Washington Post reports. Hawaii had filed a lawsuit over the new executive order, which halted visas for citizens from six Muslim-majority nations for 90 days and stopped new refugees for 120 days, claiming it hurts tourism, business, and universities and would keep people from those six countries from visiting family in Hawaii. The state alleged the order, which also cuts the number of refugees allowed in the US next year in half, was essentially a Muslim ban. US District Judge Derrick Watson froze the order Wednesday, saying Hawaii has a "strong likelihood of success on their claim," according to Politico. More than six states are currently trying to halt the new travel ban, the AP reports. Arguments against it were also scheduled to be heard in Maryland and Washington state on Wednesday. Trump issued the revised travel ban after his first attempt was blocked by a federal judge in Washington state. Justice Department lawyers defending the new executive order said the ban was well within the president's power and claimed its potential harms were only speculation. |
Is divorce seasonal? UW research shows biannual spike in divorce filings
Deborah Bach News and Information
To everything there is a season — even divorce, new research from University of Washington sociologists concludes. Associate sociology professor Julie Brines and doctoral candidate Brian Serafini found what is believed to be the first quantitative evidence of a seasonal, biannual pattern of filings for divorce. The researchers analyzed filings in Washington state between 2001 and 2015 and found that they consistently peaked in March and August, the periods following winter and summer holidays. Their research, presented Aug. 21 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Seattle, suggests that divorce filings may be driven by a “domestic ritual” calendar governing family behavior. Winter and summer holidays are culturally sacred times for families, Brines said, when filing for divorce is considered inappropriate, even taboo. And troubled couples may see the holidays as a time to mend relationships and start anew: We’ll have a happy Christmas together as a family or take the kids for a nice camping trip, the thinking goes, and things will be better. “People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past,” Brines said. “They represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. It’s like an optimism cycle, in a sense. “They’re very symbolically charged moments in time for the culture.”
But holidays are also emotionally charged and stressful for many couples and can expose fissures in a marriage. The consistent pattern in filings, the researchers believe, reflects the disillusionment unhappy spouses feel when the holidays don’t live up to expectations. They may decide to file for divorce in August, following the family vacation and before the kids start school. But what explains the spike in March, several months after the winter holidays? Couples need time to get finances in order, find an attorney or simply summon the courage to file for divorce, Brines suggests. Though the same considerations apply in summer, Brines thinks the start of the school year school may hasten the timing, at least for couples with children. Suicides also tend to peak in spring, and some experts have said the longer days and increased activity elevates mood enough to motivate people to act. Brines wonders if similar forces are at play with divorce filings. Brines and Serafini weren’t initially looking for a pattern in divorce filings when they set out to investigate the effects of the recession, such as rising unemployment rates and declining house values, on marital stability. Poring over divorce filings for counties throughout Washington, they began noticing variations from month to month and were startled to see a pattern emerge. “It was very robust from year to year, and very robust across counties,” Brines said. The pattern persisted even after accounting for other seasonal factors such as unemployment and the housing market. The researchers reasoned that if the pattern was tied to family holidays, other court actions involving families — such as guardianship rulings — should show a similar pattern, while claims less related to family structure wouldn’t. And they found exactly that: The timing of guardianship filings resembled that of divorce filings, but property claims, for example, did not. The divorce filing pattern shifted somewhat during the recession, showing a peak earlier in the year and one in the fall, and more volatility overall. Given uncertainty about financial considerations like housing values and employment, Brines said, it’s not surprising the pattern was disrupted. But the shift in the pattern during the recession is not statistically significant, she said. Their research excluded two of Washington’s 39 counties, Lincoln and Wahkiakum. The small, rural counties are among few nationwide that allow marriages to be ended by mail, without a court appearance. Since anyone in Washington can file for divorce in the two counties, the researchers thought they would skew the results — specifically, they figured filings might peak more quickly after the holidays, given the simpler process. But they examined filings in Lincoln County, the only county to accept divorce by mail since 2001, and saw the same pattern, albeit more pronounced, as elsewhere in the state. “That leads me to think that it takes some time emotionally for people to take this step,” Brines said. “Filing for divorce, whether you do it by mail or appear in court, is a big step.”
The researchers are now looking at whether the filing pattern they identified translates to other states. They examined data for four other states — Ohio, Minnesota, Florida and Arizona — that have similar divorce laws as Washington but differ in demographics and economic conditions, particularly during the recession. Florida and Arizona were among states hit hardest by the real estate collapse, and Ohio had higher than average employment rates. Despite those differences, Brines said, the pattern persisted. “What I can tell you is that the seasonal pattern of divorce filings is more or less the same,” she said. For more information, contact Brines at brines@uw.edu or 206-685-9067. | – They didn't set out to do a study on divorce, but two University of Washington researchers poring over a range of sociological data saw such a clear pattern emerge that they've ended up with one: It turns out that that married couples divorce most often in March and August. When the researchers plotted the data from 2001 to 2015, the divorce spike in those two months was both striking and consistent, they write in a press release. And while that data comes exclusively from Washington state, it seems to apply nationwide. The researchers followed up with a look at data from Ohio, Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona, and found the same pattern. So what's going on? They think winter holidays and summer vacations are a big factor. These are both "culturally sacred times for families," says associate sociology professor Julie Brines, per the UW release. That is, couples may be reluctant to split around Christmas, or just ahead of an annual vacation, and instead view those times instead as an opportunity to mend a troubled relationship. "One last shot," as Brines puts it, per the Atlantic. If they fail, the added stress of the holidays or the tight quarters of a vacation then push the couple toward divorce. The delay from post-holidays to March in the divorce filings may be because the holidays put such a heavy dent in the wallet, notes Bustle. That's less of an issue in the summer, and the researchers speculate that, for couples with kids, the start of school may actually speed things along. (This woman was selling her wedding dress to pay for her divorce, complete with "stench of betrayal.") |
Footage of pecking, mammography-reading pigeons may seem hilarious, but it's serious business for scientists testing whether pigeons could be trainable observers of pathology and radiology breast cancer images. [Why scientists got an alligator to inhale helium]
But what happens when the radiologists are pigeons? The birds proved to have a remarkable ability to distinguish benign from malignant human breast histopathology after training with differential food reinforcement; even more importantly, the pigeons were able to generalize what they had learned when confronted with novel image sets. Advertisement
As reported in paper published today in PLOS One, Richard Levenson and University of Iowa psychologist Edward Wasserman showed their chosen pigeons images of tissue samples that were either benign or malignant, and the birds would peck on blue or yellow rectangles on a touch-screen monitor to indicate their choice. After just nine days, the cohort was getting more than 80 percent of its classifications correct. Initial experiments focused on conventionally stained and digitally scanned breast pathology slides, starting with low (4×) and extending to medium (10×) and high (20×) levels of magnification. Scientists have trained a flock of pigeons to be feathered pathologists, able to spot telltale signs of breast cancer in medical images nearly as well as their human counterparts. [100 years after the passenger pigeon's demise, American birds fight to survive]
So should human radiologists watch their back for oncoming pigeons? It could also make future research cheaper, said Wasserman, who notes that pigeons “might be able to be an effective human stand-in” in additional experiments related to medical imagery. | – Human radiologists, look out. Pigeons turn out to be expert mammogram readers after very little training, at least according to a study published this week in PLoS ONE. Using 16 pigeons in a chamber with a touchscreen, scientists trained them to peck at one of two colored buttons to correspond with the type of image they were being shown; if they got it right, they got food. It turns out that those beady little eyes picked up patterns showing malignant versus benign breast tissue very well and very fast. At first, as they were trained for what to spot, they were right 50% of the time. "In some sense, the pigeon and the person are starting at the same place," says one researcher, experimental psychologist Edward Wasserman. "They're equally naive." But a mere two weeks into the experiment the pigeons were identifying the images correctly 85% of the time, reports the Washington Post. What's more, the birds were able to take what they'd learned from the first, familiar set of slides and apply it to new images they'd never seen before, boasting a success rate that was just a few percentage points lower. And they performed even better as a flock than individually—with a success rate maxing out at 99% when required to "vote" as a group, reports Gizmodo. It's more likely that robots, not pigeons, will be the ones to take the place of humans someday. But Wasserman hopes pigeons will be taken more seriously and studied more closely. "The pigeon has kind of a bum rap," he says. "Humans are not the only intelligent animals walking and swimming and flying on Earth." It's also helpful, he tells Discover, that they're "workaholics." (Pigeons have a biological GPS.) |
NEW YORK (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is creating a task force to conduct investigations into nail salons around New York, following a report of widespread exploitation of workers. The New York Times ( http://nyti.ms/1zVy99x ) reported Monday that Cuomo says he will not stand by as workers are deprived of wages. A two-part investigative series in the Times found nail salon workers were forced to toil long hours amid toxic chemicals performing manicures and pedicures for little wages. The Times stories also reported many workers suffered serious health problems and there was little, if any, protection for them. Cuomo says the plans are taking shape after the reports last week. He says salons will be required to post signs in a half-dozen languages that inform works of their rights. ___
Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com | – A New York Times exposé by Sarah Maslin Nir about the exploitation of nail salon workers has caught the attention of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced he's putting emergency measures into place to go after wage theft and health hazards in the industry, the AP reports. In a statement cited by the Times, Cuomo said he's setting up a task force, effective immediately, to check salons individually, come up with mandates to protect workers from possibly dangerous chemicals wafting around their salons, and conduct a six-language educational campaign to let workers know this kind of debasement isn't OK. "We will not stand idly by as workers are deprived of their hard-earned wages and robbed of their most basic rights," Cuomo said in the statement. Several government agencies, including the Health Department, were spurred into action last week after the two-part Times article ran. Rules going into effect ASAP include publicly posted signage (in different languages) in salons listing workers' rights, a requirement that manicurists wear gloves and masks, and a mandate that all salons are bonded so employees can recoup wages if it's found they've been denied rightful earnings, per the Times. Cuomo's office says the task force agencies won't probe workers' immigration status. Creating the emergency plan allowed Cuomo to skirt red tape. "The article highlighted a significant problem in New York State," the governor's general counsel tells the Times. “We cannot wait to address the problem." (What could help protect workers: more "green" salons.) |
A San Diego man has been banned from flying on Alaska Airlines after an allegation that he harassed a flight attendant — an accusation he said is unfounded and is “reverse discrimination against men.”
Mike Timon, 53, said he is accused of touching the flight attendant’s buttocks while in first-class during an evening flight from Portland to San Diego on Dec. 26. Timon denies the claim, and said he touched the woman “politely” on her back — not her buttocks — to get her attention and order a drink. Instead of a drink, Timon said he was accused of misbehavior and met by police at the end of the flight. Timon reached out to the San Diego Union-Tribune the following day. “For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? I’m blowing up... It’s unnecessary. It’s discrimination toward me,” Timon said. The incident comes amid a national reckoning over sexual harassment, as claims of assault or misconduct have brought down powerful men in politics, media and entertainment, and sparked the #MeToo movement where women disclose their own experiences. Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Ann Johnson declined to discuss specifics of the Dec. 26 incident, citing an open investigation. But she did say in a statement issued Thursday that Alaska “will not be providing further transport to the offending passenger,” pending the investigation outcome. “Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue,” she said. Johnson said Alaska is working to develop and update policies and training “to ensure that crew members have the tools they need to prevent, identify and address sexual harassment on board, and will have more to say about what that looks like later this winter.”
Alaska has been in the news following incidents of alleged harassment. In fall 2016, a man was removed from an Alaska flight after he catcalled a flight attendant demonstrating how to put on a safety vest. As he was taken from the plane, he protested that he “didn’t do anything wrong.”
A passenger detailed the incident on her Facebook page, and wrote: “It was everything we could do to keep from applauding as he was led away.”
And last month, former Facebook executive Randi Zuckerberg made headlines after she posted on Facebook a description of sexual harassment against her by a fellow passenger on an Alaska fight, and said flight attendants offered to move her — not the harasser. She later updated it to thank Alaska executives for taking her complaints seriously. In early December, Sara Nelsen, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 42,000 flight attendants from 19 airlines, wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post in which she said flight attendants, already long objectified, remain “ongoing victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.”
“Even today, we are called pet names, patted on the rear when a passenger wants our attention, cornered in the back galley and asked about our ‘hottest’ layover, and subjected to incidents not fit for print,” she wrote. On its website, the union applauded recent efforts from Alaska (and also United Airlines) “to help end sexual harassment.”
The Harbor Police Department confirmed that its officers took statements from Timon and others. No arrests were made and no one requested that charges be filed. The Union-Tribune was unable to verify exactly what the flight attendant said Timon did to her, or to verify his side of the story. The paper was also unable to find social media postings from other passengers describing the incident. Timon, who said he is a frequent first-class flier, said that after he touched the flight attendant and requested a drink, none came. He said he later pressed his call button, and a male flight attendant came by and told him he’d had been cut off from alcohol, that he’d assaulted the flight attendant and that police would be waiting for him in San Diego. The longtime owner of a company that bought and sold medical equipment said he’d had one drink, was not unruly and was “100 percent sober” at the time of the encounter. “What about us guys?” Timon said. “I can’t tap a flight attendant on her back to politely ask for something, yet I get accused of something? It’s out of control and I am pissed.”
Timon — who said he was embarrassed in front of other passengers — said he has contacted an attorney to consider bringing legal action. That attorney did not respond to a request for comment this week. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com
(760) 529-4945
Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT | – A San Diego man banned from Alaska Airlines for touching a flight attendant says he's a victim of discrimination against men. Mike Timon, angry over his treatment by the airline, tells the San Diego Union-Tribune that he was banned for touching the female flight attendant on the buttocks as he sat in first class on a flight from Oregon to San Diego on Dec. 26. Timon says he touched the woman politely on her back to get her attention so he could order a drink. Timon, who owns a medical equipment company and frequently flies first class, said that when no drink came, he pressed his call button, and a male flight attendant came to say he had been cut off. Timon said he had only had a single drink and was sober. He says his gesture was misunderstood as sexual harassment, and he was met by police who escorted him off the plane. Police took statements from Timon and others but there was no further action. "For me to be accused of this, and for me to be escorted off the plane by police? This is it. I'm blowing up," Timon says. "It's unnecessary. It's discrimination toward me." He says widespread concern over sexual harassment has hurt men like him. "It's out of control and I am pissed," he says. Alaska spokeswoman Ann Johnson confirmed that Timon cannot fly on the airline pending the outcome of an investigation but said she could not provide specifics about his case, the AP reports. "Alaska Airlines will not tolerate any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members and we are fully committed to do our part to address this serious issue," Johnson said. |
[280] Far from acknowledging the dangers of agricultural work to children and taking these appropriate steps, the United States by law permits children to engage in such labor, including on tobacco farms, with fewer restrictions than children working in other industries. [295] Brazil prohibits children under the age of 18 from “planting, with the exception of clearing, levelling soil and weeding; at harvest, processing or industrialization of tobacco.”[296] India prohibits children under 18 from working with tobacco, including “handling tobacco in any form.”[297] Malawi, the sixth leading producer of tobacco worldwide, prohibits children from working in all tasks on commercial tobacco farms, and from certain tasks on all farms: “Tobacco Sector: i) topping and suckering activities or handling tobacco leaves in the harvesting process; ii) handling or grading tobacco leaves in damp conditions or conditions of poor lighting or ventilation; iii) any other work involving tobacco in commercial tobacco estates and farms.”[298]Other countries, including Russia,[299] Kazakhstan,[300] Uganda,[301] also prohibit children under 18 from performing many tasks that expose them to tobacco plants. [402] Imperial Tobacco Group does not have a separate child labor policy but stated in a January 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch that the company and its subsidiaries do not employ children and that it works with suppliers to encourage their “compliance with international standards on child labor.” This includes: freedom for children from any work that subjects a child to economic exploitation, is hazardous, interferes with the child’s education, or is harmful to a child’s health or physical, mental or social development. After workers have finished topping, tobacco plants are left to mature in fields until they are ready to be harvested and dried in a process called “curing.” Flue-Cured Tobacco Flue-cured tobacco is a broad leaf type of tobacco grown in North Carolina and other parts of the southeastern US. Health and Safety Nearly three-quarters of children interviewed by Human Rights Watch in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, 97 out of 133, reported feeling sick—with nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, dizziness, skin rashes, difficulty breathing, and irritation to their eyes and mouths—while working in fields with tobacco plants and in barns with dried tobacco leaves and tobacco dust. The heat from being out in the sun with no shade all day: that is really the worst thing.” Health Consequences of Inadequate Access to Water, Sanitation, and Shade The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Field Sanitation Standard requires agricultural employers with at least 10 employees to provide sufficient and accessible drinking water, hand-washing facilities, and toilets. “It’s no surprise the children exposed to poisons in the tobacco fields are getting sick.”
The report is based on interviews with 141 child tobacco workers, ages seven to 17 (view infographic). “We’d be working and the grower would spray the fields next to our field….They didn’t move us away.” Eighteen-year-old Natalie G., who also started working on tobacco farms in North Carolina at age 12, and continued working in the 2012 and 2013 summers, had a similar observation: “I never got any training or materials about pesticides.” In rare cases, children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said their employers had told them that pesticides presented health risks, but did not teach the children how to protect themselves from exposure. Hazardous Child Labor in the US Human Rights Watch research found that children participating in the cultivation, harvesting, and curing of tobacco in the US routinely face the risks outlined in subparagraphs (c) through (e), including work at dangerous heights; work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools; work that involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; work in an unhealthy environment where they are exposed to hazardous substances (including nicotine and pesticides) and extreme temperatures; and work for long hours. When I smell it, it makes me nauseous, short of breath, even if I’m not really doing anything.”[105] Children Applying Pesticides Five children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they applied pesticides to tobacco plants with a handheld sprayer and backpack, or operated tractors that were spraying pesticides on tobacco fields. They often described being able to smell or feel the chemical spray as it drifted over them, and reported burning eyes, burning noses, itchy skin, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath, redness and swelling of their mouths, and headache after coming into contact with pesticides. Tobacco production involves application of a range of chemicals at different stages in the growth process, and several pesticides commonly used during tobacco farming are known neurotoxins. Response to Human Rights Watch When preparing this report, Human Rights Watch sent letters to the 10 companies listed above, asking questions about their child labor policies, worker protection policies, as well as procedures for monitoring for child labor and human rights abuses in the company’s supply chain, including both on farms with which they directly contract as well as in other parts of their supply chain, for example when purchasing through leaf merchant companies. And he said, “No, it’s ok, it isn’t supposed to harm us.” And then I saw other workers start walking out, saying “I can’t work like this.” … I showed [the contractor the rash on] my legs, and then he said, “Let’s move to a different field.” [99] Jimena C., 15, spends her summers living with her godmother so that she can work on tobacco farms in a county about 30 miles from her hometown in North Carolina. “They have a responsibility to adopt clear, comprehensive policies that get children out of dangerous work on tobacco farms, and make sure the farms follow the rules.”
Health Hazards for Children
Several hundred thousand children work in US agriculture every year, but no data is available on the number working in tobacco farming. Describing her experience during her first summer working on tobacco farms in 2012, she told Human Rights Watch, “I would tell the boss [labor contractor] that I needed to stop for a minute, and he was like, ‘Either you work, or you get out, and I’m not going to pay you for the time that you’re out of the field.’ And then I would keep going, but my mom and other workers would help me, but [the contractor] would get mad, saying we [each] need to do our own row [of tobacco plants]….The hardest part was cutting the suckers and keeping up with all the workers. Education The vast majority of children interviewed by Human Rights Watch attended school full-time and worked in tobacco farming, and in some cases in other agricultural crops as well, only during the summer months, after school, and on weekends. Sickness while Working More than two out of three children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had felt suddenly, acutely ill while working in fields of tobacco plants and performing such jobs as topping, pulling off suckers, weeding, straightening plants, harvesting tobacco, and while working in curing barns. Danielle said that she got sick while harvesting tobacco in 2013: “It happens when you’re out in the sun. They spray pesticides, poison, it might make you dizzy or make you want to throw up.’” However, the contractor did not specify any precautions Eli should take to minimize exposure to pesticides. We never drank that water.”[205] Some children said their employers did not provide enough water to last throughout the workday; placed water so far from where they were working that it was inaccessible to them; or didn’t allow them to take breaks to drink water. If not we just do what the other ladies do, just go to the woods.” Her sister Marissa, 14, said, “I’d rather just hold it.” Sally agreed: “Yeah, I hold it.”[211] Margarita S., a 16-year-old worker in North Carolina, described her access to toilets when she worked on tobacco farms in 2012: “We’d stop at a gas station to let us use the bathroom. I didn’t want to move my head.” Many of the symptoms reported by child tobacco workers are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning, known as Green Tobacco Sickness, an occupational health risk specific to tobacco farming that occurs when workers absorb nicotine through their skin while having prolonged contact with tobacco plants. We waited a few minutes and went back in.”[98] Immediate Health Effects of Pesticide Exposure Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they experienced a range of symptoms after coming into contact with pesticide spray including burning eyes, burning noses, itchy skin, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, shortness of breath, redness and swelling of their mouths, and headaches. According to the US Surgeon General’s most recent report, “The evidence is suggestive that nicotine exposure during adolescence, a critical window for brain development, may have lasting adverse consequences for brain development.” Skin Conditions, Respiratory Illness , and Eye and Mouth Irritation Children interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported skin conditions, difficulty breathing, sneezing, and eye, nose, mouth, and throat irritation while working on tobacco farms. [429] PMI listed the hazardous activities that children of any age should not perform, including: driving vehicles, using sharp tools in movement, …, handling and applying pesticides and fertilizers, carrying heavy loads, working at heights, working long hours that interfere with health and well-being, working in extreme temperatures, working at night, harvesting, topping and pulling suckers off of tobacco plants. Like many children who harvest burley tobacco, he described placing a sharp spike on the end of a wooden stick; piercing the stalks of the tobacco plants with the spike; sliding six plants onto each stick, and repeating the process down multiple rows of tobacco plants. Some children reported: "working in bare feet or socks"
"that they did not have access to handwashing facilities"
"itchy or burning skin or skin rashes "
"that they had 'spiked' or 'speared' their hands or other body parts on sharp spikes while placing cut burley tobacco plants
"I was raised as a child on a tobacco farm. A 16-year-old boy described an accident while harvesting tobacco in Tennessee: “I cut myself with the hatchet.… I probably hit a vein or something because it wouldn’t stop bleeding and I had to go to the hospital…. My foot was all covered in blood.” One 17-year-old boy interviewed by Human Rights Watch lost two fingers in an accident with a mower used to trim small tobacco plants.Almost none of the children Human Rights Watch interviewed said that employers had given them health and safety training or protective gear. Garbage Bags as Protective Equipment Without access to proper water resistant rain gear, many children interviewed by Human Rights Watch covered themselves with black plastic garbage bags while they were topping, pulling suckers, and weeding tobacco plants. [336] The disparate treatment of child agricultural workers is particularly troublesome in light of federal data indicating agriculture is the most dangerous industry open to young workers. In 2012, two-thirds of children under 18 who died from occupational injuries were agricultural workers, and there were more than 1,800 nonfatal injuries to children under 18 working on US farms.Most children interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had no access to toilets or a place to wash their hands at their worksites, leaving them with tobacco and pesticides residue on their hands, even during mealtimes. Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to: apply the same age and hour requirements to children working in agriculture as already apply to all other working children: prohibit the employment of children under age 13; limit the number of hours that children ages 14 and 15 can legally work to three hours per day on a school day and 18 hours per week during a school week; eight hours per day on a non-school day and 40 hours per week when school is not in session; and prohibit before-school work by children ages 15 and younger; raise the minimum age for particularly hazardous work in agriculture from 16 to 18, in line with existing standards in all other industries; incorporate the Environmental Protection Agency’s Worker Protection Standard, 40 C.F.R. In non-agricultural jobs, 14 and 15-year-olds cannot work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., except during the summer when they can work until 9 p.m.; and may not work more than 3 hours on a school day, 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day, and 40 hours in non-school week. To the U S Department of Labor Regarding Child Labor Revise the list of agricultural jobs deemed to be “particularly hazardous” for children to include the handling and application of pesticides; work at dangerous heights; work with dangerous machinery, equipment, and tools; work which involves the manual handling or transport of heavy loads; work in extreme temperatures; and other dangerous tasks; as well as any tasks where children have contact with tobacco plants of any size or with dried tobacco leaves. The ILO’s Committee of Experts has observed that section 213 of the US Fair Labor Standards Act “authorizes children aged 16 and above to undertake, in the agricultural sector, occupations declared to be hazardous or detrimental to their health or well-being by the Secretary of Labor.”[281] In its 2012 and 2014 reports,[282] the Committee noted with serious concern the withdrawal of proposed regulations (explained in detail below), “which would have increased the parity between agricultural and non-agricultural child labour prohibitions by prohibiting some tasks associated with agricultural work to children under 18 and strengthening the protection provided to children under 16 years working in agriculture,” and strongly urged the US government to take measures to protect the health and safety of children working in agriculture. “The Obama administration should endorse regulations that make it clear that work on tobacco farms is hazardous for children, and Congress should enact laws to give child farmworkers the same protections as all other working children.”
Role of Tobacco Companies
Human Rights Watch presented its findings and recommendations to 10 companies that purchase tobacco grown in the United States, including eight cigarette manufacturing companies: Altria Group (parent of Philip Morris USA), British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group, Japan Tobacco Group, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, Reynolds American, and two international leaf merchants who purchase tobacco leaf and sell to manufacturers: Alliance One and Universal Corporation. Reynolds American states that it requires that growers with whom the company directly contracts respect national laws, but according to information shared with Human Rights Watch, apparently does not have similar expectations for other suppliers in the supply chain. Tobacco Product Manufacturers and Tobacco Leaf Companies Although the US government has the primary responsibility to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights under international law, private entities, including businesses, also have internationally recognized responsibilities regarding human rights, including workers’ rights and children’s rights. Tobacco farmed in the US enters the supply chains of at least eight major manufacturers of tobacco products who either purchase tobacco through direct contracts with tobacco growers or through tobacco leaf supply companies. Of the companies approached by Human Rights Watch, Philip Morris International (PMI) has developed the most detailed and protective set of policies and procedures, including training and policy guidance on child labor and other labor issues which it is implementing in its global supply chain. PMI has developed detailed guidance materials, training materials and programs, and internal and external monitoring procedures specific to each market in which it works to facilitate implementation of the ALP, including the child labor policy in its global supply chain. The ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Recommendation states that certain types of work in an unhealthy environment may be appropriate for children ages 16 and older “on the condition that the health, safety and morals of the children concerned are fully protected, and that the children have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity.” Because exposure to tobacco in any form is unsafe, Human Rights Watch has determined, based on our field investigations and other research, that as a practical matter there is no way for children under 18 to work safely on US tobacco farms when they have direct contact with tobacco plants of any size or dried tobacco leaves, even if wearing protective equipment. Given that the international tobacco leaf purchasing markets, including that of the US, often involve third-party suppliers or multiple company contracts with individual growers, members of the industry should seek to formulate industry-wide policies prohibiting hazardous child labor on tobacco farms as well as effective monitoring mechanisms. Lorillard stated that, in response to the December 2013 letter from Human Rights Watch, it approached Alliance One and Universal and requested those companies to abide by their own stated child labor and social responsibility policies and to “support efforts to improve workplace conditions for farm workers.”[420] Lorillard also stated that because it does not contract directly with tobacco growers, it does “not directly monitor the treatment of laborers on tobacco farms” but that it reviews its “supplier policies on child labor and other compliance on a regular basis and inquire as to any issues identified.”[421] The January 2014 letter to Human Rights Watch also stated that Lorillard “had not received any reports of child labor or other labor violations.”[422] Lorillard declined to provide information about the volume of tobacco purchases in the United States. | – Children are toiling in unsafe conditions, suffering everything from breathing problems to vomiting, and putting in 12-hour days and 72-hour weeks. Think we're talking a third-world sweatshop? It's what's happening right now on US tobacco farms, Human Rights Watch alleges in a report today. The group spoke to 141 tobacco farm workers aged 7 to 17, and found that many came in bare-skin contact with tobacco plants. That can cause acute nicotine poisoning—and indeed, 66% of those polled reported symptoms consistent with that, including dizziness, nausea, and headaches. "On the first day when I was working [chemicals] got on my face a lot and I didn't know until I got home later that my face was burning," one 13-year-old worker tells the BBC. US labor laws protecting child laborers have exceptions for agricultural jobs, the group explains, allowing children of any age to work the fields, and those 12 and older to work unlimited hours. An attempt to change that for tobacco farms died in 2012. HRW shared its findings with tobacco producers, and most expressed concern. Philip Morris, which has the toughest child labor policy, tells Reuters that it believes there's an opportunity to impose an industry-wide standard. The complete report is here. |
The Federal Reserve will spend $45 billion a month to sustain an aggressive drive to keep long-term interest rates low. And it set a goal of keeping a key short-term rate near zero until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent. The policies are intended to help an economy that the Fed says is growing only modestly with 7.7 percent unemployment in November. The Fed says it will direct the money into long-term Treasurys to replace an expiring bond-purchase program. The new purchases will expand its investment portfolio, which has reached nearly $3 trillion. The central bank will continue buying $40 billion a month in mortgage bonds. All told, its monthly bond purchases will remain $85 billion. They are intended to reduce already record-low long-term rates to encourage borrowing and accelerate growth. | – The Federal Reserve dropped a bombshell today, announcing that it would spend $45 billion a month on bond purchases to keep interest rates low, and that it would keep its short-term rates near zero as long as it takes to get unemployment below 6.5%. It will also keep up its current practice of spending $40 billion a month on mortgage bonds, the AP reports, bringing its total monthly spending to $85 billion, and growing its now almost $3 trillion portfolio. This is a "historic move" that "will change how we think about Fed policy, yet again," writes Sudeep Reddy at the Wall Street Journal. Instead of pegging its targets to specific time frames, the Fed is now tying its policies to specific economic outcomes. The policy is sometimes referred to as the "Evans rule," because Chicago Fed President Charles Evans has been pushing for it for months. The Fed is also sending a strong, loud signal that it's willing to allow inflation to rise if that's what it takes to reduce unemployment. |
Hermann, a longtime Louisville senior athletics administrator, was hired May 15 to replace Pernetti. But in the weeks since her hiring, she and other Rutgers officials have defended her character against claims that she was verbally abusive toward volleyball players she coached at Tennessee in the 1990s. Rutgers has also faced questions about whether it properly vetted lawsuits in which Hermann played a role at Tennessee and Louisville. In the Tennessee case, which resulted in a $150,000 jury verdict, Hermann was accused of discouraging an assistant volleyball coach from becoming pregnant. In the Louisville lawsuit, Mary Banker, an assistant track and field coach, claimed she was fired as retaliation for complaining to Hermann and the university’s human resources department about sexual discrimination by the head coach. Lawyers for Louisville said that Banker was fired for underperformance, not in retaliation for her complaints. Video
A judgment in favor of Banker was overturned this year, and the case is pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court. Banker, in an interview Wednesday night, questioned Rutgers’s decision to hire Hermann to clean up its athletics department. “She had the opportunity to clean up at Louisville, and she chose not to,” Banker said. “What she did was she covered herself and the rest of her coaching staff.”
Kate Sweeney and Dick Edwards, the leaders of the Rutgers search panel, wrote an e-mail Tuesday to the other committee members to defuse growing criticism of Hermann’s selection. 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. “You all had the opportunity to examine Julie’s credentials, to spend some time with her when she was on campus, and to provide us with your thoughts regarding her candidacy as Rutgers’s next Director of Intercollegiate Athletics,” they wrote. The first response, from Schmidt, came 10 minutes later. “There was very little information about the candidates disseminated to the larger committee,” he wrote. Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Garutti’s came two hours later. “Please, let us not at this late date attempt to convince ourselves and the public that there was sufficient time to delve deeply” into candidates’ documents, he wrote. A Rutgers spokesman declined to comment on the e-mails. In recent days, Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey have called for the resignations of Robert L. Barchi, the university president, and Hermann. But Gov. Chris Christie voiced support for Barchi on Tuesday and dismissed criticism of Hermann as “character assassination.”
Rutgers on Wednesday released a copy of its contract with Parker Executive Search, a Georgia -based firm, which it hired for $70,000 to manage the search for an athletic director. Parker was responsible for finding candidates and doing background checks, including criminal, credit and motor vehicle checks; confirmation of candidates’ degrees; and reference checks. Rice’s replacement, Eddie Jordan , also had a rocky start to his job. The Web site Deadspin reported that he had not graduated from Rutgers, though his university biography said that he had. | – Rutgers University is scrambling to deal with reports that its newly minted athletic director and supposed scandal slayer Julie Hermann has a spotty past of her own—complete with abuse allegations and a sex-discrimination settlement—and emerging emails show bickering and complaints among the very board of trustees that appointed Hermann in the first place. Trustees say they were given the names of two finalists the day before the first was to be interviewed, and they spent only 75 minutes interviewing Hermann, reports the Star-Ledger. "It was not enough time," says one. "Let’s not present this as any kind of exemplary process. Subsequent events have proven otherwise.” The search leaders tried via email to smooth things over, telling trustees, "You all had the opportunity to examine Julie’s credentials, to spend some time with her when she was on campus. As you know, there was strong support for Julie." That prompted a string of emails that the lone student on the search committee likened to "a professional catfight in my email inbox." Adding insult to injury, Rutgers paid an executive search company $70,000 to vet finalists for the job, notes the New York Times; now, the school is also paying a crisis-management company $150,000 to deal with the scandals' fallout. |
The marine scientists were out on a research expedition when they detected strange calls on their vessel’s underwater microphones, alerting them to the presence of killer whales in their vicinity. "Then a male, who was unrelated to the mother of the calf, swam past the boat with the calf hanging out of its mouth, and that's when we were really quite horrified and fascinated,” Jared Towers, a cetacean researcher from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, told CBC News. Although it has been confirmed in many other mammal species that infanticidal males are not the fathers of their victims48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55 and that they subsequently sire offspring with the infants mothers13,15,51,53,55,56,57, in this incident the neonate’s carcass could not be recovered, T068A was not biopsied for DNA analysis and T046B has not yet had another calf. This combative behaviour is similar to actions directed towards infanticidal males by the mothers of targeted infants in several rodent, primate and carnivore species (see review in13). “However, compelling evidence for infanticide in cetaceans [a group of animals containing whales, dolphins and porpoises] exists in just three species of dolphin.”
Towers said the scene was distressing, however, the research team decided to watch until the end in the knowledge that they were witnessing a rare event. Because the offending male and his mother did not eat the dead infant, the scientists suggest that the killing may be an example of so-called “sexually selected behavior”—which means that the male killed the calf to mate with its mother. "Killer whale moms are notorious for helping their adult sons and daughters by sharing food with them and leading them, and maybe even providing mating opportunities for adult male offspring," Towers explained. | – Scientists have observed a behavior never before seen in killer whales, and it makes for a grim discovery. Following strange calls from orcas off the northeastern coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island in December, researchers observed the first known case of infanticide among the whales. After tracking down the orcas and hearing a ruckus in the water, the scientists spotted a male orca with a newborn calf in its mouth, being chased by the calf's mother and other members of its family. As the male's mother attempted to intervene, the calf's mother "hit the male so hard that ... his blubber was shaking on his body and you could see blood flying through the air," ecologist Jared Towers tells the CBC. "We were really quite horrified and fascinated." The male still didn't let go of the calf, which had died by that point, according to Newsweek. Researchers, describing the case in Scientific Reports, say the male orca likely killed the calf so the male orca could mate with the infant's mother. In other mammals, infanticide "forces the infant's mom into a fertile state much quicker," Towers says. He adds researchers previously thought female orcas were picky about mates, but this behavior suggests "females don't have a lot of choice when it comes to breeding." The CBC notes $9 million the Canadian government has dedicated to orca research may reveal more about the endangered species in time, as Washington state works on protection, per Time. (Orca pregnancies are failing.) |
Kate Middleton marked another milestone in her new life as a royal today, delivering her first public address as the Duchess of Cambridge. Middleton, 30, spoke at the opening of The Treehouse, a hospice run by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices in Ipswich, England. The hospice is one of the carefully selected group of charitable organizations that Middleton said in January she would be contributing her time to as a patron. In her brief, nearly three-minute speech, Middleton called the work of the hospice “inspirational” and a “shining example.”
She also apologized for the absence of her husband, Prince William. “I am only sorry that William can’t be here today; he would love it here,” she said. “A view of his – that I share – is that through teamwork, so much can be achieved. What you have all achieved here is extraordinary.”
Middleton is stepping out in a series of solo appearances while William is deployed on a six-week Royal Air Force deployment in the Falkland Islands. She made her first solo military appearance over the weekend at an event with the Irish Guards on St. Patrick’s Day. The event made headlines after one guard passed out while the Duchess was handing out shamrocks. Middleton jumped on the field last week with members of the British Olympic women’s field hockey team during a surprise visit to the site of this summer’s London Olympics, for which Middleton and William have been named ambassadors. The duchess marked another major milestone March 1 by making her first solo appearance with the queen, stepping out for tea to mark the monarch’s 60 years on the throne. While at the hospice, Middleton also met with children receiving care and their families, toured the center’s facilities and planted a tree in the grounds. As is the case with everything Middleton does, the reviews of her speech focused as much on her fashion as what she had to say. The duchess wore a blue dress by one of her favored retailers, Reiss, accessorized by a thick black belt, black heels and a matching clutch. British fashion watchers were quick to note that the dress is the same one her mother, Carole Middleton, wore to the Royal Ascot horsing event nearly two years ago. In addition to the hospice, Middleton is also a patron of an addiction charity, the National Portrait Gallery and the Scout Association, the British equivalent of the Girl Scouts. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | – Members of the adoring public who didn't get quite enough of Kate Middleton's perfectly British voice while watching her exchange vows with Prince William had a chance for another fix today: The Duchess of Cambridge gave her first public address as royalty, speaking at the opening of a children's hospice in England. Middleton, a patron of the hospice, called it "inspirational" and apologized that her husband, who is deployed, could not be in attendance, ABC News reports. (Us points out that Middleton apparently wore her mom's dress for the occasion.) |
"Simmons, 67, has indeed retreated increasingly further from the spotlight in recent years, causing the New York Daily News to investigate claims that he is purposely being kept from his close friends and family.Mauro Oliveira, Simmons' former assistant, told the NYDN in an article published on Saturday that during his last visit to Simmons' mansion, the trainer told him they could no longer see each other. | – It was the article that launched a thousand, well, articles: an extensive New York Daily News piece on Richard Simmons published Saturday that claimed the "intensely social public figure" has for the last two years essentially vanished, having stopped responding to calls and emails, and suggested an overly controlling live-in housekeeper, Teresa Reveles, is to blame. The fitness guru's rep, Tom Estey, called the claims "untrue and preposterous" in a statement to People, saying Simmons just wanted a break "after 40 years of being in the spotlight." To USA Today, Estey said, "I don’t want the readers ... to think this man is a Howard Hughes recluse in his own home." But, still, no word from Simmons himself ... until Sunday night. In a phone conversation with ET, Simmons said quite plainly, "I am not kidnapped. I am just in my house right now. This is how I want to live my life right now. And to all the people that are worried about me, please don't be. If I was in any trouble, if I was hurting in any way, I would reach out. It is time right now for Richard Simmons to take care of Richard Simmons." He too cites his 40 years of being in the public eye, and references a "very difficult" knee replacement surgery. But he says, "I still weigh 150. I work out every day. I have a gym at the house, and I am very healthy." (Here are 14 reasons to love Simmons' Instagram feed.) |
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson elbowed out reigning top-ranked Robert Downey Jr. to become the world's highest-paid actor--and scored his biggest ever annual paycheck in the process. McCarthy, 45, is this year's biggest dollar gainer year over year; her earnings are up $10 million on 2015's estimate thanks in part to a reported eight-figure payday for Ghostbusters. The erstwhile wrestler’s millions and millions came from upfront fees for movies including Central Intelligence and Fast 8, as well as the forthcoming Baywatch in which he’s set to play Mitch Buchannon. A staple of the Fast and Furious franchise, the stellar box office performance of his recent films (including 2015’s hit San Andreas) have seen his quotes skyrocket. “I started to think if I could do anything to build women up rather than the constant tear down I’m going to do it,” McCarthy, who started her own all-sizes clothing line, told FORBES. “And I have a decent smile.”
He bested second-ranked Jackie Chan ($61 million), who mints money with movies in China, and Matt Damon, who tallied $55 million largely off the success of The Martian to boost his earnings 120% year over year. Rounding out the top five is perennial list member Tom Cruise (No. 4, $53 million) and Johnny Depp (No. 5, $48 million), the latter of whom received a restraining order against him in May, after his wife, Amber Heard, alleged he physically and verbally abused her. The couple reached a $7 million divorce settlement in August; Heard donated the cash to charity. The damning accusations did not impact his earnings during our scoring period--he pocketed an estimated eight figures upfront apiece for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment and box office bomb Alice Through the Looking Glass--but his paychecks look set to plummet next year. The only returnee to the ranking: Harrison Ford, who sneaks on with an outsized payday for his return as Han Solo in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He most recently made the list in 2009. To wit, 30% of the list hail from outside the U.S.; Chinese actress Fan Bingbing makes the cut for the second consecutive year, while Charlize Theron, a dual citizen of South African and the U.S., returns to the list for the first time since 2013. Shah Rukh Khan ($33 million), the top-ranked Indian actor, banked as much as Downey Jr. , while Akshay Kumar ($31.5 million) earned the same as Brad Pitt in our scoring period. Almost universally, a gender pay gap persists. For the second year in a row, the odds are in her favor: Jennifer Lawrence is once again the world's highest-paid actress, notching $46 million pretax over 12 months--$13 million more than second-ranked Melissa McCarthy, who pocketed $33 million. That ratio is a little lower than the 79 cents a white woman is typically paid to every dollar a white man makes, but better than the pay disparity Hispanic or Black women typically face. While top actresses can negotiate eight figure upfront fees plus a cut of profits for leading parts in big budget movies, there are simply fewer of those roles available for women. In fact, there are more roles for men, period: Male characters comprise an overwhelming 71% of all speaking roles in movies, according to a recent study. Four women, up from three in 2015, banked more than $20 million compared with 18 of the world's leading men (a separate list of highest-paid actors will be published Thursday). Vin Diesel: The Film Star Of The Future
Combined, the world's 20 highest-paid actors earned a whopping $703.5 million between June 1, 2015 and June 1, 2016, before management fees and taxes. When women are on screen, they are likely to be eye candy for a male gaze: Women appeared in sexy attire more than a third of the time and were shown partially or fully nude 27.5% of the time, three times as much as men. Men in movies can also have longer careers than the top-earning women: 95% of the highest-paid actors are over 40, compared with half of the actresses. The same study found that men fill nearly three quarters of all roles for characters over 40. In our rankings, all of the highest-paid actresses are under 50, while 45% of the actors are 50-plus. In fact, two of the actors on the list, Ford and Amitabh Bachchan, are even in their seventies. Just missing the cut this year is 64-year-old Liam Neeson, whose earnings dropped below the $15 million barrier to entry. Seth Rogen, Chris Hemsworth and Channing Tatum were among the drop-offs, largely due to quieter years or movies that fell outside our scoring period. Where last year's ranking evaluated 18 women, this year's list has returned to the top 10 to give a more accurate portrait of acting's earning elite. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with agents, managers and lawyers. Full List: The World’s Highest-Paid Actresses 2016
In an industry where a pay gap with male actors still exists, 90% of the world's highest-paid actresses supplement their on-screen earnings with endorsements. | – The Rock, Jackie Chan, and Matt Damon walk into a bar … and the Rock should probably pay for drinks, as the actor otherwise known as Dwayne Johnson has been named the world's highest-paid male actor by Forbes. Thanks to 2015 earnings of $64.5 million (his largest payday ever), Johnson knocked Robert Downey Jr. off the pay pedestal, helped along by upfront compensation from blockbusters such as this year's Central Intelligence and next year's Fast 8. Chan followed close behind on the Forbes list with $61 million, while Damon came in third with $55 million, boosted mainly by The Martian. Here, the top five and their 2015 earnings: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, $64.5 million Jackie Chan, $61 million, Matt Damon, $55 million Tom Cruise, $53 million Johnny Depp, $48 million Forbes ranked actresses as well, with Jennifer Lawrence earning the No. 1 spot with $46 million, followed by Melissa McCarthy at $33 million and Scarlett Johansson at $25 million. The magazine notes that comparing the two sets of earnings underscores the gender pay gap that still exists, with top-earning Lawrence earning just 71% of Johnson's pay. The top 5 women actors and their 2015 earnings: Jennifer Lawrence, $46 million Melissa McCarthy, $33 million Scarlett Johansson, $25 million Jennifer Aniston, $21 million Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, $17 million Check out the top breadwinners in both the men's and women's categories. |
Shaquille O'Neal says he would dominate today's NBA and goes off on his doubters, plus love for DeAndre Ayton, Senselessly Sensitive, and the return of Walmart or Waffle House - The Big Podcast with Shaq - Episode 172
Shaquille O'Neal opens the show this week by going OFF on the doubters who think he wouldn't dominate today's NBA - because he is sure he'd be able to average 50 a night against the soft NBA centers today. Plus, Shaq thinks that DeAndre Ayton is a great player, but he shouldn't strive to be the next Shaq but rather the first Ayton, and he hopes Ayton breaks his records. Shaq is also happy for Dwyane Wade, we recap the insanity from the Lost Lands Music Festival, and debate whether Shaq could take Henry Cavill's place as the new Superman. We do a proper full "Senselessly Sensitive" segment this week, we try to get back in the hunt in the PodcastOne Sportsnet NFL Challenge, of course we get Borderline, and we play a round of the classic "Walmart or Waffle House!" Get into the mix on Twitter by following @Shaqcast or using #Shaqcast - follow The Big Podcast with Shaq on Instagram and Facebook - or email your best stuff to TheBigPodcastWithShaq@gmail.com. Head over to BetOnline.AG and use promo code PODCAST1 to receive a 50% sign up bonus.
Loading... | – Apparently there's a belief circulating in the NBA that the Earth is flat. Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers first revealed his flat-Earth beliefs back in February, and now retired basketball player Shaquille O'Neal has revealed he's on the same page. In an episode of his podcast broadcast late February but only recently picked up by the media, Shaq said, per Sports Illustrated: "It’s true. The Earth is flat. The Earth is flat. Yes, it is. Listen, there are three ways to manipulate the mind—what you read, what you see, and what you hear." He used an example involving Christopher Columbus, arguing that Columbus didn't really discover America because there were already "fair-skinned people" living here when Columbus arrived. Then he got into the real nitty gritty. He explained that he drives from coast to coast, and it certainly seems flat to him: "I’m just saying. I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me. I do not go up and down at a 360-degree angle, and all that stuff about gravity, have you looked outside Atlanta lately and seen all these buildings? You mean to tell me that China is under us? China is under us? It’s not. The world is flat." Kenny Ducey at SI says that while he wants to believe this is all a joke, both Irving and O'Neal seem to be taking it seriously; Irving, for example, has continued to defend his beliefs. Ben Rohrbach at Yahoo Sports, who first uncovered the Shaq podcast, agrees that Irving is not kidding around (or trying to make some sort of point about "fake news," as NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggested), and points out that at least two other NBA players have agreed with him. |
Miriam Reeves is escorted down the aisle by her father Bernard Reeves, 64, who has Alzheimer’s, and her mother, Marie Reeves. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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Miriam Reeves and her fiance, Mark Davis, were planning a traditional wedding ceremony at their church in Ypsilanti, Mich., when she realized about a month ago that someone very special would be missing: her father. Bernard Reeves, 64, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2006, and moved to the Foundation Park Alzheimer’s Care Center in Toledo about two years ago when his symptoms worsened. So the former Ms. Reeves, 31, of Canton, Mich., decided to bring the wedding to her father. The couple held a small, informal garden ceremony at Foundation Park on Saturday. “My dad has been my hero my entire life and I know that if he was well, he would be at my wedding front and center. And I thought, ‘Why not move it there and it would be more of a special event,’ ” Mrs. Davis said before the ceremony. PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for more photos from the ceremony
And as so many brides imagine for their special day, a beaming Bernard Reeves walked his daughter down the aisle Saturday morning, while those in attendance fought — many with little success — to hold back sentimental tears. The Rev. Robert Davis, the father of the groom, conducts the marriage ceremony Saturday between Miriam Reeves and Mark Davis. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT
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Mr. Reeves is in an advanced stage of the disease and his daughter was worried he might wander off if the family tried to bring him out of the center to a ceremony held elsewhere, said Marla Hawkins, the care center’s director of admissions and marketing. “He still knows who we are, but he doesn’t say much and he can’t care for himself. I feel like a part of him will know what’s going on,” his daughter said beforehand. “Even if he can’t sit through the whole thing, we just want his presence,” her mother said before the ceremony. “It all depends on his mental state at the time,” Mrs. Reeves said. Mr. Reeves had an inspiring life before his diagnosis. “He was in the Army during the Vietnam War. He was stationed in Germany at the time,” Mrs. Reeves said. He was also a police chaplain for a time. Most recently he was a pastor at the New Creation Church in Detroit. Though father and daughter were always close, Mrs. Reeves said they grew even closer when he got sick. “She was going to school in psychology at the time and the more she learned, the harder it was for her because she knew what to expect,” her mother said. Mrs. Davis is one of six children and the last to marry. For that reason, and because they are so close, Mrs. Davis felt it was imperative her father be present for the wedding. “When we came up with the idea of having the wedding there, they [the care center] were very excited about it. I didn’t expect that,” Mrs. Reeves said. She said she does not believe they have ever had a wedding ceremony held there. Though the guest list for the ceremony originally was quite short, it began expanding. “My husband has six kids. Then we have 10 grandkids. And on the groom’s side there are three sisters. And his father is a pastor so he’ll be doing the ceremony,” Mrs. Reeves said. Ultimately, Mrs. Reeves estimated the audience at 30 people. After the ceremony, the couple and wedding party planned to have dinner together at a restaurant in the Toledo area. Blade Staff Writer Marlene Harris-Taylor contributed to this report. | – Most weddings have at least a few wet eyes in attendance. But when 30 guests watched Miriam Reeves escorted down the aisle by her beaming father Saturday, few could hold back their tears. Just a month earlier, Miriam, 31, decided to move her traditional church wedding in Michigan to the garden at the Foundation Park Alzheimer's Care Center in Toledo, Ohio, where her father, Bernard Reeves, 64, has been a resident since his Alzheimer's symptoms got worse two years ago. She had been worried he'd wander off if he had to leave the center to attend a wedding elsewhere. "My dad has been my hero my entire life and I know that if he was well, he would be at my wedding front and center," Miriam tells the Toledo Blade. "And I thought, 'Why not move it there and it would be more of a special event.'" The staff was enthusiastic, she says, adding that she believes her wedding was the first to be held at the center. Her father served in the Army during the Vietnam War, then became a police chaplain, and was also a pastor in Detroit, reports the AP. He is now in an advanced stage of the disease, but he still recognizes his daughter. (Also over the weekend, a New York cop got to see the baby he saved 20 years ago get married.) |
Getty Obama makes immigration joke at turkey pardon
President Barack Obama used his presidential powers to grant one lucky turkey “amnesty” on Wednesday. “I am here to announce what I’m sure will be the most talked-about executive action this month,” Obama joked during the Pardoning of the National Turkey, a tradition where the president excuses one turkey and an alternate from becoming a Thanksgiving entree. Story Continued Below
The president used the ceremony as an excuse to make jabs at recent news surrounding his executive action that protects millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. “Today, I’m taking an action fully within my legal authority, the same kind of action taken by Democrats and Republican presidents before me,” he said to a laughing audience. “To spare the lives of two turkeys — Mac and Cheese — from a terrible and delicious fate.”
This year the turkeys took to Twitter, as the White House started an online campaign where users could tweet their support for #TeamMac or #TeamCheese. Obama announced that Cheese was the winner of the competition, but that both will be saved from the Thanksgiving table and taken to the home of former Virginia Gov. Westmoreland Davis in Leesburg, Va.
“They’ll get to live out the rest of their days, respectably, at a Virginia estate with 10,000 acres of roaming space,” he said. Obama continued, “I know some will call this amnesty, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of turkey to go around.” | – "I am here to announce what I’m sure will be the most talked-about executive action this month," President Obama quipped yesterday as he pardoned a pair of Thanksgiving turkeys named Mac and Cheese. He admitted that he found the Pardoning of the National Turkey "a little puzzling," but said "with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office it's nice once in a while just to say, 'Happy Thanksgiving,'" CNN reports. The White House held an online campaign this year where users could tweet in favor of saving Mac or Cheese, Politico reports. Cheese won, but Obama said both would be spared "a terrible and delicious fate." "I know some will call this amnesty, but don't worry, there’s plenty of turkey to go around," Obama joked. This is the sixth turkey pardon of Obama's presidency and the novelty definitely appears to have worn off for Malia and Sasha. The girls, now 16 and 13, looked on with "barely contained disdain," and Malia said, "Nah" when her father asked her if she'd like to pet Cheese, Gawker reports (it shares a gif of their "teen face"). The daughters aren't the only ones with disdain for the tradition. Critics call it a mockery of real presidential pardons and note that the birds don't tend to spend long, peaceful retirements on farms: They're not bred to live long and most end up dead within a few months of the "pardon." |
Arab League monitors have met anti-government protesters but not been allowed into 'military zones' [YouTube]
Syria has rejected any plans to send Arab troops into the country, saying it will "confront" and "stand firm" against military intervention after the ruler of Qatar said in a television interview that Arab countries should step in with force. The state-run SANA news agency quoted a "credible source" at the foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday that the country is "shocked" by the Qatari emir's comments, which "could worsen the conflict and kill the chances of Syria working closely with Arabs". The source warned that it will be "unfortunate to see Arab blood flow on Syrian soil". Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was quoted by an American television programme on Sunday as suggesting that Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop the deadly violence. The interview, which was conducted late last year, was the first time an Arab leader had called for the deployment of troops inside the country. The United Nations estimated in December that at least 5,000 people have been killed since protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March. The organisation also believes at least 400 people have been killed since the Arab League first deployed observers - meant to oversee the implementation of a League-brokered peace plan - on December 26. Militarised conflict
The initially peaceful uprising against Assad was met with deadly force and mass arrests and has in recent months turned into a militarised conflict between the government on one side and army defectors and armed civilians on the other. Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of crackdown and withdrew its ambassador during the summer. Since revolts began to sweep the Arab world in December 2010, Qatar has aggressively supported opposition movements, most prominently in Libya, where it trained, armed and guided the fighters who overthrew the country's longstanding ruler, Muammar Gaddafi. Assad and his government say "terrorists" are behind the uprising and that armed gangs are acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilise the country. The Syrian foreign ministry source told SANA on Tuesday that "it will be unfortunate to see Arab blood flow on Syrian territory just for the purpose of serving known agendas, especially that the foreign conspiracy against Syria has become very clear". The statement also called on Arab countries to "help prevent the infiltration of terrorists and the smuggling of weapons into Syria". The Arab League observer mission is expected to announce this week that Syria has failed to implement a peace plan brokered by the regional bloc. Tug-of-war at UN
International diplomats at the UN Security Council, meanwhile, are debating a new resolution that will call for an end to the violence and is set to come to a vote in two weeks. The US and European nations are at odds with Russia, which proposed the draft language and opposes intervention in Syria. "Western countries say the resolution isn't tough enough, [the] Russians say it's not the Security Council's place to take sides in civil dispute," Al Jazeera's Kristin Saloomey reported from the United Nations. The Russians do not want to see a Libya-style military intervention and "are not alone" in that desire, our correspondent said. The draft resolution does not mention sanctioning Syria, which the US and European Union have done independently, she said. Mandate to expire
The Arab League mission's mandate is due to expire on Thursday, and the bloc is set to meet on Sunday to discuss next steps, including possibly renewing the mission. "The outcome of the contacts that have taken place over the past week between the Arab League and Syria have affirmed that Syria will not reject the renewal of the Arab monitoring mission for another month ... if the Arab foreign ministers call for this at the coming meeting," an Arab source told the Reuters news agency. Syria will allow the number of monitors, currently fewer than 200, to increase, but will not agree to give them official fact-finding duties or let them visit off-limits "military zones". Activists reported that at least 20 people died in Syria on Tuesday, mostly in the flashpoint city of Homs. SANA reported that an "armed terrorist group" fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army checkpoint 9km southwest of Damascus on Monday, killing an officer and five soldiers. | – Syria may have begrudgingly agreed to let Arab League observers into the country, but it's not about to do the same with Arab troops. Responding angrily to the emir of Qatar's suggestion that troops intervene, Syria's foreign ministry made clear it won't stand idly by if foreign soldiers move in, reports AP. "The Syrian people reject any foreign intervention in its affairs, under any title, and would confront any attempt to infringe upon Syria's sovereignty and the integrity of its territories," said a statement. Syrian officials were reportedly "shocked" at the proposal and warned it could "kill the chances of Syria working closely with Arabs," according to al-Jazeera. As for the Arab League's observer mission, it's expected to wrap up this week by announcing that Syria has failed to put a League-brokered peace plan into place. The mission is widely seen as a failure, with at least 400 people killed since the first observers deployed in late December. |
If you can't make it to SXSW, here's the next best thing: The Texas Nationalist Movement, which is exactly what it sounds like, will be holding a rally tomorrow in front of the state capitiol in Austin to push for a referendum on secession from the United States. As with any half-decent declaration of independence, the group's resolution has a list of grievances: Specifically, the federal government has failed the protect its borders, and "implemented thousands of laws, mandates and agencies in violation of the United States Constitution that have invaded the sovereignty of the State of Texas." But wait: This story actually gets stranger. As the Houston Press reported, the Texas Nationalist Movement's secession rally is being sponsored by none other than state Rep. Leo Berman. You may remember Berman as the man who introduced a bill to force the President of the United States to prove his citizenship (again), and, when asked for proof, cited YouTube videos he'd seen because, "YouTubes are infallible." He's also sponsoring a bill to save state courts from the scourge of Islamic Sharia law. So why is a state legislator promoting a secession rally? The Press caught up with Berman, who explained that while he "very strongly" does not support secession (statehouse rallies need a legislative sponsor), he doesn't think it's such a terrible idea either:
He says he has "no qualms" about supporting a secession rally. Is there any group out there whose message is so far out, so radical and dangerous that he would refuse to be a legislative sponsor for them? "I'm very, very, very strongly pro-life," he says. "So I would not support an abortion-type rally." Man's got to stand for something. Support for secession has a long and rich history in the Lone Star State. According to a 2009 poll, 48 percent of Texas Republicans agreed that the state "would be better off as an independent nation." That came after GOP Governor Rick Perry told reporters at a tea party in Austin that if the federal government didn't change its ways, secession might be an option. And in 2009, a Kerr County resident was arrested for claiming to be a sheriff's deputy for the "Republic of Texas." For more, check out our interactive map on US secession movements. Also of note: Although the group's poster features a severely mutton-chopped Sam Houston calling for Texas independence, the real Sam Houston famously took an unpopular stand against Texas secession on the eve of the Civil War. As he put it: "The Union is worth more than Mr. Lincoln. I was denounced then. I am denounced now. | – Yesterday was Texas Independence Day, and one group of Texans celebrated it by rallying on the steps of the state Capitol, urging secession from the US. The Texas Nationalist Movement is unhappy with both Democrats and Republicans, and is especially concerned with the growing national debt and rising taxes, reports the AP via the Houston Chronicle. "Texas can take better care of itself than Washington," says the group’s VP. "We are here to raise interest in the Legislature of the possibility of secession to cure the ills of America." The small but passionate group want state lawmakers to allow Texans to vote on whether or not to declare independence. "The only way is to secede and wipe the slate clean," says a radio show host. "We secede, and then we reform this government based on an absolute return back to basic principles." Adds the group’s membership director, “This is a cake that’s been baking for 85 years.” The demonstrators are no fans of Gov. Rick Perry; one calls him “a big government fraud who claims to be conservative.” Mother Jones notes that State Rep. Leo Berman, a birther, sponsored the rally. |
Within a few months of The Times article, a headline in The Detroit News asked whether Mr. Dawkins should be allowed to profit from tragedy. Not long after that story appeared, Mr. Dawkins received the court summons, demanding partial “reimbursement to the state for Defendant’s cost of care while incarcerated.”
Image Kimberly Knutsen says the deal her partner, Mr. Dawkins, landed for “The Graybar Hotel” has helped support their family. Credit Leah Nash for The New York Times
Michigan is one of more than 40 states where prisoners can be forced to pay for the cost of their incarceration, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Laws that allow the government to charge prisoners “room and board” or “cost of care” fees have proliferated in recent decades, as states charge inmates and parolees for everything from medical care, clothing and meals to police transport, public defense fees, drug testing and electronic monitoring. Since so many prisoners are impoverished to begin with, states typically don’t raise much money by charging inmates room and board fees, and in some states, the enforcement of these laws is conditional on the prisoner’s ability to pay. But as the cost of mass incarceration has soared, with more than 2.2 million adults in prisons and jails across the United States, some states have grown more aggressive in seeking money from prisoners and formerly incarcerated people. During the last fiscal year, Michigan collected some $3.7 million from 294 prisoners, who account for just a fraction of the state’s nearly 40,000 inmates. Around the country, some 10 million people owe $50 billion in fees stemming from their arrest or imprisonment, according to a 2015 Brennan Center report. States often take a percentage of the earnings inmates receive through prison work programs. But some states have also sought money from prisoners who have received larger sums, through an inheritance or legal settlements or, as in Mr. Dawkins’s case, money they acquire through their own initiative. After an Illinois inmate who was serving a 15-month sentence for a drug conviction received a $31,690 settlement for his mother’s death, he was forced to pay the state nearly $20,000 for the cost of his imprisonment, leaving him nearly destitute when he was paroled in 2015. In Florida, a convict named Jeremy Barrett who received a $150,000 settlement from the Department of Corrections for negligence, after he was attacked in 2011 by another inmate who gouged out his eye, was forced to pay the state nearly $55,000 from the settlement as reimbursement for his three years in prison. When prisoners and former inmates fight such charges, courts often rule in the state’s favor. In 2000, Connecticut’s Supreme Court ruled that Eric Ham, who was serving a 50-year sentence for murder, had to pay nearly $900,000 toward the cost of his incarceration, after he won a settlement of around $1 million from the city of New Haven for falsely arresting him for another crime that he didn’t commit. | – A Michigan convict who won accolades for his book of short stories may be forced to give up all he earned from his book deal. Curtis Dawkins' debut, The Graybar Hotel, was published in July by Scribner and details life behind bars in ways that have thrilled readers. Michigan's Department of Treasury is less enthused, however, and has filed a court complaint that asks that 90% of the convicted killer's reported $150,000 advance be given to the state as payment for the cost of his imprisonment. Michigan's attorney general reportedly filed the complaint, which states that Dawkins is not entitled to the money or to transfer any of it to his family, not long after his victim's brother complained publicly about the book deal, per the Guardian. Because he cannot afford an attorney, Dawkins is scheduled to defend himself in the case. Dawkins has in the past expressed remorse for the 2004 botched robbery that led to the murder of Thomas Bowman. The New York Times reports he intends to argue that the same law the attorney general says allows the state to keep the profits also stipulates that courts must consider a convict's obligation to provide for his children or spouse when deciding such cases. Michigan is one of some 40 states with laws on the books that allow the government to force inmates to pay for incarceration. According to the Times, Michigan collected $3.7 million from fewer than 300 of the state's 40,000 inmates. A hearing in Dawkins' case is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Kalamazoo. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Holly Woodlawn, the transgender actress made famous by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in their 1970s films "Trash" and "Women in Revolt," has died. In this 2012 photo provided by David Chick, actress Holly Woodlawn sits on Fisherman's Pier in Malibu, Calif. Woodlawn, who starred in the 1970 Paul Morrissey film "Trash" and was immortalized in the... (Associated Press)
Woodlawn died Sunday in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer, said her former caretaker and friend Mariela Huerta. She was 69. Born Harold Danhakl, she took on the name Holly Woodlawn after running away from home at age 15 and hitchhiking to New York City, where she became one of Warhol's drag queen "superstars." Her story was immortalized in the first lines of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side." It began: "Holly came from Miami, F.L.A. Hitchhiked her way across the U.S.A. Plucked her eyebrows on the way. Shaved her legs and then he was a she. She says, 'Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side.' "
Woodlawn explained in a 2007 interview with the British newspaper The Guardian that she didn't get to know Reed until after the song was released in 1972. Woodlawn received critical acclaim for her film roles, but she couldn't find mainstream success. Her cult status helped her make a comeback in such 1990s independent films as "Twin Falls Idaho" and "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss." More recently, she appeared in the TV comedy "Transparent." Of her time as a Warhol superstar, she told the Guardian: "I felt like Elizabeth Taylor! Little did I realize that not only would there be no money, but that your star would flicker for two seconds and that was it. But it was worth it, the drugs, the parties, it was fabulous." Huerta said Woodlawn had no survivor. Plans for a memorial service were pending. | – Holly Woodlawn, one of Andy Warhol's "drag queen superstars" who was also immortalized in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," died Sunday at age 69 after battling cancer, the AP reports. Born in Puerto Rico, her mother moved Holly—who was, at that point, Harold—to New York and then Miami Beach, the New York Times reports. Woodlawn hitchhiked back to New York at 16, where she was a go-go dancer, among other things: "I was turning tricks, living off the streets and wondering when my next meal was coming," she wrote in her 1991 memoir. While performing in a friend's musical in 1969, Woodlawn told a journalist that she was one of Warhol's superstars, and though that wasn't actually true at that point, her comment got his attention and led to what the Times refers to as Woodlawn's "underground stardom." Warhol's filmmaking partner Paul Morrissey cast her in the 1970 film Trash as the girlfriend of a heroin addict, and the performance got good reviews. She went on to star alongside two other transgender actresses in Morrissey's 1971 film Women in Revolt; both films were produced by Warhol. In 1972, Reed wrote the first lines of his now-classic song about Woodlawn at Warhol's suggestion, the Washington Post reports: "Holly came from Miami F-L-A / Hitchhiked her way across the USA / Plucked her eyebrows on the way / Shaved her legs and then he was a she / She says, 'Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.'" She went on to do a few more films and perform as a cabaret artist, but by the end of the 1970s she was working at a Benihana in Miami. She moved to California in the 1990s, where she studied fashion design and had a few more roles, most recently in Amazon's Transparent. (Click to read about 24 transgender historical figures.) |
Lindsay Lohan Stupidly Pulls Plug On Rehab Plea Deal
Lindsay Lohan Stupidly Pulls Plug On Rehab Plea Deal
EXCLUSIVE
COULD have avoided almost certain jail time by accepting a plea deal for lockdown rehab -- that is, if she didn't fire her lawyer who was literally on the way to the courthouse to make it happen.Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the Santa Monica City Attorney -- who is prosecuting Lindsay for allegedly lying to cops after her June car crash on Pacific Coast Highway -- was willing to keep Lindsay out of jail, PROVIDED she agree to check into "lockdown rehab" for 6 months.Sources say ...-- the lawyer who has kept Lindsay out of jail -- was on her way to court Monday to meet with the prosecutor and the judge to hash out the deal. | – Michael Lohan continues his Father of the Decade duties by giving a new interview to the ever-so-classy Star magazine in which he claims daughter Lindsay is a high-class escort, Radar reports. "She is getting paid to date rich men," and mother "Dina is pimping her out," he says. Other "insiders" back him up, including one who says that the days-long "dates" include LiLo's hotel and travel costs, food, jewelry, and "other gifts." But no sex—or at least, not that anyone is saying. She's supposedly been paid to be seen on the arm of a Southeast Asian prince and a rich Spanish-American painter. It's far from the only troubling LiLo story bubbling up: A source also tells Us that last fall, Lindsay did $50,000 worth of damage to a fancy New York hotel room. "Her suite had so many cigarette burns, they had to change all the carpets," the insider says. "She is not allowed back at any W hotel in NYC, ever!" And then, of course, there are Lohan's legal problems. She could still be facing jail time for allegedly lying to police after her June car accident, but her longtime attorney Shawn Holley planned to make a plea deal involving rehab for Lindsay instead. But Lohan fired Holley as the attorney was on her way to court to make the deal Monday, TMZ reports. Even so, Holley entered a not-guilty plea on Lohan's behalf yesterday, and the Atlantic Wire notes that the next hearing is set for Jan. 30. |
Helsinki, 5 July 2016: Despite the positive results of small studies and a widely held belief in its benefit, the practice of keeping female patients immobilised after intrauterine insemination has no beneficial effect on pregnancy rates, according to results of a large randomised study presented here at the Annual Meeting of ESHRE in Helsinki. (1) "Indeed," said investigator Joukje van Rijswijk from the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, "it even tends to the opposite." Behind her conclusions lies a large randomised comparative study in which 479 patients with standard indications for IUI (unexplained or mild male factor infertility) were randomly assigned to 15 minutes of immobilisation immediately after insemination or to immediate mobilisation. With most patients having several cycles of IUI in their treatment course, the comparison was based on a total of 950 cycles of immobilisation and 984 cycles of mobilisation. Results showed that the cumulative ongoing pregnancy rate per couple (that is, after the total course of treatment, which in some cases ran to six cycles) was comparable between the two groups - a pregnancy rate of 32.2% after 15 minutes of immobilisation and 40.3% after immediate mobilisation. These differences were not statistically significant, despite the trend, indicating no benefit from a brief period of bed rest after insemination. "In our opinion," said Dr van Rijswijk, "immobilisation after IUI has no positive effect on pregnancy rates, and there is no reason why patients should stay immobilised after treatment." She acknowledged that these results were "in disagreement with the literature", from which a widespread acceptance of bed rest after IUI had evolved. A smaller study published last year from the Middle East found that ten and 15 minutes of immobilisation following IUI (compared to five minutes) had a beneficial effect on pregnancy rates. However, the results were based on just one cycle of treatment and not on the more real-world context of multiple cycles. Another smaller Dutch study published in 2009 also found that 15 minutes bed rest improved pregnancy rate and "should be offered to all women treated with intrauterine insemination". (2)
"It was these previous studies showing a benefit of bed rest which prompted us to perform this study," said Dr van Rijswijk. "Our goal was to replicate the results. There's always a possibility that a positive outcome in studies is the result of chance. We also know from other studies that sperm cells can reach the fallopian tube five minutes after intravaginal insemination and that they can survive for several days in the womb. Why should bed rest affect that? There's no biological explanation for a positive effect of immobilisation", which, she added, is usually carried out in a supine position with the knees raised. "We believe our results in such a large randomised trial are solid, and sufficiently strong to render the recommendation for bed rest obsolete," she said. Asked if bed rest might also be of no help in natural conception plans, Dr van Rijswijk said the two insemination techniques are just too different to generalise, and she pointed out that as far as she is aware there have been no randomised trials to test the efficacy of a short period of immobility after the attempt. ###
Abstract O-165, Tuesday 5 July 2016, 15.30
Should patients be immobilised after intrauterine insemination? A randomised controlled comparison between 15 minutes of immobilisation and direct mobilisation
Notes
1. Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a very common fertility treatment in which a sample of sperm cells (from donor or partner) in fluid are injected directly into the uterus. Today, most recipients of the treatment are given some ovarian stimulation to encourage follicle growth. IUI is usually offered as first-line fertility treatment before IVF in couples whose infertility is unexplained (idiopathic) or caused by mild male factors which may not require ICSI. Several factors are related to pregnancy outcomes, but so far now no consensus exists on whether immobilisation is of benefit. 2. Custers IM, Flierman PA, Maas P, et al. Immobilisation versus immediate mobilisation after intrauterine insemination: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2009; 339: b4080. A podcast of Dr van Rijswijk speaking about this study is available at https:/ / www. eshre2016. eu/ Media/ Press-releases/ van-Rijswijk/ Podcast. aspx
When obtaining outside comment, journalists are requested to ensure that their contacts are aware of the embargo on this release. For further information on the details of this press release, contact:
Christine Bauquis at ESHRE
Mobile: +32 (0)499 25 80 46
Email: christine@eshre.eu | – Good news for those trying to conceive: A new study suggests there's no reason for you to continue lying down, immobile, after having sex. There's a widespread belief that lying still after sex helps give the sperm time to get where they need to go, and the same belief has transferred over to women getting intra-uterine insemination (IUI), a fertility treatment in which sperm are injected directly into the uterus. "There’s a lot of anxiety that after IUI if you stand up, everything will fall out," an expert from the University of Southampton tells New Scientist. Two studies have found that resting in bed for 15 minutes after getting IUI did increase success rates, but they were small studies. The new, larger study out of Amsterdam's VU University Medical Center disputes that belief. Researchers looked at 479 women getting IUI, most of whom got multiple rounds; they collected information on nearly 2,000 cycles overall. Women were randomly assigned to either get up and move immediately after treatment or stay on bed rest for 15 minutes before moving. Of the cycles incorporating bed rest, 32% resulted in pregnancy—while 40% of the cycles after which the women immediately moved resulted in pregnancy. "In our opinion," says the lead researcher in a press release, "immobilization after IUI has no positive effect on pregnancy rates, and there is no reason why patients should stay immobilized after treatment." She would not "generalize" the results to give advice to couples attempting to get pregnant via traditional intercourse, but the Southampton expert thinks the study likely applies there, too. (This woman became pregnant after her doctor said she couldn't, and now she's suing.) |
"The Cornell family is overwhelmed by the heartbreaking news about Chester Bennington which tragically comes so soon after their family's own loss," a Cornell family spokesperson told the Associated Press. Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has died, Brian Elias of the Los Angeles County coroner's office confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. Law enforcement sources tell us the singer hanged himself at a private residence in Palos Verdes Estates in L.A. County. Law enforcement received a call around 9 a.m. on Thursday reporting the death. Bennington is survived by his wife, Talinda Ann Bentley, and six children. Bennington, a Phoenix native, was open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, which occurred at various times during his life. On May 26, Bennington sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Los Angeles memorial service of Soundgarden rocker Chris Cornell, who had died by suicide. Bennington was 41. | – Another suicide in the rock world: TMZ reports Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has hanged himself. He was 41. The site's report comes via police sources who say his body was found before 9am local time at a home in Palos Verdes Estates, California. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Bennington's death by way of the Los Angeles County coroner's office, which says it is investigating a "possible suicide" at his home. TMZ points out that Bennington counted Chris Cornell among his close friends. He tweeted this letter to Cornell upon learning of his May death and sang "Hallelujah" at Cornell's funeral. Cornell would have turned 53 today. Bennington leaves behind six children from two marriages. |
Stormy Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti said Michael Cohen has several audio recordings of President Trump Donald John TrumpAustralian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull ousted by party rivals CNN's Cuomo clashes with Kellyanne Conway over Cohen hush-money payments Lawmaker who pushed to impeach Nixon: Trump ‘systematically’ abusing power MORE discussing women who have come forward after allegedly having affairs with Trump.
The New York Times reported Friday that Cohen, a longtime lawyer and fixer for Trump, secretly recorded Trump discussing paying Playboy model Karen McDougal ahead of the 2016 election to keep her from talking about their alleged relationship more than a decade earlier.
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Avenatti told MSNBC on Friday that there are more tapes.
“I know for a fact that this is not the only tape,” Avenatti said. "I think this is a very serious matter and I think that any or all audio tapes that Michael Cohen has in his possession relating to this president should be released for the public.”
"There are multiple audio recordings, and our position is that they should be released immediately. So again, the American people can decide what the next steps are. Period."
– @MichaelAvenatti tells @mitchellreports pic.twitter.com/nivEFYYJ2J — MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 20, 2018
Avenatti said the FBI is already in possession of the tapes after they raided Cohen’s home, office and hotel room in April as part of a criminal investigation into his business dealings.
“There’s nothing that’s stopping Michael Cohen from releasing the audio recordings that he made between him and the president concerning my client, Ms. McDougal, and others,” Avenatti said.
And there is a reason why I used the term that I did and demanded the release of the #TrumpTapes as opposed to the #TrumpTape. If Michael Cohen is a patriot, then ALL of the tapes should be released to the American people. Now. Too much is at stake. #Basta — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 20, 2018
Rudy Giuliani, a member of Trump's legal team, said in The New York Times article that McDougal, a former model who says she had a yearlong affair with Trump shortly after he married first lady Melania Trump Melania TrumpHypocrisy charge against Trump over in-laws’ citizenship is wrong Trump asks State to look at ‘large scale killings of farmers,’ prompting furious South Africa response The Memo: Cohen, Manafort hurricane hits Trump MORE, was never paid the amount in question.
Giuliani said the recording about McDougal is less than two minutes long and shows Trump did nothing wrong, according to the Times.
Trump told Cohen in the recorded conversation to make a potential payment in the form of a check so it could be documented, Giuliani said in the article.
“In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence,” Giuliani said.
Trump has denied the allegations from McDougal and Daniels.
McDougal is suing the owner of the National Enquirer, saying the company paid her $150,000 for a story about the alleged affair but then withheld it from publication.
Daniels, the adult-film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who also says she had an affair with Trump more than a decade ago, was paid $130,000 by Cohen days before the 2016 presidential election. Giuliani revealed earlier this year that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, despite the president previously denying that he had any knowledge of it.
Daniels is suing both Trump and Cohen for libel after denying her claims of an affair. | – If President Trump and former attorney Michael Cohen weren't already on the outs, the revelation that Cohen secretly recorded at least one of their phone conversations has cinched it. The president took to Twitter Saturday morning to express his displeasure and to suggest that Cohen might have broken the law. The FBI seized the recording during its raid on Cohen's office earlier this year, but the tape only came to light this week. On Saturday, Trump reiterated he wasn't happy about that April raid, either. "Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of," he wrote. "Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!" The tape is of a phone conversation Cohen had with Trump shortly before the election in which they discuss a possible payment regarding former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who planned to go public with allegations of an affair. Presidential attorney Rudy Guiliani has heard the tape, and he says it is not legally damaging to Trump. Plus, no payment was ever made, he says. Prosecutors have been looking into the McDougal controversy—the National Enquirer, owned by a Trump ally, eventually paid her $150,000 but then killed the story—to see whether any campaign finance laws were violated. Meanwhile, Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti tells MSNBC that he knows "for a fact" more Cohen-Trump tapes exist and should be made public, reports the Hill. |
Cato Berntsen Larsen was able to climb through the toilet seat opening to recover the phone lying at the bottom of the outhouse, but was unable to climb back out again (AFP Photo/Drammen Fire Department)
Oslo (AFP) - Firemen in Norway came to the rescue Friday of a man who climbed into an outdoor public toilet to retrieve a friend's cell phone, after he got stuck in the tank. Cato Berntsen Larsen, 20, was able to climb through the toilet seat opening to recover the phone lying at the bottom of the outhouse, but was unable to climb back out again. I did not take time to think, and jumped down legs first. I was down there for one hour, and it was very unpleasant”, Larsen says to the local newspaper Drammens Tidende, which was the first news medium to report the story. Overcome by nausea and vomiting, he tried in vain to pull himself of the tank, and which is only emptied once a year, according to VG. He ultimately decided to contact the fire brigade to help end his ordeal in the small town of Drammen outside Oslo. He did retrieve the phone - but it was smashed in the fall. | – There are good friends and then there's Cato Larsen of Norway. The 20-year-old climbed into the tank of an outdoor toilet Friday after his friend dropped his cellphone into it, AFP reports. According to VG, the friends decided Larsen was the only one skinny enough to get into the toilet and retrieve the phone. "Slim enough to get into it, but not slim enough to get out," Larsen clarifies. He found himself standing thigh-deep in excrement—the toilet is only emptied once per year—and unable to climb out. Larsen was, understandably, vomiting; in addition to the human waste, he says there were animals crawling on him. After an hour of Larsen trying to escape the poo-poo prison, his friends called the local fire department. Firefighters quickly cut Larsen out of the toilet using a chainsaw. A spokesperson for the department notes "it was pretty full down there." Larsen was disinfected and treated for bruising on his arms, and he also says he received some animal bites, per the Sun. "It was disgusting as hell. The worst thing I have ever experienced," Larsen tells VG. "I will never enter a toilet again." And he didn't even get the phone, according to AFP. (That classic summertime pool smell? It's pee.) |
The City of Houston wants sermons from pastors engaged in the legal battle over the controversial equal rights ordinance.In a subpoena to five members of the Houston Area Pastors Council, the city is requesting a long list of documents and communications. Among them are "all speeches, presentations, or sermons" related to the Equal Rights Ordinance and "all communications with members of your congregation" regarding it and the failed petition against it.It is the city's latest move as it defends itself against a lawsuit filed in August requesting the ordinance be suspended.Pastor Hernan Castano received a subpoena and believes his sermons are protected by the First Amendment. "For a city government to step into churches and ask pastors to turn in sermons, it's gone too far. This is not what America, the nation is about," he told Eyewitness News.The fight over the anti-discrimination ordinance that passed in May has included protests and petition drives. Thousands of signatures were deemed invalid, which led to the lawsuit.Some signatures were acquired at churches which make the sermons fair game, according to City Attorney Dave Feldman. "If they choose to do this inside the church, choose to do this from the pulpit, then they open the door to the questions being asked," Feldman said.Monday -- the plaintiffs, former Harris County GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill and activist Steven Hotze, along with Pastor F.N. Williams Sr. and Pastor Max Miller -- filed a motion to quash the subpoenas calling them "overly-broad" and "harassment." | – Conservative pastors in Houston complain that the city is trampling on religious freedoms in the battle over a controversial equal-rights ordinance introduced earlier this year. The city's lawyers have subpoenaed several high-profile pastors opposed to the law, seeking, among other things, "all speeches, presentations, or sermons" related to the law, homosexuality, and openly gay Mayor Annise Parker, reports the Houston Chronicle. The law's opponents are suing the city, claiming that it was wrong to determine that an effort to force a repeal referendum didn't gather enough signatures. Plaintiffs call the move "harassment" and a violation of First Amendment rights. "For a city government to step into churches and ask pastors to turn in sermons, it's gone too far. This is not what America, the nation is about," one pastor who received a subpoena tells KTRK. But a city attorney says that since some of the signatures on the repeal petition were gathered at churches, the sermons are part of the case. "If they choose to do this inside the church, choose to do this from the pulpit, then they open the door to the questions being asked," he says. |
The Army medic veteran lost his arms following a motorcycle accident in 2015, but fitted with prosthetic limbs, he turned to the water, specifically standup paddleboarding. Iorns died Wednesday evening after venturing out into the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis, MD, according to Maryland Natural Resources Police Public Information Officer Candy Thomson. Yates was helping the other man to move the boat to Herrington Harbor South while wind gusts were up to 25 knots as he was a more experienced boater, Thomson said. As a precaution, somebody in the group sent Maryland Natural Resources Police a message with their route, Thomson said. Spokeswoman Candy Thomson said Iorns was part of a group of four paddle boarders who were on the water off Tolly Point around 6:30 p.m. One of the people in the group saw Iorns face down in the water behind them and they attempted to rescue him and bring him to shore, Thomson said. Rathgeb said Iorns was wearing an inflatable life jacket, but the device did not inflate. "They pulled him back on his board and did CPR while pulling him back toward shore," Thomson said. Natural Resources Police said Cody Iorns, 25, of Washington D.C. was pronounced dead at Anne Arundel Medical Center after attempts to resuscitate him failed. Thomson said that he was with his family having a picnic at the park and went to the crabbing pier where he was swept into the water during particularly rough conditions. "He was in good shape, he was comfortable around the water, he was well known in our paddleboard community." Capital SUP, a paddle boarding group and business in Annapolis, said in a statement on Facebook that Iorns “went out for a downwind paddle with fellow Capital SUP paddlers and unexpectedly drowned.”
“We are still processing how it happened,” the group wrote. “We are at a loss for words. He was our brother. He was an inspiration to everyone on and off the water.”
Iorns was profiled by National Geographic last year, which described him as a competitive paddle boarder who’d lost his arms in a motorcycle accident. In an interview, Iorns described the challenges of paddle boarding while being an amputee, saying “whenever I paddle board, it’s a team sport because someone is getting my board, someone’s helping me with my arms, so that’s my team.”
“80 percent of my goal is accomplished by making it to the race,” he said. | – A double-amputee Army veteran who was called an "adventure seeker" and "strong-willed man" by friends died Wednesday in the Chesapeake Bay while paddleboarding, NPR and the Washington Post report. Cody Iorns, 25, pushed off land near Annapolis, Md., around 6pm Wednesday with three other paddlers, but rough conditions—including 5-foot-waves and 25mph wind gusts—soon caused Iorns to fall behind his friends. "They all of a sudden looked back and noticed that Cody had fallen from his paddleboard and was face down in the water," Candy Thomson, a rep for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, tells NPR. The others pulled Iorns, whose life jacket hadn't inflated, back onto his board and administered CPR, which medics took over when they arrived on the scene, but it was too late. Iorns was pronounced dead at Anne Arundel Medical Center; the state medical examiner said the cause of death was accidental drowning. The Capital Gazette notes Iorns' death brings the number of boat-related fatalities so far for 2018 to 10; last year by this time there had only been four. "We're on pace for one of the deadliest years boating-wise in Maryland," says MNRP Capt. Brian Rathgeb. The Annapolis paddleboard community, meanwhile, is mourning the loss of Iorns, a former Army medic who lost his arms after a 2015 motorcycle accident but had become an inspiration in the stand-up paddleboard community. His story had just been featured by National Geographic last year. "He was our brother," paddleboard company Capital SUP Annapolis posted on Facebook. "He was an inspiration to everyone on and off the water." |
Reviving a 20-year debate over illnesses of veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf war, a new scientific paper presents evidence that nerve agents released by the bombing of Iraqi chemical weapons depots just before the ground war began could have carried downwind and fallen on American troops staged in Saudi Arabia. The paper, published in the journal Neuroepidemiology, tries to rebut the longstanding Pentagon position, supported by many scientists, that neurotoxins, particularly sarin gas, could not have carried far enough to sicken American forces. The authors are James J. Tuite and Dr. Robert Haley, who has written several papers asserting links between chemical exposures and gulf war illnesses. They assembled data from meteorological and intelligence reports to support their thesis that American bombs were powerful enough to propel sarin from depots in Muthanna and Falluja high into the atmosphere, where winds whisked it hundreds of miles south to the Saudi border. Once over the American encampments, the toxic plume could have stalled and fallen back to the surface because of weather conditions, the paper says. Though troops would have been exposed to low levels of the agent, the authors assert that the exposures may have continued for several days, increasing their impact. Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Though chemical weapons detectors sounded alarms in those encampments in the days after the January 1991 bombing raids, they were viewed as false by many troops, the authors report. | – A controversial new paper may shed light on Gulf War syndrome, a collection of symptoms seen in veterans of the 1991 conflict: Chemical weapons could be to blame. The researchers assert that when US troops bombed chemical weapons depots in Iraq, the neurotoxin sarin was sent into the atmosphere then carried by the wind all the way to American encampments 300 miles to the south. From there, weather conditions may have driven the toxin downward, potentially exposing troops to it for several days. Troops were told that chemical weapons alarms that blared at the time were false alarms, the New York Times reports. The theory has been raised before; the new paper supports it using intelligence and weather reports. The researchers also noted a correlation between the number of times troops say they heard the alarm and the severity of their symptoms. Satellite images in the report show yellow gas over the US encampments, USA Today adds. Almost half of 700,000 Gulf War veterans have made claims for disability, with many citing symptoms whose cause remains mysterious. The Pentagon has maintained that the gas couldn't have traveled far enough to present a threat, and other experts have agreed. |
The excavation also unearthed three barrels stacked on top of one another and tied together that served as a basic well. READ MORE: Danish research gives new details on Ice Age extinction
Huge urban dig
But what’s also interesting is that the barrels were usually used for something else before becoming latrines, and the markings on the barrels reveal who owned it and whether it was used for the transportation of goods or storage of fish. A number of Medieval latrines -- still filled with their original contents -- have been unearthed in Denmark, according to archaeologists working in one of the largest urban archaeological excavations in Danish history. Many of the barrels, which were found during 2013, are in excellent condition and their contents can provide a unique insight into the dietary habits of people living some seven hundred years ago. Visitors can go on a free tour of the excavation every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 pm and can visit the archaeologists' workshop every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 3:00. The digs revealed numerous latrine barrels dating back to the 1300s and still filled with their intended content, proving – among other things – that human excrement still has a putrid odour even if it is centuries old. | – One of the biggest urban archaeological digs Denmark has ever seen has uncovered a lowly part of history. "We are talking about 700-year-old latrines. And yes, they still smell bad," an archaeologist explains. The team stumbled on what appears to be a 14th-century communal toilet area in the medieval town of Odense, unearthing a number of medieval barrels filled with human waste. And in case you were wondering, the poop the barrels contained was in "excellent condition," reports Discovery News, with the Copenhagen Post explaining that its "putrid odor" hadn't diminished over the centuries. But it's more than just stinky. It actually tells researchers a lot about how the people of the time lived. (LiveScience notes latrine samples from roughly the same period in Cyprus revealed the intestinal parasites that plagued the crusaders there.) "Preliminary results of analysis show that raspberries were popular in Odense in the 1300s," the head archaeologist reveals. "The contents also contain small pieces of moss, leather, and fabric, which were used as toilet paper." Want to take a whiff for yourself? Well, you're in, um, luck. The site offers free tours, two days a week. (Latrines found in Pompeii have revealed some unusual Roman eating habits.) |
US Department of Labor sues Oracle America Inc. for discriminatory employment practices
Lawsuit could cost company millions in federal contracts
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Oracle America, Inc. alleging the leading technology company has a systemic practice of paying Caucasian male workers more than their counterparts in the same job title, which led to pay discrimination against female, African American and Asian employees. The Department of Labor in its complaint alleges that Oracle "refused to produce" compensation data, hiring data, and "any material demonstrating whether or not it had performed an in-depth review of its compensation practices." | – Oracle provides contracting services for the feds via its cloud computing software, resulting in "hundreds of millions" of dollars in government contracts, per a Labor Department release. That means the tech company has to adhere to federal nondiscriminatory hiring practices, which a DOL lawsuit announced Wednesday says has not been the case, CNN reports. The complaint alleges Oracle has, in a "systemic practice," extended higher paychecks to white males over female, African-American, and Asian workers with the same job title. On the flip side, the company is also accused of having a bias toward Asian workers (specifically, Asian Indians, per BuzzFeed), with "targeted recruitment" and "referral bonuses" coaxing "its heavily Asian workforce to recruit other Asians." The DOL has been trying to address complaints of a lack of diversity in Silicon Valley, and it has filed suit in recent months against other federal contractors, including Google to turn over compensation data, data software firm Palantir for discriminating against Asian applicants, and JPMorgan Chase for gender discrimination in a complaint also filed Wednesday, per Reuters. But here's where the politics supposedly come into play, which is what Oracle claims is the underlying impetus: Oracle CEO Safra Catz and Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir, are both members of President-elect Trump's transition team, with Catz saying last month she would "tell the president-elect that we are with him and will help in any way we can." An Oracle spokeswoman calls the suit "politically motivated" and "wholly without merit." |
The Tea Party movement set the agenda in its first midterms, its energy propelling the Republican sweep in the House and capturing the mood of a significant chunk of the electorate, with a remarkable 4 in 10 voters in exit polls expressing support for the movement. But in the Senate, the effect was exactly what establishment Republicans had feared: While Tea Party energy powered some victories, concerns about Tea Party extremism also cost them what could have been easy gains — most notably in Nevada, where the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid, survived a challenge from Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite. Now, as it tries to make the transition from a protest movement to a power on Capitol Hill, the Tea Party faces the challenge of channeling the energy it brought to the election into a governing agenda when it has no clear mandate, a stated distaste for the inevitable compromises of legislating, and a wary relationship with Republican leaders in Congress. For many voters the Tea Party has been a blank screen on which they have projected all kinds of hopes and frustrations — not always compatible or realistic. To many in the movement, the singular goal is to stop an expanding government in its tracks, to “hold the line at all hazards,” as Jennifer Stefano, a Tea Party leader in Pennsylvania, put it. But the movement is also animated by a belief that the entire political system has become disconnected from the practical needs and values of Americans, suggesting that its voting power stemmed as much from a populist sense of outrage in a tough economic moment as it did from ideology. What many of its adherents want as much as anything is for the two parties to come together to solve problems. That sometimes conflicting mandate was neatly captured by two interviews in Searchlight, Nev., hometown of Mr. Reid, who became the Tea Party’s biggest target. “I want to see gridlock,” said Ronald Hanvey, who supported Ms. Angle. “I don’t want to see any more laws.”
A few months earlier on nearly the same spot, Jeff Church, arriving at a Tea Party rally against Mr. Reid, complained equally about the state’s Republican senator, John Ensign, and yearned for bipartisanship. “Why can’t they get along and make some common-sense solutions?” Mr. Church asked. In the Senate, the Tea Party carried to victory Marco Rubio in Florida and Rand Paul in Kentucky. Still, it cost the Republicans some seats that they had once counted as solid, including one in Delaware, where Christine O’Donnell, who beat an establishment candidate in the primary thanks to strong Tea Party support, lost to Chris Coons, a Democrat once considered a long shot. Even more painful for Republicans was the result in Nevada. Mr. Reid, once considered the most vulnerable Democrat, fought off Ms. Angle, who had made headlines for her controversial and sometimes eccentric remarks. House races showed the same win-loss effect. Looking ahead, the immediate focus for the movement will be on the big legislative issues facing Congress. But as attention inevitably shifts to 2012, the Tea Party will also have the chance to exert potentially substantial influence on the race for the Republican presidential nomination, with a variety of potential candidates, including Sarah Palin and Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, maneuvering to lead it into the next election. For the Republican Congressional leaders, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the question is whether the passion of the Tea Party translates into an agenda that can drive legislative progress in a divided capital, or whether it becomes a prod to block Mr. Obama and his party at every turn. They want to keep the movement’s energy alive through the next presidential election — but not fall captive to it. A year spent observing the contours of Tea Party America revealed an uneasy alliance within it, between those who came to the movement with unswerving ideology, generally libertarian, and those who say they came to it more out of frustration and a desire to feel that they were doing something to move forward when the country seemed stuck. The much-mocked sign at a health care town hall last summer, “Keep your government hands off my Medicare,” suggested how many Tea Party supporters had come to the movement without thinking through the specifics. While the more ideological Tea Party supporters embrace ideas like phasing out Social Security and Medicare in favor of private savings accounts, most do not. And just as Tea Party supporters do not always agree on what the agenda is, most Americans disagree with many of the goals proclaimed by Tea Party candidates. While incoming Tea Party lawmakers like Mr. Paul have advocated sharp across-the-board cuts in federal spending, a Pew Research Center poll last week found that a plurality of Americans disapproved of a proposal to freeze all government spending except the part that goes to national security. A majority disapproved of permanently extending the Bush-era tax cuts on incomes greater than $250,000. A New York Times/CBS News poll last month similarly found opposition to raising the retirement age or reducing Social Security or Medicare benefits for future retirees. And a plurality of voters disagreed with what is perhaps the Tea Party movement’s most widely supported goal: repealing the health care overhaul passed in March. Even where the public agrees on parts of the Republican-Tea Party agenda, there are important qualifiers. A slight majority in the Pew poll approved of changing Social Security to allow private accounts, but only by the same margin as when President George W. Bush advanced the cause in 2005, only to see it fail when people read the fine print. The most ardent Tea Party activists expect Republicans to hew to their desires. Even before polls closed Tuesday, FreedomWorks, the libertarian advocacy group that has helped shape the movement from its earliest hours, put out a press release declaring, “The success of the G.O.P. will not merely benefit from the Tea Party vote, it will depend on it.”
David Adams, a Tea Party activist in Kentucky who ran Mr. Paul’s primary campaign, said, “I’m hoping for a lot of fireworks in Washington over who takes control of who. “If Republican leaders think for a minute that they’re going to suck us in and continue business as usual,” he said, “they’re wrong.”
Like many other Tea Party supporters, Mr. Adams said the biggest goals are to balance the budget and reduce the national debt. And on those, it was unclear where he was willing to compromise. He expects lawmakers like Mr. Paul who campaigned on a promise to balance the federal budget within a year and pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to put forward proposals to do so. It would not be enough, Mr. Adams said, to reach an agreement to, say, balance the budget over five years. Mr. Adams’s list also includes changing Social Security and Medicare, cutting the military budget, replacing the income tax with a flat tax — all ideas that have been raised and voted down, firmly, before. As for repealing the health care legislation? “I can’t imagine much compromise there,” he said. “You look at what the Tea Party has done over the course of this last year, we’ve changed the shape of the debate,” he said. “We have major candidates who are winning races by large margins by talking about making government smaller. We’re getting very, very close to put-up-or-shut-up time.”
There was not much room for compromise on Ms. Stefano’s list, either. She wants the health care bill and the estate tax to be repealed, and the Bush-era tax cuts to be made permanent. She warned Republicans not to read too much into the Tea Party support for Republicans. “They should not see it as a mandate for their agenda,” she said. “It is a repudiation of the president and Nancy Pelosi’s view of America. As far as I’m concerned, as of Nov. 3, the Republicans are on probation.”
But as much as the Tea Party allowed the Republicans to win in enthusiasm, it will still have a relatively small caucus in the House and the Senate. With control of Congress split, Republicans will have to work with Democrats to get things done. Tea Party lawmakers who refuse to go along may find they become irrelevant — certainly not the goal of all the noise and passion of the last two years. | – The Tea Party proved itself to be a major force in yesterday's elections, but a force for what has yet to be determined. "No one in this movement is stopping today. This is not an endgame. This is just a beginning," a leader of the Tea Party patriots told the Wall Street Journal as candidates backed by the movement swept to victory in Florida and Kentucky. In Delaware and Nevada, however, the fears of the GOP establishment were realized as Tea Party-backed candidates were defeated in races the Republicans had expected to win easily. Exit polls found that 40% of voters supported the movement, though there was little agreement on which specifics of the Tea Party agenda they backed. Many who considered themselves Tea Party supporters backed compromising with the Democrats to some degree, though activists say they have no intention of compromising even with the GOP establishment. “If Republican leaders think for a minute that they’re going to suck us in and continue business as usual, they’re wrong," a Tea Party activist who ran Rand Paul's primary campaign in Kentucky told the New York Times. |
Black-legged tick inhabits twice as many counties as in 1998, CDC reports, with 320% increase in number of north-eastern counties seen as high risk for disease
Ticks that can carry the debilitating illness Lyme disease have significantly spread across the US over the past 20 years and are now found in nearly half of all American counties, including areas where they have never previously been documented, a new analysis has found. The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, found that the parasites that carry the disease -- known as blacklegged ticks -- are now found in nearly half of all U.S. counties. This was the first study since 1998 to examine where these ticks live. Since 1991, when standardized surveillance and reporting began, Lyme disease case counts have increased steadily from roughly 10,000 cases in 1991 to more than 30,000 cases in 2008 and subsequent years ( Bacon et al. Some symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headache, and fatigue, all of which can be mistaken for the common flu, so medical personnel need to know where these ticks are found in order to make a correct diagnosis. Most cases are easily treated with antibiotics, but in some patients, if left untreated, Lyme disease can lead to chronic joint inflammation and neurological problems weeks, months, or even years after infection. Dr Rebecca Eisen, a research biologist at the CDC, said the tick expansion has been “substantial” and required mitigating action, especially in areas that have not previously had to deal with the insects. Notably, the number of counties in which I. scapularis is considered established (six or more individuals or one or more life stages identified in a single year) has more than doubled since the previous national distribution map was published nearly two decades ago. Parasitism of reptiles by the blacklegged tick ( Ixodes scapularis ) and western blacklegged tick ( Ixodes pacificus ) with new records of I. scapularis from Arkansas and Oklahoma lizards: implications for Lyme disease epidemiology . The presence of I. scapularis has now been documented from 1,420 (45.7%) of the 3,110 continental United States counties, as compared with 111 (3.6%) counties for I. pacificus . (1998) survey Arizona Mohave Established California Alameda Established Amador Established Butte Established Calaveras Established Colusa Established Contra Costa Established Del Norte Established El Dorado Established Fresno Established Glenn Established Humboldt Established Imperial Established Inyo Established Kern Established Kings Established Lake Established Lassen Established Los Angeles Established Madera Established Marin Established Mariposa Established Mendocino Established Merced Established Mono Reported Monterey Established Napa Established Nevada Established Orange Established Placer Established Plumas Established Riverside Established Sacramento Established San Benito Established San Bernardino Established San Diego Established San Francisco Established San Joaquin Established San Luis Obispo Established San Mateo Established Santa Barbara Established Santa Clara Established Santa Cruz Established Shasta Established Sierra Established Siskiyou Established Solano Established Sonoma Established Stanislaus Established Sutter Established Tehama Established Trinity Established Tulare Established Tuolumne Established Ventura Established Yolo Established Yuba Established Nevada Clark Reported Lincoln Reported Oregon Benton Established Clackamas Established Clatsop Established Columbia Reported Coos Established Curry Established Douglas Established Hood River Established Jackson Established Jefferson Reported Josephine Established Lane Established Lincoln Established Linn Established Marion Established Multnomah Established Polk Reported Sherman Established Tillamook Established Umatilla Reported Wasco Established Washington Established Utah Beaver Reported Juab Established Millard Reported Piute Reported Salt Lake Established Tooele Established R-E ( Davis et al. The data presented here suggest that I. scapularis over the past two decades has expanded from its northeastern focus northward into upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and northern Maine; westward across Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and New York; and south- and southwestward into West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina ( Fig. Review of Lyme disease and I. scapularis surveillance reports (see references in Table 2 ) suggests that the tick is expanding westward across the state, with highly Lyme disease endemic counties still focused in the eastern panhandle. Reforestation and an increased population of deer, which host the ticks, have contributed to the increase in distribution. | – Nearly half of all counties in the US are now home to ticks that carry Lyme disease, including areas where they'd never before been documented, researchers at the CDC report in the Journal of Medical Entomology. That's up from 30% of counties in 1998, with the Guardian reporting that the number of Lyme disease incidents has tripled in the US since the '90s. The biggest increases were seen in northern and northeastern states, reports CBS News, which singles out Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and Wisconsin. It's not surprising, then, that while some 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported annually, the real figure is estimated at a staggering 330,000 people every year. While Lyme disease continues to be fairly easy to treat via antibiotics, if left untreated it can lead to serious symptoms, including chronic joint inflammation and even heart and neurological problems years after infection, reports the CDC, which adds that the best preventive measures are removing ticks as quickly as possible and applying pesticides. Biologists blame reforestation, growing deer populations, and climate change for the fast spread of ticks that carry Lyme disease, reports the Guardian, and the researchers note in a press release the rise of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in particular. (Warmer autumns allow ticks more time to feed and infest.) |
Published on Nov 6, 2017
Donald Trump and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzō Abe, feed fish on the second day of the US president’s five-nation tour of Asia. Standing beside a pond brimming with colourful koi in the Akasaka palace in Tokyo, the two men upended their wooden containers and dumped the entire contents of fish food into the pond Fishy business: Trump and Abe dump fish food into precious koi pond
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Guardian Culture ► http://is.gd/guardianculture | – It's probably one of the most-repeated phrases when teaching kids about how to feed fish: just a pinch. It's a directive President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe most definitely did not follow while the two visited the Akasaka palace's koi carp pond Monday. The Guardian reports that the men began by spooning a bit of food in before "appearing to lose patience" and essentially dumping the contents of the boxes they held into the pond. While some in the media were quick to pounce on Trump for the apparent gaffe, the Guardian notes that video footage shows he was simply imitating Abe's approach. |
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Top Ten Question to Ask Yourself Before Buying $300 Sneakers
10. "Are laces included?"
9. "Will I have to upgrade my socks?"
8. "May I put one shoe on layaway?"
7. "How much just for the tongues?"
6. "Foam, plastic, and string, assembled in China, for $300 -- too good to be true?"
5. "What would Dr. Scholl do?"
4. "Is this the kind of excessive spending Mitt Romney is hiding on his tax returns?"
3. "Will they help me outrun my creditors?"
2. "Do I want my footwear to scream, 'sucker!'?" | – You could be forgiven for thinking Snooki’s debut literary venture, A Shore Thing, is perhaps not for you … but maybe you just haven’t been considering all the reasons to buy it. The Jersey Shore star herself offered up 10 such reasons last night on the Late Show With David Letterman. At the very least, you should consider a purchase because—as she said in reason No. 4—“If everybody buys my book, the economy will be fixed.” Watch in the gallery—or click for a hilarious list of excerpts from the novel. |
“I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Barr recently finished the first season of her rebooted sitcom, which ranked as one of the most-watched shows of the TV season. — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) May 29, 2018
Jarrett, now a senior fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, told MSNBC during a pre-taped town hall-style program on racism set to air Tuesday night that she was “fine“ in the wake of Barr‘s remarks. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least. Prior to the show’s cancellation, Wanda Sykes, who described herself as a consulting producer for the program, tweeted that she “will not be returning” to “Roseanne.” And Sara Gilbert, who plays the daughter to Barr’s character, Roseanne Conner, on the show, expressed disappointment over the “abhorrent” remarks on social media. | – A racist joke on Twitter has cost Roseanne Barr her show. ABC on Tuesday canceled the reboot of Roseanne amid a storm of criticism directed at its star, reports CNN. The move came after Barr apologized not once but twice on Tuesday for a jarring insult directed at former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. In a since-deleted tweet, Barr wrote, "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." As the post began getting traction Tuesday, Barr took to Twitter again. "I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter," she wrote. And then came a lengthier mea culpa: "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste." Related coverage: ABC: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," says the network's statement, per USA Today. Jarrett: Now a senior fellow at the University of Chicago Law School, she declined to comment through a spokesperson, reports Politico. Jarrett is black, and she was born in Iran to American parents. Sykes bailed: Before ABC's move, African-American comedian Wanda Sykes, credited as a consulting producer on Roseanne, tweeted that she would not be returning to the show, reports Entertainment Weekly. Sara Gilbert: The Roseanne star, who was instrumental in the show's reboot, also distanced herself early. The comments "are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show," she tweeted. "I am disappointed in her actions to say the least." |
In an article published today in PeerJ, Mycologists Bryn Dentinger and Laura Martinez-Suz from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London set out to ask this question by using DNA-based taxonomy. Some of the most sought-after of wild mushrooms are the sweet and nutty Boletus edulis and allies, often referred to by the Italian common name porcini. Drs Dentinger and Suz arbitrarily selected 15 pieces of mushroom from the packet and sequenced the fungal DNA barcode region for each. They then compared these sequences to sequences in the International Nucleotide Sequence Database and classified them based on evolutionary relationships. "None of them had scientific names, so these were essentially new species to science," Dentiger told CBC science columnist Torah Kachur. | – That scientists discovered three new species of mushrooms isn't all that unusual. That they did so in their local supermarket is why it's making headlines. Scientists in London picked up a packet of dried porcini mushrooms at the grocery store and then used a technique known as DNA barcoding, explains the CBC. When they attempted to match the DNA profiles of the dried mushrooms to known species, they discovered that three of the 15 pieces they tested were previously unknown to science. Introducing Boletus meiweiniuganjun, Boletus bainiugan, and Boletus shiyong. All come from China, as do about half the porcini mushrooms sold in Europe, reports Science 2.0. It's not so much a bombshell discovery as evidence of the "enormously diverse and completely under-documented" world of fungi, says the blog post. These particular porcinis have likely been consumed for decades; it's just that nobody had taken the time to categorize them. That said, the researchers were surprised to get hits on three of only 15 specimens, notes Kew.org. The new research is published in the journal PeerJ. (Scientists still can't figure out what these mushroom-like creatures are in the deep sea.) |
- A Manassas father said it is a miracle his son is alive after the teenager went into cardiac arrest at baseball practice, but a fellow teammate of his son certified in CPR is being credited for saving his life. A Virginia baseball player was saved when his teammate administered CPR moments after he was struck in the chest by a baseball. Steve Smith is fortunate to be able to play ping pong with Paul Dow, a friend and baseball teammate who Smith said saved his life. He's been here for me and we have been friends and everything, but something like that is kind of hard where someone helps you that much.”
For his dad, the magnitude of what happened is more clear than for his son. He said he remembers getting ready for baseball practice the day of the accident, but nothing from practice itself. The Manassas baseball team was practicing for the Southeast Regional Tournament on July 14 when the catcher threw the ball and hit Steve Smith directly in the chest, according to Steve's father Tim. For more information on the Hands on Heart CPR Program, go to fems.dc.gov/page/hands-hearts-cpr-program. "All I hear is coach Tim Smith say, 'Does anyone know CPR?' I said, 'I know CPR,'" Dow said. "I jump in, did CPR, like, I felt like I was having a spiritual conversation with him as he is sitting there slowly dying." Paul, a close friend of the Smiths, learned CPR to become a lifeguard at the local pool. So I yelled, ‘Does anybody know CPR?’”
There was only one person on the field who did – Steve’s friend and teammate, Paul Dow, who is also a lifeguard. "When I got to him he was stiff, like his body was trying to breathe but his eyes were rolled back in his head, and he wasn't responding," Smith recalled. Tim Smith
Steve was then airlifted to a trauma hospital in Fairfax, where he stayed over the weekend, remaining mostly unconscious. Steve was flown to a trauma center and his family said what happened next is almost unbelievable – he came to just two days later and was feeling just fine by the third day. Steve said it was tough to find the right words to thank his friend. “For everyone else, it seemed overwhelming. | – Two Virginia teens are suddenly more than just baseball teammates after a near-death experience during a practice July 14, NBC Washington reports. Steve Smith was running the bases when a throw from the catcher inadvertently nailed him under his left armpit, causing cardiac arrest. “His heart stopped immediately," his father and coach, Tim Smith, tells ABC News. "When I got to him he was stiff, like his body was trying to breathe but his eyes were rolled back in his head." Teammate Paul Dow started performing CPR, a skill he had recently learned during lifeguard training. Dow tells NBC that performing CPR on Smith “felt like I was having a spiritual conversation with him.” Twelve minutes after Dow started CPR, medics arrived and used a defibrillator to restart Smith's heart. Smith was unconscious for a few days but woke up July 17 feeling fine. Tim Smith credits Dow for preventing his son from suffering brain damage and probably saving his life. “It’s a miracle,” he tells ABC. Dow says God helped him save his teammate. “There is no way in heck I did that by myself,” he tells Fox 5. Smith says he likely wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Dow. "Before the accident, we were friends," he tells NBC. "Now, we're actually brothers.” |
News Release
October 5, 2018
Contact information
Statement on cases of acute flaccid myelitis
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) issued the following statement today regarding reported cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in six children around the state over the last few weeks. Story highlights Acute flaccid myelitis, known as AFM, affects the body's nervous system
Minnesota typically sees less than one case per year
Thirty-eight cases of AFM have been confirms in the US in 2018, CDC says
(CNN) Six children in Minnesota have been diagnosed with a rare "polio-like" disease since mid-September, state health officials said. AFM is a rare but serious condition that affects the nervous system, causing muscles to weaken. It can be a complication following a viral infection, but environmental and genetic factors may also contribute to its development. Symptoms usually include a sudden onset of arm or leg weakness and loss of muscle reflexes, but can also include drooping eyelids, slurred speech and difficulty swallowing. Other symptoms may include:
Neck weakness or stiffness
Drooping eyelids or a facial droop. AFM came to the attention of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014 after clusters of cases were discovered in Colorado and California and linked to the spread of a type of virus known as EV-D68. The disease typically affects children; all the recent cases in Minnesota were in children younger than 10. Three cases in 2014
While this is the largest cluster to be reported in Minnesota, it is not the first in the state. The CDC has been collaborating with researchers to understand AFM, to estimate how many cases occurred before 2014, and to determine why cases increased substantially starting that year. Minnesota typically sees less than one case a year, the state Department of Health reported. Since AFM can develop as a result of a viral infection, MDH recommends parents and children take basic steps to avoid infections and stay healthy:
Wash your hands frequently to limit your exposure to germs. By the end of the week, he was vomiting and stayed home. If parents see potential symptoms of AFM in their child, (for example, if he or she is not using an arm) they should contact their health care provider as soon as possible. | – A rare condition known for its polio-like effects has been diagnosed in six Minnesota children since mid-September. Per CNN, the condition is called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, and damages the body's nervous system. While uncommon, AFM is serious and can lead to paralysis or even death. The state usually sees just one case of the illness per year, which the Star-Tribune reports has health officials now issuing alerts to doctors statewide. And, unlike the viral disease polio, AFM's more elusive cause means there is no vaccine. "Disease investigators are working aggressively with health care providers to gather information about the cases," the Minnesota Department of Public Health said in a statement. "The department is also in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to share information." AFM most commonly affects young children and the cases in Minnesota, which are not isolated to one region but have instead been seen in multiple parts of the state, have all occurred in patients under age 10. AFM is believed to be most frequently triggered by some separate viral infection, leading officials to urge parents to ensure children follow basic preventative measures including hand washing, staying up-to-date on vaccinations, and avoiding mosquito bites when at all possible. Officials also want parents to be aware of early signs of AFM, which include weakness or stiffness of the neck, drooping eyelids, difficulty swallowing, and slurred speech. With no vaccine, all doctors can do in these cases is treat symptoms and hope effects like limb paralysis aren't permanent. (Meanwhile, the CDC says the disease may be on the rise.) |
– The world is discussing the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Paris today, with President Francois Hollande opening a conference attended by leaders and diplomats from 25-plus countries by saying "there is no time to lose. Iraq's combat against terrorism is also ours." Or so hopes Iraqi president Fuad Masum, who urged those in attendance to expand the fight against ISIS to Syria, reports the New York Times. "We must not allow them to have sanctuaries. We must pursue them wherever they are." The Times notes that, thus far, the US has OKed only intelligence gathering over Syria. More on the ISIS front: Not in attendance at the conference: Iran. Though France "initially opened the door to a possible role" by the country, per the Times, John Kerry put the kibosh on the idea over fears it would dissuade Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states from participating. Iran, for its part, says that Syria should have been invited to the table. Though it was announced yesterday that several Arab nations have agreed to join the fight against ISIS, with the BBC reporting that the anti-ISIS coalition now stands at about 40 countries including 10 Arab states, specifics remain in short supply. A BBC analyst describes a "scramble to craft a coherent plan from contributions offered" by the countries. The Wall Street Journal reports that while no officials have named which Mideast states might also conduct airstrikes, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar likely have the ability to join the US campaign. As far as those airstrikes go, five weeks of them (150 strikes since President Obama's speech last Wednesday, notes the New York Times) have halted the militants' progress, US officials tell the Journal, but the paper points out that ISIS has reacted by becoming more "stealthy." Equipment isn't moved in open convoys; electronic communications have been curtailed; tarps and foliage are increasingly used to shield militants from drones; and militants are hiding among locals. The upside is that "ISIS has not gained any land since the airstrikes started," per one official. The downside is that they may be tougher to track. |
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Editor's note: Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a 21-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, federal officials said. Authorities say he attempted to detonate what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb. Below are major developments as we received them. Read the full story here. Nafis, wearing street clothes and represented by a public defender, was arraigned a little while ago during a five-minute hearing in a New York courtroom. No bail application has been made. Prosecutors will have 30 days to officially indict him. The public defender said she would not comment to reporters. Nafis will be held for now at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, U.S. attorneys say. [Posted at 4:18 p.m. ET] Paul J. Browne, deputy commissioner of the New York City Police Department, released the following statement on the alleged plot:
"Whether al -Qaeda operatives like (2003 Brooklyn Bridge suspect) Iyman Faris or those inspired by them like (2011 suspect in bomb-making case) Jose Pimentel, terrorists have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field. We're up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange, and Citicorp Center. After 11 years without a successful attack, it's understanding if the public becomes complacent. But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford. Vigilance is our watchword now and into the foreseeable future. That's why we have over 1,000 police officers assigned to counter-terrorism duties every day, and why we built the Domain Awareness System. I want to commend the NYPD detectives and FBI agents of the Joint Terrorist Task Force for the work they did in the case and in other ways every day to help New York City safe from terrorists." [Posted at 4:08 p.m. ET] U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch from the Eastern District of New York made the following statement regarding the alleged terror plot attack:
"As alleged in the complaint, the defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan. The defendant thought he was striking a blow to the American economy. He thought he was directing confederates and fellow believers. At every turn, he was wrong, and his extensive efforts to strike at the heart of the nation’s financial system were foiled by effective law enforcement. We will use all of the tools at our disposal to stop any such attack before it can occur. We are committed to protecting the safety of all Americans, including the hundreds of thousands who work in New York’s financial district. I would like to thank our partners at the FBI, NYPD, the other agencies who participate in the JTTF, and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, for their hard work on this important investigation. I would also like to thank the security teams at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the New York Stock Exchange for their assistance." ET] Nafis appeared to have had a back-up plan. He met an undercover agent that supplied him with what he thought were explosives on Wednesday morning. After meeting up, they both traveled in a van to a warehouse, the Justice Department said. That’s apparently when Nafis told the agent he had a "Plan B." If Nafis felt his attack was about to be thwarted by cops, he would invoke the back-up plan, which involved a suicide bombing operation, the criminal complaint alleges. When the pair arrived at the warehouse, Nafis began putting together what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb inside the van. Then they drove together to the target: The New York Federal Reserve Bank. As they drove, he armed the purported by putting together the detonator and the explosives, the criminal complaint says. The van was then parked next to the bank. The pair went to a nearby hotel, where Nafis apparently recorded a video statement meant to be shown to the American public in connection with the attack. "We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," he said, according to the criminal complaint. He then tried, several times unsuccessfully, to detonate the device, which was actually inert explosives. Nafis was then arrested. A good portion of the sting operation was caught on tape, according to a source familiar with the investigation. [Posted at 3:59 p.m. ET] The plot came to light as an FBI undercover agent posed as an al-Qaeda facilitator, federal authorities say. Nafis asked the undercover agent for 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives, and then worked on putting together an explosive device, according to prosecutors. "Nafis purchased components for the bomb’s detonator and conducted surveillance for his attack on multiple occasions in New York City’s financial district in lower Manhattan," a Justice Department press release describing the criminal complaint said. “Throughout his interactions with the undercover agent, Nafis repeatedly asserted that the plan was his own and was the reason he had come to the United States." [Posted at 3:56 p.m. ET] We now have some more detail about the plot to blow up the reserve bank from a press release that breaks down the criminal complaint filed against Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis:
The Bangladeshi national allegedly came to the United States in January to carry out a terror attack on U.S. soil and said he had overseas connections to al-Qaeda. As he attempted to recruit others to join his cell, he tried to recruit someone who turned out to be an FBI source, the criminal complaint says. Nafis initially had a few targets in mind, according to the complaint, including "a high-ranking U.S. official and the New York Stock Exchange." In the end, Nafis settled on the New York Federal Reserve Bank, federal officials said. "In a written statement intended to claim responsibility for the terrorist bombing of the Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of al-Qaeda, Nafis wrote that he wanted to 'destroy America' and that he believed the most efficient way to accomplish this goal was to target America’s economy," the Justice Department press release said. "In this statement, Nafis also included quotations from 'our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden' to justify the fact that Nafis expected that the attack would involve the killing of women and children." The "explosives that he allegedly sought and attempted to use had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public," according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch. [Posted at 3:41 p.m. ET] Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested for allegedly attempting to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan, the Department of Justice and a U.S. attorney's office said in a press release. He will be charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda, the press release said. [Posted at 3: 40 p.m. ET] A man has been arrested for planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to a federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. The man was arrested as part of a string operation conducted by the FBI and NYPD as part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a federal law enforcement source said. "Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure. The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences," FBI Acting Assistant Director Mary Galligan said in a statement. "It is important to emphasize that the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendant’s ‘accomplices’ were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent. The FBI continues to place the highest priority on preventing acts of terrorism." | – The FBI says it has foiled a plot to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, reports CNN. The story follows a familiar pattern: It was a sting operation, and the suspect was actually dealing with agents from the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force of New York City. They supplied him with what he thought was a car bomb, and he reportedly tried to detonate it outside the bank, reports AP. The suspect is identified as Bangladeshi national Quazi Nafis, 21, and authorities say he came to the US in January to carry out an attack. "In a written statement intended to claim responsibility for the terrorist bombing of the Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of al-Qaeda, Nafis wrote that he wanted to 'destroy America' and that he believed the most efficient way to accomplish this goal was to target America’s economy," said a Justice Department press release. |
Updated at 12:50 p.m. ET
Paul Kevin Curtis, 45 was arrested at his home in Corinth, Tenn., April 17, 2013. / AP
A U.S. official has confirmed an arrest in the investigation of recent mailings of suspicious letters to President Obama and a senator, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reported Wednesday evening. In a statement, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of Paul Kevin Curtis, "the individual believed to be responsible for the mailings of the three letters sent through the U.S. Postal Service which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for ricin. The letters were addressed to a U.S. Senator, the White House and a Mississippi justice official." It added that Curtis was arrested at his home in Corinth, Miss. When the test results on one of the letters, addressed to Roger Wicker, R-Miss., came back from the Ft. Dietrick lab Wednesday, various officials described them as "weak," "low-grade" and "less than one percent toxin," CBS News has learned. A Prince George's County, Md. firefighter dressed in a protective suit walks out of a government mail screening facility in Hyattsville, Md., Wednesday, April 17, 2013. / AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Threatening letters to the president and congressional leaders are not unusual -- their mail is processed at a facility about 10 miles outside of Washington in Landover, Md. The current security protocols -- which seem to be working exactly as they were set to do -- were put in place after the 2001 anthrax scare that targeted congressional leaders. In addition to the letter sent to Obama this week, two letters being tested for ricin were sent to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. At least one of the letters addressed to Wicker tested positive in a preliminary field test for ricin. The envelope addressed to the White House, the FBI said in a statement Wednesday, also initially tested positive for ricin and was immediately quarantined by U.S. Secret Service personnel. A coordinated investigation with the FBI was initiated. Field tests are regularly inaccurate; therefore, the FBI is conducting more thorough tests on the letters. At a press briefing Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney referred questions about the letters to the FBI, adding, "The president has of course been briefed on these letters. He was briefed last night and again this morning." The letters came from the Memphis area, and were sent the same day, April 8. The letters, CBS News has confirmed, said in part, "No one wanted to listen to me before. This must stop. To see a wrong and not expose it is to become a silent partner to its continuance. I am KC and I approve this message." After the arrest was announced, a Mississippi state lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, said his 80-year-old mother, Lee County Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland, received a threatening letter last week with a substance that has been sent to a lab for testing. He said this letter was also signed "K.C.". As authorities scurried to investigate three questionable packages discovered in Senate office buildings, reports of suspicious items also came in from at least three senators' offices in their home states. Sen. Carl Levin said a staff member at his Saginaw, Mich., office would spend the night in a hospital as a precaution after discovering a suspicious letter. The staff member had no symptoms, Levin said in a statement. He expected to learn preliminary results of tests on the letter by Thursday. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said suspicious letters at his Phoenix office had been cleared with nothing dangerous found. A package at Sen. John Cornyn's Dallas-area office also was declared harmless, a fire department spokesman said. All three packages in the Capitol complex turned out to be safe, Capitol police spokeswoman Makema Turner said late Wednesday. But a man was still being questioned after being stopped in connection with the packages, she said. All the activity came as tensions were high in Washington and across the country following Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 170. At a senators-only briefing on Tuesday about the bombing, senators were also briefed by Sergeant at Arms Terence Gainer about the Wicker letter that tested positive in initial tests. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., told reporters that the senators were told the suspected letter writer writes a lot of letters to members. "The investigation into these letters remains ongoing, and more letters may still be received," the FBI said in its statement. "There is no indication of a connection to the attack in Boston." | – Federal authorities have arrested a man identified as Paul Kevin Curtis of Tupelo, Mississippi, in the mailing of letters laced with toxin to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, reports the Clarion-Ledger. Not much is known about the suspect at this point, though both letters were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message." Each also contained the message, "to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." The letters were flagged at mail-sorting facilities before reaching their intended targets. Initial tests turned up positive for the poison ricin, but NBC News reports that it's still not clear just how potent the letters were. Further tests are under way. The letters were postmarked on April 8. CBS News says there were three in all, one to Wicker, one to Obama, and one to a Mississippi justice official. (Claire McCaskill had previously said that a suspect identified in the case was known to be a prolific letter-writer to lawmakers.) |
By ABC News
By LAUREN MORTON
A Pennsylvania man was briefly the richest man in the world–or maybe the poorest. Chris Reynolds opened his PayPal statement and was shocked to read that he had $92 quadrillion in his account. “Well, initially I was a little jolted because I saw a negative number in front of a lot of digits and I just decided to have a little fun with it,” Reynolds said. He posted a copy of the statement on Facebook, which garnered a few laughs from his friends. The actual amount read “-92, 233, 720, 368, 547, 800.00.” PayPal immediately recognized the error and sought to rectify the situation. “PayPal was really good by the way,” Reynolds assured. “They apologized for any inconvenience.”
The public relations executive used to use PayPal when he bought vintage car parts and other supplies through eBay because the companies have a joint venture together. PayPal agreed to make a “modest,” donation to any nonprofit organization of Reynolds’ choice, which remains undisclosed. | – It's not too often you see the word "quadrillionaire" in a headline. Actually, probably never, considering Chris Reynolds of Media, Penn., was the first man to ever be one—albeit very, very briefly. Reynolds opened his PayPal statement this month to find he had been credited $92,233,720,368,547,800. (As ABC News explains, his account read "-92,233,720,368,547,800.00," which represented not a negative balance but a credit.) But as the saying goes, his good fortune was fleeting: He logged on to find his balance had been reverted to zero. PayPal addressed the mishap Wednesday, telling the BBC, "This was obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understands this was the case." As a thank you for that understanding, it has offered to make a donation to the charity of Reynolds' choice. But what PayPal told Reynolds had to smart a bit: It apologized for the "inconvenience," he says. Turns out it's an inconvenience for the rest of us, too: Had the balance been a correct one, Reynolds tells the Philadelphia Daily News he would have used it to "pay the national debt down. Then I would buy the Phillies, if I could get a great price." (In other tales of riches denied, click to read about inventors who saw no windfall from their big idea.) |
Following last week’s tragedies in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas, New York City’s former Mayor Rudy Giuliani made some shocking comments, including stating that black children have a 99% chance of killing each other. Blacks don’t make excuses about their communities, therefore police, officials and ex-officials shouldn’t make excuses for those officers that cross the line and abuse their power. When things like profiling, pulling people over disproportionately, searching people walking down the street excessively, locking people up unreasonably and shooting people unnecessarily are all realities, then we have a severe problem in this country. ADVERTISEMENT
“A lot of the protection of this city of New York is for black people because 70 percent of the murders in New York City are black. Rudy Giuliani calls Black Lives Matter ‘inherently racist’
We cannot have neighborhoods under siege by both those that may be doing criminal acts and by those that are supposed to be protecting citizens from danger. 2, the Black Lives Matter never protests when every 14 hours someone is killed in Chicago, probably 70–80 percent of the time a black person. Where are they when the young black child is killed?”
Giuliani on Sunday said the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is both “anti-American” and “inherently racist.”
National debate is raging over the role of the Black Lives Matter movement following the fatal shooting of two African-American men by police in separate incidents last week. | – Rudy Giuliani is being criticized after calling the term "black lives matter" ''inherently racist"—and he's not backing down. During a Sunday appearance on CBS' Face the Nation, Giuliani said "when you say black lives matter, that's inherently racist." He went on to say "black lives matter. White lives matter. Asian lives matter. Hispanic lives matter. That's anti-American and it's racist," the AP reports. In a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends he doubled down, saying, per the Hill, "A lot of the protection of this city of New York is for black people because 70% of the murders in New York City are black. ... I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter." In a New York Daily News column, the Rev. Al Sharpton says Giuliani's comments reveal "an appalling lack of understanding" of the issue, and cites "that repeated and documented pattern of profiling, excessive force, and shootings by police that we see in our communities and not in others." |
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Doctors were forced amputate a man's foot and part of his leg after it was shredded in a mall's escalator — the third such incident in China in less than a week. The 35-year-old was cleaning the device in Shanghai's Changning district when his leg became caught between the revolving stairs and the floor plate, according to the South China Morning Post. The employee's lost his foot. In a statement, the mall told the paper that that it was investigating the incident, adding that the worker had "improperly" stepped on his mop. "The brush of the mop was trapped inside the gap in the stairs, which caused cracks in the comb plate," the statement said. The incident came just six days after a 30-year-old woman was killed by an escalator at another mall in the central city of Jingzhou. Footage released by China Central Television showed the trapped victim thrusting her young son into the arms of nearby employees before a panel collapsed and she fell down into the mechanism of the still-running escalator. Days later, a one-year-old boy's left arm was mangled by an escalator in Guangxi province, the South China Morning Post reported. | – Another day, another devastating escalator accident in China. An employee at Longemont Shopping Mall in Shanghai's Changning district had his foot and part of his leg amputated after becoming trapped in an escalator on Saturday, according to the South China Morning Post. The worker, identified simply as Zhang, was cleaning the escalator with a mop when he reportedly stepped on it. The mall described the 35-year-old's action as an "improper" one, and said the mop's brush became "trapped inside the gap in the stairs, which caused cracks in the comb plate." Video of the incident shows the escalator's floor plate breaking away, and Zhang's left foot falling inside the moving staircase. A relative reportedly told local media, "The doctor said he had to amputate the [foot] to avoid the injuries from deteriorating." The accident is the fourth escalator tragedy in China in a week. As previously reported, Xiang Liujuan, 30, was killed a week before Zhang's incident when she similarly fell through an escalator floor plate at Anliang department store in Hubei province. A graphic video shows Xiang pushing her son to safety before she is sucked to her death. Days after that accident, a 1-year-old's arm was seriously injured after it became trapped in an escalator in Guangxi province, NBC News reports, and a 6-year-old was injured Saturday after his foot was caught in an escalator in Beijing. The incidents have led to escalator quality inspections in Shanghai and Hubei. (Workers reportedly warned the mother just before she was swallowed by the escalator.) |
“There’s been a lot of dust that’s been kicked up.”
Among those departing is former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, who said Tuesday that the group’s work “will provide a strong foundation for the new transition team leadership as they move into the post-election phase, which naturally is incorporating the campaign team in New York who drove President-elect Trump to an incredible victory last Tuesday.”
At one point, members of the transition team even talked with good-government types — some of them Democrats, such as former Obama administration ethics czar Norm Eisen — to think through a code of ethics for the team. “I don’t think any president ever comes in saying to himself, ‘I want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country.’ ”
President Obama said during a news conference Monday that it's "healthy" for the Democratic Party to go through reflection. But he acknowledged that Democrats need to engage in “some reflection” about the way they campaign and connect with the American people. | – Is the Trump administration going to be a family affair? Nepotism rules prevent Donald Trump from hiring his children to serve in his administration, but sources tell CBS News that the president-elect is already looking into getting top-secret security clearances for his children, a move that, for now, would have to be approved by the current administration. They could get the clearances by being declared national security advisers. Trump kids Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. are on his transition team, as well as son-in-law Jared Kushner. A member of the transition team, however, denies that top-secret clearances had been requested for Trump children, saying it's "not something I'm expecting right now," Politico reports. In other developments: The Wall Street Journal reports that Rudy Giuliani is rumored to be Trump's leading choice to replace John Kerry as secretary of state. "One never knows," Giuliani said Monday evening when asked if his job title would soon include the word "secretary." A source tells Politico that the transition team has become chaotic since Chris Christie was ousted. The insider says that in an approach reminiscent of how Dick Cheney ran George W. Bush's transition, the campaign officials that replaced Christie have discarded much of his work to focus on picking Trump loyalists. The Washington Post reports that in his first press conference since the election, President Obama described Trump as sincere about wanting to be a good president. "This office has a way of waking you up," said Obama, who was on his way out of town for a final foreign trip that will take in Greece, Germany, and Peru. A source tells the New York Daily News that the Secret Service has been holding talks with the NYPD about how to protect Trump when he's at Trump Tower. The source says the NYPD has told the Secret Service to forget about its plan to shut down Fifth Avenue whenever Trump is in town. The AP reports that students protesting Trump's election walked out of classes Monday in cities including Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle, where more than 5,000 from 20 middle and high schools skipped classes to protest. |
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea’s top three military officials have been removed from their posts, a senior U.S. official said, a move analysts said on Monday could support efforts by the North’s young leader to jump-start economic development and engage with the world. Kim Jong Un is preparing for a high-stakes summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, the first such meeting between a North Korean leader and a sitting U.S. president. The U.S. official, who spoke on Sunday on condition of anonymity, was commenting on a report by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that all three of the North’s top military officials were believed to have been replaced. Kim’s motivation remains unclear but analysts said the shake-up allows him and the ruling party to tighten control over the Korean People’s Army (KPA) at a critical time of international engagement and domestic development. “If Kim Jong Un is set on making peace with the U.S. and South Korea and dealing away at least part of the nuclear program, he will have to put the KPA’s influence in a box and keep it there,” said Ken Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at CNA, a non-profit research and analysis organization. “This reshuffle has brought to the fore the officers who can do just that. They are loyal to Kim Jong Un and no one else.”
Trump revived the Singapore summit on Friday after cancelling it a week earlier. SOME DISSENT
The United States is seeking a negotiated end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and U.S. officials believe there was some dissension in the military about Kim’s approaches to South Korea and the United States. Trump wants North Korea to “denuclearize”, or get rid of its nuclear arsenal, in return for relief from economic sanctions. North Korea’s leadership is believed to regard nuclear weapons as crucial to its survival, while Kim has said he plans to focus on economic development. The U.S. official did not identify the three ousted military officials. Citing an unidentified intelligence official, Yonhap said No Kwang Chol, first vice minister of the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, had replaced Pak Yong Sik as defense chief, while Ri Myong Su was replaced by his deputy, Ri Yong Gil. North Korean state media previously confirmed that Army General Kim Su Gil had replaced Kim Jong Gak as director of the KPA’s General Political Bureau. The White House, State Department, CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond immediately to requests for official comment. South Korea’s unification and defense ministries declined to confirm the report, while an official at the Unification Ministry said the government was watching the North’s leadership very closely. South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-hwa had a 15-minute phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday to discuss the upcoming summit between Kim and Trump, the foreign ministry in Seoul said. ECONOMIC FACTORS, PARTY CONTROL
Given the military’s secondary role in the North’s nuclear and missile programs, the moves are likely more about installing a younger, even more trusted cohort of officials who Kim Jong Un can rely on as he confronts a variety of domestic and international issues, said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North website. FILE PHOTO North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area as Kim Su-gil (3rd L), newly appointed director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army, looks on, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. KCNA/via REUTERS/Files
“The nuclear weapons are a side issue,” he said. The moves are likely linked in part to Kim Jong Un’s drive to have the military take a bigger role in critical infrastructure projects. That could explain why newly appointed director of the KPA’s General Political Bureau, Army General Kim Su Gil, accompanied Kim Jong Un on a field guidance trip to a beach tourist zone with other officials, Madden said. Kim Jong Un is also likely expecting to receive more international economic aid and investment soon as part of the ongoing talks and he wants to prevent corruption that plagued some past projects, Madden said. All of the newly promoted officials are younger than their predecessors, including 63-year-old Ri Yong Gil, who is 21 years younger than Ri Myong Su. “This points to two things: the consolidation of Kim Jong Un’s power as the sole leader of North Korea and strengthened cooperation between the North’s party and military as the country works towards further economic development,” said Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. “They’re all young but capable people,” Yang said. Lower-level U.S.-North Korean talks to prepare for the summit are continuing but have made only “halting progress”, according to a second U.S. official briefed on the discussions. That official said U.S. negotiators’ efforts to press for definitions of immediate, comprehensive, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization by North Korea had run into opposition from the White House. In a remarkable shift in tone eight days after cancelling the summit, citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility”, Trump welcomed North Korea’s former intelligence chief, Kim Yong Chol, to the White House on Friday, exchanging smiles and handshakes. Yonhap reported that Kim Yong Chol had transited Beijing on Monday on his way back to Pyongyang from the United States. Slideshow (2 Images)
All three of the new military officials have at least some experience interacting with foreign delegations, a factor that is critical as Kim seeks to line up meetings with leaders from the United States, China, Russia, and Syria. “They are shaping these guys up because there is going to be a lot of foreign interaction,” Madden said. “They know to sit there and not get too drunk at the parties ... they know how to behave themselves.” | – In preparation for the Singapore summit, Kim Jong Un has reportedly shaken up North Korea's military leadership—though it's not clear whether it's the kind of reshuffle that involves executions or mere demotions. According to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, all three of North Korea's top military leaders have been replaced, the Guardian reports. A senior US official confirmed to Reuters that the three leaders had been ousted. Yonhap named the military leaders as defense chief Pak Yong Sik, Korean People's Army chief of staff Ri Myong Su, and Kim Jong Gak, head of the KPA's General Political Bureau. All three men, including 84-year-old Ri Myong Su, were replaced by younger deputies. Analysts believe Kim is sidelining powerful figures from father Kim Jong Il's generation ahead of the summit. Their replacements "are guys that are Kim Jong Un guys—Kim Jong Un loyalists and people who he trusts," Michael Madden of the North Korea Leadership Watch website tells the Washington Post. Madden believes Kim made the changes because he wants to have the new military leaders in charge of the country while he is away—and to help oversee changes including possible denuclearization. "So if there are policies he needs to implement, these are people who are not going to be resistant to that and they will make sure his policies are implemented in a timely fashion," Madden says. (Syria's Bashar al-Assad is also interested in meeting Kim.) |
Two women who won primaries Tuesday in Wisconsin also will square off in that state’s U.S. Senate race. Scott Walker, endorsed just this week by Trump, won the right to seek a third term. His background in education gives him a chance to go after Walker on an issue that Democrats see as a weak spot for the governor. Walker’s team, for instance, has noted that Evers called Walker’s last state budget “kid-friendly,” possibly limiting how effective Evers could be in arguing against Walker’s funding for schools. — Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) August 15, 2018
The primary came a day after President Donald Trump — who at times has criticized Walker — tweeted that the Wisconsin governor "has done incredible things for that Great State" and had Trump's "complete & total Endorsement." Sen. Tina Smith
Chris Hansen, director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement that Housley “has what it takes to end left-wing Democrat Tina Smith’s brief career” in the Senate. Smith, who had been appointed to replace disgraced Democrat Al Franken, will face Republican state Sen. Karin Housley, ensuring a woman will hold the seat once held by Franken, who left Congress amid allegations of sexual misconduct toward women. More people are working in Wisconsin than ever before. | – In a historic moment for the transgender rights movement, former power company exec Christine Hallquist won the Democratic primary for Vermont governor Tuesday, becoming the first transgender candidate from a major party to win a gubernatorial primary. Hallquist, who transitioned from male to female in 2015, was chief executive of the Vermont Electric Cooperative before entering politics, the New York Times reports. Annise Parker of the LGBTQ Victory Fund praised the victory as a "defining moment," though she added that Hallquist won "not because of her gender identity, but because she is an open and authentic candidate ... who speaks to the issues most important to voters." In other results: Vermont also nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders to seek a third term, the AP reports. He won the Democratic primary, but is expected to run as an independent again. In Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith defeated Richard Painter, George W. Bush's former ethics counsel, in the Democratic primary, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. In November, she will face Republican state Sen. Karin Housley in a race to decide who will finish the last two years of former Sen. Al Franken's term. Rep. Keith Ellison has won the Democratic primary for Minnesota attorney general despite allegations of domestic violence involving an ex-girlfriend that surfaced days before the election, the Washington Post reports. He placed far ahead of the other four candidates in the race, and is expected to face Republican former state lawmaker Doug Wardlow in November. In Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers won an eight-way gubernatorial primary and promised to end Republican Gov. Scott Walker's "reign of terror," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Walker, who is seeking a third term, cruised to victory in the GOP primary. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who once called President Trump "unhinged and unfit for the presidency," was trying to get his old job back but lost the GOP primary to pro-Trump candidate Jeff Johnson, the AP reports. Former National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes won the Democratic primary for the House seat being vacated by scandal-plagued Rep. Elizabeth Esty, the Hartford Courant reports. If she wins in November, Hayes will be the first black Democrat from New England elected to the House. |
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The latest on a deadly crash on the Las Vegas Strip (all times local):
Las Vegas Metro police and crime scene investigators look over a sedan believed to have been involved in an incident where police said a woman intentionally swerved her car into pedestrians on the Las... (Associated Press)
People crowd on a sidewalk while police cars and ambulances gather on a street after a car drove onto a busy sidewalk and mowed down people outside a casino in Las Vegas, NV., Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015. A... (Associated Press)
Police and emergency crews respond to the scene of an incident along Las Vegas Boulevard, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, in Las Vegas. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters Monday that 24-year-old Lakeisha N. Holloway wouldn't stop and it appeared from video that it was an intentional act. He confirmed that a 3-year-old toddler was in the car with the driver and was unharmed. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
She finally drove the 1996 Oldsmobile around the corner and parked it at a hotel before speaking with the valet. Police believe she was headed to Dallas to find her daughter's father after they had a falling out. Lombardo said Holloway did not appear to be drunk when she talked with officers, but a drug expert said she appeared to be under the influence of a stimulant. Investigators said Holloway had run out of money and that she and her daughter had been living in the car. A woman in her 20's drove her vehicle onto the sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard injuring 37 people and killing one just after 6:30 p.m. Sunday. A 3-year-old toddler in the back seat, apparently her child, was in good condition under the care of child services, Lombardo said. Prosecutors say they expect to file murder charges and other counts against the driver who crashed into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip, killing an Arizona woman and injuring dozens of others. District Attorney Steven Wolfson added that it was too early to determine whether the death penalty could or would be sought. A 10 a.m. press conference with the sheriff is scheduled to offer updates on the Sunday night crash. She said it was her understanding that Holloway had a hotel room in Las Vegas, contrary to officials’ remarks that she was living out of her car. The Clark County Coroner's Office identified the person killed as Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Ariz.
Holloway lived in Oregon and had been in Las Vegas for about a week, apparently living in her 1996 Oldsmobile sedan and parking it at garages throughout the city, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. The driver, who is not from Las Vegas, has been taken to Clark County Detention Center. She was interviewed and tested for impairment, Metro Capt. The female driver of the 1996 Oldsmobile four-door sedan was arrested near the Tuscany hotel on Flamingo Road shortly after the crash, which happened in front of the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood hotels. ___
7:20 a.m.
Four college students from Oregon were among those hurt when a vehicle plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk outside a Las Vegas Strip casino. Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share Police arrested 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway of Oregon in connection with the deadly crash that left one person dead and more than 30 injured. ___
7:10 a.m.
A hospital official says three people who were injured in a crash on the Las Vegas Strip are in critical condition. Authorities say a car intentionally drove on and off the sidewalk into crowds near the Planet Hollywood casino-hotel Sunday night, mowing down dozens of pedestrians. One person died there, and the rest brought in for treatment have been released, including an 11-year-old. Las Vegas Boulevard is open after nearly 11 hours of being shut down following Sunday night's crash and the one person who lost their life has been identified by the coroner. | – The woman accused of intentionally steering her car into crowds on the sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard on Sunday has been identified as 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway, who is believed to be from out of state and had been in Vegas for about a week, investigators say, possibly living in her car. Holloway is described as "stoic" in the aftermath, reports USA Today, and reportedly asked a valet to call 911 after describing her actions. Police say she may have had an argument with the father of her 3-year-old daughter, who was in the vehicle; a drug expert at the scene further tells the AP that the suspect was on some type of "stimulant," though the Review-Journal reports that she wasn't exhibiting severe impairment, citing police sources. Formal charges are expected later Monday or early Tuesday, the DA tells USA Today. A 32-year-old Arizonan, Jessica Valenzuela, has been identified as the sole casualty thus far. |
Hiker Gregg Hein of Clovis "entertained the idea" of possibly dying in the high Sierra of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks as he lay severely injured for six days. But he said the thought only crossed his mind a few times. The 33-year-old experienced hiker, rock climber and rafting guide was determined to live -- and he did. From a wheelchair Tuesday at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Hein talked about breaking his leg on July 5, hiking down from 13,600-foot Mount Goddard, and his eventual rescue Thursday by a National Park Service helicopter. Hiking down the mountain, he dislodged a boulder that plowed into the back of his right calf, breaking bones in three spots. The impact forced bone to protrude about an inch and a half through the skin, Hein said. His foot was soon "dangling," Hein said. "I had to grab it so hopefully it wouldn't rip off." After sliding down several ice fields, he was without food for six days -- except for a few crickets and moths -- but he managed to drink a little melted ice and later, from a stream. Rescue crews starting combing the high Sierra on Wednesday, the day Hein's dad, Doug Hein, called the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Gregory Hein had been expected home two days earlier. "I can't commend them enough for the efforts and the energies that they put out to try and save one person's life," Gregg Hein said of the rescue teams from Fresno County and the Park Service -- about 80 people in all -- who helped look for him. Hein said Tuesday he has at least two more surgeries on his right leg to combat infection and repair bones, and that he could be in the hospital into next week. The eventual goal is to install a metal rod into his calf. Hein has family ties to Clovis Unified: His mother is Randy Hein, principal of Temperance-Kutner Elementary School, and his grandfather is Floyd "Doc" Buchanan, former longtime district superintendent. Hein's perilous trek began July 3. He parked his car at Florence Lake in Fresno County and within two days, had hiked alone more than 20 miles -- much of it cross-country -- to the summit of Mount Goddard. After summiting on July 5, he hoped to make it to Blayney Hot Springs that evening, but the goal was soon shattered with his leg. Hein wasn't due home until July 7, and he said he realized he had at least three days to survive before anyone would start looking for him. In an attempt to avoid potential rockfall, and knowing he had to get further down the mountain to find help, Hein left his backpack on the side of Mount Goddard. He grabbed only a few things from the pack: A poncho, pocket knife, cords, whistle and a bivvy sack -- a small, lightweight shelter. He didn't take more because he miscalculated, believing he was closer to Evolution Valley, where he hoped he'd see hikers. As he lay bleeding, Hein contemplated applying a makeshift tourniquet, a device used to tightly clench blood vessels connected to an injury. It was a big decision: If he did, "I would have lost a limb." By the time night fell, Hein wasn't feeling light-headed. So he took a chance and didn't cinch his leg. By the next morning, the bleeding had slowed significantly. For four days, he lay near the edge of a small glacier, nursing his injury with ice. Hein stabilized his leg with hiking poles, wrapping them with a belt and some cord, and on Wednesday, headed for Davis Lake -- crawling about a mile and dropping about 1,000 feet. He hoped the new location might increase his chance of being found. On Thursday, he saw helicopters -- but they didn't see him. Two flew over him several times, he said. "It was kind of wrenching." But around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, a Park Service helicopter landed about 50 feet from him at Davis Lake. The pilot was dropping off a search-and-rescue crew in the area when Hein came into view. After seeing the crew spot him, "I laid down on my back for a while, and breathed a deep sigh of relief." Alive and safe at Community Regional Medical Center, Hein has a lot to look forward to. He just finished his undergraduate degree in environmental studies at Humboldt State and hopes to attend the San Joaquin College of Law in Clovis. The next time Hein treks into the wilderness -- which he says will "definitely" happen again -- he plans to be "more cautious about my own life." In the future, Hein plans to carry a reflective mirror, which can be used to signal rescue aircraft; a satellite-linked device, which can be used to alert rescuers about a location; and more medical supplies and gear. Hein said backpackers should also apply for a wilderness permit so there is documentation of a proposed route, and make sure loved ones are aware of that route, too. As for Hein's parents, there's just a "lot of relief" to see their son "alive, breathing, talking." "I've been amazed at the outpouring of support from friends and family," father Doug Hein said. "It took a huge team, not just the searchers, but the prayer network, that helped bring him back." The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6386, cgeorge@fresnobee.com or @CarmenGeorge on Twitter. | – Hiking alone has its disadvantages, and experienced climber, rafter, and trail runner Gregg Hein got up close and personal with most of them earlier this month. Two days into a solo hike in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks near Fresno, Calif., his footing set loose a boulder that caused the 33-year-old to fall 150 feet and broke his right leg in three places, leaving his foot "dangling" and his bone protruding out of his skin more than an inch. Knowing that a tourniquet would later lead to amputation, he took his chances and went without it; the bleeding eventually slowed. "I have to get these next moments right," Hein tells the AP. "What do I do to make sure I have the best chance for a positive outcome?" Part of that meant surviving for at least three days; he wasn't expected home for another two, so that's how long it would take for a search party to be dispatched. Hein abandoned his heavy pack on Mount Goddard, taking a poncho, pocket knife, whistle, and bivvy sack with him as he scooted to a glacier; there, he nursed his injury with ice for four days, surviving on melted ice, moths, and crickets. He then decided he'd have a better chance of being spotted elsewhere; held his leg together using hiking poles, a belt, and a cord; and crawled for about a mile. On day six—July 10—two helicopters flew above him several times. "It was kind of wrenching," he tells the Fresno Bee. Around 7:30pm, a "fortuitous" moment arrived: A crew was dropped off just 50 feet from him, and when he saw the searchers spot him, he rolled onto his back and "breathed a deep sigh of relief." Full recovery is expected to take months. Hein plans to get back in the wilderness—though next time not alone, he says. (Check out which insect this man survived on for months in the wild.) |
Story highlights Lego tower in Budapest confirmed as world's tallest by Guinness World Records
Tower reaches 34 meters over city's St. Stephen's Basilica
Local school children helped build the structure, which was topped by a Rubik's cube -- a Hungarian invention
Imagine the size of the box this one came in -- a Lego tower stretching 36 meters into the sky above the Hungarian capital Budapest. The 34.76- meter (114 feet) tower, which was completed on Sunday, has been certified as the world's tallest toy brick structure by Guinness World Records. It beat the previous record holder, a 34.4-meter structure constructed last year with the help of U.S. students from a school in Delaware. A spokesman for Guinness World Records confirmed that the tower qualified as the "tallest structure built with interlocking plastic bricks." He said the record was officially registered to Lego Store Budapest on May 25. The Budapest tower, topped by a Rubik's cube -- a Hungarian invention -- was also built with the help of Hungarian primary school children, according to local news websites. The structure, built in front of the city's St. Stephen's Basilica, used hundreds of thousands of blocks. MORE: Budapest's escape games go global | – Lego lovers will be stoked by this news: Budapest, Hungary, is now home to a 114-foot-tall Lego tower to rival the city’s most picturesque architecture, CNN reports. The Guinness Book of World Records has put its official stamp on the project, declaring the multi-colored structure—which features a profile of Pac-Man and is topped by a Rubik’s cube (Hungary's contribution to pop culture)—the "tallest structure built with interlocking plastic bricks." The Lego Store Budapest will be listed as the record holder. And for a too-cute spin on the story, the Guardian reports that school kids helped snap together some of the hundreds of thousands of blocks needed to build the tower. Sadly, somewhere in Delaware a bunch of students may be weeping—they held the previous record of nearly 113 feet, CNN notes. (More quirky Lego news: Lego people will outnumber real people by 2019.) |
One day after a professor was arrested over a dead body found in his office, the University of Hong Kong welcomed new students to campus with its newly-minted president promising to help them and staff cope with the tragedy. Associate Professor Cheung Kie-chung of the Department of Mechanical Engineering was arrested after police found the decomposing body of his 52-year-old wife at his office. Investigators suspected his wife was killed in their home at Wei Lun Hall – one of the university’s residential halls – about a four-minute car ride from Cheung’s office. In the latest case, security footage showed the suspect hauling a box apparently with his wife’s remains out of a student dormitory, where he lived as a faculty warden with his wife and children, the police said. | – A professor at the University of Hong Kong emailed students Tuesday morning to calm them regarding a police presence at the residence hall in which he lived with his family and served as warden. "They are here to investigate a missing person case," wrote Cheung Kie-chung, who'd told police his wife vanished on Aug. 17 following an argument. "There is nothing to worry about among the students." Later that day, police say they found a wooden box at Cheung's office on the university's main campus. Inside was a malodorous, bloody suitcase holding a woman's body, an electrical wire around her neck, police superintendent Law Kwok-hoi says, per the New York Times. Police allege 53-year-old Cheung strangled his 52-year-old wife after a family dispute. The dispute allegedly involved the couple's daughter and bathroom cleanliness, per CNN, while the Hong Kong Free Press specifically refers to "toilet hygiene." After the daughter left their residence, Cheung's wife is believed to have confronted her husband for not supporting her in the dispute, police say. She wasn't seen exiting the building, though surveillance video did show Cheung taking out a wooden box measuring roughly 10 by 20 by 30 inches. A member of the department of engineering as well as the school's governing council, he was charged Wednesday with murder as university officials offered counseling to Wei Lun Hall residents, per the South China Morning Post. (Another Hong Kong professor is accused of killing his wife and daughter with a gas-filled yoga ball.) |
Facebook raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share, in a sign of investor appetite for the offering. George Stahl has the latest on The News Hub. Photo: AFP/Getty Images. Facebook Inc.'s coming initial public offering has set off a frenzy of anticipation among Main Street and Wall Street investors desperate to get their hands on the stock. Late Monday, the social network raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share, in a sign of investor appetite for the offering. The Menlo Park, Calif., company's initial price range put Facebook's valuation at $77 billion to $96 billion, but that rises to $93 billion to $104 billion under the new price range as investor interest ramps up. Facebook's coming initial public offering has set off a frenzy of anticipation among Main Street and Wall Street investors desperate to get their hands on the stock. Shayndi Raice has details on The News Hub. Photo: Bloomberg. Those numbers have created high hopes for both individual and professional investors. The excitement has drawn in fledgling stock buyers such as 11-year-old Jade Supple of Rockville Centre, N.Y., whose father plans to bet money saved to put his daughter through college on Facebook shares, although he has doubts about the price. Enlarge Image Close Scott Lewis for The Wall Street Journal Money manager Chris Baggini
Enlarge Image Close Supple Family Jade and Jim Supple
Enlarge Image Close Sandy Huffaker for The Wall Street Journal Grossmont High investment-club adviser Todd Benrud
In Berwyn, Pa., hedge-fund manager and mutual-fund manager Chris Baggini of Turner Investment Partners says he tracked Facebook closely and repeatedly called executives at Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, which are helping to lead the IPO, to snag a spot in the social network's roadshow stop in Philadelphia last Wednesday. Across the nation in El Cajon, Calif., technology teacher and investment-club supervisor Todd Benrud is trying to get his club at Grossmont High School into Facebook stock. "They use Facebook every day," Mr. Benrud said. Some students think it is "guaranteed to make money." Sophisticated investors who can meet financial requirements have been able to trade limited shares of Facebook for some time on secondary markets. But the IPO will turn Facebook into a public company that anyone can own. Many small investors are eager to grab Facebook at its issue price, hoping the shares will surge in value as IPOs frequently do on the first day. But Internet IPOs have had mixed success. Daily deals website Groupon Inc. has lost about 35% of its value since its Nov. 4 debut, while stock at professional network LinkedIn Corp. has gained nearly 150% since it started trading May 19. Facebook still hasn't proven that its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a lofty valuation. Last month, the company disclosed that its first-quarter profit and revenue declined from the fourth quarter of 2011, which it attributed to seasonal trends in advertising. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment. Michael Belanger, a lawyer from Oklahoma City, invests his personal money in the stock market. But he will be skipping Facebook's IPO because he thinks its valuation is totally "out of whack." Scott Schermerhorn, chief investment officer of investment-management firm Granite Investment Advisors, says the hype around Facebook's IPO is going to keep his firm away. "It's a cult stock," he says. Little of that skepticism is weighing on three investors, tracked by The Wall Street Journal since Facebook announced in February that it would go public. * * *
Rockville Centre, N.Y.—Jim Supple was driving with his daughter Jade last autumn, when she turned to him and said, "Daddy, can I buy some of the Facebook company?" Mr. Supple, 47, had been teaching Jade about investing in the stock market for years. He started putting money for her in stocks like eBay and Disney when she was a baby. But the request still took him aback. "How do you know about buying Facebook?" he asked. "I saw in the news that they were going to be selling parts of the company," she responded. "Can we buy some?" Since then, Mr. Supple has been trying to find a way to take $25,000 he has saved for her college fund and purchase Facebook stock. "She doesn't need this money for another eight years," says Mr. Supple. "If it goes the Google route, I'll be in good shape." Although he thought Facebook was a strong investment, Mr. Supple had been burned before, having lost some money in a Ponzi scheme, he says. He wanted to be sure that he was being more careful this time before betting so much on one company. On Jan. 17, Mr. Supple tried to dive in. Two former Facebook employees were selling 70,000 shares in an auction on SharesPost Inc., one of the secondary markets for Facebook shares. The bidding started at $31 a share. He bid $32.01. "Jim, I'm gonna be honest with you, you're not gonna get it, very rarely does it sell for the minimum," Mr. Supple says he was told by his SharesPost broker. Mr. Supple works for a Manhattan-based company called SNAP Interactive that creates a software application that allows singles to go on Facebook and find dates. Over a Jan. 18 dinner of burgers and beer at the New York steakhouse Del Frisco's, Mr. Supple asked his boss, Cliff Lerner, what he thought about buying up Facebook in the secondary market. "You know, there is a very high minimum to get into the secondary market," Mr. Lerner cautioned Mr. Supple. Mr. Supple said he could figure out a way, between his 401K and an IRA fund and the college savings, to squeeze together the $100,000 minimum recommended by SharesPost. "Am I out of my mind?" Mr. Supple asked Mr. Lerner. "No, I think you're gonna kill it in this thing," responded Mr. Lerner. Mr. Supple lost the SharesPost auction. It closed on Jan. 20 for $34 a share, less than $2 above his bid. Just two weeks later, Facebook filed for its IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, driving the price of secondary market shares up drastically. The next auction was $44 a share, too expensive for Mr. Supple. Mr. Supple turned his energy away from the secondary market and began plotting how to buy shares on the day of the IPO, or shortly after. On April 9, just after the roadshow kicked off, Mr. Supple said he was getting concerned about the frenzy and rethinking his plan to buy on the day of the IPO. "Here in New York, it's on every single news channel, it's in all the newspapers that the roadshow has started and [Facebook Chief Executive Mark] Zuckerberg was here in New York," he said at the time. "I'm going to sit on the sidelines on IPO day," Mr. Supple decided. "We're going to have to wait until the smoke clears." * * *
El Cajon, Calif.—On Jan. 30, amid reports that Facebook would file for its IPO within days, high school senior Brandon Hyatt scrawled an exuberant message to the online forum of his investment club at Grossmont High School, under the heading "BUY FACEBOOK!!!!" The note clued technology teacher and club supervisor Todd Benrud into the frenzy that would follow. When the club next met that Wednesday, Mr. Benrud faced some 10 teenagers who thought they could buy shares that day. Every Monday and Wednesday at lunchtime, Mr. Benrud converts his technology classroom into the trading floor of the Charity Student Investment Project, a nonprofit student-run investment club. A live feed of a financial TV show fills the projection screen. Students each take a computer to research investments for their real-money pool of $2,900. When Mr. Benrud called an initial vote on whether to pursue Facebook shares, every hand shot up, even after Mr. Benrud told students that they couldn't get shares immediately. Since the club's rules don't allow it to put more than 10% of their money into any one stock, they would only be able to buy a few shares, depending on where it was priced. In an attempt to help the club buy at the IPO price, Mr. Benrud met with a Morgan Stanley broker in March and showed interest in giving the brokerage his retirement account. At the end of their hour-and-a-half meeting, he told the broker that he had one more question. He said the broker slumped his shoulders and said one word: "Facebook?" The broker told Mr. Benrud that neither he nor the club had enough money to qualify. "It really took the wind out of their sails," Mr. Benrud says of his club members. "They immediately started asking, 'What else can we do?' "
Students began to get frustrated as the weeks wound on without more news of the IPO date. In mid-April, when Facebook said it would acquire Instagram, which makes a photo-sharing app, for $1 billion, several students questioned the deal. Antonio Robles, a junior in the club, lamented that Instagram "wasn't even making money" and wondered if investors would think that Mr. Zuckerberg had poor judgment. Nonetheless, the students decided it was time to vote on whether or not to buy Facebook shares. A plan to buy two shares on the open market the morning of the IPO—no matter the price—and sell later that afternoon passed the club—eight in favor, one against, with one abstention. The week before the roadshow, the students decided to hold a second vote—this time to buy two shares in the morning but sell only one in the afternoon, keeping the other indefinitely. The measure passed—six ayes to one abstention. After hearing the week before the IPO that some Facebook shares would be available to small investors at the IPO price, Mr. Benrud made one last attempt to get IPO shares through the club's Wells Fargo broker but was told his club didn't qualify. On Tuesday, Grossmont High School's Mr. Hyatt, the student who started the Facebook discussion, posted to his club's forum again, noting that Facebook's projected debut share price of $28 to $35 would let his club buy more than the two shares they planned on. (Facebook raised the price range on Monday.) The group ended up voting to buy up to four shares on the open market, depending on the price, and sell half of what they get the same afternoon. "Every single person in the investment club has a Facebook" page, says junior Adam Sturgeon. "We relate to it." * * *
Berwyn, Pa.—Chris Baggini, a hedge-fund and mutual-fund manager, was in New York meeting with clients and media on Feb. 1, the day Facebook would release a first glimpse at its financials. At about 9 in the morning, sitting in a booth in a posh dining room at the Royalton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, he gushed about the company's prospects. "Of course we're interested," he said. Mr. Baggini's firm, Turner Investment Partners, in 2004 had managed to grab 700,000 shares of Google at its IPO and make a $10.5 million paper profit for investors on the first day of trading. The firm now manages about $13.4 billion in mutual funds, hedge funds and separate accounts for institutions. Even before seeing Facebook's financials, Mr. Baggini thought it likely that Turner would be involved. He noted Americans spend 16% of their time online on Facebook and said that it had the chance of being the biggest IPO of the decade. After hearing that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs would set the roadshow schedule, he started to call and email bankers at both companies regularly. Neither gave hints on when the roadshow would begin, and Mr. Baggini said it felt like they were "walking on eggshells." In late April, Mr. Baggini traveled to San Francisco to meet prospective clients. There, too, he was met by a bevy of questions about what the company thought about Facebook and whether they would get in on the IPO. Facebook's S-1 filing brought a new round of questions. Mr. Baggini was pleased that its research and development expenditures had ticked up but wasn't sure why revenue growth per user had slowed. "The question becomes the level of interest. Is Facebook marginally exciting, very exciting or extremely exciting?" he said. "Right now, I think we're at 'very exciting.' "
Mr. Baggini and around 25 other executives finally got their chance to meet Facebook executives Wednesday afternoon at the Westin hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and chief financial officer David Ebersman showed up, but not Mr. Zuckerberg, which Mr. Baggini said didn't bother him. He said that he hadn't yet decided on the price he would be willing to pay for shares. "We're still very excited and are likely to participate," he said. More on the Facebook IPO
Previously
Write to Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared May 15, 2012, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: In Facebook IPO, Frenzy, Skepticism. | – Looks like Facebook's IPO roadshow has done a pretty good job of drumming up investor interest. The company has raised its IPO price range up to $34 to $38 a share from $28 to $35 a share, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The new price range gives the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg—who turned 28 yesterday—a valuation of $104 billion. At the mid-point of $36, Facebook would raise $12.1 billion with the IPO. The company plans to close the books on the IPO today, set the price range on Thursday, and start trading on Friday, sources tell Reuters. Small investors are jumping at the chance to get in on Silicon Valley's biggest-ever IPO, although many larger investors doubt whether its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a high valuation, the Journal notes. "It's a cult stock," says the chief investment officer of investment-management firm Granite Investment Advisors. |
At first, the 25-year-old waitress at Mac's Grub Shack in Spring Hill, Tennessee didn't even notice the note scrawled on the back of the receipt left by a "very sweet couple" who'd ordered beers, a burger and hot dogs. "Today is my brother's b-day," it said, written behind the credit card receipt. "He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy b-day Wes." It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that’s ever happened." The unidentified diners had left a $36 tip on a bill that couldn't have been more than $30, Hudson told ABC News. In addition to the $36, the couple also left Hudson with a note explaining the heartfelt meaning behind the digits. Courtesy of Claire Hudson
She posted the picture to Reddit, where it quickly got noticed, as people were moved by the story. This experience has definitely given me the idea to do the same thing on his birthday every year. "The owner of my restaurant, Michael McCray, is trying to contact the patrons and find out what Wes liked on his hot dogs so we can add it to the menu," she said. | – A waitress in Tennessee was brought to tears this week when a customer left her a generous tip and a moving message. Claire Hudson, 25, was serving tables at Mac's Grub Shak in Spring Hill on Sunday when a "very sweet couple" sat down and ordered beers, a burger, and hot dogs, Today.com reports. It was only after they left that a cashier pointed out the $36 tip the man had left on his $28.12 bill, along with a note on the back. "I didn't know what to say," Hudson tells ABC News. "I was in tears when I read it." It read: "Today is my brother's b-day. He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy B-day Wes." "It's the best tip I've ever gotten," Hudson says, "not because of the money, but because of the meaning." Hudson posted a photo of the bill on Reddit after she finished up her shift that night. "When I woke up I was on the front page," she says. "It had over 1.5 million views on Imgur and 350,000 upvotes on Reddit." Hudson and the owner of Mac's Grub Shak now want to honor the man that inspired the generous gratuity. They hope to track down the tipper to find out exactly what Wes liked on his hot dogs so the eatery can "name a hot dog after him." Hudson adds she may start a similar tradition herself. "My best friend, he died about three years ago. This experience has definitely given me the idea to do the same thing on his birthday every year," she says. "It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that's ever happened." (This waitress got a big tip just when she really needed it.) |
In this undated photo released by Proyecto Vaquita, a porpoise is seen trapped in a fishing net at the Gulf of California. (C.Faesi/Proyecto Vaquita via AP)
Surprise raids on Mexican smuggling boats, international treaties, and outright fishing bans have done little to stop the steady decline of the vaquita, the world’s smallest and possibly cutest porpoise. Now, in a last-ditch effort straight out of a Sea World-themed sci-fi movie, conservationists are turning to a new method of vaquita preservation: military dolphins. Technically, they’re the Seal Team 6 of dolphins, specially trained by the U.S. Navy to detect undersea mines and such. Navy officials hope they’ll be equally good at finding the last vestiges of the vaquita, which make their home in the warm waters between the Mexican mainland and the Baja California Peninsula and have been decimated by a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics. “Their specific task is to locate” vaquitas, Jim Fallin of U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific told the Associated Press. “They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched.”
If the plan is approved, it would be the first step in a risky relocation project that may be the vaquita’s only chance to survive the next decade. Vaquita numbers have dwindled since a fishing boom around World War II for a species of sea bass called totoaba, according to The Post’s Darryl Fears. In China, where the totoaba bladder is both a delicacy and a traditional medicine, a pair of bladders can fetch $8,500. To catch totoaba, which are also endangered, fishermen drag mesh gill nets through the warm waters of the Pacific, snagging everything they come in contact with — including vaquita. Trapped in the nets, the porpoises drown when they can’t swim to the surface for air. “It became clear that vaquitas were dying in most, if not all, types of gill nets used in the northern Gulf,” wrote the Cetacean Specialist Group, which tracks the porpoises. [With 800 offspring, ‘very sexually active’ tortoise saves species from extinction]
Mexico has long had laws to protect vaquita, and the government is pressuring fishermen to use nets that vaquita could swim out of if caught. But by the time all fishermen have the new nets, the vaquita may already be extinct. In September, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species urged Mexico, the United States and China to do a better job of sharing information on totoaba busts and seizures to catch more criminals and better protect the endangered porpoise, The Post reported. But the Gulf of California is full of impoverished fishermen who see totoaba bladders as a way to provide for their families. The economics don’t bode well for the vaquita. Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Manuel Gonzalez is shown with a bottlenose dolphin. Both are assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 1. Officials have announced a plan to use Navy-trained dolphins to try to capture the few remaining vaquita porpoises in a final effort to prevent their extinction. (Lt. David Bennett/Navy via EPA)
In 2014, a survey found only 100 vaquita, half the number reported two years earlier. Last year, a count found just 60, and scientists worried that the battle to save the vaquita was all but over, Fears wrote. The Navy’s dolphins would help locate them. Then, an international team of experts would capture them and transport them to a special holding facility, safe from the trawling nets of fishing boats, according to the AP. But the plan has potential holes. For one, vaquita have never been found to survive or thrive in captivity. They’re elusive and hard to find and haven’t been thoroughly studied. [These men stole an endangered penguin and released him. Officials say he may not survive.] And the “little cows” aren’t exactly the rabbits of the sea. They reproduce slowly — a mature female has about one calf every other year. If the few remaining females die in captivity, for example, the species would be doomed. Read more:
Some babies die waiting for a liver transplant. This baby was matched in 40 minutes. A researcher discovered how cave men cleaned their teeth. It will make you want to brush yours. Infertile couples came to this ‘baby god’ for help. Now, they’re accusing him of betrayal. ‘My whole leg was in its mouth’: Oregon surfer says he punched shark to survive | – The world's smallest porpoise is also ever smaller in number, its population decimated in recent decades thanks to what the Washington Post describes as "a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics." The vaquita, or "little cow," has gotten tangled up in fish nets since World War II, when fishermen began to seriously hunt a species of sea bass called totoaba. The porpoise, known for sporting a little smirk, is a marine mammal that would drown in the nets where they couldn't swim to the surface for air, and the appetite for totoaba has not diminished as the fish's bladder is used in Chinese medicine and considered a delicacy there, fetching more than $4,000 for just one. The Mexican government has frantically decided to try to capture the remaining survivors, now around 60, to try to save the species. The US is joining in, too, offering up another marine mammal to help: the dolphin. The US Navy is training the so-called Seal Team 6 of dolphins, which already prowl around for underwater mines, to find the last surviving vaquita, which live between the Mexican mainland and Baja California Peninsula. "Their specific task is to locate," one expert says. "They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched." Unfortunately, the vaquita doesn't thrive in captivity, where they would need to remain to be safe from fishing nets. They also reproduce very slowly, with one calf every other year. Not everyone is on board with the plan, adds Live Science. "I don't like this idea at all," says a rep for World Wildlife Fund Mexico. "The risk of killing a vaquita while catching them is very high. With only 50 or 60 animals left, we can't play with that." (Dolphins appear to chat much like humans.) |
Niagara Regional Police have ruled out the “vast majority” of missing-persons cases they have reviewed across Canada related to their ongoing investigation into a female torso found in the Niagara River. NRP Insp. Jim McCaffery said investigators looked into around 50 cases that matched the description of the victim, but most have not led police any closer to identifying who the torso belonged to. “There are a couple we still need to clear, but we’re satisfied the vast majority of them do not meet the parameters,” McCaffery said during a press conference at NRP headquarters in St. Catharines Tuesday. “We have met with our American policing partners who continue to review missing-persons reports in their jurisdiction. We have and will continue to follow up on investigative leads that have been forwarded to our tip line.”
The NRP continues to ask the public to forward any tips they may have, and have engaged New York State Police, which is currently reviewing missing-persons cases as well. State Police Capt. Steven Nigrelli said they started by going through missing-persons cases in western New York, but have since expanded throughout the entire state and could go as far as other Great Lake and north-east states. He said it’s only natural State Police would be involved, as the investigation surrounds a torso — minus limbs and a head — found in a river traversing both countries. “There’s a good possibility this person may have entered the water from the United States,” said Nigrelli. He said based on ongoing testing of the torso, his department keeps “excluding people who could be possible victims.”
“This is an arduous task and it’s ongoing at this time.”
During the press conference, McCaffery provided further information about the torso recovered from the Niagara River near the Rainbow Bridge last Wednesday. Initial post-mortem results indicated the victim was a middle-aged, white female with a pierced navel. She had at least once caesarian section and her tubes were tied. On Tuesday, McCaffery narrowed the victim’s age to between 31 and 55. He said the piercing was “closed off,” and that she had two caesarian sections. Further testing continues at the Centre of Forensic Sciences and the Chief Coroner’s Office in Toronto. McCaffery said he is not prepared to get into the cause of death, or the condition of the torso when it was found. He maintained the matter is a homicide and that “we are prepared to say that it was a dismemberment.”
He said police received between 15 to 20 tips from the public over the weekend, the vast majority from Niagara. “People are calling in suspicious items, suspicious behaviour on the part of people they have seen in the community. Mostly that’s what we’re getting … and we will follow each one of them up and continue to do that.”
At this stage, what police really need is the public’s help, said McCaffery. “We ask that you contact the female family members that you’ve not heard from recently. Contact co-workers who have not shown up to work to check on their welfare. Check on neighbours with unexplained absences,” he said. “If you are not satisfied with the results you’re getting, please contact the (NRP) service for investigative followup. No tip is too small for us to follow up on. Someone in the community knows who this person is. The identity of the individual is critical to this investigation.”
ray.spiteri@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @RaySpiteri
The victim | – Canadian authorities found a woman's torso floating at the bottom of Niagara Falls last Wednesday, and they suspect it may be a missing American, the AP reports. Police have classified the case as a homicide investigation, and “we are prepared to say that it was a dismemberment," says a Canadian police spokesman. Investigators have pored over 50 or so Canadian missing-person case files, but believe none "fits the parameters" of the discovered body, Niagara's regional police inspector tells the Niagara Falls Review. “We have met with our American policing partners who continue to review missing-persons reports in their jurisdiction," he says. State police have a begun a search through missing person records in New York, but may expand the investigation to other states. “There’s a good possibility this person entered the water from the US,” says a state police spokesman. The body, missing limbs and a head, is that of a middle-aged white female with a pierced navel. |
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In a world first, Australian surgeons have successfully transplanted "dead" hearts into patients at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital. The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a "paradigm shift" that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation. It's predicted the breakthrough will save the lives of 30 per cent more heart transplant patients. Until now, transplant units have relied solely on still-beating donor hearts from brain-dead patients. Advertisement
But the team at St Vincent's Hospital Heart Lung Transplant Unit announced on Friday they had transplanted three heart failure patients using donor hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes. Two of them have recovered well, while the third, who recently undertook the procedure, is still in intensive care. Cardiologist Prof Peter MacDonald said the donor hearts were housed in a portable console coined a "heart in a box". Here they were submerged in a ground breaking preservation solution jointly developed by the hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. The hearts were then connected to a sterile circuit where they were kept beating and warm. Cardiothoracic surgeon Assoc Prof Kumud Dhital, who performed the transplants with hearts donated after circulatory death (DCD), said he "kicked the air" when the first surgery was successful. It was possible thanks to new technology, he said. "The incredible development of the preservation solution with this technology of being able to preserve the heart, resuscitate it and to assess the function of the heart has made this possible," he told a press conference on Friday. The first patient to have the surgery done was Michelle Gribilas. The 57-year-old Sydney woman was suffering from congenital heart failure and had surgery about two months ago. "I was very sick before I had it," she said. "Now I'm a different person altogether. "I feel like I'm 40 years old. I'm very lucky." The second patient, Jan Damen, 43, also suffered from congenital heart failure and had surgery about a fortnight ago. The father of three is still recovering at the hospital. "I feel amazing," he said. "I have to say I never thought I'd feel so privileged to wear the St Vincent's pyjamas. "I'm just looking forward to getting back out into the real world." The former carpenter said he often thinks about his donor. "I do think about it, because without the donor I might not be here," he said. "I'm not religious or spiritual but it's a wild thing to get your head around." Prof MacDonald, the director of the Hospital's Heart Lung Transplant Unit, said the team had been working on this project for 20 years and intensively for the past four. "We've been researching to see how long the heart can sustain this period in which it has stopped beating," he said. "We then developed a technique for reactivating the heart in a so-called heart in a box machine. "To do that we removed blood from the donor to prime the machine and then we take the heart out, connect it to the machine, warm it up and then it starts to beat." The donor hearts were each housed in this machine for about four hours before transplantation, he said. "Based on the performance of the heart on the machine we can then tell quite reliably whether this heart will work if we then go and transplant it. "In many respects this breakthrough represents a major inroad to reducing the shortage of donor organs," he said. | – For 20 years, the heart transplant unit at Sydney's St. Vincent's Hospital has been working hard to figure out a way to transplant a dead heart into a live patient. Today doctors from the team announced their work had paid off: They have successfully completed three transplants using hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes—said to be the first such transplants in the world, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Two of the patients are already up and about, while the most recent recipient is still recovering in intensive care. Heart transplants typically rely on organs taken from brain-dead donors whose hearts are still beating; the Herald reports the new development could save 30% more lives. The surgeon who performed the operations says he "kicked the air" after he realized the first surgery had gone well. The secret to their success lies in cutting-edge technology and the preservation solution in which the nonbeating hearts are immersed. The heart is first placed in a special "heart in a box" machine that warms it up and keeps it beating for about four hours before the transplant operation. The preservation solution, which alone took 12 years to develop, minimizes damage to the organ after it has stopped beating and helps ensure it both survives the surgery and functions in the recipient's body, Sky News reports. Michelle Gribilas, a 57-year-old who had congestive heart failure, tells the Herald that she was "very sick" before having the operation two months ago, and "now I'm a different person altogether. I feel like I'm 40 years old." (This woman wants to live out her heart donor's bucket list.) |
Write to Josh Mitchell at joshua.mitchell@wsj.com
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Borrowers enrolled in plans that forgive student debt owe an average of about $51,000 and a combined $269 billion, according to Education Department statistics cited by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report finds that estimates of the cost to the government of income-driven repayment plans -- which eventually discharge a student's remaining debt after 20 years or more of payments -- has jumped from $28 billion to $53 billion for student loans issued from 2009 to 2016. WASHINGTON—The federal government is on track to forgive at least $108 billion in student debt in coming years, as more and more borrowers seek help in paying down their loans, leading to lower revenues for the nation’s program to finance higher education. “At a time when our nation is facing a mammoth national debt, the Department of Education has expanded a student loan program that will cost twice as much as originally estimated,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo. [What you need to know about Obama’s latest student loan plan before enrolling]
To help people manage their student loans, the Obama administration has expanded programs that cap monthly payments to a percentage of earnings and eventually forgives the balance. In addition to debt forgiveness under income-driven repayment programs, the administration is also moving to forgive loans for borrowers who can show they were lured to enroll at schools—mostly for-profit colleges—that used deceptive advertising. On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump spoke favorably about income-driven repayment plans, saying in one speech that “students should not be asked to pay more on their loans than they can afford.” He proposed in a speech a repayment program that would be even more generous than the programs already available to student loan borrowers. Data released by the Department of Education this year indicated that those programs have seen steady increases in enrollment. “You need to hire a firm that is skilled at estimating the value of financial securities to tell you what these loans are worth and what they’ll cost taxpayers.”
As it stands, there are 5.3 million people enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan with about $353 billion in outstanding student loans. And the fiscal 2017 cohort of student loans is expected to carry a cost five times that of the 2012 cohort. The department’s estimates assumed no growth in enrollment, even as the Obama administration was seeking to enroll two million additional borrowers in the plans. “If you go through the report, there are just basic things that they missed or that they didn’t do.”
Jason Delisle, a resident fellow who specializes in higher ed finance at the American Enterprise Institute, said the report was a vote of no confidence in the department’s abilities to estimate what income-driven repayment will cost taxpayers. ), who ordered the GAO study, has criticized the Obama administration’s use of executive authority to sweeten terms of the repayment plans, which he said would add to the national debt. Ted Mitchell, undersecretary at the Education Department, said such programs “are helping millions of borrowers successfully manage loan repayment, particularly those for whom standard repayment may prove challenging.”
He added that the administration has proposed changes to reduce costs. She also said the GAO report showed important fixes that the Department of Education could make in its cost estimates. The department in its annual budget report said the money being repaid through other student loan programs offsets some of the expense of the income-driven plans. It’s possible that Republican lawmakers looking to tackle the costs associated with the programs could take steps like capping the amount of loan debt that can be taken out for graduate studies, eliminating Public Service Loan Forgiveness or otherwise limiting student borrowing. | – A new report out of the Government Accountability Office reveals that the federal government will forgive at least $108 billion in student loan debt in the coming years, a higher amount than official estimates out of the federal government's Education Department, the Washington Post reports. The GAO report, which Inside Higher Ed says is "highly critical," looked at the federal government's income-driven repayment plans, which cap borrowers' monthly payments based on their income and, in some cases, ultimately forgive the balance of the debt entirely. Currently, $355 billion is owed under income-driven repayment plans, and the GAO report found that $137 billion of that will never be repaid. Of that, $108 billion will be forgiven under the terms of the plans, and $29 billion will be written off due to disability or death. Those amounts only cover loans made through the current school year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Income-driven repayment plans were passed by Congress in the 1990s and 2000s, but the Obama administration beefed some of them up and increased efforts to enroll people in them; currently 5.3 million borrowers are enrolled. The GAO report could offer ammunition to congressional Republicans looking to trim such programs in an attempt to rein in costs. "Really what the GAO is saying is that the Obama administration’s expansion of this program has been done without good information about the effects," says one higher-ed finance expert. |
Prince George’s County sheriff’s deputies have evicted a Fort Washington couple who spent years fighting the foreclosure of their million-dollar house. Keith and Janet Ritter did not make a single mortgage payment on the showcase home along the Potomac River after buying it at the end of 2006. Sheriff’s deputies showed up at the house Wednesday morning with an eviction order issued last week by the county Circuit Court. The order had been sought by Kondaur Capital Corp., a California firm that buys foreclosed properties and now owns the house. The Ritters could not be reached for comment. During the real estate boom, the Ritters earned six-figure incomes by flipping houses — buying and reselling rapidly. Most of their activity was in the Fort Washington area. The Ritters ran into financial trouble once the housing bubble burst. They had said previously that they did not make payments because they were scrambling to save other investment properties from foreclosure. The mortgage on the million-dollar house passed through several lenders, at least two of which tried to foreclose. The Ritters held them off with repeated bankruptcy filings in different states, temporarily halting the foreclosure process. They also benefited from a national moratorium on foreclosures following the
robo-signing scandal and from Maryland’s unusually long foreclosure process, one of the most protracted in the nation. Attorneys for Kondaur successfully foreclosed on the house late last year and obtained an eviction order in December. In March, after an article about the couple appeared in The Washington Post, sheriff’s deputies pulled up to the house but had to leave because of another last-minute bankruptcy filing by Janet Ritter. Kondaur’s lawyers last week secured the court order that allowed the eviction to go forward. The Ritters had filled their home with art and furnishings. One witness to the eviction said it took the entire day to remove the couple’s belongings. By Friday afternoon, the front door sported a new lock and a real estate lock box. There were bits of debris strewn about outside — clothing hangers, paint cans, a dog crate filled with rocks and “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs. A cream-colored Mercedes with a flat tire was parked outside the garage, where it has been for several months. The driveway was also sprinkled with broken glass. One front window on the ground floor appeared to have been vandalized. Neighbors in the small development of custom-built, high-end homes were reluctant to talk to a reporter about the eviction. One man, who did not give his name, said, “This is reality.” | – After buying their million-dollar house in 2006, a Maryland couple never made a single mortgage payment; now they've been evicted after a long struggle, reports the Washington Post. Keith and Janet Ritter made a fortune, temporarily, buying and flipping homes during the housing bubble, and they bought their $1.3 million home with no money down, according to a previous article in the Post. Then they lost much of their wealth when the bubble burst and have been fighting eviction ever since. Though two mortgage lenders attempted to foreclose on the home, the couple managed to avoid such a fate for years thanks to multiple bankruptcy filings across several states. Maryland also has one of the country's longest foreclosure processes. California property buyer Kondaur Capital finally got an eviction order in December. Police attempted to evict the Ritters in March but were barred by another bankruptcy filing; this week's successful eviction follows a court order last week. |
Gibson, who built a wellness empire on the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle, has admitted deceiving her followers
'None of it’s true': wellness blogger Belle Gibson admits she never had cancer
Disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson, who built an online community and sold a recipe book off the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle alone, has admitted she never had cancer. Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘OK, she’s human.’”
Gibson’s wellness empire, which included a mobile phone app called The Whole Pantry and a website and recipe book of the same name, began to fall apart in March when it was revealed she never made thousands of dollars in charity donations she promised off the back of money raised through her success. In an interview with the Australian Women’s Weekly in 2016, Gibson admitted she never had cancer at all, saying: “None of it’s true.”
On Monday night Mortimer said her executive assistant had received an email from Gibson in response to notification that the penalty would be handed down on Thursday. | – In March, Belle Gibson was found guilty of breaching consumer law with her false claims on how she'd beaten her supposed brain cancer. On Thursday, Melbourne's Federal Court of Australia handed down the fine the Aussie blogger will pay as a consequence: around $320,000, the BBC reports. The 25-year-old had made a name for herself in her home country when she claimed she'd beaten her cancer through a regimen of healthy living and eating, which she monetized via an app and cookbook she created, both called The Whole Pantry. Per the AP, the fine was handed down due to Gibson's claims that proceeds from the app and cookbook would go to different charities. But the charities never got those funds, and that's when questions started to pop up about Gibson herself. It was in mid-2015 when Gibson finally admitted she'd never had brain cancer, or other cancers she'd also initially said she had (she later called those misdiagnoses). Gibson's "pitch" for people to throw money her way "overwhelmingly used groups likely to evoke sympathy because of their vulnerabilities—young girls, asylum seekers, sick children," federal judge Debra Mortimer said in March. The Guardian notes the court had spent months trying to figure out a penalty for Gibson, and Consumer Affairs Victoria, which brought the case against Gibson, said she could've faced a fine of up to $860,000. But Mortimer had previously said it was pointless to issue a fine that Gibson would be unable to pay. Gibson wasn't in court to hear Mortimer's decision, instead sending an email response to the AP that said, "Thank you for the update. Much appreciated." |
On Wednesday, Barack Obama nominated Avril Danica Haines to be the deputy director of the CIA, replacing Michael Morell, who twice served as acting director of the agency but took much of the blame for editing the highly controversial talking points around the 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi. Taking over the job is Haines, 43, who has been deputy counsel to the president for national security affairs since 2010, marking the first time a woman has ascended to the agency’s second highest position. Mr. Morell, 54, is leaving voluntarily, officials said, after a full career that has included two recent stints as acting director of the spy agency, first after the departure of Leon E. Panetta in 2011 and then after the resignation of David H. Petraeus last year over a sex scandal. Ms. Haines is an unusual choice because she is not an intelligence professional, though in her two years at the White House she has been deeply involved in intelligence programs and got to know Mr. Brennan when he was President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser. Final Draft
References to al-Qaeda were removed while the document was still being drafted by the CIA, according to White House officials who briefed reporters. | – CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell has announced his retirement, making way for the first woman to take the job. Avril Haines, 43, is a White House lawyer who has worked in the State Department and Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She hasn't worked in an intelligence post before, Bloomberg notes, but her work at the White House has been steeped in intelligence-related matters, the New York Times reports. President Obama had initially nominated her to the post of State Department legal adviser; she would have been the first woman in that job, too, the Times notes. Morell, for his part, was involved in the drafting of White House talking points on Benghazi. He's leaving to spend more time with his family, he says, though he will also join the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. "Whenever someone involved in the rough and tumble of Washington decides to move on, there is speculation ... about the 'real reason,'" Morell says. "But when I say that it is time for my family, nothing could be more real than that." (Odd aside about his successor: The Daily Beast reports that Haines co-owned a Baltimore bookstore in her 20s, and the store hosted regular "Erotica Nights," during which she would do readings.) |
The Lithuanian site, Ponar, holds mass burial pits and graves where up to 100,000 people were killed and their bodies dumped or burned during the Holocaust. Now, thanks to the cooperative work of Dr. Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford, Paul Bauman of Advisian of Calgary, Canada and the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, the tunnel has been rediscovered. A team of archaeologists and mapmakers say they have uncovered a forgotten tunnel that 80 Jews dug largely by hand as they tried to escape from a Nazi extermination site in Lithuania about 70 years ago. The pit in the Ponar forest where Jews were massacred (Photo:Ezra Wolfinger, NOVA)
Some of the workers resolved to attempt a daring escape by digging a tunnel from the pit that was used as their prison. For decades, the exact location of the tunnel remained a mystery, and archaeologists couldn’t dig at the site for risk of disturbing more than the 100,000 remains buried at Ponar. However, advances in archeological technology allowed Freund and his team to study the site using noninvasive techniques, including ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Using radar and radio waves to scan beneath the ground, the researchers found the tunnel, a 100-foot passageway between five and nine feet below the surface, the team announced on Wednesday. | – A 100-foot escape tunnel dug by Jewish prisoners using only their hands and spoons has been unearthed in Lithuania, a research team announced Wednesday. From 1941 to 1944, about 100,000 people (70,000 of them Jews from nearby Vilnius) were slaughtered by the Nazis, then dumped into burial pits in Lithuania's Ponar forest—systemic murder that started even before the gas chambers in what archaeologist Richard Freund tells the New York Times was "ground zero for the Holocaust." To cover up the massacre, the Nazis forced 80 Jews from the nearby Stutthof concentration camp to exhume the bodies, burn them, and hide the ashes, Ynetnews reports. These "corpse unit" members were kept in a deep pit during the night, and some spent those hours digging an escape tunnel. On the night of April 15, 1944, 40 of them made a break for it. Guards shot many on sight, but 11 escaped and survived the war to tell the story of the legendary tunnel. The research team led by Freund used a special geophysical process to locate the tunnel, combining radar and electrical resistivity tomography, which uses electricity to examine natural objects in the ground and soil disturbances that may have been caused by digging. These nonintrusive search methods allow scientists to explore sites that previously were off-limits, notes PBS, which will air a Nova documentary on the discovery in 2017. It also puts to bed the belief that stories told through the years about the tunnel were only a myth. "As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel," an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority tells Ynetnews. "[It] enables us to present not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life." (Evidence of an escape tunnel was found under the Sobibor concentration camp.) |
Actor Alec Baldwin was rushed to a New York City hospital Wednesday night after his daughter called 911 concerned for the "30 Rock" star's health. A source familiar with the situation now tells Fox411 that Ireland was not with her father in New York at the time of the 911 call. Instead, she likely called from Los Angeles, seemingly refuting earlier reports that the 14-year-old found her father unresponsive. Medics rushed to the actor’s apartment before taking him to Lenox Hill hospital, NBC said. He was reportedly released after an hour of treatment at around 1 a.m. According to a report from the New York Post, the initial 911 call came in as a“possible alcohol or drug overdose.” Sources told the newspaper that while he never actually ingested sleeping pills, Baldwin threatened to take them during a heated argument. Matthew Hiltzik, a rep for Baldwin, tells Fox411 that the situation was a "misunderstanding on one person's part" and that actor is “completely fine and is at work today." Hiltzik added that Baldwin's quick release indicated that there were no serious health concerns. "If there was any real issue or concern, he would not have been released from the hospital so quickly," Hiltzik said. Baldwin is scheduled to host the Academy Awards with comedian Steve Martin next month. | – Alec Baldwin's ugly came out yesterday after his brief stint in a hospital when he grabbed a New York Post photographer. "This guy! This guy!" the actor yelled as he rushed from his apartment building lobby to grab lensman Tim Wiencis' collar before police pulled him off, reports the New York Daily News. Seconds earlier a witness reportedly overheard Baldwin muttering to himself: "They are the scum of the earth." Wiencis called his confrontation with Baldwin an "assault," but did not press charges. Earlier yesterday Baldwin left a Manhattan hospital after his teenage daughter called 911, disturbed that her father said during an argument over the phone that he was "going to take some pills; I'm going to end this." Sources tell Fox News Ireland Baldwin was not in New York at the time, despite previous reports that she found her father "unresponsive." |
Diane Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee, made the comments while speaking to a group of ministers during a “listening session” recently, according to HuffPost, which reported the story and included audio of the remarks. “What makes them do that?” she said. “Pornography, it’s available, it’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store,” she said. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there,” she continued. “All of this is available without parental guidance. During a meeting last week with local pastors, Black raised the issue of gun violence in schools and why it keeps happening. | – Pornography is playing a "big part" in the spike in school shootings, according to a Republican congresswoman running for governor of Tennessee. While discussing school shootings during a meeting with pastors in Clarksville last week, Rep. Diane Black said porn is "available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store" and "without parental guidance," per HuffPost, which has the audio. "I think that is a big part of the root cause," she continued, also pointing to the "deterioration of the family" and violent movies. The 67-year-old briefly noted mental illness is also something "we've got to address," per the Washington Post. A rep later elaborated, saying Black "believes the breakdown of families and communities plays a significant role in instances of school violence." Meanwhile, Black has introduced a bill to crowdfund President Trump's wall along the border with Mexico, whose president vowed again Tuesday never to pay for it. "If someone wants to send in money to the federal government to help to build the wall, they can do so, but … what this does is actually dedicates a fund," Black tells NewsChannel5. |
Federal officials said Wednesday that the new Indiana law cutting Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood violates Medicaid rules — a determination that could cost the state millions and possibly even billions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informed state officials by letter that it was denying Indiana’s new Medicaid plan because states can’t pick and choose where recipients receive health-care services. What happens next is, at best, a guess. But almost certain is that it will add fuel to a legal and political battle likely to be watched closely across the nation. An HHS official would not comment on what happens if Indiana does not change its law, though one possible ramification would be withholding funding. Indiana relies on about $4million in federal Medicaid family planning funds and more than $4 billion in total Medicaid dollars. The state Family and Social Services Administration — caught between state and federal law — said it would seek guidance from Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. “For now, our lawyers advise us that we must continue to follow the law the Indiana General Assembly passed,” said FSSA spokesman Marcus Barlow. Zoeller spokesman Bryan Corbin said that the office is working with the FSSA to determine its options, “but we will continue to defend the statute.” Gov. Mitch Daniels, who signed the bill into law, declined to comment Wednesday. There also is the matter of the courts. The law, which took effect May 10, is being challenged in federal court by Planned Parenthood on various grounds. The next court date is scheduled for Monday. The law made Indiana the first state to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and ended roughly $1.3 million in annual payments to the health provider. Planned Parenthood of Indiana, which has been scraping together donations over the past few weeks in an effort to keep serving its 9,300 Medicaid patients, welcomed Wednesday’s letter. “It is incredibly gratifying to have the federal government confirm what we’ve been saying all along, that (House Enrolled Act) 1210 violates federal law,” said Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana. (Page 2 of 3)
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the letter “a strong rebuke to Indiana” and said it “serves as a warning to other states that attempts to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood violate Medicaid law.” State Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, who helped lead the effort in the legislature to defund Planned Parenthood, was disappointed. “We believe we represented the public’s opinion on this, and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “It’s another example of the federal government trying to tell states what to do. I think states are very capable of deciding their own fate and running their own ship.” Anti-abortion activists challenged the Obama administration’s interpretation of federal Medicaid policy, saying they believe states do have authority to defund Planned Parenthood and called the letter a strong-arm tactic. “We’re not surprised by it,” said Indiana Right to Life Legislative Director Sue Swayze. “This is the most pro-abortion president we’ve ever had. It almost feels like they’re bullying the state of Indiana over the wishes of our legislative branch.” President Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion group, said, “(HHS) Secretary (Kathleen) Sebelius is strong-arming states like Indiana to protect the administration’s powerful ally Planned Parenthood.” House Bill 1210 was approved overwhelmingly by the House and Senate. Supporters of the law said they did not want their tax dollars going to an organization that provides abortions — even though the procedure is not paid for with tax dollars. Opponents said the law could leave 9,300 Medicaid patients, who receive services such as birth control, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted disease tests, without reproductive health care. The law took effect immediately after Daniels signed it, giving FSSA little time to apply for federal approval for the changes until after funding had already been cut off. The application went out May 12. The letter received Wednesday was the federal government’s response rejecting that application. | – The White House has—as promised—moved to block an Indiana law that strips Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds. State officials have been notified that the law, which cuts off funding to Planned Parenthood because some clinics perform abortion services, violates Medicaid rules because states aren't allowed to choose where recipients receive health care services, reports the New York Times. State officials say they plan to continue enforcing the law, which was signed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels last month. The federal government's move is "a strong rebuke to Indiana” that should serve as a warning to other states seeking to defund Planned Parenthood," the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America tells the Indianapolis Star. Medicaid officials have signaled that the state could lose $4 billion in federal funding if it refuses to comply with the administration's decision. |
If the notion of any current country performer labeling himself an outlaw was ever laughable, it would never be more so when considering David Allan Coe. In reform school by the age of nine, and charged with such offenses as armed robbery and auto theft, Coe would be in and out of various correctional facilities for the next two decades and would serve three years at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Related Merle Haggard: 'Prison Is the Biggest Business in America' Country music's most famous ex-con speaks out on the number of Americans in prison and changes his stance on marijuana
While he was behind bars, Coe penned several songs that would be released on his 1969 debut album, the dark and crudely recorded Penitentiary Blues, which resurfaced in 2005 getting its first CD release. Coe was encouraged to write the songs, which detail stark prison life in such songs as "Death Row," "Oh Warden" and "Cell #33," by the man in the cell next to him, soul singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins. After he was released in 1967, Coe released those tracks via Shelby Singleton's SSS International label, and began touring with B.B. King and the Staples Singers. A subsequent deal with Columbia Records yielded The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, a hardcore country effort co-produced by Billy Sherrill and Ron Bledsoe, which failed to chart. The next album from Coe, Once Upon a Rhyme, would give him the first of his three Top Ten hits. "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" was a stone-country, semi-novelty song written by Steve Goodman ("City of New Orleans") and John Prine (who refused a writer's credit but was gifted a jukebox by Goodman for his contribution). In the second verse of the tune, Coe namechecks – and does some pretty spot-on imitations of – Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride and Merle Haggard. In the third verse, there's a little nod to Faron Young's "Hello Walls," penned by Willie Nelson, and Coe even namechecks himself. The fourth and final verse has Coe explaining, in a spoken intro, how Goodman wrote to him telling him he felt he had written "the perfect country and western song" with this one. Coe further explains that he wrote back to Goodman and protested that the song was missing key elements that would make it perfect: Mama, trains, trucks, prison and getting drunk. Goodman then rewrote the tune, resulting in one of the most iconic – and hilarious – verses in country music history. Recorded on August 20th, 1974, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," would debut on the Billboard country chart in July 1975, eventually peaking at Number Eight. Although he wrote much of his own material, ironically, Coe's only Number One hit came in 1978 as the writer of Johnny Paycheck's Number One smash, "Take This Job and Shove It." He would score another pair of Top Five hits as an artist with songs he didn't write: "The Ride" in 1983, and his biggest solo hit, "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile," which just missed the top spot, peaking at Number Two. Coe, who appeared in the 1981 film based on "Take This Job and Shove It," would later tour with Kid Rock, writing "Single Father" for him in 2003. He also worked with members of the metal band Pantera on an LP released in 2006, and he remains notorious for several X-rated songs he recorded while reportedly riding as a member of an outlaw biker gang. This rare clip [above] of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," from the year the single was released, was certainly not radio-friendly, with the singer spitting out an F-bomb during the last verse, but it's vintage Coe and certainly another notch in the gun that is his well-deserved outlaw reputation. If there's any doubt that the "perfect country and western song" has stood the test of time, this 2010 all-star performance, featuring Darius Rucker, Easton Corbin, Montgomery Gentry, Vince Gill, Jason Aldean and the Band Perry should put that notion to rest. | – Well, this is about what you'd expect from the guy who wrote the song "Take This Job and Shove It": David Allan Coe owes the IRS more than $466,000 in back taxes. The country music singer-songwriter, 76, pleaded guilty to income tax evasion in federal court in Cincinnati yesterday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. He faces up to three years in prison—precisely the amount of time he spent in the Ohio State Penitentiary in his younger days, reports Rolling Stone. The US Attorney's Office says Coe arranged to get much of his payment in cash when he performed, which was partially "an effort to impede the ability of the IRS to collect on the taxes owed." He then spent that cash "on other debts and gambling," the office says in a press release. Perhaps the quirkiest detail in that release: Coe apparently refused payment in $50 bills, because he considered them bad luck and "would not gamble with them." |
Flipboard turns Facebook and Twitter feeds into attractive, magazine-style pages for beach-friendly consumption. Some preset news feeds and a Twitter "daily photo" stream introduce you to the concept, and you are prompted to add your Twitter and Facebook credentials so you stay on top of your own social networks and share interesting things you find with your friends. (Credit: Flipboard)
iPad app Flipboard calls itself a "social magazine," a way to browse Facebook and Twitter content with the same breezy effortlessness you'd browse the pages of a favorite periodical. Having run Tellme before, one of the things I learned about running a big network, is it's one thing to have some people not be able to get on the way they want to get on, but as long as people who are on the network are having a good experience you're totally cool. Flipboard reminds me of Blogshelf, the awesome iPad app that gives blogs and RSS feeds an iBooks-style makeover. Flipboard's launch was as chaotic as it seemed from the outside. It's perhaps the best way I've found to read The Onion on my iPad. When you tap a source, fluid animations will roll out stories, headlines, and photos across the page to remind you that this is most certainly not your grandparent's magazine. As with Blogshelf, you often have to "tap through" to the original Web page to access the full content. For starters, you're currently limited to just nine sections. And it occurred to me on one of these flights - "Why is it that the Internet looks so ugly and the magazines look so beautiful? When we build our business model here, it's not going to be on the backs of the publishers, it will be with the publishers—you know we're going to make money with them not off of them. Check out this morning's post on the Digital Media blog: Meet Flipboard: Mike McCue's stealth "social magazine." | – Flipboard may be the first true killer app for the iPad, a "social magazine" that weaves information from your Facebook and Twitter feeds together with personalized, aggregated news content into an attractive, intuitive presentation. The app's smooth, magazine-like appearance has drawn almost universal acclaim—check these reviews from PC World and CNET. In fact, Flipboard's biggest drawback so far may be that demand since its launch last week has periodically paralyzed its servers. A key feature of Flipboard is its ability to extract links embedded in Twitter by services like bit.ly and present that content upfront as part of your personal "magazine." The company intends to wed that kind of social media content with conventional publishing, CEO Mike McCue tells Business Insider, while serving ads alongside both. The resulting revenue will be split with publishers in an arrangement McCue says will allow publishers to "monetize their content by a factor of ten from what they’re currently doing with banner ads." |
Two NYPD sergeants were shot in the Bronx Friday. Cops and paramedics rushed to Noble Ave. near Bronx River Ave. about 3 p.m. after the shooting. The suspect, who had multiple guns, was shot dead by cops, sources said. Both sergeants were taken to Jacobi Medical Center in serious condition, according to preliminary reports. The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear. This is breaking story. Check back for updates. | – Two NYPD officers responding to a home invasion in the Bronx were shot Friday afternoon, and CNN reports one of them has died. The New York Daily News reports that the "heavily-armed gunman" was killed in the firefight. The second officer's injuries were said to be non-life-threatening. |
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 | – Add Edmunds.com to the list of companies dreaming of emulating Amazon's success. With last year's quiet launch of a service called Price Promise, the car shopping website is trying to "be as close as possible to Amazon.com for the automotive experience," president Seth Berkowitz explained at an industry gathering yesterday. What that means, per the Detroit Free Press: Berkowitz says car shoppers' No. 1 gripe is the lack of a clear, exact car price; Price Promise cuts out the haggling that follows as a result by allowing dealers to email the exact price of a vehicle found on the site to shoppers who request it. Shoppers can then print out a certificate bearing the number; the dealer must sell the car for that price. Ergo, no haggling. Though the site hopes the feature will set it apart from the competition, TrueCar.com has offered a similar program since 2009, the Free Press notes; it claims 6,200 participating dealers, to Edmunds.com's 600. The service also doesn't factor in a buyer's credit history, which could change the monthly payments, points out the Wall Street Journal. Price Promise doesn't necessarily meaning getting the lowest price, either. Dealers say they sell cars to Price-Promise users for $300 to $500 more than traditional buyers. But according to Berkowitz, it's a worthwhile tradeoff for those looking to save time and avoid headaches. |
Burlingame woman, 97, being evicted after 66 years
The year Marie Hatch moved into the wood-shingled cottage in tony Burlingame that she calls home, Harry Truman was president and “Goodnight Irene” was a radio hit. Her landlord and friend, Vivian Kruse, told her she could live in the cottage until she died. Fast-forward 66 years. Kruse is dead, her daughter is dead, and her granddaughter is dead. They each passed down the lifetime guarantee of tenancy for Hatch — but when the final woman died, so did the verbal agreement, the current landlord says. That’s why he is evicting Hatch, who is now 97, fighting cancer and long both single and retired from her bakery job. She says she will probably wind up in the street if she has to leave. LATEST SFGATE VIDEOS Now Playing: Now Playing Forgotten Wine Country fire victims sfgate
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On Feb. 11, she was served with a 60-day notice to vacate the house or be tossed out by sheriff’s deputies. Tenant advocates say her plight is emblematic of a growing eviction and rent-hike horror overtaking non-homeowners in San Mateo County. “They’re trying to take away everything from me here,” Hatch said as she sat in her tidy living room, where fading photos of family gaze down on her collections of tiny ceramic bunnies and kitties. “Gee whiz, I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to leave. “I have a lot of tears, a lot of happiness, a lot of memories in this house. It is my home. Where can I go?”
Roommates’ uncertainty
Her misery has very close company — her sublet roommate and friend of 32 years, Georgia Rothrock. At 85, Rothrock also has few options. Between the two of them, they pay about $900 monthly rent, which chews up much of their Social Security checks. Neither of the women can afford a new, more expensive place to live or have relatives they can move in with. Landlord David Kantz tells his own version of the turn of events. He says he feels terrible that he is evicting Hatch, but the trust left behind by his wife — the third of the previous landlord women who are now deceased — expires in July, and he is duty-bound to sell the property on behalf of his two sons. Previous landlord slain
He became the current landlord, he pointed out, when his wife was slain in 2006. The Kantzes were getting divorced when Pamela Kantz, 55, was killed by her boyfriend, Tony McClung, who is serving an 11-year prison term for voluntary manslaughter. “We have come to this unexpected confluence of events, and I am responsible to do the best I can for the beneficiaries — my sons,” said Kantz, who lives in the Sierra foothills town of Coloma (El Dorado County). “I just kind of inherited this property and the assumptions that weren’t really written down, and now I have to unwind it.”
He said family lore does indeed contend that his wife’s grandmother, Vivian Kruse, told Hatch she could stay for life, “but there’s no contract. There’s nothing in my wife’s will that directs me to do anything other than what is best for the beneficiaries.”
And “best,” he said, is not hard to determine, at least monetarily. The little century-old house that was bought for a few thousand dollars by his wife’s ancestors is currently listed on the Zillow real estate website at $1.2 million. “I didn’t want to say, ‘We’re going to just throw you out,’ but I thought I would give her plenty of notice,” said Kantz, who sent his first letter of eviction intention in early December. “There is no one part of this whole thing I don’t feel bad about. “I feel bad for the elderly lady, I feel bad for my sons, I feel bad for me.”
Rents have skyrocketed across the Bay Area in the past couple of years, but the problem is particularly acute in wealthy San Mateo County, which has the second-highest rate of income inequality after Marin County, according to the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies. A recent study by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors shows that rent in the county for a two-bedroom unit has increased by a wallet-busting 51 percent over the past four years. ‘No protections for anybody’
Federal guidelines indicate rent is unaffordable when it exceeds 30 percent of a household’s income — which means that in San Mateo County, a household must earn at least $106,000 to afford the average current monthly rent of $2,648 for a two-bedroom unit, according to the county study. U.S. census data show that about 35 percent of renter families in San Mateo County are paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing. “Marie’s case is one of the most egregious examples of what’s going on in this county with renters,” said Cindy Cornell, 66, who founded the Burlingame Advocates for Renter Protections community group two years ago when her own rent was raised $850 a month at a seniors complex. “There is no rent control here at all. No protections for anybody.”
She is leading an effort to place a measure on the November ballot that would institute rental and eviction safeguards in Burlingame, replacing a 1988 law that prohibits rent control in the city. The severity of the recent rent increases in all of San Mateo County, not just Burlingame, is compelling Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, to hold a town hall meeting on the subject Monday night. Seats for the 7 p.m. event at St. Bartholomew Auditorium in the city of San Mateo have been booked solid in advance, but the meeting will be broadcast live on Peninsula Television and streamed at PenTV. Meanwhile, Hatch’s neighbor — also being evicted by Kantz, since he owns her home and wants to sell it — has joined with Cornell’s group to help the woman and her roommate fight the eviction. Legal help
Cheryl Graczewski, a 43-year-old education policy researcher, connected Hatch and Rothrock with a Legal Aid attorney on Friday. She said she and her tech-worker husband are fortunate enough to be able to pay higher rent at the place they are moving to in March. “But for Marie, it’s different,” she said. “Marie has no money, really, and no real choices,” Graczewski said. “I don’t see her moving out of the house and surviving. It would break her heart.”
Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron | – Attorneys for a 97-year-old woman being booted from her Northern California home filed suit Friday to enforce a long-ago promise by the landlord that the woman could live there until she died, the AP reports. The complaint states Marie Hatch moved into her Burlingame cottage more than 60 years ago at the request of her friend Vivian Kroeze, who owned the property and needed companionship after her husband died. Hatch was promised a lifetime tenancy, and the promise was honored by Kroeze's daughter and granddaughter after Vivian Kroeze died in 1980. But in 2006, the granddaughter was murdered by her boyfriend and her estranged husband, David Kantz, took over collecting rent. This month, Kantz's attorney told Hatch and her 85-year-old roommate to vacate within 60 days. Kantz previously told the San Francisco Chronicle that he felt terrible about evicting the women but had no choice given that the agreement is not in writing and he has to provide for his sons. The newspaper's story prompted calls and emails from hundreds of people offering help. One call came from a Joe Cotchett, a high-profile civil attorney whose firm is representing Hatch free of charge. "This is one of the most egregious acts of taking advantage of one of our community's most vulnerable citizens that I have seen in my legal career," one of Hatch's lawyers says. The complaint claims elder abuse as well as breach of contract. |
ATLANTA -- NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer, it was announced Wednesday. The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction. "We want people to be respectful of the national anthem," commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We want people to stand -- that's all personnel -- and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That's something we think we owe. [But] we were also very sensitive to give players choices." Goodell said the vote was "unanimous" among owners, although San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said he abstained. York said that all owners that voted in the process supported the change. The policy will be part of the NFL's game operations manual and thus not subject to collective bargaining. The NFL Players Association said in a statement that it will review the policy and "challenge any aspect" that is inconsistent with the CBA. Some important details remained unclear in the hours after the policy's approval, including the specific fine that teams would be subject to and also how the league will define respect for the flag. "To make a decision that strong, you would hope that the players have input on it," Cleveland Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "But obviously not. So we have to deal with it as players, for good or a bad thing. "I think the main thing out of all of it is that each ballclub is having open communication with the players and ownership about the issues that are going on in the community and trying to change it." NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith reacted with displeasure in a series of tweets Wednesday. "History has taught us that both patriotism and protest are like water; if the force is strong enough it cannot be suppressed. Today, the CEO's of the NFL created a rule that people who hate autocracies should reject," Smith tweeted. "Management has chosen to quash the same freedom of speech that protects someone who wants to salute the flag in an effort to prevent someone who does not wish to do so. The sad irony of this rule is that anyone who wants to express their patriotism is subject to the whim of a person who calls himself an "Owner." I know that not all of the NFL CEO's are for this and I know that true American patriots are not cheering today." After spending months in discussions, and another three hours over two days at the league's spring meetings, owners said this found a compromise that will end sitting or kneeling with an edict that stops short of requiring every player to stand. The previous policy required players to be on the field for the anthem but said only that they "should" stand. When then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016, the league had no rule it could use to prevent it. The movement drew increasing criticism from President Donald Trump, as well as many fans, who believed it was a sign of disrespect toward the flag and country. Owners, however, had been divided on how to extricate the league from that criticism. Some owners, including the Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones and the Houston Texans' Bob McNair, wanted all players to stand. Others, such as the New York Jets' Christopher Johnson, wanted to avoid any appearance of muzzling players. Even the seemingly simple option of clearing the field prior to the anthem was rejected by some owners who thought it would be interpreted as a mass protest or at least a sign of disrespect. Earlier this week, the league finalized an $89 million social justice platform with players to help address "some of the underlying issues" that were under protest, said Mark Murphy, the Green Bay Packers' president/CEO. "I think we learned from each other in order to come to a unanimous consensus," Murphy said. "We also talked a lot about our players. I think when you look back at last fall, it was difficult for all of us within the league. But one of the positives that came out of it was an improved relationship with our players." In a statement accompanying the announcement, Goodell said the league wanted to eliminate criticism that suggested the protests were unpatriotic. "It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic," Goodell said. "This is not and was never the case." Kaepernick and former 49ers safety Eric Reid have both filed collusion cases against the league after failing to find jobs as free agents. Eagles defensive end Chris Long tweeted that the policy is "fear of a diminished bottom line." Long, who is white, notably kept his hand on African-American teammate Malcolm Jenkins' back for the entire playing of the anthem before a 2017 preseason game. Long then gave Jenkins a pat on the shoulder pads and a hug when the song was over. "It's also fear of a president turning his base against a corporation. This is not patriotism. Don't get it confused," Long tweeted. "These owners don't love America more than the players demonstrating and taking real action to improve. It also lets you, the fan, know where our league stands." Jenkins is one of a handful of outspoken players who vowed Wednesday to carry on the cause. "I will not let it silence me or stop me from fighting," he said. "This has never been about taking a knee, raising a fist or anyone's patriotism, but doing what we can to effect real change for real people." | – The NFL changed its rule book Wednesday to stop players from kneeling during the national anthem. All 32 team owners approved a new rule designed to ban players from sitting or kneeling on the field in protest during the anthem, reports ESPN. However, the league said players could remain in the locker room and emerge once the anthem is over. Previously, all players had to be on the field during the anthem. The NFL will fine teams whose players disobey, but the teams themselves will decide on the penalties for individual players, reports CNN. "This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. "It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic," he added. "This is not and was never the case." All of this began in 2016, when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem to protest police brutality. |
Washington lurched toward another potential government shutdown crisis Friday, as the House approved by a 219-203 vote a GOP-authored short-term funding measure designed to keep the government running through Nov. 18 and Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill. “We expect a vote fairly quickly,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday morning. In an after-midnight roll call, House Republican leaders persuaded conservatives early Friday morning to support a stop-gap measure nearly identical to one they had rejected just 30 hours earlier. By a narrow margin, 213 Republicans supported the plan, along with six Democrats; 179 Democrats opposed it, joined by 24 Republicans. The bill, which will keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 18, passed over staunch objections from House Democrats, who opposed a provision that would pair increased funding for disaster relief with a spending cut to a program that makes loans to car companies to encourage energy efficient car production. But House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) victory is likely to be short-lived. Reid said late Thursday that the measure could not pass his chamber, with a vote expected sometime Friday. A Senate defeat would leave Congress at a new standoff. “It fails to provide the relief that our fellow Americans need as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of floods, wildfires and hurricanes, and it will be rejected by the Senate,” Reid said of the House bill. Without a resolution, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund will run out of money early next week and the rest of the government would be forced to shutdown Oct. 1. House leaders contend that the Senate would be responsible for blocking desperately needed disaster dollars from flowing to FEMA if they reject their bill. “You saw the House act,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as he left the Capitol early Friday morning. “We are intending that the money gets to FEMA and to disaster victims as they need it.”
“I think Harry Reid’s political ploy is not going to work,” Cantor continued, adding that blame for FEMA funding drying up if the Senate rejects the bill would fall on Senate Democrats. “I guess Harry Reid will have to bear the burden of denying disaster victims the money they need.”
Friday’s House vote marked a reversal of fortunes for Boehner, who after losing the initial Wednesday vote on the House spending resolution found himself roaming the contours of a familiar dilemma — capitulate to fiscal hawks in his own party who want to spend less, or compromise with Democrats who want to spend more. Instead, Boehner found another route: He huddled all day and night Thursday with his rank-and-file, warning them he would give them one more chance to approve the bill or he would be forced to agree to drop the offsetting cut, as Democrats had demanded. In addition, after a 90-minute meeting with the House GOP Conference on Thursday afternoon, the leadership agreed to an additional, largely symbolic cut by striking $100 million from a loan program that funded the bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra. That company, which received the loan guarantees through the Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus legislation, has become a favorite target for Republicans in their critique of the White House’s handling of the economy. As for the swipe at the program that had funded Solyndra, Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) told colleagues on the House floor late Thursday that the goal was to “ensure that hard-earned dollars of the American people are not wasted in the way that we have seen” with the company. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.) countered that the measure had hardly changed after a day of wrangling and still made “unacceptable cuts to an essential manufacturing jobs program to pay for equally essential disaster relief.”
The blow-up over what Boehner had once hoped would be a routine matter — a bill to merely keep government operating until Nov. 18 — illustrated what has become a central reality for the Republican speaker: He controls the House majority only on paper. On any given vote, he must contend with a sizable bloc of his own members willing to buck his leadership in the name of shrinking government. This leaves him in the uncomfortable position of having to consider alliances with Democrats — and facing negotiating those alliances from a position of weakness. Despite the embarrassing loss on Wednesday’s vote, Republicans defended the decision to hold the vote even though they realized it was likely to fail. The GOP leadership wanted to demonstrate to the recalcitrant conservatives that their actions had real consequences. One senior Republican adviser called the process “an educational experience.”
“I’ve always believed in allowing the House to work its will. I understood what the risk was yesterday. But why not put the bill on the floor and let the members speak? And they did,” Boehner said Thursday morning at his weekly press briefing. According to GOP lawmakers and aides, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had reported to Boehner and Cantor that a few dozen Republicans would oppose the legislation, mostly because they thought its spending levels were too far above those they voted for in the spring when they approved the 2012 budget originally proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Boehner’s leadership team knew that it would need Democratic votes to approve the plan, but only by Wednesday afternoon did they fully understand that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) were whipping their caucus to oppose the measure and make Boehner deliver nearly all Republican votes for passage. Rather than pulling the bill from the floor, Boehner told his deputies to hold the vote. The extraordinary effort required to pass such a basic bill suggests even bigger battles later in the fall on potential blockbuster deficit-reduction plans. The stopgap spending bill is necessary because the House and Senate have stalemated over how to fund government through the whole year. Without a stopgap in place to buy time for further negotiations, the government will shut down at month’s end. House leaders had hoped to pass the short-term funding bill without the strife that had characterized recent debates, which they knew would erode financial markets’ confidence and spark further disgust among voters. They would do it by agreeing to set spending in the bill at a rate of $1.043 trillion for the year, the amount set in the rancorous August deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. But that plan ran headlong into the political realities of their divided chamber — as well as a congressional calendar that provides for a week-long recess starting Friday so that Jewish lawmakers can observe their holidays next week. Democrats, stung by accusations that they had made too many concessions in the debt fight during the summer, stood unified against the measure over a Republican decision to pair $3.65 billion in funding for disaster relief with a $1.5 billion spending cut to the the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, which offers loans to car companies to encourage the production of energy-efficient cars. That particular cut was anathema to many Democrats, who argued that the loan program has generated tens of thousands of jobs. Democrats relished the prospect that their unified opposition forced Boehner to publicly struggle. “In the House, the majority controls all the mechanisms,” said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.). “You’d better be able to produce the votes. You just cant go willy-nilly to the floor and then say, ‘Well, oopsy.’ ”
Staff writers David A. Fahrenthold and Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report. | – House Republicans got their ducks in a row late last night, passing a spending measure nearly identical to the one that went down in flames Wednesday. But that might not be enough to prevent a government shutdown, because the Senate is drawing a hard line against the bill, the Washington Post reports. Boehner won conservatives by slicing $100 million from the loan program that benefited Solyndra, and warning that if the bill didn’t pass, he’d be forced to compromise with Democrats. Like the failed bill, the new version also cuts some funding from an energy efficient car program. Democrats who back the program—which they say creates thousands of auto-related jobs—were outraged, and the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill because it didn’t provide enough funding for disaster relief efforts. “The House bill is not an honest effort at compromise,” Harry Reid told the New York Times. “They moved even further toward the Tea Party.” But if something doesn’t pass, FEMA will run out of money next week, and the government will shut down Oct. 1. |
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The seaside French city of Cannes has banned burkinis, full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women, from its beaches. Cannes — home of an annual star-studded annual film festival — is located not far from Nice, where more than 80 people died in a July terror attack on the city's beachfront promenade. A Muslim woman wears a "burkini" on a beach in Sydney. TIM WIMBORNE / Reuters file
Mayor David Lisnard cited that tragedy and subsequent attack on a northwest France church in an ordinance forbidding swimwear that doesn't respect "good morals and secularism." "Beachwear manifesting religious affiliation in an ostentatious way, while France and its religious sites are currently the target of terrorist attacks, could create the risk of disturbances to public order," the ruling says. A spokeswoman for his office confirmed that the ordinance — in effect through the month of August, peak tourist season on the French Riviera — applies to burkinis. Violators face a fine. French soldiers patrol the Promenade in Cannes on Aug. 5. Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
Security has been stepped up across France in wake of the Nice attack, with soldiers prominently patrolling the beaches and promenades of the Riviera. The ordinance was issued on July 28 but only publicized on Friday. Lisnard told the Nice Matin newspaper that the ban was designed to "protect the population" in the context of France's ongoing state of emergency and terror threat. When asked if he thought the ordinance would send a negative message to the numerous Muslim tourists in Cannes, Lisnard replied: "Not at all." Religious groups vehemently disagreed, with France's Muslim Federation of the South calling it an "illegal" and "abusive" use of power with the unique purpose of stigmatization and exclusion. "The federation ... is absolutely scandalized," it said in a statement. France's approach to religious attire has long stoked controversy: The country in 2010 passed a law that bans the burqa, an Islamic veil that completely covers women's faces and bodies. | – Many would consider a full-body swimsuit less offensive than a skimpy bikini. Not the mayor of Cannes, apparently. David Lisnard says "burkinis"—modest swimwear worn by some Muslim women—are a "symbol of Islamic extremism" and aren't allowed on the French city's beaches. Should a woman be spotted wearing one, she'll be asked to change into something else or leave, David Lisnard tells the BBC. Offenders of the city's new rule—in effect since July 28, reports NBC News—may also face a $42 fine. French law bans people from wearing the burka and niqab in public, but there's no nationwide ban on burkinis. "Access to beaches and for swimming is banned to any person wearing improper clothes that are not respectful of good morals and secularism," says Lisnard. "Beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order." However, Lisnard says the Jewish kippah and Christian cross will still be allowed on beaches. A rep for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France calls the ban "illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional," while the League of Human Rights says it will take its opposition to court. |
Spanish police have arrested an American woman for issuing death threats against the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking at a science event on the island of Tenerife. The 37-year-old suspect was detained in the municipality of Arona, on the most populous of the Canary Islands, on Wednesday – the same day that Hawking delivered his first lecture at the Starmus International Festival. The woman, who has no prior record and had traveled to Tenerife by herself, could be facing a six-month prison sentence and immediate deportation for harassment and issuing serious threats against the famous scientist, legal sources told the Efe news agency. Police investigators who searched her hotel room found a collection of esoteric items linked to religious extremism
The same sources said that one of the cosmologist’s children alerted authorities after detecting over 100 threatening messages on Twitter and in e-mails on Tuesday. The messages contained sentences such as “I am going to kill him.”
In her statement to the police, the woman apparently said that she loves Hawking and would never harm him. Police investigators who searched her hotel room found a collection of esoteric items linked to religious extremism and contrary to Hawking’s theories denying the existence of God. They also found notes and documents detailing the scientist’s residence and workplace, and notebooks outlining precise plans on how to approach her target. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAÍS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. According to news agency Europa Press, the woman, who currently resides in Norway, has been following Hawking across the globe and may suffer from psychiatric problems. Hawking’s Wednesday address had attracted long lines of people at the science and arts festival. The astrophysicist arrived on stage flanked by two members of the Spanish National Police, an unusual sight that caused some alarm among members of the audience. Outside the venue, other officers checked visitors’ bags. That same day, the police arrested the alleged stalker at a hotel located very near the festival venue, the Pirámide de Arona, which contains one of the biggest auditoriums in Europe. The woman had apparently been issuing threats against Hawking for years, but the situation got out of hand in recent days, when the threats proliferated over e-mail an in the social media. “I am going to kill you.” read one of the messages. “I am right next to you and I can kill you,” said another. The e-mails included specific plans to end the scientist’s life, the police said. Sources close to Hawking told this newspaper that the scientist felt safe at all times, and played down the incident. English version by Susana Urra. | – An American woman was arrested Wednesday in Spain for sending dozens of death threats to Stephen Hawking then trailing him to an astronomy festival in the Canary Islands, Gizmodo reports. According to El Pais, the unnamed 37-year-old woman lives in Norway and has no previous criminal record. Authorities were tipped off by one of her children, who found more than 100 tweets and emails she had sent to Hawking, threatening to kill him. When Hawking gave his first lecture this week at the Starmus Festival, he was flanked by two police officers. The woman was arrested nearby. The woman was staying at a hotel near where Hawking was staying. Authorities found evidence of religious extremism, including items contradicting Hawking's claim that God doesn't exist, in her room. They also found details of Hawking's home and office and plans for how to approach him. The BBC reports the woman was also in possession of a map of Hawking's festival itinerary. After her arrest, the woman told police she loves Hawking and would never try to hurt him. Authorities believe the woman has psychological issues. She was given a four-month suspended prison sentence for harassment and threats. In addition, she is not to come within 1,600 feet of Hawking or communicate with him on social media for eight months. Sources say Hawking never felt he was in danger. |
"There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner," Christie said. But that politics seeped over into a government -- decision that was made I can imagine. | – Peter King is more than just unhappy that the House failed to vote on a Sandy relief bill last night: Now he's calling for New York and New Jersey residents to stop donating money to the GOP over the matter, CNN reports. "Anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King tells the network. Many other lawmakers are similarly distressed, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who issued a bipartisan joint statement calling out the House's "inaction and indifference." ABC News has video of King calling out John Boehner specifically on the House floor today, calling his decision to delay the vote a "cruel knife in the back." Rep. Frank LoBiondo gave a similarly epic floor speech, and he tells PolitickerNJ.com that he and Boehner got in a yelling confrontation over the issue yesterday. "This is absurd. I’ve never been this angry," he says. "This could have been a poster child for bipartisanship, instead, this is what we have." And in a press conference today, Christie further slammed Republicans and Boehner. Per CNN: "There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner." |
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Josh Olins
In what they describe as a "landmark" photoshoot, British Vogue has unveiled portraits of Princess Kate , for the magazine's centenary issue, and several of the photos will be displayed in the National Portrait Gallery starting this weekend.The shoot, by photographer Josh Olins and set in Norfolk's English countryside, features Kate in "casual clothes rather than adopting a more formal approach," the magazine said in a statement.Two of Olins' portraits will be on display at the gallery, in the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibit, beginning Sunday. The Duchess, who is Patron of the National Portrait Gallery, will see the exhibition for herself on Wednesday on an official visit to the Gallery. She is the most senior member of the Royal family to appear on the cover of the magazine since Princess Diana, who featured on four covers, including a posthumous appearance in October 1997. | – Vanity Fair calls it "something of a royal coup": The 100th anniversary edition of the British version of Vogue is graced by none other than Kate Middleton on its cover, in what is the royal's fashion editorial debut. (Princess Diana covered the magazine four times.) British photographer Josh Olins took the seven photographs included in the issue in the Norfolk countryside in January; at Kate's request, the images are what Vanity Fair calls "country chic" rather than high glamour. Indeed, Yahoo describes the cover shot as "perfectly country chic, from the beautiful brown suede jacket paired and white button-down to her forest green wide-brimmed hat." In another image, she's clad in a $1,015 pair of Burberry trousers and a $50 red- and black-striped top. The Telegraph notes the shoot marked the first time that a professional make-up artist did Kate's makeup before she was photographed, and says Sally Branka "persuaded the Duchess to do without her usual black eyeliner and heavy blusher, with striking results." People reports British Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman called the images "a fitting tribute to a young woman whose interest in both photography and the countryside is well known." Indeed, four new photos of Princess Charlotte have been released in advance of her first birthday on Monday; the photographer: Kate, reports Us Weekly. |
Only on "CBS This Morning," Dylan Farrow is speaking candidly for the first time on television about her sexual assault allegations against her adoptive father, actor and director Woody Allen. (L to R) Actress Mia Farrow, son Satchel, Woody Allen, daughter Dylan David Mcgough/DMI/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Allen had suggested that Dylan changed her story because she had been coached by her mother. Alec Baldwin, who has appeared in three of Allen’s films, said in a Jan. 16 tweet that the “renunciation” of Allen is “unfair and sad.”
Allen has long denied Farrow’s allegation, and he has never been charged with a crime. Dylan Farrow has stood by her story for more than two decades. In 2014, after Allen received a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes, Farrow detailed the allegations in an open letter in the New York Times. Below is Allen's full response to "CBS This Morning":
"When this claim was first made more than 25 years ago, it was thoroughly investigated by both the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare. They both did so for many months and independently concluded that no molestation had ever taken place. Instead, they found it likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup. "Dylan's older brother Moses has said that he witnessed their mother doing exactly that – relentlessly coaching Dylan, trying to drum into her that her father was a dangerous sexual predator. It seems to have worked – and, sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says. "But even though the Farrow family is cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time's Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation, that doesn't make it any more true today than it was in the past. I never molested my daughter – as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago." | – One person vigorously reupping her claims in the wake of the #MeToo movement: Dylan Farrow, who continues to insist her father, Woody Allen, molested her when she was a child at the home of her mother, Mia Farrow. On Thursday, Farrow appeared on CBS This Morning and says she wishes there'd been a trial since "I was already traumatized" from the alleged assault on August 4, 1992. That's when Farrow says her "hero" led her to the attic of Mia Farrow's Connecticut residence and "touched my labia and my vulva with his finger." Dylan Farrow was 7 at the time. The now-32-year-old mom told interviewer Gayle King she felt it was necessary to finally come forward on TV, saying, "I want to show my face and tell my story. ... I want to speak out. Literally." And she has supporters in high places, including Mira Sorvino and Natalie Portman, per Time. Although Allen vowed in 2014 to never again comment on the allegations from his adopted daughter, he broke that vow Thursday. "I never molested my daughter," the director says in a statement to CBS News. He adds two investigations—one by a hospital's child abuse clinic and another by child welfare investigators in New York—previously "concluded that no molestation had ever taken place" and it was "likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup. ... Sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says." Dylan Farrow refutes that, noting that "my mother has only encouraged me to tell the truth," adding she wonders why "this crazy story of me being brainwashed" is more believable than her own account. (One person who's backing Allen this week: Alec Baldwin.) |
(CNN) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday night advised pregnant women to postpone travel to Mexico, Puerto Rico and parts of Central America and South America due to the presence of the Zika virus. The CDC action was prompted by tests that found Zika, a mosquito-borne illness, in fetal and newborn tissue of Brazilian babies affected with microcephaly. The agency said additional studies are needed. The advisory lists Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. "Out of an abundance of caution, pregnant women (are) advised to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing," the CDC said. The CDC suggested pregnant women who must travel talk to health care providers beforehand and follow steps to prevent mosquito bites. Women trying to become pregnant should also consult, it said. Ecuador had previously counted four cases, but the infected people had returned from travel to affected areas, but the health ministry announced two new cases on Friday. And the infected had not left the country. The ministry suspects the patients contracted Zika locally. Microcephaly explained
Microcephaly is a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads, causing severe developmental issues and sometimes death. "We now have an accumulating number of cases in babies from miscarriage or who were born with microcephaly with evidence of Zika," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the Vector-Born Disease division of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC. "That suggests a stronger and stronger relationship of Zika and microcephaly." Other travelers are now under a level two travel alert and are asked to practice enhanced precautions. That includes using EPA-registered repellents containing DEET, using permethrin-treated clothing and gear, and staying inside screened or air-conditioned rooms. Petersen said people often don't heed the warnings to protect themselves against mosquitoes while traveling. "Pregnant women need to take the best precautions possible when traveling where this [Zika] virus is spreading," Petersen said. The Zika virus is transmitted when Aedes mosquitoes bite an infected person, and then spread the obtained virus by biting others. There is no vaccine to prevent it and no medicine to treat a Zika virus infection. The Zika virus is part of the flavivirus family, which contains the deadly yellow fever virus, as well as West Nile, chikungunya, and dengue. It's transmitted when a mosquito bites an infected person, and then spreads the obtained virus by biting others. In theory, the Zika virus could be spread through blood transfusion, but as yet there are no documented cases, the CDC said. There is one case of possible virus transmission via sexual contact. 'Pandemic in progress'
Last November, Brazilian health officials advised Brazilian women not to become pregnant after they discovered a connection between the Zika virus and an alarming increase in microcephaly. In 2014, there were only 147 cases of the neurological impairment in the country. According to the latest numbers from Brazil's Health Ministry, 3,530 cases of microcephaly and 46 infant deaths may be linked to the virus. "That's a pandemic in progress," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, who wrote a recent Zika-related editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine . "It isn't as if it's turning around and dying out, it's getting worse and worse as the days go by." "And it's determined by officials in Brazil that peak mosquito transmitting time is in April, so we haven't begun to see the full impact of this outbreak," said Fauci. Infectious disease control will need to step up its game if that reality comes to pass, said Fauci. "We don't have vaccines or therapeutics, and we need better diagnostics that can be done at point of care. We're aggressively working on a Zika vaccine but the best thing right now is avoidance or mosquito control." Impact on the United States
Earlier this week health officials in Harris County, Texas, confirmed a case of Zika virus in a person who recently returned from Latin America, where the virus is endemic. According to CDC spokesman Tom Skinner, there have been 14 imported cases of Zika virus among returning U.S. travelers from 2007 to 2014. At least another eight imported cases were confirmed by CDC in 2015 and 2016, and they are still running tests on specimens from returning U.S. travelers who became ill last year and this year, so that number could rise. The concern, of course, is whether these cases imported to the United States could result in locally transmitted cases. The Aedes mosquito, which transmits Zika virus, is present in many areas of the United States. | – The US has reached an unhappy milestone: the first case of brain damage in a baby linked to the "explosive pandemic of Zika virus infection." The baby was born recently in Oahu, Hawaii, and suffers from microcephaly, smaller-than-normal head and brain, the New York Times reports. The mother—who had lived in Brazil last year, a hotspot for the mosquito-borne illness—was likely infected early in her pregnancy before leaving for Hawaii. Meanwhile, the CDC on Friday advised pregnant women, along with those trying to become pregnant, to avoid traveling to areas known for Zika, including Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, CNN reports. Carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the Zika virus typically causes only mild symptoms, or none at all, reports the Times. Late last year, however, health officials in Brazil began to find a correlation between the disease and an increase in cases of microcephaly. More than 3,500 cases, including 46 infant deaths, in the nation may be linked to Zika, CNN reports. In the US, 14 imported cases of the virus were diagnosed in returning travelers between 2007 and 2014, plus a total of eight in 2015 and so far this year. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci notes that factors like urban crowding and international travel "can cause innumerable slumbering infectious agents to emerge unexpectedly." |
Lawyers are counseling couples considering divorce to do it this year — before a 76-year-old deduction for alimony payments is wiped out in 2019 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Under the old system, if a highest-tax bracket, soon-to-be ex spouse was set to pay $100,000 per year in alimony, they would get a deduction off the top — at the highest tax rate of around 40% — so they would only be out around $60,000. These determined how much alimony payments should be and when such payments should end. Projected to raise $6.9 billion over the next decade, the repeal is one of the ways Republicans defrayed the cost of their tax rewrite. Under the new bill, alimony paid by one spouse to the other will not be tax deductible, and the spouse receiving the alimony no longer has to pay taxes on it. Added to the code in 1942, lawmakers have long believed it was unfair to tax people on the alimony they paid when the money was not available for them to spend. “When everyone thought the deduction deadline was going to be Dec. 31, we had a rush of clients,” said Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “We’re shifting the tax, and it’s not to the detriment of the person receiving the money,” said Marzano-Lesnevich. Many will say, “Get me before a judge so I can plead my case.”
In an early draft of the tax legislation, House Republicans suggested it was unfair to offer a special break to divorcees, saying the repeal “prevents divorced couples from reducing income tax through a specific form of payments unavailable to married couples.”
The repeal is one of only a handful of provisions in the tax law that didn’t take effect immediately. | – An alimony deduction to be erased in 2019 under the new tax plan has lawyers preparing for a wave of divorces this year—and eying complications for recipients beyond. Payers have long received a tax break on alimony, while recipients have paid income tax on payments. But after Dec. 31, 2018, alimony will no longer be deductible for the payer, and recipients won't need to pay income tax on it, reports Politico. While this will help recipients—primarily women—in one sense, they'll suffer in other ways. As lawyer Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich tells Yahoo, a man in the highest income-tax bracket who pays his wife $100,000 in alimony in 2018 ($85,000 for the woman after taxes) actually pays about $60,000 with the deduction. Without it, he might argue $60,000 is all he can afford to pay, leaving the wife with $25,000 less than before. Attorneys predict the change will complicate divorce negotiations and lead to more cases being heard in court. But some say women will be disproportionally injured by it. "The repeal reduces the bargaining power of vulnerable spouses, mostly women, in achieving financial stability after a divorce," a lawyer tells Politico. Others point out alimony recipients may have a harder time saving for retirement as contributions to retirement accounts often have to come from taxed income, per CNBC. Marzano-Lesnevich says her firm has already had "a rush of clients … demanding we get them divorced immediately" to avoid such complications in 2019. More couples are expected to follow suit this year. Politico reports removing the deduction is expected to raise $6.9 billion over the next decade and help offset the cost of tax cuts outlined in the GOP bill. |
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Disconnect | – Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret today after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van. The video of the beating, which took place late yesterday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again today. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality. In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles. In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself—and the police in general—from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen." Later in the day, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters. Click for more. |
In early June 2014, accountants at the Lumiere Place Casino in St. Louis noticed that several of their slot machines had—just for a couple of days—gone haywire. The government-approved software that powers such machines gives the house a fixed mathematical edge, so that casinos can be certain of how much they’ll earn over the long haul—say, 7.129 cents for every dollar played. But on June 2 and 3, a number of Lumiere’s machines had spit out far more money than they’d consumed, despite not awarding any major jackpots, an aberration known in industry parlance as a negative hold. Since code isn’t prone to sudden fits of madness, the only plausible explanation was that someone was cheating. Casino security pulled up the surveillance tapes and eventually spotted the culprit, a black-haired man in his thirties who wore a Polo zip-up and carried a square brown purse. Unlike most slots cheats, he didn’t appear to tinker with any of the machines he targeted, all of which were older models manufactured by Aristocrat Leisure of Australia. Instead he’d simply play, pushing the buttons on a game like Star Drifter or Pelican Pete while furtively holding his iPhone close to the screen. He’d walk away after a few minutes, then return a bit later to give the game a second chance. That's when he'd get lucky. The man would parlay a $20 to $60 investment into as much as $1,300 before cashing out and moving on to another machine, where he’d start the cycle anew. Over the course of two days, his winnings tallied just over $21,000. The only odd thing about his behavior during his streaks was the way he’d hover his finger above the Spin button for long stretches before finally jabbing it in haste; typical slots players don't pause between spins like that. On June 9, Lumiere Place shared its findings with the Missouri Gaming Commission, which in turn issued a statewide alert. Several casinos soon discovered that they had been cheated the same way, though often by different men than the one who’d bilked Lumiere Place. In each instance, the perpetrator held a cell phone close to an Aristocrat Mark VI model slot machine shortly before a run of good fortune. By examining rental-car records, Missouri authorities identified the Lumiere Place scammer as Murat Bliev, a 37-year-old Russian national. Bliev had flown back to Moscow on June 6, but the St. Petersburg–based organization he worked for, which employs dozens of operatives to manipulate slot machines around the world, quickly sent him back to the United States to join another cheating crew. The decision to redeploy Bliev to the US would prove to be a rare misstep for a venture that’s quietly making millions by cracking some of the gaming industry’s most treasured algorithms. From Russia With Cheats
Russia has been a hotbed of slots-related malfeasance since 2009, when the country outlawed virtually all gambling. (Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, reportedly believed the move would reduce the power of Georgian organized crime.) The ban forced thousands of casinos to sell their slot machines at steep discounts to whatever customers they could find. Some of those cut-rate slots wound up in the hands of counterfeiters eager to learn how to load new games onto old circuit boards. Others apparently went to Murat Bliev’s bosses in St. Petersburg, who were keen to probe the machines’ source code for vulnerabilities. By early 2011, casinos throughout central and eastern Europe were logging incidents in which slots made by the Austrian company Novomatic paid out improbably large sums. Novomatic’s engineers could find no evidence that the machines in question had been tampered with, leading them to theorize that the cheaters had figured out how to predict the slots’ behavior. “Through targeted and prolonged observation of the individual game sequences as well as possibly recording individual games, it might be possible to allegedly identify a kind of ‘pattern’ in the game results,” the company admitted in a February 2011 notice to its customers. Recognizing those patterns would require remarkable effort. Slot machine outcomes are controlled by programs called pseudorandom number generators that produce baffling results by design. Government regulators, such as the Missouri Gaming Commission, vet the integrity of each algorithm before casinos can deploy it. But as the “pseudo” in the name suggests, the numbers aren't truly random. Because human beings create them using coded instructions, PRNGs can't help but be a bit deterministic. (A true random number generator must be rooted in a phenomenon that is not manmade, such as radioactive decay.) PRNGs take an initial number, known as a seed, and then mash it together with various hidden and shifting inputs—the time from a machine’s internal clock, for example—in order to produce a result that appears impossible to forecast. But if hackers can identify the various ingredients in that mathematical stew, they can potentially predict a PRNG’s output. That process of reverse engineering becomes much easier, of course, when a hacker has physical access to a slot machine’s innards. Knowing the secret arithmetic that a slot machine uses to create pseudorandom results isn’t enough to help hackers, though. That’s because the inputs for a PRNG vary depending on the temporal state of each machine. The seeds are different at different times, for example, as is the data culled from the internal clocks. So even if they understand how a machine’s PRNG functions, hackers would also have to analyze the machine’s gameplay to discern its pattern. That requires both time and substantial computing power, and pounding away on one’s laptop in front of a Pelican Pete is a good way to attract the attention of casino security. The Lumiere Place scam showed how Murat Bliev and his cohorts got around that challenge. After hearing what had happened in Missouri, a casino security expert named Darrin Hoke, who was then director of surveillance at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, took it upon himself to investigate the scope of the hacking operation. By interviewing colleagues who had reported suspicious slot machine activity and by examining their surveillance photos, he was able to identify 25 alleged operatives who'd worked in casinos from California to Romania to Macau. Hoke also used hotel registration records to discover that two of Bliev’s accomplices from St. Louis had remained in the US and traveled west to the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. On July 14, 2014, agents from the California Department of Justice detained one of those operatives at Pechanga and confiscated four of his cell phones, as well as $6,000. (The man, a Russian national, was not indicted; his current whereabouts are unknown.) The cell phones from Pechanga, combined with intelligence from investigations in Missouri and Europe, revealed key details. According to Willy Allison, a Las Vegas–based casino security consultant who has been tracking the Russian scam for years, the operatives use their phones to record about two dozen spins on a game they aim to cheat. They upload that footage to a technical staff in St. Petersburg, who analyze the video and calculate the machine’s pattern based on what they know about the model’s pseudorandom number generator. Finally, the St. Petersburg team transmits a list of timing markers to a custom app on the operative’s phone; those markers cause the handset to vibrate roughly 0.25 seconds before the operative should press the spin button. “The normal reaction time for a human is about a quarter of a second, which is why they do that,” says Allison, who is also the founder of the annual World Game Protection Conference. The timed spins are not always successful, but they result in far more payouts than a machine normally awards: Individual scammers typically win more than $10,000 per day. (Allison notes that those operatives try to keep their winnings on each machine to less than $1,000, to avoid arousing suspicion.) A four-person team working multiple casinos can earn upwards of $250,000 in a single week. Repeat Business
Since there are no slot machines to swindle in his native country, Murat Bliev didn’t linger long in Russia after his return from St. Louis. He made two more trips to the US in 2014, the second of which began on December 3. He went straight from Chicago O'Hare Airport to St. Charles, Missouri, where he met up with three other men who’d been trained to scam Aristocrat’s Mark VI model slot machines: Ivan Gudalov, Igor Larenov, and Yevgeniy Nazarov. The quartet planned to spend the next several days hitting various casinos in Missouri and western Illinois. Bliev should never have come back. On December 10, not long after security personnel spotted Bliev inside the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, the four scammers were arrested. Because Bliev and his cohorts had pulled their scam across state lines, federal authorities charged them with conspiracy to commit fraud. The indictments represented the first significant setbacks for the St. Petersburg organization; never before had any of its operatives faced prosecution. Bliev, Gudalov, and Larenov, all of whom are Russian citizens, eventually accepted plea bargains and were each sentenced to two years in federal prison, to be followed by deportation. Nazarov, a Kazakh who was granted religious asylum in the US in 2013 and is a Florida resident, still awaits sentencing, which indicates that he is cooperating with the authorities: In a statement to WIRED, Aristocrat representatives noted that one of the four defendants has yet to be sentenced because he “continues to assist the FBI with their investigations.”
Whatever information Nazarov provides may be too outdated to be of much value. In the two years since the Missouri arrests, the St. Petersburg organization’s field operatives have become much cagier. Some of their new tricks were revealed last year, when Singaporean authorities caught and prosecuted a crew: One member, a Czech named Radoslav Skubnik, spilled details about the organization’s financial structure (90 percent of all revenue goes back to St. Petersburg) as well as operational tactics. “What they’ll do now is they’ll put the cell phone in their shirt’s chest pocket, behind a little piece of mesh,” says Allison. “So they don’t have to hold it in their hand while they record.” And Darrin Hoke, the security expert, says he has received reports that scammers may be streaming video back to Russia via Skype, so they no longer need to step away from a slot machine to upload their footage. The Missouri and Singapore cases appear to be the only instances in which scammers have been prosecuted, though a few have also been caught and banned by individual casinos. At the same time, the St. Petersburg organization has sent its operatives farther and farther afield. In recent months, for example, at least three casinos in Peru have reported being cheated by Russian gamblers who played aging Novomatic Coolfire slot machines. The economic realities of the gaming industry seem to guarantee that the St. Petersburg organization will continue to flourish. The machines have no easy technical fix. As Hoke notes, Aristocrat, Novomatic, and any other manufacturers whose PRNGs have been cracked “would have to pull all the machines out of service and put something else in, and they’re not going to do that.” (In Aristocrat’s statement to WIRED, the company stressed that it has been unable “to identify defects in the targeted games” and that its machines “are built to and approved against rigid regulatory technical standards.”) At the same time, most casinos can’t afford to invest in the newest slot machines, whose PRNGs use encryption to protect mathematical secrets; as long as older, compromised machines are still popular with customers, the smart financial move for casinos is to keep using them and accept the occasional loss to scammers. So the onus will be on casino security personnel to keep an eye peeled for the scam’s small tells. A finger that lingers too long above a spin button may be a guard’s only clue that hackers in St. Petersburg are about to make another score. | – An iPhone and a few well-timed button pushes by a mysterious patron was all that was needed to make a Missouri casino's slot machine pay out lots of cash. But this wasn't just a random scammer who'd figured out how to play the machine: It was part of an elaborate Russian hacking scheme Brendan Koerner explores for Wired. That patron, Murat Bliev, was a member of a St. Petersburg cheat group, a willing participant in what Koerner describes as a "hotbed of slots-related malfeasance." This underground movement originated in 2009, when then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to make most gambling illegal to curb organized crime. All of the slot machines in Russian casinos had to go somewhere, and so many of them ended up with high bidders (including Bliev's organization), who then poked around in the machines' coding to figure out how to exploit them. How the racket-runners worked: They figured out the patterns behind the machines' pseudorandom number generators, or PRNGs, which, while difficult to crack, aren't impossible if someone can get into the machine's insides. But because the "temporal state" of each machine is different, additional surveillance steps were needed in combination with the PRNG intel—and a casino security expert figured out how the hackers pulled it off. The scheme involved cellphones with video, a tech team back in St. Petersburg, and vibrating "timing markers" sent to the players to indicate when to hit. While Bliev and others were eventually busted, the hacking still lives on via enhanced methods, as there's "no easy technical fix. "A finger that lingers too long above a spin button may be a guard's only clue," Koerner writes. More on the cheat at Wired. (How slot machines feed gambling addictions.) |
“The study’s findings are based on 5 million individual human scores and pave the way for the development of powerful language-based tools for measuring emotion,” Dodds and his team wrote. | – If you're in a foul mood, it might be time to learn Spanish. Languages, and the people who use them, tend to favor using positive words over negatives, researchers find, and they've learned that that's particularly true in Spanish. Experts at the University of Vermont and the MITRE Corporation went through volumes of text from all kinds of sources: books, the news, music lyrics, movie subtitles, and more, including some 100 billion words used on Twitter, UVM reports. Investigating 10 languages, they picked out the 10,000 most common words, then had native speakers rank these words on a nine-point happiness scale; "laughter," for instance, was rated 8.5, while "greed" came in at 3.06. All 24 types of sources reviewed resulted in scores above the neutral 5, meaning they leaned "happy." In other words, "people use more positive words than negative ones," a researcher says. As far as individual languages go, here are the top five happiest ones, via Discovery: Spanish Portuguese English German French Chinese came in last of the 10 languages in the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Positive-language data has also resulted in an actual happiness meter, known as the hedonometer, UVM notes. It follows Twitter posts in English to determine when the happiest words are being used. Christmas, it shows, is a very happy day, while celebrity deaths correlate with low points. Meanwhile, Boulder, Colorado, is apparently the happiest city (at least among Twitter users), while Racine, Wisconsin, appears to be the most miserable. (If you need a lift, try changing the way you walk.) |
Finally: JAY-Z and Beyoncé have released their collaborative album, Everything Is Love. Stream it here and below via Tidal. The streaming service credits the two artists as “the Carters.” Bey and Jay also released a new music video for their track “APESHIT” and an additional single “SALUD!” that doesn’t appear on the project. Find those below. Ricky Saiz directed the visual, which is set in the Louvre and features the couple posing among the art.
Jay disses the Grammys on “APESHIT,” rapping, “Tell the Grammys fuck that 0 for 8 shit.” (Jay was the most nominated artist at the 2018 ceremony, but was completely shut out.) He also confirms the rumor that he turned down a Super Bowl Halftime Show offer: “I said no to the Super Bowl/You need me, I don’t need you/Every night we in the end zone/Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”
Beyoncé calls out Spotify on the track “NICE.” She raps, “If I gave...two fucks about streaming numbers woulda put Lemonade up on Spotify. Fuck you,” referencing the fact that her 2016 album has never been available on the streaming platform. Jay refers to Meek Mill’s recent release from prison on “FRIENDS,” and on “HEARD ABOUT US,” Beyoncé sings the iconic line from Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy”: “If you don’t know, now you know, nigga.” The couple sample Phoenix Express’ song “You Make My Life a Sunny Day” on “LOVEHAPPY.”
“APESHIT” features Migos and Pharrell, while “BOSS” features Ty Dolla $ign and the couple’s daughter Blue Ivy. She also makes a brief cameo at the end of “SALUD!,” shouting out her twin siblings. Pharrell also helped produce “NICE,” while Cool & Dre contributed additional production to “SUMMER” “713,” “BLACK EFFECT,” and “SALUD!” (with Dre adding vocals to the latter). Nav is listed as a composer and co-producer on “FRIENDS,” while TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek is a producer on “LOVEHAPPY.”
Rumors have long swirled about the creation of a collaborative Bey and Jay album. Last November, JAY also told The New York Times that a project with Bey started coming together as they worked on 4:44 and Lemonade. “We were using our art almost like a therapy session,” he said at the time. “And we started making music together.” He explained that, because Bey’s music was progressing more quickly, Lemonade ended up coming out “as opposed to the joint album that [they] were working on.”
The couple are on the road for OTR II through the fall. Their most recent collaboration was on DJ Khaled’s “Top Off.” JAY also enlisted Bey for the Grammy-nominated “Family Feud” from 4:44. They last toured together in 2014.
This article was originally published on June 16 at 5:43 p.m. EST. It was updated on June 17 9:19 p.m. EST. | – Out of the blue, Beyonce and Jay-Z dropped a joint album that's being described as both unexpected and long-rumored, reports Pitchfork. But Everything Is Love is not all sunshine and rainbows from the duo now going by The Carters, particularly for the Grammys (where Jay-Z went 0-8 at the 2018 awards) and Spotify, which gets a couple of F-bombs from Bey. Jay-Z also confirms that he turned down the Super Bowl halftime show, rapping, well, "I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don’t need you/ Every night we in the end zone / Tell the NFL we need stadiums too." The couple's daughter, Blue Ivy, also gives a shout-out to her 1-year-old twin siblings, notes the AP, and a music video released with the nine-track album features the couple hobnobbing in Paris' Louvre museum. Everything Is Love is available on Tidal. |
Norm Macdonald told Howard Stern he was “confused” when he made controversial comments about the #MeToo movement in an interview published in The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Macdonald said he was “happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a bit.” He also expressed concern that Louis C.K. During the Sirius XM interview, the former Saturday Night Live personality, who is 58, said he “never defended” Barr, who lost her job over racist remarks, or Louis C.K., who was dropped by FX after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. Surely you are not serious about people with Down Syndrome. Jimmy said, ‘Come back whenever you want, but I think it might hurt the show tonight.’”
Macdonald added that he spoke to Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos before he issued his apology Tuesday on Twitter. He said, ‘I don’t know what to do. “I wish I never had to do an interview, especially a print interview, because they edit it and put it together and ask you questions that maybe you don’t want to answer,” he said. It wasn’t enough for the Tonight Show, which disinvited him from the program just an hour before his appearance on Tuesday. While discussing the controversy, he said, “You’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry” for victims of harassment. You'd have to have Down Syndrome to not feel sorry for —#MeToo is what you want for your daughters and you want that to be the future world." “If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry,” he wrote. Norm Macdonald Has a Show is set to debut on September 14th. | – Norm Macdonald attempted to explain his controversial #MeToo comments in an interview with Howard Stern Wednesday—and managed to make things worse. The comedian landed himself in a fresh controversy after insulting people with Down syndrome in an effort to express empathy for victims of sexual misconduct, Yahoo reports. "You'd have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry" for harassment victims, said Macdonald, who'd told the Hollywood Reporter he was glad #MeToo had "slowed down a bit" and that he felt bad for friends like Louis CK, who "lost everything in a day." He told Stern, however, that "#MeToo is what you want for your daughters. You want that to be the future world." "Down syndrome. That's my new word," Macdonald told Stern. His remarks were met with a fierce backlash on social media. Down syndrome "is not something that prevents someone from having emotion, feeling empathy, or understanding the importance of a movement like #MeToo," tweeted one critic. Macdonald, whose Tonight Show appearance was axed after his #MeToo remarks, has a new show coming to Netflix, called Norm Macdonald Has a Show. In his Stern interview, he called himself a "dumb guy" who got "confused" when interviewers were "asking me about a whole bunch of things at the same time," Rolling Stone reports. He apologized in a tweet for his remarks about Louis CK and Roseanne Barr, saying he would "never defend their actions." |
Story highlights The ACLU blasts "for-profit incarceration," says the riot wasn't surprising
The riot began with a fight among prisoners, a sheriff says
Guard died due to what the coroner thinks was blunt force trauma
The sheriff praises law enforcement efforts and the private firm that runs the prison
Hundreds of inmates in Mississippi whose fight among themselves spiraled into a riot were back in their cells Monday afternoon, leaving authorities to mourn the death of one guard and express thanks that things didn't turn out worse. "When we first ... learned of the situation, I had a high degree of anxiety because there were so many guards who were unaccounted for," Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said, praising the efforts of law enforcement and those with the private company that runs the facility. "I know it when I see it when something is handled correctly." By Monday afternoon, all of the roughly 2,500 inmates at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez were secure in their cells on lockdown, which Mayfield said will continue indefinitely as the investigation continues. It was a far different scene about 24 hours before. Mayfield said that, about 2:40 p.m. Sunday, a fight broke out either among members of one gang or between members of rival factions in a prison yard and soon ballooned out of control. With a core group of about 300 inmates involved -- meaning most others were simply caught up in the chaos -- the disturbance quickly spread through the grounds. "It turned into a mob mentality, and ... it just expanded so quickly," the sheriff said. Sometime early in the riot, a guard was assaulted and ended up on the roof of a building, Mayfield said. That guard -- later identified as Catlin Carithers, 24 -- was brought out through the facility's gates within an hour, only to be later pronounced dead due to blunt head force trauma, according to the county coroner. Guard Catlin Carithers was killed during the riot that broke out Sunday at the Mississippi prison. The disturbance continued for hours more around the western Mississippi facility, which houses illegal immigrants from around the region who are serving time after convictions for both violent and nonviolent crimes. The Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America operates the facility and employs all those within. At one point, inmates pulled out some mattresses, rags and other materials into a prison yard and started a fire. Others used an array of weapons, such as mop and broom handles, in their fight. Meanwhile, the facility's employees at once tried to maintain order and take cover. Mayfield said earlier Monday that at least 24 or 25 hostages were being held at one point. County and state authorities were on site within an hour to maintain the perimeter and help the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) bring the situation under control, according to Mayfield, who noted that FBI agents were also there. No gunshots were ever fired, and Mayfield praised the "restraint" by law enforcement. Authorities did use "pepper balls," which the sheriff said are shot from something akin to a paintball gun. "The whole thing was probably over by 11 or 11:30 p.m. Sunday," at which point all the inmates had been forced out into a prison yard, Mayfield said. But it wasn't until 3:30 a.m. Monday that every prisoner had been searched and brought back to his housing unit. In addition to Carithers, about 10 workers at the facility were injured, including one who suffered head trauma and was transported about 100 miles northwest to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, according to the sheriff. CCA, meanwhile, has reported that 16 of its staffers at the prison were treated and released from the hospital. Four inmates had to be taken to area emergency rooms for treatment -- for injuries such as a stab wound, a concussion and rib injuries -- though Mayfield said he didn't think any of them needed to be admitted. CCA had said three inmates received such treatment. The sheriff stressed that the public was never in danger, as the riot was confined within the facility and there were no breaches of its perimeter. While he didn't know what exactly caused the riot, Mayfield did say that, "from the outside looking in, I can't see anything that would have prevented it." He lavished praise on the decisions made by Corrections Corporation of America and law enforcement, saying, "I don't think they could have handled it any better." The sheriff added that the facility has "not had anything of this magnitude at all" since opening in 2009. "This could have happened anywhere, anytime," Mayfield said. Yet the American Civil Liberties Union said the riot wasn't surprising because companies like the Corrections Corporation of America "have incentives to cut corners even at the expense of decent and safe conditions"; they employ "too often poorly paid and trained" staff; and they run facilities with conditions that "are often woefully inadequate." "This weekend's riot should make clear to Mississippi and every other state that for-profit incarceration must end," the advocacy group said in a statement. "We need to save taxpayer money by ending the nation's addiction to incarceration, not give money to private companies whose profit depends on locking up as many people as possible." | – A 23-year-old guard has been killed and 16 workers injured in a riot by hundreds of inmates at a private Mississippi prison. Three inmates were also hospitalized, though one has since been returned to prison. The riot broke out at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez at around 2:40pm yesterday, according to the AP. Some two dozen employees were taken hostage, and local and state law enforcement agencies had to be called in to quell the violence. They quickly regained control of most of the prison, but one section held out until 2:45 this morning, CNN reports. "I just want people to understand that no one has gotten out and no one will," a local county sheriff assured the public during the standoff. "We have all our deputies out here and ready. The county can sleep well because we've got it secured." The Tennessee-based company running the facility did not reveal what triggered the violence. The prison houses some 2,500 prisoners—many of them illegal immigrants—for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. |
Congratulations to Rand Paul and his campaign--this was a big win. But it might not be quite as meaningful as it's being made out to be. There was a lot about it that was specific to Kentucky politics, and just because a Tea Partier won in Kentucky, doesn't necessarily mean the Tea Party will fare as well elsewhere this fall. Here are six things to consider:
1) Kentucky has a closed GOP primary. Conservatives were willing to support a Tea Party candidate--but we don't yet know if indies and Dems will be, here or elsewhere. 2) Kentucky's GOP is split into factions. Last night's results showed only that the Paul/Bunning wing was stronger than the McConnell/ Fletcher wing. 3) Paul's celebrity dad brought him money, volunteers, name recognition, and media attention, particularly on Fox News. What other Tea Party candidate can match that? 4) It was well known among Kentucky GOPers that Trey Grayson was a Bill Clinton supporter and volunteer, and a member of the Harvard College Democrats. 5) The Grayson family were notable Democratic fundraisers until they sensed the climate shifting in northern Kentucky, and the whole state shifting toward the GOP. They're not beloved. 6) Grayson's political maneuvering backfired disastrously. He was a Bunning protege, then stabbed his patron in the back by forming an exploratory committee before Bunning dropped out. Bunning then endorsed Paul. Nobody likes a man in a hurry. UPDATE: Bonus 7) Democratic turnout was much, MUCH higher than Republican turnout. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. | – Rand Paul's resounding Senate win in Kentucky's GOP primary represents a major upset for the Republican Party and a major victory for the Tea Party movement. Paul—who led opponent Trey Grayson by 59% to 35% with 89% of precincts reported—tapped into voter anger at Washington far more successfully than Grayson, notes Manu Raju at Politico, predicting the win will send shockwaves through the Republican Party nationwide. Much about Paul's win was specific to Kentucky, however, Joshua Green writes in the Atlantic, arguing that last night's result doesn't necessarily signal major Tea Party gains this fall. The Kentucky primary was closed, he notes, so there's no sign that Independents or Democrats will back a Tea Party candidate. Paul also had the support of a celebrity dad who brought name recognition, money, and volunteers, and faced an opponent whose family members were well-known Democratic fundraisers until recently. |
A husband and wife opened fire on a... (Associated Press)
This undated photo provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows Syed Rizwan Farook who has been named as the suspect in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings. | – Whatever San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizman Farook's problem was, it wasn't the result of his upbringing, if his brother is anything to go by. The brother, whose name is Syed Raheel Farook, was falsely identified as the gunman by some media outlets because the names are so similar, but he is, in fact, a decorated Navy veteran, BuzzFeed reports. The brother joined up in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007, and Navy records state that he received the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon during his service, which included time as an information systems technician on the USS Enterprise. A Navy spokesman tells the New York Daily News that Farook was a computer technician who also received an award for good conduct. Investigators are still trying to piece together a motive for the rampage the other Syed R. Farook allegedly carried out with wife Tashfeen Malik. A "veritable armory," including at least a dozen pipe bombs, was found at their home, and officials say they're probing possible links to Islamic extremists but haven't found firm evidence of radicalization, the Los Angeles Times reports. Associates, including colleagues who survived the massacre, say they simply don't understand how the man they knew could have done this. "This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife, and a family. What was he missing in his life?" a man who worshiped with him at a mosque in San Bernardino tells the AP. |
FLINT, MI -- Police confirmed that the two injured in a double shooting Sunday, April 17, were mother and son. Few details were released in the incident, which occurred in the 1900 block of Greenbrook Lane between West Atherton and West Hemphill roads around 7:30 p.m. There, it was discovered that a woman and a 9-year-old boy - mother and son - were shot. They were taken to the hospital where they were listed in good condition. Police did not release any more information in the incident, citing an ongoing investigation. No arrests were announced. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Flint Police Department at 810-237-6800 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP (773-2587). | – One of the first people to file a lawsuit alleging her child was poisoned by the water in Flint, Mich., was shot dead this week, reports Michigan Live. Sasha Avonna Bell was found dead in a townhouse in the city on Tuesday along with another female victim, Sacorya Renee Reed. A 1-year-old child found at the home was uninjured; it isn't clear if the child is Bell's. Police say one person is in custody, though no one has been charged. "Sasha was a lovely young woman who cared deeply for her family, and especially for her young child," says Bell's attorney, calling her death "tragic and senseless." He adds her case will continue in state court. It's among 64 lawsuits on behalf of 144 children against six companies that handled Flint's water. Days before the shooting, a mother and her 9-year-old son were also shot in Flint, per Michigan Live. |
I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this | – If you thought gross fast-food-worker images started and ended with the Taco Bell licker, brace yourself for the latest photo, which seems to show a Wendy's employee dispensing ice cream directly into his mouth. The image was posted to Reddit yesterday, along with this quip: "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this." A number of Redditers pointed out the photo was apparently taken behind the counter, though (so, ostensibly, a fellow employee/friend is the likely shutterbug). The Journal Sentinel got in touch with a Wendy's rep late yesterday; he was not amused. "If true, this is totally inexcusable. We are investigating and will take action." |